Английский язык. Практика перевода (английский–русский). Часть 2. «Грамматические приемы перевода». Учебное пособие

II. Translate into Russian using different constructions corresponding to the clauses introduced by, but, since, for, while, as. (All examples in this exercise are from “Born Free: The story of Elsa” by Joy Adamson).

1.The sun was getting low: we shouted to her but she obstinately disregarded our calls. Finally we had no alternative but to return home without her.

2.Since she was a tiny cub she has known just how to use her weight. But now she had become much more effective... she flung herself with all her force at our feet, pressing her body against our shins and thus knocking us over.

3.Since the water was now too deep to ford and too dangerous, on account of crocodile, to swim, George made a boat using the steel frame of a camp bed covered with a ground sheet.

4.It was now five weeks since Elsa’s illness had started, and her condition had improved but slightly. It was plain that the climate .in this region was against her.

5.For the first year she provides their food... During the second year the cubs are allowed to take part in the hunting; but they get severely disciplined if they lose their self-control. Since at this time they are unable to

kill on their own, they have to rely for their food on what may be left over from a kill by the full-grown lions of the pride. Often very little remains for them, so they are usually in a bad, scruffy condition at this age.

6.While I was absent in Nairobi, George told me that Elsa was very much upset, and never left him for a moment; she followed him around, sat under his office desk... and at night slept on his bed.

7.She soon discovered that digging in the sand was a most rewarding

game, since the deeper the hole the wetter and cooler it became and therefore the nicer to roll in.

8. Outdoor games were all very well but the cubs also developed a fancy for books and cushions. So, to save our library and other possessions, we were eventually obliged to ban them from the house... The cubs

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resented it very much, so to compensate them for their lost playground we hung a tyre from a tree, and this proved to be grand for chewing and also as a swing.

9.We settled to start about seven in the evening... Before setting off we took her out for her usual walk to her favourite rocks, across the valley from our house. There I photographed her for the last time in her home.

10.She greeted George and me affectionately but while eating her dinner she constantly stopped to listen to something outside. By morning she was gone. This strange behaviour puzzled us. We began to wonder whether we had outstayed our welcome. This was by far the longest we

had spent with her since her release.

11. ...we gave them rubber balls and old inner tubes to play with ‒ the latter were perfect for tug-of-war games. ...when the battle had been won, the victor would parade with the trophy in front of the others and provoke an attack. If this invitation was ignored, the rubber would be placed in front of their noses, while the owner pretended to be unaware that it might be stolen from her.

12.She loved climbing trees... Once ...we saw her tail dangling through the foliage, followed by her struggling hind legs, till finally she fell on to the grass well over twenty feet below. She was most embarrassed at having lost her dignity before an audience, for, while she always enjoyed making us laugh when she meant to do so, she hated being laughed at when the joke was against her.

13.Nuru was our garden boy; now we appointed him guardian and lionkeeper in chief. The post pleased him, for it raised his social status; it also meant that when the cubs got tired of romping all over the house and its surroundings and preferred to sleep under some shady bush, he was able to sit near them for long hours, watching to see that no snakes or baboons molested them.

14.The conditions in this region were very different to those at Isiolo; for one thing it was much colder, for another while the ground at Isiolo is sandy and dries within a few hours, here there was black cotton soil

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which turns into a morass after rain; moreover, it is covered with waist-high grass which prevents it drying for weeks on end.

15.They were only a few days old and their eyes were still covered with a bluish film. They could hardly crawl, nevertheless they tried to creep away. I took them on my lap to comfort them, while George, who was most distressed, told me what had happened.

16.We settled to start about seven in the evening... Before setting off we took her out for her usual walk to her favourite rocks, across the valley from our house. There I photographed her for the last time in her home.

Тема 11 ‘Inversion’(Word order)

Инверсия (обратный порядок слов) в английском языке обычно связана с изменением взаимного порядка подлежащего и сказуемого. С помощью инверсии образуются почти все типы вопросов; инверсия в повествовательных предложениях, как правило, употребляется в письменной речи.

