點破“增長點”之“點”

秋千影

提及“增長點”，大多數人立刻會聯想到相關搭配“經濟增長點”;而對習慣于見到漢語即思考英文的人來說，馬上會考慮其英語對應的說法。個別手潮譯者恐怕還會不假思索地想到growth point。英語中固然有此表述，但它并非我們所謂的“增長點”，英文中的growth point釋義為：A Growth Point is a technical term in cognitive linguistics and gesture research. It refers to the earliest beginnings of a spoken utterance in the mind of a speaker， combining the beginnings of a mimetic gesture with the preliminary verbal expression of the persons thought. 可見該短語是認知語言學術語。那么，漢語中的“增長點”到底該如何表述呢？

《牛津英語詞典》網絡版對growth area有如下解釋：A commercial field that is developing rapidly.

隨后提供了例證：

E-commerce is the biggest growth area for the company.

One of the biggest growth areas for tech companies has been in new identity cards.

《習近平談治國理政》的英文版多處采用了這一譯法，例如：

1. 原文：創造新的經濟和就業增長點

譯文：create new economic and employment growth areas

2. 原文：不斷創造出更多利益契合點和合作增長點

譯文：create still more converging interests and growth areas in bilateral co-operation

3. 原文：找到中非合作新的契合點和增長點

譯文：identify new converging interests and growth areas for China-Africa cooperation

但在其他語境下，譯者也采取了靈活處理，比如：

1. 原文：把能源技術及其關聯產業培育成帶動我國產業升級的新增長點

譯文：transform our energy technology and related industries into a new pow-erhouse to drive the overall industrial upgrading of our country

點評：漢語語境下，“增長點”很多時候實指“經濟增長的動力或引擎”，因而，powerhouse或者growth engine都是很好的選項。再如：中國新的增長點Chinas new growth engine。

2. 原文：“機器人革命”有望成為“第三次工業革命”的一個切入點和重要增長點。

譯文：The Third Industrial Revolution would be a “robot revolution”.

點評：在這里，譯者采用意譯手法，直接忽略了“切入點”“增長點”等具體措辭，用英語直接表明了“機器人革命”在“第三次工業革命”中的重要地位。這再次說明，高明的譯者有膽有識、無拘無束。

除了上述處理方式，有些情況下，也可以考慮使用growth industry表示“增長點”，《牛津英語詞典》網絡版有如下例句：

Worldwide， agriculture is forecast to be a major growth industry into the 21st century.

Clothing is Vietnams largest export， and its biggest growth industry， employing 2 million workers.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? □

Covid-19 Quotes

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