分享

[2014.05.10] A chip and a chair 一椅一筹码

 看见就非常 2014-11-03
[2014.05.10] A chip and a chair 一椅一筹码
本帖最后由 Wesyman 于 2014-5-26 00:51 编辑

>>>原文链接<<<

Playing poker
打扑克

A chip and a chair
一椅一筹码


Colson Whitehead takes Vegas
科尔森·怀特黑德写维加斯


May 10th 2014 | From the print edition

The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death. By Colson Whitehead. Doubleday; 256 pages; $24.95
《高贵的聚众活动:扑克,牛肉干和死亡》。科尔森·怀特黑德著;双日出版社;256页;24.65美元

YOU have probably never hired a plumber named Tom Pipefitter or an exterminator called Ed Bugstomper. But in 2003 the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was in fact won by a man named Chris Moneymaker. Mr Moneymaker was the first winner of the WSOP “Main Event”—a no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament with a $10,000 entry fee—to qualify through an online tournament. Poker is a game of numbers, probability, patience and, despite the American government’s contrary belief, immense skill. Mr Moneymaker’s win convinced poker aficionados everywhere that the myth of the Vegas card sharp, weaned on black coffee and rye whiskey whose skill was the product of thousands of long nights at illegal backroom games, was just that: a myth. Anyone with a head for numbers could make a living at the (real or virtual) table.

你很可能从来没有请过名叫“汤姆·装管者”的管道工,或者“艾德·躏虫者”的灭虫工人,但赢得2003年的世界扑克系列赛(WSOP)冠军的男子确实名为“克里斯·赚钱者”。赚钱者先生是首届WSOP“主事件”的赢家,即需10000美元报名费通过网络晋级的无限额德州扑克锦标赛。扑克是数字、概率、耐心和富有技巧(尽管美国政府持相反立场)的游戏。赚钱者先生的胜利让全世界的扑克迷确信,传说中以黑咖啡和黑麦威士忌为食粮,把千万个漫长的夜晚泡在非法的后屋赌局里以磨砺技艺的维加斯牌霸,只不过是一个传说而已。任何有数学头脑的人都可以通过(真实或虚拟的)赌桌挣钱谋生

Poker has become socially acceptable and phenomenally lucrative. In 1981 the New Yorker magazine sent Al Alvarez to cover the WSOP. Stu Ungar, the son of a bookie who learned to gamble at his father’s bar, won the “Main Event” for the second year on the trot. He took home $375,000. In 2011, when Grantland, an online magazine owned by ESPN, paid Colson Whitehead’s entry fee, the Main Event was won by Pius Heinz, a 22-year-old German. He took home $8.7m.

如今扑克已被社会接受,并且格外有利可图。1981年,《纽约客》杂志派阿尔·阿尔维勒兹去报道WSOP。当年一位赌马爱好者的儿子,在父亲的酒吧里学会赌博的斯杜·恩格尔,连续第二年赢得了“主事件”,把37.5万美元带回家。2011年,ESPN麾下的在线杂志《Grantland》为科尔森-怀特黑德支付了报名费,而该年的主事件赢家是22岁的德国人皮乌斯·海因茨,他带回家了870万美元。

Mr Whitehead won no prize money (James McManus, a novelist, fulfilled that fantasy when he used a $4,000 advance from Harper’s magazine to buy his way into the WSOP in 2000 and finished fifth, winning nearly $250,000). Still, Mr Whitehead lasted a respectable amount of time. And he turned his experience into this tight little book, mordantly funny from the first sentence: “I have a good poker face because I am half dead inside.”

虽然怀特黑德先生一分奖金都没有拿到(小说家詹姆斯·麦克玛纳斯实现了这个幻想,他2000年用《Harper’s》杂志的4000美元预付款来交WSOP的报名费,赢得第五名和近25万美元奖金),但他还是坚持了很长时间。于是他把这段经历写成了这本紧凑的小书,从第一句开始就带有辛辣的幽默:“我有一张优秀的扑克脸,因为我的内心已经死了一半”。

The book starts in Atlantic City, where the author plays for six weeks in preparation for the tournament, and then it heads west to Vegas. In truth—as the two first-person pronouns in that opening sentence hint—it never really leaves the inside of Mr Whitehead’s skull. This assignment comes just after Mr Whitehead has finished a zombie novel and got divorced, and he makes the most of his loneliness, which even after a few dozen pages seems less situational than pathological. He has a running conceit about representing the Republic of Anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure), whose national anthem consists “mostly of grunts, half-muttered curses and long, drawn-out sighs, depending on the particular sufferings you’re cultivating that day…”

