The universe embarrasses me
Chinese translation: 宇宙令我茫然
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| 08:02 Jul 27, 2015 |
| English to Chinese translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: QHE United States Local time: 00:06 | ||||||
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| 5 +1 | 宇宙使我困惑 |
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| 4 +1 | FYI |
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| 4 | 宇宙令我难堪/我无法想像宇宙的钟表般运行/能独立存在，无需钟表匠。 |
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| 3 | 这个世界令我困惑茫然。。。 |
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| Discussion entries: 1 | |
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Answers
5 hrs confidence: 
| the universe embarrasses me 宇宙令我难堪/我无法想像宇宙的钟表般运行/能独立存在，无需钟表匠。 Explanation: Hi, not sure if there is an existing "official" translation in Chinese, so this is just my version. Voltaire was wrong though in being embarrassed: the universe is better than a clock, it's the clockmaker itself. If Voltaire lived today, he should be embarrassed of his own writing. |
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12 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| the universe embarrasses me 宇宙使我困惑 Explanation: Found the original in French: L'Univers m'embarraffe & je ne puis fonger, Que cette horloge exifte & n'ait point d'horloger. Being a French speaker, to embarras here does not mean to make someone appear foolish, but rather to confuse someone. So I think it will be better to translate it as: 宇宙使我困惑，我无法想象 如此一座（精巧的）钟表，竟然没有钟表匠 https://books.google.ca/books?id=Ai8HAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Reference: http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/embar... |
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1 day 21 hrs confidence:
| the universe embarrasses me 这个世界令我困惑茫然。。。 Explanation: Thanks for the great discussion. Going back to the original French text was the right instinct. I am a bit amused to see that QHE's first link above contains a somewhat different version: Le monde m'embarasse, et je ne puis pas songer/Que cette horloge existe et n'a pas d'Horloger. Taking advantage of both excellent translations above, here is my second try (please note my reduced confidence level!). I like YanLevitt's sentence length and rhymes (closer to the French), and QHE's attention to the term "existe". 世界令我困惑，我无法想像 此钟存在，却没有什么钟表匠 My interest in this discussion was mostly driven by Voltaire's topic. If I were him, I would have said something like "What a wonderful universe! Both a clock and a clockmaker at once!"... |
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1 day 17 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| the universe embarrasses me FYI Explanation: « L'univers m'embarrasse, et je ne puis songer / Que cette horloge existe et n'ait point d'horloger. » in Les Cabales de Voltaire 宇宙令我茫然，没有钟匠，宇宙之钟何以存在。 -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2015-07-29 01:23:26 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- https://books.google.com/books?id=waRlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA663&lpg=... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2015-07-29 01:25:10 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- https://books.google.com/books?id=QltJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125&lpg=... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 days9 hrs (2015-07-29 17:28:15 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- https://books.google.com/books?id=QltJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125&lpg=... Reference: http://www.zdic.net/c/b/171/384229.htm |
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