原文:Demand is so high that many cinema chains are planning up to a week of round-the-clock screenings in select venues, with a showing every 30 or even 15 minutes. When tickets went on sale, every major ticketing site in America crashed. The story is similar in China, too. “Endgame” has sold twice as many pre-sale tickets as “Monster Hunt 2” (2018), a celebrated adventure flick. No other title has sold more than 1m tickets before its release, not even those timed for Chinese New Year, a high point for attendance. “Endgame” did so in three hours.
第一句:Demand is so high that many cinema chains are planning up to a week of round-the-clock screenings in select venues, with a showing every 30 or even 15 minutes.
Debt ratios are so high that it seems unlikely that most developed economies can grow their way out of the mess.
债务率这么高,看来大多数发达国家不可能走出困境。
2. Demand is so high:需要意译。这部分直译就是“需求如此之高”。观察整段话的语境,它是在说复联4的热卖情况。因此这个demand必须具体化翻译,即“对复联4电影票的需求”。电影售票情况非常好,中文里有一个词叫“叫座”。所以把它意译为“《复仇者联盟4:终局之战》十分叫座”。
3. cinema chains,指连锁影院。“影院”这里使用了cinema,因为这是经济学人用词,英国更常用cinema,而美国、加拿大和澳洲更常使用 movie theater。
看电影我们通常会说go to the cinema,但在英国多用go to the pictures,在美国多用go to the movies。如果说“带某人去看电影”除了说take sb to the cinema/ the pictures/the movies,也可以说take sb to see/watch a film/movie。
注意“连锁影院”是cinema chains,同样的用法还有“连锁超市”一般写为supermarket chains,很少用chain supermarkets,如柯林斯词典例句Supermarket chains have shaved prices. 超市连锁店已经稍稍降价。
5. “planning up to a week of round-the-clock screenings in select venues”是plan +sth.的结构。这里的sth.指的是“up to a week of round-the-clock screenings in select venues”。
6. up to a week of,意思是“长达一周……”。a week of 一周的……,up to后面经常加数字,表示“高达,多达”。金融时报上说:
He estimated that up to 100 companies now have "hundreds of millions in revenue and profitability" .
10. with a showing every 30 or even 15 minutes:with引出伴随成分,表示“全天候放映”的具体场次情况。翻译的时候注意行业措辞“场次间隔30分钟,甚至只间隔15分钟”。
第二句:When tickets went on sale, every major ticketing site in America crashed.
《复联4》刚开始预售,美国各大票务网站就瞬间崩溃。
1. go on sale:固定表达,指“出售”。金融时报上说:
The new model is due to go on sale in early 2010.
新车型定于2010年初开始销售。
还有一个短语叫for sale,表示“待售,出售”之意。它常写作put/be up for sale。举两个例子,A. There was a camera for sale in the window. 橱窗里有一架相机待售。B. The castle has been put up for sale. 该城堡已经对外出售。
go on sale表示“开始销售”或“上市”。注意这里的“上市”不是指公司上市,而是指产品“开始销售”。例如经济学人上有这么一个句子:
It was supposed to go on sale in America last year, but was not ready.
2. twice as many pre-sale tickets as:两倍之多。注意倍数的表达,N times as many sth as。这个在考研英语、MTI和CATTI考试里面是高频难点,有时候看着很简单,但是很多人就会翻译错,这个倍数翻译我已经反复讲过好几次了。比如之前推送的考研英语翻译里面就有完整版2019年考研英语一翻译真题及参考译文解析,其中有这句:
nowadays anyone applying for a research post has to have published twice the number of papers that would have been required for the same post only 10 years ago. Never mind the quality, then, count the number.
如今,如果想申请研究职位,发表的论文必须是10年前同一职位所需论文数量的两倍。
倍数别翻译错了, twice the number of和twice as many as都是……是……的两倍的意思,不是多两倍的意思,如果翻译成了多两倍或者两倍多的人。
3. pre-sale tickets即“预售票”。
4. a celebrated adventure flick:指“一部非常卖座的冒险片”。flick这个词的意思很多。它在这里指的是movie,film,即“电影”。之前的推送里面也遇到过最新经济学人中有哪些精彩表达? | 外刊双语
如经济学人在报道奥斯卡金像奖时有句话是这么说的:
Since the 1970s the films most referred to have been commercial flicks.
20世纪70年代以来,最受欢迎的电影是商业电影。
第五句:No other title has sold more than 1m tickets before its release, not even those timed for Chinese New Year, a high point for attendance.
在中国从没有哪部电影预售期就能卖出一百多万张票,上座率高的贺岁片也没做到。
1. title:理解这个词的用法之前,我们首先来看一些外刊相关报道:
“a 22-title Marvel movie marathon”就是指“22部漫威系列电影”
Marvel is yet to officially announce the title of Avengers 4, but fans are increasingly becoming convinced that the film is called Avengers: End Game.
漫威还未正式公布复联4电影名称,但影迷们越发相信这部电影就是复仇者联盟终局之战。
…fans will have the opportunity to experience a 22-title Marvel movie marathon.
影迷们将有机会一次性体验22部漫威系列电影。
可见,title可以指电影名称,也可以引申指代一部电影。因此这句话的“No other title”翻译为“没有哪部电影”。
2. release这个词作名词本身就有“新发行的影片”的意思,它也可以表示“影片的上映”。这句话中before its release,release是名词,指“上映”,即“正式上映之前”。它的同义词有premiere,distribution。
前面刚用了sold twice as many pre-sale tickets,这里换个说法sold more than 1m tickets before its release,其实这两个是差不多意思,是可以互换的,比如sold more than 1m tickets before its release就可以写为sold more than 1m pre-sale tickets。
3. timed for+时间点:time作动词可以表示“为……确定时间、安排时间、选定时机”,这段话里说的是确定电影的上映时间,所以可以理解为“定档于”。因此,“those timed for Chinese New Year”就是“定档于春节期间的影片”,也就是我们所说的“贺岁片”。
它的同义词是scheduled for+时间点,表示“为……安排时间”之意。例如“比赛定于星期六举行”,可以说“The game is scheduled for Saturday”,也可以说“The game is timed for Saturday”。
“定于/安排于某时”还可以用due to,scheduled to,timed to表示。例如Filming was due to start next month.电影定于下月开拍。同样,这句话可以改写为:Filming was scheduled to/timed to start next month。
4. a high point for attendance是补充说明Chinese New Year,是其同位语,直译就是“电影上座率高的时间点”。Attendance是“参加、出席”的意思。
5. 所以No other title has sold more than 1m tickets before its release, not even those timed for Chinese New Year, a high point for attendance翻译为“在中国从没有哪部电影预售期就能卖出一百多万张票,上座率高的贺岁片也没做到”。
第六句:“Endgame” did so in three hours.
而《复联4》三个小时就做到了。
did so中的“so”在这里用来指代上文提到的事情,即指上文的“sold more than 1m tickets before its release”。举个例子:
'Do you think that made much of a difference to the family?' — 'I think so.'.