散文翻譯
發(fā)布時(shí)間:2017-02-07 來源: 散文精選 點(diǎn)擊:
散文翻譯篇一:怎么翻譯散文
大家學(xué)習(xí)張培基散文選有所幫助。
張培基《英譯中國現(xiàn)代散文選》要怎樣使用?
報(bào)考 研究生的英專同學(xué)都知道,張培基先生的《英譯中國現(xiàn)代散文選》在考研圈內(nèi)很受歡迎,很多同學(xué)都把這本書作為必讀教材,孜孜矻矻地研究,以求提高翻譯的水平。更有甚者,把書從頭到尾背下來,以求考試命中。雖然這種死記硬背的方法并不值得推介,但死記硬背也并非完全一無是處,一方面天上掉下餡餅,萬一砸中也并非不可能;另一方面背書也有好處,多少增加一點(diǎn)語感吧。
但今天要講的事情和死記硬背沒有關(guān)系,也不是鼓勵(lì)大家來背這本書,而是要說一點(diǎn)背道而馳的東西,這本書是不是值得用,要怎么用,為什么?因?yàn)槔戏蛞回灢皇呛苤鲝埌选渡⑽倪x》作為英語專業(yè)本科生的參考教材,更不主張把該書的翻譯方法在本科教學(xué)階段推廣,這一點(diǎn)培訓(xùn)班的同學(xué)都知道。因?yàn)樵摃淖g法在很大程度上不是很適合本科生,沒有一定的識別能力,沒有相當(dāng)?shù)姆g基礎(chǔ),初入門的學(xué)習(xí)者拿起該書來學(xué)習(xí),難免會(huì)出現(xiàn)一些誤區(qū),誤解,甚至誤入歧途。
所以今天就來談?wù)劇渡⑽倪x》要怎么用,尤其是對英語專業(yè)的本科生來說要怎么用,怎樣才能夠擇其善者而從之,其不善者而去之,揚(yáng)長避短,爭取對考研有最大的幫助。話說回來,世界上的每一本書都是有優(yōu)點(diǎn)也是有缺點(diǎn)的,《散文選》也不能夠例外,這一點(diǎn)不必諱言。 首先來談?wù)劇渡⑽倪x》的優(yōu)點(diǎn)。
這本書有什么優(yōu)點(diǎn)呢?有什么地方值得我們學(xué)習(xí)呢?就老夫看來,首先要學(xué)習(xí)的是對原文的理解。理解是翻譯的第一步,沒有正確的理解,翻譯勉為其難。尤其漢語的理解和英語的理解大相徑庭。一般來說,我們中國人閱讀英語時(shí),理解更多是對詞匯的理解,對文化的理解,以及字面邏輯關(guān)系的理解。而我們往往受限于詞匯的不足,文化的缺失,以及對西文邏輯關(guān)系的不適宜,而在理解方面大費(fèi)周章,難得到位。但是,另一方面,如果我們詞匯認(rèn)識,文化上沒有誤讀,邏輯關(guān)系理清,那么理解就容易很多,翻譯也就走好了第一步。
但是,漢語的理解不一樣。中國人在閱讀漢語時(shí)一般不會(huì)有單詞不認(rèn)識,不會(huì)有文化缺失,語言邏輯在很多時(shí)候也是沒有問題的。但是,另一方面,漢語在邏輯關(guān)系上對于語境的依賴遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于英語對于語境的依賴,也就是說,語境對于漢語的重要性是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過英語的。漢語一個(gè)單詞的真實(shí)意義往往更多地在上下文中尋得,而英語雖然也受語境影響,但語境影響的度遠(yuǎn)不及漢語。這就是為什么漢語對語境的依賴性異常重要的原因所在。那么《散文選》對漢語的理解如何呢?老夫認(rèn)為是很到位的,理解得很到位,翻譯得很到位,很有參考價(jià)值。現(xiàn)舉一例,《幼年魯迅》的第一段第一句:
在家里,領(lǐng)著幼年魯迅的是保姆長媽媽。她是一個(gè)淳樸的農(nóng)村婦女。最初大約是一個(gè)生活在農(nóng)村里的年輕的孤孀,死掉了丈夫和喪失了土地之后,就從農(nóng)村來到城里謀生。她的姓名,當(dāng)時(shí)是沒有人知道的,魯迅的祖母叫她“阿長”,因此人們也就跟著叫她“阿長”,但孩子們卻叫她“長媽媽”。
那么“在家里,領(lǐng)著幼年魯迅的是保姆長媽媽”要怎么理解呢?尤其是“在家里”要怎么理解呢?是在魯迅的家里,還是在魯迅奶奶的家里,還是別的什么人的家里?
