快被作者逼疯了

agent124

这两天碰到几句特别费解难翻的句子，简直快被作者逼疯了。大家看看，这是人话么？

A Toulouse-Lautrec face, caught as a stray shard of fair-ground light fired one gaunt and travelled cheek.

How long before her smile faded and her eyes grew dull and those mythical relations started needing her to cure their mythical ailments in far-off places?

To be beautiful and Ann is one thing, she had said to him not long ago; to be beautiful and Ann’s age will soon be another. And to be ugly and mine is another again, he thought furiously.

下面这句似乎不难，但确切的意思却难以确定：

Long silence while she appeared to consider this feeble excuse. The telephone had never been a bother to her. It gave her no sense of urgency.


问了chatGPT，还是似懂非懂，或者没把握，再到英语论坛上问真人。有的勉强搞通了，有的还是有些不确定。

老是这种句子，作者想写得很文学，很委婉，结果晦涩难懂，我是实在读不出什么美感来，但翻译没办法，绕不过去，只好硬着头皮查资料，反复读原文——有的时候真想骂娘。

gongqi

其实这也不叫很文学。只能说作者脑回路清奇。
只不过，这个回路是建立在英文思维上的。
思维与语言的关系有时候很近有时候很远，当你觉得很难翻的时候就是很近的时候。

欧阳静茹

中文世界里不也有这样的例子吗：写的晦涩难懂，让你丈二和尚摸不着头脑，母语读者都看不明白，何况翻译？英语应该也是有这样的作品的。这类作品可能压根就没想让你懂。

agent124

暂时硬译如下，不知道大家是否能看懂是什么意思。高明教我
A Toulouse-Lautrec face, caught as a stray shard of fair-ground light fired one gaunt and travelled cheek.
一张图卢兹-劳特累克作品中的脸，就像游乐场的几束光线突然照在他憔悴的，饱经风霜的脸颊。

How long before her smile faded and her eyes grew dull and those mythical relations started needing her to cure their mythical ailments in far-off places?
她的笑容过了多久就会褪去，她的眼神过了多久就会变得黯淡无光，和她有神秘关系的那些人就会需要她去遥远的地方治好他们神秘的疾病？

To be beautiful and Ann is one thing, she had said to him not long ago; to be beautiful and Ann’s age will soon be another. And to be ugly and mine is another again, he thought furiously.
她不久前对他说过，现在美丽和安是同一回事；美丽和安的年龄很快又会是两回事。而美人迟暮和做我的女人又是另外的两回事，他愤懑地想。

Long silence while she appeared to consider this feeble excuse. The telephone had never been a bother to her. It gave her no sense of urgency.
长时间的沉默，她似乎在考虑这个无力的借口。电话从来不让她心烦气躁，她打电话从没有要赶紧打完的紧迫感。