商务翻译（二）

第十三单元　商务翻译（二）

教学目标

本单元教学目标为：一、让学生了解商务类文章的分类及特点；二、熟悉一般商务英语类文章汉译的原则；三、体会一般商务英语类文章汉译的相关策略和方法。

课文

Games Turn London into “Ghost Town”

From Financial Times by James Pickford，Jim Pickard，in London

The Olympics is creating a “ghost town” effect in central London as visitors who would normally flock to the capital’s shops，hotels and theatres stay away，casting doubt on predictions of a short-term economic boost from the games.

The games have attracted as many as 100，000 foreign visitors to London—more than in previous Olympics.But，on its own，that number significantly lags the estimated 300，000 foreign tourists who could be expected in a typical year.Theatres are among the businesses suffering most from emptier streets.

“We’re bleeding，darling，” said Nica Burns，chief executive of Nimax Theatres.“For my six theatres，last week was the worst this year.I think the Olympics are great—but I feel like I’ve been the bullseye for the archery.”

Ms Burns forecast that ticket sales at her company’s six West End theatres would be down 30 percent over the summer.

London’s major museums and tourist attractions are also being affected.The body representing them，the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions，reported a fall of 30-35 percent in attendance over the past two weeks，compared to last year.

Bernard Donoghue，ALVA’s chief executive，said its members—who include the British Museum and the Tower of London—“have been trying to compensate by telling people there are fewer queues and longer opening hours.”

Transport for London，the public body that runs the capital’s Underground and road network，has been warning for months of heavy disruption.The voice of Boris Johnson，mayor，has boomed from station platforms warning of the imminent “huge pressure” on the transport system.

TfL said journey numbers were four percent higher than usual yesterday.

In response to slow bookings，hotels have cut prices.Hotels.com research said prices during the Olympics had fallen around 25 percent in a two-week period in June.

Nick Palan，managing director for Golden Tours，an open-top tour bus company，said： “It’s totally destroyed the market for us this summer.The hotels put up prices heavily earlier in the year.We’re down by over 20 percent.”

Mr.Donoghue of ALVA said the body had asked TfL to alter its advice： “As long as you avoid peak times and stations，London is surprisingly accessible and open for business.”

(http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001045773/en)

参考译文

奥运让伦敦市中心变“鬼城”

英国《金融时报》詹姆斯·皮克福德，吉姆·皮卡德 伦敦报道

奥运会正使伦敦市中心地带（central London）变为一座“鬼城”，平常门庭若市的商场、酒店和剧院如今却门可罗雀，这让人们对奥运将给英国经济带来短期提振的预言产生了怀疑。

此次奥运会吸引了多达10万名外国游客来到伦敦，人数高于伦敦以前举办过的奥运会。但与一般年份30万外国游客的水平相比，这一数字实际上很低。

空空如也的大街让剧院等行当损失惨重。

尼麦克斯剧院（Nimax Theatres）行政总裁尼卡·伯恩斯（Nica Burns）说：“亲爱的，我们的心在滴血啊。对于我掌管的六家剧院来说，上周是今年表现最糟糕的一周。奥运会确实很棒，但我感觉我们的角色却像是射箭比赛中的靶心。”

伯恩斯女士预计，她们公司在伦敦西区的六家剧院今年夏天的门票销售额将下降30％。

伦敦主要的博物馆和旅游景点也受到了影响。代表这些实体利益的英国旅游景点协会（Association of Leading Visitor Attractions）发布报告称，相比去年，过去两周游客人数下降了30％～35％。

英国旅游景点协会行政总裁伯纳德·多诺霍（Bernard Donoghue）指出，包括大英博物馆（British Museum）和伦敦塔（Tower of London）在内的协会会员“一直在宣传它们那里现在排队时间更短、开放时间更长，试图吸引游客以弥补自己受到的损失。”

管理英国首都地铁和公路网的公共机构——伦敦交通局（Transport for London）几个月来一直在警示（奥运期间）可能出现严重的交通中断。站台广播中传来伦敦市长鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）的声音，提醒人们交通系统很快将面临“巨大的压力”。

