英文翻譯中“現(xiàn)在簡單式”的使用時機 (3)

這是英文“現(xiàn)在簡單式”翻譯講解的第三部份，其他部份在‘英文“現(xiàn)在簡單式”的使用時機 (1)’、‘英文“現(xiàn)在簡單式”的使用時機 (2)’與‘英文“現(xiàn)在簡單式”的使用時機 (4)’。閱讀下面英文時態(tài)解說之前，版主建議先閱讀‘英文時態(tài)概論’與‘英文文法基本概念：動詞的基本型態(tài)’，先掌握基本概念，然后再研究細節(jié)。

◎ 文章中用于描述或說明“假設/想像”的情況

想像的事情‘并未真正發(fā)生’，因此絕對不可使用過去式，只能用現(xiàn)在式。網(wǎng)友可參照下面的文章，實際體會英文正確的時態(tài)用法。

1) Some of my friends and I have a similar opinion regarding the way some toilets are designed here. Imagine (假設開始) having dinner at a restaurant, and all of a sudden your stomach tells you that what you had (過去事件) for lunch is 90 percent digested. What do you do? Well, of course, you simply get up and look for a place to ease the tension. You go asking where the toilet is, and when you get there, what do you see? A squat toilet!
(節(jié)錄自 Literally Wuman 《吳大維週記》)

(翻譯)
我和某些好友對于此地馬桶的設計看法類似。比如你在餐廳用餐，突然之間胃通知你，吞下肚的中餐百分之九十已經(jīng)消化完畢，你會怎幺做？當然，你會不加思索便起身找地方“紓解壓力”。你會去問廁所在哪里，不過當你到了廁所，你發(fā)現(xiàn)什幺？蹲式馬桶！

2) Imagine (假設開始) going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you the calendar of His plan for your earthly life. It begins with the day you were (過去事件) born. Once you received (過去事件) Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of each week of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear.

(翻譯)
想像你上到了天堂，站在天父的身邊。天父親切向你說明祂為你一生規(guī)劃的計畫，這項計畫從你出生的那天便開始。你接受耶穌基督成為你生命救主之后，接下來的每個日子都以紅色標示。你會看到你生命中的每一天都留下足跡，有許多日子甚至出現(xiàn)兩對足跡。

3) Shifting Your Clock
Let’s start with a common example: traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States, which requires a three-hour advance of the body clock. Let’s say (假設開始) that when you arrive in New York, you want to feel sleepy at 11 P.M. and to be able to wake up at 7 A.M. (when it is only 4 A.M. in Los Angeles). To advance your clock, take a half-milligram of melatonin at 3 P.M. Pacific time on the day before departure and again on the day of departure.
(節(jié)錄自?Personal Health, The New York Times, Wednesday, Aug. 20th, 2008)

(翻譯)
調整生理時鐘
舉個常見的例子：從美國西岸飛往東岸，這通常需要將生理時鐘往前調三個小時。你抵達紐約之后，如果要在晚上 11 點就想睡覺，然后隔天早上 7 點就能起床 (那時洛杉磯才凌晨 4 點)。這時要將生理時鐘往前調，出發(fā)前一天的太平洋時間下午 3 點服用半毫克的退黑激素，出發(fā)當天的同一個時間再服用一次。

◎‘戲劇、小說或電影’的簡介

戲劇是面對觀眾，通常會假設劇情發(fā)生于當下，因此人物對白或場景敘述皆采現(xiàn)在的時態(tài) (‘現(xiàn)在式’與‘現(xiàn)在完成式’)。由于小說或電影情節(jié)只存于想像，并未在真實時空中演出，因此時態(tài)要定在“現(xiàn)在”，但是仍然需要以時態(tài)變化來表達“事情的先后順序”。

1) Charles turns a leaf. A distant clock strikes the half-hour softly. Charles shuts the book with a clap; throws it aside; snatches up the rattle; and whirls it energetically, making a deafening clatter.
(source: Saint Joan / Epilogue 1 by George Bernard Shaw)

(翻譯) 查理翻了一頁。遠處的鐘樓輕柔地敲了一記半點鐘響聲。他啪的一聲闔上了書，將它丟于一旁，隨手抓起撥浪鼓使勁旋轉，發(fā)出震耳欲聾的嘎嗒聲。

2) The Family Man (2000) Plot:
Jack Campbell, a successful and talented businessman, is happily living his single life. He has everything, or so he thinks. One day he wakes up in a new life where he didn’t leave (過去) his college girlfriend for a London trip. He is married to Kate, lives in New Jersey and has two kids. He, of course, desperately wants his life back for which he has worked 13 years for. He is president of P. K. Lassiter Investment House and not a tire salesman at Big Ed’s. He drives a Ferrari and not a mini-van that never starts. And most importantly he doesn’t wake up in the morning with kids jumping on the bed. After a bad start, day by day he is more confident in his new life and starts to see what he has been missing. Turns out money’s good to have but that’s not everything.

(翻譯)
【扭轉奇蹟】劇情簡介：
杰克坎貝爾是個成功且精明的商人，他過著快樂的單身生活，以為擁有自己想要的一切，不料有一天竟然墜入異樣的新生活。杰克驚覺自己并未離開大學女友凱特而前往倫敦追尋夢想。他倆婚后住在紐澤西，生下了兩個寶寶。杰克當然不想放棄奮斗 13年所得到的成就，極欲想回到原本的生活。他過去是 P. K. Lassiter 投資公司的總裁，不是在 Big Ed’s 賣輪胎的銷售員，出門皆以法拉利代步，不是開著時常拋錨的箱型車。更重要的是，早上不會有小孩在床上蹦蹦跳跳擾他清夢。杰克剛開始雖然諸事不順，他卻活得愈來愈有自信，開始明白自己到底失去了什幺。結局是，金錢雖好卻絕非萬能。

3) A City of Sadness?is a 1989 Taiwanese historical drama film by Hou Hsiao-hsien. This film has its setting in a once prosperous gold-mining town in northern Taiwan, and depicts one family’s experiences during the White Terror. The eldest brother is murdered by a Shanghai mafia boss, the middle brother is driven insane in a KMT jailhouse, and the youngest brother is a mute, who wants to flee to the mountains with his friends to fight in the anti-KMT resistance movement. By the end of the film only the youngest brother is alive to tell, in writing, the story of his family’s destruction.

(翻譯)
《悲情城市》是侯孝賢導演 1989 年推出的臺灣歷史電影。本片于北臺灣過去盛極一時的金礦小鎮(zhèn)取景，描述某個家族在白色恐怖時期的辛酸血淚史。家族長兄遭到上海黑幫老大殺害，老二被國民黨關入大牢后發(fā)瘋，最小的弟第失聰，想與友人前往深山加入反抗國民黨的勢力。電影結束時只有幺弟還倖存于世，將家族衰亡的過程記錄下來昭告于世。