《紅樓夢》(A Dream of Red Mansions)寫成于18世紀，是中國著名的古典長篇小說。小說共計120回，前80回的作者是曹雪芹，后40回由高鶚完成。通過對賈氏封建大家族(feudal clan)生活的生動描述《紅樓 夢》展示了清朝(the Qing Dynasty)封建社會的興衰。小說塑造了大量的人物，其中主要人物就將近40個。以該小說為題材的藝術作品很多，其中最成功的當屬1987年由王扶林導演的電視連續(xù)劇《紅樓夢》。

　　表達難點

　　1.第1句直譯為 A Dream of Red Mansions is written in the 18th century and it is a famous Chinese classical novel，稍顯平淡沒有重點，將句首的“……寫成于18世紀”處理成狀語，用過去分詞短語written in the 18th century來表達，將后一分句“是中國著名的古典長篇小說”處理成主干，句子主次更分明。

　　2.第2句可直譯為 The novel consists of 120 chapters with the first 80 being written by... and the left 40 by...，但稍顯繁冗、生硬。將該句轉譯為由兩個并列結構和一個介詞結構組成的簡單句，結構會更明了，即將句首的“小說共計120回”譯為介詞短語in this 120-chapter novel,“前80回的作者是......，后40回由......完成”則譯成并列結構 the first 80 chapters were written by... and the left 40 by...,后一個并列結構可承前省略“由......完成”(were written)。

　　3.第3句后一分句中的“展示了清朝封建社會的興衰”的核心是“展示興衰”(reveal the rise and fall)，“興衰”前的定語“清朝封建社會的”較長，可按英語表達習慣處理成后置定語，而“清朝”和“封建社會的”則可按照與中心詞的關系越緊密越靠近中心詞的表達習慣，譯作the feudal society in the Qing Dynasty。

　　4.分析最后一句的結構可發(fā)現(xiàn)，后一分句“其中最成功的當屬……”屬于對前半句內容的補充說明，故可將其處理成修飾前一分句內容的非限制性定語從句，譯作among which the most successful is... directed by Wang Fulin in 1987。

　　參考譯文

　　Written in the 18th century, A Dream of Red Mansions is a famous Chinese classical novel. In this 120-chapter novel, the first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin and the left 40 by Gao E. With vivid descriptions of the life in the big feudal clan of Jia, the novel reveals the rise and fall of the feudal society in the Qing Dynasty. The novel shapes a large number of characters and nearly forty are considered major ones. A lot of artistic works have been produced based on the novel, among which the most successful is the TV series A Dream of Red Mansions directed by Wang Fulin in 1987.