其實(shí),這里的“在家里”理解為字面上的“在家里”是很不合適的,而是另有意思。那么又是什么意思呢?《散文選》在翻譯時(shí)把“在家里”省略去。確實(shí),這種理解是很到位的。也就是說這句話只要理解為“很小的時(shí)候,照看魯迅的是長媽媽”就可以,“在家里”不必譯出來。相反,按照字面來理解,“在家里”真的成了“在家里”了,也就是at home之類,那么這句話還說得過去嗎。顯然,是說不過去的,為什么呢?
我們都知道,民國的時(shí)候,或者更早的清末的時(shí)候,有錢人家請的保姆并不只是在家里領(lǐng)著孩子,如果主人外出,那么保姆也是要跟著孩子出行的,保姆與孩子是形影不離的,并不只限于在家里。所以,“在家里”照著字面理解是很有問題的,把其本來意義給縮小了。英語是一個(gè)很較真的語言,如果你翻譯成at home,那么別人就會(huì)認(rèn)為,長媽媽只有在家里才帶著幼年魯迅,外出就不一定了。但實(shí)際情況并不是這樣,長媽媽與魯迅應(yīng)該是形影不離的,這是保姆的職責(zé)。
那么,為什么漢語可以說成是“在家里”呢?因?yàn)闈h語不是一種較真的語言,你可以字面上這么說,但不一定非得照著字面來理解。漢語的字面意義和深層意義是不一定對等的,或者說有時(shí)候?qū)Φ,但很多情況下不對等。如果你想知道漢語的真實(shí)意義,你就不能夠只看她的字面表達(dá),而要看她的深層表達(dá),深層表達(dá)才是她的邏輯表達(dá),而這種邏輯表達(dá)更多是受上下文語境控制的,語境決定了漢語的真實(shí)意義。
為什么漢語的真實(shí)意義不一定在字面上呢?而更多受制于語境呢?這是因?yàn)闈h語缺少邏輯符號,以致意義的表達(dá)不是很確定,模糊,很多時(shí)候我們都要從宏觀的層面,也就是從語境來判斷一個(gè)單詞、短語或者句子到底是什么意思。如果不能夠從宏觀層面來判斷,只看一個(gè)詞,一個(gè)短語,或者一個(gè)句子,我們的判斷往往失之于瞎子摸象,得其一隅而失其全貌了。 但英語不一樣。英語是有很多邏輯符號的,每一個(gè)單詞、短語和句子的意義都比較確定,因?yàn)檫壿嫹柊阉鼈兊囊饬x都限定得比較死,不可以有很多彈性。比方說,“去”這個(gè)單詞,在任何情況下,“去”在漢語里都只有一種寫法,不會(huì)有詞形的任何變化,但英語里的go是有很多種詞形變化的,goes,going, gone, went。正是這些詞形變化,或者說go打上了邏輯標(biāo)志,所以就變得很嚴(yán)謹(jǐn),不容易產(chǎn)生誤解,所以就較真,所以就字面意義和深層意義對等。但漢語從來就不是這樣一種較真的語言。在漢語里,字面所指與真實(shí)所指是不一定對等的,真實(shí)的意義往往潛藏在語境中,上下文中,要仔細(xì)推敲才能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)。我們常說的聽話聽音就是這個(gè)道理。
《散文選》把“在家里”省略,符合語境的要求,達(dá)到了深層理解的目的,翻譯的效果很好。 從《散文選》的整體來看,理解是做得很不錯(cuò)的,值得大家學(xué)習(xí),希望大家在看《散文選》時(shí)要多看這方面的工作,大力提高自己的理解能力。
其次,我們可以部分地學(xué)習(xí)《散文選》的措詞。這里之所以說只是部分地學(xué)習(xí),是因?yàn)椤渡⑽倪x》的措詞有時(shí)候是不錯(cuò)的,但也有的時(shí)候是有問題的。這就是一個(gè)矛盾,我們怎么知道什么時(shí)候是不錯(cuò)的,什么時(shí)候又是有錯(cuò)的呢?這就要靠自己來判斷了,比方說《母親的回憶》第一句:
得到母親去世的消息,我很悲痛。我愛我母親,特別是她勤勞一生,很多事情是值得我永遠(yuǎn)回憶的。
這句話里的“很多事情是值得我永遠(yuǎn)回憶的”要怎么翻譯呢?《散文選》是這樣翻譯的:
A great many things will forever be cherished in my memory.
