楼主
首先感谢大家参与《犹太童话与传说》这本书的试译。本次试译一共有42名译者报名，共收到完整译文18份——大家都有对翻译独特的见解，审阅大家试译的稿件也是一个学习的过程。对译者而言，每次翻译过程所能提高的不仅是能更娴熟地驾驭文字的能力，还能培养良好的翻译态度以及不断总结问题的精神。作为本书的负责人，下面就稿件中常出现的问题对本次试译做一下点评和总结，也欢迎各位译者同我一起讨论：
1．试译开篇出现了East of the Land of the Rising Sun，一看到实词的开头都进行了大写，这大概是个表示地点的专有名词了，绝不应该翻译成在“太阳升起的东方” “在太阳升起之地的东边”，而且“太阳升起之地”未免也太模糊了。
2．who spent all his days and half his nights 很多译者翻译成“每天白天和半夜”或者“每天白天以及一半的晚上”，我们在汉语当中都不会这么说，读来自然非常别扭。
3．Most of the people followed the example of the king and led idle, careless lives, giving no thought to the future. 很多译者翻译成“过着无忧无虑的生活”——“无忧无虑”是对事物客观的描述，然而看一下后面的文章就可知生活并不是无忧无虑，这里讲的是人们对生活的一种态度。
4. Nobody seemed to care what lay beyond the barrier of rocks that shut off the land from the rest of the world.关于石头山将人们与外界隔绝起来的描述，大家有用“石头山堵住了进入内陆的通道”也有“阻碍了他们与世界上其他地方的接触”“那些礁石后面隔海相望的大陆”等等。未免有些过度发挥。翻译尤其是文学翻译，虽然稍稍进行补充未尝不可，但是过度的发挥就会让人在理解上费解。 “信”，也就是对原文的忠实，一定要把握。
5. For aught he knew they may have referred to the school regulations of the moon, instead of the laws of trading and such like public matters.
For aught he knew…应该理解为“他还以为的”，并不是这些文书真的是关于月球上学校规定的，很多译者在理解上都出现了问题。
6，It seemed a vast and beautiful land, stretching away as far as the eye could see in a forest of huge trees.
“目光所及之处全是茂密的森林”、“一望无际，就像在森林里看树木的样子一样”“一望无垠直到一座参天巨木的森林”——都没有恰到好处的翻出此句话想要表达的意思。
4. 语言使用的问题。这是一篇童话传说类的文章，语言意在简，不在繁。语句不宜过长，而且尽量做到容易理解。
5.标点符号的使用问题。做翻译不要忽视标点，如果一篇文章，句点密度过多，而语意又没有跟上，有一种急促的感觉。
然而事实上，点评容易，翻译不易，用作品说话，也非常期待与大家交流。
附上试译原文：
East of the Land of the Rising Sun there dwelled a king who spent all his days and half his nights in pleasure. His kingdom was on the edge of the world, according to the knowledge of those times, and almost entirely surrounded by the sea. Nobody seemed to care what lay beyond the barrier of rocks that shut off the land from the rest of the world. For the matter of that, nobody appeared to trouble much about anything in that kingdom.
Most of the people followed the example of the king and led idle, careless lives, giving no thought to the future. The king regarded the task of governing his subjects as a big nuisance; he did not care to be worried with proposals concerning the welfare of the masses, and documents brought to him by his advisors for signature were never read. For aught he knew they may have referred to the school regulations of the moon, instead of the laws of trading and such like public matters. "Don't bother me," was his usual remark. "You are my advisors and officers of state. Deal with affairs as you think best."
And off he would go to his beloved hunting which was his favorite pastime.
The land was fertile, and nobody had ever entertained an idea that bad weather might some year affect the crops and cause a scarcity of grain. They took no precautions to lay in stocks of wheat, and so when one summer there was a great lack of rain and the fields were parched, the winter that followed was marked by suffering. The kingdom was faced by famine, and the people did not like it. They did not know what to do, and when they appealed to the king, he could not help them. Indeed, he could not understand the difficulty. He passed it off very lightly.
"I am a mighty hunter," he said. "I can always kill enough beasts to provide a sufficiency of food."
But the drought had withered away the grass and the trees, and the shortage of such food had greatly reduced the number of animals. The king found the forests empty of deer and birds. Still he failed to realize the gravity of the situation and what he considered an exceedingly bright idea struck him.
"I will explore the unknown territory beyond the barrier of rocky hills," he said. "Surely there will I find a land of plenty. And, at least" he added, "it will be a pleasant adventure with good hunting."
A great expedition was therefore arranged, and the king and his hunting companions set forth to find a path over the rocks. This was not at all difficult, and on the third day, a pass was discovered among the crags and peaks that formed the summit of the barrier, and the king saw the region beyond.
It seemed a vast and beautiful land, stretching away as far as the eye could see in a forest of huge trees. Carefully, the hunters descended the other side of the rock barrier and entered the unknown land.
It seemed uninhabited. Nor was there any sign of beast or bird of any kind. No sound disturbed the stillness of the forest, no tracks were visible. As well as the hunters could make out, no foot had ever trodden the region before. Even nature seemed at rest. The trees were all old, their trunks gnarled into fantastic shapes, their leaves yellow and sere as if growth had stopped ages ago.
