(我十分珍视这项工作,因为生活就应该是这样的——生活就是劝导别人。我们是交际的动物。我们也是劝导的动物。这并不是什么不道德的事。) Work is the way life is going to be. 这句话堪称格言,却是一个普通人说出来的,我相信,这也是他的肺腑之言。叙述就是要说出自己的心里话,因为只有心里话才能真正被人接受,被人相信,我想这也是叙述的真谛。Hunter教授戏称自己为persuadable animal,可能他已经把自己的职业看成本性使然了。 在Working这本书里,人们都是敞开心胸在叙述,没有任何羞涩和腼腆,也没有任何自夸和隐瞒,不是哗众取宠,也没有躲躲闪闪,因为他们说的是自己的事,所以他们的叙述才会被美国的老百姓喜爱。 我觉得,说自己的事是最容易的,所以,说英语最好从说自己开始。不必怕说错,说错话用错词是常有的事,婴儿从呀呀学语开始,不知道说过多少错话,用错过多少词,可是最终还是学会了说话。学说英语也是一样。就连地道的美国人,在叙述的时候也免不了说错,何况中国人说英语呢? 当然,英语的基本功是必不可缺少的,这包括正确的语音语调,丰富的词汇,比较全面的语法知识,必要的英美概况和文化背景,还有广泛的阅读,良好的听力和理解能力。基本功不扎实,自然就不敢开口。还有很重要的一点,就是要有与别人交流的欲望。我喜欢和人们交谈,遇到有美国朋友来看我,我们总是一边喝咖啡,一边海阔天空地神聊。说不明白就写,写不明白再说。这样用英语和朋友交谈真的是件快乐的事。 叙述,就是把心里想的都说出来,有时候我真希望能和我的美国朋友们在一起,竹筒倒豆子,痛痛快快地用英语聊天,这样聊一段时间,说不定将来也能写一本像Working那样的书呢。 对了,在Working这本书中,美国人对自己工作的热爱超乎我的想象。一位面包房的经理Stepkin说: Work is an essential part of being alive. It tells you who you are. It’s gotten so abstract. People don’t work for the sake of working. They’re working for a car, a new house, or a vacation. It’s not the work itself that’s important to them. There’s such a joy in doing work well. (人活着,工作是基本的需要。工作告诉你,你是谁。这样说起来是很抽象的。人不是为工作而工作。他们是为了汽车、新房子,或者度假而工作的。工作本身对他们并不重要,而工作做得好,就有这么一种快乐。) 有人问Stepkin: When people ask you what you do, what do you say? (如果有人问你,你是干什么的,你会说什么呢?) 他说,I make bread. (Laughs.) (我做面包。)(笑声) 这会儿我在想,要是有人这样问我,我会说: I also make bread, but my bread is not for eating, but for reading. (我也做面包,不过我的面包不是吃的,而是读的。)小米勒的故事 The Story of Little Milo 小米勒的故事 我曾经翻译过一部有趣的美国小说,书名叫《小米勒旅行记》,作者是美国人诺顿·加斯特(Norton Juster)。这是一本儿童文学作品,它出版后很多成年人也都很喜欢。诺顿·加斯特是一位想象力非常丰富的作家,虽然这是他上个世纪六十年代出版的作品,但今天读起来仍然让人觉得新鲜,它不像《哈里·波特》(Harry Potter)的故事有太多的魔幻色彩,而是让语言在故事中闪烁光芒,翻译每一章几乎都能让我感到英语的奇妙。 当然,要想把这本小说翻译得准确又漂亮却是很困难的。也许我们翻译任何文学作品都会有各种各样的困惑。比如,我们已经读懂了这个故事,也理解了作者的意图,甚至清楚地知道了作者要表达的一切,可是拿起笔进行翻译时却又不得不一次次地停顿下来,为了找到正确而富有表现力的汉语对应原文的句子耗尽心力。有人说,翻译一本书总会比创作一本书容易,但是我相信,每一位认真翻译过文学作品的人都会有这样的感慨——要把另一种文学语言变成自己的母语作品,翻译家的精神劳动与原创作者的劳动是一样艰苦的。除了具备深厚的语言素养,还要不厌其烦地查阅词典和资料,来弥补民族和文化背景上的差异。 《小米勒旅行记》的英文原名是The Phantom Tollbooth。这种Tollbooth 有点像高速公路上的收费站,只不过它是无人值守的,过往的车辆只要往投币机里投几枚硬币,就可以在公路上行驶了。不过,这个故事不是讲公路收费站的,而是讲一个小男孩儿的历险记。 小米勒原来是一个不爱动脑子,整天无所事事,不知道怎么打发时光的小男孩儿,他对周围生活中的什么事都不感兴趣,他说,“我没有一件想做的事,也没有一个想去的地方,在生活中连值得我看一眼的东西都没有。”在家里他就想到学校去,可到了学校又想回家。有一天,小米勒回到家里,忽然看见他房间的角落里有一个大包裹,上面附着一个天蓝色的信封,上面写着——To Milo who has enough time.小米勒第一次好奇而激动地打开了包裹,原来是一辆汽车和一个公路收费亭,还有一张地图,于是,他开始了一次奇特的旅行。 我被书中的故事深深吸引了,有一种童年时读书的快乐,但是翻译这本书时却不断遇到障碍,我常常要为一个句子,一段话,甚至一个词琢磨好几天。比如有一个地方,我已经记不清翻译和修改过多少遍了: 有一天,小米勒来到一个叫沉睡之地的地方,那里有很多各种颜色的瞌睡虫,它们有的趴在他肩上,有的趴在他的鞋上,这些瞌睡虫总是在睡觉,有的刚对小米勒说完一句话就睡着了。看着那些瞌睡虫,小米勒忍不住咯咯地笑起来。 别笑了!小米勒忽然听见一个瞌睡虫说,在这里笑是犯法的! 小米勒就问它们: Well, if you cant laugh or think, what can you do? (在这里不许笑也不许想,你们能做什么呢?) 有一个瞌睡虫说: Anything as long as its nothing, and everything as long as it isnt anything. (在这儿无所事事就是做了一切,一无所成就是成绩辉煌。) 它们接着说: Theres lots to do,we have a very busy schedule—— (要做的事情多着呢,我们有一张安排得很紧的日程表——) At 8 oclock we get up, and then we spend (八点钟起床后我们这样安排,) From 8 to 9 daydreaming. (八点至九点做一场白日梦) From 9 to 9:30 we take our early midmorning nap. (九点至九点半我们迷糊一会儿) From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay. (九点半至十点半我们闲混打发时间) From 10:30 to 11:30 we take our late early morning nap. (十点半至十一点半我们打个小盹儿) From ll:00 to 12:00 we bide our time and then eat lunch. (十一半至十二点我们等着吃午饭) From l:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter. (一点到两点我们闲逛游荡) From 2:00 to 2:30 we take our early afternoon nap. (两点到两点半我们睡一小觉) From 2:30 to 3:30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today. (两点半到三点我们把今天的事情推到明天) From 3:30 to 4:00 we take our early late afternoon nap. (三点半四点我们睡一会儿) From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner. (四点到五点我们等着吃晚饭) From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally. (六点到七点我们消磨时光) From 7:00 to 8:00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we waste time. (七点到八点我们睡个预备觉,然后捱到九点上床睡觉) As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating, and if we stopped to think or laugh, we’d never get nothing done. (你看,我们几乎没有功夫去想事儿,去埋头苦干,去耽搁时间,如果我们停下来去想去笑,我们就永远什么事也做不成。) You mean youd never get anything done, corrected Milo. (其实你们什么事也不做。小米勒纠正它说。) We dont want to get anything done, snapped another angrily,we want to get nothing done, and we can do that without your help. (我们什么事也不想做。