你是chairman，可你不是位女士吗？

常玉田

大學校园里，偶尔望一眼窗外，但见巾帼缤纷，满眼裙钗靓丽，尤其是财经类外语类院校，男孩子向来是少数派。收回目光，再看一眼桌面上的几十份英文简历，往往却会发现须眉为主，鲜见女生。

对，这正是本文的主题：就笔者收集资料的来源而言，英语专业的学生中女生比例奇高，但她们所写的个人英文简历中触目皆是自称男生的，汉译英作业中表示女性的词语，在她们笔下经常秒变男性。口说无凭，罗列一个句子的全班译文为证：

例1. 我拿过校级女乒赛单打冠军，现在是校乒乓球协会主席。

D1. I have won women’s singles table tennis match of my school， and now I take the chairman of the school-level table tennis association.

D2. I have got the first place in women’s singles table tennis of school and now I am the chairmen of the table tennis association of our school.

D3. I won the championship of women’s single table tennis in my school and now I am the chairman of the school’s table tennis club.

D4. I was the women’s singles champion of UIBE’s ping pong competition. At present I am the chairman of UIBE ping pong association.

D5. I won the women’s singles table tennis championship in our school， and now I’m the chairman of the table tennis club of our school.

D6. I had come first in women’s singles table tennis match of the school and now I am the chairman of our school’s table-tennis association

D7. I have been a champion of women’s singles table tennis in our school， and now I am the chairman of the table tennis association in our school.

D8. I have ever gotten the singles school-level table tennis champion， and now I am the chairman of our school table tennis association.

D9. I have won the championship of women’s table tennis competition in our school and currently I am the chairman of the Table Tennis Association in our school.

D10. I took the woman’s single table tennis championship of school level. And now i am the chairman of the school table tennis association.

D11. I have won the woman single gold of  the Pingpang competition on a school level and now is the chairman of  School Table Tennis Association.

D12. I was awarded the championship of our school level single table tennis competition. Now i am the chairman of our school’s table tennis association.

D13. I have ever won the women’s single championship in the school’s table tennis competition and now I’m the chairman of the school table tennis association.

D14. I once won the championship of women’s singles at the school table tennis competition and now I am the chairman of the school table tennis association.

D15. I have won the championship of school women’s table tennis competition and I’m Chairman for Ping-pong Association of school.

D16. I have won the women’s singles champion on the school women’s table tennis match， and now I’m the chairman of the school table tennis association.

D17. I have won the champion at the women’s singles table tennis match of my school and now I am the chairman of the table tennis association of my school.

這是某学期的第一次作业中的一句，共计34名学生，其中女生31人。为了叙述方便，笔者在每个版本之前用英文字母做了标记，D表示“错”，C表示“差”，B表示“对”，A则表示“又对又好”。如果同一个“级别”出现了多个译文，则在字母后面增加数字以示区别，同时以画线和黑体加粗的形式提示问题所在。所有译文的所有细节均为学生作业的“原生态”，笔者没有造假。

D1至D17用的都是chairman，正好占全班的一半，其共同问题便是本文的主题：原文是“女乒赛”，主人公理当是个女的。推测翻译的过程，极有可能是这个样子的：现在“我”是校乒乓球协会的“主席”。“主席”的英语单词以前背过的是chairman，于是写下了这个单词;也有可能是用了机器翻译却又懒得修改。

笔者认为，在学校做作业或参加考试，错了一个词也许只扣0.5分甚至不扣分，但在个人简历、求职信、个人阐述中男女不分甚至性别倒错，伤害的是自己，耽误的是自己。

与这个词有关的语篇意义是：英语国家先后都出现过女权运动，如今尽量避免性别歧视早已成为社会舆论和公共传媒的主流做法。表现在词语上，举例来说：postman已用letter carrier取代;newsman如今统称journalist;workman要换用worker或employee之类;businessmen渐渐少见，businesspersons成了常见替代;等等。回到本文中来，一些女权主义者一提chairman这个词就恨得牙痒痒，别人提出chairwoman来与男性平分天下，仍然有人认为这么区分依旧是在性别歧视，于是现在通行chairperson或chair。

下面D18至D25以及C类和B类译文都采用了director、president、chief等别的词。

D18. I won the champion of table tennis in women’ singles， and now I am master of the ping-pang association in my school.

D19. I’ve ever won the school table tennis women’s singles champion. And now I am the president of the Table Tennis Association in the university.

D20. I have won the women’s single’s champion of our school’s table tennis competition and I am the director of my school’s table tennis association now.

D21. I have won the champion in the University Women’s Singles Ping-pong Match and now， I am president of our school’s Ping-pong Association.

D22. I have won the champion of women’s singles table tennis contest in my school， and now I am the president of the Table Tennis Association in my school.

D23. I won the school-level table tennis women’s singles champion. Now I am the chairwoman of school table tennis association.

