翻译的上下文；以及一个最难处理的定语重句

By Eddy Zhang

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/l7hb4KqeYoJMJG-OsbBYJg

见过不少将上下文处理错误，结果意思完全错误的翻译。解经的时候，也时有同样的情况发生。

不过我暂且洗心革面，只提出正面建议，不涉及错误的例句。请翻译下面两个例句。

有些朋友询问是否开班培训翻译，暂时没有这个打算。想要提高翻译水平的小朋友们，认真读这个博客，把每天的例句翻译一遍，对照我的译文，帮我找出翻译的问题来，大概暂时就够了。

F.F.Bruce的使徒行传注释。例句中的1:8和13:31都是指使徒行传相应的章节。作者的上下文是讨论使徒行传10章，给哥尼流一家传福音的事情。

While the apostles’ commission was worldwide—“to the end of the earth,” according to 1:8 Peter speaks of it as specifically directed to the Jewish people (cf. 13:31); and this is in accord with historical fact.

圣经的上下文，翻译是否与圣经或正统教义相矛盾

作者的上下文。作者要表达什么意思。

怎么翻译比较好？

The function of the risen Christ was by no means limited to the execution of judgment; he was also the one through whom, as the prophets agreed, those who believed on him would have their sins forgiven.

定语从句永远是翻译的难点，即使翻译了几百万字，遇到这种句型还是不知道怎么处理为好。大家有什么好主意？

今日份的祝福（平均句长超过30，这是目前为止最难的一段，今天的速度超级慢，耗时特别多）：

耗时    260 分钟

英文字数        3405

中文字数        5641

原文译文比    5641/ 3405 = 1.66

翻译句数        112

平均句长        3405/ 112 = 30.4

单句平均耗时           260/ 112 = 2.32 分钟

来一段最长平均句长：

6. Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit (10:44–48)

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the message. 45 The believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on Gentiles; 46 for they heard them speaking with65 tongues and magnifying God. 47 Then Peter said, “Can anyone forbid water? Why should these people not be baptized, since they have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of66 Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for some days.

44 Peter had not yet finished his address67 when the “Pentecost of the Gentile world” took place.68 The Holy Spirit fell on all his listeners. The event was not so much a second Pentecost, standing alongside the first, as the participation of Gentile believers in the experience of the first Pentecost.69 What was involved was later summed up by Paul: “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks” (1 Cor. 12:13). But, so far as the hearers of the apostolic preaching were concerned, the order of events differed markedly from that of the hearers on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. The hearers in Jerusalem were exhorted to repent and be baptized in order to receive the remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit. But the experience of the hearers in Caesarea reproduced rather that of the original company of disciples in Jerusalem, on whom the Spirit descended suddenly.70 This may be recognized in Peter’s drawing a parallel (v. 47) between the household of Cornelius and the original disciples rather than between the household of Cornelius and the three thousand who believed on the day of Pentecost (cf. 11:15; 15:8).

45–46 The descent of the Spirit on those Gentiles was outwardly manifested in much the same way as it had been when the original disciples received the Spirit at Pentecost: they spoke with tongues and proclaimed the mighty works of God.71 Apart from such external manifestations, none of the Jewish believers present, perhaps not even Peter himself, would have been so ready to accept the reality of the Spirit’s coming upon them. The Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter from Joppa were astounded by what they saw and heard: Gentiles, those “lesser breeds without the law,” had actually received the same Holy Spirit as they themselves had received on believing the same message. How right Peter had been in his new insight into the impartiality of God as between people of one race and another! As in Peter’s vision the voice of God overruled food restrictions, even those imposed with the authority of divine law, so now the act of God in sending the Spirit overruled the sacred tradition which forbade association with Gentiles.

47–48 On the day of Pentecost (2:37–41) the sequence of initiation into the new community was conviction of sin, repentance and faith, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the reception of the Spirit. Here the reception of the Spirit comes first. There is no explicit mention of faith in the immediate context, but it is certainly implied; it is suggested more definitely in 11:17, where Peter’s words “when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ” clearly mean that the Gentiles received the Spirit when they believed,72 while in 15:7–9 Peter expressly links the Gentiles’ reception of the Spirit with their believing and having their hearts cleansed by faith.73 Only after the manifest descent of the Spirit on these believing Gentiles were they baptized in water. As for the imposition of apostolic hands74 (whatever inferences may be drawn from the silence on this subject in ch. 2), nothing of the kind took place before the Gentiles received the Spirit, and nothing is said about its taking place subsequently.

