第一篇:第二節(jié)參考消息翻譯大賽譯文
A Long Time Going
Peter Bergen
Osama bin Laden long fancied himself something of a poet.His compositions tended to the morbid, and a poem written two years after 9/11 in which he contemplated the circumstances of his death was no exception.Bin Laden wrote, “Let my grave be an eagle’s belly, its resting place in the sky’s atmosphere amongst perched eagles.”
As it turns out, bin Laden’s grave is somewhere at the bottom of the Arabian Sea, to which his body was consigned after his death in Pakistan at the hands of U.S.Navy SEALs.If there is poetry in bin Laden’s end, it is the poetry of justice, and it calls to mind what President George W.Bush had predicted would happen in a speech he gave to Congress just nine days after 9/11.In an uncharacteristic burst of eloquence, Bush asserted that bin Laden and al-Qaeda would eventually be consigned to “history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.”
Though bin Laden’s body may have been buried at sea on May 2, the burial of bin Ladenism has been a decade in the making.Indeed, it began on the very day of bin Laden’s greatest triumph.At first glance, the 9/11 assault looked like a stunning win for al-Qaeda, a ragtag band of jihadists who had bloodied the nose of the world’s only superpower.But on closer look it became something far less significant, because the attacks on Washington and New York City did not achieve bin Laden’s key strategic goal: the withdrawal of the U.S.from the Middle East, which he imagined would lead to the collapse of all the American-backed authoritarian regimes in the region.Instead, the opposite happened: the U.S.invaded and occupied first Afghanistan and then Iraq.By attacking the American mainland and inviting reprisal, al-Qaeda — which means “the base” in Arabic — lost the best base it had ever had: Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.In this sense, 9/11 was similar to another surprise attack, that on Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec.7, 1941, a stunning tactical victory that set in motion events that would end in the defeat of imperial Japan.Shrewder members of bin Laden’s inner circle had warned him before 9/11 that antagonizing the U.S.would be counterproductive, and internal al-Qaeda memos written after the fall of the Taliban and later recovered by the U.S.military show that some of bin Laden’s followers fully understood the folly of the attacks.In 2002 an al-Qaeda insider wrote to another, saying, “Regrettably, my brother...during just six months, we lost what we built in years.”
The responsibility for that act of hubris lies squarely with bin Laden: despite his reputation for shyness and diffidence, he ran al-Qaeda as a dictatorship.His son Omar recalls that the men who worked for his father had a habit of requesting permission before they spoke with their leader, saying, “Dear prince, may I speak?” Joining al-Qaeda meant taking a personal religious oath of allegiance to bin Laden, just as joining the Nazi Party had required swearing personal fealty to the Führer.So bin Laden’s group became just as much a hostage to its leader’s flawed strategic vision as the Nazis were to Hitler’s.The key to understanding this vision and all of bin Laden’s actions was his utter conviction that he was an instrument of God’s will.In short, he was a religious zealot.That zealotry first revealed itself when he was a teenager.Khaled Batarfi, a soccer-playing buddy of bin Laden’s on the streets of Jidda, Saudi Arabia, where they both grew up, remembers his solemn friend praying seven times a day(two more than mandated by Islamic convention)and fasting twice a week in imitation of the Prophet Muhammad.For entertainment, bin Laden would assemble a group of friends at his house to chant songs about the liberation of Palestine.Bin Laden’s religious zeal was colored by the fact that his family had made its vast fortune as the principal contractor renovating the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, which gave him a direct connection to Islam’s holiest places.In his early 20s, bin Laden worked in the family business;he was a priggish young man who was also studying economics at a university.His destiny would change with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.The Afghan war prompted the billionaire’s son to launch an ambitious plan to confront the Soviets with a small group of Arabs under his command.That group eventually provided the nucleus of al-Qaeda, which bin Laden founded in 1988 as the war against the Soviets began to wind down.The purpose of al-Qaeda was to take jihad to other parts of the globe and eventually to the U.S., the nation he believed was leading a Western conspiracy to destroy true Islam.In the 1990s bin Laden would often describe America as “the head of the snake.”
Jamal Khalifa, his best friend at the university in Jidda and later also his brother-in-law, told me bin Laden was driven not only by a desire to implement what he saw as God’s will but also by a fear of divine punishment if he failed to do so.So not defending Islam from what he came to believe was its most important enemy would be disobeying God, something he would never do.In 1997, when I was a producer for CNN, I met with bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan to film his first television interview.He struck me as intelligent and well informed, someone who comported himself more like a cleric than like the revolutionary he was quickly becoming.His followers treated bin Laden with great deference, referring to him as “the sheik,” and hung on his every pronouncement.During the course of that interview, bin Laden laid out his rationale for his plan to attack the U.S., whose support for Israel and the regimes in Saudi Arabia and Egypt made it, in his mind, the enemy of Islam.Bin Laden also explained that the U.S.was as weak as the Soviet Union had been, and he cited the American withdrawal from Vietnam in the 1970s as evidence for this view.He poured scorn on the notion that the U.S.thought of itself as a superpower “even after all these successive defeats.”
