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Mini-contest 2012: "Yogi Berra Quotes" » English to Chinese

Competition in this pair is now closed, and the winning entry has been announced.

Discussion and feedback about the competition in this language pair may now be provided by visiting the "Discussion & feedback" page for this pair. Entries may also be individually discussed by clicking the "Discuss" link next to any listed entry.

Source text in English

- "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous."

- "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

- "You can observe a lot just by watchin'."

- "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

- "I can't concentrate when I'm thinking."

- "The future ain't what it used to be."

- "I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."

- "We're lost, but we're making good time."

- "Half the lies they tell about me aren't true."

- "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

- "It's like deja-vu, all over again."

- "It ain't over till it's over."

- Mrs. Lindsay: "You certainly look cool." Yogi Berra: "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself."

- "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."

There were 8 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase.

Entries submitted in this pair were rated on a per-segment basis. Listed below are all submitted translations of each individual source text segment.

Submitted segment translations

Translations submitted for each source text segment are listed below. Segments have had surrounding punctuation stripped, and the resulting identical segments have been grouped together, so each listed translation should differ, but the difference may be subtle (eg. internal punctuation or diacritics).

Viewing segment # out of 14

Source text segment #14

- "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."
Rank by:
+26 | -9
To me (a speaker of US English), this sentence is equivalent to "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be (perfect)." I can't see "be" meaning "exist" in this context.
+26 | -11
'be' can also mean 'exist'
+15 | -5
I agree with the sense of "exist": if the world were perfect, there wouldn't be a world (i.e., a perfect world is impossible).
+11 | -2
True, "be" could mean "exist", although I prefer the contradiction. Both are possible: it wouldn't exist/it wouldn't be perfect; the concept of perfection being highly subjective. SOMEONE would have something to gripe about.
+9 | -2
The world, as we know it, exists with its flaws.
+9 | -3
He is saying that imperfection is an essential part of life (as is the superfluous, according to Voltaire). Perhaps it is the imperfections which spur us on to better things, allow us to recognize and appreciate moments of perfection, etc.
+3
Guys, look at the context this sentence is written in! There are a series of paradoxes or illogical sentences. This is another one. "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be (perfect)."
+4 | -1
So to you, the speaker of US English, Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" is unintelligible? Of course, "be" can mean "exist" in this context.
+1
"Be" reminds a phrase from the Bible: "Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."
+1
I suppose that he meant that a perfect world would be dull, thus it wouldn't be perfect.

Translations of this segment (8 total; 8 unique)

這個世界不是完美的，如果是的話就不會有完美的世界了
如果世界真的完美，那就不完美了
如果世界是完美的它就不会是完美的
世界若真的成为了完美的世界，那么这个世界必定是带有不完美的
连完美的世界也不完美
如果世界是完美的，那就不是世界了。“（世界不是完美的
如果万物都完美了，那也就不能叫做完美了
没有缺点就是最大的缺点
Viewing segment # out of 14