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1、In the appreciation of a work of art or an art form, consideration of the receiver never proves fruitful. Art, in the same way, posits man s physical and spiritual existence, but in none of its works is it concerned with his response. No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder,
2、no symphony for listener.在欣赏艺术品或者艺术形式的时候， 接受者的思考一般都是没有结果的。 同理， 艺术就是人 生理和心理的存在， 任何艺术作品都不会理会人的反应。 任何诗歌都不是为了读者而作、 任 何美术都不是为了观赏者而作，任何交响乐也不是为了听者而作。Is a translation meant for readers who do not understand the original? For what does a literary work “say” ? What does it communicate? It “tells ” very little
3、 to those who understand it. Its essential quality is not statement or the imparting of information. Yet any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information - hence, something inessential. This is the hall mark of bad translations. But do we not
4、generally regard as the essential substance of a literary work what it contains in addition to information -as even a poor translator will admit -the unfathomable, the mysterious, the “ poetic, ” something that a translator can reproduce only if he is also a poet? This, actually, is the cause of ano
5、ther characteristic of inferior translation, which consequently we may define as the (p. 15) inaccurate transmission of an inessential content. This will be true whenever a translation undertakes to serve the reader. However, if it were intended for the reader, the same would have to apply to the or
6、iginal. If the original does not exist for the reader s sake, how could the translation he understood on the basis of this premise?那么翻译是为了那些不懂原文的读者所为么？一个文学作品又是为谁而作呢？对于那些理 解他的人而言，他“讲”的很少。他的基本功能不是陈述、也不是传达信息。但是，任何试 图履行传递功能的翻译除了信息以外，不能传达任何其他的东西而信息却是无关紧要 的。这就是糟糕的翻译的一种标志。但是对于那种蕴含除了信息以外更多东西的文学作品， 即便是一个蹩脚的译
7、者也会承认，那种讳莫如深、 那种深不可测、 那种诗情画意， 只有译者 本人也是一位诗人， 才可能予以复制， 而这不才是文学作品最基本的东西么？实际上， 这就 是那些次等译作的又一特征， 我们因此可以进将其定性为对非本质内容的错误表达。 如果一 个译者为了取悦读者而作的时候，这种情况尤其为甚。然而， 如果翻译是为了读者，那么这 一观点同样可以适用于原文本。 假若原文本不是为读者而作， 那么他所理解的翻译却为何要为读者而作呢？Translation is a mode. To comprehend it as mode one must go back to the original, for t
8、hat contains the law governing the translation: its translatability. The question of whether a work is translatable has a dual meaning. Either: Will an adequate translator ever be found among the totality of its readers? Or, more pertinently: Does its nature lend itself to translation and, therefore
9、, in view of the significance of the mode, call for it? Analogously, the translatability of linguistic creations ought to be considered even if men should prove unable to translate them.Given a strict concept of translation, would they not really be translatable to some degree? The question as to wh
10、ether the translation of certain linguistic creations is called for ought to be posed in this sense. For this thought is valid here: If translation is a mode, translatability must be an essential feature of certain works.翻译是一种方式。要理解这种方式，就要回到原文考察。因为原文有约束翻译的规则： 可译性。一篇作品是否可译有双重含义。一者：在所有的读者当中，是否有完全合格的译者
11、？另者：这个作品本身是否需要翻译，也即，从这种方式内涵看，是否需要？或者可以这么说，即便是有人证实了不能翻译这些作品， 但是这些言语产物的可译性仍需要斟酌。 因为翻译有一个严谨的概念， 所以他们是不是在某种程度上不可译？因此， 一种言语产物是否需要翻译，必须提出这个问题。 因为这种思路在此是合理的： 如果翻译是一种方式， 那么可译性就是某些作品的基本特征。Translatability is an essential quality of certain works, which is not to say that it is essential that they be translate
12、d; it means rather that a specific significance inherent in the original manifests itself in its translatability. It is plausible that no translation, however good it may, can have any significance as regards the original. Yet, by virtue of its translatability the original is closely connected with
13、the translation; in fact, this connection is all the closer since it is no longer of importance to the original. Just as the manifestations of life are intimately connected with the phenomenon of life without being of importance to it, a translation issues from the original -not so much from its lif
14、e as from its afterlife.可译性是某些作品的基本内在。 这不是说这些作品应该被翻译， 而是说在原文内核中天生了 一种特别的意义， 并表现为可译性。 这样说起来比较绕口了， 其实任何翻译不管它有多完美， 都不可能和原文相媲美。但是，由于具有可译性，原文就和翻译密切相关；实际上，这种相关性非常密切， 其重要性甚至胜于原文。 生命表征对于生命现象没有那么重要， 但二者却内 在相关，翻译来源于原文就如生命表征来源于生命，而不是来源于后世。For a translation comes later than the original, and since the important
15、 works of world literature never find their chosen translators at the time of their origin, their translation marks their stage of continued life. The idea of life and afterlife in works of art should be regarded with an entirely unmetaphorical objectivity. Even in times of narrowly prejudiced thoug
16、ht there was an inkling that life was not limited to organic corporeality.因为译作晚于原作， 因此从没有哪个世界文学在他们原创时期就已经选好了译者， 译作标志 着原作生命的延续。这种艺术作品中的生命与后世思想应该完全是一种非隐喻的客观存在。即便受那种极端狭隘的思维禁锢，也会有人会认为生命绝不仅是肉体的机理存在。The concept of life is given its due only if everything that has a history of its own, and is not merely the setting for history, is credited with life. In the final analysis, the range of life must (p.16) be determined by history rather than by
