Překládám do angličtiny ukázku z české SF (nebo spíš matematickou science fantasy :)) povídky, v níž existují formy života tvořené vlastní topologií - ikony. Jejich vytváření ale vede ke vzniku dalších, nebezpečných topologických bytostí, kterým se říká ikonoklasmy. Novotvar ikonoklasma do angličtiny asi lépe než jako iconoclast nepřeložím, ale alespoň ženský rod mohu zachovat v zájmenech. Hodilo by se mít totéž u ikon, jen mi to v úvodním odstavci nezní nejlépe. Přikládám drafty obou verzí a poprosím vás o srovnání, jaká možnost vám zní lépe.
The simplest icon has eleven apexes and twenty five lines. Any ten-year-old can draw one and it's precisely children who still, when no adult is looking, keep drawing it. They draw it on the pavements. On the back covers of their notebooks. With their fingers in the sand. With the tip of their shoe in the mud. I also remember it after all these years, so well that I could sketch it with my eyes closed. Even you would probably be capable of it, but none of you will actually do it. Not that so small an icon could hurt someone or summon the wrath of a really dangerous iconoclast. No, there is something else in it: fear.
The simplest icon has eleven apexes and twenty five lines. Any ten-year-old can draw one and it's precisely children who still, when no adult is looking, keep drawing her. They draw her on the pavements. On the back covers of their notebooks. With their fingers in the sand. With the tip of their shoe in the mud. I also remember her after all these years, so well that I could sketch her with my eyes closed. Even you would probably be capable of it, but none of you will actually do it. Not that so small an icon could hurt someone or summon the wrath of a really dangerous iconoclast. No, there is something else in it: fear.