中美元首會晤,美方這句表態刷屏外媒,如何翻譯?_風聞
外宣微记-外宣微记官方账号-2022-11-14 22:23

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11月14日下午,中美元首在印度尼西亞巴厘島會晤,舉世矚目。
這幾天,美國主流媒體都在引述美國官員反覆講的一句隱喻表達:put a floor under the relationship (between China and US),從中或可窺探美方對此次會晤的“期望值”。
試看幾例:
Biden seeks to build a floor under the relationship and increase communication …(彭博新聞社)
But in general, this is aboutputting a floor inthe relationship. (NPR)
Both leaders have a crucial opportunity to put a floor beneath the relationship. (美國《外交》雜誌)
Ahead of the talks, American officials repeatedly said their objective was to “build a floor” forties with Beijing, implying the relationship cannot spiral any further. (CNN)
你看,相比之下,還是CNN比較體貼周到,生怕讀者讀不懂“build a floor for ties”,特地補了一句:意味着兩國關係不能再繼續惡化下去了。
“put a floor under (e.g. the price/crash)”在股市語境下常見,把它用在中美關係上還不多見。在股市語境下,給不斷下跌的股價下面“put a floor”,喻指“觸底”,與“bottom out”一詞基本同義。
bottom out:to have reached the lowest point in a continuously changing situation and to be about to improve (《劍橋詞典》)
有中文媒體把“put a floor under the relationship”譯成了“為兩國關係打地基”,估計是理解出現了偏差。
這句刷屏外媒的隱喻表達告訴我們,美方的期望值似乎並不高。不過,如能實現這個“小目標”也是好事。