影评的翻译：《为奴十二载》的影评及翻译
除了第一节中提到的李欧梵等中国学者的影评，美国等其他国家的影评也需要我们关注和学习，因为这其中还涉及不同语言的转换，而且影评的翻译有着一定的需求和市场，譬如中国读者们爱看的《看电影》《环球银幕》等杂志，里面就引用了不少美国主流媒体影评的观点。几乎在各大主流媒体杂志上，都会开辟文化或评论栏目，其中会有一些电影或电视剧的评论文章，比如《纽约时报》《经济学人》《华尔街日报》等。
以《经济学人》为例，虽然这个杂志的定位是对全球经济趋势和政策做出报道和评论，但对于政治、文化、社会、环境等方面均有关注，名为“文艺”的这一栏目涉及书籍、电影等文化产品，其中不乏一些精彩的影评文章，下面我们来看一例：
New film：“12 Years A Slave”
McQueen's triumph
Jan 9th 2014，13∶10 by N.B.
EARLY in Steve McQueen's“12 Years A Slave”，a Louisiana plantationowner returns home with the two slaves he's just bought，a man and a woman.Waiting on the veranda，his genteel wife notices that the woman is crying，and asks why.“Separated from her children，”sighs the husband，not unsympathetically.“Can't be helped.”
Those last three words are the key to Mr McQueen's devastating film，in that they，like so many other sequences，present slavery as the norm:long-established，legal and legitimised by scripture.To its mid-19th-century characters，there's nothing unusual about keeping human beings as property，and no way that the institution can be changed.In the preceding scene，a jovial slavetrader（Paul Giamatti）is showing customers his wares.“This is a nigger of considerable talent，”he remarks，but there's nothing in the way the line is spoken to suggest that anyone in the shop might be shocked.The trader sees his terrified，naked merchandise as no different from any other commodity.
In another astonishing scene，the hero，Solomon Northup（Chiwetel Ejiofor，pictured），is hanged from a tree by a noose.For an agonisingly long time，he gulps for air，his feet only just touching the muddy ground.But Mr Mc-Queen doesn't ratchet up the tension with dramatic music or exploitative closeups.He simply lets the ordeal carry on and on，while in the background，servants go about their business and children play.It's not until the film is almost over that a Canadian labourer（the co-producer，Brad Pitt）articulates the notion that slavery might be wrong.In the meantime，even Northup accepts that it's a fact of life.His only complaint is that it shouldn't be a fact of his life.
Northup，upon whose memoir the film is based，begins the narrative as a free man.In 1841，he's living as a respected，middle-class violinist with his wife and two children in Saratoga，New York.But after an elegant evening's dining in Washington DC，he is kidnapped.He wakes to find himself chained up in a cell and informed that he's a“runaway nigger”from Georgia.When he objects，his jailer whips him viciously.Another prisoner then advises him that his only chance of survival is to keep quiet about his true identity.
And so Northup is transported beyond the Mason-Dixon Line to a nightmarish new existence where he has no choice but to pick cotton，cut sugar cane and bide his time.His first owner，played by Benedict Cumberbatch，treats him kindly—but he still treats him as a possession.His next owner，played by Michael Fassbender，seems to have some cloudy comprehension of the insanity of slavery，but he would rather blot out that comprehension with alcohol and fevered sadism than face it.
Mr McQueen，the black British director of“Hunger”and“Shame”，and John Ridley，his African-American screenwriter，tell an extraordinary story of endurance，guile and hope，a story which could easily have inspired a conventional Hollywood melodrama.But they avoid all the shortcuts and clichés which a typical，issue-based film might have employed.There are no grandiloquent speeches to hammer home the message，and no captions or voice-overs to fill in the historical context.The performances are breathtaking，but they're subtle and complex enough not to demand the viewer's love or hatred.And，as horrific as the gory violence is，Mr McQueen doesn't revel in it.
Despite having won the Turner prize for his work as a video artist，he never lets the cinematography or editing draw attention to itself.Perhaps inspired by Hannah Arendt's concept of“the banality of evil”，he prefers to take the viewer back in time to a period when slavery was mundane；he recreates its day-to-day practicalities and its offhand brutalities；and he leaves it to us to decide how to react.It's unlikely that a more accomplished，mature or crushingly powerful film will be released in 2014.“12 Years A Slave”is in cinemas in America and opens in Britain on January 10th.
