Weblog
Sunday, 06 December 2009
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I've finally succumbed to my swelling desire to do some extra-curricular reading and got on with "The Art of Racing in the Rain". A journey into viewing our world from a dog's eyes. ^_^
Friday, 04 December 2009
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等左好耐, 終於有啦!
Greek & Roman Mythology in Western Literature
Taught by Dr. KFC
Meeting One --- Introduction, Distribution of Materials, Discussion of Basis for Grading, Class Operating Policy and Procedure
Meeting Two --- Greek Mythology: Discussion of Titans, Primordial Deities, Olympian Gods, Other Greek Gods
Meeting Three --- Greek Mythology: Mythical Greek Geography, Versions of Creation,
Commentary on the Creation (In-class writing assignment)
Meeting Four --- Greek Mythology: Prometheus and Man, The Five Ages of Man and the Flood, Commentary on the Five Ages of Man and the Flood
Meeting Five --- Greek Mythology: The Loves of Zeus, Commentary on Zeus, Commentary on Tales of the Gods (In-class writing assignment)
Meeting Six --- Greek Mythology: Greek Heroes, Other Greek Heroes, Commentary on Odysseus, Other Myths, Genealogical Tables of Important Greek Gods
Meeting Seven --- Mid-term Examination
Meeting Eight --- Roman Mythology: Discussion of Roman Gods and the Patriotic Legends of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus
Meeting Nine --- Commentary on the Patriotic Legends (In-class writing assignment)
Meeting Ten --- Roman Mythology: Love Tales concerning Pyramis & Thisbe, Pygmalion, Hero & Leander, Cupid & Psyche, Commentary on the Love Tales
Meeting Eleven --- (In-class writing assignment); film/video: action adventure and/or drama, sculpture/painting.
Meeting Twelve --- In-class writing assignment based on video presentation of prior week; new video presentation.
Meeting Thirteen -- In-class writing assignment based on prior week’s video
Discussion of Final Examination Structure, Content, Value
Wednesday, 02 December 2009
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That's thorny!
Saturday, 28 November 2009
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Currently Listening
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過去的星期真不易過呢, 應該算是入大學以來最忙的一個星期了:
Essay on "The Bell Jar"
翻譯功課:
巴金 <<朋友>>
老舍 <<駱駝祥子>> 選段
Translation Project: Ist Draft
自翔 <<醫生札記>> Chapter 1 (最後還是做不完, 不過今早上課知道是我誤信傳言; 其實不用交first draft...
)現在終於可以休息一下; 充充電, 又要再上路了.
前頭還有一份Paper和Research Project呢!
還有一疊學生的作文...
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今早翻譯課的後半不很不錯呢: 老師拿了我的"作品"來批鬥, no no no, 是批評才對.
有批評才會有進步啊, 不錯! 不過還是那句, 要批評, 最好應該有改善建議.
其實, 今天所說的我都知道的, 但時間有限, 要做graded essay, 何來有時間做那些ungraded and unmarked assignments? 而且還要那麼多, 那麼長.
他說我用 past perfect tesne 用錯, 恕我不敢茍同.
past perfect tense一般來說是用作比較兩個past actions, 較早發生的事情就需要用past perfect tense來表達. 有時候分別會明顯一點, 有時候就不然, 比如說:
我的生活曾是悲苦的，黑暗的。然而朋友們把多量的同情，多量的愛，多量的歡樂，多量的眼淚都分給了我，這些東西都是生存所必需的。這些不要報答的慷慨的施與，使我的生活裏也有了溫暖，有了幸福。我默默地接受了它們。我並不曾說過一句感激的話，我也沒有做過一件報答的行為。但是朋友們卻不把自私的形容詞加到我的身上。對於我，他們是太大量了。
What I did was only to take them without returning even a word of thanks, without even a token of gratitude. Still, they had never seen me as selfish (這個我譯錯了, 老師說用self-centered會比較好, 這個我十分同意
).有never一字, 真想問問, 用past perfect, 又有何不可?
再者, 巴金"朋友"一文的時序極不清晰, 某些地方根本不知道作者是在說人生感悟還是講人生經歷, 所以翻譯用甚麼時態完全取決於譯者的subjectivity.
我的選擇是不知為不知, 既然原文不清晰, 那譯文不清晰, 才是正常 . ^_^
例如:
"朋友是暫時的，家庭是永久的。在好些人的行動裏我發現了這個信條。這個信條在我實在是不能夠瞭解的。對於我，要是沒有朋友，我現在會變成什麼樣的東西，我自己也不知道。
然而朋友們把我救了。他們給了我家庭所不能夠給的東西。他們的友愛，他們的鼓勵，幾次把我從深淵的邊沿挽救回來。他們對於我常常顯露了大量的慷慨。"
此句, 張培基大師譯:
Friends are transient whereas families are lasting -- that is the tenet, as I know, guiding the behaviour of many people. To me, that is utterly inconceivable. Without friends, I would have been reduced to I don't know what a miserable creature.