That would turn out to be a dangerous delusion, which would culminate in bin Laden’s death at the hands of the same U.S.soldiers he had long disparaged as weaklings.Now that he is gone, there will inevitably be some jockeying to succeed him.A U.S.counterterrorism official told me that there was “no succession plan in place” to replace bin Laden.While the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri had long been his deputy, he is not the natural, charismatic leader that bin Laden was.U.S.officials believe that al-Zawahiri is not popular with his colleagues, and they hope there will be disharmony and discord as the militants sort out the succession.As they do so, the jihadists will be mindful that their world has passed them by.The al-Qaeda leadership, its foot soldiers and its ideology played no role in the series of protests and revolts that have rolled across the Middle East and North Africa, from Tunisia to Egypt and then on to Bahrain, Yemen and Libya.Bin Laden must have watched these events unfold with a mixture of excitement and deep worry.Overthrowing the dictatorships and monarchies of the Middle East was long his central goal, but the Arab revolutions were not the kind he had envisioned.Protesters in the streets of Tunis and Cairo didn’t carry placards with pictures of bin Laden’s face, and the Facebook revolutionaries who launched the uprisings represent everything al-Qaeda hates: they are secular, liberal and antiauthoritarian, and their ranks include women.The eventual outcome of these revolts will not be to al-Qaeda’s satisfaction either, because almost no one in the streets of Egypt, Libya or Yemen is clamoring for the imposition of a Taliban-style theocracy, al-Qaeda’s preferred end for the states in the region.Between the Arab Spring and the death of bin Laden, it is hard to imagine greater blows to al-Qaeda’s ideology and organization.President Obama has characterized al-Qaeda and its affiliates as “small men on the wrong side of history.” For al-Qaeda, that history just sped up, as bin Laden’s body floated down into the ocean deeps and its proper place in the unmarked grave of discarded lies.恐 怖 逝 去
彼得于卑爾根
奧薩馬·本·拉登一直以來都把自己幻想成某位詩人或者什么的。他的作品常趨向于病態(tài)恐怖,他有一首詩作于“9.11事件”兩年后,這首詩毫無例外的預(yù)計(jì)了他死亡時(shí)的情形。本拉登寫道“讓我葬身于鷹腹,它休憩在棲息于蒼穹的鷹群中?!?/p>
恰好,本拉登的墳?zāi)故窃诎⒗5椎哪硞€(gè)地方,他的尸體是在他死于巴基斯坦后在美國海豹突擊隊(duì)的一手操作下移交到這里來的。如果說本拉登的死真有些詩意的話,那就是審判的詩意,它讓人回想起正如總統(tǒng)喬治布什在9.11事件發(fā)生后的第九天在給國會(huì)的一個(gè)演講中所做的預(yù)測到的一樣。布什宣稱本拉登和基地組織將最終會(huì)交付于“歷史中充滿廢棄謊言的裸露之墓?!边@句話在一場并不驚艷的演講中爆發(fā)出來。
雖然本拉登的尸體會(huì)在5月2日被葬于大海,但是本拉登的葬禮在十年前就已經(jīng)在形成中了。的確,它就在本拉登滿載最偉大勝利的這一天就開始了。乍一看9.11恐怖襲擊對于基地組織就像一個(gè)令人振聾發(fā)聵的勝利——一幫圣戰(zhàn)分子組成的烏合之眾在超級大國的鼻子上制造血案。但是仔細(xì)看你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它變的毫無意義。因?yàn)檫@次對于華盛頓和紐約的襲擊并未達(dá)到本拉登的戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo):美國從中東撤軍,他原本以為恐怖襲擊會(huì)導(dǎo)致有背的美國獨(dú)裁主義政權(quán)會(huì)在該區(qū)域瓦解。
相反發(fā)生的是:美國先后入侵并攻占了阿富汗和伊拉克。憑借著襲擊美國本土和一些邀請報(bào)復(fù),“基地組織”——象征著阿拉伯的基石失去了他們曾經(jīng)擁有過最好的基石——塔利班控制下的阿富汗。在這種意義上,9.11與另一場令人震驚的襲擊有幾分相像,那就是1941年12月7日早晨發(fā)生于珍珠港的那場令人震驚的有預(yù)謀的偷襲,這
場偷襲開始調(diào)動(dòng)起了以戰(zhàn)勝日本帝國主義為最終目標(biāo)的活動(dòng)。
本拉登核心集團(tuán)的一些精明的成員在9.11事件前警告過他與美國對抗并不會(huì)達(dá)到預(yù)期的目標(biāo),內(nèi)部基地組織的備忘錄在塔利班墜落后來被美軍重新恢復(fù)后顯示:本拉登的隨從完全明白這場襲擊有多么的愚蠢。2002年基地組織的一個(gè)內(nèi)部成員寫信給另外一個(gè)成員寫到“真可悲,我的兄弟??僅僅6個(gè)月我們就失去了幾年才建成的東西?!?/p>
狂妄行為的責(zé)任直接指向本拉登:盡管他一直以害羞和不自信被人所了解,但是他卻把經(jīng)營基地組織作為一個(gè)獨(dú)裁特權(quán)。據(jù)本拉登的兒子奧馬爾回憶說為他父親工作的人都有一個(gè)習(xí)慣——在跟領(lǐng)導(dǎo)講話前先要請求許可:“尊敬的陛下我能講話嗎?”加入“基地”組織就意味著要對個(gè)人宗教宣誓效忠于拉登,就像加入納粹黨必須親自發(fā)誓效忠于元首一樣。所以本拉登集團(tuán)僅僅成為最多像納粹黨對于希特勒一樣:人質(zhì)相對于有缺陷戰(zhàn)略眼光的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。
理解這種眼光和本拉登所有行動(dòng)的關(guān)鍵是他完全相信他就是上帝意志的產(chǎn)物。簡單來說,他就是一個(gè)宗教狂熱者。那種狂熱第一次呈現(xiàn)出是在他還是個(gè)少年的時(shí)候??ɡ盏掳吞胤剖潜纠堑囊粋€(gè)足球伙伴,他是沙特阿拉伯吉達(dá)一個(gè)無家可歸的孩子,在這里他們一起長大。他回想起他那位嚴(yán)肅的朋友一天要禱告7次(比穆斯林大會(huì)規(guī)定的還多2次)并且他效仿穆罕默德一周齋戒兩次。他會(huì)在自己家里集合一幫朋友高唱解放巴勒斯坦的歌曲作為娛樂。
本拉登的家族耗費(fèi)巨資成為修建麥加和麥地那地區(qū)圣地的總承包商,這件事讓本拉登的宗教熱情著上了色彩,這也給他了一個(gè)朝拜伊
斯蘭教最神圣地方的直接連接。在他20歲剛出頭時(shí),本拉登曾在做家族生意;他是一個(gè)自負(fù)的年輕人,也曾在大學(xué)里讀過經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)。
在1979年末蘇聯(lián)入侵阿富汗,他的命運(yùn)從此發(fā)生了改變。阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭激起了這位億萬富翁之子的野心,他和一小群在他指揮下的阿拉伯人發(fā)動(dòng)一個(gè)對抗蘇聯(lián)的雄心計(jì)劃。集團(tuán)的核心最終提供給基地組織——拉登于1988年成立對抗蘇聯(lián)軍事力量開始平靜下來。基地組織的目的是把圣戰(zhàn)帶到世界的其它地方并最終帶到美國這個(gè)他認(rèn)為是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)一場毀滅真實(shí)伊斯蘭教的西方陰謀國家。在90年代拉登經(jīng)常把美國形容成“毒蛇的頭部”。
賈馬爾·哈里發(fā),拉登在大學(xué)最好的朋友后來成為拉登的妹夫,他告訴我拉登不僅是被想要實(shí)現(xiàn)上帝意志的欲望驅(qū)使著,而且被一種恐懼的狂暴狀態(tài)驅(qū)使著——如果圣戰(zhàn)失敗的話。所以在他來相信,如果不捍衛(wèi)伊斯蘭教就等同于伊斯蘭教最重要的敵人違背神一樣,而這是他永遠(yuǎn)都不會(huì)干的事。
1997年當(dāng)時(shí)我是CNN的一位制片人,在做拉登的第一次電視訪談節(jié)目時(shí)在東阿富汗遇到他。他的見多識(shí)廣和聰明才智著實(shí)讓我驚訝,舉手投足間比起他正在迅速成為的革命者更像一位傳教士。他的隨從們以最崇高的敬意侍奉著拉登,提及到他就像酋長一樣并且堅(jiān)持貫徹拉登的每一個(gè)宣言。
在那次訪談當(dāng)中,拉登列舉了他計(jì)劃襲擊美國的理由:美國對以色列的支持和美國在沙特阿拉伯及埃及的政權(quán),在他心里,美國就是伊斯蘭教的敵人。拉登同時(shí)也闡述說美國就像以前蘇聯(lián)那樣懦弱一
樣,他引用1970年代美國撤出越南作為證據(jù)支持這一觀點(diǎn)。他對美國認(rèn)為自己是個(gè)超級大國這一觀點(diǎn)表示蔑視——“即時(shí)在經(jīng)歷一連續(xù)失敗后”。
那些理由被證明是一種危險(xiǎn)的妄想,這種幻想最終以拉登之死而告終,他恰好死于那些曾被他長期蔑視為懦夫的美國士兵手里。既然他已經(jīng)死了,將不可避免地就會(huì)有一些陰謀來接替他。一位美國反恐官員告訴我的是根本沒有什么繼承計(jì)劃來接替拉登。埃及的扎瓦希里曾一直是他的副手,而他并不是一位像拉登一樣天生的具有領(lǐng)袖氣質(zhì)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。據(jù)美國官員們推測扎瓦希里在同僚當(dāng)中并不受歡迎,他們希望會(huì)有不和諧和不一致的因素會(huì)在激進(jìn)分子挑選繼承權(quán)時(shí)出現(xiàn)。
