英女王对于图灵的「Pardon」可否翻译为「平反」？ 第1页

先查字典：

牛津高阶：

Pardon: (also law) an official decision not to punish somebody for a crime, or to say that somebody is not guilty of a crime.

法律字典：

Pardon

A pardon is a crown decision to allow a person who has been convicted of a crime, to be free and absolved of that conviction, as if never convicted.

维基字典：

Pardon: (law) An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed.

可见Pardon这个词有不同的解释，既可能表示“平反”（即“not guilty of a crime.”），也可能表示“赦免”（即“not to punish for a crime.”）。单从这一个词并不能判断具体应该怎样翻译。

根据知乎名言：“不看上下文求翻译就是耍流氓”，我们来看看全文：

“NOW KNOW YE that We, in consideration of circumstances humbly represented unto Us, are Graciously pleased to extend Our Grace and Mercy unto the said Alan Mathison Turing and to grant him Our Free Pardon posthumously in respect of the said convictions;

AND to pardon and remit unto him the sentence imposed up him as aforesaid;

AND for so doing this shall be a sufficient Warrant.

GIVEN at Our Court at Saint James's the 24th day of December 2013;

In the sixty-second Year of Our Reign.

By Her Majasty's Command

(Signature)”

全文中并没有看到任何表示“平反”的词语，反倒是用了“remit”（to cancel or free somebody from a debt, duty, punishment, etc. 免除）一词。可见此处是普通的赦免，并没有推翻过去的判决。

《每日电讯》的全文也指出：对图灵“Pardon”的原因是出于他的卓越贡献（“A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.”），但是过去对他的判决并没有问题（“Mr Turing was "properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence"”）。因此，“Pardon”一词翻译为“赦免”是准确的；翻译为“平反”则歪曲了原意，不应使用。