另一个瞌睡虫怒气冲冲地打断他,我们什么也不做,不用你管。) You see, continued another in a more conciliatory tone, its really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us? (你看,有一个像劝架似的接着说,我们一天到晚没事可做已经够紧张的了,所以,我们每个星期都放一天假,到一个不存在的地方去。你来的时候我们正要到那儿去呢。你愿意和我们一起去吗?) 翻译了这一段话,我真觉得作者了不起,他这样描绘了一群滑稽的懒虫。可是这一段话看着简单,却很难翻译。比如这段话里有好几个nap,要是都翻译成打瞌睡,译文读起来就会很乏味,比如说: early midmorning nap late early morning nap early afternoon nap early late afternoon nap early evening nap 这样的短语从字面看,很难找到对应的中文。于是我就把好几个nap 分别翻译成了“迷糊一会儿”,“打个小盹儿”,“睡一小觉”,“睡一会儿”,“睡个预备觉”……这样既表现了瞌睡虫的特点,又照顾了上下文的衔接,读起来也比较顺畅。还有,wed never get nothing done和youd never get anything done这两个句子,看起来相似,其实却有根本的差别,我分别把它们译成了: 我们什么事也做不成。 你们什么事也不做。 什么事也做不成,这是瞌睡虫为自己找借口,而小米勒却用“其实你们什么事也不做”揭穿了它们的懒惰,难怪瞌睡虫要生气了。 在这本小说里经常出现像nothing, nowhere这样的词语,如果照词典上的释义翻译成“没有什么,没有东西,任何地方都不”,不但生硬,而且也表达不了人物的情态、语气,所以只能根据上下文的联系来翻译。比如,把go nowhere翻译成“到一个不存在的地方去”,也许这正是作者的幽默感。另外,in a more conciliatory tone这个短语,如果直译,就不太符合儿童文学的特点,所以我把它译成了“像劝架似的”。 《小米勒旅行记》里有一章是描写声音的,在翻译这本书以前,我曾以为英语的象声词不如汉语的丰富,可是看了小米勒遇到一位“噪音医生”(Doctor of dissonance )的故事,我改变了原来的看法。 “噪音医生”叫狄斯乔德,他有一辆专门制造噪音的货车,那里面像个实验室,桌上和架子上的一大堆瓶瓶罐罐里盛满了各种各样的噪音,比如: roar(咆哮声) bellow(呼啸声) screech(尖叫声) bump(扑通一声) crash (轰隆一声) cry(哭喊声) bang(突然巨响) bong(当当声) smash(碰撞声) swish(嗖嗖声) swoosh(哗哗的流动声) snap(劈啪声) crackle(爆裂声) whistle(汽笛声) gong(铜锣声) squeak(吱吱的叫声) squawk(咯咯的叫声) …… 其实,还远远不止这些。 在我的翻译笔记里,还保存着狄斯乔德医生和小米勒的一段有趣的描写: He began to jump around the wagon, snatching bottles from the shelves until he had a large assortment in various colors and sizes collected at one end of the table. All were neatly labeled: Loud Cries, Soft Cries, Bangs, Bongs, Smashes, Crashes, Swishes, Swooshes, Snaps and Crackles, Whistles and Gongs, Squeaks, Squawks, and Miscellaneous Uproar. After pouring a little of each into a large glass beaker, he stirred the mixture thoroughly with a wooden spoon, watching intently as it smoked and steamed and boiled and bubbled. (他(狄斯乔德医生)开始在货车里跳来跳去,从架子上拿下一些瓶子,然后把各种颜色、大小不同的瓶子都堆在桌子的一边,每个瓶子上都整齐地贴着标签:高声叫喊、轻声哭泣、砰砰、当当、轰隆、砰啪、嗖嗖、哗哗、噼啪、瞿瞿、嘘嘘、咚咚、轧轧、呜呜,以及各种混杂的噪音。他把每个瓶子里的东西往一个大玻璃烧杯里倒了一点,然后用一把木匙子把混合液彻底搅匀,全神贯注地看着它冒烟,冒汽,沸腾,冒泡。) 啊,你能想象得到吗?狄斯乔德医生要让小米勒把那杯液体喝下去,那会是一种什么结果呢? 小米勒在他的旅行中,结识了很多朋友,也遇到了各种各样的人物和怪物,翻译他们的名字也很有意思。 小米勒最亲密的朋友是一只叫咔答的钟狗,小米勒和咔答刚认识的时候,咔答对小米勒说,我相信,这一路上我们一定会成为好朋友的。你可以叫我咔答。可是小米勒却疑惑地说,你整天地滴答滴答的响,却叫“咔答”,这可太奇怪了。想不到咔答却伤心起来,他抽抽嗒嗒地说,我哥哥出生的时候,我父母给他取的名字叫滴答,可是他身上的闹钟一上发条,却发出了咔答咔答的声音,我父母狂奔到登记处去改名字,可是已经太晚了,滴答的名字已经正式注册,不能改了。咔答说,我哥哥叫滴答,是因为它咔答咔答地走,我叫咔答,是因为我滴答滴答地走。 后来,一个小读者给我写信说,看到这儿,他都笑弯了腰。 书里还有一个叫Canby的人,他神通广大,无所不能,我根据读音把他翻译成“坎比”,可后来想想,觉得还是应该译成“万能人”,不过这个名字对他也许又不合适,因为他居然不知道自己是谁,他曾经问小米勒: Can you tell me who I am? (你能告诉我我是谁吗?) 他不是装不知道,而是真的不知道。所以,他不是万能人。 当小米勒说, You must be Canby. (你一定是坎比。) 他居然还说: Of course. Yes, of course, but why I haven’t thought of it? (当然,我当然是坎比,可我怎么没想到呢?) 还有,Humbug这个名字的翻译也让人费脑筋。Humbug其实是一只大甲虫,英语里bug的意思就是甲虫,臭虫,humbug还有骗子的意思。可是,为了让它有一点人性化的味道,我就把它音译成“哈姆巴格”,这也因为哈姆巴格常常表现出一种绅士风度,它戴着礼帽,拄着手杖,说话有时也很斯文,俨然是一位绅士。所以叫他哈姆巴格先生也许更有意思。 书里还有两位美丽的公主,Princess of Pure Reason和Princess of Sweet Rhyme,我把她们分别译成“真理公主”和“音韵公主”,虽然从字面上看,pure和sweet 没有翻译出来,但是“真理”和“音韵”这两个词已经充分地表达了pure和sweet的意义,如果硬要加上“纯洁”和“甜蜜”这两个字,反而觉得累赘,也不符合少年儿童的阅读特点。我觉得,在儿童文学作品中,一定要把那些拟人化的“人物”的名字翻译好,让人们觉得亲切,可爱,就像自己的朋友一样。 在翻译《小米勒旅行记》的时候,经常会遇到双关语或者谐音词,这是最让人感到困惑的。比如,小米勒和大脏鸟的一段对话就很难译: 小米勒,哈姆巴格和咔答在途中遇到了一只邋遢的大脏鸟,大脏鸟站在一块岩石上,看上去就像一个脏地板拖。它有一个尖利的嘴巴,还用一只恶毒的眼睛紧紧地向下盯着小米勒他们。 I can hardly see a thing, said Milo, taking hold of Tocks tail as a sticky mist engulfed the moon. Perhaps we should wait until morning. Theyll be mourning for you soon enough, came a reply from directly above, and this was followed by a hideous cackling laugh very much like someone choking on a fishbone. (我简直什么也看不见啊。小米勒说。他紧紧地抓着咔答的尾巴,好像有一片浓密的云吞没了月亮。也许我们得捱到早晨再走。 他们很快就要来为你们哀悼啦。这时,从头顶上传来一个声音,接着是让人恐怖的“咯咯”的笑声,好像有人卡了鱼骨头打嗝一样。) I dont think you understand, said Milo timidly as the watchdog growled a warning. Were looking for a place to spend the night. Its not yours to spend, the bird shrieked again, and followed it with the same horrible laugh. That doesnt make any sense, you see… he started to explain. Dollars or cents, its still not yours to spend, the bird replied haughtily. (我以为你听不懂我的话呢。小米勒胆怯地说,我们想找一个地方过夜。咔答也“汪汪”地吠叫着警告。 这儿没有地方给你们过夜。大脏鸟又尖叫起来,接着又发出恐怖的笑声。 你这样是没有道理的,你知道——小米勒开始解释。 白天和黑夜,都不是你们过的。