王之光/譯

110年前，京張鐵路橫空出世2，打破了外國人“中國人不能自建鐵路”的妄言；110年后，京張高鐵通車，在中華民族百年求索和民族復(fù)興之路上續(xù)寫下新的榮光3。

110 years ago， the Beijing-Zhangjiakou train steamed across the horizon， demonstrating to the world that the Chinese were perfectly capable of building their own railways. 110 years on， the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed line is open to traffic—another milestone on the track of the Chinese nations centennial quest for national rejuvenation.

“1909年，京張鐵路建成；2019年，京張高鐵通車。從自主設(shè)計修建零的突破到世界最先進水平，從時速35公里到350公里，京張線見證了中國鐵路的發(fā)展，也見證了中國綜合國力的飛躍?；赝倌隁v史，更覺京張高鐵意義重大。”習近平總書記對京張高鐵飽含深情。

In the words of President Xi Jinping： “In 1909， construction was completed on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. In 2019， Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail was opened to traffic. From the first breakthrough in self-design and construction to the most advanced level in the world， from a speed of 35 kilometers per hour to 350 kilometers， the Beijing-Zhangjiakou route bears witness to the development of Chinas railways as well as the leap in Chinas comprehensive national strength. Looking back at these hundred years， one gets a better sense of the significance of Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail.”

筑路的同時，中國人也在筑夢。

As they build their railways， the Chinese are also building their dream.

100多年前，那時的中國正經(jīng)歷五千年文明史上最為屈辱的一段：列強分食，山河破碎，王朝沒落，民不聊生。從“老大帝國”墮落為“東亞病夫”，民族自豪、民族自信被堅船利炮打得七零八落……但即使這樣，中國人民從未放棄追逐自己的夢想，以詹天佑為代表的工程技術(shù)人員和鐵路工人們硬是不信這個邪，頂著壓力迎難而上，在峭壁和深澗中勘測考察、鑿山開路，搞出了“人”字形折返線等創(chuàng)舉，工程竣工比計劃提前了足足兩年，實現(xiàn)了“我們要用中國人自己的技術(shù)力量修造中國鐵路”的誓言4。

100 years ago， China was experiencing the most humiliating period in her five-thousand-year history： fragmentation by big powers， a country in decline， a disintegrating dynasty， and masses living in poverty. Collapsing from the worlds greatest empire to the “sick man” of East Asia， our national pride and confidence had been shattered under the onslaught of warships and cannons. ... Even so， the Chinese people never gave up their dream. Engineering and technical staff and rail workers like Zhan Tianyou5 chose to defy the forces of evil and rose to the challenge. Cutting through the mountains， they surveyed precipitous cliffs and deep ravines and came up with pioneering designs such as the V-shaped switchback ramp. Their project was completed a full two years ahead of schedule， fulfilling the oath that “We will use the technical expertise of the Chinese to build the railways of China”.

正是有詹天佑等萬千民眾的不甘和奮起，億萬中國人最終在中國共產(chǎn)黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下打碎舊世界，重整舊山河，為中華民族謀復(fù)興，為中國人民謀幸福，重新挺起民族不屈的脊梁6。

It was through the efforts of people like Zhan that under the leadership of the CPC， hundreds of millions of Chinese people finally broke free of the shackles of the old world， and rebuilt the country.

百年后，勢易時移。中國國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值近百萬億元，穩(wěn)居世界第二。高鐵里程達到3.6萬公里，超過世界高鐵總里程的三分之二。

A hundred years on， times have changed. Chinas GDP is close to RMB100 trillion， ranking second in the world， and her high-speed railway network has surpassed 36，000 kilometers， more than two thirds of the world total.

作為北京冬奧會的重要配套工程，京張高鐵是我國鐵路發(fā)展的又一里程碑7。京張高鐵建設(shè)者研發(fā)了世界最先進的泥水平衡盾構(gòu)機，建成了世界規(guī)模最大、埋深最大的暗挖地下高鐵車站，同步推進實體鐵路和數(shù)字鐵路建設(shè)以及智能化鐵路運營……

Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail is an important project supporting the Beijing Winter Olympics. The construction team developed the most advanced slurry balance shield machine in the world. They tunneled the biggest and deepest underground high speed railway stations in the world， and integrated the physical railway with a digital railway and the operation of smart rail...