Как было сказано выше, английский язык, как известно, характеризуется фиксированным порядком слов, при котором предложение, как правило, начинается с подлежащего или группы подлежащего, далее следует сказуемое, затем дополнения (косвенное беспредложное, прямое, предложное), а в конце предложения располагаются обстоятельства. В русском языке порядок слов свободный, и это означает, что изменение порядка слов при переводе ‒ это одна из наиболее частотных трансформаций.

Однако в английском предложении на первое место иногда вы-

носится наречие частотности (frequently, never, often, seldom), и в этом случае имеет место эмфатическая инверсия подлежащего и вспомогательного глагола, как например: Frequently did he recollect...; Often was he mentioned...; Seldom have I met... и т. п. Такой же «дра-

матический эффект» имеет вынесение на первое место сочетаний с ограничительной частицей only («лишь», «только») и наречием степени

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so («так», «столь», «настолько»): Once only did he look back...; Only then did I realize...; So monotonously did he speak., .и т. п. В русском переводе вышеупомянутые наречия частотности, наречия so и частица only, а также сочетания с ними, не обязательно выносятся на первое место в предложении, и эмфаза передается усилительными частицами «и», «даже», «еще» и т. п.

Обстоятельство места может занимать начальную позицию в

предложении по разным причинам. Если оно «маркировано» как тема высказывания, то глагол-сказуемое, с которым обстоятельство места бывает очень тесно связано, «притягивается» к этому элементу, предшествуя подлежащему. Такой порядок слов встречается в английском языке только в книжно-письменной речи, тогда как в русском языке он употребляется в разных стилях речи и разных типах текста. Функцию глагола-сказуемого в английском предложении такого типа выполняют бытийные глаголы, глаголы положения в пространстве и глаголы движения, например: there, at the summit, stood the castle in its medieval splendor – там, на вершине (холма), стоял великолепный средневековый замок.

В английском сложноподчиненном предложении с придаточным условия связь между двумя предикативными единицами может осуществляться бессоюзным способом. В этом случае в придаточном предложении имеет место инверсия, и начальную позицию перед подлежащим занимают глаголы should, had или were/were to: should you be interested, we will send you a copy of the report – в случае если вы заинтересуетесь, мы пришлем вам копию доклада; were this enterprise to close down, it would be a disaster for us all – если бы (это) предприятие закрылось, для нас всех это стало бы катастрофой / это означало бы катастрофу; had you informed us earlier, we would have taken the necessary steps – если бы вы проинформировали нас раньше, мы бы приняли необходимые меры / предприняли необходимые шаги.

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Условные предложения данного типа употребляются в официальном стиле речи и, следовательно, им не могут служить эквивалентом условные предложения русского языка с бессоюзной связью и начальной позицией глагола типа: «знай я об этом раньше, я бы отложила свои дела», «приди он на час позднее, и мы не успели бы на поезд» и т. п., которые характерны для неофициального стиля общения.

Союз nor служит для связи независимых, равноправных единиц внутри простого предложения, для связи равноправных предикативных единиц в составе сложносочиненного предложения, а также для связи самостоятельных предложений в тексте.

В сложносочиненном предложении первая предикативная единица должна содержать отрицание, и союз nor соответствует в русском языке сочетаниям «(да) и не», «также/тоже не»: I know nothing about the incident, nor do I care ‒ я ничего не знаю об этом случае, да меня это и не интересует; he cannot do it, nor can I ‒ он не может сделать этого, и я тоже не могу/и я тоже нет.

Во второй предикативной единице сложносочиненного предложения и в самостоятельном предложении, которые вводятся союзом nor, имеет место инверсия подлежащего и вспомогательного глагола. При их переводе глагол-сказуемое в русском предложении иногда занимает начальную позицию: ...his clothes were not of the latest pattern. Nor did they fit particularly well ‒ …его одежда не была сшита по последней моде. И сидела она не особенно хорошо.

