皇帝是中国封建社会(feudal society)最高统治者。秦王赢政统一中国之后,称自己为皇帝。自此,中国开始了长达2132年的皇帝统治时期。到1912年中国最后一个皇帝溥仪退位,中国历史上共有495位皇帝。皇帝一人掌握国家政策制定、军事决策等全部大权,决定着国家和人民的命运。中国历史上有许多英明的皇帝,他们勤政爱民,制定了许多合理的政策,促进了经济和社会的发展。还有一些残暴无能的皇帝,他们带给了人民无尽的灾难,受到人民的激烈反抗。
参考翻译:
Emperor was the supreme ruler of the feudalsociety in China. After Yingzheng, the king of Qin,unified China, he called himself Emperor. Sincethen, China had entered a period of emperors'reign,which lasted for 2,132 years. There were totally 495emperors in the history of China until 1912, when Puyi, the last emperor of China gave up thethrone. Emperors dominated all the rights of policy making and military decision and so on.They were the only ones who could decide the fate of the country and its people. In Chinesehistory many wise emperors were diligent in politics and loved their people. They made manyreasonable policies to promote the development of economy and society. There were alsomany cruel and incompetent emperors who brought endless disasters to the people and wereresisted fiercely.
1.第一句中,“中国封建社会”可用of带出,放在所修饰的名词后面作定语,符合英文表达习惯。
2.第三句中“长达2132年的”译为英语时可用which引导的非限制性定语从句来表达,放在中心词后面,使译文前后平衡,避免头重脚轻。
3.“到1912年中国最后一个皇帝…”一句的主句采用there be句型,说明中国历史上皇帝的数量;再用until对时间范围进行限制;在“1912”后面使用when引导的定语从句,说明该年份的特殊性:最后一个皇帝退位。
4.“皇帝一人掌握…国家和人民的命运”一句偏长,可拆译成两个句子。后半句“决定着国家和人民的命运”翻译时增译主语“皇帝一人”,虽然原文说的是“一个人”,但由于历朝历代都有很多皇帝,因此要处理成复数:theywere the only ones,后面再加who引导的定语从句。
5.最后一句中的“他们带给…”译为who引导的定语从句,指代前面的emperors,使译文避免了代词的重复,也使译文的句式更加多样化。