周末好。
今天再分享一篇经济学人的重点笔记。这篇文章也是上个月知新共学翻译群的英译中练习。但我隐去了大部分社群专属笔记内容,这份笔记主要挑选个别难句子长句子,以及值得注意或积累的好词好句。希望对大家有所帮助。
评论区会置顶获得此篇文章双语及音频的方式,文末还有一首好听的歌。希望你能耐心看到底部。
Hassled recruiters have to sort through reams of applications that vastly outnumber the jobs available. 心烦意乱的招聘人员必须要翻阅数量远超过空缺职位的大批简历。
sort through,翻查;归整,比如She sorted through her suitcase for something to wear. 她翻遍衣箱找件穿的。
大量的某事物,下次可以试试reams of sth., 只不过这个词组大多表示文字上的大量,比如每次看这个公众号,都能收获reams of notes大量的笔记。
还有一个piles of sth | a pile of sth,意思也很类似:a lot of something 一大堆某物,大量某物,比如我每天都会收到很多用户的信息:piles of messages from followers
applications后面跟了一个定语从句,谓语outnumber,注意这个构词法:out-作为前缀有“超过”的意思,outnumber“(在数量上)比…多”,还有outpace 超过…的速度,赶过;outperform (效益上)超过,胜过; outplay 技术优于…,胜过,outdo 比……做得好;outshine 使……相形见绌。
For example, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a consumer-goods company, receives 1.2m applications for 25,000 positions every year. 例如,消费品公司强生每年招聘的2.5万个职位要收到120万份申请。
这句的词没有什么难的,唯一需要注意的是For的译法。英语里面难翻译的是介词,需要灵活使用的也是介词。很多英文介词可以处理成中文里的动词,比如of the people, by the people, for the people, 民有,民治,民享。
还有之前翻译群遇到的:
Milder slowdowns have scared the government off the path of prudence before.以前经济增速放缓幅度没这么大时,政府就吓得舍弃了审慎之路。
这里就可以把for ... positions 翻译成一个小句子,忘掉for吧,比如:
……每年只提供2.5万个职位/招聘岗位,但是却收到了120万份简历。
每年需要招聘的岗位只有2.5万个,收到的简历却有120万份。
数字放在句末也是很方便的翻译技巧,这样比较方便组句,特别适合中文语感不好的亲。特别是句子比较长的时候,试着中文用数字收尾,句子会简练、节奏感好很多。比如:
This year 38m Chinese took international trips, 18% more than in the same period last year. In 2011, they spent $73 million while travelling abroad, third only to Germans and Americans.今年上半年,中国出境游达3800万人次,同比增长18%。2011年中国游客海外旅游消费达730亿美元,仅次于德美游客,居世界第三位。
再比如:
Fewer new companies are being started.
fewer放到最后去,新成立的公司越来越少,顺顺的。越来越少的公司被成立?成立了?很别扭。
AI-enabled systems can scan applications far more quickly than humans and work out whether candidates are a good fit. 配备AI的系统会以比人快得多的速度审查申请,并确定候选人是否合适。
-enabled配有(某种设备或技术)的;可以使用(某种系统、装置或设计),比如Find out more about our free Internet-enabled software. 请了解更多有关我们的免费因特网软件的信息。
再get一个写作句式:sb/sth is a good/perfect fit. 某人/某物很适合,比如The dress was a perfect fit. 这条连衣裙非常合身。
Oddly enough, they may also inject more humanity into hiring. 说来奇怪,它们还可能让招聘更为人性化。
get一个写作句式:strangely/oddly/curiously etc enough奇怪的是,说来奇怪,比如Strangely enough, I didn’t feel at all nervous when I faced the audience. 奇怪的是,我面对听众时一点也不感到紧张。
以往我们遇到“让……更……”的时候,第一反应是用形容词或副词比较级,在上一篇推送中>>>分享两个英文句子的翻译思路,我们提到过,比较级和动宾结构在翻译中通常可以互换。比如这里的,使招聘过程更加人性化,如果不用比较级,用动宾结构就可以是inject more humanity into hiring。
注意inject的这个固定用法:inject sth into sth增加〔气氛、兴趣等〕,比如Traditional handbag makers are injecting more fun into their designs. 传统的手袋制作者在他们的设计中注入了更多有趣的元素。
举一反三,还可以去推导出类似的套路,比如:
inject humanity into sth 让…更人性化
让产品更人性化:inject humanity into products
市场大楼能让一个地区更富有生气。A market building can inject new life into an area.
According to Athena Karp of HiredScore, a startup that uses algorithms to screen candidates for J&J and others, only around 15-20% of applicants typically hold the right qualifications for a job, but they are rarely told why they were not hired, nor are they pointed to more suitable jobs. 创业公司HiredScore利用算法为强生等公司筛选候选人,该公司的雅典娜卡普(Athena Karp)说,通常只有约15%到20%的申请者拥有适合职位的资质,但很少有人告诉他们为什么不被录用,也没有人为他们指出更合适的工作。她说,技术的帮助“让候选人重拾尊严”。
这句话比较长,基本上是两个并列的完整句,中间用连词but连接。
Typically这个词,在修饰形容词的时候,一般是“典型地,特别地”意思,比如a delightful, typically Dutch hotel 舒适的、典型荷兰风格的酒店。
修饰动词的时候,一般是“通常”的意思,比如Women in developing countries typically have their first child when they are very young. 发展中国家的女性通常都很早生育。
这句话还涉及到Nor放句首的倒装,也不,用于否定句之后,引导另一含相似意义的否定句。比如:It was not my fault, nor his. 那不是我的错,也不是他的。
Pymetrics, a startup whose clients include companies such as Unilever, a consumer-goods giant, and Nielsen, a research firm, offers a set of games for candidates to play, usually at an early stage of the recruitment process, that ignore factors such as gender, race and level of education. 创业公司Pymetrics拥有消费品巨头联合利华和研究公司尼尔森等客户,它通常会在招聘早期阶段让候选人玩一套游戏。
先划分意群:
Pymetrics,(主语) a startup(同位语) whose(定语从句) clients include companies such as Unilever,(同位语) a consumer-goods giant, and Nielsen, (同位语)a research firm, /offers(谓语) a set of games(宾语) for candidates to play(宾补), usually at an early stage of the recruitment process,(插入语) that (定语从句,先行词games)ignore factors such as gender, race and level of education.