D16至D23的共同问题是won the champion，这一动宾搭配的问题与“获得三好学生”译成won the Honors Student一样，道理敬请参看本刊2017年第7期“你不能就这样get‘三好学生’”一文中对D1至D3的简评，这里仅举一个简单化的类比例子：人们可以win a championship，但若想win a champion则需要先去买彩票或进赌场。

D24. I won the school Table Tennis women’s single championship and now I am the chief of the school Table Tennis Institution.

D25. In Table Tennis Championships， I have won a championship in women’s single and now take charge of president of Table Tennis Association.

D26. I had won the school-level Women’s Table Tennis Singles championship， and now is the chairwoman of our school’s table tennis club.

C1. I have won the championship of the school women’s table tennis competition and manager of school table tennis association.

C2. I won the singles championship of table tennis and now am the president of the Table Tennis Association in my school.

C3. I have won the championship of the school-level women’s singles table tennis match and am the president of the school table tennis association now.

C4. I have won the singles title in women’s singles table tennis match of school level， and now I am the president of our school’s table-tennis association.

此外，笔者就其他一些问题稍作提示。原文是“女乒赛单打”，但D8漏译了“女”字，D9漏译了“单打”之意。在D11中，competition之前使用定冠词，是说学校总共就举办了一次比赛。C1的manager容易造成误会，C2漏译了“女子”和“校级”，等等。其他各个版本中对table、school、match等词以黑体标记，不是说这些词本身有错，而是说这些词之前应当有定冠词，但学生没有使用;现有的定冠词是笔者后加上去的，以下画线标记。部分译文中in our school出现了两次，也已标记出来作为提醒。尚有其他一些问题，恕难一一解释。

B1. I won the school table tennis women’s singles championship， and now I am the director of the Table Tennis Association of the school.

B2. I was the women’s singles table tennis champion of my college. Now I am the president of the Table Tennis Association of my university.

B3. I won the school’s women’s table tennis singles championship， and now I am the chairwoman of the school’s Table Tennis Association.

B4. I have won the championship in the women’s singles table tennis of our school， and I am President of the Table Tennis Association in our school.

这四个B类译文，前三个若能在黑体词之前加个定冠词，则可秒变A类译文，B4若能对两个黑体部分中的任何一个做一点修改也是很好的。下面是对D26的系列改动，每个版本只改一两个地方，敬请仔细对比（应当还会有其他版本，这里只为示意）：

B5. I won school-level Women’s Table Tennis Singles championship， and now am the chairwoman of our school’s table tennis club.

B6. I won the school-level Women’s Singles Table Tennis championship， and now am the chairwoman of our school’s table tennis club.

A1. I won the women’s singles table tennis championship in a school wide game， and now am chairwoman of the school’s table tennis club.

A2. As a one-time winner of the school’s women’s singles championship for table tennis， I am now chairwoman of the school’s table tennis club.

A3. As a champion of the school’s women’s singles table tennis last year， I am now chairwoman/director/president of the table tennis club of XX School.

這是做作业，但在个人英文简历中这种女扮男装的现象同样屡见不鲜，而个人简历是英语专业学生一辈子中最应该写对的那份英文文件。最为常见的是“学生会主席”写作chairman of the Student Union，“副主席”写成vice-chairman。这在个人陈述中也很常见，例如：

例2. D. As chairman of student activities of Foreigh Language Dept.， I organised many activities， like New Year Gala， etc.

说明：这是一位女生写的，其他问题不再展开。

下面看一个采集自个人求职信的例子：

例3. C. Job Intension： Foreign Trade Salesman

作者是位女士，黑体词写作Saleswoman才名实相副。

女同学担任集体活动组织者的情况较多，但个人简历这么写可能就是个问题：

例4. C. Host of a training lecture and a tea party.

例5. D. I worked as an English host and interpreter of US-China summit of education in Beijing

这两个例子中的host还是改为hostess比较好。此外顺便指出：例4末尾那个句号应当删掉，因为这不是一个句子，而例5末尾应当加上句号，因为这是一个完整句。限于篇幅，以上各例的其他问题不再展开。

在一次不限题作文中，笔者见过一个学生写了这么一个句子，一并提醒一下：

例6. D. … foreign spokesman Hua Chunying …

句中人物显然是指外交部发言人之一的华春莹，但foreign spokesman两个词共有两个问题。一是容易令人以为此人是个“外国（的）发言人”，二是本文的主题：大家都知道，华春莹是位女士。

此外顺便提醒一下：在涉外信函或电子邮件中，中国人名的英文写法应当在落款位置的姓名之后加上Mr.或者Ms.字样并放在括号里。这并不等于汉语中表示尊称的“先生”或“女士”，其效用在于告诉收信人自己是男是女，便于对方回信。这是因为英语信函中的抬头往往会标识性别，你去信时不予提示，那么对方在回复时便会为难（汉字一旦译写为拉丁字母形式，原本可借偏旁部首体现的性别特征会一并消失），容易显得我们办事不够周到。