林巍

【原文】

The Evolving Virus

[1] Viruses are often confused with bacteria， but they are different—much smaller and more difficult to treat. They “live” inside of our cells though， really， viruses arent living or dead. [2] Each tiny virus holds instructions for how and when to create new viruses. They need a host to replicate. Once they get inside one of our cells， they hijack or mislead the system and tell the cell to start making more viruses to dreadful conditions or even death. [3] The virus will attach itself to the outside of a cell and inject the information into the cell. Our cells protect these viruses from attack once the virus enters the cell. Thats why viruses are difficult to treat. [4] The body can fight many viruses on its own， but not always. The deadly COVID-19 strain of coronavirus has so far been poorly understood by the scientific community since it is still evolving into something much worse and difficult to treat.

【点评】

此次疫情来势之猛，蔓延之广，为多年所罕见。其间出现了一些新词语、新表述以及相关的翻译现象。

就题目而言，The Evolving Virus 一般被译成了“进化中的病毒”“不断进化的病毒”“演变中的病毒”“病毒进化论”“病毒的进化之路”等，似乎不错，但分析起来，evolve＼evolving的基本含义是 gradually change and develop into different forms，即为了适应外界条件而发生的演化，却未必永远是进化，在某种情况下，还可能是退化，如人类在直立行走之后，不再需要尾巴保持平衡，尾巴在椎尾骨的挤压下渐渐失去了养分供给，不断萎缩，最后退化掉了。用进废退（use it or lose it）是一普遍规律。所以，当年严复将英国博物学家赫胥黎（Huxley. T. H.）《进化论与伦理学》（Evolutionism and Ethics）中的一部分翻译成《天演论》，有其合理之意。该词用来形容病毒时，则多用“变异”，故不妨译为“变异中的病毒”。

[1] 中，对于“Viruses are often confused with bacteria， but they are different—much smaller and more difficult to treat.”，有的译成“病毒常常与细菌相混淆，但它们并不相同——病毒要更微小，且更难以治疗”，显然过多拘泥于原文字面形式。前半句是被动语态，原文中似乎没有主语，即“谁”（常常把病毒与细菌相混淆），在翻译中则应将其补充出来——“人们”。类似的，如：①Tremendous research work has been done to bring such fantastic speeds.（为了达到这样惊人的速度，研究人员进行了大量的研究工作。）②Mr. Li is considered to be good teacher.（大家认为李先生是位好老师。）treat一词有多种含义，如：①Treat people with respect.（尊重别人。）②Today， my treat.（今天我请客。）当然，更常见的是：③ A doctor treats his patient.（医生给病人治病。）但此处指的是病毒对人体的侵袭，故不妨用“防控”。

They “live” inside of our cells though， really， viruses arent living or dead. 针对这一句，较为典型的参赛译文有“尽管病毒‘住在我们的细胞里，但实际上，它们并没有生死之分。”“尽管病毒‘居住在我们的细胞里，但实际上，它们没有生命，也不会死亡。……