public welfare 公益事业

句子：他随时准备为公益而牺牲个人利益。

 

误译：He is always ready to sacrifice his personal interest for public good.

 

正译：He is always ready to sacrifice his personal interest for public welfare.

 

解释：作为名词，good 有两个意思：一是好处、益处、利益；二是商品、产品等。public good 不是“公共利益”。public good 与 private good 相对立，前者是“公共物品”，后者是“私人物品”。如：

 

公共物品的最佳实例之一是国防。

One of the best examples of a public good is national defense¹.

 

“公益”的意思是“公共利益，多指卫生、救济、慈善等群众福利事业”。可译为 public welfare, public benefit, public interest, general welfare, common well-being², commonweal。如：

 

这位慈善家每年都筹集固定数额的基金用于公益。

The philanthropist annually³ raises a fixed⁴ amount of fund for public welfare.

 

“公益事业”可译为public service, public welfare undertaking⁵。如：

 

姚明还投身慈善工作和公益事业，成为一个著名的体育明星。

Yao Ming has also thrown himself into charity work and public service, and become a famous sports celebrity⁶.

 

“公益广告”可译为 public service advertisement, public welfare ad。如：

 

广告可以分为商业广告和公益广告。

Advertisements can be divided into commercial advertisements and public service advertisements.

 

“有公益精神的”或“热心公益的”可译为 public-spirited。如：

 

她是一个热心公益的人，急切纠正那些我们都看得见但是容易忽视的错误行为。

She is a public-spirited person who is eager to correct the wrongs that we all see but we easily overlook.

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