對于他們所做的這些,圣戰(zhàn)份子對這個(gè)曾忽視過他們的世界會(huì)更加警覺。駛過中東及北非,從突尼斯到埃及,然后到巴林、也門和利比亞的一系列抗議和反抗活動(dòng)中,士兵們跟領(lǐng)導(dǎo)階層的思想意識(shí)并沒有參與其中。本拉登看到這些事件時(shí)一定既喜又憂。推翻中東的獨(dú)裁專政一直是他的一個(gè)中心目標(biāo),但是阿拉伯革命并不是他曾想像的那樣。突尼斯以及開羅大街上的抗議份子們并沒有高舉貼有本拉登頭像的牌子,并且Facebook上的革命份子也發(fā)動(dòng)起義,代表基地組織所痛恨的一切——他們是不朽的反獨(dú)裁主義主義者,是自由主義者,他們的隊(duì)伍里甚至還有女人。這些叛亂的最終結(jié)果也未能使基地組織滿意,因?yàn)榇蠼稚蠋缀鯖]人呼吁接受一種塔利班模式的神權(quán)政體——基地組織希望這一地區(qū)的國家最終都會(huì)接受的神權(quán)政體。
阿拉伯春季本拉登的死,很難想像會(huì)給基地組織的思想跟組織帶
來多大的打擊。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)認(rèn)為基地組織跟它的子機(jī)構(gòu)只不過是有些特點(diǎn)的“站在歷史錯(cuò)誤邊上的小人”。對于基地組織,那段歷史正在飛快流逝,就像本拉登的尸體飄落進(jìn)大洋深處某一處充滿廢棄謊言的裸露之墓一樣。
第二篇:2012翻譯大賽譯文
蚊子總是在溫?zé)岬陌斫蹬R,我們的臥室是他們的露天劇場,我整晚用濕毛巾上上下下猛擊著他們,今天早上我因?yàn)槿鄙偎叨^昏眼花,像是喝醉了很適合這么寫,因?yàn)樗械呢?zé)任感都隨著這個(gè)詞而離去,昨晚我妻子向我展示了幾碼的網(wǎng),然后我們跪在一起幻想著用的是面紗把壁爐遮蓋住,她看起來像位新娘,{我們的觀念之一就是蚊子是從煙囪里進(jìn)來的},我在第三大道的五金店買了幾個(gè)可調(diào)節(jié)的整流網(wǎng),而他們原本是置在窗戶上的,但窗扇對這個(gè)樓來說太古老也不規(guī)范,以至于除了幾只患有象皮腫得蚊子沒有困難進(jìn)入房間通過窗扇和紗窗之間的間距,于是在上窗扇和下窗扇之間甚至有更大的開孔,當(dāng)下窗扇提升到與紗窗相接,一個(gè)很少被房間居民想起的空間,卻一定會(huì)被所有蚊子想到,我也花25 美元買了一個(gè)很古老的空調(diào),很大的折扣,我也很喜歡它,它幾乎對屋子里的空氣沒有任何影響,只是邊緣的碎片,制造出像地鐵那樣發(fā)出的巨大摩擦噪音,以至于我啪的關(guān)燈,閉上眼睛,舉著濕毛巾做好準(zhǔn)備,想象中,伴隨著第一次的刺痛,我很成功地在地下被手持燒針的憤怒女孩戳著.在海龜灣我的另一個(gè)看法是蚊子是通過空調(diào)進(jìn)入臥室的,乘冷氣進(jìn)入搭成著熱氣像鷹一樣出去,這是一個(gè)很無力的理論,但一個(gè)人不得不考慮這個(gè)理論如果他消磨于數(shù)小時(shí)的失眠中,我想去買些老式的殺蟲噴霧,去做些準(zhǔn)備工作,為此去了商店,但當(dāng)我向店員要一些 Flit 槍和一些 Flit,他古怪地看了我一眼,仿佛,很疑惑這些年我是怎樣讓自己生存下來的?!拔覀儞碛械臇|西比這強(qiáng)很多 ”他說,生產(chǎn)一罐含氯丹和其他幾個(gè)自己不可告人的化學(xué)物質(zhì)的東西。我告訴他我不能用它,因?yàn)槲覍β鹊み^敏?!白屛冶Wo(hù)我的肝臟吧,”我說,深深的瞥他一下
早上在公寓里是最舒適的時(shí)光,精疲力盡的蚊子們在天花板和墻壁歇息,睡著覺,房間卷著褶皺凌亂的被褥和隨處亂放的衣服、葡萄藤的葉子過濾這強(qiáng)烈的日光,空調(diào)也終于可以寂靜無聲,就像蚊子一樣。從第三大道傳來瘋了的建設(shè)者們的聲音 — — 美國蟬,在正午的陽光下。在花園里麻雀圣歌中 — — 散亂的第二個(gè)發(fā)情期中,愛戀的狂熱中,與這烈日的大暑一起進(jìn)行,在這懶散倦怠和休息的夏日戀愛著當(dāng)我離開時(shí)我會(huì)想念我的公寓。當(dāng)我秋天離開時(shí),當(dāng)我去牧場休閑放松時(shí),偶爾我會(huì)嘗試簡化我的生活,燒掉過去的書,賣掉偶爾才坐的椅子丟棄了堆積很久的雜物。我注意到,不過,那這些凈化我的生活— — 到我的妻子與謹(jǐn)慎的寬限期提交的 — — 通常導(dǎo)致了更大的復(fù)雜性,在長拉和我有無疑這一會(huì),也為我不信任自己的這種排序和我第一次作為老馬會(huì)要著手工作提高牧場的犯罪嫌疑人的情況。我甚至可以加入一個(gè)牧場改善社會(huì)。最后一次想要凈化自己的火,我還是設(shè)法收購過程中的一家動(dòng)物園我仍然支持它和運(yùn)載重型桶水對動(dòng)物,有時(shí)是超出我的力量的任務(wù)。
B.白蚊子已到達(dá)與溫暖的夜晚,和我們的寢宮是他們劇場星空下。我和已過了下來整晚,擺動(dòng)著他們用一臉毛巾蘸另一端,給予它權(quán)力。今天早上我遭受來自沒有睡眠的頭暈 — — 醉酒的一種很好的寫作因?yàn)樽终f什么所有責(zé)任感,這都是消失了。昨天晚上我的妻子帶了幾碼的網(wǎng),和在一起我們跪涵蓋與幻想面紗 fi。它看起來像個(gè)新娘子。(我們很多的理論之一是蚊子下來的煙囪。我買了幾個(gè)在第三大街上的硬件商店可調(diào)節(jié)屏幕,并且它們的地方在 windows 中 ;但在這棟樓的窗口彩帶等老和不規(guī)則任何除一個(gè)患有象皮腫的蚊子已走進(jìn)房間,透過空間腰帶和屏幕之間沒有什么困難。(然后還有上部腰帶和較低的窗扇之間更大開放引發(fā)低窗扇接收屏幕時(shí) — — 一個(gè)空間,幾乎從不到公寓居民發(fā)生,但必須發(fā)生的所有蚊子。)此外買很老的冷氣機(jī)二十五美元,大酬賓,我喜歡這臺(tái)機(jī)器。它幾乎沒有影響的房間,只削掉熱、邊緣的氣氛,使磨一聲巨響讓人想起地鐵,這樣我可以捕捉燈關(guān)掉,閉上眼睛,在準(zhǔn)備中,拿濕毛巾和想象我就已經(jīng)躺在地下和被戳破了憤怒的女孩可運(yùn)用的針腳,與第一刀。關(guān)于海龜灣蚊子礦井的另一種理論是他掃進(jìn)臥室空調(diào)、通過騎很酷的引入,像一只鷹騎著溫暖的氣流。它是一個(gè)軟弱的理論,但一名男子已受理理論,如果他是消磨失眠的小時(shí)數(shù)。我想買一些老式的 bug 噴霧,和去商店為此目的,但當(dāng)我問秘書 Flit 槍和一些 Flit,他給了我一種奇怪的看,仿佛不知道,我已經(jīng)讓自己這些年來?!拔覀儞碛械臇|西比這強(qiáng)很多,”他說,生產(chǎn)一罐含氯丹和其他幾個(gè)自己不可告人的化學(xué)物質(zhì)的東西。我告訴他我不能用它,因?yàn)檫^敏的氯丹?!拔矣腋蔚墨@取,”我說,投擲野生一瞥他。早上在公寓里,用盡后上天花板和墻壁,睡它關(guān)閉,房間里折磨的被褥和被遺棄的服裝、過濾的一天,最后,像蚊子一樣沉默空調(diào)硬光他們充分 leafiness 中的葡萄藤的旋流在板鴨蚊子在休息中設(shè)置的最討人喜歡的時(shí)代。從第三大道來瘋了建設(shè)者們的聲音 — — 美國蟬,出在正午的陽光下。在花園里麻雀圣歌 — — 散亂的第二個(gè)求偶、低迷的激情、大熱,保持在夏季,愛,放松和倦怠。我會(huì)想念這套公寓,當(dāng)它遠(yuǎn)去 ;我們正在戒煙它來摔倒了,才把自己放牧。每隔一陣子我做嘗試簡化我的生活,燒我我賣偶爾的椅子上,后面的書丟棄累積的撤除。我注意到,不過,那這些純化的礦井 — — 到我的妻子與謹(jǐn)慎的寬限期提交的 — — 通常導(dǎo)致了更大的復(fù)雜性,在長拉和我有無疑這一會(huì),也為我不信任自己的這種排序和我第一次作為老馬會(huì)要著手工作提高牧場的犯罪嫌疑人的情況。我甚至可以加入一個(gè)牧場改善社會(huì)。最后一次想要凈化自己的火,我還是設(shè)法收購過程中的一家動(dòng)物園我仍然支持它和運(yùn)載重型桶水對動(dòng)物,有時(shí)是超出我的力量的任務(wù)。■(選自 E.安B.白讀卡器、pp。198-200,紐約哈珀行 1966)
翻譯提供:http://004km.cn
第三篇:第四屆語言橋杯翻譯大賽參考譯文
第四屆“語言橋”杯翻譯大賽
原文、參考譯文、譯文點(diǎn)評及特等獎(jiǎng)譯文
一、第四屆“語言橋”杯翻譯大賽原文:
When the Sun Stood Still
Remember how time used to stretch forever? We are well into summer now here in the city.An early morning alarm gets my daughter, Morgan, up for summer school.My son, Patrick, has gone off with his uncle, and my husband and I have to go to our jobs and try to find a way to cram a vacation in somewhere.Summer wasn’t always like this.When I was growing up in a small California town called Lagunitas, a perfect stillness awaited us when we stepped out of school in June.We had no summer classes, no camps, no relatives to visit.The calendar was a blank.Every day the hills of Lagunitas pressed in and the light pressed down.It was as if the planet had come lazily to a stop so we could all hear the buzzing of the dragonflies above the creek—and the beating of our own hearts.June was far away, September a distant blur.Without school to tell us who we were—fifth-graders or sixth-graders, good students or good-offs—we were free just to be ourselves, to build forts, to moon around the neighborhood with a head full of fantastical schemes.There was time for everything.Minutes were as big as plums, hours the size of watermelons.You could spend a quarter of an hour watching the dust motes in the shaft of sunlight from the doorway and wondering if anybody else could see them.I don’t really miss those long, slow days.What I miss is summertime, the illusion that the sun is standing still and the future is keeping its distance.On summer afternoons, nobody got any older.Kids didn’t have to worry about becoming adults, and adults didn’t have to worry about running out of adulthood.You could lie on your back watching clouds scud across the sky, and maybe later walk down to the store for a Popsicle.You could lose your watch and not miss it for days.These busy kids I’m raising today don’t know what summertime is.They are on city time.“My life is going too fast,” Patrick once grumbled as he got into bed.“This whole day went by just like that.I didn’t have enough fun.”