跨越百年，一代代人追夢不止，邁著創(chuàng)新的步伐砥礪前行。8

百年京張，見證了百年歷史風云，但始終不變的，是中國人奮發(fā)圖強、追求卓越的那么一種精氣神，是為祖國爭光、為民族爭氣的壯志豪情。

The old Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has witnessed a century of historical change， but what never changes is the ability of the Chinese to rise up， pursue excellence， and aspire to earn credit for their nation.

* 浙大寧波理工學院副教授。

1 本文節(jié)選自外文出版社于2021年出版的《大國速度 百年京張》一書之序言。該書以生動的文字，輔之以200余幅珍貴的插圖，講述了京張鐵路百年變遷的故事，再現(xiàn)了中國鐵路110年的歷史飛躍。作為向世界展示中國高鐵發(fā)展與成就的重要外宣作品，該書英文版不僅在國外發(fā)行，還與中文版一同陳列在北京2022年冬奧會重要配套工程——京張高鐵上，主要面向國外廣大普通讀者。鑒于此，該書譯者王之光老師和英文編輯大衛(wèi)·弗格森先生都特別重視譯文的可讀性。? 2 “橫空出世”譯為steamed across the horizon，既體現(xiàn)出當時的火車是蒸汽機車，又譯出百年前以詹天佑為代表的中國鐵路人克服重重困難建成京張鐵路的卓爾不群。? 3 相比直譯的譯文continuing to write a new glory of the Chinese nation along the road of its centennial quest and national rejuvenation，弗格森先生修改后的譯文可讀性更高。其一，another milestone不僅忠實于原文的含義，而且簡明扼要；其二，介詞短語on the track of和介詞for使句型更加緊湊，句內(nèi)成分之間的邏輯關(guān)系更為明晰。

4 在中國，“詹天佑”也許是一個家喻戶曉的名字，但對國外普通讀者而言，并非如此。因此，弗格森先生建議在英文版中以腳注的形式（見注釋5），簡要介紹詹天佑其人其事。詹天佑設(shè)計的“‘人字形鐵路”堪稱鐵路建筑史上的一項創(chuàng)舉，彰顯了中國鐵路工程師的智慧。“人字形鐵路”及其同義表達，如“‘人字形折返線”“‘人字線”“‘人字形線路”等，借用了中文特有的形符——“人”來指稱形象相似的鐵路，因此在英語讀者的文化系統(tǒng)中沒有對應(yīng)表述。譯者將“‘人字形折返線”譯為the V-shaped switch back ramp，是借助巧思化解了這一文化差異。首先，中國的象形文字“人”與英文字母V形似，加上后綴-shaped，構(gòu)成了英語讀者熟悉的復(fù)合形容詞；其次，switchback ramp也常見于譯語文化中，如無障礙設(shè)計中的折返雙坡道，這有助于讀者理解列車如何先沿V形的一邊爬坡進入車站，然后車頭變車尾、車尾變車頭，沿V形的另一邊，掉頭轉(zhuǎn)向繼續(xù)行駛。此句含122個漢字，譯文為4個句子，是漢英翻譯時依據(jù)兩種語言在句法結(jié)構(gòu)上的差異斷句而譯的典型例子。首先，“中國人民從未放棄追逐自己的夢想”是主題，可單為一句；然后，根據(jù)謂語和施動者的關(guān)系，即“不信這個邪”和“迎難而上”的施動者都是“以詹天佑為代表的工程技術(shù)人員和鐵路工人們”，獨譯一句；再次，“勘測考察、鑿山開路，搞出創(chuàng)舉”是前句中“迎難而上”的佐證，亦可單獨成句；最后，“迎難而上”的結(jié)果是工程提前完成，誓言終于兌現(xiàn)。譯文4個句子各自獨立，表述簡潔明了，不僅符合英語句法特點，而且句子的開頭、結(jié)構(gòu)和長度都有變化。

5 Zhan Tianyou （1861–1919）， or Jeme Tien-Yow， a pioneering Chinese railway engineer， was the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway， the first railway constructed by China. For his contribution to railroad engineering， Zhan is known as the father of Chinas railway. —Tr.? 6、7、8 審訂這3處譯文時，弗格森先生都提出了一致的修改建議：省譯。本書的翻譯目的和讀者群決定了英文版應(yīng)采用通俗易懂的語言風格，以言簡意賅為基本原則之一，避免冗余和重復(fù)，包括同義重復(fù)，尤其是當此類重復(fù)表達并未給作者正在闡述的觀點增加額外價值時。