Как коррелят not или по, союз nor вводит однородные члены предложения и соответствует в переводе союзу «ни»: he had no time, nor wish to help them – у него не было ни времени, ни желания им помогать.

При использовании приема антонимического перевода имеет место замена отрицательного предложения утвердительным:

“Well, he takes good care of himself. I can’t afford to take the care of myself that he does.”

Nor was it easy to say which, admiration, envy, or contempt was dominant in that remark. (Gals.)

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Да, он себя бережет. Я вот не имею возможности так беречься. И трудно сказать, чего было больше в этих словах – восхищения, зависти или презрения. (Лорие)

Задания для самостоятельной работы

I.Translate into Russian clauses with inversion.

1.Not only did we learn English parsing thoroughly, but we also practised continually English analysis. (Churchill)

2. ...we looked for these handsome sunrise-pink birds but found none. Once only did I see a flamingo, a big solitary cock strutting in a shallow pool among the mangroves. (Barton)

3. He had stopped his running, and was singing, first low, then loud...

“Eustace,” we all cried, “stop! stop, dear boy, and come into the house.”

4.He shook his head and started off again ‒ talking this time. Never have I listened to such an extraordinary speech. (Forster)

5. ...he added: “You see, I am not interested in the theatre. Not only have

I never attended a rehearsal, but I have never seen a performance of any of my plays.” (Bennet)

6.Once abundant in the southeastern U.S., the red wolves became officially extinct in the wild in 1975; only by placing all the animals in captivity were conservationists able to save them.

7.With characteristic insight he saw he must part with one or with the other; no half measures could serve in such a situation. In that lay its tragedy. (Gals.)

8.So fiercely and defensively did he say it that Mr Atterthwaite looked up in surprise. (Christie)

9.He had made underseas pictures at Pago Pago in the central Pacific, and at Tahiti, but nowhere had he seen such clear water and clean, sandy bottoms.

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10.We also got effective shots of Joan among the coral reefs between Jicaron and Jicarita Islands which are among the few fairly welldeveloped reefs in the Eastern Pacific. Only rarely do reef building corals nourish in these waters which are swept by twenty-foot tides.

(Barton)

11.Such brilliant musicians as Byrd, Tallis, and Dowland needed articulate expression for their sweet lute melodies. The gift of song no doubt was dormant in many an Elizabethan verse-writer. It needed some outside stimulus to call it forth, and assuredly at no time in our history has there been so rich a company of singers... (Primer)

12.Down by the Stonington Harbor the summer boats were being pulled up for storage. And not only here but in other inlets nearby are very large lobster pounds crawling with those dark-shelled Maine lobsters from the dark water... (Stein.)

13.The greatest opera-goer of his day! There was no opera now! That fellow Wagner had ruined everything; no melody left, nor any voices to sing it. (Gals.)

14....we nearly collided with a herd of elephant. Luckily Elsa (the lioness) was trotting a short distance behind us, so we had time to jump on to the high bank, while the elephants climbed up the other side and took three tiny calves into safety, and one old bull kept in their rear, ready to charge should there be any nonsense. (Adamson)

II. Translate into Russian noting the difference in the position of the subject and predicate in the sentences/clauses introduced in the original by nor.

1. ...in Chaucer’s time a Kentish man would have sounded almost unintelligible to a Cumbrian, and each would have failed to understand a Devonian. Nor was this Babel based solely on differences in pronunciation... (Peel)

2. ...for a long time we did not see any lights, nor did we see the shore but rowed steadily in the dark riding with the waves. (Hemingway)

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3.Farther on I got an excellent picture of a tree kangaroo. It did not rest on its long tail like the more numerous kangaroos that live on the ground but used the tail for balancing among the branches. Nor did it look much like its cousins. (Barton)

4.This secret, shared only with herself, is a secret no longer; nor is her despair in her father’s rectory. ...she believed she would not, even once again, pass through the white gates of Carriglas, nor sit beneath the strawberry trees. She believed she would not enter the drawing room, nor see the island’s fuchsia hedges in bloom, nor open the door of the ice-house, nor watch the waves breaking on the rocks at Elador’s Bay. (Trevor)

5.In spite of himself, the Captain could not regain his neutrality of feeling towards his orderly. Nor could he leave the man alone. In spite of himself, he watched him, gave him sharp orders, tried to take up as much of his time as possible.

