英譯現(xiàn)代散文●鴕鳥·孔雀·老鷹 ◎ 吳冠中

鴕鳥·孔雀·老鷹

Ostrich · Peacock · Eagle

◎　吳冠中

◎　Wu Guanzhong

鴕鳥

The Ostrich

鴕鳥蹣跚地走著，一身的肉真饞人，她之生似乎是為了供人食用。她沒有防衛(wèi)的手段，敵人來了就跑，跑得特別快。當跑不脫的緊急時刻，她將頭鉆進沙堆，她看不見敵人了，以為已安全，人笑這是鴕鳥心態(tài)。是鴕鳥學了阿Q，還是阿Q學了鴕鳥，無從考證，也不必考證了。

The ostrich hobbles with its tantalizing fleshy body. The bird seems destined to be human food. It has no self-defence means. In the face of an enemy, it just runs away, and that very quickly. At the critical moment when it is hard pressed, it buries its head in the sand, thinking itself safe simply because it can't see the enemy. People, therefore, refer to it in ridicule as ostrichism. It is impossible and also unnecessary to find out if Ah Q is the teacher of the ostrich or vice versa.

孔雀

The Peacock

孔雀陶醉在自己的美麗中，她施施然地散步，側目看行人，希望人們欣賞她的美，她估計人們都拜倒于她的艷麗。一個穿紅衣服的孩子走過來了，她怕是與她媲美的，于是趕緊張屏，并左右搖擺，使出渾身解數(shù)。開屏后確乎引來大群觀賞的人們，人們贊美，歡笑，她似乎全聽懂了歌頌的語言，自己十分開心。只一句，她永遠沒聽懂：你是一個可憐的女人。

The peacock is intoxicated with its own beauty. It struts around with a sidelong glance at the pedestrians, hoping that they will stop to view and admire itself and believing that all people will be infatuated with its gorgeousness. When a little kid in red happens to come near, the peacock, taking her for a potential strong rival, immediately erects and spreads out its tail feathers and sways now to the left and now to the right as best it can. That succeeds in attracting a large group of spectators. They marvel at its beauty and cheer. The big bird looks very happy with all the words of praise, which it seems to understand fully. Nevertheless, there is one sentence it can never understand, that is,“You're a miserable woman.”

老鷹

The Eagle

灰褐色的老鷹從未意識到打扮自己的羽毛，而且她總離人群遠遠的，常盤旋于高空，遠看她只是短短的線之一劃。她目力好敏銳，遙遠處一只奔跑的兔或鼠，一旦落入她的視線，她飛速降落，猛地一撲，便獲取了生命的糧食。她那如鉤的爪和嘴，令人恐懼，也令人欣賞，是強力之美，是尖銳之美，引無數(shù)畫家競折腰。

The grayish brown eagle never thinks of preening itself. It keeps off from man and often wheels high up in the sky, only to disappear way up like a flash. As soon as it spots a distant hare or rat on the run, the sharp-eyed bird will swoop down on its prey for life-sustaining food. Its hooked claws and beak are scary but admirable. They embody the beauty of strength and sharpness and have been the favorite theme of innumerable painters.

《鴕鳥·孔雀·老鷹》是中國當代著名畫家兼散文家吳冠中于2000年寫的一篇隨筆。