译者的状态

这两天状态不好。明显的征兆就是没有兴趣翻译，翻译速度慢，被各种句子卡住，或者选词选不出来。

上月只做了3万字不到，再过几个月恶果就会显出来——也许就揭不开锅了。自由译者是没有五险一金，不能停工，不能休息的职业。对了，还需要缴纳20%的劳务税。为了这样的事情，我头发都白了。

要用神学翻译为业，就必须考虑状态问题。状态不好的时候，如果没有收入，可以怎么办？约瑟用完了7年积蓄，才抵挡了7年的荒年。译者面对这种情况，几乎毫无办法可想，只能希望客户在项目预算的时候就考虑到译者的难处，能够比较好的沟通——其实，译者和客户是站在一条战壕里的同伴，并非零和游戏的对手。这事改天再谈。

说说今天卡住的几句话，多是句子结构上作怪。这种问题在注释书上是可以理解的。一本使徒行传，至少有上千人写过注释，要避免句式上的抄袭，就必须将句子扭曲成为麻花一样。老练如F.F.Bruce也不例外。

这就像我听到Beetles的歌，发现他们在一首歌里随手浪费可以写出数首top 100的优美旋律，就恨不早生50年，将这些旋律先占据了，免得如今看着他们的歌谱发呆，发现一切优美的旋律都已经被人写过了。我疑心本世纪流行Rap，也是因为这个缘故。

具体说来，我先分析难点，大家可以试试，我的翻译明天揭晓……

第一句话：主语超级长，补语超级短。头重脚轻，又遇见一个著名难翻的“so joyful a message”。

But God reversed the judgment of men: here the constant note of triumph which made the apostolic preaching so joyful a message is struck again.
第二句话：谁知道“No more than in the Gospel of Luke”作主语，该怎么玩？“in an address acsribed to Paul”是不是保罗的电子邮件地址？

No more than in the Gospel of Luke is any mention made of resurrection appearances in Galilee. More surprising still is the absence, in an address ascribed to Paul, of any mention of the Lord’s appearance to him on the Damascus road.
第三句话：“the historical Paul would have said”，这是什么鬼？“for believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews are blessed with believing Abraham”，知道怎么和加拉太书3章匹配起来吗？

The promise made by God to the patriarchs has now been confirmed to their children—and not only to them, the historical Paul would have said, for believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews are blessed with believing Abraham (Gal. 3:8–9).
第四句话：“ideally”怎么玩？“was born into a new relation of sonship towards Jehovah”，还能看到比这种表述更丑陋的被动语态吗？

The day of the king’s anointing in Israel “was ideally the day in which he, the nation’s representative, was born into a new relation of sonship towards Jehovah.”