每年农历的正月十五是元宵节。早在两千多年前的西汉时期(the Western Han Dynasty),元宵节就已经成为一个具有重要意义的节日。在这天,人们制作各种漂亮的灯笼、设计有趣的灯谜;同时多种表演,如舞龙灯、舞狮子、踩高跷(walking on stilts)等也会上演。和其他中国传统节日一样,元宵节也有特定的食品,叫“汤圆(gluepudding) ”。汉语中,汤圆和“团圆”发音相似,代表着家庭团圆、和谐和快乐。
参考翻译:
The Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1stlunar month. As early as more than 2,000 years ago,in the Western Han Dynasty, it had become a festivalwith great significance. On the Lantern Festival,Chinese people craft many types of beautiful lanterns and create many interesting lanternriddles. At the same time, performances such as dragon lantern dance, lion dance and walkingon stilts will be staged. Just like China’s other traditional festivals, the Lantern Festival alsohas its own special dish— “Tangyuan, a glue pudding”. Tangyuan has a similar pronunciationwith “tuanyuan (reunion)” in Chinese, representing reunion, harmony and happiness for thefamily.
1.每年农历的正月十五是元宵节:翻译时,此句要按照英语表达习惯调整成“元宵节是在每年的农历正月十五”。另外,表达“(庆典或特别事件) 在,适逢(某日)”用fall表示。
2.制作:一般会译成make,但make通常不表示精巧地制作,所以此处可译为 craft,即 make by hand and with muchskill。
3.灯谜:应译为lantern riddles。
4.上演:可以用被动语态来表达,performances...will be staged,这样译文 更加通顺,符合英语的表达习惯。
5.汤圆:短文中给的提示是glue pudding,而实际上西方人对中国食物中包子、饺子、汤圆这种带焰的食物都叫dumpling,翻译时也可用该词。
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