大脏鸟傲慢地回答。) But I didnt mean… insisted Milo. Of course youre mean, interrupted the bird, closing the eye that had been open and opening the one that had been closed. Anyone whod spend a night that doesnt belong to him is very mean. Well, I thought that by… he tried again desperately. Thats a different story, interjected the bird a bit more amiably. If you want to buy, Im sure I can arrange to sell, but with what youre doing youll probably end up in a cell anyway. (可我不是……小米勒坚持说。 当然是你的不是。大脏鸟打断他的话,它闭上那只一直睁着的眼睛,睁开那只一直闭着的眼睛。谁要是想过一个不属于他的夜就是他的不是。 哦,我们是想去那个——小米勒又绝望地说。 那个地方不是你们去的。大脏鸟稍微和蔼一点地突然插进来说。如果你们想去,我肯定可以放你们走,可是你们也许只能走到死胡同里去。) That doesnt seem right, said Milo helplessly, for, with the bird taking everything the wrong way, he hardly knew what he was saying. Agreed, said the bird, with a sharp click of his beak, but neither is it left, although if I were you I would have left a long time ago. Let me try once more, he said in an effort to explain. In other words… You mean you have other words? Cried the bird happily. Well, by all means, use them. Youre certainly not doing very well with the ones you have now. (那可不行。小米勒无可奈何地说,因为大脏鸟把一切都搞错了,它根本不知道他说的是什么。 不行也得行。大脏鸟的尖嘴巴“咯嗒”了一声。假如我是你的话,我早就行了。 我再来试一次吧。小米勒鼓起勇气解释。换句话说—— 你说你要换句话?大脏鸟得意地叫道。好吧,不管怎么样,那就换换吧。你现有的那些词你肯定是没用好。) morning和mourning,是两个同音词,但是意义却不同。大脏鸟总是故意打岔,混淆这两个词的概念,这就给翻译出了难题,因为morning (早晨)和mourning(哀悼)在这里无法翻译出对应的中文,我就把“捱到”和“哀悼”译成对应的词,尽量体现谐音的趣味性。 另一个类似的难题是,大脏鸟故意把spend的“度过”、“花费”这两个意思混淆起来,它把spend the night(过夜)故意打岔说成spend dollars and cents (花钱)。在这里我没有照字面意思译,而是把dollars and cents 翻译成了“白天和黑夜”,这样,就把小米勒说的“找个地方过夜”过渡到大脏鸟的“白天和黑夜,都不是你们过的”,让上下文合理地衔接起来。 接着,小米勒说“But I didnt mean——”,大脏鸟又打岔说,“Of course youre mean”,小米勒说的mean是“我是说,我的意思是”,而大脏鸟的mean却是“卑鄙的”,“不善良的”,两个mean 当然是南辕北辙,为了上下文的衔接,我把它们分别翻译成“我的意思不是——”和“当然是你的不是……”,这样就显出了大脏鸟的恶意,又让双方的对话顺利进行下去,而不显得别扭。 还有对话里的同音词by(经过)和buy(买),sell(出售)和cell(胡同、牢房),双关语right(正确、右边)和 left(离开、左边),in other words (换句话说)和have other words(还有别的话),等等。遇到这样的词语,最重要的就是反复比较各种译法,尽可能地体现作者的智慧,又让读者清楚地了解文句的真正含义。 小米勒在漫长的旅途中经历了种种艰难和险境,他开始懂得了生活的丰富多彩,知道世界上有美丽和善良,也有正义和邪恶,光明和黑暗。最后,在空中城堡里的两位公主指引下,他终于认识到了学习知识、热爱生活的重要性,再也不是一个整天睁着眼睛,无所事事,只会浪费时光的“瞌睡虫”,而是一个愿意学习,了解世界的勤奋少年。 It has been a long trip, said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; but we would have been here much sooner if I hadnt made so many mistakes. Im afraid its all my fault. You must never feel badly about making mistakes, explained Reason quietly. As long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons. (这是一次漫长的旅行。小米勒说着,爬上公主们坐的长睡椅。要是我们不做那么多错事,就会更快一点到这儿来。我想,这都是我不好。 只要你不辞辛劳去探索,你就绝不会因为犯错误而沮丧。真理公主平静地解释说。你因为想做好事而犯错误,比你因为错误的理由而侥幸成功,总是有益得多。) But theres so much to learn, he said, with a thoughtful frown. You may not see it now, said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milos puzzled face, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, even if in the tiniest way. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever youre sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And its much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer. (要学的东西太多了。小米勒若有所思地皱起眉头说。 你现在也许还不明白。真理公主看看小米勒疑惑的脸,她说:我们无论学习什么都要有目的;不论做什么都要对每一件事、每一个人负责,即使是最小的事也一样。你微笑的时候欢乐就像池塘中的波纹一样散开;而你忧愁的时候,别人也不会真正快乐。学习知识也一样。每当你学会一点新的东西,整个世界就会变得富有一点。) And remember, also, added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday youll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow. (还要记住。音韵公主接着说,有很多你喜欢看到的地方地图上是没有的,很多你想知道的东西是看不见的,或者是你所不能及的。但是有一天你也许会遇到它们,因为你今天学会的东西,完全可能在明天帮助你发现更多令人惊奇的秘密。) 从这以后,小米勒觉得天空那么蓝,那么可爱,一片片白云就像一艘艘扬帆远航的小船;树梢高高地耸入天空,嫩芽和树叶绿葱葱的……他想去散步,去爬山,去看小毛虫一拱一拱地在花园里蠕动……他觉得有那么多有趣的书要读,有那么多东西要去发明,去创造。他想演奏音乐,想唱歌,还要幻想世界……他渴望着一切新的东西——它们都值得去探索,去尝试…… 啊,小米勒真的变了!看来,小米勒这次艰险的旅行不仅没有浪费时间,还充满了乐趣,也很有创意。我多么希望我的翻译能让更多的小朋友像小米勒一样,走出家门去认识世界,感受自然,体验天空的高远,大地的辽阔,海洋的深邃,浏览五彩缤纷的颜色,聆听天地的奏鸣,让自己的眼界与胸怀和大自然一样广阔无垠…… 我亲爱的莫多克 My Dear Modoc 我亲爱的莫多克 Modoc——The True Story of the Greatest Elephant Ever Lived (《莫多克——一头大象的真实故事》)是我和我先生翻译的一部长篇小说。在我翻译过的文学作品中,这是最让我激动和感动的一部,也是倾注了最多心血的。翻译和写作不一样,写作是出于自己的内心,是作者本人的感情宣泄和思想表达,也是作者洞察力和创造力的表现。而翻译要面对的却是一个外在的对象——一个译者几乎完全陌生的对象。要进行翻译,译者就要深入这个对象的内心世界,去揣摩、透视、模仿,再现原著的情境和人物情感,有时甚至还要再创作。所以,在一百个译者的笔下,就会有一百个莎士比亚。 作为原著的作者,每个人都有自己的内心世界,都有自己的情感经历,欢乐和痛苦,甚至还有生离死别,刻骨铭心的记忆,这些情感和经历被他们用自己的民族语言文字表达出来,其中承载的信息是非常丰富的,它会有原著者独特的、或是别人难以知晓的文化背景,还有和我们迥异的哲学理念和艺术观……这都是译者在翻译过程中必然要思考和理解的。 在翻译过程中还会遇到各种各样的创作手法,标新立异似乎是时代的一股潮流,反映在文学作品中,就是形形色色的各种主义,比如超现实主义(super realism),魔幻现实主义(magic realism),结构现实主义(structural realism)、神秘主义(mysticism)等等,此外,是否能准确地表现出原著者极具个性化的写作技巧、情境和人物情感,也是译者在翻译中需要认真对待的。 