这本书开头是在大西洋城,作者6个星期时间都在这里打牌,为锦标赛热身,接着内容便向西跃至维加斯。事实上,正如开头第一句的两个第一人称代词所暗示,一切从来就没有离开过怀特黑德的脑海。这本书恰好写在怀特黑德先生写完一本僵尸小说和离婚之后,他充分抒发了自己的寂寞感,甚至读了几十页后,这种寂寞感觉更多是病态而非符合情境。他用连珠般的妙语描写“快感缺乏症(感觉不到愉快感的症状)共和国”,该国国歌“主要由哼声,半咕半哝的咒骂和拖长的叹息组成,取决于你当天培养的特定苦难……”

The real pleasures of “The Noble Hustle” come in the throwaway observations. Having written five novels, Mr Whitehead finds that the “biding, spider part of me” is brilliantly suited to the canny, long-haul patience required for poker success, for “in novel-writing, biding is everything…You practise a slow parcelling out of self to survive the swamp of self-doubt, to tolerate the juvenile-delinquent sentences who keep acting out. Waiting years for a scofflaw 11-word sentence to shape up into an upstanding ten-word sentence.” Mr Whitehead may not have gone home in the money, but he has a way with upstanding sentences.

《高贵的聚众活动》的真正乐趣在于作者信手拈来的评论。已经写了五部小说的怀特黑德发现,“待机而动,蜘蛛般的那部分我”极为适合扑克牌取胜所需的狡诈和旷日持久的耐心,因为“在小说写作中,忍耐就是一切……你慢慢把自己分割成几部分,从自我怀疑的沼泽中生还下来,忍受少年犯般不停挣脱欲出的句子,等上几年把一个11个字的流氓句塑造成坚挺的十字句。”怀特黑德先生可能没能把钱带回家,但他对写出坚挺的句子很有一套。

From the print edition: Books and arts
作者: aleczhu001    时间: 2014-5-21 17:40
翻译的不错,拜读了。 特别是第一段二个人名 翻译的很有意思。有几点探讨下,如果不对,见谅!
1.The Noble Hustle: 这个书名主要集中在HUSTLE 这个词上,柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典 上说做动词讲 有一个谋取;骗钱;诈取的意思。做名词将 主要指忙碌。所以个人觉得不妨可以译为 《高贵的诈骗》。
2.make a living。谋生 非维生。
3.card sharp,  a professional card player who makes a living by cheating at card games。老千或者老手。
4.“Main Event” 译为主时间无误,但是为了更加精确传神,能否考虑译为其他的? 头奖/大奖 OR 其他?
5. he makes the most of his loneliness。他充分发挥了自己的寂寞感 ? 这个语句是不是可以再组织下?
6。throwaway observations. 信手拈来的评论OR即性评论? 待商榷。
7. to tolerate the juvenile-delinquent sentences 。忍受的是 少年犯般不停挣脱欲出的 句子还是 像判决少年犯那样的场景不断出现的痛苦。待解?
8.upstanding sentences.坚挺的句子。这个词值得推销。 是不是可以翻成 高贵的话语。
或许,怀特黑德先生不能赢钱回家,但是他高贵的话语独具特色。 待商榷。
作者: Wesyman    时间: 2014-5-21 18:25
本帖最后由 Wesyman 于 2014-5-21 18:27 编辑
aleczhu001 发表于 2014-5-21 17:40
翻译的不错,拜读了。 特别是第一段二个人名 翻译的很有意思。有几点探讨下,如果不对,见谅!
1.The Noble ...


谢谢你的意见,都是很值得讨论的问题

1. card sharp 和汉语中的“老千”不太一样,因为 Mr Moneymaker 属于 card sharp,是通过高超的数学头脑和牌技赢得奖金,但没有出千
维基百科的解释也可以见到card sharp这个词不全是带诈骗性质的:
A card sharp (also spelled cardsharp, card shark or cardshark) is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games... the label is not always intended as pejorative, and is sometimes used to refer to practitioners of card tricks for entertainment purposes... the term has also taken on the meaning of "expert card gambler who takes advantage of less-skilled players", without implication of actual cheating at cards,

2.  to tolerate the juvenile-delinquent sentences who keep acting out。 这里的 juvenile-delinquent 和后面的scofflaw(11-word sentence)是相对应的,可以认为who是拟人指代sentences。引号里 Whitehead 几乎每个句子都带有比喻或者拟人,很难翻译,但倒还可以理解,结合我自己写作的经历。我感同身受地猜想这里的 juvenile-delinquent sentences 是指写作过程中脑海里不断蹦出一些扭曲暴走的句子的让人抓狂的状况……其实我不太喜欢这个作者的写作风格,句子写得太飘逸了……upstanding 我也没想好怎么翻译更传神一些,暂且用"挺拔"直译一下

