Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

2202124  Introduction to Translation

 

 

Expressive Text (English-Thai) #4 Discussion  

แบบฝึกหัดที่ 5

จงแปลเรื่องแต่งต่อไปนี้เป็นภาษาไทย

 4.  

After St. Joseph’s, I went to Petit Séminaire, the best private English-speaking secondary school in Pondicherry.  Ravi was already there, and like all younger brothers, I would suffer from following in the footsteps of a popular older sibling.  He was the athlete of his generation at the school and the captain of the town’s best cricket team.  That I was a swimmer was not significant; it seems to be a law of human nature that those who live by the sea are suspicious of swimmers, just as those who live in the mountains are suspicious of mountain climbers.  But following someone’s shadow wasn’t my escape.  I had a better plan than that.  I put it into action on the very first day of school, in the very first class.  The class started the way all new classes start, with the stating of names. We called them out from our desks in the order in which we happened to be sitting.  Each name elicited a tick on a list and a brief stare from the teacher.  I was terribly nervous.

“Sylvester Naveen,” said Sylvester Naveen, right in front of me.  And then it was my turn.  Petit Séminaire, here I come.[1]

I hurried to the blackboard and said as I wrote “My name is Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all as Pi Patel.”  Then, I added p = 3.14

There was a silence.  The teacher was staring at the board.  I was holding my breath.  Then he said, “Very well, Pi.  Sit down.  Next time you will ask permission before leaving your desk.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

[1] If you’ve seen the Disney animated film Cars, there’s another example of the phrase when the lead car character says, “California, here I come!”

 

 

Translation 1

 

 

 

 

Translation 2

 

 

Translation 3

 

 

 

 

Discussion

-  sit down

 

-  captain of the town's best cricket team

-  But following someone’s shadow wasn’t my escape.

-  suspicious

That I was a swimmer was not significant; it seems to be a law of human nature that those who live by the sea are suspicious of swimmers, just as those who live in the mountains are suspicious of mountain climbers.

 

-  I was holding my breath.

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary

 

Reference

This story is an adapted excerpt from Yann Martel, Life of Pi (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2001).

 

Pondicherry, India

 

Links

 

Source

 

 

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Last updated November 29, 2009