He’s a city child, a child whose fun is packed into short, hurried weekends.Even in summer his hours grow shorter and begin to run together, faster and faster.It won’t be long before an hour—once an eternity—is for him, too, a walk to the grocery store, three phone calls, half a movie.Maybe that’s why we still need long school vacations—to anchor kids to the earth, keep them from rocketing too fast out of childhood.If they have enough time on their hands, they might be among the lucky ones who carry their summertime with them into adulthood.二、參考譯文:
夏日好時(shí)光
可還記得以往時(shí)間像是永無止境地拉長了的?
ADAIR LARA撰
思果譯
夏天真正來到了我們居住的城市。一大早鬧鐘鈴響就鬧醒女兒茉苷去上暑期學(xué)校。兒子帕屈克跟他叔叔出門去了。丈夫和我得去上班,還得盤算到什么地方去度個(gè)假。
從前的夏季不是這樣的。我在加里福尼亞州小城拉古尼塔斯成長的時(shí)候,每年六月學(xué)期結(jié)束,等著我們的是十足的寧靜,不用上暑期班,不用參加露營活動(dòng),不用去探望親戚,日歷上一片空白。
日光每天普照著群山環(huán)繞的拉古尼塔斯,仿佛地球已經(jīng)懶洋洋地停頓了,好讓我們聆聽溪上蜻蜓的吱吱聲和我們自己的心跳。六月已去,九月還遠(yuǎn)得很。沒有學(xué)校提醒我們是五年級生還是六年級生,是好學(xué)生還是懶惰鬼,我們隨意做自己喜歡的事,例如搭堡壘,或滿懷鬼主意地四處閑混。
想干什么都有時(shí)間去干。每一分鐘都像李子那么大,每一小時(shí)都像西瓜大。你可以花一刻鐘凝視漂浮于陽光中的微塵,暗想別人是不是也看得見。
我倒不是舍不得那些冗長而緩慢的時(shí)光。我惦念的是夏季,是以為太陽光會(huì)佇立不動(dòng)而未來總在老遠(yuǎn)的那種幻覺。在夏天的下午,人是不會(huì)老的。小孩不用擔(dān)心變大,大人也不用擔(dān)心年華消逝。你可以躺下來仰視白云掠過天空,過一陣子到店鋪買枝冰棒。你即使手表掉了,也可能幾天后才想起來。
如今,我養(yǎng)的這些孩子忙得很,根本不知夏天的滋味。他們過的是城市時(shí)間?!叭兆訉?shí)在過得太快了,”有一次帕屈克在睡前發(fā)牢騷,“這一整天那么一下就過去了,我還沒有玩夠呢?!?/p>
他是城市的孩子,這種孩子的歡樂全部擠了在短促匆忙的周末中。即使在夏季,他的小時(shí)也越來越短,甚至去得越來越快。曾幾何時(shí),一小時(shí)對他來說還是無窮無盡,現(xiàn)在卻只夠他上一趟雜貨店,打三次電話,或看半場電影。
也許這就是我們?nèi)匀恍枰崎L暑假的原因---好把兒童羈絆在人間,免得他們的童年一下子就過去了。
如果兒童自己手上有充裕的時(shí)間,成長之后就也許仍然記得夏日歡愉,堪稱人生幸事。
三、譯文點(diǎn)評
翻譯與競賽
——讀When the Sun Stood Still參考譯文及其他
楊
全
紅
When the Sun Stood Still是重慶市第四屆語言橋杯翻譯比賽原文,原載美國《讀者文摘》。參考譯文由香港翻譯名家思果先生提供。下對本文之中譯及相關(guān)問題談?wù)剛€(gè)人意見。
1.標(biāo)題傳譯
思果譯文:夏日好時(shí)光 參賽譯文:當(dāng)太陽停止轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng) / 當(dāng)太陽駐足永恒夏日 / 夏日時(shí)節(jié)/ 那時(shí)陽光靜靜佇立 / 夏日悠長 / 太陽不下山 / 當(dāng)太陽不再東升西落 / 夏日幻想曲 / 曾經(jīng)麗日不西斜 / 時(shí)光飛逝,歲月如歌 / ……
其它試譯:初夏·暑假·幽暇 / 夏日陽光,我心向往 / 夏日悠悠無絕期 / ??(說明:第一試譯中“幽暇”二字來自《朱生豪情書》中的一段話:“William Davies說的:What is this life, if, full of care, / We have no time to stand and stare.如果我向上帝祈求,我將說,給我充分的幽暇吧!看云的幽暇,聽雨的幽暇,赤腳在椅背上打盹的幽暇,做詩、談戀愛、自尋煩惱的幽暇,或者就是全無思慮的,在一兩點(diǎn)鐘內(nèi)給朋友寫一封無所不談的隨筆的信的幽暇?!保?/p>
2.正文傳譯
綜而觀之,本次比賽所選原文不算難或不太難,因此,這里不就全文的翻譯予以點(diǎn)評,僅就其中幾句相對比較難以理解或表達(dá)的句子談?wù)勎覀兊乃伎迹醋g文2)。
例1: Everyday the hills of Lagunitas pressed in and the light pressed down.譯文1:日光每天普照著群山環(huán)繞的拉古尼塔斯。(思果譯,下同)譯文2:在拉古尼塔斯,開門即可見山,出門則可沐浴陽光。
例2:There was time for everything.Minutes were as big as plums, hours the size of watermelons.譯文1:想干什么都有時(shí)間去干。每一分鐘都像李子那么大,每一小時(shí)都像西瓜大。
譯文2:想干什么有的是時(shí)間,一分鐘足有李子般大小,而一小時(shí)更是碩大如西瓜。
例3:On summer afternoons, nobody got any older.Kids didn’t have to worrying about becoming adults, and adults didn’t have to worry about running out of adulthood.… You could lose your watch and not miss it for days.譯文1:在夏天的下午,人是不會(huì)老的。小孩不用擔(dān)心變大,大人也不用擔(dān)心年華消逝。……你即使手表丟了,也可能幾天后才想起來。譯文2:夏日午后,沒人會(huì)變老的。小孩不用擔(dān)心會(huì)長大成人,而大人也不用擔(dān)
心老之將至?!慵词箒G了手表,數(shù)日內(nèi)也可能全然不知不覺呢。
例4:If they have enough time on their hands, they might be among the lucky ones who carry their summertime with them into adulthood.譯文1:如果兒童自己手上有充裕的時(shí)間,成長之后就也許仍然記得夏日歡愉,勘稱人生幸事。
譯文2:要是孩子們在暑期能有大把的時(shí)間悠玩,他們成年后一定還會(huì)念念不忘,而這不啻人生之一幸事。
3.思果簡介
曾任香港中文大學(xué)翻譯中心研究員,教授《高級翻譯》。退休后仍從事散文寫作和翻譯研究,為香港翻譯學(xué)會(huì)榮譽(yù)會(huì)士。專論翻譯的著述有《翻譯研究》、《翻譯新究》、《譯道探微》、《功夫在詩外》等,譯作有《大衛(wèi)·考勃菲爾》、《西泰子來華記》、《自由時(shí)代》等二十余種。就翻譯標(biāo)準(zhǔn)而論,主張“信達(dá)貼”。請看余光中與劉紹銘二位先生對思果及其翻譯的評價(jià):
思果先生不但是一位翻譯家,更是一位杰出的散文家。他的散文清真自如,筆鋒轉(zhuǎn)處,渾無痕跡?!脊壬群髮懥巳嗄甑纳⑽模g了二十本書,編過中文版的《讀者文摘》,教過中文大學(xué)校外進(jìn)修部的高級翻譯班,更重要的是,他曾經(jīng)每天用七小時(shí)半的工夫結(jié)結(jié)實(shí)實(shí)研究了七年的翻譯。(余光中:《余光中論翻譯》,頁60)
思果先生為翻譯界老前輩,中英文造詣深厚。線裝書讀得多,英譯中,得心應(yīng)手。最近他在《明報(bào)月刊》有文談到《傳神:譯文不信的雅》。他看到“Everything in the universe is continuously integrating and disintegrating”一句便想起了《三國演義》:“話說天下大勢,分久必合,合久必分……”。果然是“天衣無縫”的巧合!當(dāng)然,譯者不能把羅貫中的話一字不易的搬過來,否則罪犯剽竊。不過,誰能把“integrate”和“disintegrate”干干凈凈的看作“合”和“分”,已把握到翻譯神髓。不再為字典定義所左右。有這種中文修養(yǎng),其他問題自會(huì)觸類旁通。“腹有詩書氣自華”,說的端的不錯(cuò)?!脊壬€舉了些其他可說是seamless(天衣無縫)的例子,如把“There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in”譯為:“人的一己本來沒有局限,除非你畫地為牢”?!爱嫷貫槔巍?,用得恰倒好處,誠如四川人說的,“硬是要得”?。▌⒔B銘:《情到濃時(shí)》,頁112)
4.翻譯與競賽
因本點(diǎn)評對象是翻譯比賽,我們很自然地想到了“翻譯與競賽”的題目。國內(nèi)提倡“翻譯競賽”論者不時(shí)有見,然影響最大者當(dāng)數(shù)北京大學(xué)教授許淵沖先生。這里所謂“翻譯競賽”,主要是指不同譯文(本)之間的“競賽”,此一層意思也是許老“翻譯競賽論”題中應(yīng)有之意。請見以下二段引文:
要談新世紀(jì)的新譯論,只談“忠實(shí)”是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠的,根據(jù)我翻譯文學(xué)名著的經(jīng)驗(yàn),我才提出要用最好的譯語表達(dá)方式,以便更好地表達(dá)原作的內(nèi)容,這就是優(yōu)勢論和競賽論。……我在香港中文大學(xué)講學(xué)時(shí)就發(fā)揮英語優(yōu)勢,來和中美譯者競賽,……(許淵沖:《文學(xué)與翻譯》,頁265)
競賽論是指“看哪種文字能更好地表達(dá)原作的內(nèi)容?!薄对娊?jīng)》中的“死生契闊,與子成說”,陳子展譯成:“記否誓同死生離合,和你約定的話可確!”程俊英卻譯成:“死生永遠(yuǎn)不分離,對你誓言記心里。”我認(rèn)為兩種譯文在競賽,也可以說是在和原文競賽。(許淵沖:《詩書人生》,頁262-263)
下面,我們選擇少許標(biāo)題或句子翻譯實(shí)例并附相關(guān)參考譯文,同學(xué)們不妨自己試著譯譯,之后與參考譯文比比,看自己的譯作是否有“勝出”的可能。
原文:Altogether Autumn 譯文:人間盡秋(陸谷孫譯)
原文:The Great Loser 譯文:大大方方的輸家。(藍(lán)仁哲譯)
原文:The Great Gatsby
譯文:《大亨小傳》(喬志高譯)
原文:Love Is Cruel, Love Is Sweet
譯文:愛情殘忍愛情甜(郭沫若譯)
原文:Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
譯文:《林邊駐馬風(fēng)雪夜》(杜承南譯)
原文:That Home is Home though it is never so Homely
譯文:家雖不佳仍是家(劉炳善譯)
原文:Taste the Wind
譯文:風(fēng)中嘗鮮(思果譯)
原文:Japan Is Unlikely to Leave Us 譯文:心系日本千千結(jié)(《英語世界》)
原文:Shrinking to Survive
譯文:“縮”者生存(《英語學(xué)習(xí)》)
原文:Man Arrested for Airline Bomb Joke
譯文:“空”中無戲言(《科技英語學(xué)習(xí)》)
原文:How to Fat-Proof Your Child
譯文:如何使你的小孩防“胖”于未然(《科技英語學(xué)習(xí)》)
原文:Cloning:Good Science or Baaaad Idea? 譯文:克?。焊Y??禍兮?(《科技英語學(xué)習(xí)》)
原文:The Eyes and Ears of War
譯文:伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭美軍的“千里眼”與“順風(fēng)耳”(《科技英語學(xué)習(xí)》)
原文:How to Grow Old
譯文:老之將至
原文:The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.譯文:四只獅子私吃四十只澀柿子。(趙彥春譯)
原文:一個(gè)女人是這樣衰老的
譯文:The Way Woman Withers(毛榮貴譯)
原文:生命有限,小心駕駛。
譯文1:Drive with care if you care about life.譯文2:Don’t drive your life away when you’re driving!
