冠詞經常大量出現於文章之中，以下例句討論英文冠詞的翻譯技巧：

◎  When guests stay too long, try treating them like members of the family.  If they don’t leave then, they never will. - Martin Ragaway 
客人久留不去，試著像家人一樣對待他們。倘若他們還不走，就永遠賴著不走了。

(類似諺語)
Visits always give pleasure - if not the arrival, the departure. - Portuguese Proverb (葡萄牙諺語)
故舊 (有人) 造訪總令人欣喜，只要不是迎來，而是送往。

A guest is like rain: when he lingers on, he becomes a nuisance.
訪客猶如雨水，陰雨若是不散，便惹人生厭。

 

◎  It is difficult to see the picture when you are inside the frame. - R.S. Trapp
跳脫不出框架，便難以看清全貌。
(解說) 此處的冠詞是表明讀者都知道的概念，類似 Please do not lean against the door。

 

◎  A new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom knows all the corners. - Irish Proverb (愛爾蘭諺語)
菜鳥會將地板清掃乾淨，老鳥則將灰塵掃到各個角落。

 

◎  If youth only knew; if age only could. - Henri Estienne
若能年少視廣，老當益壯，那該有多好。

 

◎  One summer, along about 1904, my father rented a camp on a lake in Maine and took us all there for the month of August.  -  “Once more to the lake” E.B. White
有一年夏天，大約是 1904 年 ，父親在緬因州某個湖邊租了一個露營場，帶著全家去那裡度過整個八月。
(解說) 中文冠詞的概念比較薄弱，翻譯時不能拘泥於英文冠詞。 a /an 有時翻譯成 「一個」，有時則翻譯成 「某個」。

 

◎ A person may be very secretive and yet have no secrets.  - E. Hubbard
有些人也許神秘兮兮，但卻沒有秘密可言。

 

◎  If life is a grind, use it to sharpen your wits. - Anon
人生若是一場折磨，就讓它磨利你的智慧。
(版主解說) “grind” 在此是一石二鳥，中文比較難翻譯。
grind = (n) something that is hard work and physically and mentally tiring. (令人厭倦或疲勞的苦差事)
grind = (v) to make something sharp or smooth by rubbing it on a hard surface or by a machine (磨光 / 磨利)

◎ This article is padded out with a lot of quotations from magazines. 
這篇文章引用許多雜誌語錄來湊篇幅。

 

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