[Yes, More Mr. Nice Guy]翻译笔记

我就一六级水平，结果跑去翻译《纽约时报》，译文已经发在译言上，欢迎大家去眉批找茬。

下面做一个小小的批注，说明一下自己的译法。然后把原文中有用的写作技巧找出来，对大家应该会有帮助。

以下内容，绿色部分代表不太好猜到意思的部分，紫色部分代表生词或不熟悉的——也就是你自己写作文不会想起要用的单词，蓝色部分代表重点词组和用法（有可能会被出到完形填空的），粗体部分代表很有用的用法，将来写作时可以直接套用的，中括号内的代表长难句（对理解文章意思很重要）。

是不是有点眼花缭乱啊？？我自己都要昏了。没关系，慢慢来嘛！

Yes, More Mr. Nice Guy

是的，我们需要更多好好先生

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Not quite seven weeks into Barack Obama‘s presidency, the capital’s leading thinkers seem to agree that the era of postpartisanship is over. Obama’s team made little secret of their intention to win broad support for his stimulus plan – an effort that yielded three Republican votes in the Senate and none in the House. The president’s pick for the Commerce Department, Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire, turned down the job, citing his personal opposition to the bill. According to E. J. Dionne Jr. of  The Washington Post, Obama himself, speaking to a group of columnists aboard Air Force One, suggested that in the future, he would approach Republicans with more wariness. “You know, I am an eternal optimist,” the president said. “That doesn’t mean I’m a sap.”

巴拉克·奥巴马上任不过七周，他的智囊团国会的领先主导思想家（leading thingker）们似乎已然承认“跨党派分歧”时代“后党派时代”（超越党派分歧的时代）的结束。奥巴马团队为其经济刺激方案争取广泛支持的意图明显路人皆知，但他们的努力只在参议院换来三张共和党支持票，而在众议院一无所获。总统钦点的商务部长，参议员贾德·格雷格（Judd Gregg），一位来自新罕布什尔州的共和党员，拒绝了这项工作就任，并声称原因之一是他个人反对奥巴马的方案。 根据《华盛顿邮报》记者E. J. 迪翁（E. J. Dionne Jr.) 的报道，奥巴马本人，在空军一号上对一群专栏作家说，将来他会更加审慎地着手处理(approach)与共和党人的关系。”大家知道，我是个永恒的乐天派，”总统说，” 但这并不代表我是个傻蛋。”

【词汇】
postpartisanship post-前缀 ，…之后，partisanship，party的衍生词，党派观念；党派观念滞后，超越党派观念，跨党派分歧
yielded 动词yield，产出，收获…；勉强交出；让步，承认：I yield to no one in my admiration for (ie am one of the greatest admirers of) her work. 我比任何人都佩服她的工作.
make little secrect of 不掩饰。这个短语的意思很明显。This phrase makes little secrect of itselfe.
the Senate，参议院；the House，the House of Representatives的缩写，众议院
turn down 拒绝，让某人失望
cite 引用，原句中表达了“他个人的反对是拒绝部长职位的原因之一 ”这层意思。
approach 靠近，开始处理  wariness 名词，谨慎；固定搭配：with wariness
sap 俚语，傻瓜。原意是“植物的汁液”，引申含义“元气，精力”

【翻译心得】
sap我译成了“傻蛋”，更具俚语特征。the capital’s leading thinkers 受译言上的推荐者影响，最开始理解成了奥巴马的智囊团。实际上应该指国会政治人物中所有党派的领先思考家占主导地位的政策考虑者（感谢译言网友“小水爸爸”提醒），因为不论党内党外都认为奥巴马的团结策略是失败的。make little secrect of 的含义要准确而不动声色地译出十分困难。“路人皆知”是我觉得比较接近的译法，只是好像与原文有一点语气上的差异。

“是个傻蛋”，删掉中间的“个”，行文更加简洁，语气得到加强，也更符合中文语言习惯

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Such talk acted like a shot of adrenaline to the stilled hearts of liberal bloggers and columnists who had feared that Obama might squander a chance to stomp on his bewildered opposition. So much energy has been spent berating the idea of bipartisanship, in fact, that no one has stopped to ask what Obama means by it. As the political scientist James Morone recently pointed out on The Times’s Op-Ed page, legislative bipartisanship, in the sense of two-party unity behind a single agenda, has never really existed.[1]【 The presidents we tend to immortalize hardly managed to transcend party politics; their greatness grew from their willingness to articulate arguments that were calibrated to be divisive.】 Franklin Roosevelt infuriated generations of conservatives who reviled his concept of expansive government. Ronald Reagan‘s passionate counterargument made him an enduring enemy to the left.

