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Glossary entry

Chinese term or phrase:

玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾

English translation:

is like a sheet of liquified glass, rippling gently

Added to glossary by Jason Ma
Jan 4, 2008 14:39
16 yrs ago
Chinese term

玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾

Chinese to English Other Tourism & Travel
青海湖（151km），7、8月份，油菜飘香，花海万里，碧波万顷，水天一色的青海湖，好似一泓玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾。

玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾? I feel to see the point of it. Such metaphors are rather unconventional, IMHO.
Can anyone here help me? Thanks.
Proposed translations (English)
5 +1 a sheet of molten glass, rippling gently.
5 just like a slightly glittering and rippling wine.
3 sparkling nectar flows smoothly on mirror-like surface of the lake
3 small amplitude fluctuations of a molten glass surface
3 crystalline nectar gently fluctuating with little waves
3 gently rippling sparkling nectar
Change log

Jan 8, 2008 15:00: Jason Ma changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/641710">Jason Ma's</a> old entry - "玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾"" to ""a sheet of molten glass, rippling gently.""

Jan 9, 2008 10:46: Jason Ma changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/641710">Jason Ma's</a> old entry - "玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾"" to ""a film of liquid glass, rippling gently.""

Discussion

Jason Ma (asker) Jan 9, 2008:
I take my hat off to hc_ha and other colleagues who have contributed to this discussion Now I'm convinced "a sheet of liquified glass" is most close to the original text.
I overlooked the broadness of the lake while choosing "film".
franksf Jan 8, 2008:
It is an old question what glass is - see e.g. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00030.htm
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
By changing my suggested answer " a sheet of liquified glass" to "a film of liquid glass", the whole picture completely changed.
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
a film of ---- means "A thin covering or coating", it implies the thinness, not the broadness. The context here, it is talking about a broad surface of a lake. how can that be described as " a film of"?
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
I chose "sheet" because it implies "broad", (A broad, flat, continuous surface or expanse), and has a common usage such as :a sheet of sky, a sheet of water etc.
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
liquid glass is a type of glass, which means " a viscous glass consisting of sodium silicate in solution; used as a cement or as a protective coating and to preserve eggs"
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
there is a difference between "liquid glass" and "liquified glass", the former one cannot flow, the latter one can do. .. secondly, which meaning of the word "flim" implies that you refer to in your choice?
lhcm Jan 8, 2008:
Nevertheless, from a more common sense point of view, glass should be considered a solid since it is rigid according to everyday experience.
Jason Ma (asker) Jan 8, 2008:
It's time for me to close this question and I wish the discussion here would not be interrupted.
BTW, I found this article which might make a interesting reading.
Is glass liquid or solid?
It is sometimes said that glass in very old churches is thicker at the bottom than at the top because glass is a liquid, and so over several centuries it has flowed towards the bottom....
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/Glass/glass.ht...
Jason Ma (asker) Jan 7, 2008:
精彩纷呈 这个问题让我收获不小，各位前辈和同仁给我的建议可谓是精彩纷呈，目不暇接。 我留意到English Kudoz论坛经常是争论的热火朝天。可喜的是Chinese - English 论坛也逐渐有这种氛围了。
翻译是一个让人感到遗憾的职业，经常接触到梦幻般的美景，却无暇光顾（有时是银子吃紧）。
lhcm Jan 6, 2008:
"melton" is deleted due to the fact that "melton" introduces a concept of hotness into the context where it is unsuitable for a lake scene. pls read updated version
Jason Ma (asker) Jan 5, 2008:
感谢 hc_ha的解释。
lhcm Jan 4, 2008:
玻璃琼浆---- 尽管“琼浆”有“美酒”的意思，然而，在这个句子中，特别是考虑到前面“玻璃”所带来的意境。那是青海湖在质感上，给人一种玻璃的感觉，一种熔解了的玻璃给人的那种带光泽的、带着质感的液态感。所以，这里的“琼浆”，是一种胶状的，有质感的，带光泽的液体。
Jason Ma (asker) Jan 4, 2008:
Sorry for the typo: I fail to see the point of it.
Thanks for your suggestion. It's indeed a beautiful scene.

Proposed translations

+1
4 hrs
Selected

a sheet of molten glass, rippling gently.

关于“玻璃琼浆”，请观看以下这些幅照片，可以体会到那种质感，那种胶着感，还有那种象玻璃般的光感。
http://baike.baidu.com/pic/1/11914101679162650.jpg
http://images.beijing-2008.org/20070413/Img214034492.jpg

http://images.google.com.au/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=青海湖 （以上的那些照片，分别来自这个“青海湖”图片搜索中的第一行的第二幅，第三行的第二幅）

关于“碧波”，虽然“碧”原意是绿色，然而也可以指蓝色（如碧空）。接着看看以上的图片，那是一种深沉的蓝色；然后再参考以下连接中关于青海湖的描述，最后确定把这个“碧”字翻译成deep blue.
http://english.people.com.cn/200707/03/eng20070703_389669.ht...
Qinghai Kokonor Lake is the largest inland salt lake in China and also one of the highest lakes in the world. It is called "Kokonor" in Mongolian and "Cowenbu" in Tibetan, both of which mean "blue sea".

