翻译练习(一) The Merchant of Venice (excerpt) by William Shakespeare DUKE: What, is Antonio here? ANTONIO: Ready, so please your grace. DUKE: I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer (face/defend yourself against) A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch Uncapable of pity, void and empty From (of) any dram (tiny amount) of mercy. ANTONIO: I have heard Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify (diminish, moderate) His rigorous course, but since he stands obdurate (remain inflexible) And that no lawful means can carry me Out of his envy's (malice’s) reach, I do oppose My patience to his fury, and am armed To suffer with a quietness of spirit The very tyranny (cruelty) and rage of his. DUKE: Go one, and call the Jew into the court. SALERIO: He is ready at the door. He comes, my lord. (Enter Shylock) DUKE: Make room, and let him stand before our (the royal plural) face. Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion (only persist in this form) of thy malice To the last hour of act (eleventh hour, final moment), and then 'tis thought Thou' lt show thy mercy and remorse (pity) more strange (surprisingly) Than is thy strange (unnatural/foreign) apparent cruelty; And where thou now exact'st the penalty, Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, Thou wilt not only loose (revoke, abandon) the forfeiture, But, touched with humane gentleness and love, Forgive a moiety (portion/half) of the principal, Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, That have of late so huddled on his back, Enow to press a royal merchant (merchant prince) down And pluck commiseration of his state From brassy bosoms (hard hearts) and rough hearts of flints, From stubborn Turks and Tartars (both considered pitiless infidels), never trained To offices of tender courtesy. We all expect a gentle (puns on ‘gentile’) answer, Jew. SHYLOCK: I have possessed (notified) your grace of what I purpose, And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn To have the due (debt) and forfeit of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger (damage) light Upon your charter (deed of privilege) and your city's freedom. You'll ask me why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion (loathsome/putrefying) flesh than to receive Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that, But say it is my humour (mood, inclination); is it answered (explained satisfactorily)? What if my house be troubled with a rat And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats To have it baned (poisoned)? What, are you answered yet? Some men there are love (who love) not a gaping pig, Some that are mad if they behold a cat, And others when the bagpipe sings i' th' nose (with a nasal twang) Cannot contain their urine, for affection (inclination), Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer: As there is no firm reason to be rendered, Why he (one person) cannot abide a gaping (roasted with its mouth open) pig, Why he (another person), a harmless necessary (useful for catching rats) cat, Why he, a woollen bagpipe, but of force Must yield to such inevitable shame As to offend, himself being offended. So can I give no reason, nor I will not, More than a lodged (deep-rooted) hate and a certain (definite, fixed) loathing I bear Antonio, that I follow (pursue) thus A losing (involving loss for Antonio) suit against him. Are you answered? BASSANIO: This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, To excuse the current (course, flow) of thy cruelty.