今天是中国传统节日——七夕。你收到朋友为你点播的孤寡青蛙了吗？
作为一个有点严肃的翻译学习号，今天我们来看看，如何用英文讲述七夕神话故事。
下面的双语素材选自人民出版社《用英语讲中国故事》。对这个话题感兴趣的小伙伴不妨买一本来研读，也可以作为日常翻译练习。
比如，在介绍七夕的信息时，译者是这样翻译的：
每年农历七月初七，被称为“七夕”。关于这个节日，有一个美丽的传说。
Every year in China a festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month by the lunar calendar, called the “Double Seventh.” Connected with it is a beautiful legend.
几月几日是什么节日，xxx is celebrated on ... 还有一个很常用的句式：xxx falls on ... 比如，农历七月初七是中国的情人节——七夕。我们还可以这样表达：
The Qixi Festival, also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calender.
农历几月几号，the Nth(序数词) day of the Nth(序数词) lunar month on the Chinese calender，如果觉得这个表达太长太繁琐，那么上一段的这个表述就可以记忆：
the Nth(序数词) day of the Nth(序数词) month by the lunar calender
“关于……有一个美丽的传说。”这句译文用了一个倒装，正常语序是：
It is connected with a beautiful legend.
这个句子还可以用there be 句型，比如：
There is a beautiful love story associated with Qixi.
故事的开头，描写的是牛郎的悲惨身世：
相传，古时候有个名为牛郎的男孩，父母很早就去世了。他在哥哥嫂嫂家里生活。嫂嫂嫌他累赘，常常对他又打又骂。他刚到 16 岁，哥哥嫂嫂就把他赶出家门，给了他一头老牛，让他自立门户。从此，他与老牛一道耕田犁地，相依为命。
It is said that in ancient times there was a young man known as Herdboy ( 牛郎 ). His parents had died and left him an orphan at an early age, and he lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. The latter resented him bitterly, and often beat and scolded him. When Herdboy reached the age of sixteen his brother and sister-in-law expelled him from the house with only an old ox as his inheritance. Herdboy engaged in farming, the ox drawing the plow.
这段话是比较平铺直叙的陈述。值得一提的是，“父母很早就去世了。”这句话在翻译过程中做了一个转述，并不是去侧重“很早”，而是侧重牛郎的可怜身世，很小就成了孤儿：
... left him an orphan at an early age.
而在这篇故事中，也有很多值得我们学习的小词，比如这段：
一天，日落西山，牛郎牵着老牛，拖着疲惫的身体走回家。突然，老牛竟然开口说话了！它告诉牛郎，今晚会有天上的仙女下凡到河边戏水，并劝他前去。
One day, as the sun was setting behind the western hills, Herdboy and the ox were plodding their weary way home, when the ox suddenly started to speak. It told Herdboy that fairies would descend from Heaven that very evening to play in a nearby river, and urged him to go there.
形容一个人行走得很艰难，plod。比如，冒雨艰难跋涉，plod on through the rain; 这段话中，plod one's way home，迈着艰难地步伐往家走。同理可推，步履艰难地穿过田地，plod one's way across the field.
类似这样的点在这篇双语里还有很多。感兴趣的小伙伴可以移步万能的某宝下单来看看，除了七夕传说之外，还有其他许多中国传统神话故事。
也可以在下方评论区留下你的邮箱，小助理会在24小时内将这篇七夕故事的双语对照和朗读音频发送给你哦~
祝小伙伴们七夕快乐呀，孤寡孤寡~~
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