漢譯英

中國近代史的開端

1840年英國無恥地對中國發動了戰爭，其罪惡目的在于保護他們在中國的鴉片貿易。119世紀初，英國東印度會司向中國大量走私產自當時英國的殖民地印度的鴉片。2這種不法貿易不僅耗費了中國大量的錢財，而且極大地損害了鴉片吸食者的身心健康。3所以，清政府中林則徐等一批頭腦清醒的官員，力主全面禁止鴉片貿易。4清政府的統治者們也意識到鴉片泛濫的危害，1838年，任命林則徐為欽差大臣，命其到廣州實行禁煙。當時，廣州是大多數英國煙販停留、交易的地方。51839年初，林則徐到任廣州，隨即采取了堅決措施，嚴令禁止鴉片貿易。6勒令英國煙販們上繳全部鴉片，總計22000箱(每箱約120斤鴉片)，并且在離廣州不遠的虎門當眾銷毀。7在英國的鴉片貿易利益集團強烈要求下，英國政府決定向中國發動戰爭。他們向中國派出艦隊，共戰船四十多條，軍隊四千，逼近中國海域。8林則徐帶領當地軍民做了充分的準備，在廣東痛擊了侵略者。9腐敗無能的清廷統治者們畏懼英國的先進武器，又擔心人民力量的壯大，是戰是和始終舉棋不定。10最后，為了結束戰爭，接受了英國提出的所有條件。林則徐被貶官，流放新疆。

1842年八月，在南京城外停泊的英國戰船上，第一個由西方勢力強加給中國的不平等條約——《南京條約》簽署了。條約規定中國賠償英國2100萬銀圓;割讓中國香港給英國，開放5個通商口岸(廣州，廈門，福州，寧波和上海)，對英國進出口貨物征收的關稅必須由兩國協商決定。翌年，英國又強迫中國簽訂了兩個協議，允許英國領事對在中國犯罪的英國公民按照英國法律審理，中國給其他國家的貿易優惠也必須給予英國。11換言之，中國要給予英國領事裁判權和片面最惠國待遇。

中國在鴉片戰爭中戰敗，暴露了她在軍事上的軟弱和政治上的落后。西方列強發現迫使中國接受不平等條件是輕而易舉的。因而，戰后，英國和其他西方國家，包括法國、德國、俄國和美國，還有東方的日本，或單獨或聯合對中國發動侵略戰爭，以不同的方式欺凌中國，以獲取優惠、特權、賠償、租界.甚至領土。12一般來說，他們的目的都能達到。19世紀后半葉的中國歷史就充滿了這樣的屈辱。由此，中國從一個有主權的封建國家，開始逐漸淪為一個半封建、半殖民地的國家。13

詞匯

1.欽差大臣High Commissioner

2.利益集團interest group

3.求和sue for peace

4.舉棋不定waver

5.不平等條約unequal treaty

6.賠償pay an indemnity(of…)

7.割讓cede…to…

8.開放通商口岸open ports to foreign trade

9.領事裁判權consular jurisdiction

10.片面最惠國待遇unilateral most-favoured-nation treatment

11.西方列強Western powers

12.特權special right

13.租界concession

14.半封建、半殖民地semi-colonial and semi-feudal

注釋

1.本句中文斷成兩句，有人就譯為“In 1840 Britain shamelessly launched a war on China. Their criminal purpose was to protect the opium trade.”其實，英譯時合為一句更為簡潔，其中“其罪惡目的”可譯作介詞短語for a criminal purpose。

2.英國東印度公司：the British East India Company，全稱是“對東印度群島貿易的英國商人聯合公司”。成立于1600年，以后通過陰謀和戰爭，占領和統治了孟加拉和印度，之后又占領了新加坡、緬甸(部份地區)等國，由一個商業強權變成了一個軍事和擁有領土的強權。英國東印度公司在1833年以前一直壟斷著英國對中國的貿易。到了19世紀初，東印度公司作用逐步下降，它的特權相繼取消。但是，它對英國在印度領土的管理權，一直保留到1858年該公司被撤銷為止。

3.“極大地損害了”譯做do great harm to;“身心健康”譯做the health and moral quality，若譯做physical and mental health也可。