這里翻譯得比較好的是cherish這個(gè)單詞。該單詞的本義為珍藏,珍視,用在這里很合適,以表達(dá)對母親的尊重和愛戴。但為什么原文里明明是“值得我永遠(yuǎn)回憶的”,到譯文里就變成了will forever be cherished in mymemory呢?這里有一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)換,把“值得”省略,而加進(jìn)cherish。而問題的關(guān)鍵是,這種轉(zhuǎn)換讓人并不覺得不適,并不覺得與原文大相徑庭,并不覺得離題萬里,這就是cherish的巧妙之處。
但另一方面,cherish是怎么想起來的呢?怎么從“值得”聯(lián)想到的呢?其中有什么思維的張力呢?也許這種思維的張力就是我們所說的語感。而語感是說不清,道不明的,完全是一種感悟性的東西,或者說是一種語言的功力。當(dāng)你的功力達(dá)到一定程度之后,你就可以自然而然地想起那些栩栩如生、精彩絕倫的措詞來,當(dāng)然,如果你的功力不足,那么你就怎么想也想不起來。
在措詞方面,《散文選》有好的一面,但也有不好的一面,也許在老夫看來好與不好都是那樣的醒目,下面以《母親的回憶》第二段的一個(gè)句子來說明。
世代為地主耕種,家境是貧苦的,和我們來往的朋友也都是老老實(shí)實(shí)的貧苦農(nóng)民。 這個(gè)句子中的“耕種”要怎么理解呢?《散文選》的理解是till land,這句話他是這樣翻譯的:
From generation to generation, they tilled land for landlord only to eke out a bare subsistence. People who associated with them as friends were likewise honest impoverished peasants.
till land從字面上來說,應(yīng)該是耕地的意思。但文章中的“耕種”是不是和“耕地”是一個(gè)意思呢?客觀說,耕種的意義比耕地更廣,耕地包含在耕種中。所以,這里的耕種最好翻譯為do farm work,“做農(nóng)活”。根據(jù)上下文以及常識,我們應(yīng)該知道,農(nóng)民給地主家做工不一定只是耕地,應(yīng)該還包括其他農(nóng)活,比方說播種、收割、曬谷子、入倉等等。所有這些農(nóng)活都是農(nóng)民做的,所以這里的耕種最好理解為做農(nóng)活,而不要理解為耕地,否則理解的面就太窄了。當(dāng)然,這里的措辭不僅僅是一個(gè)措詞的問題,也是一個(gè)理解的問題,措詞和理解不是可以完全分開的。
理解和措辭是我們可以從《散文選》譯文集里學(xué)習(xí)的東西,雖然不足依然存在,但總體來說,還是值得學(xué)習(xí)的地方多,有問題的地方少。
下面來談?wù)劇渡⑽倪x》的缺點(diǎn):
首先要指出的是《散文選》在處理句子結(jié)構(gòu)時(shí)問題尤多,很多地方都與原文的文氣不相符,以致原文的神韻變成譯文之后有很多有疑問的地方。尤其是《散文選》在造句時(shí)往往把一些不該斷開的句子斷開,以致文氣打斷,阻隔,不暢,這是《散文選》最為不可接受的地方之
一。文氣代表著一個(gè)句子的風(fēng)格與特點(diǎn),與漢語流水句的句式結(jié)構(gòu)息息相關(guān),不能夠隨便打斷。而一旦打斷,往往句子面目全非,風(fēng)格迥異。
至于《散文選》改變句子的結(jié)構(gòu)和內(nèi)容,離開原文來做翻譯,那更是我們初學(xué)翻譯的人要極力避開的。初學(xué)翻譯的人一般語言能力不是很強(qiáng),對漢語的把握不是很到位,更遑論英語。英語也就是半瓶子水,或者連半瓶子水,三分之一,四分之一瓶子水斗沒有。讓我們打亂原文的語言結(jié)構(gòu)來重新組織語言,我們有那樣的能力嗎?而原文的結(jié)構(gòu)一旦被打亂,原文的邏輯關(guān)系被改變,那么我們還能夠入細(xì)入微地把原文的神韻表達(dá)出來嗎?
其實(shí),所謂神韻,即使扣原文也是做起來很費(fèi)勁的,更不要說不扣原文。但《散文選》在這方面走得有點(diǎn)過頭,它不顧原文的譯法在學(xué)生中產(chǎn)生了很不好的影響,以致剛?cè)腴T的新手看到這樣的譯文,以為翻譯就是可以這樣不顧原文的,以為翻譯就是和寫作一樣,可以無限度地創(chuàng)造的。但其實(shí),翻譯和寫作是兩碼事。寫作好的人有很好的翻譯基礎(chǔ),但不一定能夠把翻譯做好,如果他不能夠遵循一些基本的翻譯原則,比方說扣原文,那么翻譯十有八九要失敗。下面就舉幾個(gè)例子來分析,首先談?wù)剶嗑涞膯栴},還是以《母親的回憶》為例。
得到母親去世的消息,我很悲痛。我愛我母親,特別是她勤勞一生,很多事情是值得我永遠(yuǎn)回憶的。
《散文選》是這樣翻譯的:
I was deeply grieved to learn of mother’s death. I love my mother. Of her
hardworking life, in particular, a great many things will forever be cherished in my memory.
