Simulated W riting How to W rite a Tour Guide Spee...
A.W riting Skills
旅游活动是一种文化现象。主客之间的接触过程中，由于不同文化背景的隔阂而使双方沟通发生困难，人类学者称之为“文化距离”（cultural distance）。距离存在的原因首先是由于语言障碍，即使有译者的帮助，相互之间还是不能得到充分理解。英文导游词的编写应是文化信息的有效传递，而并非等效传递。有效传递要求编者偏重读者文化结构的三个层次（物质层次、制度层次和精神层次），考虑导游词的可接受性和听众的接受效果。以下是英文导游词编写时须注意的几个问题。
我国历史悠久，历史事件错综复杂，朝代变换似走马灯，外国游客对此一定感到陌生。类比释义可以缩短这种文化距离，即，用外国人熟知的时间年代去比拟。这在导游词中尤其常见。请看如下示例：
例1：相传三国时期，吴淞江的北岸就建起了一座寺院。后易名为静安寺。
译文1：Legend has it that during the Three Kingdoms Period，a templewas built on the north bank of Wusong River，and later it adopted its present name of Jing An Si or Jing'an Temple.
如果这段导游词是让美国人听的，就可以用哥伦布发现新大陆来说明，指出在哥伦布发现新大陆前1240多年的时候静安寺就存在了。
译文2：Legend has it that during the Three Kingdoms Period，a templewas built on the north bank of Wusong River，and later it adopted its present name of Jing An Si or Jing'an Temple.The Temple existed more than 1240 years before Christopher Columbus discovered the New World.
若遇上英国人，就告诉客人静安寺是在人人皆知的莎士比亚出世前1300多年的时候就建成了。
译文3：Legend has it that during the Three Kingdoms Period，a templewas built on the north bank of Wusong River，and later it adopted its present name of Jing An Si or Jing'an Temple.The Temple existed more than 1300 years before William Shakespeare was born.
例2：这是定陵，是朱翊钧和他的两个皇后孝端、孝靖的陵寝。
译文1：This is Ding Ling，the tomb of Zhu Yijun and his empresses，Xiaoduan and Xiaojing.
对于外国人来说，这句导游词里的那些专门名词实在难以理解。他们不像我们那样熟悉中国皇帝的年号、名字，所以对这个译文定会感到莫名其妙。如果对原文施变，作如下改译，效果就会大不一样：
译文2：We are going to see the tomb of the thirteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty where he was buried with his two empresses.
例3：西山位于昆明西郊，滇池湖畔，距市区15公里。它峰峦连绵40公里，海拔约2500米。
译文：TheWestern Hills，about15 km from Kunming，is located on the edge of Dianchi Lake in the western suburbs of Kunming.It is stretching from north to south for 40 kilometers with an altitude of some 2，500 meters above sea level.
这段话的中文没有说明西山的走向。了解昆明的人可成为“专家”读者，尽管英文“It is stretching for 40 kilometers”表达模糊，也可能会知道西山的走势；但对于从未涉足昆明的外国读者来说，他对相关知识背景的无知使得他不能正确理解西山的走向，故而如果译成“It is stretching for 40 kilometerswith an altitude of some 2，500 meters above sea level”就不是很理想。虽然原文被全译过来，但却只是传达了表层意思，句子的深层含义却没能传达给读者。这就需要译者将压缩的文化（地理、时间、人物）信息释放出来。就此例来说，译者的职责在于对现象的本质加以揭示。变译后的译文添加了from north to south，用于补充地理方位知识，这样外国游客对西山概念就更明确清晰了。
一段旅游信息文字中，不同句子的变译方法各有千秋，如不涉及上下文意义的改变和编辑，则仍属句层变译。如下例：
例4：广州又称“羊城”“穗城”，是祖国的南大门，早在秦汉时期就是繁华的都会。
译文：Guangzhou，also known as Canton，lies in the southern-most part of China，adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao.The city's history dates back tomore than two thousand years ago when it became a prosperous trading port.
在这句导游词译文中，外国人较熟悉的Canton用来替换“羊城”和“穗城”。这种变译改变了原文内容，所改之处属次要信息，但仍保证原文主要信息的传递，即原文和译文都含有广州的别称，且分别为原语读者和译语读者所熟知。外国游客会对“祖国的南大门”感到陌生、难懂，而且“祖国”一词不可强加于外国游客身上，所以译文采用了改译加增译的方法。用China来替代“祖国”，属语气之变，Hong Kong和Macao用来进一步说明广州的地理位置。同理，用two thousand years ago来改译“秦汉时期”，认知角度改变了，译文可接受性增强。
许多介绍名胜古迹的旅游材料是写给那些不曾身临其境的人看的，所以必须着意描述一番，其间不乏佳句。但是一旦身临其境，过多的修饰语则不但显得多余，而且听起来很生硬。我国作者喜欢引经据典，而外国人对景物的描写与反应和我们不同，往往不能领会其中的妙处。把喜闻乐见的汉语比喻硬译过去，外国人听来反而感到词句晦涩难懂。
例5：江岸上彩楼林立，彩灯高悬，旌旗飘摇，呈现一派喜气洋洋的节日场面。千姿万态的各式彩龙在江面上游弋，舒展着优美的身姿，有的摇头摆尾，风采奕奕；有的喷火吐水，威风八面。
译文：High-rise buildings ornamented with colored lanterns and bright banners stand out along the river banks.On the river itself，gaily decorated dragon-shaped boats await their challenge，displaying their individual charms to their heart's content.One boat wags its head and tail；another spits fire and sprayswater.
