翻译研究 | “政治意识”用英语怎么说?

发布时间:2023-02-19T17:45:19 英语阅读

本文将分析“四个意识”,即政治意识、大局意识、核心意识、看齐意识中“政治意识”的翻译。

查到新华网英文版的相关内容:Xinhua Insight: "Conformity," China's political consensus:

 

In his government work report delivered on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang also underscored the importance of maintaining political integrity, being aware of the bigger picture, following the CPC as the core of the Chinese leadership and acting in accordance with CPC Central Committee policies.

这里将“政治意识”译为“political integrity”,这样处理可能有一些问题。

先看Integrity最基本的意思,即Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values:incorruptibility。可见,integrity指人的道德操守或艺术理念。在integrity前面加上political后:基于integrity最原始的含义,political integrity可理解为政治家遵守道德要求,诚实正直、清正廉洁。比如:

"The great founding myth of American political integrity, chopping down the cherry tree, is, in fact, itself a lie," said Martin Jay, a historian at the University of California at Berkeley and author of a book called"The Virtues of Mendacity."

美国前总统华盛顿小时候砍樱桃树,之后承认自己所作所为的事被称为诚实的典范,不过这名历史学家认为这条为美国政治道德奠定基础的myth纯属杜撰。

少年华盛顿在砍到樱桃树后对他父亲说:“父亲,我不能说谎。我用我的小斧子砍了它。

…said Hughes, 52, who was elected last fall on a political integrity theme after two successive governors -- Spiro T. Agnew and Marvin Mandel -- were implicated in scandals.

这里的political integrity与scandals相对,同样属于政治家操守的范畴。

Edward Kennedy说过“Integrity is the lifeblood of democracy. Deceit is a poison in its veins”。

这里与integrity针锋相对的是deceit,即欺骗。

除了上面提到的例子外,政治家integrity还包括忠于执政理念和政策主张,这可能和普通意义上的integrity有些差异。比如:

David Cameron once said he believed passionately in saving the environment, which is a good thing to believe in unless you also happen to believe that you are destined to be prime minister, leading a party full of people who think climate change is a pretext for European bureaucrats and Liberal Democrats to cover Britain's areas of outstanding natural beauty in wind turbines. Then one day newspapers report that you've dismissed all of your old environmental policies as "green crap"and you're in an integrity crisis.

这位作者认为,卡梅伦在环境问题上立场180度大转变也不符合political integrity的标准。

再看“政治意识”的含义。不可否认,遵守道德规范和坚持政治理念是“政治意识”的重要部分,但它们只是“政治意识”的基本要求,并非其核心。查到一些关于“政治意识”的解读:

“增强政治意识,关键是要始终坚持正确的政治方向,严守政治纪律和政治规矩,维护党的团结统一,做政治上的明白人。”(《增强“四个意识”的由来、内涵及要义》)

“政治意识,主要是指政治思想、政治观点,以及对于政治现象的态度和评价。当前和今后一个时期,决胜全面小康、进而实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦,迫切需要党员干部保持清醒的政治头脑,保持敏锐的政治观察力和鉴别力,坚定正确的政治立场,始终坚守对马克思主义的信仰、对中国特色社会主义和共产主义的信念、对党和人民的绝对忠诚。”(《两学一做”系列辅导之三:增强“四个意识”》)

可见,“政治意识”重在信仰和理念,比道德操守的层次更高。仅仅诚实廉政不足以充分践行“提高政治意识”。提高理论认识,坚定政治追求与integrity的范畴有差异。

实际上,在2013年政府工作报告中,political integrity被用来描述诚信清廉(译文来自新华社):

“推动诚信体系建设,以政务诚信带动商务诚信和社会诚信,形成良好的社会风尚。”

We should promote a creditability system, use political integrity to improve business and public integrity, and foster healthy social conduct.

“坚持反对腐败,加强廉政建设,从制度上改变权力过分集中而又得不到制约的状况,做到干部清正、政府清廉、政治清明。”

We should unwaveringly combat corruption,strengthen political integrity,establish institutions to end the excessive concentration of power and lack of checks on power and ensure that officials are honest, government is clean and political affairs are handled with integrity.

笔者认为,“政治意识”的核心是政治信仰与立场,坚定思想认识,将信念内化为行动后,自然能够做到勤政廉洁、奉公为民,满足political integrity要求。因此,political conviction也许比political integrity更适合用来翻译“政治意识”。

最后提一下political integrity的另一种含义。“大不列颠百科全书”网站上有如下文字:Federalism, mode of political organization that unites separate states or other polities within an overarching political system in such a way as to allow each to maintain its own fundamental political integrity.

这里的political integrity为政治完整性,即政治理念与体系不受破坏,保持完好。Integrity的这种用法和本文没有直接关系。

注:文中英文词语解释除特别说明外均来自Merriam-Webster。

(中国翻译研究院)