此番言论就像给开明的(?)博客作者和专栏作家们缺乏动静的内心打了一剂肾上腺素。此前，他们一度担心奥巴马会错失将骚动的对手踩在脚下的良机。两党合作的想法被不遗余力地痛斥，事实上，也一直有人在不断质问奥巴马，这样做究竟是作何考虑。正如政治学者詹姆斯·马龙（James Morone ）在《时报》的特稿专页上所说，立法上的两党合作，若是企图通过在一个简单的日程表内实现两党联合而达到，是从不可能真正实现的。那些我们愿意让他永垂不朽的总统都尝试过超越党派间的政治分歧；他们希望道破那些被我们修正到使我们分裂的争端，而这些希望使他们的形象更加伟大。那些我们认为是永垂不朽的总统，几乎从未尝试过超越党派分歧；而正是随时准备展现自己辩论风采的热切意愿让他们的伟大形象更加熠熠发光。他们论证时用词精准，每一句话都被认真调节到足以引起分裂的程度。富兰克林·罗斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）让几代保守派气急败坏，他们咒骂他把政府扩大化的怪想法 扩张政府的理念让几代保守派气急败坏，破口大骂。罗纳德·里根（Ronald Reagan）的激情抗辩让他成为左派的长期敌人。

【词汇】
a shot of 一管针剂    adrenaline [ə'drenəlin] 肾上腺素
squander / ˈskwɔndə(r); ˋskwɑndɚ/v. 浪费（时间、金钱、机会、感情…）。这个词比waste高级多了吧，哇咔咔？
stomp / stɔmp; stɑmp/ v. (infml 口) move, walk, dance, etc with a heavy step (in the specified direction)
bewildered /bɪˈwɪldəd US -ərd/ adj. totally confused    动词bewilder，使混乱，使迷惑
berating 原词berate / bɪˈreɪt; bɪˋret/ v [Tn] (fml 文) scold sharply 严厉责备; 痛斥.
means by it means经常和by it联系起来用
Op-Ed page Op-Ed是形容词，也可以不必大写首字母，词源是opposite (the) editorial [社论背面]。美国英语特有词。美国报纸的署名评论版一般在社论所在版面的背面。社论代表报纸立场，署名评论只代表作者观点。
legislative /ˈledʒɪslətɪv US -leɪtɪv/ 与立法相关的。动词legislate，立法。
in the sense of 从…的意义上说
immortalize also immortalise BrE /ɪˈmɔːtəlaɪz US -ɔːr-/ 使不朽
articulate 用词准确的，发音清晰的
calibrate 校准（仪器刻度）
divisive 引起分歧的，divide + active。
infuriate / ɪnˈfjuərɪeɪt; ɪnˋfjʊrɪˏet/  使大怒
conservative 保守的，保守者
revile 咒骂
counterargument 反争辩，couner- 前缀，表示“回应reaction”，“相对的opposite”，“配对的matching”
enduring 持续的，长期的

【难句】

[1]【 The presidents we tend to immortalize hardly managed to transcend party politics; their greatness grew from their willingness to articulate arguments that were calibrated to be divisive.】
那些我们认为是永垂不朽的总统，几乎从未尝试过超越党派分歧；而正是随时准备展现自己辩论风采的热切意愿让他们的伟大形象更加熠熠发光。他们论证时用词精准，每一句话都被认真调节调校到足以引起分裂的程度。

我的翻译比较冗长，因为我觉得只有这样才能表达清楚原文的意思。也许还有更简洁的译法，我想不出来。最开始我没有注意到那个hardly，结果整个段落都理解错误，搞得我还认为作者的逻辑禁不起推敲。

这个句子的前半部分还比较好理解，难点就在那个hardly，可不要把它看做是immortalize的修饰语。“竭尽全力使其不朽”算怎么回事？后半部分只要能准确断句，也不难理解。正确的语素关系应该是： their greatness grew| from their willingness [to articulate arguments (that were calibrated to be divisive)]。N重嵌套的修饰语在中文实在少见，翻译的时候十分困难。如果大家觉得还有更好的译法，请留言告知。

【翻译心得】

“扩张政府的理念让几代保守派气急败坏，破口大骂”的译法是我力求翻译腔的尝试。

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This doesn’t mean, though, that our politics have not fundamentally changed over the last few decades. Roosevelt and his Republican critics had profound disagreements, but both sides understood that their dispute was ideological rather than personal, the clash of opposing theories in a common pursuit. In his outstanding biography of  Tip O’Neill, John A. Farrell describes how, far from slamming the Oval Office door on a politician who didn’t agree with them, Reagan’s aides kept O’Neill’s favorite cigars on hand. Reagan and the Democratic speaker would spar heatedly for hours in the Oval Office (and in the news media), only to shake hands and do it again. Unlike Obama, of course, Reagan had little choice but to do business with his adversary, who controlled the House. But from the stormy dialogue between Reagan and O’Neill came a more balanced program than either man might have authored alone.