我见过一些喜欢英语翻译的人,他们都有一个梦想,希望有一天也能像翻译家一样出版一本大部头译著。有的人急于求成,就寄希望于一些计算机翻译软件,认为有了这样的软件就能很快实现成为文学翻译家的愿望,可是,当他们用软件一行一行或是一页一页地把英文译成中文的时候却发现,那是一堆毫无感情色彩的文字,有些句子甚至是非常滑稽可笑的——是的,计算机永远不可能代替人脑所有的情感和智慧。 我一直认为,翻译是一种精神的创造,它把一种文字抒发的情感、人生理想用另一种文字再现出来。翻译是探究原著者的灵魂,这种灵魂(soul)是在一种文化的浸润下产生的,要用另一种语言再现出来却是非常困难的。其实,翻译一部作品并不比创作一部作品轻松,因为翻译涉及的文化精神是多样的。有一些翻译作品读起来没有原文精彩,我想就是因为译者没有把握原著者的创作灵魂,丢失了最重要的东西——能够在不同民族的读者中间引起共鸣的一种情感。 Modoc——The True Story of the Greatest Elephant Ever Lived 是一部多文化背景(multi-cultural background)的长篇小说,它叙述的故事非常曲折,充满了温馨缠绵的情意和血与火的激烈冲突,它的叙事方式也十分独特。从书名上看,Modoc的主人公似乎就是一头大象,其实,它是一头大象和一个人的故事。在作者的笔下,母象莫多克(Modoc)和男孩儿布拉姆(Bram)同一天出生在德国一个小镇上的马戏团里,他们一起度过了童年无忧无虑、天真烂漫的时光,又随着生活的变故一起经受了痛苦的折磨。他们在一次次意想不到的生与死的搏斗中奇迹般地生还,就像一对忠贞不渝的情人,形影不离,生死相依。他们随马戏团到世界各地演出,莫多克精湛的演技赢得了人们的赞誉和尊敬,在纽约人们称她是金色大象。 在书中,风格截然不同的生活画面和文化场景不断地转换,从那个马戏小镇(circus village)的牲口棚(barn),到印度洋(the Indian Ocean)上与惊涛骇浪进行的生死搏斗,从印度神秘的宗教氛围中让人迷离恍惚,似真似幻的情景,到缅甸(Burma)的深山密林里短暂的爱情和遭遇的激烈战斗,还有在美国的繁华都市纽约演出的盛况……这一切对我们翻译这本书都是新鲜的,也是困难的。 《莫多克》的作者Ralph Helfer(拉尔夫·赫尔菲)创作理念和技巧(creative ideal and technique)极富个性,他曾是好莱坞知名的动物行为学家,他在书中对人与动物之间的情感作了深入的刻画。人们拿起这本书一定会感到奇怪,一头大象和一个人之间是怎么进行情感交流的呢?是什么维系着他们七十年的情感直到生命的终结呢?而我想的是,我们能不能准确地翻译和表述人与大象之间的“语言”。在进行翻译之前,我读原著,一连读了好几遍,终于找到了这个故事的灵魂——也就是莫多克和布拉姆之间与生俱来的深厚情感,它是连接这两个灵魂的纽带。书中有这样一段描写: The two babies loved to feed each other. Standing on a log, Bram would hold the jug of milk as Modoc slurped away. Modoc’s job was much easier; she could hold the baby bottle by wrapping her trunk around it and lowering to Bram. Sometimes she would hold it out of reach and take a quick suck on it herself, until he started to cry or yelled for his mother. Then Modoc would hurriedly push it into Bram’s mouth, in fear of being found out. Occasionally, in her taste, she would stick it in his ear or nose, which caused a bit of upset. (这两个孩子喜欢互相喂食。布拉姆站在一根木头上,举起一只牛奶罐,莫多克吧唧吧唧地喝着。莫多克的活儿要简单一点,她用鼻子卷着奶瓶垂到布拉姆面前,有时她会把奶瓶举得高高的,让布拉姆够不着,自己却飞快地吮起来,直到布拉姆开始哭着叫妈妈,莫多克才连忙把奶瓶塞进布拉姆的嘴里,好不让人看出她惹哭了布拉姆。有时匆忙中,她会把奶嘴塞进布拉姆的耳朵或是顶在他的鼻子上,逗得布拉姆又哭又笑。) 还有这一段,布拉姆和莫多克都长大了,他们的友谊也在一天天加深,他们真的就像一对很要好的朋友,莫多克是这样通人性,看到这里,我几乎忘了她是一头小象: The first thing Bram did upon his return was run to Mo, giving her hugs and kisses. Early on, Modoc developed a special way of showing Bram her affection. She would put her trunk over Bram’s shoulder, snaking it around his waist, hold him tight, all the while making rumbling noises. It looked quite protective. (布拉姆放学后的第一件事就是奔到莫多克那里去,拥抱她,亲吻她。时间一长,莫多克也养成了一套向布拉姆表达感情的方法,她先把鼻子搭在布拉姆的肩上,又顺着往下勾住他的腰,把他搂得紧紧的,嘴里一边还发出呜噜呜噜的声音,好像是在护卫着布拉姆。) 这就是一个小男孩儿和一头大象之间的真挚友爱,它胜过了一个男孩儿和一个女孩儿之间的语言交谈,但它依然传达着一种人性化的情感,正是这种从小培养起来的感情,支撑着他们历经了后来的凄风苦雨。作者写到莫多克和布拉姆之间交流的时候,经常用到“talk”、“chat”、“complain”、“murmur”这样的词,仿佛他们两个真的能互相说话一样。所以在翻译中,我们就根据当时的情境,分别把这些词译为“聊天”、“交谈”、“说话”、“争吵”、“喃喃低语”等等。其实,我已经把他们当成亲密无间、患难与共的朋友了。 书中有很多描写非常动人,不仅仅是故事的本身,它还有一种让人能够久久回味的意义,通过莫多克这头大象,我更深彻地感受到人与自然交融的美妙。从这点来说,作者的英语文笔真的很漂亮。比如书中神秘的印度人雅格拉特对布拉姆说的这段话: What you have to be able to do with your Modoc is what man has been seeking for a long time. To communicate with nature through the animals. Treasure it. The sounds of nature are its music, its lyrics, and it comes from all living things. The subtle violin whispers of the wind in the pine forest, the howling bassoon of the violent monsoon, the clarinet of the birds, the drums of the earthquakes and volcanoes, the cymbals of the lightning and thunder, the harp of the oceans, together they play God’s song——early morning dripping of water from a night storm, the songbirds in the meadow during the sunny afternoon, the owl, the roar of a lion, the evening breezes blowing through the trees. It is a true song. Not a story. Not a fable with a point made at its end. But a song that sings within and without all living things. (你能与莫多克进行交流,正是人们多少年来所梦想的,那就是,通过动物与大自然交流,珍视它吧。大自然的各种声音都是他的音乐,它是诗歌,它来自一切有生命的东西。松林中的风声像奇妙的小提琴的低语,凶暴的季风像巴松管的吼叫,鸟儿的啁啾如同单簧管的独奏,地震和火山就像鼓声隆隆,电闪雷鸣像铙钹的重击。海涛汹涌恰似竖琴的拨弦,他们一起汇成神的歌曲——夜晚的风暴留下清晨滴答的水声,阳光灿烂的下午,会唱歌的鸟儿在草地上啼啭,还有猫头鹰恐怖的鸣叫,雄狮的怒吼,晚风轻轻掠过树梢。那是真正的歌唱,不是讲故事,也不是在结尾点题的寓言,而是一首歌,它在所有生命体内咏唱,也在大自然中咏唱。) 在《莫多克》这本书里,令人惊奇的情境不断出现,又迅速地消失,有时它牵扯着我突然进入一个全新的境界,我甚至很久找不到适当的词语,而只有惊叹。