伦敦交通局指出，昨天的出行人数比往常增加了4％。

伦敦的酒店因订房情况较为低迷，已纷纷下调了客房价格。酒店预订网（Hotels.com）的调查显示，奥运客房的预订价格在6月份的两周时间里下降了25％左右。

英国敞篷旅游巴士公司金牌观光（Golden Tours）的董事总经理尼克·帕兰（Nick Palan）说：“今年夏天我们的市场彻底毁了。酒店在今年早些时候把客房定价提得太高了……结果导致我们现在的收入下降了20％以上。”

多诺霍表示，英国旅游景点协会已要求伦敦交通局更改其警示：“只要避开高峰时段和最拥挤的车站，你依然会感到伦敦是惊人的便利，商业环境也开放得很。”

（王慧玲　译）

参考译文赏析

这是发表在2012年7月30日英国《金融时报》（Financial Times）对伦敦奥运会期间主办城市伦敦的经济情况不升反降，旅游收入急剧下滑的一篇报道。由于奥运村在伦敦东区，而紧邻奥运村的韦斯特菲尔德（Westfield）购物中心是集购物、娱乐、休闲，餐饮、酒店和交通于一体的目前欧洲最大的城市购物中心，许多前去观看比赛的游客在此就能满足购物等需求，并没有去平日繁华的市中心购物消费的想法，导致伦敦市中心的餐饮，旅店和著名景点收入急剧下降。

文章一开始用一句话对伦敦市中心的经济情况交代清楚，又加以数据支撑，随后从剧院、旅游、酒店和交通三方面加以分述，并分别有各方权威人士的言论引用，这也是英语报刊语言的特征之一。

商务英语文章，尤其是商务报刊的标题是文章的开门点睛之笔，具有简练醒目、生动形象、传神达意的特点，且频繁使用修辞、缩略词、俚语、引经据典，极富英文的语言和文化特色，是翻译的重点和难点。标题的翻译通常可以采用以下方法：

一、直译。直译就是按字面进行翻译，译文在结构和意思上与原文保持一致。如果英文标题直接明了，且直译后不存在文化冲突等问题，都可以这样处理。例如：“Investor fears rise over Spain”直译为“投资者对西班牙担忧加剧”；“Court battle peels away the Apple mystery”直译为“庭审大战揭开苹果神秘面纱”；“South Sudan faces finance crunch”直译为“南苏丹陷入财政困境”。

二、意译。意译有可分为三种：增译、减译、改译。

增译用在当直译不能充分传达原文的含义或不符合汉语表达习惯，需要增补词语，以达到预期效果。增词指根据正文的内容，将有关的背景信息加以词汇的填补，使译出的汉语标题准确达意。如本篇文章标题Games Turn London into “Ghost Town” 根据正文内容，“London”（伦敦）具体指“central London”（伦敦市中心），所以译文增加“中心”一词：“奥运会让伦敦中心变‘鬼城’”，使表达更准确。还有一例：“Chinese tax on US vehicles challenged”若直译为“中国对美国汽车征税被质疑”，意思表达不完整且译出的被动语态不符合汉语习惯，可调整成主动语态并根据文章内容填补相应信息译成：“美国起诉中国对自美进口汽车超额征税”。

由于英语的结构特点，英文表达的标题直译成汉语显得累赘拖沓，此时需要根据具体情况，在不影响大意和整体效果的前提下，对某些内容进行大胆地删除。如：“Google agrees outline deal with EU to avoid long antitrust battle”译成“谷歌与欧盟达成框架和解协议”而省去“为了避免长期的反垄断斗争”使译文更符合汉语的行文习惯以及汉语读者的阅读口味。又如：“Canadian PM urges closer links to Asia after US pipeline stalling”直译为“加拿大总理在美国决定延缓审批石油管道后加强与亚洲的联系”，译文显得冗长且不符合汉语标题表达习惯，为了简洁又不失标题的吸引力，译成“加拿大总理：不想成为美国‘俘虏’”。

