【古诗英译】《听弹琴》唐·刘长卿

海外逸士

I used lyre just for a change. no idea what  it looks like.  are you sure that zither is actually the Chinese  gu qin?

few = almost none.
a few = some

自娱自乐

原帖由 海外逸士 于 2009-12-13 0:39:00 发表
I used lyre just for a change. no idea what  it looks like.  are you sure that zither is actually the Chinese  gu qin?

few = almost none.
a few = some

almost none 是有呢还是没有？where should we draw a line of demarcation?

有关 古琴，请你游览一下下面的网址

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E7%90%B4

薛湃

正如逸士说的，few=almost none（几乎没有），也就是“有一两个”。这跟no one（一个也没有）不一样。自娱君说few是否定式的，这也对，不过其“否定”更多体现在语法格式上，例如：

You have few books here, DO you? (不是“DON'T you?”)

自娱自乐

几乎没有-答案是偏向否定的，也就是说‘即使是有一二个（也有可能没有）可以 ignore it (不计）’也就是说‘没有’

我这个‘理论’是向你的那个‘约等于’学习的，呵呵呵

薛湃

呵呵，few还“若有似无”，还有几分婉转；no one是“绝对没有”，太伤刘长卿的心了。

自娱自乐

Not exactly, for 'would' means something to you? hehehe

Well, it is just a hypothetical situation.

无心剑

“no none would bother to touch”，一个“would”显出一分“婉转”，此译甚好。

薛湃

To楼上二君：would的确不错，开始未细品到。

自娱自乐

hehehe, wuxin, I have been very naughty, hehhe, yet I realy appreciate your support. I agree with Mr. Xu, few people is way better than no one.

Cheer up Xu, hehehe