《巴黎圣母院》翻译赏析（1）
《巴黎圣母院》第三卷第二章里，在介绍巴黎老城时有如下段落：
Thus the City first presented itself to the eye, with its stern to the east, and its prow to the west. Turning towards the prow, one had before one an innumerable flock of ancient roofs, over which arched broadly the lead-covered apse of the Sainte-Chapelle, like an elephant’s haunches loaded with its tower. Only here, this tower was the most audacious, the most open, the most ornamented spire of cabinet-maker’s work that ever let the sky peep through its cone of lace.
翻译：西岱岛上的巴黎老城就展现在眼前了，岛呈船形，船尾朝东，船头朝西。往船头方向看去，是一片古旧的屋顶。横贯在屋顶上的是远处皇家圣礼拜堂（Sainte-Chapelle）镀铅的半圆穹顶，那顶上的塔就像被大象驮着一样（半圆穹顶像大象屁股，穹顶下的半圆柱体墙像象腿）。这个塔是木匠能做出的最大胆、最开放、装饰最繁复的作品，透过圆锥形的蕾丝缝隙映出的是蓝天。
是说巴黎老城的形状像一艘船，船尾向东，船头向西（中国文联出版社李玉民译本里在此处翻译有误，把方向翻译反了），如下图一地图所示。这段话在描述从巴黎圣母院向西望向Sainte-Chapelle的景象。里面用了一个词叫apse (a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof, typically at the eastern end, and usually containing the altar), 指的是如图二所示的建筑构造，由半圆柱体加半圆穹顶组成的，常常位于教堂的东部。这里写由圣母院向西看Sainte-Chapelle, 看到的自然是Sainte-Chapelle的东部（如下图一和图三所示），那么具体是什么样子的呢？就是如图四所示，可以看到Sainte-Chapelle镀铅的顶，整体景观像大象的背上驮着一个塔 -------- “the lead-covered apse of the Sainte-Chapelle, like an elephant's haunches loaded with its tower.”
然后接下来的一句话是描述屋顶上的这个塔的 ----- the most audacious, the most open, the most ornamented spire of cabinet-maker's work that ever let the sky peep through its cone of lace. 塔的具体样子见图五。
附：单词释义
1. audacious:
1a: intrepidly daring : ADVENTUROUS
//an audacious mountain climber
b: recklessly bold : RASH
//an audacious maneuver
2: contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : INSOLENT
//an audacious maverick
3: marked by originality and verve
//audacious experiments
verve:
1a: the spirit and enthusiasm animating artistic composition or performance : VIVACITY
2 archaic : special ability or talent
audacious
1.ADJ Someone who is audacious takes risks in order to achieve something.
结论：audacious的释义是有原创精神并且很有热情，泼墨挥毫的感觉，所以翻译成“大胆”还是很精确的，大胆前卫。
2. cabinetmaker:
n. a skilled joiner who makes furniture or similar high-quality woodwork
A joiner is a person who makes the wooden parts of a building such as window frames, door frames, doors, and stairs. 细木工匠 [英国英语]
3. cone
1.N-COUNT A cone is a shape with a circular base ending in a point at the top. 圆锥体
//orange traffic cones. …橙色的交通锥形警示标。
//...the streetlight's yellow cone of light. …街灯的黄色锥形光柱。
2.N-COUNT A cone is the fruit of a tree such as a pine or fir. (松树、冷杉等的) 球果
//...a bowl of fir cones. …一碗冷杉球果。
3.N-COUNT A cone is a thin, cone-shaped biscuit that is used for holding ice cream. You can also refer to ice cream that you eat in this way as a cone. 锥形蛋卷筒; 蛋卷冰淇淋
//She stopped by the ice-cream shop and had a chocolate cone. 她在冰淇淋店停下买了个巧克力蛋卷冰淇淋。
这一段话的法语原文也附上作以后的参考：
La Cité donc s'offrait d'abord aux yeux avec sa poupe au levant et sa proue au couchant. Tourné vers la proue, on avait devant soi un innombrable troupeau de vieux toits sur lesquels s'arrondissait largement le chevet plombé de la Sainte-Chapelle, pareil à une croupe d'éléphant chargée de sa tour. Seulement, ici, cette tour était la flèche la plus hardie, la plus ouvrée, la plus menuisée, la plus déchiquetée qui ait jamais laissé voir le ciel à travers son cône de dentelle.