有篇文章标题叫“America must remember it is not just any other country”，直译为“美国必须记住它不是其它任何国家”，这样译出的标题读起来不够清晰明确，让人摸不着头脑，但该文是由前美国国务卿赖斯为英国《金融时报》撰稿，高调谈论美国应发挥全球的带头作用，使国际自由贸易体系向更安全、更自由、更繁荣的方式发展。汉译是可以稍作变通，译文为“美国的全球重任”。还有一例：“LME suitors woo the board”，通过正文，可以明确标题中的LME是“The London Metal Exchange”（伦敦金属交易所）的缩略语，而原文中的“suitor”有“收购方”和“追求者”两种译项；“woo”也有“争取……支持”和“向……告白”的两种译项，文中讲的是十多家公司都在竞争伦敦金属交易所的收购项目，而如今已缩减到两家，这两家公司都表明其收购意向，极力争取董事会的支持。标题直译为“伦敦金属交易所追求者向董事会告白”和“伦敦金属交易所收购方们争取董事会支持”。但两种译法都不能尽其双关之妙。但译文“伦敦金属交易所将花落谁家”，不仅文字简练，还很好地传达了原文的意思。

翻译理论学习

一、商务类文章的特点

商务类文章就是在涉及国际商务和经贸领域所应用到的文章，涉及商务活动的方方面面，知识面涉及金融、贸易、法律、财会、营销和管理等，商务活动范围涉及商务会议、贸易谈判、商务信函、技术引进、国际支付与结算和涉外保险等范围。

商务类文章专门应用在商业领域，具有其自身的特点，主要表现在以下几点：一、文风严谨，朴实。其语句简洁明了，避免含糊其辞。商务类文章属于实用文体，其内容有很强的针对性。商场如战场，无论是在进行商务谈判，还是互通信函时，拟定合同时，遣词造句力求简练、直接、清楚，因为任何闪失和歧义都会为未来的争端留下伏笔，造成不必要的损失。二、句式逻辑严密，滴水不漏。主要体现在商务文件或合同等具有法律效力的文书，为了避免纠纷，必须清楚明了，准确无误地陈述各方的责任和义务，每一项条款的表达都应面面俱到，无懈可击。这类语篇的句子结构通常比较复杂，多用长句，复合句，并列复合句等句型，三、客观公正，礼貌客套。在国际商务活动中，无论在国际商务会议中还是商务信函的往来，礼貌起着至关重要的作用。尤其是信函的开头和结尾频繁使用社交性套语，简明直接，迅速实现交际目的。四、大量使用专门术语和缩略词。在长期的使用和商务实践过程中，为了表达方便，意义精确，形成了一系列的商业术语和约定俗成的缩略词，这些术语和概念使用方便，言简意赅，含义丰富，从事国际商务活动的人们都应熟悉，对于其中承载的责任和义务，也应牢记于心。

二、商务英语的分类

按照商务类文章的内容和用途，大体可分为以下两类：

1.一般商务类文章：包括商务报刊，金融评论，以及商务会议讲话、记录。这类文章的题目具有鲜明的特色，语言形象生动，醒目明了，有画龙点睛之效，以达到吸引读者眼球并简明地体现文章主旨的目的。在行文过程中，用词准确，以防引起误解；避免重复。谈到同一个问题时，用不同的词或词组表达相同的意思；句型也变换多样，各种各样的句式在文中交替出现，使人读起来感到丰富而不累赘；很多情况下，这类文章常常使用比喻、拟人、象征等修辞手法来增加文章的表达力和趣味性，文章显得生动活泼，读起来也轻松自然。

2.各类法律和商务文书：这里包括了商务信函、合同、商业广告、产品说明书、委托书、企事业单位规章制度、计划书、方案等。限于篇幅，本书只涉及承担国际经济和贸易往来载体作用的商务信函。商务信函指在日常的国际商务往来中用以传递信息，联络和沟通的信函。常用的商务信函主要有推销函、询价函、报价函、还价函、答复函、请求函、确认函、通知函等。商务信函用语准确、简洁、礼貌。

三、商务类文章的翻译

商务类文章的翻译与传统的文学翻译相比，具有很强的专业性和目的性。如果说文学翻译是精神层面的，那么商务翻译则是物质层面的。文学作品的翻译更多的是意境和美感的传达，而商务翻译则是涉及经济利益、形象、声誉，以及人际关系等正式文件的精确再现。商务类文章内容主要涉及会议讲话、金融报刊、评论，以及信函、协议、公报等正式文件，有些译文要求公开发表并长期存档，所以应该经得起审查和推敲。