比如下面这段景色的描写: It was a lovely day. Summer was stealing some extra time while fall slept. White puffs of clouds hung in the sky with seemingly no interest in moving on. The rains had turned the countryside into a sea of green covering the hilltops. The slopes, spotted with groves of sycamore and spruce trees, caught the runoff and were a deeper green, with splashes of purple sage, the essence of the lush valley. The rainwater slowed and settled into the rich loam, and from it grew the emerald grass that carpeted God’s house, grass where the regal stage grazed. In the middle of the palace’s private forest flowed the beautiful Agra, a mystical river of dark blue water. It writhed through the forest like a giant serpent, angling through the trees, changing in width, in girth, never ending, sometimes multi-channeled, and splitting into many tributaries. (天气真好,秋天还在沉睡之中,夏天正在偷走秋天的时光。白色的云朵高悬在天空,好像没有飘走的兴致。一场大雨把田野变成了绿色的海洋,一直覆盖到小山顶上,点缀着簇簇槭树和云杉的陡坡峭壁,接住了顺坡而下的流水,显得更加郁郁葱葱。丛丛紫色的鼠尾草惹人注目,散发着翠谷特有的芬芳。雨水渐渐渗入了沃土,从那里长出茂盛浓绿的青草,给上帝的屋宇铺上了绿毯,也让国王的牡鹿群追逐奔跑。在宫廷专有的森林之中,流淌着一条美丽的艾格拉河,深蓝色的河水神秘莫测。它像一条巨蟒一样在林中蜿蜒而过,穿行在林木之间,时宽时窄,时急时缓,永不停息,有时候还分成多条河道一起流淌,或者生出很多支流。) 这是可以让人沉醉的宁静的美,可以让人忘却一切的仙境般的美,也仿佛是一种可以让人超越尘世的神秘的美。翻译这样的段落,需要的不仅是词汇,更重要的是对美的感受力和超越文字的想象力(a piercing imagination), 只有当我的头脑中形成一幅幅图画的时候,当我的心浸在泪水中的时候,我的语言才能在笔下像小溪一样流淌出来:风暴中的印度洋上,一艘船在飘摇,即将倾覆;神秘的印度森林里,月光衬出了神象阿托尔的剪影…… 后来,马戏团辗转演出时,莫多克在一个深夜被人偷偷运上火车。从此,布拉姆就开始了寻找她的路程。很多年以后,他终于找到了受尽创伤的莫多克,他们就像久别重逢的亲人紧紧拥抱在一起。可是,他们已经老了,翻译这样的段落时,我总是一次次抹去泪水,有时泪水也许就会落到稿纸上。我相信这样一句话:出自内心的,才能够打动内心。对作家是这样,对译者也是如此。翻译文学作品必须投入全部的感情。比如下面这一段,我总是不忍再看第二遍。 Modoc’s eyesight had gotten worse. She couldn’t leave the elephant barn without Bram being there to help. Well, Mosie, how ya doing today, huh? Bram asked. She constantly kept her trunk busy, like a man with a cane, touching all things, whether standing still, walking,meeting people, she had to touch them; it was the only way she could talk to them. When Bram took her out, she moved carefully, touching as she walked, but still anything in her way was fair game. Bram, seeing the problem, decided to solve it. He put the tip of her trunk into his back belt loop. “Now you just hang to that and I’ll be your seeing-eye person.” (莫多克的视力越来越坏,没有布拉姆的帮助,她已经不能离开棚子了。 喂,莫西,你今天觉得怎么样?布拉姆问。 莫多克不停地摆弄着她的鼻子,就像一个拿手杖的人,碰碰这儿,敲敲那儿,无论是站着不动,还是外出散步,或者跟别人见面,她都要到处触摸,这是她与别人交谈的惟一方式。当布拉姆带她外出时,她总是小心翼翼地挪动脚步,每走一步都用鼻子触摸着,任何挡在路上的东西仍然是她的鼻子触摸的对象。布拉姆看出了她的麻烦,决定帮助她解决走路的问题。他把莫多克的鼻子尖塞到他腰带后面的环里,对她说,现在,你只要挂在那儿,我就当你的导盲人。) Mo listened, swaying her head to and fro, not missing a word. Bram said, all things need to change form to live. When we die we change into ashes, gases, things like that. Then they carry on until they change. The ashes may help a tree grow; the gases could mingle with others and become…something else! That means someday you and I are going to change and ah…well…His voice stuck in his throat. He rubbed the soft leathery skin on the underside of her ear. And you…you will become something greater and more wonderful than you imagine! You will soar in the cosmos, become part of all things, you will sit at His side and help rule all of nature. (莫多克侧耳聆听,她的头左右摇晃着,从不漏掉一个字。布拉姆说,莫,在生活中任何事物都要变换形式。我们死后会变成尘土、气体,诸如此类的东西。然后,它们也会变的。尘土将有助于树木的生长,气体会同别的气体混合,变成……别的什么。也就是说,总有一天我和你都会变的……哦……莫……他的话音哽咽在喉咙里,他抚摸着她耳朵后面柔软的皮肤。还有你……你会变成某种比你想象的大得多,奇妙得多的东西。你会飞升到宇宙碧空,成为万物的一部分,你会坐到造物主的身边,帮他掌管整个大自然。) 翻译了《莫多克》这本书之后,我真正感到了翻译文学作品的艰辛,这需要译者超越文化的隔阂,去体验一种情感的涅槃,并且把它复述成每一个读者都能接受、都能引起心灵共颤的东西,这样在译者的笔下就会有一种文化的新生。翻译如同写作一样,是一种让人呕心沥血的劳动。但是,当《莫多克》成为很多读者喜爱的形象时,我也就为自己的心灵找到安慰了。在西敏寺大教堂 In Westminster Abbey 在西敏寺大教堂 去年,作家出版社再一次邀请我和我先生翻译一本书,书名是Darwin’s Worms(《达尔文的蚯蚓》)。书的作者是英国人亚当·菲利普斯(Adam Phillips)。开始我曾想,达尔文是一个研究生物进化的人,他研究的重点应该是古生物、古人类,像蚯蚓这种只要有泥土就会有的小东西,他可能只是顺便提一下,不会有什么特别的意义。 我拿到原著的时候,首先看到封面的标题下面有一行小字: A profound meditation…Philips is one of the finest prose stylists at work in the language, an Emerson for our time. (这是一种意义深远的沉思……菲利普斯是正在写作的最出色的英语文体家之一,是我们这个时代的爱默生。) 看了这一行小字,我在想,小小的蚯蚓有什么地方值得菲利普斯去沉思冥想呢?亚当·菲利普斯是一个什么人,竟被誉为当代的爱默生呢?我曾读过爱默生的论文和讲演录,他思想深刻,视野广阔,独特的语言有时沉静如水,有时又激烈如火,他的文字总是让人久久回味,而亚当·菲利普斯是怎样一位能与爱默生比肩而立的语言大师呢? 打开书,我想,要认识书的作者,最好的办法就是读他的文字。 刚刚翻了两页,我的眼睛就离不开这本书了,这是一本论述死亡的哲学著作。亚当·菲利普斯从一张音乐会的节目单引出了有关人世间的苦难到底是多还是少的话题,然后又转到了关于nature这个词和它的词义的讨论。有人说,Nature is perhaps the most complex word in the language.(nature也许是这种语言中最复杂的一个词。) 英语里有很多词是多义的,根据《英汉大词典》,nature 大写时指: 大自然,自然界,自然力 小写时的意义有: 自然状态,原始状态,原始生活; 天性,秉性,性格,性情; 本质,性质,种类,类型; 具有一种特性的人(或事物); 情理,常情; 真实,真切; 生命机能,生命力,生理,生理需求 …… 对于nature这个词,作者在书里常常交替使用或者同时使用“大自然”和“天性”这两层含义,于是,正如作者自己所说,我们被引进了概念的泥潭(conceptual muddle): Nature can seem to be at once the problem and the solution. (自然似乎同时既成为问题,又是解决问题的答案。) 