|
|
最近几个月，“躺平”这个词彻底火了，一路从国内的社交媒体火到了国外的主流报刊。那么，“躺平”用英文应该怎么说？各大媒体又是如何向外国读者解释躺平文化的？
我们先来看《华盛顿邮报》的报道：
Young Chinese are rebelling against society through a simple act of resistance: lying down. Examples of the tangping, or “lying flat,” way of life include not getting married, not having children, not buying a house or a car and refusing to work extra hours or to hold a job at all.
下面是《南华早报》一篇文章的标题：
China’s Gen Z are ‘laying flat’, but does this new work, life attitude pose a social and economic threat?
问题来了，lying flat和laying flat哪个才是“躺平”的正确译法？
从语法上来讲，lying flat是正解。lying是lie的现在分词，laying是lay的现在分词。lie和lay最主要的区别在于，lie是不及物动词，后面不接宾语，意思是place oneself in a horizontal position，而lay是及物动词，后面要接宾语，意思是cause sb/sth to lie down，有使动意味。lie flat分别对应“躺”和“平”，是非常工整的直译。如果要用lay，则必须表达成lay sb/sth flat，意思就变成“让……躺平”、“把……放平”。
在一些常见表达中，我们也可以看到这两个词在用法上的不同：
(1) lay the foundation/groundwork for sth 为......奠定基础(2) I won’t lay a finger on her. 我不会动她一根汗毛。(3) let sleeping dogs lie 不要惹是生非(4) I don’t know what to do, and therein lies the problem. 我不知道该如何是好，这正是问题所在。（the problem并不是lie的宾语，这是一个倒装句，类似Here comes the bus.）
语法规则是一回事，实际用法又是另一回事。即使对英语母语者来说，区分lie和lay也没有那么容易。比如在描述“书平摊在桌子上”这个场景时，很多人会说A book lays flat on the table. 正规出版物也不乏这样的例子：
If the nearest animal raises his head, the hunter lays flat on the ground and keeps quiet, out of sight if possible. — Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West, by H. W. Brands
根据OED的记载，早在14世纪时，lay就已经被当作不及物动词来使用了，但当时并没有引起太多关注，直到18世纪人们才开始有意识地区分二者的不同。到现在为止，英语使用者已经被这两个动词折磨了好几百年了，难怪有人把它叫作the lie/lay conundrum，就算称之为“世纪难题”也不为过。
造成lie/lay混淆的原因主要有三个。第一，时态变化。lie的过去式是lay，所以lay既有可能是lay的原形，也有可能是lie的过去式。第二，lay可以接反身代词，比如lay myself down，这就很容易简化成lay down。第三，发音问题。刚刚说过，lie的过去式是lay，而lay的过去式是laid，当人们听到She lay down on the sofa. 这样的句子时，很难分辨究竟说的是lay down还是laid down，因为二者在发音上几乎没有分别（当两个爆破音相连时，前一个通常失去爆破）。
虽然lie/lay有及物和不及物之分，但在某些表达上，这两个词之间的界限正在变得越来越模糊。比如表示“不出风头”或“不露声色”的短语lie low就面临着被lay low取代的风险。很多英语母语者表示，lay low更符合口语表达习惯，尽管语法上应该是lie low才对。现在，lay low已经被很多词典收录了。
回到“躺平”的翻译问题，我们再来看一段BBC的报道：
Young people in China exhausted by a culture of hard work with seemingly little reward are highlighting the need for a lifestyle change by “lying flat”. The new trend, known as “tang ping”, is described as an antidote to society’s pressures to find jobs and perform well while working long shifts.
在英译文化词汇时，“拼音+解释”是十分常见的翻译策略。BBC和前面的《华盛顿邮报》都采用了这样的处理方式。下面这段话摘自美国媒体Insider，他们没有给出拼音，而是直接用了汉字：
Zhang is a Chinese millennial who has joined the ranks of a social movement called 躺平主义 — the “lying flat movement.” It’s a mindset, a lifestyle, and a personal choice for some disillusioned Chinese youth who have given up on the rat race and are staging a quiet rebellion against the trials of 9-9-6 work culture.
第一句话当中的join the ranks of sth可以用来翻译“加入......的队伍/大军”，通常指不好的事，比如“加入失业大潮” join the ranks of the unemployed。
最后分享几个短语，都是我在阅读有关“躺平”的文章时遇到的表达。
laid-back - relaxed and calm | 悠闲的；懒散的；淡然的
Amid slowing economic growth and hypercompetitive work environments, a small, youth-led group of Chinese urban professionals has chosen to “lie flat,” rejecting the traditional narratives of success and taking a laid-back, anti-consumerist approach to life. — The Christian Science Monitor
opt out (of) - choose not to participate in something | 选择退出；不参与
The “lying flat” phenomenon describes the growing tendency of urban youths to opt out of the rat race and take unambitious, low-paying jobs or not work at all, eschewing conventional goals in favor of a minimalist, subsistence existence. — Bloomberg
heap sth on sb - to give someone a lot of praise, criticism, etc. | 对......大加（赞扬、批判等等）
China’s after-school tutoring is a $100bn business that heaps stress upon school children while taxing the finances of their parents. — Financial Times
hamster wheel - an activity that involves someone being busy all the time but never achieving anything important or reaching the end of a task | 仓鼠转轮；比喻使人忙忙碌碌但却毫无收获的事
For tens of millions of middle-class people in China’s large cities, life has become a hamster wheel of increasing effort and diminishing reward. — Financial Times
|
|
发表于 2021-12-20 20:21:47