商务类文章几乎涉及经济贸易领域的各个方面，其中涉及许多专业术语和国际惯例，这不仅要求译者英语和汉语的语言能力都要强，具有扎实的语法知识和庞大的词汇量，保证在英译汉中准确理解英文句子以及在汉英翻译中英文表达的正确性，还要求译者有相关的背景知识，除通晓行业术语和缩略语外，还要熟悉国际贸易相关知识以及相关流程，以充分理解原文从而地道准确地用译入语表达出来。

英语和汉语在词汇和句法上都存在着很大的差异，在英汉互译时必然会遇到很多困难，以下是汉译英时需要注意的几点：

1.拿过一篇英文，应首先通读全文，把握文章的整体基调；通过上下文以及自身的背景知识理解文中词句；遇到新词、陌生的表达要借助专业书籍或网络弄明白；直到把这些难点疑点都解开，再开始着手翻译。只有把文章内容和主题都读透彻，译出的文字才能准确流畅。

2.英语中经常出现被动语态，商务英语尤其如此。虽然汉语也有“被”+动词是表示被动的，但这种表达方式远没有商务英语中的被动语态那么常见。英语被动句的特点是省略了施动者，避免给人一种主观臆断之感，使文本显得更委婉，正式，容易让人接受。但如果直接把英语的被动语态译成相应的汉语，译文读起来就显生硬，不自然。因此，商务英语中大部分的被动语态汉译时都译成汉语的主动。

3.英语的重心在前，汉语的重心在后。在商务英语中，为了表达准确完整，很多时候用到复合句，句子结构比较复杂。英文往往是结论或判断等重要内容在前，解释和事实在后；汉语则是由事实到结论，由假设到推理，由原因到结构，循序渐进的顺序。由此可见，英语和汉语的重心位置有时是不一样的，汉译的时候要做出相应的调整，否则会给表述造成很大的很困难。

4.译文对英语原文的忠实性。忠实有两层含义：一是译文与原文的语义信息一致，不能有任何引申或删减。尤其是在翻译合同等法律文书时，丁是丁，卯是卯，其所要表达的信息正是语言文字的表面所传达的信息。二是译文的行文风格和方式要符合原文的语言风格和行文方式。商务英语中涉及不同文体的语言形式，如委托书、合同、广告等。如果在翻译中忽视了原文的文体，不仅使译文的信息量流失，而且显得很不得体。因此，这都是译者应该注意的问题。

由于商务类文章范围广、涉及领域多，要求素质良好的译者应该相关的专业背景，并在翻译实践中不断地学习和积累经验。

翻译练习

练习一

Economic Woes Put Free Trade at Risk

From Financial Times by Alan Beattie in Washington

The dog that did not bark is stirring restlessly in its sleep.Trade protectionism，emblematic of the destructive economic policies followed in the Great Depression of the 1930s，has been remarkably absent since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.

But with high unemployment in the rich countries and renewed threats of economic weakness across the global economy，experts and policy makers are becoming less sanguine that the beast will remain deep in slumber.

Global Trade Alert—a monitoring service run by Simon Evenett，a professor at St Gallen university in Switzerland—reported on Thursday that protectionist actions including tariff increases，export restrictions and skewed regulatory changes were much higher in 2010 and 2011 than previously thought，with many more in the pipeline.

“The world trading system did not settle down to low levels of protectionism after the spike in beggar-thy-neighbor policies in 2009，” Mr Evenett says.

The World Trade Organization，whose analysis has been markedly more optimistic than Mr Evenett，set off a distress flare last week when it published its most recent report before next week’s summit of the Group of 20 leading economies.“For the first time since the beginning of the crisis in 2008，this report is alarming，” said Pascal Lamy，WTO director-general.The EU，in a similar report last week，said rises in protectionism were“staggering”.

Global Trade Alert notes that，despite the G20’s pledge in 2008 to maintain free trade，its member countries are collectively responsible for nearly 80 percent of global protectionist actions this year，up from 60 percent in 2009.The WTO says about 4 percent of G20 trade is now affected by measures introduced since 2008.Mr.Evenett’s estimates are much higher，giving 10 percent as an absolute minimum.

