看《参考消息》，学地道翻译（36）——韩国有钱有势者迷信风水

《参考消息》2006年7月22日第3版：韩国有钱有势者迷信风水

《国际先驱论坛报》2006年7月19日文章：追求理想墓地使韩国人世仇难解

Quest for perfect grave keeps Korean feud alive
By Choe Sang-Hun International Herald Tribune
Published: July 19, 2006

PAJU, South Korea On the o________① of this town north of Seoul, a hillside has been razed[1] to create a lawn the size of a football field. At the top of the lawn lie the tombs of two famous Koreans: a 12th-century general and, several meters up the slope and hidden behind a white granite and tiled-roof wall, a 17th-century prime minister.

For tourists who pull off the nearby highway about 40 kilometers, or 25 miles from the capital, and to the children who scamper[2] up the manicured[3] turf[4], this hill is more than a quick pleasant weekend h________② - it is the site of the oldest family feud in South Korea. （1）It is a place where ancestral worship and the mystic art of feng shui - Asian geomancy[5] - still grip the modern-day Korean imagination.

To experienced eyes of feng shui e________③, the place is pulsing with special energy, guarded by a twisting blue dragon to the left and a crouching white tiger to the right. （2）It is an energy that promises good luck for the family whose ancestor is buried there.

The descendants of the general, Yoon Gwan, and the minister, Shim Ji Won, have fought over the propitious site for 300 years, suing each other for v________④ their forefather's sacred resting place, clashing in violence and even defying exile and death.

A king tried and failed to m________⑤. The Yoons and Shims, who respectively number one million and 250,000 in this country of 48 million people, once banned and still discourage marriage between their children.

"Not even over my dead body!" says 77-year-old Yoon Bu Hyun, a leader of the Yoon clan. "You tell me," he says. "Would you marry your son to the daughter of your sworn enemy[6]?"

In South Korea feng shui still holds a special a________⑥. Many families carefully choose a grave site when a parent dies.（3）Some go to the trouble of relocating the remains of long-dead relatives when a spell of bad luck, like death and bankruptcies, is attributed to an ancestor's jinxed[7] burial site.

Modern-day critics deride grave site poongsu[8] as s________⑦ and detrimental to the environment. Many people now bury their relatives in public cemeteries or choose cremation[9].

（4）But poongsu holds sway over the Korean rich and powerful. Although they are loath[10] to admit it in public, politicians often relocate their ancestral tombs before elections. A former president, Kim Dae Jung, won the 1997 election, his fourth attempt at presidency, after moving his parents' graves to a site chosen by a famous geomancer.

"I know a politician, a graduate of Harvard University, who has moved his parents' graves eight times, almost once a year, hoping that will bring him election or a cabinet post," said Jee Jong Hag, who r________⑧ a poongsu Web site. "The last time I heard of him, he was still waiting for a cabinet post."

（5）The tradition lives on in Korean idiom. When a person is prone to boasting but does not take responsibility, people quip[11]: "____________________________.（干好了是自己的，不好了就责怪祖先。）"

NOTES:
[1]raze v.拆毁，夷平；抹去
[2]scamper v.（孩子）蹦蹦跳跳；（动物）惊惶奔跑
[3]manicure v.修指甲；修剪（草坪）
[4]turf n.草皮；草地
[5]geomancy n. 撒泥占卜(撒泥于地,观其形推卜吉凶)
[6]sworn enemy 不共戴天的敌人；死敌
[7]jinxed adj.不幸的；倒霉的 jinx v.使倒霉 n.厄运
[8]poongsu n.（feng shui在韩语中的说法）风水
[9]cremation n.焚化；火葬
[10]loath adj. (be loath to do sth.)不愿意的
[11]quip v.讥讽；嘲弄

WORDS FOCUS:
与“die”有关的词汇：
funeral（a ceremony at which someone who has died is buried or burned）葬礼
burial（when someone's body is put into the ground）下葬；埋葬
cremation（when someone's body is burned）火化；焚化
hearse（a large car that takes the body to the funeral）灵车
coffin（a box in which someone is buried or carried to the funeral）棺材
grave/tomb（the place where someone is buried）坟墓，墓穴
graveyard/cemetery（an area where dead people are buried）坟场；墓园；墓地
undertaker（someone who arranges funerals）承办葬礼者；从事殡仪业者
the mourners（the people at a funeral）送葬者；哀悼者

试一试：
1．根据首字母提示和译文，填入适当单词：
①On the o________ of this town north of Seoul（在首尔北边这这座城市的市郊）
②more than a quick pleasant weekend h________（不仅是一个周末远足的好地方）
③To experienced eyes of feng shui e________（在经验老到的风水先生看来）
④suing each other for v________ their forefather's sacred resting place（互相控告对方侵犯了他们祖先神圣的安息之地）
⑤A king tried and failed to m________（有一位国王试图调解，但没有成功）
⑥feng shui still holds a special a________（风水仍然有着特别的吸引力）
⑦critics deride grave site poongsu as s________（批评者嘲笑墓地风水之说是迷信）
⑧r________ a poongsu Web site（经营一家风水网站）

参考答案：

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以下为回复可见内容
①outskirts ②hike ③experts ④violating ⑤mediate ⑥appeal/attraction ⑦superstitious ⑧runs[/replyview]

 

2．翻译划线部分英文：

参考答案：
[replyview]（1）在这里，对祖先的崇敬和风水——亚洲占卜术——的神秘仍然让现代韩国人浮想联翩。
（2）这种能量会给祖先埋葬于此的家庭带来好运。
（3）一些人把死亡和破产这类厄运归咎于祖坟的风水不好，甚至不怕麻烦把去世很久的亲人的遗骨迁移。
（4）但是风水仍然影响着韩国有钱有势的人。
（5）从日常俗语中可以感受到传统仍继续存在。对那种喜欢自吹而又不承担责任的人，人们会说他“干好了是自己的，不好了就责怪祖先”。
[/replyview]

3．根据译文，写出句子：

参考译文：[replyview]When things go well, he praises himself. When things go bad, he blames his ancestors.（是不是您的翻译与原文相去甚远，这不奇怪，同一意思表达方式成千上万，只要您愿意尝试学习作者的用法，您就达到学习的目的了。）