剥皮法翻译技巧

　　英文长句中的句子成分之间，从语法上说，有主有从;从修辞上说，有顺有逆;从安排上说，有先有后;从结构上说，有内有外;从意思上说，有轻有重。理清上述

　　关系，由外到内，逐层翻译，这就是黄龙先生总结出的剥皮法(sentence-peeling)。下面是用剥皮法翻译长句的一个实例：

　　Behold! That golden sea with dazzling waves mountain-high—an immensity of wheat field for three day's fly, where my father stands shoulder-high, my elder brother exposing only his head, my granny falling into the sea upon her tread, above me golden billows surging like a crest of hundred feet and I hold my breath, jumping two times and three, which ends in a failure to reach the ears of wheat!

　　这是一段描写“麦浪”的写景文，全段就是一句话，用韵文写成，景中有人，借人写景，借景咏人，人景互相烘托，感情油然而生。妙不可言的是全段找不出“喜悦”一词，而内心深处蕴藏着的对丰收的无限喜悦却分明洋溢于字里行间。人物出现的顺序安排得更为巧妙，不是按照尊卑长幼的次序，而是按照身材的高矮次序，以此来衬托出麦子的高低。翻译时应遵循作者的安排，不可擅自变动。该句从结构上讲有内、中、外三层：

　　翻译时应按上述层次依次剥离，不可越轨，而且需用韵文译出，以符合原文风格。

　　请看黄龙先生提供的译文：

　　君不见，那海洋金黄一片，波光耀眼，浪比山高——浩瀚无垠的麦田，纵是鸟儿也得飞三天，爸爸置身麦田间，麦儿高的可齐肩，哥哥来到麦田间，只能露出一头尖，奶奶踏上这麦田，卷入麦浪看不见。头上金涛万丈起，似峰巅。屏住呼吸我跳三跳，还是沾不上麦穗的边。

　　在此介绍的剥皮法大多是针对英译汉而言的，汉译英时则往往要反其道而行之，即把汉语的松散句或流水句按照它们内部的逻辑关系转换成相应的英语复合句或长句，如：

　　在这些时候我可以附和着笑，掌柜是决不责备的。而且掌柜见了孔乙己，也每每这样问他，引人发笑。

　　At such times I could join in the laughter with no danger of a dressing-down from my boss. In fact he always put such questions to Kong Yiji himself, to raise a laugh.

　　老栓正在专心走路，忽然吃了一惊，远远地看见一条丁字街，明明白白横着。他便退了几步，寻找一家关着门的铺子，蹩进檐下，靠门立住了。

　　Absorbed in his walking, Old Shuan was startled when he saw the cross road lying distinctly ahead of him. He walked back a few steps to stand under the eaves of a shop in front of its closed door.

　　有下象棋者，久而无声响，排闼视之，阒不见人，原来他们是在门后角里扭做一团，一个人骑在另一个人的身上，在他的口里挖车呢。被挖者不敢出声，出声则口张，口张则车被挖回，挖回则必悔棋，悔棋则不得胜。

　　Once there were two players, whose long silence made some man of curiosity open the door to see what the matter was. In the extreme quietness neither was secn at first, later they were found grappling with each other—one over the other behind the door. The one who got the upper hand was trying to dig his chariot out from the other's mouth, so the latter was unable to make any noise, for he would have to open his mouth if he tried to, and, if he opened his mouth, the chariot would be taken out. And the chariot being taken back, his opponent would certainly make a retraction, which would cause him difficulty in winning the game.

　　严格说来，翻译方法是不能机械套用的，正如钱歌川先生所指出的：“翻译无一定的方法。同样一句话，十个人也许可以翻译出十种不同的译文来。所谓戏法人人会变，各有巧妙不同。”增删也好，转换也好，一切都得视实际情况而定。所以，要想提高翻译水平，除了了解基本的翻译原则和技巧外，主要就是靠多实践，多积累，一劳永逸的方法是没有的。