我們細(xì)讀原文就可以發(fā)現(xiàn),漢語是一步一步地遞進(jìn)的,從“我愛母親”,到“特別是她勤勞的一生”,到“很多事情是值得我永遠(yuǎn)回憶的”,對母親的懷念情感是一步步加深的,中間沒有打斷。
但《散文選》翻譯成英語之后,這種連貫性有沒有被打斷呢?顯然是打斷了的,斷點(diǎn)就在I love my mother之后。Of her hardworking life另起一句,和前文的語氣沒有連貫起來,這就是原文神韻的損失。而神韻也是翻譯的一部分,我們強(qiáng)調(diào)在翻譯的時(shí)候不僅僅要把內(nèi)容翻譯出來,也要把原文的神韻翻譯出來,但《散文選》沒有這樣做。那么,怎樣翻譯才能夠把文氣連接起來呢:
I was deeply grieved to learn of mother’s passing. I love my mother, especially her hardworking life. Many of her stories deserve my everlasting memory.
我們發(fā)現(xiàn),這樣翻譯,原文的語氣就連貫起來了,原文的神韻更加完整地保留下來了,步步遞進(jìn),一氣呵成,是扣原文的翻譯,但可惜《散文選》沒有保留原文的文氣,而是把它打斷,另起一句,于是句子的神韻就改變了。
再看《母親的回憶》另外一句,第四段第三句:
全家二十多口人,婦女們輪班煮飯,輪到就煮一年。
這里講的是婦女們做飯的事情,也是一步步遞進(jìn),一步步強(qiáng)調(diào)。那么,《散文選》是怎樣翻譯的呢?
In our household of more than twenty members, all women would take turns to do cooking for one year.
這句譯文和原文有什么不對應(yīng)的地方呢?語氣上不對應(yīng),原文強(qiáng)調(diào)了“輪到就煮一年”。這是一種強(qiáng)調(diào),不能夠忽略,如果忽略,就是一種微妙的損失。但《散文選》沒有看出來這種強(qiáng)調(diào),而是把它給忽略了,只在do cooking之后加一個(gè)forone year,這樣的翻譯不合原文。那么,更好的譯法應(yīng)該是怎樣的呢?就是把原文微妙的強(qiáng)調(diào)嚴(yán)絲合縫地翻譯出來:
Of the twenty odd family members, all the women took turns to do cooking, each for one year.
最后的each forone year是獨(dú)立結(jié)構(gòu),是絕大部分中國學(xué)生不喜歡用的結(jié)構(gòu),而培訓(xùn)班最強(qiáng)調(diào)用的結(jié)構(gòu)之一。這里用獨(dú)立結(jié)構(gòu)來表達(dá),繼承了原文對“輪到就煮一年”的強(qiáng)調(diào),保留了原文的形式與風(fēng)格,是形式與神韻的雙璧。
但可惜《散文選》在這方面做得很不夠,它似乎很少講究原文與譯文在形式上的保持一致。雖然我們不可能在每一個(gè)句子上都保持原文與譯文一致,但為什么不在可能的情況下保持一致呢?“信、達(dá)、雅”的信難道不包括形式上的“信”嗎?原文形式的傳遞難道不是翻譯的一部分嗎?而這里形式上的信并不只是形式上的一個(gè)問題,更有微妙的強(qiáng)調(diào)包含其中,《散文選》是有意忽略還是無意錯(cuò)過呢?這是一個(gè)問題。
以上是斷句和結(jié)構(gòu)的問題,下面談?wù)劜豢墼牡膯栴},以《母親的回憶》第二段第一句為例:
我家是佃農(nóng),祖籍廣東韶關(guān)籍人,在“湖廣填四川” 時(shí)遷移四川儀隴縣馬鞍場。 《散文選》的譯文是:
I come from a tenant farmer’s family. My original family home was Shao Guan, Guangdong Province, into which my ancestors had moved from another
province as settlers. During the mass migration of peasants from Huguang to Sichuan Province,my ancestors moved to Ma An Chang, Yi Long County,
Sichuan.
