I had heard the story of Bian Que (a famous healer in ancient Chinese history) and his not-so-famous brothers several times in oral form, and always wanted to see the original. Recently while doing a little light reading (Science & Civilization in China, Vol. VI:6) I came across this translation of the original story, which first appeared in the Warring States period text《鹖冠子》.

Note that Needham uses the Yale romanization of 扁鹊 - Pien Chhüeh

Phang Hsüan said to the king of Cho-hsiang, ‘Have you not heard that Duke Wên of Wei asked the great physician, Pien Chhüeh , “of your three brothers, which is the best physician?” Pien Chhüeh answered “The eldest is the best, then the second, and I am the least worthy of the three.” Duke Wên said, “Might I hear about this?” Pien Chhüeh replied, “My eldest brother, in dealing with diseases, is attentive to the spirit (shên). Before [any symptoms] have formed, he has already got rid of it. Thus his fame has never reached beyond our own clan. My next brother treats disease when its signs are most subtle, so his name is unknown beyond our own village. As for myself, I use stone needles on the blood vessels, prescribe strong drugs, and fortify the skin and the flesh. Thus my name has become known among all the feudal lords.” ’

Here is the translated passage in (traditional) Chinese, copied from the Chinese Text Project page linked above:

煖曰：「王獨不聞魏文王之問扁鵲耶？曰：『子昆弟三人其孰最善為醫？』扁鵲曰：『長兄最善，中兄次之，扁鵲最為下。』魏文侯曰：『可得聞邪？』扁鵲曰：『長兄於病視神，未有形而除之，故名不出於家。中兄治病，其在毫毛，故名不出於閭。若扁鵲者，鑱血脈，投毒藥，副肌膚，閒而名出聞於諸侯。』

A few thoughts:

• 可得聞邪 translated as "Might I hear about this?" is really cute. I don't know why I feel that way . . . something about picturing Duke Wen of Wei saying that line with an English accent...
• 未有形而除之 translated as "Before [any symptoms] have formed". The Chinese 未有形 literally reads as "Before having form". I wonder what led Needham (assuming this was his translation) to use the word 'symptoms' here?

"The students are mostly from China’s rapidly expanding middle class and can afford to pay full tuition, a godsend for universities that have faced sharp budget cuts in recent years. But what seems at first glance a boon for colleges and students alike is, on closer inspection, a tricky fit for both."

"这些学生绝大多数来自中国迅速壮大的中产阶级，有能力支付全额学费，对于近年来面临预算削减的高校来说，这真是从天而降的礼物。不过，虽然乍看之下这对高校和学生都有好处，仔细观察起来，却是对双方都复杂和棘手的事。"

Written by Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer
Translated by: ??

http://cn.nytimes.com/article/education/2012/06/27/c27conundrum/zh-cn/

Thoughts:

• I liked the translation of 'a godsend' into 从天而降的礼物 (literally 'a gift that fell from heaven')
• Another good one: "a tricky fit for both" as 对双方都复杂和棘手的事 (complex and prickly things for both parties).
• 'at first glance' as 乍看之下.

HOT DOG

I have a hot dog for a pet,
The only kind my folks would let
Me get.
He does smell sort of bad
And yet, 
He absolutely never gets
The sofa wet.
We have a butcher for a vet,
The strangest vet you ever met.
Guess we're the weirdest family yet,
To have a hot dog for a pet.

热狗

我的宠物是热狗，
爸妈只准我养
这种狗。
闻起来确实有点臭，
但绝不会尿得沙发
湿透透。
我们的兽医是个屠夫，
没有比他便怪的人物。
说到怪还是我们家最奇怪，
竟然养热狗当宠物。

Poem by Shel Silverstein 
Translation by 鄭小芸

Thoughts:

• I like how the translator used the same line spacing as the original.
• 'He does' translated as 确实 is quite well done. Imagine the reader saying "He does smell sort of bad...", with the emphasis on 'does'. 确实brings this across well. Although . . . now I'm thinking that "He does. . . " feels like the boy is admitting something bad about his pet (kind of like it is hiding 'although' within it), while 确实 doesn't necessarily have this flavor to it...
• 'He never gets the sofa wet' as 绝不会尿得沙发湿透透 is interesting. In English we just say 'wet the bed', 'get the sofa wet' etc - it is not necessary to explicitly state that urination was involved. The Chinese version, on the other hand, states explicitly that "[he] definitely wouldn't/couldn't urinate [and] soak the sofa right through."
• In translating "The strangest vet you've ever met" I feel that in trying to get a rhyme with 'pet' (pet-person 宠物-人物) the translator lost some of the feeling of the original. Saying that "Nobody is stranger than this person" (没有比他更怪的人物) takes the emphasis off of him being the strangest veterinarian one could meet. 
• "Guess we're the weirdest family yet" is very difficult to translate. First of all, how do you translate 'guess' (here it is 'I guess') into Chinese?  And then you have 'yet' at the end of the sentence . . . what to do with this? So the translator chose to write "Speaking of strange, [I guess] our family is the strangest" (说道怪还是我们家最奇怪). To convey the meaning of 'I guess', as far as I can tell the translator used 还是, which literally means 'still' (or 'or'), but in this context does feel quite similar to 'I guess'. For translating 'yet' I think it is the 说到怪 ('speaking of strange') that conveys this word's effect upon the sentence.
• Although the original uses 'strange' and 'weird', the translation only uses one word (奇怪) for both of them. Perhaps it was a way of linking the two lines together (i.e. "Speaking of strange..." in the second of the two lines).