4.“頭腦清醒的官員”譯做clear-headed officials或clear-minded officials，此類連字符連接的分詞作形容詞在筆譯技巧(六)中有敘述。

“全面禁止鴉片貿易”用have sth. done的結構譯，譯做have the trade completely banned。

5.“命其到廣州實行禁煙”用entrust sb. with sth.或entrust sth to sb的結構，即委托某事給某人，這里賓語sth.通常為task、plan之類的詞。本段末句補充說明當時廣州的情況，英語中若作為新信息另辟一句，顯得喧賓奪主，可以考慮使用非限制性的定語從句。所以本段最后兩句合譯為：…and entrusted him with the task of banning the opium trade in Guangzhou, where most British opium dealers were staying and doing business.

6.這句話的重點在后兩小句，翻譯時要用謂語動詞，并簡化前兩部分，故：After arriving in Guangzhou early in 1839，Lin…;“采取了堅決措施”和“嚴令”可合譯為to take resolute and strict measures。

7.“他們向中國派出艦隊，共戰船四十多條，軍隊四千”中漢語看起來各部分分離，互不相干，可譯成三個獨立的簡單句。事實上，這三者相連，邏輯嚴密：艦隊由40多條戰船組成，載了4000軍隊。故本句譯為：They sent a fleet of over 40 battleships with 4，000troops。

8.此句中，“侵略者”前句已提到，為已知信息，其在廣州的境遇為新的信息，英譯時宜用被動語態， “侵略者”作主語，突出新信息，使譯文上下貫通。故譯為：The invaders were repelled by the army and people of Guangdong, where Lin Zexu had made necessary preparations.

9.本句可以用so…mat…的結構翻譯，使得語義更加連貫，突出當時清政府的軟弱無能。

“先進武器”譯做the superior weapons.比譯做the advanced weapons好，使得“先進”還多了一層中國武器勝一籌的意思。

10.這里的“兩個協議”指1843年英國政府強迫清政府訂立的《五口通商章程》和《五口通商附粘善后條款》(《虎門條約》)，它們是《南京條約》的附約。

11.本句翻譯時要先找出句子主干，再將枝葉逐一添上。主干為英國等國對中國發動侵略戰爭或欺凌中國，然后添加時間狀語、方式狀語和目的狀語。這里“英國和其他西方國家，包括法國、德國、俄國和美國，還有東方的日本”。翻譯時要注意層次，第一層面上的是“英國和其他西方國家”“還有東方的日本”，第二層面上的是“法國、德國、俄國和美國”。

12.原文中“開始逐漸淪為”可以譯為was gradually reduced to，但也可如參考譯文中，用mark靈活地譯。

參考譯文

The Beginning of the Modern History of China

In 1840 Britain shamelessly launched a war on China for a criminal purpose - to protect their opium trade.

In the early nineteenth century, the British East India Company smuggled to China large quantities of opium produced in India, which was then a British colony. This illegal trade not only cost China enormous sums of money, but did great harm to the health and moral quality of those who were addicted to the drug. So clear-headed officials in the Qing government like Lin Zexu wanted to have the trade completely banned. The Qing rulers also saw the danger of the spread of opium, and in 1838 appointed Lin High Commissioner and entrusted him with the task of banning the opium trade in Guangzhou, where most British opium dealers were staying and doing business.

After arriving in Guangzhou early in 1839, Lin took resolute and strict measures to ban the trade. He compelled the British merchants to surrender all their opium, totaling 22, 000 chests (one chest containing about 120 jin of opium) and had it publicly burned in Humen, not far from Guangzhou.

The British government, urged by the interest groups connected with the opium trade, decided to wage war on China. They sent a fleet of over 4,0 battleships with 4,000 troops to Chinese seas.

The invaders were repelled by the army and people of Guangdong, where Lin Zexu had made necessary preparations. The decadent and corrupt Qing rulers were so frightened by the superior weapons of the British, and so afraid of the rise of the people, that they had wavered all along between fighting and suing for peace, and finally decided to accept the British demands so as to end the war. Lin Zexu was demoted and exiled to Xinjiang.