The extent of trade restrictions remains hard to quantify： many involve changes in licensing or regulation rather than more easily-measured actions such as antidumping and countervailing (anti-subsidy) duties on imports.Brazil and Argentina，for example，which are engaged in an escalating trade dispute，have been raising licensing requirements on each other’s exporters.

The WTO’s dispute settlement system is being called into action to mediate disagreements and particularly about whether a widespread resort to emergency blocks on tariffs contravenes international law.

（http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001045110/en）

翻译提示

这是一篇登载在报刊上的专栏文章，主要讨论贸易保护主义问题，翻译时应尽量做到信息准确，语言简洁，意义清晰，同时注意题目翻译要能体现文章主题，抓住读者眼球。

练习二

Osborne’s Critics Need to Take a Long

Hard Look in the Mirror

Martin Sandbu

In the Olympics，we were told last week，honour is determined not by whether you win，but by how you compete.In politics，the rule is reversed.UK chancellor George Osborne looks decidedly like a loser after a dreadful batch of economic statistics.And Mr.Osborne’s critics，eager for glory，are taking shortcuts as they try to claim victory in the economic policy competence contest.

Some，to their credit，have been consistent in their criticism of Mr.Osborne’s economic strategy.(No credit to the opposition，whose job it is，right or wrong，to criticise what the government does.) Many more，including corporate chiefs descending on London for the Olympics，only started to prance about with their superior economic judgment when data laid bare the horror show of the government’s economic record.

The statistics are incontrovertibly awful.In the second quarter，the UK economy shrank by 0.7 percent.In July，manufacturing activity fell at the fastest pace since March 2009.This is enough to turn the practical men and women who run the world’s biggest companies into the slaves of a defunct economist.The Keynesian story that business leaders have been telling the government goes like this.Everyone knows that spending cuts and tax rises reduce demand.The UK suffers from too little demand.So the recession was a foreseeable，avoidable，self-inflicted wound； and the deficit cuts must be slowed before it is too late.

Cooler minds should hesitate to attribute a slowdown replicated all around the world，to local factors.Certainties could be tempered by the unprecedented state we are in： there are very few earlier cases of balance sheet recessions in countries where the state also has a large share of the economy—and of its debt.

That the UK economy has slumped twice does not mean the slump could have been avoided，but it is likely.Even so，deficit reduction is not the policy that needs to change.I am not a fatalist who thinks nothing can be done，but I worry that jumping to fiscal conclusions can distract us from other，untried，policies with a better chance of success.All serious observers want stronger demand.But there is an honest disagreement over whether fiscal stimulus is the first or the last resort to bring it to life.

Mr.Osborne’s critics ridicule his argument that a weaker fiscal effort would push up interest rates and choke the private sector.The Bank of England，they say，can keep gilt yields where it wants.That is true，though hardly automatic in a regime of independent central banking.More importantly，even though the BoE can target gilt yields，it struggles to hold down the interest rates faced by the private sector.The costs of small business loans，mortgages，and bank funding are all creeping up despite the unchanged monetary policy.If a U-turn on fiscal policy were to spook investors，these are the rates that risk running amok in the case of capital flight，not gilt yields.Given the huge foreign currency exposures of British banks，it is reckless to rely on BoE printing presses being able to solve such a problem.

But those presses can do more now.Companies and households face high effective interest rates： we are clearly not in a liquidity trap.On the contrary，tightening credit conditions are matched by a looser fiscal stance—Mr.Osborne is keeping his promise to let “automatic stabilizers” work and not cut harder in response to the downturn—so one should talk of a recession made in Threadneedle Street rather than in Downing Street.

Astonishingly，the BoE has not yet tried true helicopter drops of money.Its gilt purchases may have lowered long-term capital market rates，but not made businesses or households more eager to spend.So why not put cash in the hands of people likely to spend it? £30bn of newly minted money—less than one-tenth of what has been spent on gilts—could cover a £1，000 cheque to each household.If you doubt this will boost spending，how about £5，000? Call it covert fiscal policy if you must； it would not alter deficit measures that worry markets.

