前些日子筆者受命審閱參加省級(jí)英語(yǔ)演講比賽的稿子，比賽的總題目是“I Love My Occupation”,多位學(xué)生引用了俗語(yǔ)“三百六十行，行行出狀元”。如何用英語(yǔ)表達(dá)此話成了難題。他們寫出來(lái)的句子大同小異：All trades and professions will have their Number One Scholar.這Number One Scholar便是某漢英詞典提供的字面直譯，似不可取。其中有一個(gè)學(xué)生在表達(dá)“事業(yè)有三百六十行，行行都能出狀元，我要成為賓館服務(wù)行業(yè)的‘狀元’”時(shí)使用的英語(yǔ)句子是：As the old saying goes, "One may distinguish himself in any trade." I'm sure I will be the very best in service trade.此句表達(dá)靈活,基本上傳達(dá)了作者要表達(dá)的思想實(shí)質(zhì)，是可取的。

科舉制度下的“秀才”可借用scholar來(lái)譯，那么“狀元”譯成Number One Scholar也在情理中。不過像“狀元”這類詞語(yǔ)為中國(guó)特有，在英語(yǔ)中沒有對(duì)等詞。按照葛傳架先生在《漫談?dòng)蓾h譯英問題》一文中的說(shuō)法，像“科舉”、“八股文”、“秀才”、“舉人”、“進(jìn)士”等名稱，都是英語(yǔ)民族過去和現(xiàn)在所沒有的，這些詞一般分別譯作“imperial competitive examination", "eight-legged essay", "xiucai", "juren",

“jinshi”。以此類推，“狀元”也可音譯為“Zhuangyuan”?！稘h英語(yǔ)林》中有“三年勤學(xué)出狀元，十年苦練出不了個(gè)演員”，其英譯是：Three years' diligent study makes a zhuangyuan (number one scholar, title conferred on the one who comes first in the highest imperial examination), but 10 years'training cannot make an actor.(P.98) 因?yàn)橐糇gZhuangyuan人家會(huì)不懂，所以只好在括號(hào)內(nèi)解釋。但是現(xiàn)代漢語(yǔ)中使用的“狀元”往往是取其引申和比喻意義，不能按字面譯，不可音譯，只能意譯以求傳達(dá)實(shí)質(zhì)，表述應(yīng)該靈活多樣。請(qǐng)看下例：

我們相信，行行能出“狀元”，各人在各自的崗位上可以大有作為。 We believe that every profession produces its own best and that

different people can find thermselves succeeding in different fields.

浙江省教委已宣布，今年不公布高考“狀元”名單。Education authorities in Zhejiang Province have announced that they will not

release the names of the highest-ranking students who took this year's college examination.

她苦干三年，終于成為省內(nèi)養(yǎng)雞“狀元”。She worked hard for three years and became a champion chicken-raiser in the province.

當(dāng)“字面”與“實(shí)質(zhì)”不統(tǒng)一時(shí)，字面應(yīng)服從實(shí)質(zhì)，以達(dá)意為好。

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