不过，这并不代表我们的政治家在过去几十年中没有发生根本上的改变。罗斯福和他的共和党批评者之间有深刻的对立，但双方都很清楚，他们的争论与其说是个人的恩怨，还不如说是意识形态上的[差异]，是拥有共同追求的对立观点之间的冲突。在其杰出著作《迪普·奥尼尔（Tip O’Neill）传》中，约翰·A·法雷尔（John A. Farrell）描述了里根总统是如何帮助奥尼尔，而不是在总统办公室遇到这位不同意自己的政客，就甩门而去。由于里根的帮助，奥尼尔才能一直抽到自己喜爱的雪茄。里根和民主党发言人在总统办公室（以及新闻媒体上）可以激烈争吵互相争辩上几个小时，最终还是会总是握手言和。如此吵吵停停，循环往复。当然，与奥巴马不同，里根是不得不和对手打交道，因为当时他们控制着众议院。不过，里根和奥尼尔之间暴风雨般对话的结果总是一个更为平衡各方利益的方案。

【词汇】
fundamentally 根本上的
profound 深刻的，极大的，可用于sigh,silence,sleep,shock,interest,changes,ignorance等等…  pro-前缀代表”在..之前”，在成立之前就存在着的，是不是很大很深刻呢？
dispute / dɪˈspjuːt; dɪˋspjut/ 争论，口角
ideological /ˌaɪdiəˈlɔdʒɪkəl US -ˈlɑː-/ 意识形态的，观念上的
in a common pursuit 出于共同追求
the Oval Office 椭圆形办公室，也就是总统办公室
spar (通常指带善意地) 争吵
adversary / ˈædvəsərɪ; US -serɪ; ˋædvɚˏsɛrɪ/ 敌手，竞赛中的对手

【翻译心得】
In his outstanding biography of  Tip O’Neill 这句意思明白的话反而不好译。“在他的杰出的迪普·奥尼尔的传记中”，“的”字太多，显得很低级，翻译腔太重。若去掉任何一个“的”，要么不符合汉语平常的说话习惯，要么产生歧义，要么翻译腔更重。最终采用“在其杰出著作《迪普·奥尼尔（Tip O’Neill）传》中”这一译法，算是比较满足自然准确的要求，我不信他的biography of  Tip O’Neill不叫《迪普·奥尼尔传》。其实，”Tip”算是奥尼尔的绰号，但是这层意思不好翻译出来，再加上Tip本来就是由“Thomas Phillip”而来，也算是发音贴合，音译也没错。

than either man might have authored alone 直接省略不译。因为在英语中这样的强调很正常，但在汉语中就显得有点罗嗦了。

本段第一句话和最后一句话都以“不过”开头，显得有点奇怪。谁能帮我找一个更好的处理方法？

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[2]【Such an acknowledgment of common purpose has all but vanished, as the realignment in American politics – a hardening of regional loyalties that began with battles over civil rights and Vietnam – deepened the cultural divisions in Washington.】 Each party has demonized the other and embraced the notion that dissent can have no moral or intellectual value. True, we’ve not quite reached the depths of the 1850s, when the pro-slavery congressman Preston Brooks severely beat his colleague Charles Sumner with a cane (it’s a shame they didn’t have YouTube), but nonetheless, the two sides rarely breach their mistrust long enough to bicker like ordinary humans, let alone share a cigar.

这一显而易见的政治目标几乎已经无人注意到 ，因为美国政治格局的重组深化了华盛顿的文化分歧。自关于公民权利和越南问题的斗争起，宗教忠诚就被不断强化。但随着美国政治格局的重组，这种大家其实殊途同归的政治共识已经几乎消失殆尽。自民权争端和越战问题起，宗教地区忠诚就被不断强化，华盛顿内部出现了更严重的文化分歧。两个党派都妖魔化对方，并且臣服于“异议既不道德，也无智慧”这一信条。不错，我们的确还没有达到19世纪50年代的那些前辈们的厉害程度(，) —— 当年亲奴隶制的国会议员普雷斯顿·布鲁克斯（Preston Brooks）用藤条手杖狠狠鞭打笞打他的同僚查尔斯·萨姆纳（Charles Sumner）（很可惜当时的人们没有YouTube）。但是话说回来，政治上对立的这两派始终还是很少放弃对彼此的不信任，像正常人一样斗嘴都尤不可为，更别说分享雪茄了。

【词汇】

【难句】

[2]【Such an acknowledgment of common purpose has all but vanished, as the realignment in American politics – a hardening of regional loyalties that began with battles over civil rights and Vietnam – deepened the cultural divisions in Washington.】