Had Peter not been confronted with a divine fait accompli in the outpouring of the Spirit on Cornelius and his friends, he might not have taken the initiative in having them baptized. But, as things were, God had plainly accepted them, and Peter had no option but to accept what God had done. In justifying his action a few days later, he asked, “Who was I to hinder God?” (11:17). Here his question, “Can anyone forbid water?” (like the Ethiopian’s question in 8:36, “What prevents me from being baptized?”), has been thought to point to a primitive custom by which, before a convert was baptized, it was inquired if there was any “just cause or impediment” why the baptism should not take place.75 Whether this was so or not, no impediment was alleged on the present occasion, and Peter gave orders that these new believers should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.76 Their reception of the Spirit was not regarded as a substitute for baptism in water; rather, their baptism in water was the fitting response to the act of God in bestowing his Spirit. But no one appears to have suggested that Cornelius should be circumcised. His case thus served as a specially appropriate precedent when the question of the circumcision of Gentile believers was later raised at the Jerusalem council (ch. 15).

6. 外邦人接受圣灵（10:44-48）

44  彼得还说这话的时候，圣灵降在一切听道的人身上。45 那些奉割礼、和彼得同来的信徒，见圣灵的恩赐也浇在外邦人身上，就都希奇；46 因听见他们说65 方言，称赞神为大。47 于是彼得说：“这些人既受了圣灵，与我们一样，谁能禁止用水给他们施洗呢？”48 就吩咐奉耶稣基督的名66 给他们施洗。他们又请彼得住了几天。

44 彼得还没有说完，67 “外邦人的五旬节”就到来了。68圣灵降临在所有听众身上。这一事件并非与第一次独立的第二次五旬节，因为第一次五旬节上已经有外邦人信徒参与其中。69后来，保罗总结了这里发生的事情：“我们不拘是犹太人，是希腊人……都从一位圣灵受洗，成了一个身体”（林前 12:13）。

但是，对于听见使徒布道的听众而言，各个事件发生的顺序与耶路撒冷五旬节当天的听众所经历的大为不同。当时，彼得劝勉耶路撒冷的听众们悔改受洗，好叫罪得赦，并且领受所赐的圣灵。但是在该撒利亚的听众们更像是重复了耶路撒冷最初一众门徒之经历，圣灵突然之间就降临下来。70从彼得认为哥尼流一家的经历与最初的门徒们相似（47节），而不是与五旬节那天信主的三千人相同（参11:15，15:8），可以看出这一点来。

45–46 圣灵降临在外邦人身上，从外在形式上看来与五旬节那天最初的门徒们领受圣灵的情况几乎相同：他们也开始说方言，宣告神的大作为。71若非如此明显的外部征兆，在场的所有犹太信徒，甚至包括彼得本人，可能都不会如此轻易地接受圣灵降临在他们身上的现实。陪伴彼得从约帕而来的犹太信徒们因这次的见闻大为惊奇：外邦人，那些“没有律法的低等种族”，居然领受了同样的圣灵，与他们自己相信同样的福音时所领受的完全一样。彼得关于神不因种族而偏待人的新洞见是多么正确啊！正如在彼得的异象中，神的声音压倒了食物的限制，甚至高过神圣律法的权威规矩，现在神赐下圣灵的行动也压过了不能与外邦人交往的神圣传统。

47–48 在五旬节那天（2:37-41），信徒加入新的信仰共同体之顺序是认罪、悔改与信心，奉耶稣基督之名受洗，叫罪得赦免，然后领受圣灵。这里的情况则是领受圣灵在前。在紧邻上下文中没有明确提到信心的问题，但是显然暗含其中；在11:17里，彼得的话给出了更明确的暗示，“像在我们信主耶稣基督的时候”，清楚地表示当外邦人相信的时候，他们也领受了圣灵，72 同时在15:7-9里，彼得明确地将外邦人领受圣灵与他们听而相信，借着信洁净了他们的心联系在一起。73在圣灵明显地降临在这些信了耶稣的外邦人身上后，他们才接受了水的洗礼。至于使徒按手的问题74（无论我们从第2章对此只字未提的沉默可以推论出什么来），在外邦人接受圣灵之前显然没有过，后来也没有任何地方提到过。

如果彼得不是面对圣灵浇灌哥尼流及其朋友的神圣fait accompli （译注：〔法语〕既成事实），他可能不会主动为他们施洗。但是，既然神明白地接纳了他们，彼得别无选择，只能接受神所成就的事情。几天以后，在为自己的行为辩护时，他这样反问到，“我是谁，能拦阻神呢？” （11:17）。而他在这里的提问，“谁能禁止用水给他们施洗呢？” （就像在8:36里埃塞俄比亚人问“我受洗有什么妨碍呢？”一样），被一些人认为是指向某种原始的习俗：在归信之人受洗之前，需要询问有无任何“公平的理由或妨碍”，不能施以洗礼。75不管是否如此，目前的情况下并无任何妨碍，因此彼得吩咐奉耶稣基督的名给这些新信徒施洗。76他们接受了圣灵，但此事并不能代替水的洗礼；相反，他们接受水的洗礼，乃是对神赐下圣灵的合适回应。但是没有任何人提出，哥尼流应当受割礼。因此，当后来的耶路撒冷大公会议上出现外邦人信徒是否应受割礼的问题时（第15章），他的案例成为一件特别合适的先例。