英文外刊精读｜《经济学人》｜The Economist｜中英翻译｜翻译训练｜
What an unusual auction says about the art market
一场别开生面的拍卖对艺术市场的影响
Poking fun at status-obsessed buyers
对着迷于地位彰显买家的嘲弄
Penny Pinch, a Chicago street artist, likes to have fun with art-world finances.
一位名叫佩尼·平奇的街头艺术家喜欢享受艺术界中与钱有关的东西。
His work—from murals to paintings to tote bags made in collaboration with the Chicago Cubs baseball team—uses scavenged or donated materials (hence the name).
他的作品从壁画到绘画再到芝加哥小熊队棒球联名款环保手提袋都是用捡来的或是他人捐赠的材料制成。
His latest experiment, hosted at A Very Serious Gallery, in the city’s north-west, is in pricing.
他最新的试验在城市西北处的一所名为“一个非常严肃的画廊”举行，目前正处于定价阶段。
On December 16th Mr Pinch is due to sell 15 paintings, one of which is pictured, in a Dutch auction.
12月16日，平奇将以荷兰式拍卖的方式拍卖15幅画作，其中一幅如图所示。
Each will start at a price of $3,000, which will be cut by $100 every hour until a buyer emerges.
每部作品的起拍价为3000美元，每小时将降价100美元，直到有买家出现。
According to Mr Pinch and Allan Weinberger, the gallery’s owner, it is the first-ever such auction of new art (a claim your correspondent could not disprove).
据画平奇先生和画廊所有者艾伦·温伯格说：“这是首次举行这样的新艺术品拍卖”。（记者无法证伪此项说法）。
Dutch auctions are more commonly used to sell homogenous goods, such as cut flowers in 17th-century Holland or government bonds today.
荷兰式拍卖更广泛地应用于同种类商品的售卖，比如说17世纪荷兰的切花和如今的政府债券。
Their use for unique works is considerably rarer.
使用这种拍卖方法对特殊作品进行售卖的情况是极少的。
Mr Pinch says the auction is “an opportunity for people who can’t normally buy large pieces of work”. It is also an opportunity to poke fun at the art world.
平奇表示：“这对于那些通常无法购买大件艺术品的人来说是一个良机”。这也正是嘲弄艺术界的一个好机会。
The opportunity may come at a cost.
但这个机会可能得不偿失。
As Eric Budish of the University of Chicago notes, the trick with a Dutch auction is knowing where to set the starting price.
正如芝加哥大学的埃里克·巴迪什所指出的那样，荷兰式拍卖的诀窍在于找到起拍价设定的点。
For Treasuries, the range is established by looking at previous auctions. For Mr Pinch’s art, there is no equivalent, meaning he risks setting the price too low and leaving money on the table.
对于美国国债，这个范围是通过参考之前的拍卖来确定的。对于平奇的作品来说，没有类似的前例参考，这就意味着如果他价格设置的太低，他可能会亏钱。
Mr Pinch is unconcerned by this, as he has something else in mind.
平奇先生对此毫不关心，因为他脑子里装的都是别的东西。
At a regular auction, a potential buyer is influenced by the crowd.
在通常的拍卖中，潜在的买家会受到身边人群的影响。
Clamour for an offering indicates a higher potential resale value and a greater status gain if the auction is won.
出价的嘈杂声暗示了：如果你赢得了这场拍卖，所得的艺术品具有更高的潜在价值，并且你会得到更高的地位。
These sorts of considerations are “icky”, reckons Mr Pinch, which is why he likes Dutch auctions, where they are not possible.
平奇认为：这些考虑都是令人厌烦的，这也正是他选择荷兰式拍卖的原因，意味这些不可能发生。
When somebody else bids, it is too late.
当别人竞标出价时，已经太晚了。
Potential buyers must focus on how much they value the art, not how much others do.
潜在的买家需要关注的是艺术品本身实际的价值，而不是随波逐流。
Yet there is an irony to the experiment.
但是这个试验也具有讽刺性。
By launching the first Dutch auction for art, Messrs Pinch and Weinberger may generate enough hype to attract exactly the sort of buyers they wish to repel—those motivated more by status than a love of art.
平奇和温伯格先生举行首次的艺术品荷兰式的拍卖，可能会产生相当大的炒作效果，从而吸引来那些他们避而远之的买家---正是那些对地位追求远超于艺术热爱的人。
[难句解读]
1. Dutch auctions are more commonly used to sell homogenous goods, such as cut flowers in 17th-century Holland or government bonds today. Their use for unique works is considerably rarer.
这里的“Their use” 代指的是上一句提到的“Dutch aucitons”这一拍卖方式的使用。所以翻译为
“使用这种拍卖方法对特殊作品进行售卖的情况是极少的。”
2. For Treasuries, the range is established by looking at previous auctions. For Mr Pinch’s art, there is no equivalent, meaning he risks setting the price too low and leaving money on the table.
这两句句式一样，内部存在并列关系，所以“there is no equivalent”这句话中的相等，是跟上一句债券参考前例的情况做对比。故翻译为“对于平奇的作品来说，没有类似的前例参考”。
Treasury: 财政部 （通过文章上下义，这里延伸为财政部发行的债券，也就是国债）
原文来源：The Economist----经济学人
中文翻译：个人学习中的翻译及整理
注：个人翻译学习训练过程，译文并非官方翻译，敬请斧正。
