Translation is generally disparaged today. We recognize its practical value, but especially where literature is concerned we are only too ready to brand an imperfect translation as a 'travesty’or worse.

However, the reason for this is not so much the appalling badness of most translations or the incompetence of translators, but the way we have come to think about translation and its feasibility.

If we despise translation because it fails to live up to our expectations, this is because our expectations are unreasonable. We want translation to square the circle and express frustration when this cannot be done. We demand that it reconcile the irreconcilable and then gloat over its necessary failure.

翻译在今天是普遍被轻视的。我们承认它的实用价值，但特别是在文学方面，我们很容易把一个不完美的译本说成是“拙劣的作品”，甚至更糟。

然而，造成这种情况的原因并不在于大多数翻译的糟糕程度或译者的无能，而在于我们对翻译及其可行性的思考方式。

如果我们因为翻译没有达到我们的期望而轻视它，这是因为我们的期望是不合理的。我们希望翻译能够解决不可能的问题，如果做不到这一点，我们会感到沮丧。我们要求它调和不可调和的矛盾，然后对其必然的失败幸灾乐祸。

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