第一個(gè)問題是,原文只有短短的一段話,干脆利落地把自己的家庭情況說清楚了,但《散文選》翻譯成英語之后,就變成很長一段話,有啰嗦的嫌疑,我們初學(xué)翻譯的同學(xué)看了這段譯文,會(huì)不會(huì)迷惑呢?能不能把它和原文對應(yīng)起來呢?事實(shí)上,譯文不僅意義上有增加,而且語氣上,表達(dá)上也完全和原文沒有了對應(yīng),很不扣原文。
散文翻譯篇二:散文翻譯
我的樹林
E. M. 福斯特(1879-1970)
幾年前我寫了一本書,部分內(nèi)容談到英國人在印度所遭的困境。美國人覺得自己若在印度不會(huì)如此窘迫,讀該書時(shí)便無拘無束,他們越讀越自在,其結(jié)果是讓該書的作者賺取一張支票。我用這支票買下一片樹林,林子不大,幾乎沒有什么樹,還有一條該死的公共小道從中橫穿而過。但這是我擁有的第一份財(cái)產(chǎn),因而如果別人和我一樣感到遺憾,那是很正常的事。他們因恐怖而生變的語調(diào),會(huì)對自己提出這樣一個(gè)重要問題:財(cái)產(chǎn)對人的性格產(chǎn)生怎樣的影響?我們這里不涉及經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué),私人財(cái)產(chǎn)對整個(gè)社區(qū)的影響完全是另外一個(gè)問題------也許是個(gè)更重要的問題,我們只從心理方面進(jìn)行探討,你所擁有的東西會(huì)對你產(chǎn)生什么影響?我的樹林又對我產(chǎn)生什么影響呢?
首先,它讓我感到有負(fù)擔(dān)。財(cái)產(chǎn)確實(shí)能起到這一作用。給人負(fù)擔(dān)從而讓人進(jìn)不了天國。《圣經(jīng)》中那個(gè)不幸的百萬富翁并不壞,只是胖而已,他大腹便便,屁股渾圓,在水晶門內(nèi)東挪西插想擠進(jìn)去,肥嘟嘟的身體兩側(cè)被擠得到處青腫,卻看見他的下方,一只較瘦的駱駝穿過針眼,織進(jìn)了上帝的袍子。《新約》的四部福音書全把胖子與遲緩連在一起,指出了一個(gè)明顯卻被人忽略的事實(shí),那就是擁有太多的東西必然會(huì)造就行動(dòng)不便。有家具就需要撣灰塵,撣灰塵需要仆人,有仆人就得給他買保險(xiǎn)。這些事交織在一起,使你在接受赴宴邀請或如約前往約旦河沐浴之前,不得不三思而行了。有關(guān)財(cái)產(chǎn)問題福音書中有些地方還有更深入的闡述,其觀點(diǎn)與托爾斯泰相似,即財(cái)產(chǎn)是罪惡的。這里面涉及的苦行主義令人費(fèi)解,對此我不敢茍同。但說到財(cái)產(chǎn)對人的直接影響,他們確實(shí)一語中的,財(cái)產(chǎn)讓人笨重。根據(jù)定義,笨重的人不可能像閃電一樣,迅速地從東移到西。一位體重14石的大主教登越講壇,和基督的到來肯定形成鮮明對比。我的樹林讓我感到負(fù)擔(dān)沉重。
其次,它老讓我惦記著這片樹林要是再大些就好了。
一天,我聽到樹林里傳來細(xì)枝折斷的聲音,這使我很不高興。心想,一定是有人在采黑莓,弄壞了灌木叢。待走近一看,發(fā)現(xiàn)不是人踩斷了樹枝,是一只鳥,我高興極了。哈,我的鳥!可那鳥似乎并不高興,毫不顧及我與它的關(guān)系,一見我的臉孔,頓受驚嚇,飛過樹籬,停在一塊田地上,驚恐地叫著。那塊田是亨尼
西太太的領(lǐng)地,鳥轉(zhuǎn)眼成了亨尼西太太的鳥了。這可真是大問題,我的林子要是再大一點(diǎn)哪會(huì)有這等問題?我沒錢買下亨尼西太太的田地,又不敢殺了她。這局限讓我煩透了。亞哈本并不喜歡那個(gè)葡萄園----他是需要它使自己的財(cái)產(chǎn)更完整,用它設(shè)計(jì)出一個(gè)新的地形曲線。我想使自己的林子更完整,因此,林子周圍的土地對我便是必不可少了。邊界可以保護(hù)樹林的完整,可是可憐的邊界本身也需要保護(hù)。我常聽到林子邊界附近傳來吵鬧聲,還有小孩扔石頭。邊界向外擴(kuò)一點(diǎn),再擴(kuò)一點(diǎn),直至擴(kuò)到海邊?伺囟嗫鞓罚啔v山大更快樂!最后我甚至要抱怨,世界怎么成了財(cái)產(chǎn)的限制?我多么希望帶有英國國旗的火箭可以發(fā)往月球、火星、天狼星和其他星星。然而,無邊無際的想象終以我的悲哀而告終。我的樹林不可能成為宇宙疆域的中心,它范圍太小,除了黑莓,又沒有其他礦產(chǎn)。亨尼西太太家的鳥在第二次受驚后,自管自地飛掉了,但那絲毫沒有給我什么慰籍。
第三,財(cái)產(chǎn)讓擁有者總想應(yīng)該對其做些什么,但卻不知該做什么,他們?yōu)榻乖昵榫w所控,只是模糊地意識到,自己有某種個(gè)性需要表達(dá)出來。而這種意識----當(dāng)然需要是清醒的意識而不是模糊的意識----正是藝術(shù)家的創(chuàng)造源泉。我有時(shí)想砍掉樹林里還留著的樹,有時(shí)又想在樹林空處栽上些樹。其沖動(dòng)皆出于虛榮無聊,并非掙錢或?yàn)槊阑h(huán)境。這些沖動(dòng)全源于我愚蠢的自我表現(xiàn)欲,源于我不知如何享受財(cái)產(chǎn)的無能。創(chuàng)造、財(cái)產(chǎn)、享受,這三者在人的頭腦中形成邪惡的三位一體。創(chuàng)造和享受都很好,但沒有一個(gè)物質(zhì)基礎(chǔ),均無從獲得。