看到这里,我好像感受到了一点亚当·菲利普斯语言的巧妙,他之所以要把我们引进这个概念的泥潭,是因为他在这个书里论述的两个人,一个是研究大自然的查尔斯·达尔文(Charles Darwin),另一个是研究人的本性的西格蒙德·弗洛伊德(Sigmund Freud)。 多么巧妙的设计啊!可是这个概念上的巧妙却使翻译陷入重重困难,我们不得不在每一个用了nature这个词的地方苦苦思索,揣摩它在这里的意思是“自然”还是“本性”,或者作者在这里赋予了它的双重意义——自然和本性。 我和先生拿起笔,开始了翻译的日子。我们要用最大的努力向这位语言大师表明,汉语在表述同样的概念时,比英语毫不逊色,尽管有时候用一句话还表达不清全部含义,需要另加注解,但我们保持了极大的耐心。 达尔文,一个我很熟悉的名字。我一直很崇敬他。我十岁的时候,是一个每天只能躺在病床上的女孩子,我的病让我痛苦烦躁,但我对世界的新奇感却与日俱增,我读各种各样的书。有一天,妈妈给我找来一本达尔文的书,她告诉我达尔文发现了人是怎样进化的。我那时不懂得进化这个词,妈妈就说,达尔文书里写的是猴子怎么变成人的。这样我就懂了,很形象地知道了——在很久很久以前人曾经是猴子。对于一个孩子来说,达尔文的这个发现太有趣了,他也让我惊奇地生出很多想象——我的祖先多少辈以前曾经是猴子呢?他们那时候是怎样生活的呢?可我没能看懂那本厚厚的《人类的由来》(The Descent of Man, And Selection in Relation to Sex)。 青年时代,我又一次翻开《人类的由来》,才知道他开创了人类对自身的由来、对生物形成和进化的崭新认识,他的观点使宗教关于上帝造人的神话不攻自破。他对人类认识史和思想史都做出了杰出的贡献。从那时起,他在我生命的星空里就与马克思、爱因斯坦、圣雄甘地等排在一起了。 达尔文对蚯蚓发生浓厚的兴趣决不是偶然的。他年轻的时候就搭乘比格尔号(Beagle)船进行了越洋考察,他到过美洲和澳洲,到过很多“未开化的”(untamed savages)地区,采集了大量野生动植物标本和化石,“目睹了人在文明和野蛮的界线上的舞蹈”。考察和研究使他解开了生物进化的奥秘,可是,他却不能把他划时代的伟大发现公诸于众,因为在当时的英国和欧洲,教会仍然牢牢地禁锢着人们的思想,而进化论对教会的神创说是致命的打击。可想而知,达尔文遭到了教会和其他保守势力多么疯狂的攻击!而他的妻子埃玛(Emma也是他的表妹)又是一个虔诚的天主教徒,他的理论与她的信仰是那样的水火不相容。还有他的十个孩子,社会将会怎么对待他们呢? 达尔文犹豫不决。“to be, or not to be”(生存,还是毁灭),作者出人意料地在书里提到了哈姆雷特。此时,一个伟大的发现正静静地躺在一个信封里,等待着昭示世界,可是它的发现者却陷入了哈姆雷特式的焦虑。达尔文在疾病和痛苦的双重折磨中把目光转向了蚯蚓,这隐藏在泥土中的小生命,勤勤恳恳、默默无闻地奉献着,把荒野重新变成绿色葱茏的肥沃土地,把死亡又还原成生命…… 不仅如此,适者生存的结论使他自己也陷入了生与死这种观念的危机。生存竞争太残酷了,生物生存的目的之一,似乎就是让自己成为整个食物链中的一环,如果食物链一旦中断,随之而来的就是灭绝(extinction)。死亡每时每刻都在发生。达尔文在他的科学考察中,对物种的灭绝做了深入的研究。因此,对于死亡,尤其是对生物个体的消失,是隐藏在他心中的一个解不开的结。他心爱的女儿安娜在十岁时不幸夭折,达尔文遭受的心灵创痛是难以磨灭的,正是安娜的死,促使他决心向世界公布他的进化论。在连续十三个月的疯狂写作之后,划时代的著作Origin of Species(《物种起源》)完成了。随后,达尔文来到一个叫Moore Park的地方疗养,在他给妻子的信中,有这样一段耐人寻味的话: At last I fell fast asleep on the grass, and awoke with a chorus of birds singing around me, and squirrels running up the trees, and some woodpeckers laughing, and it was as pleasant and rural a scene as ever I saw, and I did not care one penny how any of the beasts or birds had been formed. (最后,我在草地上快要睡着了,在我的周围,一群鸟儿在鸣叫,松鼠吱吱地蹿上树梢,还有几只啄木鸟在欢唱。它们的合鸣唤醒了我,这是我从未见过的让人愉快的乡村景象,我才不在乎那些兽啊鸟啊是怎么形成的呢。) 达尔文沉醉在田园诗般的美丽之中,以至于他发出了感慨“我才不在乎那些兽啊鸟啊的是怎么形成的呢”。我想,one penny在这里决不是“一个便士”,而是“不值得”,“微不足道”,“毫不在乎”。 伟大的科学家退却了,不是因为教会和保守势力的攻击和辱骂,也不是因为研究工作遇到了不可逾越的困难,而是因为大自然的怡人景色让他在草地上就要睡着了。 在《物种起源》这本书的最后一节里,达尔文描述了他在植物生长茂盛的河堤上深思的情景,他说, ……with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth……have all been produced by laws around us. (鸟儿在灌木丛中歌唱,各种各样的昆虫在四周飞来飞去,还有蚯蚓拱出潮湿的泥土……所有这一切都是由我们周围的法则决定的。) 啊,law(法则)决定一切。那么,是哪些法则呢?达尔文列举了这样一些: Growth of Reproduction(繁殖法则) Inheritance(遗传法则) Variability(变异法则) a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life(由于繁殖率过高导致的生存竞争的法则) Natural Selection(自然选择法则) Divergence of Character(特征演变法则) the Extinction of less-improved forms(改良不足的生命形式归于灭绝的法则) 我在每一个词和词组后面都加上了法则两个字。翻译就是这样,在需要说明的地方,译者就要把问题说明白。在这本书的翻译中,经常会遇到这种需要我们冥思苦想的地方。 大自然是法则统治的,人的情感,不论它多么令人激动,让人感叹,让人流泪,都是苍白的。死亡是不可避免的,可是,有谁能够真正直面死亡呢? 有一个人。 这就是书中的另一个人——弗洛伊德。他是奥地利的精神病医生,心理学家,也是精神分析学说(psychoanalysis)的创始人。 人们对弗洛伊德的生平知道得并不多,那是因为他在二十多岁的时候就销毁了自己所有的手稿和大部分书信,也许他不愿意给后人留下可以追踪他身世的证据,他也坚决反对别人撰写他的传记。可是他使用的一些名词却让人无法忘记他,比如,libido,直译为“里比多”,有的词典上写成“力比多”,还有的词典上写成“生命力,活力”,也有的写成“性欲”,等等。但是我想,这个词最好还是音译,因为中文里目前还找不到一个能够完全与它对应的词,也许在别的语言里也是这样,弗洛伊德使用它的真正含义或许只有他自己才明白。 弗洛伊德认为,决定人的一切动机和行为的,归根到底是性欲(sexual desire),性的要求和性的行为从婴儿时代就已经开始了,它一直支配着人的一生。弗洛伊德在他的成名作Analysis of Dreams(《梦的解析》)一书中说,人为什么会做梦呢?那是因为白天人的性欲受到压抑,所以晚上就用梦的形式表现出来,这就是“日有所思,夜有所梦”。原来,梦是性欲的表现。 弗洛伊德的这种观点极大地冒犯了宗教的尊严和体面,他把上帝赋予人的神圣外衣剥得一干二净,让人的内心和外表都赤裸裸地暴露出来,并且对他(她)进行性欲的分析和死亡的评判。弗洛伊德杜撰了有关人的三个概念: 本我(id) 自我(ego) 超我(super-ego) 他认为,人生的目的归根到底是为了去死。他用古希腊神话中的爱神——爱洛斯(Eros)代表人的生命本能,用死亡之神萨纳托斯(Thanatos)代表人的死亡本能,他说这两种本能是每个人都有的,死亡是人生的终极目的,人活着就是为了“以自己的风格去死”(die in one’s own fashion)。 弗洛伊德像一个沿街叫卖的小贩一样,到处兜售自己的精神分析学说,并且在他自己开设的诊所里为他的病人做出“性欲受到压抑”、“暗恋”、“俄狄浦斯情结(Oedipus complex)”等等的诊断,开出一张张精神分析的处方。他的怪诞是不言而喻的。然而,弗洛伊德却容不得别人对他个人进行“诊断”,他曾经以恶毒的语言拒绝了一位作者为他写传记的请求: You, who have so much better and more important things to do, you who can establish monarchs and who can survey the brutal folly of mankind from a lofty vantage point; no, I am far too fond of you to permit such a thing. Anyone who writes a biography is committed to lies, concealments, hypocrisy, flattery and even to hiding his own lack of understanding…… (你有这么多更好的、更重要的事情可做,你可以创立王国,你可以从一个至高无上的优越的位置去俯瞰人类兽行般的无知,不,我远没有这么乐意,允许你做这样一件事。