《睡人》第一章〈 開場白〉- 嗜睡症 譯評

《睡人》，奧利佛‧薩克斯著，范昱峰譯，時報出版：台北，1998。
Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, Random House, 1990.

[譯文] 不隨意動作和強迫性動作的極大差異，在腦炎發作期和其後幾年之間發生。(頁12)
[原文] An immense variety of involuntary and compulsive movements were seen during the acute phase of the encephalitis and for a few years thereafter. (p. 16)


[譯評] 'a variety of' 在此又是一個很明顯的誤譯，意思應該是「各種」或「多樣化」，而非「差異」。此外，'acute phase' 查證有「急性發作期」之意，這裡沒有特別翻出來，但我認為應該點出其原意。對照「急性發作期」，'a few years thereafter'其實指的是高峰期之後的平緩期，這一點不妨清楚說明。

建議改譯：腦炎的急性發作期和之後幾年的平緩期，病患會出現許多各式各樣的不隨意運動和強迫性動作。


以下是acute phase的釋意：

[From Wikipedia]

The Acute phase of an injury is the period of time in between when the injury is sustained, and the beginning of the sub-acute phase. Depending on the severity of injury, and the age and health of the patient, this phase can take up to four or five days. The acute phase is characterised by some or all of the following: immediate pain, tenderness, swelling, inflammation and oedema, contour deformity, bleeding, and loss of normal function of the injured area.