這時(shí),財(cái)產(chǎn)伺機(jī)擠入以圖取代:“讓我來吧,我一個(gè)就夠了,我可以一個(gè)頂三!逼鋵(shí)并不是這樣,它正像莎士比亞談到貪欲時(shí)指出的,是“生氣消耗在恥辱的浪費(fèi)之中”,它“事前給個(gè)樂兒;事后,只是一場夢”。但是我們卻無法躲避財(cái)產(chǎn)。我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)制度迫使我們必須擁有財(cái)產(chǎn),否則我們就有可能餓死。心靈的某種內(nèi)在缺陷,也逼迫我們占有財(cái)產(chǎn)。我們總以為財(cái)產(chǎn)可以幫助促進(jìn)自我發(fā)展,培養(yǎng)優(yōu)雅和英雄行為。世間的生活是物質(zhì)的和世俗的,也應(yīng)該如此。問題是我們還沒有學(xué)會(huì)恰當(dāng)?shù)靥幚磉@種物質(zhì)性和世俗性,它們依然與占有欲糾纏在一起,但丁對此的描述是,“占有,是伴隨著損失的占有。”
寫到這兒,我們該談?wù)劦谒狞c(diǎn),也就是最后一點(diǎn)了,即黑莓問題。
小樹林里的黑莓不算多,但從那條橫穿樹林的小道上很容易看到,也就更好
采集了。還有毛地黃,常有人在林子里拔毛地黃。一些好為人師的女士,甚至刨地采毒菌,好在星期一拿到班上示人。另一些教養(yǎng)不佳,倚在男友的懷里,把地上的歐洲蕨弄得一塌糊涂。林子里到處散落著廢紙和罐頭盒。天哪,這小樹林屬于我嗎?如果是我的,我是不是應(yīng)該不讓他人進(jìn)入,才算是更完整地?fù)碛袠淞?萊姆里吉斯附近有個(gè)樹林也有一條公共通道,可它的主人在這點(diǎn)上毫不含糊,他在小道兩旁壘起高高的石墻,石墻上架了若干小橋。這樣,眾人如白蟻般在小道上來回穿行時(shí),主人在林子里大嚼黑霉沒人看見。他這才是真正擁有了自己的林子,這個(gè)能干的家伙!《圣經(jīng)》里的那個(gè)財(cái)主在地獄里表現(xiàn)挺好,那里,肉眼能穿過分隔他與拉撒路的鴻溝,看到另一邊的一切。但在這樹林里,什么也甭想穿透這兩堵石墻。我也應(yīng)該壘墻圍柵,品嘗真正擁有財(cái)產(chǎn)的甜蜜。肥碩臃腫、貪欲無度、假充創(chuàng)新、極度自私,我要編織一頂由這四物組成的“擁有”花冠戴在頭上,直到那些討厭的布爾什維克們來拿掉我的帽子,把我扔到外面的黑暗之中。
我的小樹林是E.M福斯特的作品,收錄于阿賓哲收獲集中,于1926年首次出版(1936年,1996年重新由Andre Deutsch公司出版)。
英國作家E.M福斯特,當(dāng)今最著名的小說是《霍華德的結(jié)束》和《印度之行》,寫過幾部小說,兩個(gè)傳記,一本書的書評,寫過許多散文和短篇小說。這篇散文“我的小樹林,”在1926年首次出版,鼓勵(lì)我們思考唯物主義的本質(zhì)和財(cái)富的誘人力量。試比較福斯特的所有權(quán)思想和亨利·凡·戴克在他的文章“誰擁有此山?”中所表達(dá)的所有權(quán)思想。
原文:
My Wood
by E. M. Forster (1879-1970)
A few years ago I wrote a book which dealt in part with the difficulties of the English in India. Feeling that they would have had no difficulties in India themselves, the Americans read the book freely. The more they read it the better it made them feel, and a check to the author was the result. I bought a wood with the check. It is not a large wood--it contains scarcely any trees, and it is intersected, blast it, by a public foot-path. Still, it is the first property that I have owned, so it is right that other people should participate in my shame, and should ask themselves, in accents that will vary in horror, this very important question: What is the effect of property upon the character? Don't let's touch economics; the effect of private ownership upon the community as a whole is another question--a more important question, perhaps, but another one. Let's keep to psychology. If you own things, what's their effect on you? What's the effect on me of my wood?