譯文3:Limit your speed, or limit your life?(寥七一先生書中用例)
原文:嚴(yán)禁酒后駕車
譯文1:Alcohol and gasoline don’t mix.譯文2:If you drink, don’t drive;if you drive, don’t drink.譯文3:Somebody drinks.Somebody drives.Somebody dies.譯文4:The driver is safer when the road is dry;The road is safer when the driver is dry.(作者“繹譯”)
四、特等獎(jiǎng)譯文:
永恒夏日
是否記得曾經(jīng)歲月漫漫? 城里已是盛夏。一大早,鬧鈴便喚醒女兒摩根,她得去暑期班上課。兒子帕特里克跟他叔叔一起走了。我和丈夫還得上班,并想法到哪兒度假偷閑。
曾經(jīng)的夏日并非如此。我在加利福尼亞一個(gè)叫拉甘尼塔斯的小鎮(zhèn)長大。六月份我們迎來暑假,也迎來完美的安寧。沒有暑期班,沒有夏令營,不用走親戚,沒有任何安排。
每天,拉甘尼塔斯的眾多山丘映入眼簾,陽光普照。整個(gè)世界彷佛慵懶得停滯了,靜得都能聽見小溪蜻蜓的嗡嗡聲和我們自己的心跳聲。
六月已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)去,而九月還遙遙無期。不會(huì)有學(xué)校提醒我們在上五年級還是六年級,優(yōu)生還是差生--我們自由自在,修碉堡,裝著滿腦子的鬼點(diǎn)子在附近閑逛。
那時(shí)做任何事情都時(shí)間充裕。分鐘大如李子,小時(shí)巨如西瓜。你可以駐足一刻鐘,注視門口陽光中的塵埃,并且疑惑他人可否有幸一睹。
我并非真正懷念那些漫長的日子。我懷念的是那夏日時(shí)光,那太陽屹立不落,未來遙不可及的錯(cuò)覺。夏日的午后,時(shí)光沒有在任何人身上留下痕跡。小孩們不用擔(dān)心會(huì)長大,大人們不必為歲月的流逝而焦慮。你可以仰臥,看云彩掠過天空,或者稍后去小店買根冰棍。甚至你丟失了手表很多天也察覺不到。
我的孩子們成天忙碌,不懂得什么是夏日時(shí)光。他們的生活與城市步調(diào)一樣緊迫?!叭兆舆^得太快了,”一次帕特里克上床睡覺得時(shí)候咕噥著抱怨,“這一整天就這樣過去了。我還沒有玩夠呢?!?/p>
他是城里的孩子。他們的樂趣都擠壓在短暫而匆忙的周末里。即便在夏日,他的時(shí)間也變得越來越短,數(shù)小時(shí)一逝而過,越來越快。不久的將來,曾經(jīng)永恒的一小時(shí),對他來說也就如此:去一趟雜貨店,打三個(gè)電話,看半部電影。
也許這就是我們?nèi)司托枰獙W(xué)校長假的原因--把孩子錨定在地球上,避免他們生活節(jié)奏太快而過早失去童年。
如果有足夠的時(shí)間可以自由支配,他們也許就會(huì)成為幸運(yùn)兒,將夏日時(shí)光帶入成年。
第四篇:第二屆翻譯大賽初賽題目及參考譯文
廣西第二屆翻譯大賽初賽
Part One Passage Translation(60%)
Love Your Life(40%)
However mean you life is, meet it and live it;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you think.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love you life, poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of a shabby house as brightly as from a rich man’s mansion;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts as in palace.The town’s poor seems to me often to live the most independent lives of any.Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.Turn the old, return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.A letter of complaint(20%)Dear Sir: I think you will be distressed to know that my wife and I have been not a little disturbed by your TV set which is kept on to a very late hour each evening.If it is possible for it to be toned sown a little, especially after ten o’clock at night, you would be showing us a great kindness.In view of the fact that I have to leave the house before seven o’clock in the morning, we are obliged to retire early to bed.I am sorry to raise the matter and I trust you will not consider me fussy or unneighborly in making the request.Part Two Sentence Translation(40%)
1.2.3.4.無論科學(xué)發(fā)展得多快,海洋的形成仍是一個(gè)有待科學(xué)家解決的迷。
輿論如此強(qiáng)大,以致影響了法律、教育、習(xí)慣、商業(yè)行為,甚至政府的決策。大多數(shù)的故事都是出于作者的想象,極少數(shù)是基于事實(shí)的。
事實(shí)上,一個(gè)人成年與否不能只看外表,還需要更多,如成熟的思想和豐富的人生閱歷。
5.城市展現(xiàn)著社會(huì)最美好的一面:教育、機(jī)會(huì)、娛樂等等,但也包含著社會(huì)最惡劣的一面:暴力、種族沖貧窮。
翻譯答案
英譯漢
熱愛你的生活
不論你的生活如何卑賤,你要面對它生活,不要躲避它,更別用惡言咒罵它。它不像你那樣壞。你最富有的時(shí)候,倒是看似最貧窮。愛找缺點(diǎn)的人就是到了天堂里也能找到缺點(diǎn)。你要愛你的生活,盡管它貧窮。甚至在一個(gè)濟(jì)貧院里,你也還有愉快、高興、光榮的時(shí)候。夕陽反射在窮人破房窗上如在富人豪宅窗上一樣光亮;在那門前,積雪同在早春融化。我只看到,一個(gè)從容的人,無論在哪里都像在皇宮中一樣,生活得心滿意足而富有愉快的思想。城鎮(zhèn)中的窮人,我看,倒往往是過著最獨(dú)立不羈的生活。也許因?yàn)樗麄兒軅ゴ?,所以受之無愧。大多數(shù)人以為他們是超然的,不靠城鎮(zhèn)來支援他們;可是事實(shí)上他們是往往利用了不正當(dāng)?shù)氖侄蝸韺Ω渡睿麄兪呛敛怀摰?,毋寧是不體面的。視貧窮如園中之花而像圣人一樣耕植它吧!不要找新的花樣,無論是新的朋友或新的衣服,來麻煩你自己。找舊的,回到那里去。萬物不變,是我們在變。你的衣服可以賣掉,但要保留你的思想。
投訴信
親愛的先生:
也許當(dāng)您知道您的電視機(jī)每晚開至深夜打攪我們夫婦倆時(shí),您會(huì)感到不安。倘若可能的話,請把音量調(diào)低一些,尤其是在晚上1 0點(diǎn)鐘以后,我們將對此不勝感激。
因?yàn)槲颐刻煸缟?點(diǎn)便要出門,所以我不得不要較早就寢。
我很抱歉提出此事,但我深信您不會(huì)視我此請求為不友善或小題大做。
漢譯英
1、No matter how fast science develops,the forming of the oceans is still a myth waiting for scientists to solve.
2、Public opinion is so powerful that it has influenced laws,education,customs,commercial activities and even governmental decisions.
3.Most stories are based on the imagination of the authors,and very few on facts.
4.In fact,one can not be considered as a grown—up just by appearance,it requires much more,such as mature thoughts and rich life experiences.
5.Cities show the very best aspects of a society:education,opportunities,entertainment and SO on,but they also contain the worst parts of a society:violence,racial conflicts,and poverty.
第五篇:第六屆“英語世界杯”翻譯大賽原文、譯文及評析
第六屆“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽原文
A Garden That Welcomes Strangers
By Allen Lacy
I do not know what became of her, and I never learned her name.But I feel that I knew her from the garden she had so lovingly made over many decades.The house she lived in lies two miles from mine – a simple, two-story structure with the boxy plan, steeply-pitched roof and unadorned lines that are typical of houses built in the middle of the nineteenth century near the New Jersey shore.Her garden was equally simple.She was not a conventional gardener who did everything by the book, following the common advice to vary her plantings so there would be something in bloom from the first crocus in the spring to the last chrysanthemum in the fall.She had no respect for the rule that says that tall-growing plants belong at the rear of a perennial border, low ones in the front and middle-sized ones in the middle, with occasional exceptions for dramatic accent.In her garden, everything was accent, everything was tall, and the evidence was plain that she loved three kinds of plant and three only: roses, clematis and lilies, intermingled promiscuously to pleasant effect but no apparent design.She grew a dozen sorts of clematis, perhaps 50 plants in all, trained and tied so that they clambered up metal rods, each rod crowned intermittently throughout the summer by a rounded profusion of large blossoms of dark purple, rich crimson, pale lavender, light blue and gleaming white.Her taste in roses was old-fashioned.There wasn’t a single modern hybrid tea rose or floribunda in sight.Instead, she favored the roses of other ages – the York and Lancaster rose, the cabbage rose, the damask and the rugosa rose in several varieties.She propagated her roses herself from cuttings stuck directly in the ground and protected by upended gallon jugs.Lilies, I believe were her greatest love.Except for some Madonna lilies it is impossible to name them, since the wooden flats stood casually here and there in the flower bed, all thickly planted with dark green lily seedlings.The occasional paper tag fluttering from a seed pod with the date and record of a cross showed that she was an amateur hybridizer with some special fondness for lilies of a warm muskmelon shade or a pale lemon yellow.She believed in sharing her garden.By her curb there was a sign: “This is my garden, and you are welcome here.Take whatever you wish with your eyes, but nothing with your hand.”
Until five years ago, her garden was always immaculately tended, the lawn kept fertilized and mowed, the flower bed free of weeds, the tall lilies carefully staked.But then something happened.I don’t know what it was, but the lawn was mowed less frequently, then not at all.Tall grass invaded the roses, the clematis, the lilies.The elm tree in her front yard sickened and died, and when a coastal gale struck, the branches that fell were never removed.With every year, the neglect has grown worse.Wild honeysuckle and bittersweet run rampant in the garden.Sumac, ailanthus, poison ivy and other uninvited things threaten the few lilies and clematis and roses that still struggle for survival.Last year the house itself went dead.The front door was padlocked and the windows covered with sheets of plywood.For many months there has been a for sale sign out front, replacing the sign inviting strangers to share her garden.I drive by that house almost daily and have been tempted to load a shovel in my car trunk, stop at her curb and rescue a few lilies from the smothering thicket of weeds.The laws of trespass and the fact that her house sits across the street from a police station have given me the cowardice to resist temptation.But her garden has reminded me of mortality;gardeners and the gardens they make are fragile things, creatures of time, hostages to chance and to decay.Last week, the for sale sign out front came down and the windows were unboarded.A crew of painters arrived and someone cut down the dead elm tree.This morning there was a moving van in the driveway unloading a swing set, a barbecue grill, a grand piano and a houseful of sensible furniture.A young family is moving into that house.I hope that among their number is a gardener whose special fondness for old roses and clematis and lilies will see to it that all else is put aside until that flower bed is restored to something of its former self.(選自 Patterns: A Short Prose Reader, by Mary Lou Conlin, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983.)