In August 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing, the first unequal treaty imposed on China by a Western power, was signed on board a British battleship anchored near Nanjing. The treaty stipulated that China should pay Britain an indemnity of 21,000,000 silver dollars, cede Hong Kong to Britain, open five ports (Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai) to foreign trade, and tariffs on British goods should be fixed by mutual agreement. In the following year Britain forced on China two new agreements, which allowed British consuls to try British people who had committed crimes in China according to British law, and made China give Britain all the privileges in trade that China would give to any other country. In other words, China gave Britain the right of consular jurisdiction and unilateral most-favoured-nation treatment.

China's defeat in the Opium War exposed her military weakness and political backwardness.

Western powers saw that it was easy to force her to accept unequal conditions. So after the war Britain and other Western countries, including France, Germany, Russia and the United States, and Japan in the east, jointly or separately started aggressive wars on China, or bullied China in different ways, to demand privileges, special rights, indemnities, concessions and even territory, and generally they got what they wanted. Chinese history in the second half of the nineteenth century was full of such humiliating events. They marked the turn of China from a feudal country into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.

練習

1.中國地處東亞，幅員遼闊，人口眾多，歷史悠久。

2.中國有文字可考的歷史可以追溯到4000多年前，中國被認為同古代埃及、巴比倫和印度齊名的世界四大古代文明之一。

3.公元前206秦朝末年，劉邦項羽交戰，即著名的楚漢之爭，歷時四年，最終劉邦取勝，隨后建立西漢。

4.公元前221年，秦始皇贏政結束了長達250多年諸侯紛爭的戰國時期，建立了中國歷史上第一個統一的、中央集權的多民族封建國家——秦。

5.在唐太宗李世民的英明治理下，唐朝國力和社會發展達到空前水平——經濟和商業發達，社會秩序穩定，朝廷中從無貪污腐敗，國家疆域甚至向各國開放。

6.明朝建立后，朱元璋實施了一系列政策，減輕農民負擔，恢復社會生產。另一方面，朱元璋也著力懲治和防止朝中官員腐化。

7.造紙、印刷術、指南針、火藥是中國古代科技的“四大發明”，至宋元時期相繼傳人世界各地，對世界文明作出了巨大貢獻。

8.1911年孫中山領導的辛亥革命，推翻了清王朝200多年的統治，同時也結束了延續2000多年的封建君主制，這是中國近代史上最偉大的事件之一。

9.在俄國十月革命的影響下，1921年，毛澤東等12人在上海舉行第一次全國代表大會，中國共產黨誕生。

10.1949年10月1日，北京30萬群眾匯集天安門廣場舉行開國大典，中央人民政府主席毛澤東莊嚴宣告：中華人民共和國正式成立。

答案

1.China is an East Asian country with a large territory, a huge population and a long history.

2.With written records dating back 4,000 years, China is recognized as one of the four great ancient civilizations of the world, together with ancient Egypt, Babylon and India.

3.At the end of the Qin Dynasty in 206 BC, war broke out between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. It was known as the Chu-Han war, and it lasted for four years, ending with the victory of Liu Bang, who later established the Western Han Dynasty.

4.In 221 B. C. , Ying Zheng, ruler of the State of Qin, ended the 250-odd years of rivalry among the independent principalities during the Warring States Period, and established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history - the Qin Dynasty.

5.Under Emperor Taizong Li Shimin's wise governing, the national strength and social.

development of the Tang Dynasty reached an unparalleled prosperity - economy and commerce flourished, the social order was stable, corruption never existed in the court and the national boundaries were even open to foreign countries.

6.After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a series of policies to reduce the peasants' burden and to resume the production. He also focused much attention on the punishment and prevention of corruption among court officials.

7.During the Song-Yuan period, the "four great inventions" in science and technology by ancient Chinese - papermaking, printing, the compass and gunpowder - were introduced to foreign countries, making great contributions to world civilization.

8.The Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen was one of the greatest events in modern Chinese history, as it overthrew the 200-odd-year-old Qing Dynasty, ending over 2,000 years of feudal monarchy.

9.Under the influence of Russia's October Revolution of 1917, 12 delegates, including Mao Zedong, held the First National Congress in Shanghai in 1921 to found the Communist Party of China.

10.On October l, 1949, a grand ceremony was witnessed by 300,000 people in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and Mao Zedong, chairman of the Central People's Government, solemnly proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).