As for Mr.Osborne，his fault is not his ambition on public finances，but his timidity on fiscally neutral ways to stimulate demand.An obvious one is a high temporary levy on retained earnings (with tax cuts elsewhere) that would force companies to spend surpluses or see them taxed.There are others； the IMF’s list is as good as any.In contrast，blindly rushing for fiscal loosening reflects a lack of imagination—of how complicated the world is and of what better solutions are hiding in plain sight.

(http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001045919/en)

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这篇文章讨论了英国的财政政策和英国经济滑坡的现实，批评了英国财长经济措施的失误，语言简洁，观点明确，又不失幽默感，翻译时应在准确传达原文思想的基础上，注意体现作者的语言风格。同时，如何翻译标题亦值得仔细斟酌。

练习三

Our Opt-in Opt-out Solution to the Eurozone Crisis

Hans-Werner Sinn，Friedrich Sell

The distressed countries in Europe’s southern periphery fear exiting or being expelled from the currency union，partly because they believe they would lose all the euro’s advantages permanently.This fear could be laid to rest by making the eurozone an open currency union.

The core idea is to offer exiting countries the status of associated member，allowing them to adopt their own currency temporarily with the option to return to the euro at a later stage.An associated member would spare itself the trauma of a real depreciation inside the eurozone，which can only be achieved through a reduction of prices and wages that almost unavoidably entails economic contraction and mass unemployment.Moreover，an associated member could receive financial help from the other eurozone countries.It could adjust its exchange rate quickly to restore competitiveness and，once it had fulfilled all reform commitments，could fully rejoin the eurozone.

A longstanding arrangement，the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II，could provide a basis for such a currency “association”.Conceived for EU member states that have not yet introduced the euro，the ERM II at present includes Denmark，Latvia and Lithuania.All countries that have adopted the euro since 2000 have done so on condition of spending a two-year period within ERM II without stress，staying within a range of ±15 percent with respect to a central rate against the euro.This mechanism could be expanded to allow it to harbour，after a transition period，countries leaving the eurozone，too.

Any country that left the eurozone and introduced a national currency would immediately come under strong pressure to devalue.Once the exchange rate against the euro had settled down，joining the ERM II at a realistic central rate with more generous band margins could be considered.The ERM II could thus become a sort of “training space” for a subsequent return to the eurozone.As the depreciation and structural reforms of the countries affected began to make them more competitive，the band margins could be gradually tightened.Interventions by the European Central Bank and national counterparts (the ECB has such duties within the ERM II in any case) would remain manageable as the convergence with the now-smaller eurozone increased.

Historical examples show that such a scenario is possible.In October 1969，the Willy Brandt government in Germany decoupled the D-Mark from its link to the dollar in a matter of days，floating the exchange rate for a short period and later resetting it at a rate 9 per cent lower(ie an appreciated D-Mark).The British showed how not to do it in the early 1990s，when facing huge current account deficits they brought the pound into the parity grid at a rate that was much too high.After a short，intense wave of speculation，the pound had to withdraw from the programme.Argentina，which was forced to give up its 1：1 peg to the US dollar in 2002，experienced a stormy floating of the peso in the currency markets.In about 18 months，after heavy swings and depreciation，it found a new parity in the neighbourhood of three pesos to the dollar.Thus in 2004 at the latest，it would have been possible for it to re-establish a fixed exchange rate，within a band，to the dollar.

This proposal to open the currency union has a decisive advantage over either maintaining the status quo or allowing disorderly exits from the eurozone.It would give the countries affected a realistic，and therefore credible，hope of returning to the euro.Linking the new national currencies to the euro would support the operational efficiency of the single market.And countries would not be expelled from the club； their full membership would simply lie dormant for a couple of years.

That would be a significant psychological factor making governments，and their electorates，more willing to persevere with painful economic reforms.

The writers are respectively president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and professor at Bundeswehr University Munich.

(http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001045853/en)

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本文讨论欧元区货币政策问题，文中包含较多专业术语，也涉及一些地区性和国际性组织及国家的名称，翻译时注意遵循约定俗成的译法，避免望文生义，力求译文地道、专业。