參考譯文
一座向陌生人敞開的花園
文/〔美〕艾倫·萊西
譯/曹明倫
我并不知曉她當(dāng)時(shí)的境遇,也從未聽說過她的姓名,但我覺得我曾了解她,因?yàn)樗恼樟线^數(shù)十年的那座花園。
她住過的房子離我家有兩英里地。那是幢兩層小樓,造型簡約,結(jié)構(gòu)方正,屋頂陡斜,輪廓線都未經(jīng)裝飾,是19世紀(jì)中期新澤西海岸附近典型的住宅式樣。
那座花園也同樣簡約。她種花從不墨守成規(guī),不會(huì)凡事都照搬書本,按書上的建議去換種時(shí)令花卉,以期園中常有花開,從早春第一朵番紅花到晚秋最后一枝黃菊。她對某條園藝規(guī)則也漠然置之,任其去說高植株花卉應(yīng)種在帶狀花壇的后排,矮植株的種在前排,而不高不矮的則種在中間,除非偶爾想營造出引人注
在她的花園里,所有的花都有特色,所有的花植株都高;而且不難看出,她喜歡三個(gè)類屬的花,并且只喜歡那三類:玫瑰、百合、鐵線蓮。三類花混栽間種,令人悅目賞心,但卻不顯刻意規(guī)劃的痕跡。
她栽培了十余種鐵線蓮,總共大概有五十株。她修剪其枝條,綁縛其莖蔓,使其植株沿金屬桿攀緣;在整個(gè)夏季,金屬桿頂部會(huì)陸陸續(xù)續(xù)戴上碩大的花冠,紺青、殷紅、堇紫、淺藍(lán)、瑩白,五彩繽紛,花團(tuán)錦簇。
她對玫瑰有一種戀舊的偏好?;▔锌床灰娨恢陼r(shí)興的雜交香水玫瑰或豐花玫瑰。與之相反,她鐘愛舊時(shí)流行的品種——紅白玫瑰、包心玫瑰、大馬士革玫瑰,以及數(shù)種東亞皺瓣玫瑰。她自己繁殖新株,把削下的扦條直接插入土中,罩上倒扣的加侖罐加以保護(hù)。
我想百合花是她的最愛。除了一些圣母百合,旁人很難叫出其他品種的名字,因?yàn)榛▔械教幎茧S意擺放著木制育苗箱,箱里都密密匝匝地種著墨綠色的百合幼苗。幼苗下偶有紙標(biāo)簽飄動(dòng),標(biāo)簽上寫有栽種日期和雜交紀(jì)錄,這說明她是個(gè)業(yè)余的雜交品種培育者,尤其愛培育像香瓜那種暖黃色調(diào)或像檸檬那種淡黃色調(diào)的百合。
她認(rèn)為其花園應(yīng)該與人共享。她家圍欄邊曾立有一塊標(biāo)牌:“房主花園,歡迎觀賞。請盡飽眼福,但切莫?jiǎng)邮?。?/p>
直到五年前,那花園還一直被照料得無可挑剔,草坪按時(shí)施肥,定期修剪,花壇里沒有一根雜草,高植株的百合都被小心地系在支撐樁上。可后來發(fā)生了變故。我不知當(dāng)時(shí)究竟出了何事,只見修剪草坪的次數(shù)日漸稀疏,后來竟完全無人修剪。芃芃豐草侵入花壇,擠入百合、玫瑰和鐵線蓮之間。前院那棵榆樹萎蔫并枯死,被海風(fēng)刮落的枯枝也不再有人清除。
年復(fù)一年,花園愈發(fā)荒廢。野生忍冬和南蛇藤在園中滋蔓。漆樹、臭椿、毒葛和其他雜樹野藤也不請自入,威脅著少許尚在掙扎求生的百合、玫瑰和鐵線蓮。
到了去年,那幢房子也人去樓空。前門被緊鎖,窗戶被膠合板封閉。其后幾個(gè)月,房前一直豎著塊“此房待售”的告示牌,就豎在原來立“邀客賞花”標(biāo)牌的那個(gè)位置。
我?guī)缀趺刻於家?qū)車經(jīng)過那幢房子,而且一直都很想在后備箱里帶把鍬,把車停在花園邊,去拯救幾株正被蓬蓬荒草窒息的百合。可禁闖私宅的法律條款,加之那房子街對面就是警察局這一事實(shí),使我心生畏怯,從而抑制了這種誘惑。然而,她那座花園總讓我想到物盛必衰,想到種花人及其營造的花園都像春草秋花,乃時(shí)間之造物,由時(shí)運(yùn)擺弄,易衰朽飄零。
上個(gè)星期,那塊出售房子的告示牌被撤掉了,封閉窗戶的膠合板被揭開了。幾名油漆工來刷那幢房子,那顆枯死的榆樹也被砍倒。今天上午,一輛搬家卡車停在屋前車道上,有人從車上卸下一副秋千、一個(gè)燒烤架、一臺(tái)三角鋼琴,還有一整套實(shí)用的家具。一對年輕夫妻正帶著孩子搬進(jìn)那幢房子。
我希望那家人中有個(gè)園丁,一個(gè)鐘愛百合花、鐵線蓮和老品種玫瑰的種花人,其愛花之心能確保其他事都暫被撇在一邊,先讓那一溜花壇多少恢復(fù)其舊貌?!?【譯者后記】也許是有感于當(dāng)年那位不知名的女鄰居對陌生人敞開花園,過退休生活的萊西教授在妻子赫拉和一些志愿者的協(xié)助下,幾年前在他晚年定居的新澤西州大西洋縣林伍德鎮(zhèn)領(lǐng)頭創(chuàng)建了一座占地僅1英畝(6.07畝)的公園——林伍德植物園(Linwood Arboretum)?,F(xiàn)任園長的他將其稱為“全世界最小的植物園”。
注釋:
1.艾倫·萊西(Allen Lacy, 1935-),美國新澤西理查德斯托克頓學(xué)院哲學(xué)及園藝學(xué)榮譽(yù)退休教授,撰有哲學(xué)著作《烏納穆諾:生存修辭》(Miguel de Unamuno: The Rhetoric of Existence, 1967),與人合作翻譯有西班牙哲學(xué)家及作家烏納穆諾的小說《戰(zhàn)爭中的和平》(Peace in War, 1983)和《隱秘世界》(The Private World, 1984),曾長期為《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》和《華爾街日報(bào)》的園藝專欄撰稿,著有《后花園:園丁雜記》(Home Ground: A Gardener’s Miscellany, 1984)、《秋日花園》(The Garden in Autumn, 1990)和《綠蔭下:小園隨筆》(In a Green Shade: Writings from Homeground, 2000)等十余部散文集和園藝著作。
一等獎(jiǎng)譯文
歡迎陌生人的花園
文/〔美〕艾倫?萊西1
譯/姚強(qiáng)
我不清楚她境況如何,也從不知她姓甚名誰。但幾十年來她精心呵護(hù)的這座花園讓我感覺和她已是知交。
她的房子離我家有兩英里,是一棟簡簡單單的兩層小樓,外形四四方方,屋頂陡斜2,樸實(shí)無華,正是典型的十九世紀(jì)中期新澤西海岸附近的建筑風(fēng)格。
她的花園也同樣簡單。她并非那種死板的園丁,凡事照搬園藝書,墨守陳規(guī),只求花卉種類繁多,從春天的第一朵番紅花到秋天的最后一朵菊花,總有應(yīng)季的花卉開放。還有人認(rèn)為在多年生草本花境3中,應(yīng)讓高者居后,矮者居前,不高不低者居于中,若是為了錯(cuò)落有致,引人注目,偶爾也可變換順序,可她對此卻不屑一顧。
在她的園中,所有的花卉都引人注目,所有的花卉都個(gè)頭高挑。顯而易見,她只對三種花情有獨(dú)鐘:玫瑰,鐵線蓮和百合花。三者雖隨意混雜,卻頗為賞心悅目,仿佛渾然天成。
她種了十幾種鐵線蓮,共約50余株。這些鐵線蓮被牽繞在金屬柵欄上,攀緣而上。整個(gè)夏季,每根欄桿的頂端都會(huì)開滿大朵的鐵線蓮,五顏六色,花團(tuán)錦簇,或暗紫,或深紅,或淡紫,或淺藍(lán),或亮白,不時(shí)更替。
她偏愛古典玫瑰。在園內(nèi)尋不到一株現(xiàn)代的雜交茶香月季或豐花月季,相反,她更青睞古老的玫瑰品種,比如白蕊紅玫瑰4,包心玫瑰5,大馬士革玫瑰等。她自己動(dòng)手培育玫瑰花,將花枝剪下,直接插入土中,再把加侖壺倒扣在枝條上加以保護(hù)。
而我相信她的最愛其實(shí)是百合花。因?yàn)榛ㄆ灾须S處可見木質(zhì)的育苗箱,里面密密地種植著深綠色的百合花幼苗,除了一些圣母百合之外,很難辨認(rèn)出其余的幼苗是哪些品種。偶爾會(huì)有幼苗的種莢上系著紙簽,記錄著雜交的日期和過程,隨風(fēng)飄動(dòng),這說明她還是個(gè)業(yè)余的雜交育種者,對帶有香瓜色暖色調(diào)和淺檸檬黃色的百合花情有獨(dú)鐘。
她樂于與他人共享花園。在園外的人行道旁有一塊牌子,上面寫著:“歡迎光臨敝園。美景可盡情觀賞,卻切勿拈花摘葉?!?/p>
五年之前,她的花園還打理的井井有條,草坪肥料充足,平平整整,花圃里沒有雜草,高挑的百合花被細(xì)心地用木樁支撐。但接下來就發(fā)生了變故,我并不了解實(shí)情,但草坪沒有以往修剪的那么勤快,后來就干脆無人照看了。玫瑰、鐵線蓮和百合花的領(lǐng)地變得野草叢生。前院的榆樹生了病,最終枯死。沿海的颶風(fēng)襲來時(shí),吹落了一地枯枝,卻再也無人清理。年復(fù)一年,花園荒廢的更加厲害。野生的金銀花和南蛇藤在園內(nèi)肆意生長。漆樹,臭椿,毒葛和其它不請自來的植物讓所剩無幾但還在苦苦求生的百合花,鐵線蓮和玫瑰的處境變得更加岌岌可危。
到了去年,房子也人去樓空。前門緊鎖,窗戶也被幾塊膠合板封住。園外邀請陌生人來游園的牌子不知所蹤,取而代之的是“此房出售”的標(biāo)牌,一直掛了好幾個(gè)月。
我?guī)缀趺刻於家{車經(jīng)過那座房子,也曾想過要在后備箱里放把鐵锨,將車停在她家路邊,然后進(jìn)入花園,救出幾株被茂密的野草悶的喘不過來氣的百合花。但法律禁止侵入私人住宅,而且她的房子對面恰好是警察局,這讓我心生怯意,只得打了退堂鼓。但她的花園讓我想到死亡;園丁和他們培育的花園都很脆弱,受著時(shí)間的擺布,若是機(jī)緣不巧,只好花自飄零人自去。
上周,房前懸掛的售房告示被摘去,窗戶上釘?shù)陌遄右脖恍断?。來了一群油漆工人,還有人伐倒了枯死的榆樹。今天早上,一輛搬家貨車停在房前的私人車道上,卸下了一套秋千,一套燒烤架,一架大鋼琴,和一大堆實(shí)用的家具,足夠裝滿整個(gè)屋子。一個(gè)年輕的家庭正在遷入這所房子。
我希望這家人中能有位園丁,她對古典玫瑰,鐵線蓮和百合花情有獨(dú)鐘,可以拋開其它所有瑣事,先去整修花圃,直到它重新煥發(fā)幾分昔日的光彩。
(選自《范文:短文讀本》瑪麗?盧?康林著,霍頓米夫林出版公司,1983)
注釋:
1.艾倫?萊西于1935年生于美國達(dá)拉斯,精通園藝,曾先后任《華爾街日報(bào)》和《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的園藝專欄作家,出版過多部和園藝相關(guān)的文集。此外,他還擔(dān)任過新澤西州斯托克頓學(xué)院的哲學(xué)教授及榮譽(yù)教授。本文后來被教育專家瑪麗?盧?康林(Mary Lou Conlin)編入《范文:短文讀本》(Patterns: A Short Prose Reader)一書。該書專為指導(dǎo)美國大學(xué)低年級學(xué)生寫作而編寫,于1983年由霍頓米夫林(Houghton Mifflin)公司出版。