6.In the early years he wrote the “Shepherd’s Calendar”, and nine comedies on Italian models. The comedies have not survived, nor can we regret the fact. Certainly Spenser’s talents did not point that way. (Primer)

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Приложение

Texts for oral and written translation

IT IS HARD FOR ME TO WRITE...

by F. Lawrence

It is hard for me to write about Lawrence. I feel as if the sparrows on the roof know all about him. He seems so obvious and simple. But maybe sparrows know more than complicated human beings. Maybe I who saw his life unfold hour by hour have the essence of him in my bones and marrow. But it is hard to get it out into words. The words come out like young asparagus tips, but when you look at them, they don’t seem as convincing as the canned article.

I will try. I believe the spring of his being was love for his fellow men, love for everything alive, and almost all creatures were more alive to him than they actually were. He seemed to infuse his own life into them. You cannot translate Lawrence into intellectual terms because he was so much more than a man with ideas, an intellectual. But he had a superb human intelligence in big and little things. It exasperated him to see how boring most people’s lives were and how little they made of them, and he tried with all his might, from all angles to make them see and change. He never gave up, he did not get discouraged like most reformers. Always he took a new sprint. He was not tragic, he would never have it that humanity, even, was tragic, only very wrong, but nothing that true wisdom could not solve. It was not pity he felt; he never insulted anybody by being sorry for them. We have to learn to take it. It is strange to think that he never got into more trouble than he did, with his absolute independence. He was attacked and abused. It made him angry, but he never felt sorry for himself. It was a spur to go on. Years after his death, I saw in Buenos Aires many of his books in a shop window as I wandered through the streets. It was a shock. “Here,‒ I thought, ‒ where he has never been, people buy his books.” One thin, narrow man has such power all over the world. He was aware intensely of the

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importance of time, of the responsibility of every hour and minute. The span from the cradle to the grave is all we have to make our show, to prove ourselves. The older you get, the shorter is the time given us. The fact, “I am alive”, seems more valuable every day. Lawrence knew this quite young.

THE STORY OF KING LEAR...

by L. B.Wright and V. A. LaMar

The story of King Lear, one of the mythical kings who reigned in the dim and undated past, was well known in British legend. In Raphael Holinshed’s “Chronicles” the date of Lear’s reign is given as “the yearof the world 3105.”

Whether there was actually a British king of this name nobody knows. But he was sufficiently real in folklore to arouse interest during a period when works concerning British antiquities were making a wide appeal to Englishmen of all classes. The tale of the impetuous old king had been familiar for centuries.

Appearing first in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s chronicle, “Historia Britonum”, composed about 1135, it was quickly assimilated into the legendary history of Britain and found its way into chronicles and other literary works read by the Elizabethans. Versions of the tale in the 1574 edition of “Mirror for Magistrates”, in Holinshed’s “Chronicles”, and in Edmund Spenser’s “Faerie Queene” may have furnished Shakespeare with elements of his plot. The subplot dealing with the troubles of Gloucester he took from a story in Philip

Sidney’s “Arcadia”. Furthermore, an older play called “The True Chronicle History of King Leir (sic)”, acted in the early 1590s and printed in 1605, may have suggested to Shakespeare the idea of a new play on a subject already well known and popular.

How well Shakespeare’s play was received when it was acted for the general public we do not know, but in some version it has remained alive as an active stage play from that day to this.

During the later seventeenth century, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” by Nahum Tate, one of the popular dramatists of the Restoration period, superseded the original play. Published in 1681, the Tate adaptation provided elements that persisted until well into the nineteenth century. As

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