...they climbed down the steep sides of the cave until they came to a narrow corridor. They had to edge their way along this, sometimes wading across shallow streams, or swimming across deep pools. (New Concept Englsih, Book 3, p. 108)
[原译1]……他们即沿着陡峭洞壁下爬,抵达一狭长走廊。他们须侧身而行,时而涉水浅溪,时而游过深潭。(朗文出版社、世界图书出版公司,1993年版,p.195)
[原译2]……他们必须侧着身子沿着通道走,有时还得涉过浅溪或游过深池。(上海科技文献出版社,p.147)
[原译3]……他们从高地上的狭窄洞口进去后,便沿着陡峭的洞壁爬了下去,一直来到一条狭窄的通道。他们必须沿着通道侧身而行,有时还得涉过浅溪或游过深潭。(外研社,p.42)
[原译4]他们不得不侧着身子往前走……[《新概念英语》(新版第三册),外研社,p.198]
请分析 edge one's way 的意义和译法。
edge (one's way) 确实可以做“侧身走”解。但是从句子里充当伴随情况状语的两个现在分词短语“wading across...”和“swimming across...”来看,edge their way 绝不应当作“侧身而行”解,否则这两个伴随情况状语就与句子内容相矛盾了。查 edge (one's way) 还有其它含义:move gradually or cautiously。例如:
The climbers edged along the cliff. 爬山者小心地攀登峭壁。
《新概念英语》的编者 L. G. Alexander 在其 Supplementary Written Exercises 里将上面的句子改写为: They had to move cautiously along this. 这就更加证实了我们说法的正确性。
[试译]他们不得不沿着通道小心谨慎地前进,时而涉水穿过小溪,时而游泳渡过深潭。