In the first place, it makes me feel heavy. Property does have this effect. Property produces men of weight, and it was a man of weight who failed to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. He was not wicked, that unfortunate millionaire in the parable, he was only stout; he stuck out in front, not to mention behind, and as he wedged himself this way and that in the crystalline entrance and bruised his well-fed flanks, he saw beneath him a comparatively slim camel passing through the eye of a needle and being woven into the robe of God. The Gospels all through couple stoutness and slowness. They point out what is perfectly obvious, yet seldom realized: that if you have a lot of things you cannot move about a lot, that furniture requires dusting, dusters require servants, servants require insurance stamps, and the whole tangle of them makes you think twice before you accept an invitation to dinner or go for a bathe in the Jordan. Sometimes the Gospels proceed further and say with Tolstoy that property is sinful; they approach the difficult ground of asceticism here, where I cannot follow them. But as to the immediate effects of property on people, they just show straightforward logic. It produces men of weight. Men of weight cannot, by definition, move like the lightning from the East unto the West, and the ascent of a fourteen-stone bishop into a pulpit is thus the exact antithesis of the coming of the Son of Man. My wood makes me feel heavy.
In the second place, it makes me feel it ought to be larger.
The other day I heard a twig snap in it. I as annoyed at first, for I thought that someone was blackberrying, and depreciating the value of the undergrowth. On coming nearer, I saw it was not a man who had trodden on the twig and snapped it, but a bird, and I felt pleased. My bird. The bird was not equally pleased. Ignoring the relation between us, it took flight as soon as it saw the shape of my face, and flew straight over the boundary hedge into a field, the property of Mrs. Henessy, where it sat down with a loud squawk. It had become Mrs. Henessy's bird. Something seemed grossly amiss here, something that would not have occurred had the wood been larger. I could not afford to buy Mrs. Henessy out, I dared not murder her, and limitations of this sort beset me on every side. Ahab did not want that
vineyard--he only needed it to round off his property, preparatory to plotting a new
curve--and all the land around my wood has become necessary to me in order to round off the wood. A boundary protects. But--poor little thing--the boundary ought in its turn to be
protected. Noises on the edge of it. Children throw stones. A little more, and then a little more, until we reach the sea. Happy Canute! Happier Alexander! And after all, why should even the world be the limit of possession? A rocket containing a Union Jack, will, it is hoped, be shortly fired at the moon. Mars. Sirius. Beyond which . . . But these immensities ended by saddening me. I could not suppose that my wood was the destined nucleus of universal dominion--it is so small and contains no mineral wealth beyond the blackberries. Nor was I comforted when Mrs. Henessy's bird took alarm for the second time and flew clean away from us all, under the belief that it belonged to itself.
In the third place, property makes its owner feel that he ought to do something to it. Yet he isn't sure what. A restlessness comes over him, a vague sense that he has a personality to express--the same sense which, without any vagueness, leads the artist to an act of creation. Sometimes I think I will cut down such trees as remain in the wood, at other times I want to fill up the gaps between them with new trees. Both impulses are pretentious and empty. They are not honest movements towards moneymaking or beauty. They spring from a foolish desire to express myself and from an inability to enjoy what I have got. Creation, property, enjoyment form a sinister trinity in the human mind. Creation and enjoyment are both very, very good, yet they are often unattainable without a material basis, and at such moments property pushes itself in as a substitute, saying, "Accept me instead--I'm good enough for all three." It is not enough. It is, as Shakespeare said of lust, "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame": it is "Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream." Yet we don't know how to shun it. It is forced on us by our economic system as the alternative to starvation. It is also forced on us by an internal defect in the soul, by the feeling that in property may lie the germs of self-development and of exquisite or heroic deeds. Our life on earth is, and ought to be, material and carnal. But we have not yet learned to manage our materialism and carnality properly; they are still entangled with the desire for ownership, where (in the words of Dante "Possession is one with loss."
And this brings us to our fourth and final point: the blackberries.