任何一个写传记的人必定与撒谎、隐瞒、伪造、吹牛拍马纠缠不清,甚至还会掩盖自己的无知……) 达尔文和弗洛伊德,这两个人同样都创立了石破天惊一般的学说,但他们却有那么巨大的差别。一个甘愿像蚯蚓一样,默默无闻地奉献自己的一生,即使在遭到教会和其他保守势力的百般攻击和侮辱的情况下,仍然埋头钻研小小的蚯蚓,表现出一个科学工作者宽阔的胸怀。达尔文的死是荣耀的,他被安葬在西敏寺大教堂(Westminster Abbey),他的身边是伟大的科学家牛顿(Sir Isaac Newton)。 弗洛伊德侥幸逃脱了纳粹的迫害,在1938年6月被允许离开奥地利前往伦敦,但他不久就因为患癌症死去。不过,他倒真的是以自己的风格去死的,他在面部溃烂,无法进食的情况下,嘱咐医生给他注射药物,帮助他永远地沉睡了——我想这就是安乐死。 翻译完这本书,我似乎才明白,为什么书里很大一部分篇幅都在讨论弗洛伊德,而书名却偏偏是《达尔文的蚯蚓》。我想,积极的生命意义永远都会受到褒扬,就像达尔文赞颂的蚯蚓一样。但是,美好的一切却永远是短暂的,转瞬即逝,正像诗人Shelly有点伤感的诗句: The flower that smiles today Tomorrow dies All that we wish to stay Tempts…. And then flies. What is this world’s delight? Lightning that mocks the night Brief even as bright. (鲜花今天微笑 明天却凋零 我们希望美丽永驻 她诱惑着我们…… 然后飞逝 这世界上什么是快乐? 闪电让黑夜惊喜 耀眼只在瞬间)从汉语到英语 From Chinese into English 从汉语到英语 尽管我学习英语已经很多年,也翻译出版了几本英美小说,可是直到今天我对汉译英却还是十分谨慎的,对一些国外报刊的英文约稿从不敢轻易应允,更不敢主动把自己的文章译成英文发表。准确的英译汉要经过严格的训练才有可能做到,翻译文学作品就要有更深的功力了,而要把文学作品的汉译英做好,不仅要具备汉语和英语本身的坚实基础,还要有其他方面的深厚涵养。文学的汉译英决不是学过几年英语就能做到的,实际上这种翻译是译者的二度创作。 对于中国人,英译汉做得漂亮不容易,汉译英做得漂亮就更难了,因为在进行汉译英的置换时,我们很可能在潜意识里就把汉语习惯载入了英语。往往是这样,我们认为自己译得很好的英文,英语国家的人却会挑出很多毛病,小的,大的,甚至标点符号,还有的地方他们干脆就说看不懂。那种时候真让人很丧气,可是怎么办呢? 多年前,我经常把一篇篇自认为很好的汉译英文章寄给我的美国朋友Jerry,他看完又把修改后的文章寄回来,看着被他用红色圆珠笔修改得密密麻麻的地方,我总是很难过,也很奇怪,为什么我认为对的地方却是错的呢?有时候,我会一连几个小时,盯着那些被红笔划过的痕迹苦思冥想,一会儿好像恍然大悟,一会儿好像又绕进了文字的迷魂阵。我觉得汉译英太难了。不过,我还是鼓起勇气,继续学习,并且坚持每天都做一些汉译英的练习。 那时候,我读了一本《中诗英译探胜》,那本书让我爱不释手,里面是中外语言专家翻译的中国古代诗词,从《诗经》到《西厢记》。读那些诗歌,我体味到汉语诗词英译的困难,把意思表达准确是要下苦功的,而既忠实于原文,又表现出原文的意蕴,就需要付出更多的心血。有些古诗词被译成了英语,却品不出古诗词的意味了,但是,我仍然感受到译者对每一个句子,甚至每一个词的认真推敲。不过我想,也许任何一种外语都不能充分地表达意象万千的中国古诗词,因为它们独特魅力的光芒是别的语言不能与之争辉的。比如唐代孟浩然的《春晓》: 春眠不觉晓, 处处闻啼鸟。 夜来风雨声, 花落知多少? 罗伯特·佩恩(Robert Payne)是这样翻译的: I slept in spring not conscious of the dawn, But heard the gay birds chattering all around, I remember, there was a storm at night. Pray, how many blossoms have fallen down? 许渊冲先生的译文是这样的: This morn of spring in bed I’m lying, Not to awake till birds are crying. After one night of wind and showers, How many are the fallen flowers! 这种对比多么有趣啊!文学作品有多种多样的译法,因为人们对它有各种各样的理解和想象。我已经不能确切地回忆起那些日子是怎样度过的,只记得那本《中诗英译探胜》一直放在我的床头,每天夜晚我都要翻看,我喜欢书中那些英语国家的人翻译的每一首诗词,看他们怎样用英语来表现中国古代诗词,或是把它们变成一个个通俗的英语故事。读那本书我总是快乐的。 从那以后,我又给Jerry寄去文章,一篇又一篇,我发现,他在文章里做的红色修改印迹越来越少了。再后来,我就用e-mail给Jerry发去我的汉译英文章。有一次,我给Jerry发去一篇我翻译的自己的散文,他在回信中说: It was so beautiful. I love it. It was wonderful. Haidi, this was a joy to read and I was excited to read every line. Your imagination is so vivid and thoughtful. Yes, remember our conversations, “What is the meaning of life?” Well, you have a clear idea. Those memories last forever. They do. Don’t they? (文章这么美,我喜欢它,写得很好。海迪,读这篇文章是一种快乐,读每一行文字都让我激动。你的想象是这样生动并且令人深思。是的,还记得我们的谈话吗?“生命的意义是什么?”啊,你的想法很明确。生命的记忆是持久的,肯定是持久的,不是这样吗?) 不过,Jerry 的信并没有让我感到欣慰,我觉得Jerry作为美国人也许还不能透彻地理解我的本意,他只是读懂了这个故事。怎样才能让外国人真正理解这个故事呢?我继续修改文章,还请另一位美国朋友Margaret帮我提意见。我想,Margaret是女性,她也许会从另一个角度理解这个故事。在和他们讨论这篇文章的时候,我觉得自己对汉译英有了更大的兴趣——汉语和英语毕竟是两种语言,怎么才能译得更好呢? 下面是Jerry 和Margaret帮我修改过的散文。我真希望有人能再将它译成中文,看看在别人的笔下它会变成一个什么样的故事: In a small town, I lived in a very large courtyard. The courtyard was so large that people in big cities could not have imagined the size. It was as large as two football fields. There was a row of single-story houses where our two families lived. The courtyard was bathed in bright sunshine, so my neighbor grew various kinds of vegetables: cucumber, eggplant, haricot bean, tomatoes, and hot green peppers. In the summer the open ground was colorful; the red, the green, the purple and the orange formed a beautiful pattern. Our red roof houses with a sharp tower reflected the suns brightness, and the big doors and windows were painted sky blue as if the houses were built of colorful toy bricks as in the fairy tales. Usually the courtyard was quiet, and sometimes it was so quiet that you could feel that it was so spacious, yet empty. I loved reading in the courtyard where the sunshine was mild and the air was fresh. I sat under a big tree where the leaves breathed perfume of greenness and tenderness. There was a black dog, he was a big watchdog. To me he was friendly and when I was reading he would always lie beside my wheelchair. Sometimes I felt the book was dull, so I would raise my head and wanted to talk to somebody. But at those times no one was there talking to me. In