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This is why Obama is right to value bipartisanship, even if he doesn’t manage to win a single Republican vote – and even if he doesn’t need any to enact his legislative program. During the closing weeks of the fall campaign, Obama told me that bridging the cultural chasm in America would require of him, as president, a governing style that acknowledged differences rather than exploited them. This is why he intends to keep Republican leaders on speed dial, even if they vote against him – in doing so, he demonstrates to the voters that he will not be dragged into the pettiness and derision that have caused so many of them to lose faith in their government. He may also, over time, accumulate enough goodwill to wrangle Republican votes when he really does need them. [2]【If Obama is serious about making the difficult choices necessary to reform entitlements, for instance, he is bound to lose some support within his own party, and he may well find himself in need of partners from unexpected quarters.】

这就是为什么奥巴马重视两党合作是一个正确的决定，即便他都无法获得共和党的一张支持票——而且他要使自己的法案生效其实并不需要这些投票。在去年秋季竞选的最后一周，奥巴马告诉我，要在美国的文化鸿沟之上架起一座沟通的桥梁，需要他当总统时采取承认差异而不是利用差异的执政风格。这就是为什么他打算继续保存共和党领导人的快速拨号，即使他们总是投他的反对票——通过这样做，他向他的支持者表明了决心：他不会陷入让民众失去对政府信心的卑鄙而可笑的境地。随着时间的推移，他也能够积攒足够的声望和善意，当他真的实在需要共和党支持票的时候，作为与他们争辩的砝码。例如，如果奥巴马非常认真地要执行某项改革特定权益(entitlements)的艰难决定，他可能不得不丧失部分党内支持，而此时他还可以在一些意想不到的阵营中找到伙伴。

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In this way, Obama’s efforts haven’t been the failure that some think them to be. Eric Cantor, the Republican House whip, told me that he had met with the president four times already and thought him sincere and likable. The last of these meetings came on the night when senior Republicans in the House managed to corral their caucus into unanimously rejecting Obama’s stimulus program, then marched straight up Pennsylvania Avenue for drinks at the White House. [3]【He sought Republican backing for his plan to withdraw from Iraq and won conditional support from no less an adversary than John McCain.】 [4]【And while the president has taken to chastising his critics for old ideas, and while they have pilloried his economic instincts as being essentially Marxist, neither side has yet done so with anything like the venom that characterized the previous era.】

由此看来，奥巴马的努力并不是像某些人认为的，是毫无收益的失败。艾瑞克·坎特（Eric Cantor），众议院的共和党纪律委员（whip），告诉我说他已经面见总统四次，并且认为他是一个诚恳的、值得喜欢的人。最后一次见面是在一个晚上，众议院的共和党高层使出手段，让党内决策人员一致反对奥巴马的刺激计划，然后直接游行到了宾夕法尼亚大道，要在白宫讨杯喝的。奥巴马寻求共和党人对其从伊拉克撤军方案的支持，并且至少获得了约翰·麦凯恩（John McCain）这一老对手有条件的支持。在奥巴马总统严厉斥责他的批评是出于守旧观念时，在共和党人嘲笑奥巴马的经济直觉本质上是马克思主义时，双方都没有做任何过分的事，比如说用恶毒的言语评价上个总统任期内对方的表现。

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The tone of a presidency reveals itself only in time. After all, George W. Bush worked with Ted Kennedy to create his signature education plan during his first months in office, and he enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in the months after Sept. 11, 2001. It would have been hard to foresee then that the totality of his two terms would be remembered as one of the least cooperative periods in the country’s history. Similarly, it’s far too soon to assume that Obama’s opening act signals the curtain coming down on his bipartisan ideal. Only the most reactionary forces in Obama’s own party would demand that he stop trying to overhaul the contemptuous culture of the capital. And only a sap would listen to them.

总统执政风格只有经过时间的磨洗才会尽显本色。毕竟，乔治·W·布什（George W. Bush）与泰德·肯尼迪（ Ted Kennedy）在其任内第一个月内，合作提出了教育改革方案，并在9·11后几个月内，享受了压倒性的两党合作支持。当时谁又能料想到他的两个任期最终会被人们看作是历史上党派间最缺乏合作的时期之一。同理，现在断言奥巴马失败的开场标志着他的两党合作理想就要落幕，还为时尚早。只有奥巴马自己党内的极端倒退势力才会要求他停止修正国会大厦里傲慢文化的步伐。而只有“傻蛋”才会听他们的。

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Matt Bai, who covers politics for the magazine, is the author of “The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

作者简介：马特·白（Matt Bai），《纽约时报》政治方面专业作者，曾著有《论证：重建民主政治的斗争局内》（The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics）。