该例英文导游词的成功之处就在于译者利用了变译的灵活性特点，灵活处理了中英文在行文习惯上的差异，将原文两句改译为三句，删除了一些富有汉语特色的描述语，如，“呈现一派喜气洋洋的节日场面”、“风采奕奕”、“威风八面”等；同时，运用重复主题信息的衔接手段编辑整个段落，如“along the river banks”，“on the river itself”，“dragon-shaped boats”，“one boat”。这样的变译既符合英语旅游文章的表达习惯，又保持了原作的韵味。
B.A Sam ple W riting
Good morning，ladies and gentlemen！
Today we will go and visit the Yueyang Tower.It lies in the west of Yueyang city，near the Dongting Lake and is one of the three famous towers in the south of the Yangtze River，together with Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan，Hubei Province and Tengwang Tower in Nanchang，Jiangxi Province.
Yueyang Tower was originally built for soldiers to rest on and watch out.In the Three Kingdoms Period，Lusu，General of Wu State，trained his soldiers here and then rebuilt it as a tower to review his troops.
In the forth year（716 AD）of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty，General Zhangshuo was dispatched to defend in Yuezhou and he rebuilt it into a Tower named South Tower，and then Yueyang Tower.In the forth year（1044 AD）of Qingli of Song Dynasty，Teng Zijing was stationed in Baling Jun，the ancient name of Yueyang city.In the second year，he had the Yueyang Tower repaired and had poems by previous poets inscribed on thewalls of the Tower.Fan Zhongyan，a great artist and poet，was invited to write the well-known essay about Yueyang Tower.In hisessay which was entitled APanegyric of the Yueyang Tower，Fan wrote：“Be the first toworry about the troubles across the land，and the last to enjoy universal happiness，”which has for thousands of years been a well-quoted dictum and made the tower even better known than before.
The architectural style of Yueyang Tower is quite unique.The main tower is 21.35 meters high with 4 columns，3 stories，flying eaves，a helmet roof and wood construction.The helmet-roof of such a large dimension is a rarity among the ancient architectures in China.Entering the tower，you'll pass the famous couplet：“Dongting is the water of the world；Yueyang is the tower of the world.”
Moving on，there is a platform（Dianjiang Tai）that once functioned as the training ground for the navy of the Three Kingdoms Period led by General Lusu.To its south is the Huaifu Pavilion inmemory of Dufu（712-770 AD），a famous poet during the Tang Dynasty who later died in the city.Stepping out of the Xiaoxiang Door，the Saint Plum Pavilion（Xianmei Ting）and the Three Drunkards Pavilion（Sanzui Ting）can be seen standing on two sides.In the garden to the north of the tower is the tomb of Xiaoqiao，thewife of Zhouyu，another famous general of the Three Kingdoms Period.
C.W riting Practice
You are required to write a tour guide speech based on the Chinese prompts given below.
各位游客：
大家好！我是肯劳得旅行社的导游员，我姓王，今天就由我来带领大家共同游览这个清代的皇家园林——颐和园。希望我的讲解能够令各位满意，让我们共同度过这段美好的时光。
我们现在即将前往的就是颐和园。颐和园位于北京市西北部海淀区，距市中心约15公里。车程大约是一小时。利用这一段时间，我向大家简短地介绍一下颐和园的历史。最早在辽金时代的时候，皇帝就已经开始在北京修建皇家园林了，工程一直延续到元朝和明朝。
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各位游客，我们现在来到了东宫门，我们本次的游览也就正式开始了。
在东宫门外，有一座名为“涵虚”、“罨秀”的牌楼。其中“涵虚”的意思是“天地开阔，山清水秀，包罗万象”。“罨秀”有“捕捉美丽景色”之意。而东宫门也是颐和园的正门。门上高悬的颐和园的匾额就是光绪皇帝的手书。“颐和”二字则取颐养精神、心情平和的意思。
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颐和园的介绍我就给诸位讲解到这里，欢迎下次再来。祝各位旅途愉快，一路顺风！