这篇影评行文流畅，观点清晰，结构合理，共分为七段，前五个段落是在描述电影的主要情节以及几个主要人物的性格特点，而后两段是作者对整部电影作品的评价。作者以自己独特的视角做出了中肯的评价，比如最后几句评论“he never lets the cinematography or editing draw attention to itself.Perhaps inspired by Hannah Arendt's concept of‘the banality of evil’，he prefers to take the viewer back in time to a period when slavery was mundane；he recreates its day-to-day practicalities and its offhand brutalities；and he leaves it to us to decide how to react.”作者认为，这部电影虽然表现的是奴隶制这种较为常见的话题，但是没有落入好莱坞的俗套，没有简单地剪辑一些镜头，而是通过平淡的叙事手法，再现奴隶制的场景，给观众留下更多的思考空间，体现出导演的匠心独运。作者也对影片中的人物做出了一些解读，比如，“His next owner，played by Michael Fassbender，seems to have some cloudy comprehension of the insanity of slavery，but he would rather blot out that comprehension with alcohol and fevered sadism than face it.”作者认为这个人物的内心世界具有模糊的残暴意识，同时通过酒精来掩盖这种情绪，处于比较矛盾和复杂的心境。
课堂练习二
细读以上影评的最后三段，评析以下中文译文的风格。
And so Northup is transported beyond the Mason-Dixon Line to a nightmarish new existence where he has no choice but to pick cotton，cut sugar cane and bide his time.His first owner，played by Benedict Cumberbatch，treats him kindly—but he still treats him as a possession.His next owner，played by Michael Fassbender，seems to have some cloudy comprehension of the insanity of slavery，but he would rather blot out that comprehension with alcohol and fevered sadism than face it.
因此，诺瑟普被运往梅森-狄克逊线以南，到达噩梦般的新世界，在那里，他别无选择，只能摘棉花、砍甘蔗、等待时机。他的第一个主人由本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇饰演，待他和善——但他依然把诺瑟普当作自己的财产。他的下一个主人由迈克尔·法斯宾德扮演，此人似乎对奴隶制的残暴有模糊的意识，但是他宁愿用酒精和狂热的虐待来遮掩这种意识，而不是直接面对它。
Mr McQueen，the black British director of“Hunger”and“Shame”，and John Ridley，his African-American screenwriter，tell an extraordinary story of endurance，guile and hope，a story which could easily have inspired a conventional Hollywood melodrama.But they avoid all the shortcuts and clichés which a typical，issue-based film might have employed.There are no grandiloquent speeches to hammer home the message，and no captions or voice-overs to fill in the historical context.The performances are breathtaking，but they're subtle and complex enough not to demand the viewer's love or hatred.And，as horrific as the gory violence is，Mr McQueen doesn't revel in it.
执导过电影《饥饿》和《羞耻》的英国黑人导演麦奎因和非洲裔美国编剧约翰·雷利讲述了忍耐、狡猾和希望的精彩故事，这个故事原本很容易落入传统好莱坞通俗剧的俗套。但是他们没有走捷径，也没有效仿典型事件电影可能采用的陈词滥调。本片没有用慷慨激昂的演说向观众传递信息，没有用字幕或配音代替历史背景。演员的演技令人惊叹，但是他们的表演含蓄丰富，并不想唤起观众的爱或仇恨。血腥的暴力镜头极为可怕，但是麦奎因并不沉浸于这种场景。
Despite having won the Turner prize for his work as a video artist，he never lets the cinematography or editing draw attention to itself.Perhaps inspired by Hannah Arendt's concept of“the banality of evil”，he prefers to take the viewer back in time to a period when slavery was mundane；he recreates its day-to-day practicalities and its offhand brutalities；and he leaves it to us to decide how to react.It's unlikely that a more accomplished，mature or crushingly powerful film will be released in 2014.“12 Years A Slave”is in cinemas in America and opens in Britain on January 10th.
作为影像艺术家，麦奎因凭借他的作品荣获过特纳奖，然而他从来没有通过电影艺术或镜头剪辑来吸引观众注意本片。也许他的创作灵感来自汉娜·阿伦特“平庸之恶”的概念，他更喜欢让观众重新回顾奴隶制平淡无奇的那个年代；他再现了奴隶制日常的实际和不经意的暴行；他让我们自己决定如何反应。在2014年即将上映的电影中，不可能有比这部更出色、更成熟、更打动人心的影片。《为奴十二年》正在美国上映，将于1月10日在英国上映。
重点评析
这篇影评的中文译文是从《经济学人》中文版网页上摘选的，从这几段的翻译来看，这位网友的翻译笔法较为平淡，虽然忠实但缺乏简洁性，句式略微欧化。比如，Despite having won the Turner prize for his work as a video artist，he never lets the cinematography or editing draw attention to itself.作为影像艺术家，麦奎因凭借他的作品荣获过特纳奖，然而他从来没有通过电影艺术或镜头剪辑来吸引别人注意自己。itself并非是导演麦奎因，而是指这部电影。所以应译为“尽管麦奎因曾凭借自己的作品获得过特纳影像艺术家奖，然而在本片中他并没有用过多的电影艺术或镜头剪辑来吸引观众的注意力。”再如，这一句“His first owner，played by Benedict Cumberbatch，treats him kindly—but he still treats him as a possession.”，译为“他的第一个主人由本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇饰演，但他态度和蔼——尽管他依然把诺瑟普当作自己的财产。”这种句法虽然遵循原文结构，但是读起来较为欧化，而且有些指代不清。或许译为“诺瑟谱第一个主人由本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇饰演，尽管这个主人依旧将诺瑟谱视为个人财产，但态度更和蔼一些。”更为流畅。