The Life I Never Lived

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无以名状地感动
发生在同一个城市里的同龄人的故事，完全不同的生活。
幸福的感觉可以只是红烧肉、盐汽水、四个人吃到撑死只要100块的路边排挡……

"知足"一词好写，但却不好懂。
"生活"俩字常说，绝不容易过。

So Zuo

一个ATA里头，有好几条都是关于卖方和卖方关联方义务的表述，每一句后面都加一句：failing which, the Buyer shall have the right to terminate this Agreement。

这买方真像个很"作"的小姑娘，动不动就要不干了～

Keep sb informed of...

这在法律文本中也属常见，一般看到的翻译有"使某人保持知晓某事"或者类似的操作方式。

我觉得完全不可接受，因为中国人就不这么说话，不论是不是法律文件，都得是人话嘛！但是平时尽管一直看到，也很少去修改，因为平时很少有需要直接翻译这个短语的时候。今天一朋友突然问我，说这短语理解容易但要翻译顺畅却也不容易。此话不假。

问题都问到门口了，不能回避。暂时放下手中的活计，想了下，有了下面的尝试：

某人应始终及时将某事告知/通知某人

keep sb +-ed of 有"持续状态"的含义，ed分词表具体是什么状态。"保持informed的状态"在汉语中是没有对应表达方式的。因为inform的意思是"知晓"，而 汉语中可以"保持竞技状态"，可以"保持持续上升/下降的状态"，可以"保持积极的状态"，但就是不可以"保持知晓的状态"，更不能用"使某人保持知晓的 状态"的"使动用法"。

按照字面一一对应绝对是下下策。只能根据含义，调整词序，甚至调整表达方式。这个短语的主语该做什么才能使短语的宾语始终处于informed的状态呢？ 有问题及时通知，出现下一个问题，就再及时通知。没问题自然就"平安无事"，无需通知。也就是说只要"始终""及时通知"就能实现使短语的宾语始终处于 informed的状态。好了，汉语中就有"将某事及时通知某人"的表达。当然，完全可以再这个基础上根据具体语境作相应调整，加上"始终"作状语，将" 通知"修改成"告知"等。

朋友觉得不错，可用。他是律师，不知道还有没有类似的律师和法律翻译愿意放弃"传统用法"用我这个呢？当然，我也不觉得我这个就是最佳版本。只是，不知道还有没有类似的律师和法律翻译愿意挑战"传统用法"，改变一些冗长、罗嗦、语病百出、逻辑不畅的所谓模板既有译文呢？

Commonly Seen Legalese

They are commonly seen in the Definition part in most legal documents. 100% authentic legalese, rarely in daily English discourses. However, it is a legal translator's job to put things like this into another language in a PROPER way.

But, how to define "a proper way"?  For me, two rules are essential, i.e. Rule 1: the translation must make sense; Rule 2: if the translation does not make sense, do it again.

reference to any gender includes a reference to all other genders

"凡提及任何性别，均指所有其他性别" or anything similar is what I encountered most in my work. What makes things funny, on more than one occasion, I found such 'translation' in the proofread or reviewed documents, or in the so-called TEMPLATES.

As a native Chinese speaker, born and brought up in China and taught at Chinese speaking schools and universities, I felt sorry reading such Chinese in a very formal legal document. What disgusted me even more is that some guys hold such a belief that 'legal documents' are not supposed to be understood by non-lawyer readers.

Rule No.2 applies here.

"本协议中文本中名词无性别之分。"

Does my version sound better in the attempt to make the translation make sense?

The point is: dare you, if you are a legal translator hired on with a law firm, use it in your work?

Readable Chinese, please.

I'm now updating a Chinese JVC against its English version. The original Chinese translation was supposed to have been proofread by some lawyers, who, presumably were Chinese natives. However, I do not feel comfortable for the "set" Chinese wordings. Here we go:

PPP will not cease to directly or indirectly wholly own the equity and voting rights of Party B during the duration of this Contract except with the prior written consent of Party A.

除非经甲方事先书面同意，否则PPP在本合同有效期内不得停止直接或间接地拥有乙方全部股权和投票权.