Blackberries are not plentiful in this meager grove, but they are easily seen from the public footpath which traverses it, and all too easily gathered. Foxgloves, too--people will pull up the foxgloves, and ladies of an educational tendency even grub for toadstools to show them on the Monday in class. Other ladies, less educated, roll down the bracken in the arms of their gentlemen friends. There is paper, there are tins. Pray, does my wood belong to me or
doesn't it? And, if it does, should I not own it best by allowing no one else to walk there? There is a wood near Lyme Regis, also cursed by a public footpath, where the owner has not
hesitated on this point. He has built high stone walls each side of the path, and has spanned it by bridges, so that the public circulate like termites while he gorges on the blackberries unseen. He really does own his wood, this able chap. Dives in Hell did pretty well, but the gulf dividing him from Lazarus shall come to this in time. I shall wall in and fence out until I really taste the sweets of property. Enormously stout, endlessly avaricious, pseudo-creative,
散文翻譯篇三:散文翻譯
實(shí)用文體翻譯之八 散文翻譯
匆匆 (朱自清)
燕子去了,有再來的時(shí)候;楊柳枯了,有再青的時(shí)候;桃花謝了,有再開的時(shí)候。但是,聰明的,你告訴我,我們的日子為什么一去不復(fù)返呢?——是有人偷了他們吧:那是誰?又藏在何處呢?是他們自己逃走了吧:現(xiàn)在又到了哪里呢?
我不知道他們給了我多少日子;但我的手確乎是漸漸空虛了。在默默里算著,八千多日子已經(jīng)從我手中溜去;像針尖上一滴水滴在大海里,我的日子滴在時(shí)間的流里,沒有聲音,也沒有影子。我不禁汗涔涔而淚潸潸了。
去的盡管去了,來的盡管來著;去來的中間,又怎樣地匆匆呢?早上我起來的時(shí)候,小屋里射進(jìn)兩三方斜斜的太陽。太陽他有腳啊,輕輕悄悄地挪移了;我也茫茫然跟著旋轉(zhuǎn)。于是——洗手的時(shí)候,日子從水盆里過去;吃飯的時(shí)候,日子從飯碗里過去;默默時(shí),便從凝然的雙眼前過去。我覺察他去的匆匆了,伸出手遮挽時(shí),他又從遮挽著的手邊過去,天黑時(shí),我躺在床上,他便(轉(zhuǎn) 載 于:smilezhuce.com 蒲 公英文 摘:散文翻譯)伶伶俐俐地從我身上跨過,從我腳邊飛去了。等我睜開眼和太陽再見,這算又溜走了一日。我掩著面嘆息。但是新來的日子的影兒又開始在嘆息里閃過了。
在逃去如飛的日子里,在千門萬戶的世界里的我能做些什么呢?只有徘徊罷了,只有匆匆罷了;在八千多日的匆匆里,除徘徊外,又剩些什么呢?過去的日子如輕煙,被微風(fēng)吹散了,如薄霧,被初陽蒸融了;我留著些什么痕跡呢?我何曾留著像游絲樣的痕跡呢?我赤裸裸來到這世界,轉(zhuǎn)眼間也將赤裸裸的回去罷?但不能平的,為什么偏要白白走這一遭啊?
你聰明的,告訴我,我們的日子為什么一去不復(fù)返呢?
參考答案
Rush (translated by Zhu Chunshen)
Swallows may have gone, but there is a time of return; willow trees may have died back, but there is a time of regreening; peach blossoms may have fallen, but they will bloom again. Now, you the wise, tell me, why should our days leave us, never to return? If they had been stolen by someone, who could it be? Where could he hide them? If they had made the escape themselves, then where could they stay at the moment?
I don't know how many days I have been given to spend, but I do feel my hands are getting empty. Taking stock silently, I find that more than eight thousand days have already slid away from me. Like a drop of water from the point of a needle disappearing into the ocean, my days are dripping into the stream of time, soundless, traceless. Already sweat is starting on my forehead, and tears welling up in my eyes.
Those that have gone have gone for good, those to come keep coming; yet in between, how swift is the shift, in such a rush? When I get up in the morning, the slanting sun marks its presence in my small room in two or three oblongs. The sun has feet, look, he is treading on, lightly and furtively; and I am caught, blankly, in his revolution. Thus--the day flows away through the sink when I wash my hands, wears off in the bowl when I eat my meal, and passes away before my day-dreaming gaze as reflect in silence. I can feel his haste now, so I reach out my hands to hold him back, but he keeps flowing past my withholding hands. In the evening, as I lie in bed, he strides over my body, glides past my feet, in his agile way. The moment I open my eyes and meet the sun again, one whole day has gone. I bury my face in my hands and heave a sigh. But the new day begins to flash past in the sigh.
What can I do, in this bustling world, with my days flying in their escape? Nothing but to hesitate, to rush. What have I been doing in that eight- thousand-day rush, apart from hesitating? Those bygone days have been dispersed as smoke by a light wind, or evaporated as mist by the morning sun. What traces have I left behind me? Have I ever left behind any gossamer traces at all? I have come to the world, stark naked; am I to go back, in a blink, in the same stark nakedness? It is not fair though: why should I have made such a trip for nothing!
You the wise, tell me, why should our days leave us, never to return?
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