Friends are my saviours. They give me things which it is beyond my family to give me. Thanks to their fraternal love, assistance and encouragement, I have time and again been saved from falling into abyss while on its verge. They have been enormously generous to me.
我則譯為:
In some people’s deeds I’ve found this creed: Friends are transient, families eternal, which is totally incredible to me. To me, I simply can’t imagine what would become of me if I were to live without friends.
However, my friends have saved me. They have been giving me things that my family can never provide. Their love, their help, their support have several times saved me from falling off the verge of an abyss or another. What they have shown me is unlimited benevolence.
老師說用are my saviours比較好, 因為是用了simple present tense, 有表達universal truth的意味.
我的看法不是這樣:
"然而朋友們把我救了"這段是巴金用過往的經歷反駁社會上許多人忽視朋友的觀念, 何解?
因為:
1: 有個好幾個"了"字, 證明這句不是universal truth, 所以一定不能用simple present tense!
e.g. "愛人如己"是聖經真理, 哪會有人說"愛了人如己"呢?
2. 後面的supporting details巴金也說: "幾次把我", 證明不是universal truth.
3. 常用"我"字, 所寫是personal的事, 風格不像是表達真理.
OK, 那麼應該用past tense 還是 present perfect?
答案很簡單, 朋友一定是出現在人生中某個past moment, 朋友才可以稱為朋友; 巴金的朋友還沒死
=>
有始未有終
=>
present perfect.
另外, 有past tense亦會令作者的argument顯得不夠說服力 -- 難道朋友以前幫你, 現在就不幫你了嗎? ^_^
各有各道理啦! 我也不是完全對的.
Friday, 20 November 2009
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Sorry, but I can't help being a little pernickety, because that's my alma mater. I don't mean to offend anybody...
In our school, the choirs have also (why "also"?) acted as the main performing forces in school ceremonies since its establishment, including the school opening ceremony in 1980, and the annual Christmas Thanksgiving Services and Speech Days. The choirs (^have, for consistency) also performed with the (^school, for clarity) orchestras in the Variety Shows for the celebration of the school's anniversaries. With a well-established history and distinctive results, the choirs have long been one of the most popular extra-curricular activities, with around 120 members in total, consisting of 10% of the student population.
The junior choir and girls' choir are among the earliest established organizations of the school. Since (^the) 1980s, the choirs have been actively participated in competitions in the ("the" should be omitted) territory-wide and local competitions in Tai Po and got distinctive results. As early (^as) in 1985, the junior mixed choir was already regarded (Would "praised"/ "hailed" be a better word?) as the Best Secondary School Choir in Tai Po and North District after winning in ("in" should be omitted) the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, and was invited to perform in the Prize Winners' Concert. The intermediate and senior choirs also won many of the NT East competitions in 1980s-90s (=>from the 1980s-90s). Since (^the) mid-1990s, the junior and senior girls' choirs has (=>have) often been regarded as the Best NT Secondary School Junior Choir and Girls' Choirs; while the senior boys' choir, which was set up in 2001, even got (=>achieved) the trophy for the Best NT Boys' Choir just in their first year joining the Music Festival. The members from the two senior choirs then form the senior mixed choir, which has also been a usual champion of the NT Mixed Choir category. Since 2004, the choirs have owned (strange to use "owned" here, why not just use "been"?) the Best NT Secondary School Choir for consecutive years. In the local Tai Po Inter-school Singing Competition, the choirs are also frequent in winning the gold prizes (=>winners) in the respective categories (should be crossed out).
The choirs have also been active in public performances since the early years. Besides the Prize Winners' Concerts for the Music Festival, which would be(why "would be"?? "are" would be a better choice) broadcasted (=>broadcast) on TV, the school choirs have also long been invited to sing in local events(ambiguous!! do you mean "have received regular invitations to perform in local public concerts"?), from the 1st Tai Po Festival in 1985, the Christmas Celebration at Tai Po Mega Mall in 1999, to several awarding ceremonies (??!!=>prize presentation ceremonies) in Tai Po in (^the) 2000s; and territory-wide performances such as the Chinese Arts Festival '99 at (^the) Hong Kong Cultural Centre and RTHK Christmas Concerts in Hong Kong Park in 2006 and 2007. Due to the well acclaimed (either we say: "critically acclaimed" or "well received") performances, interviews and reports by media have been made for times (what?! =>our choirs have frequently been interviewed and reported by local mass media), e.g. ATV in 1984 and Ta Kung Pao in 1998.
唉， 重新寫過啦！
