2003年11月，人民教育出版社出版了《李嵐清教育訪談錄》。2004年金秋時(shí)節(jié)，不到一年的時(shí)間， 便有英譯本問世。英譯本取名《Education for 1.3 Billion 》（《為了13億人的教育》），是由我國(guó)的外語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究出版社和英國(guó)的培生教育出版集團(tuán)（Pearson Education） 共同出版的。

       作者專為英譯本寫了一篇序言，對(duì)出版英譯本的背景和意圖作了說明，并且提到，鑒于讀者的文化背景和教育背景不同，而且中文和英文之間也存在差異，英譯本有一些變通的地方，但這不影響讀者了解本書的內(nèi)容。

       更多考慮外國(guó)讀者的不同情況而在譯文的文字上有所變通，這無(wú)疑代表一種新的翻譯思路，必將對(duì)我國(guó)譯界產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的影響。這一方面的情況很值得進(jìn)一步研究。本文只想利用以下幾個(gè)選段，以注釋的形式談一談?dòng)嘘P(guān)漢譯英的一些基本問題的體會(huì)。

        例1：

       4.6 “尚方寶劍”和“借東風(fēng)”

       記者：高校宏觀結(jié)構(gòu)調(diào)整和管理體制改革，幾乎涉及到所有高校。有的學(xué)校辦了幾十年被并掉了，有的高校的校名因合并被改掉了，但總體進(jìn)展比較平穩(wěn)。推動(dòng)這樣大的改革，您有何感受？

       4.6 Applying the 'imperial sword' and seizing the opportunities (1)

       Interviewer:

       Virtually all China's universities have been involved in the overall restructuring and administrative reform. Some have been merged despite the fact that they were around for decades. Some have been renamed after they were merged. Progress, however, has largely been smooth. How do you feel about orchestrating such massive reform?

       注1. 這一節(jié)的題目非常生動(dòng)，用了兩個(gè)典故。第一個(gè)典故，譯文保留了原文的形象，第二個(gè)典故則沒有保留。這是為什么？也許我們看到下面就明白了。

       例2：

       李嵐清：改革之所以能這樣平穩(wěn)，我的體會(huì)主要有以下幾方面。

       一是抓學(xué)習(xí)，講形勢(shì)，統(tǒng)一思想認(rèn)識(shí)。鄧小平同志關(guān)于教育改革問題有許多科學(xué)論述。江澤民同志在接見四所交通大學(xué)負(fù)責(zé)人時(shí)指出：“我們的教育工作必須進(jìn)一步解決好兩大重要問題，一是教育要全面適應(yīng)現(xiàn)代化建設(shè)對(duì)各級(jí)各類人才培養(yǎng)的需要，而是要全面提高辦學(xué)的質(zhì)量和效益。這也可以說是當(dāng)前全國(guó)教育工作面臨的兩個(gè)重要轉(zhuǎn)變。”對(duì)于處在教育事業(yè)龍頭地位的高等教育來(lái)說，要實(shí)現(xiàn)這“兩個(gè)重要轉(zhuǎn)變”，必須進(jìn)一步深化高等教育管理體制改革。中共中央和國(guó)務(wù)院印發(fā)的《中國(guó)教育改革和發(fā)展綱要》和黨的十四大、十五大報(bào)告，以及兩屆政府總理在全國(guó)人代會(huì)上所作的政府工作報(bào)告中，都有一系列關(guān)于教育改革的方針、政策，還有全國(guó)人大及其常委會(huì)通過的關(guān)于教育的法律，我們都抓住不放，組織大家認(rèn)真學(xué)習(xí)，不厭其煩地反復(fù)講，目的就是為了統(tǒng)一各級(jí)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)干部的思想。這些重要的方針、政策、法律、文件，我把它們比作“尚方寶劍”。我們要善于運(yùn)用這些“尚方寶劍”來(lái)統(tǒng)一思想。形勢(shì)發(fā)展呼喚著高等教育的改革。隨著社會(huì)主義現(xiàn)代化建設(shè)的不斷前進(jìn)，社會(huì)主義市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)體制的逐步建立，科學(xué)技術(shù)的迅速發(fā)展，高等教育只有改革才能適應(yīng)經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)發(fā)展的要求，才能肩負(fù)起中華民族偉大復(fù)興的歷史使命。形勢(shì)任務(wù)搞清楚了，大家的認(rèn)識(shí)就容易統(tǒng)一了。

