英語世界文摘:《浮生六記》英譯閱讀與討論（一）

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《浮生六記》英譯閱讀與討論（一）

文/劉士聰

沈復(fù)的《浮生六記》目前有三個譯本：

1. Six Chapters of A Floating Life（林語堂譯）

2. Six Records of a Floating Life（Translated by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui）

3. Chapters from a Floating Life（Translated by Shirley M. Black）

“閱讀與討論”文字，中文取自《浮生六記》（淮茗注釋，中州古籍出版社，鄭州，2010）；英譯文取自譯本3。

閱讀討論《浮生六記》譯文Chapters from a Floating Life，也讀原文，了解乾隆朝一個普通文人的家庭生活、夫妻的恩愛與不幸，以及他們的藝術(shù)審美情趣。我們驚嘆沈復(fù)古文修養(yǎng)之好，他的文字，不論是《閨房記樂》還是《坎坷記愁》，讓人感動，讓人同情。關(guān)于譯文，譯者在其譯文《前言》里有一段敘述：

In translating the memoirs I have tried first of all to recreate the subtle emotional atmosphere, at once tragic, passionate and gay, which is, in my opinion, the outstanding characteristic of Shen Fu’s original. I have also tried to be as meticulous as I could in expressing the exact meaning of the Chinese words, at the same time trying to approximate the feeling of the author’s own way of expressing himself. This is a rather difficult job with languages as different from one another as Chinese and English and I do not know that I have even partially succeeded.

這段文字對我們閱讀和理解她的譯文很重要，她有如下三種嘗試：第一，tried... to recreate the subtle emotional atmosphere； 第二，tried to be as meticulous as I could in expressing the exact meaning of the Chinese words；第三，trying to approximate the feeling of the author’s own way of expressing himself。閱讀譯文時應(yīng)想到譯者的這幾條意旨，在她的譯文里，我們常?？吹降牟皇亲衷~的對譯，而是對語義濃縮的文言進行解讀，用英語將其內(nèi)在含義說透，且行文自然流暢，少有翻譯腔。這種譯法考慮了譯文讀者，也展示了一個翻譯策略，我們不妨稱之為“釋義”翻譯。

在談到中國文論和中國古典哲學(xué)著作中的術(shù)語翻譯時，宇文所安說，“……其實沒有什么最佳的翻譯，只有好的解說。任何翻譯都對原文有所改變，而且，任何一種傳統(tǒng)的核心概念和術(shù)語的翻譯都存在這個問題；……”¹中國古典文學(xué)作品，也包括現(xiàn)當(dāng)代文學(xué)作品，有很多敘述和描寫的語匯，習(xí)慣上可能不叫“術(shù)語”，但它們的翻譯，宇文所安的“解說”思想也適用。Shirley M. Black在翻譯《浮生六記》時似乎就是這樣做的，請閱讀時留意。

如，在描寫陳蕓時有這樣的文字：

“其形削肩長頸，瘦不露骨，眉彎目秀，顧盼神飛，唯兩齒微露，似非佳相。一種纏綿之態(tài)，令人之意也消?！?

“顧盼神飛”一詞是這樣翻譯的：Her glance sparkled with intelligence and humour...

《紅樓夢》第三回描寫探春時也用了這個詞：

“第二個削肩細腰，長挑身材，鴨蛋臉兒，俊眼修眉，顧盼神飛，文彩精華，見之忘俗?！?

霍克斯²譯文：... large, expressive eyes shot out glances that sparkled with animation.

諸如這類詞語在英語里難找到對應(yīng)詞，翻譯只能對其進行解釋，隨譯者的理解，解釋的文字也不盡相同。

《浮生六記》譯文對原文有刪減，對情節(jié)有編排；細觀全文，偶爾有誤解和誤譯，翻譯這樣的文字，任何譯者都難免。

譯例1：

【原文】余生乾隆癸未冬十一月二十有二日，正值太平盛世，且在衣冠之家，居蘇州滄浪亭畔，天之厚我，可謂至矣。東坡云：“事如春夢了無痕?！逼埐挥浿P墨，未免有辜彼蒼之厚。

【譯文】I was born in 1763, at a time of peace and unusual prosperity, in the reign of the Emperor Ch’ien Lung, on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month, in the winter of the year of the sheep. Mine was a full-dress family, one of scholars and gentle-people, who lived near the gardens of the Ts’ang-lang Pavilion, in the city of Soochow.

The gods, I should say, have always been more than generous to me; but, as the poet Su Tung-p’o wrote:

‘Life is like a spring dream

which ends—and leaves no traces.’

By setting down this story of mine, then, I hope to show my gratitude for Heaven’s many favours. (p1)

【簡評】可就以上譯文思考下面幾個問題：

1. 譯文第一句語序的變化，譯者為什么選擇這樣譯；2“. 太平盛世”譯法；3.“ 事如春夢了無痕”譯文；4.“ 茍不記之筆墨，未免有辜彼蒼之厚”將意義否定的句子譯為肯定句。

譯例2：

【原文】……時但見滿室鮮衣，蕓獨通體素淡，僅新其鞋而已。見其繡制精巧，詢?yōu)榧鹤?，始知其慧心不僅在筆墨也?！颈尘埃呵∫椅矗?775）冬，蕓之“堂姐出閣，余又隨母往”，作者對所見蕓的裝束描述如下：】

【譯文】The house was gay, on this ceremonious occasion, with the rainbow-hued new robes of the family and the wedding guests. Yuen alone, looked her quiet, simple self, having added nothing to her everyday dress but a pair of bright new shoes. When I had admired the artistry of their embroidery and learned that she had made the shoes herself, I began to understand that Yuen was extremely capable and practical; that reading, writing, and composing poetry were only a few of her many accomplishments. (p5)

【簡評】譯者運用想象，描寫婚禮場景，“滿室鮮衣”，譯作家人和客人色彩鮮艷的新衣； gay（brightly colored） 和rainbow-hued（in different colors），是意義一致的兩個形容詞，意為“亮麗、多彩”；“蕓獨通體素淡”，譯文“Yuen alone, looked her quiet, simple self”，不只指蕓的穿著，更指她歷來以“素淡”為美，意義深一層?！肮P墨”，《現(xiàn)代漢語詞典》中解釋為“指文字或詩文書畫等”，譯者將其譯作“reading, writing, and composing poetry”，很符合原文所指，且具體、確切，譯文讀者好懂。

譯者充分挖掘原文內(nèi)涵，做符合原文的“解說”和“補償”，譯文不淺不薄，有血有肉有味道，考慮了讀者對譯文的期盼。

注釋：

1. 見《中國文論》導(dǎo)言，第15頁。

2. 指戴維·霍克斯（David Hawkes，1923—2009），著名漢學(xué)家，年輕時即翻譯《楚辭》（The Songs of the South），其著作A Little Primer of Tu Fu是頗具權(quán)威且廣為人知的唐詩翻譯作品，而他的譯作The Story of the Stone（《紅樓夢》）更是身為翻譯家的非凡成就，為了全心致力于此翻譯計劃，他于1971 年辭去牛津大學(xué)中文系系主任一職。