古代人说话言简意赅，几个词能表达很多意思，我们在翻译配音台本中，要照顾口型和句子长度，所以有时没法把意思完整的表达出来，需要在不影响剧情理解的前提下，保证对话逻辑通顺，又具有文学美感和戏剧性。 举一个列子， 王熙凤：你前儿，如何失信？WANG XIFENG: Why didn’t you / show up that day?贾瑞：怎么是我失信了呢？我若失信，天打雷劈！JIA RUI: Why didn’t I show up that day? If I didn’t go, heaven strike me!王熙凤：哼谁信你呢。你们男人家，赌咒发誓，也跟吃酒似的。平常的很呢WANG XIFENG: Humph. I don’t believe you. I know men like you / aren’t trustworthy / when they talk with women. So just save it. 这段是贾瑞和王熙凤的对话。王熙凤说，“你们男人家，赌咒发誓，也跟吃酒似的”，这句话中，赌咒发誓，吃酒，信息太多，而且非那个时代的人可能很难理解为什么赌咒发誓跟吃酒似的，所以处理成了“I know men like you are't trustworthy when they talk with women. ”简单直接，通俗易懂。
戴乃迭译作欣赏 枉凝眉Vain Longing 一个是阆苑仙葩，一个是美玉无暇。One is an immortal flower of fairyland,The other fair flawless jade,若说没奇缘，今生偏又遇着他；And were it not predestinedWhy should they meet again in this existence?若说有奇缘，如何心事终虚化？Yet, if predestined,Why does their love come to nothing?一个枉自嗟呀，一个空劳牵挂。One sighs to no purpose,The other yearns in vain;一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。One is the moon reflected in the water,The other but a flower in the mirror.想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，How many tears can well from her eyes?怎经得秋流到冬尽，春流到夏！Can they flow on from autumn till winter,From spring till summer? 太虚幻境楹联Illusory Land of Great Void 假作真时真亦假，无为有处有还无。When false is taken for true, true becomes false;If non-being turns into being, being becomes non-being. 宝黛初见 黛玉一见，便吃一大惊，心下想道：“好生奇怪！倒像在那里见过的一般，何等眼熟到如此！”His appearance took Daiyu by surprise. “How very strange!” she thought. “It's as if I'd seen him somewhere before. He looks so familiar.” 宝玉看罢，因笑道：“这个妹妹我曾见过的。”“I've met this cousin before,” he declared at the end of his scrutiny. 贾母笑道：“可又是胡说！你又何曾见过她？”“You’re talking nonsense again,” said his grandmother, laughing.“How could you possibly have met her?” 宝玉笑道：“虽然未曾见过她，然我看着面善，心里就算是旧相识，今日只作远别重逢，未为不可。”“Well, even if I haven’t, her face looks familiar. I feel we’re old friends meeting again after a long separation.”