那碧波万顷，水天一色的青海湖，好似一泓玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾
Oinghai Kononor lake, a wide sweep of deep blue wave, merging with the sky; is like a sheet of molten glass, rippling gently.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2008-01-04 19:42:05 GMT)
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a sweep of 跟后面的比喻中的 a sheet of 在结构上呼应。

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2008-01-04 19:43:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

a sweep of 跟后面的比喻中的 a sheet of 在结构上、和意境上呼应。

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day22 hrs (2008-01-06 13:22:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Updated version:
1. "melton" is deleted due to the fact that "melton" introduces a concept of hotness into the context where it is not suitable for a lake scene.
2. "wave" after "blue" is removed to avoid superfluous repetition due to the presence of the word "rippling".
3. 好似....玻璃... is translated as " glassy surface". Glassy--- glass-like.
**********
Oinghai Kononor lake, a wide sweep of deep blue, merging with the sky; rippling gently is its glassy surface.
青海湖，茫茫一片的深蓝，融入到天际；它玻璃似的湖面，涟漪轻泛。

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day22 hrs (2008-01-06 13:32:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

melton--- typo... molten

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days13 hrs (2008-01-07 04:03:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Third version:
Oinghai Kononor lake, a wide sweep of deep blue, merging with the sky; is like a sheet of liquified glass, rippling gently.
*********
To use "Liquified" instead of "molten", can minimize the possibilty of thinking of hotness.
Note from asker:
汉语中的表示颜色的词有就是一词多义。 这个“碧”实际上就是蓝色。 Kokonor 即蒙语“青色的海”之意。 这是一个咸水湖，有此骑车旅行到湖边，想洗澡时发现肥皂怎么用水浸泡也没反应。 Thanks for your explanation.
Peer comment(s):
agree franksf : 选您的"molten glass"，它的折光率不均匀，有梦幻的效果。不耽心温度，效果是眼睛看的，不是手触摸，而且这是一定距离看湖。用“杯中之物”形容如此气势的大湖似欠缺。且"molten glass"似有一定艺术性，参见http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:I...
2 days 5 hrs
我本来也是从这方面想，青海湖的图片给我的感觉，就是“molten glass"的那种质感和光感。当有人说这个译法有可能带来“温度“上的误解，于是我就相应改动了一下。您这里这么一说，又从另外一方面，加强了“molten glass“译法的可行性。多一个考虑方案，是好事。让读者决定吧。
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I partially agree with Hc_ha on his rendering of 玻璃琼浆 as "liquified glass", and I have to drop "sparkling nectar / wine " even though that's what the author want to say. Thank you all for suggestions!"
48 mins

sparkling nectar flows smoothly on mirror-like surface of the lake

試一試直譯
Note from asker:
Thanks for your suggestion.
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

just like a slightly glittering and rippling wine.

轻轻荡漾，应取rippling 起涟漪之意。
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

small amplitude fluctuations of a molten glass surface

relax a bit -
small amplitude fluctuations of a molten glass surface contained in a melting glass furnace
Peer comment(s):
neutral lhcm : Good on you! I am still thinking, the same thing came to me is " molten glass" but I didn't decide yet. Then I read your answer.Initially, I partially agree with you, on " molten glass"; I have changed "molten" to "liquified",pls read the updated version.
15 mins
Thank you, hc_ha.
Something went wrong...
1 day 13 hrs

crystalline nectar gently fluctuating with little waves

Can't be "molten glass", which could quite probably be opaquely white hot stuff. It can't used to describe some pleasant scenic spot.

The meaning of "玻璃琼浆" might be best delivered by "crystalline nectar".
Peer comment(s):
neutral lhcm : "hot stuff"---Good point! thanks! I didn't think from this angle. But I didn't choose "Nectar" because it makes people think of sth sticky with sweet taste. I have come up with an updated version. Pls read. Tnx again for pointing out the problem.
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
2 days 4 hrs

gently rippling sparkling nectar

my try...

青海湖（151km），7、8月份，油菜飘香，花海万里，碧波万顷，水天一色的青海湖，好似一泓玻璃琼浆在轻轻荡漾。
During the months of July and August, the 151 Km stretch of Qinghai Lake is filled with aroma of rape flower; as flowers are scattered across thousands of miles with emerald waves streching over thousands of acres, the sea and the sky are in harmonious monochrome like gently rippling sparkling nectar.
Something went wrong...
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