It´s almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. Put simply, they’re not real living at all. But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it´s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.
We can choose to see failure as"the end of the world, "or as proof of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we´re meant to learn. These lessons are very important; they´re how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we let them. Failure can also teach us things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise.
For instance, failure can help you discover how strong a person you are. Failing at something can help you discover your truest friends, or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed.
考題文章來自于知名網站Mind Tools上一篇名為“Overcoming Fear of Failure:Facing Your Fear of Moving Forward”一文。文章略有刪減,總詞數151詞,共3段,10句話。題目難度適中,題材常規,符合英語二翻譯歷年的考題規律。相似題材的文章曾經考過,如2010年“承受力”這篇文章?碱}貼近生活,總體難度較低,考生可從容應對,個別語句較為抽象,略有難度,下面進行解析。
二、難句剖析
1.【原文】But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it´s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.
【分析】本句話易于簡單,由主句加上that引導的表語從句構成,表語從句中嵌套這how引導的賓語從句。其中,the wonderful thing about failure 可以理解為“失敗的妙處”,be up to sb.表示“取決于某人”;it´s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it可以理解為“完全由我們來決定如何看待它”,把無靈主語it譯成有靈主語“我們”,更符合漢語習慣。
【譯文】但是,失敗的妙處就在于,完全由我們來決定如何看待它。
2.【原文】Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is.
【分析】本句話由主句和that引導的定語從句構成。其中,look at failure as the learning experience需要注意措辭,incredible是形容詞,最常見的意思是“不能相信的”,但也有“難以置信的、極大的、極好的”之意;結合語境,翻譯成“難以置信的”較為通順,因此這半句話可理解為“把它看作令人難以置信的學習經歷”,為避免上下文重復,可將failure譯成代詞“它”。