Chapter 1 'Tragedy on the Nile' by the translation team
(This book is an entertainment work of the period. All times, places, characters, events... belong to a parallel world, and substitutions are not allowed)
Autumn, 1978.
Pujiang City, the magical capital.
At eight o'clock in the morning, in a state-owned snack bar across the street from Pujiang Translation Studio, a young man in his early twenties was drinking soy milk while admiring the bustling scenery outside the store.
It has been almost a month since he came to this world, and he still enjoys it.
Jiang Shan, a new media cross-border boss in the previous life, has been doing great things since graduating from college.
But I never thought that on my 40th birthday, I would be back in 1978 inexplicably.
Fortunately, he soon discovered that although this was a parallel time and space, everything here was very similar to his previous life.
So, he immediately decided to turn what he saw and learned in his previous life into a golden finger for this life.
After drinking the last sip of soy milk, Jiang Shan pinched a few cents in his pocket, which was his entire net worth now.
Looking at the sign with black characters on a white background, Jiang Shan strode across the street.
"Hello, uncle,"
Standing at the gate of Pujiang Translation Studio, Jiang Shan greeted the man in the communication room:
"Is your factory looking for temporary translators?"
The man in the reception room raised his head and glanced at him: "That's true, but do you have a letter of introduction?"
Jiang Shan smiled, knowing that this would happen: "Here you go, I'm from Pujiang Daily."
A few minutes later, Jiang Shan walked into the office of the translation team of Pujiang Translation Studio.
This office is quite large.
Hanging on the white wall is a red-lettered plaque that reads, "The translation of the script must be tasteful, and the dubbing by actors must be spirited."
The dark red wooden old floor occasionally creaks when you walk on it.
There are not many employees in the office, only four or five at first glance.
Some were lying on the table writing and drawing, while others gathered around to discuss translating scripts.
At this time, three young people with letters of introduction were already standing in front of Jiangshan.
At this moment, after reading the letter of introduction, Team Leader Lu of the translation team looked at Jiang Shan with a frown: "What is your education level? Why is it not written on the letter of introduction?"
Jiang Shan bit the bullet and said: "Graduate from junior high school."
As soon as the words came out, the gay man closest to him turned to look at him, and then smiled back.
The other two didn't react at all, but Jiang Shan still noticed their slightly raised chins.
It seems that his arrival has boosted others' ambitions a lot.
However, the former master indeed took the initiative to become an educated youth after graduating from junior high school.
"Junior high school?" Team leader Lu frowned: "Then have you studied foreign languages?"
"Learned."
"Which language."
"English and Japanese are pretty good. I have no problem listening and speaking French, but writing is difficult." Jiang Shan answered truthfully.
After he said this, not only Team Leader Lu, but also several other employees in the office couldn't help but look over.
At 1.8 meters tall, he looks quite handsome. From the white shirt that has turned yellow after washing, it can be seen that the owner's life is not easy.
"Hey," Team Leader Lu couldn't help but laugh: "Comrade, your tone is quite good. He also speaks English and Japanese. Our translators are not easy to fool."
Jiang Shan also smiled, showing a row of neat white teeth, and the youthful sunshine between his eyebrows: "I didn't want to fool you."
Just when Team Leader Lu was about to ask a few more questions, the office door was pushed open.
"Lu Yi,"
A man in his fifties hurriedly walked in.
While patting the script in his hand, he frowned and said, "Why do I still feel uncomfortable with this sentence?"
Team leader Lu quickly took the script and took a look at it, then said with a wry smile: "Director Hu, you personally revised this version. Are you still not satisfied?"
Jiang Shan looked at the script curiously, and the words "Tragedy on the Nile" on the cover immediately aroused his interest.
"But when I was in the shed just now, I felt so awkward..."
Before the man could finish his words, he was interrupted by Team Leader Lu.
"You came just in time, come on, come on,"
He pointed at the man who had just entered the door and introduced him to the Jiangshan group: "This is Director Hu Xiaohu, the director of our Pujiang Translation Film Factory. Everyone is welcome."
Several comrades who came to apply for the job immediately applauded, with Jiang Shan clapping the loudest.
Team Leader Lu continued: "Now, I will ask Factory Director Hu to give you a test question. Don't be nervous, just perform normally."
Director Hu was stunned for a moment. He was just going to come over to refine a line, so why was he given a job?
Team Leader Lu stood aside with a smile. He was really afraid of Director Hu who "liked to use words".
A line must be both satisfying and mouth-shaped. It is not enough to do this, but it must also bring some charm that fits the plot.
It's so difficult, it's so difficult. The workload of the translation team has doubled recently, and my hair is almost gone.
Since the second half of 1978, translation films have entered a golden age of rapid development.
In order to meet the unprecedentedly high demand of the public for watching movies, a large number of excellent films imported from various countries were queued up at the translation studio.
"Okay,"
Factory Director Hu was not afraid. He just wanted to select qualified translators. As the head of a factory, he did his duty and said, "Then I will be responsible for today's recruitment assessment."
I was just thinking about what test questions to ask when I accidentally saw the script in my hand and my eyes lit up: "Comrades, have any of you read the book "Tragedy on the Nile"?"
Among the four people, three people raised their hands, including Jiang Shan.
"Then have any of you seen the original version, the English version of "Death on the Nile"?"
One of them put down his hand, Jiang Shan's hand was still raised, and Team Leader Lu on the side looked a little surprised.
"Very good," Director Hu nodded to the last two people who raised their hands: "Team Leader Lu, please put that short paragraph down."
Team leader Lu immediately understood what the factory director meant and immediately turned on a TV on his desk.
As the video recorder was debugged, several applicants present were quickly attracted by the pictures on the TV.
The video cuts directly to the end:
[Young Miss Rosa took her boyfriend's hand and happily ran to the protagonist, Detective Pogue.
He said excitedly: "Mr. Poirot, I would like to be the first to let you know that we have just been engaged."
Detective Poirot immediately sent his blessing: "Congratulations."
When he saw the young couple holding hands and running down the spiral staircase, Poirot shouted again: "Take it easy!"]
At this point in the video, Team Leader Lu pressed the pause button.
"alright,"
Factory Director Hu looked at the few and asked, "Let me ask you, how should I translate the word "Take it easy" here?"
As soon as the question came up, one of them immediately answered: "Don't worry about it!"
Director Hu frowned.
Another said: "Probably don't be nervous."
Team Leader Lu also frowned.
"I have read this novel and thought it should be translated into a more relaxed version."
The gay man who said this was the man standing next to Jiang Shan.
He is the oldest among several people, and he is also the other person who has read the original book of "Death on the Nile".
His words made the two leaders in front of him nod.
Team leader Lu smiled and said: "This comrade has obviously figured out the trick of translating for film productions. What our director Hu translated is: relax."
In fact, Lu Yi originally translated this sentence as: "Be careful."
But after Director Hu saw the translated script, he felt that according to the character of Detective Poirot, he would never say such mother-in-law words.
After repeated consideration, I changed it to: "Relax."
But when he was in the recording studio and heard the voice actor say it, he still felt something was wrong. He felt that it lacked the ruffianism that a great detective should have.
"Take it easy,"
At this time, a voice drew Director Hu's attention: "What?"
Jiang Shan repeated: "I think taking it easy is more in line with Inspector Poirot."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the eyes in the office focused on him again.
