研究生英语阅读教程中高级本UNIT2翻译

SeveralLanguagesCalledEnglish（几种语言称之为英语）Englishisn’tmanagingtosweepallelsebeforeit-andifeverdoesbecometheuniversallanguage,manyofthosewhospeakitwon’tunderstandoneanother.在此之前，英语不能支配其他的全部，如果当初就成为通用的语言，那么那些说话人也是不能够相互理解的。MuchofwhatwillhappentoEnglishwecanonlyspeculateabout.Butlet'spursueanideathatlanguageresearchersregardasfairlywellgrounded:nativespeakersofEnglisharealreadyoutnumberedbysecond-languageandforeign-languagespeakers,andwillbemoreheavilyoutnumberedastimegoeson.关于英语将会发生的许多变化我们仅仅只能作出推测。但是，让我们来追寻被语言研究者们认为是相关的背景：将英语作为第二语言或外语的人，在数量上超过了以英语作为母语的人；并且随着时间的推移，还将超出更多。OneobviousimplicationisthatsomeproportionofthepeopleusingEnglishforbusinessorprofessionalpurposesaroundtheworldaren'tandneedn'tbefluentinit.RecentlyItalkedwithMichaelHenryHeim,aprofessorofSlavicliteraturesattheUniversityofCaliforniaatLosAngelesandaprofessionaltranslatorwhohasrenderedintoEnglishmajorworksbyMilanKunderaandGunterGrass.Byhiscount,hespeaks"tenorso"languages.Hetoldmeflatly,"Englishismucheasiertolearnpoorlyandtocommunicateinpoorlythananyotherlanguage.I'msurethatifHungaryweretheleaderoftheworld,Hungarianwouldnotbetheworldlanguage.Tocommunicateonaday-to-daybasis--toorderameal,tobookaroom--there'snolanguageassimpleasEnglish."Research,though,suggeststhatpeoplearelikelytofindalanguageeasierorhardertolearnaccordingtohowsimilaritistotheirnativetongue,intermsofthingslikewordorder,grammaticalstructure,andcognatewords.AstheresearcherTerenceOdlinnotedinhisbookLanguageTransfer(1989),thedurationoffull-timeintensivecoursesgiventoEnglish-speakingU.S.foreign-servicepersonnelamountstoaroughmeasurementofhowdifferent,intheseways,otherlanguagesarefromEnglish.Todaythecoursesforforeign-serviceemployeeswhoneedtolearnGerman,Italian,French,Spanish,orPortugueselasttwenty-fourweeks.ThoseforemployeeslearningSwahili,Indonesian,orMalaylastthirty-sixweeks,andforpeoplelearninglanguagesincludingHindi,Urdu,Russian,andHungarian,forty-fourweeks.Arabic,Chinese,Japanese,andKoreantakeeighty-eightweeks.Notethatalltheworld'sothercommonestnativelanguagesexceptSpanishareinthegroupsmostdemandingofEnglish-speakers.Itmightbereasonabletosupposethatthereverseisalsotrue--thatArabic-andChinese-speakersfindfluencyinEnglishtobemoreofachallengethanSpanish-speakersdo.一个显而易见的含义就是：在世界上，一部分人们出于商业和职业的目的而使用英语，他们的英语不流利，也不需要流利。最近我和麦克尔亨利交谈，他是洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学的斯拉乎文学教授，也是一位专职翻译，他曾将米兰和甘特的主要著作翻译成英语。以他的计算，他能说出大约十种语言。他平和地跟我说：“英语较其他语言更能草草地学会，简单交流，我确信，假如匈牙利是这个世界的领导者，匈牙利语也不能成为世界性的语言。在日常基本交流中，如点餐、定房，没有语言象英语一样的简单。”尽管，研究表明人们认为一种语言的简单与困难与否，是根据这种语言相对于其母语的语序、语法结构和同根词语的相似度而言的。根据TerenceOdlin的研究在《语言的演变》一书中提到，为使英语会话及涉外服务人员开设一段时间的全日制强化课程，当作一个粗略的度量，用这种方法来比较英语与其他语言之间的不同。今天，这类为涉外服务人员需要学习德语、意大利语、法语、西班牙语和葡萄牙语设置的课程为期24周。而那些员工学习斯瓦西语、印度尼西亚语或马来语的课程，为期为36周。还有那些学习北印度语、乌尔都语、匈牙利语的则为44周。阿拉伯语、汉语、日语、韩语的则达88周。我们注意到，在世界范围内除了以西班牙语为母语的人们以外，大部分人说英语都比较难。这个反推可能也是正确的，说阿拉伯语和汉语的人们相对与说西班牙语的人们学好流利的英语更富挑战性。AvarietyofrestrictedsubsetsofEnglishhavebeendevelopedtomeettheneedsofnonfluentspeakers.AmongtheseisSpecialEnglish,whichtheVoiceofAmericabeganusinginitsbroadcastsexperimentallysomefortyyearsagoandhasemployedpart-timeeversince.SpecialEnglishhasabasicvocabularyofjust1,500words(TheAmericanHeritageDictionarycontainssome200,000words,andtheOxfordEnglishDictionarynearly750,000),thoughsometimesthesewordsareusedtodefinenon-SpecialEnglishwordsthatVOAwritersdeemessentialtoagivenstory.CurrentlyVOAusesSpecialEnglishfornewsandfeaturesthatarebroadcastahalfhouratatime,sixtimesaday,sevendaysaweek,tomillionsoflistenersworldwide.式英语的标准，尽管我们很久以前就不注意英格兰，而是重视印度、加拿大、北非、澳大利亚、新西兰等。目前，印度这些国家都为他们自己所有的习语，以及收录它们的词典而感到骄傲。Mostoftheworld'sEnglish-speakingcommunitiescanstillunderstandoneanotherwell--thoughnot,perhaps,perfectly.AsAnneSoukhanov,awordcolumnistforthismagazineandtheAmericaneditoroftheEncartaWorldEnglishDictionary,explainedinanarticletitled"TheKing'sEnglishItAin't,"publishedontheInternetlastyear,"SomeEnglishwordsmeanverydifferentthings,dependingonyourcountry.InSouthAsia,ahotelisarestaurant,butinAustralia,ahotelisanestablishmentsellingalcoholicbeverages.InSouthAfrica,arobotisatrafficlight."世界上大多数说英语的人们能够很好地理解对方，即使理解不完美、准确。就像SouKhanov杂志的编辑，微软世界英语字典的美国编辑，在一篇去年在网上发表的名为TheKing’sEnglishItAin’t解释到：“在不同的国家，一些英语单词的含义是有相对大的区别的，在南亚，hotel是旅店，但是在澳大利亚，hotel是销售酒精饮料的地方，在南非，robot是交通灯。DavidGraddoltoldmeaboutvisitingChinatoconsultonanotherEnglish-curriculumproject(onethathadtodowithteachingengineersinthesteelindustry)andfindingauniversitythathadchosenaBelgiancompanytodeveloplessonsforit.WhenGraddolaskedthoseinchargewhythey'dselectedBelgians,ofallpeople,toteachthemEnglish,theyexplainedtheysawitasanadvantagethattheBelgians,liketheChinese,arenotnativespeakers.TheBelgians,theyreasoned,wouldbelikelytohaveafeelbothfor