2.在建筑學(xué)中,排水坡度一般大于10%的屋頂叫做斜屋頂或坡屋頂(pitched roof)。其形式和坡度主要取決于建筑平面、結(jié)構(gòu)形式、屋面材料、氣候環(huán)境、風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣和建筑造型等因素。
3.花境(Flower border)起源于英國古老而傳統(tǒng)的私人別墅花園,是模擬自然界中林緣地帶各種野生花卉交錯(cuò)生長的狀態(tài),以宿根花卉、球根花卉及一二年生花卉為主,栽植在樹叢、綠籬、欄桿、綠地邊緣、道路兩旁及建筑物前,經(jīng)過藝術(shù)提煉而設(shè)計(jì)成寬窄不一的曲線式或直線式的自然式花帶,表現(xiàn)花卉自然散布生長的景觀。各種花卉高低錯(cuò)落排列、層次豐富,既表現(xiàn)了植物個(gè)體生長的自然美,又展示了植物自然組合的群體美,本文中的花境即由多年生草本植物組成。
4.此花名字源自歷史上著名的“玫瑰戰(zhàn)爭”(War of the Roses,1455年-1485年),是約克家族(House of York)和蘭開斯特家族(House of Lancaster)的支持者為了爭奪英格蘭王位而斷續(xù)發(fā)生的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。兩大家族都是金雀花王朝王室的分支,為英王愛德華三世的后裔。約克家族選擇白玫瑰作為族徽,而蘭開斯特家族的族徽為紅玫瑰。戰(zhàn)爭最終以蘭開斯特家族的亨利七世與約克的伊麗莎白聯(lián)姻而結(jié)束,為了紀(jì)念這次戰(zhàn)爭,英格蘭將玫瑰做為國花,并把皇室徽章改為白蕊紅玫瑰。
5.因其花型酷似西洋包心菜,故得名包心玫瑰;屬于園林玫瑰,為普羅旺斯玫瑰的變種。
理解·轉(zhuǎn)換·調(diào)整
——第六屆“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽參賽譯文評析
本屆大賽參賽人數(shù)又創(chuàng)新高,達(dá)到6179人。優(yōu)秀譯文的數(shù)量也隨之大增,這令組織者和評閱者既感欣慰又抱歉忱,因?yàn)橛性S多優(yōu)秀譯文難入獲獎(jiǎng)名單。唯愿參賽者都明白一個(gè)道理:獲獎(jiǎng)譯文肯定是參賽譯文中的優(yōu)秀譯文,但優(yōu)秀的譯文未必都能獲獎(jiǎng),正如諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)獲得者必定是偉大作家,但并非偉大的作家都能獲得該獎(jiǎng)。另外還希望大家明白,獲獎(jiǎng)固然可喜可賀,但參賽的真正價(jià)值還在于通過參賽使自己的翻譯能力得到提升。
為大賽提供參考譯文,于我已是第6個(gè)年頭。我每年都是在大賽截稿日之前提交拙譯,供初評老師參考并審查,所以從某種意義上說,參考譯文也是一份參賽譯文。鑒于此,今年的評析就調(diào)整一下角度,結(jié)合大家的參賽譯文來評析參考譯文,談?wù)勎曳g這篇散文時(shí)的一些思考,或者說向參賽者匯報(bào)參考譯文的翻譯過程。
有教科書把翻譯過程分為兩個(gè)步驟,即理解和表達(dá)【1】,而根據(jù)我自己的經(jīng)驗(yàn),我認(rèn)為翻譯過程往往還會(huì)有第三個(gè)步驟,即調(diào)整,所以我把翻譯過程分為理解、轉(zhuǎn)換、調(diào)整三個(gè)步驟,多年來上筆譯課也主要是用實(shí)例講解如何理解、如何轉(zhuǎn)換、必要時(shí)如何調(diào)整。三步驟之分應(yīng)該說符合翻譯的實(shí)際情況。上世紀(jì)末期,由30名美國頂尖學(xué)者組成的《新修訂版標(biāo)準(zhǔn)譯本圣經(jīng)》(New Revised Standard Version of Holy Bible, 1989)譯委會(huì)曾提出“盡可能直譯,必要時(shí)才意譯”(as literal as possible, only as free as necessary【2】)這個(gè)翻譯原則?!氨M可能直譯”(盡可能直接轉(zhuǎn)換)說明翻譯有時(shí)可在兩個(gè)步驟內(nèi)完成,如參考譯文將“I do not know what became of her, and I never learned her name.”直接轉(zhuǎn)換成“我并不知曉她當(dāng)時(shí)的境遇,也從未聽說過她的姓名?!薄!氨匾獣r(shí)才意譯”(必要時(shí)才調(diào)整)則說明翻譯有時(shí)的確需要進(jìn)入第三個(gè)步驟,如參考譯文把“A young family is moving into that house.”翻譯成“一對年輕夫妻正帶著孩子搬進(jìn)那幢房子。”;而較之原文,參考譯文第12段末句之用詞和意象均有調(diào)整。需要說明的是,對許多有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的譯者來說,理解、轉(zhuǎn)換和調(diào)整并非截然分開的三個(gè)步驟,有時(shí)理解中就包含了轉(zhuǎn)換,而有些調(diào)整則是在轉(zhuǎn)換的同時(shí)即已完成。
是直接轉(zhuǎn)換還是有所調(diào)整,這取決于譯者對原文的理解、譯者的審美傾向和文章風(fēng)格,以及譯者對譯文讀者閱讀審美習(xí)慣的判斷。我很可能同許多參賽者一樣,也是先從宏觀上理解原文,即先把原文從頭至尾細(xì)讀幾遍,體會(huì)原文的主題要旨,同時(shí)會(huì)忍不住去了解一下是何人寫出如此美文。我這番宏觀理解獲得的印象是:本屆大賽原文是一篇敘事為主、兼抒情懷的散文。作者是一位在哲學(xué)和園藝學(xué)方面都頗有造詣的資深學(xué)者、作家及翻譯家。原文樸素而不失清新,優(yōu)美而不乏深沉,描景狀物頗為細(xì)膩,視覺形象非常鮮明,起承轉(zhuǎn)合極其自然,抒懷感嘆與景交融,使讀者似乎也從那座躍然紙上的花園窺見了作者那位不知名的女鄰居,并從花園的盛衰和花木的枯榮感悟人生自然。但我此時(shí)獲得的印象還只是朦朦朧朧的基調(diào),或者說是這篇散文隱隱約約的旋律。要把這篇英語散文變成能與之相對應(yīng)的中文版,接下來就得為這段旋律“填詞”,即從微觀上理解原文——深究其遣詞造句,細(xì)品其文法文風(fēng),探悉其精理微言,并考證某些物名之實(shí)。對我而言,這番微觀理解一方面可明確原文首段那兩句話中的主句和從句為何用不同時(shí)態(tài),perennial border、rugosa rose和wooden flats到底是何所指等具體問題,另一方面則能使在宏觀理解時(shí)獲得的朦朧基調(diào)變得確定,隱約旋律變得清晰,從而知道“優(yōu)美而不乏深沉”的底蘊(yùn)從何而來。
以原文第12段末句為例,有人將句中的“...are fragile things, creatures of time, hostages to chance and to decay”直譯成“是脆弱之物,時(shí)間的傀儡、命運(yùn)與衰亡的人質(zhì)”或“是脆而不堅(jiān)的東西,時(shí)間的產(chǎn)物、機(jī)會(huì)和衰敗的抵押品”,也有人將其意譯成“都是不堪一擊的,是有始有終的生命體,都是要面臨興衰成敗的”或“是脆弱的生靈,受著時(shí)間的擺布,若是機(jī)緣不巧,只好花自飄零人自去”【3】。我認(rèn)為,這些譯者雖理解了原文的字詞意義,卻沒有把握住應(yīng)和這些字詞的韻調(diào)。我之所以這樣認(rèn)為,除了我自己對原文本身的理解之外,還因?yàn)槲抑雷髡甙瑐悺とR西不僅是一位園藝家,還是一名哲學(xué)教授;他對西班牙哲學(xué)家烏納穆諾頗有研究,深受烏納穆諾哲學(xué)思想的影響。碰巧的是,烏納穆諾那本《生命的悲劇意識(shí)》是我經(jīng)常翻閱并不時(shí)在課堂上提及的一本書,因此我不僅記得“哲學(xué)更接近于詩,而不是更接近于科學(xué)”【4】這句名言,甚至還能發(fā)現(xiàn)該書英文版中有句話與參賽原文第12段末句異曲同工,甚至剛好也用了fragile、creatures、time等字眼(of all creatures...what becomes of Me, of this poor fragile I, this I that is the slave of time and space)【5】。由此可見,烏納穆諾對萊西教授的影響還體現(xiàn)在語言文字方面,而我早年讀《生命的悲劇意識(shí)》時(shí),就隱隱覺得書中既有“草木無情,有時(shí)飄零”之悲懷,亦有“況修短隨化,終期于盡”之豁達(dá),所以我覺得,既然萊西教授像歐陽修和王羲之那樣借景抒情,表達(dá)對生死無常的感慨,那么這番感嘆的中文版也可以效仿幾分《秋聲賦》和《蘭亭序》的韻調(diào),于是便有了參考譯文:“然而,她那座花園總讓我想到物盛必衰,想到種花人及其營造的花園都像春草秋花,乃時(shí)間之造物,由時(shí)運(yùn)擺弄,易衰朽飄零?!?/p>