3. Hustle这里我不太确定,因为全文似乎没有提到任何诈骗,书评也没有提到诈骗的内容,所以只取了 busy noisy activity of a lot of people in one place 的释义,虽然个人认为“高贵的诈骗”读起来更有力

其他措辞的问题,我需要再研究一下~
作者: flysnow29    时间: 2014-5-24 00:06
^-^好久没写回复了~这篇文章有些词的用法真是第一次看到呢~~


Colson Whitehead takes Vegas
科尔森·怀特黑德写维加斯
Vegas在这里是不是指拉斯维加斯吖?因为后面“The book starts in Atlantic City, where the author plays for six weeks in preparation for the tournament, and then it heads west to Vegas.” 好像也是符合实际地理方位的。。这里难道是虚拟了一个城市?
另外这里的take的用法也挺有意思的哈,好像一般没看到过这种用法~~

weaned on black coffee and rye whiskey 以黑咖啡和黑麦威士忌为食粮
weaned on是不是说总是吃 以---为食粮好像程度轻了一点点。。--- 不离手?

“I have a good poker face because I am half dead inside.”
我有一张优秀的扑克脸,因为我的内心已经死了一半”。
poker face 加个注释如何?毫无表情的脸 因为单说扑克脸 可能有的人不能马上想到是面无表情的脸?

he makes the most of his loneliness, which even after a few dozen pages seems less situational than pathological. He has a running conceit about representing the Republic of Anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure), whose national anthem consists “mostly of grunts, half-muttered curses and long, drawn-out sighs, depending on the particular sufferings you’re cultivating that day…”
他充分抒发了自己的寂寞感,甚至读了几十页后,这种寂寞感觉更多是病态而非符合情境。他用连珠般的妙语描写“快感缺乏症(感觉不到愉快感的症状)共和国”,该国国歌“主要由哼声,半咕半哝的咒骂和拖长的叹息组成,取决于你当天培养的特定苦难……”
situational受环境影响的?less situational than pathological 与其说是受环境影响,不如说是病态的?
representing这里好像没有体现出来~
makes the most of 把---描写得淋漓尽致 他将自己的孤独描绘得淋漓尽致?
cultivate 直译 培养苦难 读起来有一点点奇怪~是不是遭受苦难?作者这里是取它原意 耕种吗?

Waiting years for a scofflaw 11-word sentence to shape up into an upstanding ten-word sentence.” Mr Whitehead may not have gone home in the money, but he has a way with upstanding sentences.

等上几年把一个11个字的流氓句塑造成坚挺的十字句。”怀特黑德先生可能没能把钱带回家,但他对写出坚挺的句子很有一套。
scofflaw和upstanding前后是不是对应的呢?upstanding有正直老实的意思~坚挺的句子 是什么意思呢?
scofflaw 11-word sentence 11个字的流氓句 感觉也不大明白。。scofflaw 是无视法律的  不过说实话我看了半天也没太理解好意思想好怎么措辞。。
将一个由十一个单词组成的不合规范的句子凝练成十个单词构成的准确到位的句子?这个upstanding我真不大确定意思。。。。Wesyman怎么理解的呢?



作者: Wesyman    时间: 2014-5-25 13:47
flysnow29 发表于 2014-5-24 00:06
^-^好久没写回复了~这篇文章有些词的用法真是第一次看到呢~~

1. Vegas就是拉斯维加斯的简略称呼啦,我想中文直接写“维加斯”也没问题的,因为我不认识其它同名城市,有电影的中文译名就叫《维加斯》,而且有个我很迷的游戏就叫《辐射:新维加斯》,both of which 故事就在拉斯维加斯。

2. wean on 这里我有点拿捏不准,所以用“为食粮”翻了个大意
我查到的词典释义是:
to make sb experience sth regularly, especially from an early age
所以这里是不是说……“黑咖啡和黑麦威士忌喂大的”?