What do you guys think of the translation? I'm not being picky, right? It STICKS to the English PERFECTLY but it does not sound Chinese. My draft version goes this way:

除非经甲方事先书面同意，否则,在本合同有效期内,PPP须始终直接或间接地拥有乙方的全部股权和投票权。

A slimmer one:
在本合同有效期内,非经甲方事先书面同意，PPP须始终直接或间接地拥有乙方的全部股权和投票权。

PC Health

家里的电脑购置于2005年，主机加17存液晶显示屏时价总共5000大洋，机器配置属一般，因为我不玩游戏不看高清不下载狂，操作有大量图片的PPT不要太慢就行。三年来除了发现声卡喇叭线路是坏的之外，其他没啥大问题。

前不久发现机器极不稳定，症状为：
（1）无法开机（主板“嘀”的那一声都没有）；
（2）开机自检通过之后无法进入系统（windows滚动条都没有）；
（3）在进入系统的过程中死机或者花屏；
（4）进入系统之后死机；或
（5）操作过程中突然死机，但操作所涉具体应用程序没有规律。
正常开机、顺利进入系统、完成应用、关机全靠运气。

根据症状自己做检查分析：
（1）连开机都不行，不是病毒的问题。我平时去的网站都很小心，要是中CYH之类的硬件病毒的话真是额头碰到天花板了。
（2）不是硬盘、内存故障；不是系统软件问题，更不是应用软件出故障；
（3）可能是系统软件问题；花屏可能是显卡问题。
（4）可能是系统软件问题；
（5）不大可能是某一应用软件问题。

我不考虑重装系统，一来懒，二来在缺乏具体证据证明是系统软件有问题之前，盲目重装系统，结果因为某硬件故障发作，在系统装到了一半的时候死机，到时候可是连碰运气进系统的机会都没有了。

加大数据备份频率之后，还是一天一天地混着。直到有一天，接通电源，系统主板报警了。一长两短。这是好消息！这是电脑在自己跟我报告故障！翻了下技术手册，是显示系统的问题，这问题可能是我遇到的某一个或全部症状的解。

前几天找了时间，拆了机箱，做了清扫，而后把显卡拎了出来，表面看看（我也只有表面看看的本事）没啥类似小电容爆浆、焊点脱落之类的毛病。金手指好像也很干净，不需要用橡皮擦之类的“偏方”。用皮老虎大致吹吹，把它插回去。

开机，一切顺利。这几天用下来，一点问题都没有了。

原来，是显卡和主板连接的接触问题。

The American Tongue Twister

The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by the Company does not, and the consummation of the Merger and the other transactions contemplated hereby will not, constitute or result in (A) a breach or violation of, or a default under, the certificate of incorporation or by-laws of the Company or the comparable governing documents of any of its Significant Subsidiaries, (B) with or without notice, lapse of time or both, a material breach or violation of, assuming (solely with respect to performance of this Agreement and consummation of the Merger and the other transactions contemplated hereby), compliance with the matters referred to in Section 5.1(d)(i), any Law to which the Company or any of its Significant Subsidiaries is subject, (C) with or without notice, lapse of time or both, a breach or violation of, a termination, cancellation or modification (or right of termination, cancellation or modification) or default under, the payment of additional fees, the creation or acceleration of any obligations under or the creation of a Lien on any of the assets of the Company or any of its Significant Subsidiaries pursuant to any agreement, lease, license, contract, settlement, consent, note, mortgage or indenture not otherwise terminable by the other party thereto on 90 days' or less notice (each, a "Contract") binding upon the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, (D) a breach or violation of or a termination, cancellation or modification (or right of termination, cancellation or modification) or default or right of first refusal or similar right under any investment agreement, shareholders agreement or any other similar agreement with respect to a Joint Venture to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party or by which any of them are otherwise bound, or (E) any change in the rights or obligations of any party under any Contract binding upon the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or Joint Ventures, except, in the case of clause (C), (D) or (E) above, for any such breach, violation, termination, default, creation, acceleration or change that is not, individually or in the aggregate ,reasonably likely to have a Material Adverse Effect or prevent or materially impair the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

整段的理解和翻译暂且不谈，红色部分中黄色标记的这个assume就有点费解。这是这个案子里美国人写的东西第三次让大家头疼了，前两次都是一个长句里套三重甚至N重否定，而且这是各种形式的否定，包括NOT、前后缀（un-/im-/-less之类），还有语气上的(but for...would be...）。

且不谈外语，让中国人自己也按这种风格写个句子也挺累的吧。真是脑力体操啊。