有參賽者把perennial border翻譯成“長青植物組成的樹籬”或“多年生植物組成的邊界”,或者把wooden flats翻譯成“木臺(tái)”“木板”,甚至“扁平的木質(zhì)物件”。對此評委老師都知其緣由,表面上看,這是因?yàn)檫@些參賽者手邊沒有堪用的英漢詞典,但真令人擔(dān)憂的原因是,許多青年譯者尚未認(rèn)識(shí)到“工欲善其事,必先利其器”之必要性。以我任教的學(xué)校為例,盡管我一再告誡學(xué)生,僅憑手機(jī)查單詞學(xué)不好翻譯,可愿意攜詞典來上翻譯課的學(xué)生仍越來越少。其實(shí)對上述物名,認(rèn)真查閱詞典通常都能解決問題。拿perennial border來說,欲知其所指,首先得明確border到底指什么,在《韋氏第三版新國際英語大詞典》(Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of English Language, 1976)中,border名詞詞條第3義項(xiàng)的解釋是“a strip of planted ground or of plants along or around the edge of a garden”;在《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 7th ed.)中,border名詞詞條第3義項(xiàng)的釋義是“(in a garden花園)a strip of soil which is planted with flowers along the edge of the grass(草坪邊等的)狹長花壇”,釋義后還指示參見所附彩圖第24頁;在陸谷孫教授主編的《英漢大詞典》中,border名詞詞條第3義項(xiàng)的釋義是“(沿花園、人行道等邊緣設(shè)置的)狹長花壇,狹長的綠化帶”,而且該義項(xiàng)還附有a perennial border這個(gè)詞條的釋義和譯例,其釋義為“栽種多年生植物的狹長花壇”。由此可見,perennial border中的border既非“樹籬”,亦非“邊界”,而是“狹長的花壇(花床、花臺(tái))”。若進(jìn)一步查閱包括Home Garden Journal【6】在內(nèi)的相關(guān)資料,我們還可得知,雖說perennial border的字面意思是“栽種多年生植物的狹長花壇”,而且英美人也一直用perennial border來指花園草坪邊的帶狀花壇,但這種花壇早已不局限于栽種多年生花卉,而通常還會(huì)間種些一年生和二年生花卉(but in addition utilizes groups of annuals and biennials)。換言之,perennial border這個(gè)能指中的perennial很多時(shí)候已失去了其字面意思。當(dāng)然,我們?nèi)匀豢梢园裵erennial border翻譯成“栽種多年生植物的狹長的花壇(花臺(tái)、花床)”,不過我認(rèn)為,在一篇講究行文格調(diào)和音韻節(jié)奏的散文中,翻譯成“條形花壇(花床、花臺(tái))”或“帶狀花壇(花床、花臺(tái))”更為適宜。另外,正確理解了perennial border,你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)perennial border就是原文下文中三次出現(xiàn)的flower bed。
當(dāng)然,對某些物名的翻譯,單憑查閱詞典還不能解決問題,譬如原文第6段第3句中的rugosa rose,一般詞典都沒收錄,而收有這個(gè)詞條的《英漢大詞典》又只將其解釋為“【植】玫瑰”,但在我們翻譯的這篇散文中,用“玫瑰”與“紅白玫瑰”“包心玫瑰”和“大馬士革玫瑰”并列,顯然不甚得體,有屬種不辨之嫌,因?yàn)閾?jù)原文語境,rugosa rose肯定也是玫瑰的某個(gè)品種?!俄f氏第三版新國際英語大詞典》說rugosa rose原產(chǎn)于日本,但我對此存疑,我經(jīng)常提醒學(xué)生記住奈達(dá)的一句話:“對于譯者,百科全書往往比詞典有用得多。”【7】據(jù)我查閱的各種百科資料,我確信rugosa rose原產(chǎn)于中國東北地區(qū),后傳入朝鮮、日本等地,韓語稱其為???(haedanghwa),日語稱其為ハマナシ(hamanasu),而此花的韓語漢字名“海棠花”(字面意思是flowers near seashore)和日語漢字名“濱梨”(字面意思是shore pear)也都暗示了此花是從中國經(jīng)海上傳入當(dāng)?shù)氐摹1泵烙?9世紀(jì)中期從日本以拉丁學(xué)名Rosa rugosa引入此花,于是便有了rugosa rose這個(gè)英語名。然而,想必也有些參賽者和我一樣,考證之后終于明確了rugosa rose之所指,但仍然覺得難以將其轉(zhuǎn)換成得體的中文,甚至?xí)駠?yán)復(fù)當(dāng)年那樣感嘆“索之中文,渺不可得,既有牽合,終嫌參差”【8】。的確,我們今天能一見science就想到科學(xué),一見economy就想到經(jīng)濟(jì),殊不知僅僅一百多年前,嚴(yán)復(fù)面對一個(gè)introduction就在“卮言、懸談、懸疏”之間旬月踟躕,最后才翻譯成“導(dǎo)言”。我們今天能有詞典可查,實(shí)乃前輩萬千次“旬月踟躕”的積累,但前輩的積累不可能無所不包,而且事物在不斷變化,認(rèn)識(shí)在不斷發(fā)展,概念也在隨之而更新。所以遇到rugosa rose這種在漢語中尚無定名的事物,譯者只能效法前輩譯家“自具衡量,即義定名”【9】。據(jù)我手邊的《拉英詞典》(Cassell’s Latin-English Dictionary, 1987),拉丁語形容詞rugosa(rugosus, rugosum)的意思是wrinkled;英文中有源自拉丁詞rugosa的形容詞rugose,意為“有皺紋的, 多皺紋的”;《大英百科全書》中介紹的一類珊瑚名為Rugosa(Rugosa corals),《簡明不列顛百科全書》(中國大百科全書出版社1986年版)將其翻譯成“皺壁珊瑚”。綜合以上考證并反復(fù)衡量,我最后把rugosa rose定名為“東亞皺瓣玫瑰”,于是便有了參考譯文:“她鐘愛舊時(shí)流行的品種——紅白玫瑰、包心玫瑰、大馬士革玫瑰,以及數(shù)種東亞皺瓣玫瑰?!痹诖苏f明一下,評委會(huì)在初評前就決定“不要求參賽譯文的譯名都這樣統(tǒng)一,只要得體即可”。實(shí)際上,只要譯文體現(xiàn)出了rugosa rose是玫瑰的一類,不管是翻譯成“東亞玫瑰”“皺葉玫瑰”“日本(野)玫瑰”,還是翻譯成“原產(chǎn)自中國不同品種的玫瑰”,我評閱時(shí)都有適當(dāng)加分。
有一千個(gè)譯者就有一千個(gè)哈姆萊特,對這句話我可能比許多人都體會(huì)得更深刻,因?yàn)榻塘?0年英漢翻譯,批閱過的作業(yè)和試卷至少也近萬份,但我還從沒見過兩篇一模一樣的譯文。就拿這次入圍百篇譯文的篇名來說,100個(gè)譯者譯出的篇名就有51種,從尚質(zhì)的《一個(gè)歡迎陌生人的花園》到好文的《芳園不拒陌客》,我相信每個(gè)譯者都認(rèn)為自己譯出的哈姆萊特最像哈姆萊特。我也認(rèn)為這些譯名大多都像哈姆萊特,因?yàn)檫@些不同的譯文中都包含了捷克翻譯學(xué)者波波維奇所說的原文的“不變內(nèi)核”(invariant core),英國學(xué)者巴斯內(nèi)特談到“不變內(nèi)核”時(shí)說:“轉(zhuǎn)換之差異或譯文之不同,均在于那些不會(huì)改變核心意義但卻能影響表達(dá)形式的變化”【10】,而我歷來認(rèn)為,這種“轉(zhuǎn)換之差異或譯文之不同”必然會(huì)產(chǎn)生,因?yàn)槊總€(gè)譯者的文學(xué)修養(yǎng)、語言水平、審美習(xí)慣、鑒賞水平和翻譯理念都不盡相同。其實(shí)我一見A Garden That Welcomes Strangers,腦子里首先想到的也是《一座歡迎陌生人的花園》,后來調(diào)整為《一座向陌生人敞開的花園》,是因?yàn)槲矣X得后者更能表現(xiàn)作者所關(guān)注的人類個(gè)體與整體的關(guān)系(篇末一個(gè)新家庭搬進(jìn)那幢老屋,就令我聯(lián)想到《舊約·傳道書》第1章第4節(jié)“一代過去,一代又來,地卻永遠(yuǎn)長存”)。同時(shí)我認(rèn)為,A Garden That Welcomes Strangers這個(gè)篇名的“內(nèi)核”是“Welcomes Strangers”,所以我覺得《祂的花園》《愛的花園》和《一個(gè)迎接未知的花園》等篇名值得商榷。
再簡單談?wù)勎覍all grass(第9段)和A young family(第13段)的轉(zhuǎn)換和調(diào)整。我開始也把tall grass譯成“高高的野草”,但隨后就意識(shí)到,此處的tall grass還不是花園長期荒廢后的“蓬蓬荒草”(第12段),只是草坪剛開始無人修剪時(shí)長高的草,所以覺得此處譯“野草”不妥,但譯“高高的草”過質(zhì),譯“萋萋芳草”太文,最后想到借用徐霞客筆下的“豐草芃芃”,于是便有了參考譯文“芃芃豐草侵入??”。和許多參賽者一樣,我看到A young family也想到“一個(gè)年輕的家庭”,但考慮到中國人把新婚燕爾的小兩口(a young couple)也稱為年輕家庭,而英語中的a young family不等于 a young couple,前者專指 a young couple with their child or children,所以便有了參考譯文“一對年輕夫妻正帶著孩子搬進(jìn)那幢房子”。最后我建議參賽者先把自己的譯文朗讀一遍,然后再朗讀一遍參考譯文(對比語氣之輕重、節(jié)奏之張弛、語言之清濁、措辭之分寸),這樣也許能從中領(lǐng)會(huì)到僅靠默讀難以領(lǐng)會(huì)到的東西。當(dāng)然,參考譯文僅供參考,參賽者從中獲得的不可能只是啟發(fā),還應(yīng)該有經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)。畢竟就像傅雷先生所說:“即使是最優(yōu)秀的譯文,其韻味較之原文仍不免過或不及。翻譯時(shí)只能盡量縮短這個(gè)距離,過則求其勿太過,不及則求其勿過于不及?!薄?1】 □
注釋:
【1】 參見郭著章等編《英漢互譯實(shí)用教程》(第四版),武漢大學(xué)出版社,2010年版,第59頁。
【2】 參見http://?!?】 本文所舉譯例均引自入圍最終評審的100篇參賽譯稿。
【4】 Miguel De Unamuno.The Tragic Sense of Life, Eng.trans.by J.E.Crawford Flitch.Dover: Dover Publications, Inc.1954, p.15.【5】 The Tragic Sense of Life, p.123.【6】 參見http://004km.cn/。
【7】 Eugene A.Nida.Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating.Shanghai: SFLE Press, 2001, p.286.【8】 參見嚴(yán)復(fù)《天演論·譯例言》,載《翻譯論集》,商務(wù)印書館,1984年版,第137頁。
【9】 同上。
【10】 Susan Bassnett.Translation Studies(3rd Edition).Shanghai: SFLE Press, 2010, p.33.【11】 參見傅雷《〈高老頭〉重譯本序》,載《翻譯論集》,商務(wù)印書館,1984年版,第559頁。