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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