注意与stage搭配的介词:at an early stage of 在…的早期阶段,stage表示“阶段”时,介词用at,偶尔也用in。
The project is in its final stages. 项目到了收尾阶段。
At this late stage, there is little we can do. 到了这个后期阶段,我们没有多少办法了。
And its middle class is thought by many to be in the early stages of the journey to prosperity that created hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers. 中国的繁荣催生出数亿消费者,很多人认为印度的中产阶级也已从通往繁荣的路上起步。
Some,大约,差不多,用于数词前。
Instead they test candidates for some 80 traits such as memory and attitude to risk. 这套游戏无视性别、种族和受教育水平等因素,而测试候选人的约80种特点,如记忆力和对风险的态度。
特点特性,Trait,更多指人的个性的特征,特性,特点。
注意test的介词搭配,底下这几个词组容易混淆:
test sb. For sth. 给谁做什么检查,比如:They tested her for diabetes. 他们给她做了糖尿病检查。The water should be tested for lead. 这水应该检测含铅量。
test sb on sth,比如:We’re being tested on grammar tomorrow. 我们明天测验语法。
test sth against sth,比如:The theory was then tested against the results of the study. 这个理论接着对照研究结果进行了检验。
Pymetrics then uses machine learning to measure applicants against top performers and predict their suitability for a role. Pymetrics随后利用机器学习将申请者与业绩最优者做比较,并预测他们对于某个职位的适合度。
继续注意介词搭配,against有对比的含义,measure sb / sth against sb / sth 将…与…作比较 ,比如:Measured against our budget last year, $2.7 million seems small.相比于我们去年的预算,270 万美元似乎少了一点。
In the past, there was no way of redirecting them to other jobs as they became available. 招聘人员经常会遇到资质良好,但不适合所申请职位的候选人。过去,如果公司日后出现新的岗位空缺,并没有办法把这些人引导到新岗位上。
积累写作句式:there is no way of doing sth 没有办法做某事…,比如:There's no way of knowing if the treatment will work.没有办法知道这种治疗方法是否有效。
redirect(以新的方式或目的)重新使用,比如:Resources are being redirected to this important new project. 为这一重要的新项目重新调配了资源。
近义词repurpose,比如下面这个句子,也出现于这篇文章:
AI will make it possible to “repurpose candidates we have attracted before”, says Sjoerd Gehring, vice-president of talent acquisition for J&J. AI将有可能“重新利用我们之前曾吸引到的候选人。”
repurpose重新利用;改变…的用途;为…找到新用途,比如:The company's role is to repurpose print data for use on the Web. 这间公司的职责是将印刷品资料转成电子版以供网路使用。
But there is a risk that workers will try to game the system.但是也会有员工钻系统空子的风险。
积累写作词组:game the system钻制度的空子
再积累一个写作句式:there is a risk that...后面这个是同位语从句,装risk的具体内容。
All this points to a broader issue in AI: transparency. 所有这些都指向了AI中一个更普遍的问题:透明度。
再积累一个写作句式:All this points to a broader issue in... 一般前面可以罗列一些背景数据什么的,然后来这么一句承上启下的,以上种种都反映了某个领域里一个更为普遍的问题。
Accenture is rolling out a custom-built tool called Job Buddy which tells employees how vulnerable their job is to automation and predicts what training they might need so they can develop the right skills for the future. 埃森哲正在推出一款名为“工作伙伴”(Job Buddy)的定制工具,它会告诉员工他们的工作受到自动化的威胁有多大,并预测他们可能需要哪些培训,以获得适应未来的技能。
句子比较长,先划分意群:
Accenture(主语) is rolling out (谓语)a custom-built tool(宾语) called Job Buddy(后置定语) which (定语从句)tells (从句谓语)employees(直宾) how vulnerable their job is to automation(宾语从句) and predicts(从句谓语2) what training they might need(从句宾语从句2) so they can develop the right skills for the future.(结果状语)
我们平时说推出某个产品服务,会想到launch,这句话提供了一个替换词组roll out,比如 The company expects to roll out the new software in September.公司希望在九月份推出这款新软件。
custom-built tool 定制工具,注意custom-:按“顾客要求专门…的”,custom-made定做的,比如a custom-made suit一套定做的套装。
注意区分“定制”和“订制”。前者是指根据客户的个性化需求而制作,后者侧重预订。
我们说什么人或事物容易受到什么伤害,可以用这个词组be vulnerable to sth 容易受到…的攻击;易感染某种疾病的 ,比如Children are most vulnerable to abuse within their own home.儿童在自己家里最容易受到虐待。