Part IV Translation

参考译文

In the past, traveling by air is hard to imagine for most Chinese.1 Nowadays, with the development of economy and the improvement of living standards, increasingly more Chinese, many peasants and migrant workers included, can travel by plane.2 They can reach all of the big cities in China by air and many other cities are also preparing to build airports.3 Aviation services are improving steadily and cheap flight tickets are available frequently.4 In recent years, the number of people who choose to travel by air during holidays has increased steadily.5

译点精析

1．过去，乘飞机出行对大多数中国人来说是难以想象的：“过去”翻译成in the past即可；“乘飞机出行”翻译为travel by air/plane；“对……来说是难以想象的”可翻译为is hard to imagine / unimaginable for...

2．如今，随着经济的发展和生活水平的提高，越来越多的中国人包括许多农民和外出务工人员都能乘飞机出行：“如今”可翻译为now, today, nowadays；“随着经济的发展和生活水平的提高”翻译时需使用介词with，表示“随着，伴随着”，“经济的发展”翻译为the development of economy，“生活水平的提高”翻译为the improvement of living standards；“越来越多的中国人”翻译为increasingly more Chinese或more and more Chinese；翻译“包括许多农民和外出务工人员”时，需使用过去分词included，表示“被包括在内”，“许多农民”翻译成many peasants，“外出务工人员”可翻译为migrant workers。

3．他们可以乘飞机到达所有大城市，还有很多城市也在筹建机场：此处“到达”翻译为reach或arrive in；“所有大城市”，根据上下文是指“中国境内的许多大城市”，故翻译为all of the big cities in China，需把“中国的”补译出来，即in China；“还有很多城市”翻译为and many other cities；“也在筹建机场”翻译为are also preparing to build airports，“筹”可以理解为“准备”。

4．航空服务不断改进，而且经常会有廉价机票：“航空服务”即aviation services，平时应注意积累相关词汇；“不断改进”翻译为are improving steadily；“经常会有”翻译为are available frequently，注意available这个词在英文中经常使用到，它有多层含义，和汉语词汇不具备一一对应性，在这里使用了它“能找到的；可获得的”的意思；“廉价机票”一般翻译为cheap flight tickets即可。

5．近年来，节假日期间选择乘飞机外出旅游的人数在不断增加：分析该句结构可知，此处使用定语从句翻译会比较地道，主句是“人数在不断增加”，即the number has increased steadily，“在不断增加”还可翻译为has grown steadily，定语从句是“节假日期间选择乘飞机外出旅游的”，可翻译为of people who choose to travel by air during holidays；“近年来”常翻译为in recent years。