       Li Lanqing:

       The smooth progress of reform can be attributed to the following factors. (2)

       First, we have organized studies of government policies to clarify the situation and reach a consensus on what we wanted to accomplish. (3) Deng Xiaoping had put forward many scientific viewpoints on education reform. During a meeting with leaders of the four Jiaotong universities (Beijing, Shanghai, Southwest and Xi'an) (4), Jiang Zemin said, "In our work on education we must tackle two major issues. (5) One is that education must meet the demand of the modernization drive for qualified professionals at all levels and of all types; the other is that managerial quality and efficiency has to be raised across the board in school administration. These two issues may be seen as the two major changes essential to China's work on education." (6)

       To effect the "two major changes" in higher education, which is pivotal to education as a whole, reform of the administrative system has to be deepened. (7) A series of principles and policies on education reform are featured in the Program for China's Education Reform and Development issued by the central government, the reports to the 14th and 15th National Congresses of CPC, and the reports on government work delivered by the premiers of the two successive central governments to the National People's Congress. The NPC and its Standing Committee have passed several laws on education. We have organized careful studies of all these principles, policies, documents and laws for the single purpose of reaching a consensus among leaders at all levels. (8) I likened these principles, policies, documents and laws to the "imperial sword" – symbols of supreme authority. (9) We need the "imperial sword" to focus our minds and actions. The situation cries for higher education reform. At a time when the socialist modernization drive is going strong, with the socialist market economy here to stay, and science and technology progressing apace, higher education has to be transformed – both to meet the demands of socioeconomic development and to shoulder the great historical mission of rejuvenating China. (10) Once the situation and tasks come into focus, reaching a consensus becomes simple.

       注2. 這句譯文值得注意的是attribute一詞。英語(yǔ)需要表達(dá)“歸功于……”之類的意思是，經(jīng)常用這個(gè)詞。

       注3. 這句原文像個(gè)小標(biāo)題，用分詞來(lái)譯也是可以的。但譯文加了東西，比較長(zhǎng)，更像一個(gè)句子，所以還是用we作主語(yǔ)較好。此外，“抓學(xué)習(xí)”若只譯作organized studies，不夠具體，所以譯文加了of government policies。 這也不是隨便加的，看一看下文就明白了。加在這里，也可以與下文有所呼應(yīng)。consensus后面加了on what we wanted to accomplish, 也是因?yàn)橥瑯拥牡览怼?/p>

       注4. 這句譯文在four Jiaotong universities 后面略作解釋，就是照顧外國(guó)讀者的需要。

       注5. 原文以“我們的教育工作”為主語(yǔ)，但在英文里，以we作主語(yǔ)更便于和動(dòng)詞搭配。

       注6. 中文的段落比較長(zhǎng)，而英文不太喜歡很長(zhǎng)的段落。因此，中譯英時(shí)，常需在適當(dāng)?shù)牡胤綄⒁欢畏譃閮啥危踔练譃楦嗟亩温洹?/p>

       注7. 這句原文無(wú)主語(yǔ)，譯文沒有加we，而是用了被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)。這也是常見的一種譯法。

       注8. 這里原文是一句，而譯文分成了三句，這樣譯比較清楚。

       注9. 這一句把“尚方寶劍”之所指作了說明，譯者更對(duì)其含義作了解釋。有這句話在這里與本節(jié)的題目相呼應(yīng)，意思就很清楚了，因此題目的譯文保留了原文的形象。其實(shí)，即使沒有這句話，題目這樣譯，意思也是清楚的。

       注10. 原文“隨著”后面有三個(gè)名詞詞組，譯文若只用with來(lái)引導(dǎo)，顯得結(jié)構(gòu)過于單調(diào)。現(xiàn)在譯文先用At a time when引出一個(gè)從句，然后再用with，就比較靈活。