一些较难理解的英文词语

【编者按】本文内容节选自新华社译审王季良先生的翻译笔记。作者从其翻译外刊的实践中选取例句，配以地道的中文翻译，有时辅以适当说明，指津点要，陈说翻译难点。本刊认为，这些翻译点滴对学习翻译者大有裨益，特刊发以飨读者。

1. in the liquid-coal pipeline

In China， there is about $ 25 billion worth of investments currently in the liquid-coal pipeline.

在中国，目前在液化煤项目方面的投资约为250亿美元。

[结构类似的句子：As a result， Russia is in the semi-conductor caboose. 结果，俄罗斯在半导体方面落在最后。]

注意：in the pipeline是个英文习语，英英字典的释义是：undergoing preparation， production， or completion; in the works.

2. welcome to

Welcome to the finance-district offices of Hitachi credit corp. Here， one floor above a sparkling new Hitachi computer showroom， clerks pencil numbers into ledger books and finger abacuses. （WSJ， June 12， 1987）

请看看日立信贷公司金融区办公室的情形吧。这些办公室设在新建的熠熠生光的计算机展室上面一层。职员们在这里用铅笔把数字记入账册，手指拨着算盘。

[为了说明welcome to的这种用法，兹再举一例：Welcome to the “Second Revolution”， a phrase used by both Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to describe the upheaval in economics and ideas now under way in the two communist powers. （Time， Nov. 7， 1987）]

3. cannot realistically

America cannot realistically mount another Marshall plan. （NYT， Aug. 29， 1982）

美國要再实行一项马歇尔计划是不切实际的。

4. nobody can accurately

Nobody can accurately call those who plotted， financed and carried out the infamous mass slaughter of Sept. 11 militants， resistance fighters， gunmen， partisans or guerrillas. The most precise word to describe a person or group who murders even one innocent civilian to send a political message is terrorist. （William Safire， NYT Magazine， Sept. 23， 2001）

对于臭名昭著的9·11大屠杀的策谋者、经费提供者和实施者，称他们为好斗分子、抵抗战士、职业杀手、狂热信徒或游击队员，都不确切。对于为了发出一种政治信息而杀害无辜平民的人或团伙，即便只是杀死一人，称呼他们的最确切的用词是恐怖分子。

5. cannot honorably

You cannot honorably ignore his opinions.

不理睬他的意见，就会显得你没有雅量。

6. dangerously foolish area

The Korean peninsula was a dangerously foolish area in which to pin down a major portion of U.S. military power.

把美国相当大一部分军事力量驻扎在朝鲜半岛，是愚蠢到危险地步的做法。

7. powerful head of protectionist steam building up in Congress

The Reagan administration has to defuse the powerful head of protectionist steam building up in Congress， which requires the Japanese in particular—disliked even more intensely by the Washington trade lobbies—to move quickly in liberalizing their markets and dismantling their trade barriers. （The Sunday Times， July 5， 1987）

里根政府必须要化解国会中积聚起来的强大的保护主义压力。这就尤其要求日本——因为华盛顿的贸易游说团对日本的厌恶情绪越来越强烈——迅速行动，开放市场，消除贸易壁垒。

8. cloud three

He added， these reports “emanate from cloud three.”

他还说，这些报道是“无中生有”。

[cloud three的意思词典上、网上都查不到，路透社记者的注解是：The American expression “cloud three” means beyond the realm of possibility.]

9. just what the doctor ordered

“Ah， just what the doctor ordered！” exclaimed Bob when Mary brought him a glass of lemonade.

玛丽给鲍勃端来一杯柠檬汁时，鲍勃说道：“啊！这正是我想要的！”

[注：just what the doctor ordered是口语，意思是：exactly what is needed or wanted，不可按字面照搬。]

10. each country will be the judge of

Each country will be the judge of what constitutes an erratic fluctuation in its exchange rate.

什么情况算是一国货币的汇率不正常波动，要由每一个国家自己判断。

11. level playing field

“Just 500 years ago—yesterday in evolutionary terms—a British baby had only a 50 per cent chance of making it to reproductive age. Now， the figure is around 99 per cent，” says Steve Jones， a geneticist at University College London. There is also a more level playing field in the reproduction game. “No longer， as in the Middle Ages， do a few rich men have many children while many of those in poverty are forced into the army or into monasteries，” he says.

倫敦大学学院的遗传学家斯蒂夫·琼斯说：“就在五百年前——从进化论的角度说犹如昨天——英国的婴儿还只有50%的可能活到成年（或生育后代的年龄）。现在，这个数字是99%左右。”在繁衍后代方面，条件也比较公平了。他说：“在中世纪，少数富人生育很多子女，而许多穷人却不得不去当兵（或：从军）或进寺院。这种情况已一去不复返了。”

1籍贯上海市。职称译审。1953年毕业于北京外国语学院（今北京外国语大学）英语系。毕业后分配于新华社，从事国际新闻翻译工作（英译中），直至1991年3月退休。其间，1983年7月至1986年3月由农业部借调到联合国粮农组织中文组，任翻译审校工作。回国后曾在中国新闻学院兼职，教授过翻译课和外国报刊阅读课。曾参与翻译《华盛顿传》（全译本）、《里根小传》、《美国编年史》等。