[学习笔记]张培基《英译中国现代散文选一》——《祖父与灯火管制》
2018-11-04 14:02阅读：
《祖父与灯火管制》
到了福州，在大家庭里住了下来，我觉得我在归途中的担心是多余的。
译文：After
settling down in the big
family in Fuzhou, however, I found that
my
previous worries
on the way turned out to be
unfounded.
要点：
1.
Unfounded
worries毫无根据的担心; 杞人忧天
我们这班孩子跟着安装的工人们满房子跑，非常地兴奋欢喜！
译文：We kids, wild with
excitment and joy, ran here and there in the house
at the heels of the
electricians.
要点：
1. Wild + adj. (anger/happiness/ excitement)
感情强烈的〔尤指生气、高兴或激动〕
Wild with rage 怒火中烧
2. at the heels of someone
(something) / at someone(something)’s heels
紧跟某人（某物）
Nip at someone (something)’s
heels 直逼、撵上某人
This
underdog team
has been
nipping on
the reigning
champions'
heels since
the very
beginning of
the
match.
我们这所大房子里至少也有五六十一盏灯，第一夜亮起来时，真是灯火辉煌，我们孩子们都拍手欢呼！
译文：The whole big house
at least had a total of some 60 electric lamps.
The first evening when they were turned on, the whole house was
suddently ablaze with lights. We kids clapped
with joy.
要点：
１.Some+数字，表示“大约、大概，……上下”，相当于roughly,
approximately, in the neighborhood
of。
some 20 people
２０人左右
２.ablze +
with
(light/color/anger/potential)
Her yard was ablaze with
summer flowers.
她的院子里夏花绚烂
His eyes were abalze
with fury.
他的眼中闪着怒火。
３. V + With
joy 高兴地
Jump up with
joy
高兴地跳起来
People who wake up
with joy each day are
workiｎｇ for entirely different
reasons.
祖父起得很早也睡得很早，每晚九点钟就上床了。他上床之前，就把电闸关上，于是整个大家庭就是黑沉沉的一片！
译文：Grandpa, who
kept early hours, would switch off all the
lights when he went to bed at 9 o’clock in the evening, thus
plunging the whole big house
into deep
darkness.
要点：
１.Keep
early hours 早起早睡（early
hours清晨时刻）
２.plunge (sb/sth) into
sth（使某人/某物）陷入[遭受]〔某种困难或不利局面〕
plunge the country into
chaos /
war使国家陷入混乱、战争
plunged into
debt 债台高筑
plunged into darkness
陷入黑暗
我们刚回老家。父母亲和他们的兄弟妯娌都有许多别情要叙，我们一班兄弟姐妹，也在一起玩得正起劲，都很少在晚九点以前睡的。
译文：Having just
set foot in our old home, we seldom slept
before 9 o’clock in the evening. For it was but natural
that after the long separation, my parents enjoyed
hearty chats about the old days with their brothers and in-laws,
and we kids of the younger generation played
about together to our heart’s
content.
要点：
１.Set foot
(in/on)进入到某处，踏足
２.It’s but
/ only natural that
......……再自然不过了；很正常
３.Play
about
玩耍
Play about with
sb.
Play about together
４.To one’s
heart content
尽情地
Play / enjoy / drink
/dance to one’s heart content
尽情玩耍/ 尽情享受/ 开怀畅饮/ 尽情舞蹈
为了防备这骤然的黑暗，于是每晚在九点以前，每个小家庭都有一两间屋里，点上一盏捻得很暗的煤油灯。一到九点，电灯一下子都灭了，这几盏煤油灯便都捻亮了，大家相视而笑，又都在灯下谈笑玩耍。
译文：Hence,
in anticipation of the sudden blackout at 9
o’clock, each small family would get a dimly-lit kerosene
lamp ready in a couple of their
rooms. No sooner had the big house been blacked
out on the hour than we
turned up the wicks of all the kerosene lamps.
And, looking and smiling at each other, we would continue to chat
and play merrily by the light of the kerosene
lamps.
要点：
１.
in anticipation
of 预期某事；预计到某事（而采取措施）
Some have been forced to
limit their family sizes in anticipation of crushing
tuitions.（确实如此。现在养育一个孩子成本太高，太多人不敢生二胎）
２.
turned up the wicks
捻亮
(wick指油灯的灯芯或蜡烛芯)
３.
dimly-lit光线暗淡的
ａ dimly-lit
room
５.Kerosene
lamp
煤油灯
６.No sooner
...... than .....
一……就……
Ｎo sooner said
than done. 说到做到，说做就做
老家 native place /
old home
对长辈们不能没大没小的。