3. poker face确实应该加个注释

4. he makes the most of his loneliness, which even after a few dozen pages seems less situational than pathological. He has a running conceit about representing the Republic of Anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure), whose national anthem consists “mostly of grunts, half-muttered curses and long, drawn-out sighs, depending on the particular sufferings you’re cultivating that day…”

Situational这里其实我要表达的意思和你差不多。我查到维基百科的situational ethics(虽然不是 situational单词本身,但可以参考一下其逻辑)的词条是这么说的:
Situational ethics, or situation ethics, takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards.
即”把特定的背景/环境列入考虑“。

原文提到:作者把自己的经历写成这本书,一开始是写在大西洋城,后来到维加斯。应该全书的主要部分是叙事,而后文提到 ”真正乐趣在于作者信手拈来的评论“,我猜想这本书就是以讲故事为主体,穿插了作者的各种评论。

那么”after a few dozen pages“,篇幅已经不小了,He has a running conceit about representing the Republic of Anhedonia,作者还很执着的要花大量描写 ”快感缺失症共和国“,以至于读者感觉作者有点病态,而不是很situational——所以我的理解就是,作者透露出的寂寞感已经让读者难以从叙事中感同身受了,所以措辞用了”抒发“和”不符合情境“。

至于 cultivate,因为原文用了引号,说明作者书里就是这么写的。我当时体会不到,决定直译,现在想想可能有点像”让自己的某种痛苦发酵“的意思,不知道flysnow同学你读的时候是这种感觉吗

5. Waiting years for a scofflaw 11-word sentence to shape up into an upstanding ten-word sentence.” Mr Whitehead may not have gone home in the money, but he has a way with upstanding sentences.

我感觉 scofflaw和 juvenile-delinquent, upstanding前后都是对应的。upstanding用在句子的涵义我倾向于理解为”耐读、经得住考验“的句子,但这个词在表示品行时,又是这两个拟人词的反义词,我翻译的时候是在”端正“/”端庄“/”坚挺“/”挺拔“几个选择中犹豫,最后选了C。所以 只能说作者措辞很飘逸,另外shape up 也是非正式用语,牛津词典上是:(AmE, informal) used to tell sb that if they do not improve, work harder, etc. they will have to leave their job, position, etc 的意思。
作者: 兰陵笑笑翁    时间: 2014-5-25 14:31
poker face其实蛮常见的
good poker face 十足的扑克脸。
优秀的扑克脸~~
upstanding stensence 出彩/出众/出类拔粹的句子。文笔高卓
挺拔的句子,对汉语表达来说,过于新鲜了。


作者: pencilcase    时间: 2014-5-26 13:16

作者: wjbhpp    时间: 2014-5-27 13:39
讨论很热烈嘛
作者: flysnow29    时间: 2014-5-27 22:57
Wesyman 发表于 2014-5-25 13:47
1. Vegas就是拉斯维加斯的简略称呼啦,我想中文直接写“维加斯”也没问题的,因为我不认识其它同名城市, ...

wean on 这里我有点拿捏不准,所以用“为食粮”翻了个大意
我查到的词典释义是:
to make sb experience sth regularly, especially from an early age
所以这里是不是说……“黑咖啡和黑麦威士忌喂大的”?
这里感觉是不是强调整天吃这个和和这个呀~

4. 那么”after a few dozen pages“,篇幅已经不小了,He has a running conceit about representing the Republic of Anhedonia,作者还很执着的要花大量描写 ”快感缺失症共和国“,以至于读者感觉作者有点病态,而不是很situational——所以我的理解就是,作者透露出的寂寞感已经让读者难以从叙事中感同身受了,所以措辞用了”抒发“和”不符合情境“。
恩situational你的理解更准确些呀~

至于 cultivate,因为原文用了引号,说明作者书里就是这么写的。我当时体会不到,决定直译,现在想想可能有点像”让自己的某种痛苦发酵“的意思,不知道flysnow同学你读的时候是这种感觉吗
恩 是有点这种感觉~

5. 我感觉 scofflaw和 juvenile-delinquent, upstanding前后都是对应的。upstanding用在句子的涵义我倾向于理解为”耐读、经得住考验“的句子,但这个词在表示品行时,又是这两个拟人词的反义词,我翻译的时候是在”端正“/”端庄“/”坚挺“/”挺拔“几个选择中犹豫,最后选了C。所以 只能说作者措辞很飘逸,另外shape up 也是非正式用语,牛津词典上是:(AmE, informal) used to tell sb that if they do not improve, work harder, etc. they will have to leave their job, position, etc 的意思。
恩 把upstanding 理解为 “耐读、经得住考验”的句子 挺合理的~作者的文笔挺随意大胆幽默的。。

    本站是提供个人知识管理的网络存储空间,所有内容均由用户发布,不代表本站观点。请注意甄别内容中的联系方式、诱导购买等信息,谨防诈骗。如发现有害或侵权内容,请点击一键举报。
    转藏 分享 献花(0

    0条评论

    发表

    请遵守用户 评论公约

    类似文章 更多