the evening when the sun was setting, the courtyard was bathed in golden red light. People coming home from work brought life to the courtyard. Men and women chattered when drawing water from the well. After school children played catching games around the courtyard, as they were running and laughing the black dog ran after them joyfully barking. Everyday the scene appeared as the same. During the day there was not only the black dog and me in the courtyard, there was also a Granny who was over eighty-years old. She was my neighbor and utterly blind. Most of the time she stayed in her house, sitting in an old armchair. Sometimes the armchair was moved to the front of the door and she sat there a whole afternoon in silence. No sound was heard from her so I often forgot her existence and in my consciousness there was only the black dog and me in the courtyard; but in reality there was the black dog, me and Granny. One day I again sat under the big tree, reading Die Weltraetsel (The Mystery of the Universe) by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist. The chapter I was reading related to the life processes of human beings. Haeckel said, the processes of life in the nature were flowing like the loquacious stream, the blazing fire, the fitful breezes and the collapsing of rocks from mountains… I couldn’t help thinking of Granny. I turned my head and looked at her. I saw that she was sitting in her armchair not far from me. She held a dragon stick with both hands in front of her chest. Her head drooped, and the skin on her face was flabby. Her eyes were slightly closed and she made no sound as if she was asleep. She was always so quiet and serene. What was she thinking about? Was the river of her consciousness still flowing? I wanted very much to ask her if she felt lonely? If there were any other feelings in her mind? I turned my wheelchair to her side and asked her loudly, are you asleep Granny? No, I don’t feel sleepy, Granny answered. So, what are you thinking about? I asked. I was recalling the days when I was a young girl and I was made a match, she replied. I was so surprised; I opened my eyes wide as if a rainbow suddenly appeared before me. With her eyes still slightly closed Granny said, when I was young matchmakers went to my home one after another. My face was so fair; I always wore a flower patterned cotton-padded coat and my waist was only two spans. My hair was beautiful, too; I always washed my hair with sesame flowers or egg whites. My plait was so thick and black that when I walked the end swayed behind my back. At the end of my plait I always tied a five-inch long bundle with a piece of red string… What, a Granny of over eighty-years old was recalling her maiden years! I was really surprised. In fact, the old people still keep their mind young, which the youngsters cannot imagine. Under the big green tree I went on reading The Mystery of the Universe. During my reading the wings of dusk came quietly shading the setting sun. In that moment, I almost forgot that in the courtyard there was Granny, the black dog, and me. I continued to read my books in the courtyard as usual. One day I went to a very dull page and my eyes stayed stubbornly on a line. I raised my eyes and saw Granny sitting quietly in the sunlight with a gush of wind blowing her silver hair. I turned my wheelchair to her side and held her hands, which were coolish, soft, flabby but gentle. I asked her, do you feel bored all alone, Granny? No, I don’t feel bored, she answered. I sit here as if I sit on the roadside at the edge of my home village like when I was young. Lively people are coming and going before my eyes. The day when my husband married me was very lively. My head was covered with a red head kerchief and I wore a red coat and a red skirt made of silk. That day a big cart came decorated with red silk and was pulled by a mule and two horses. It was the twelfth moon; the road was covered by thick snow. The wheels pressed two deep grooves into the ground behind my cart… Granny murmured very slowly with her harsh voice. She raised her head a little and in her eyes I saw she had memories lingering from a year long ago. It suddenly came to me the awareness of another meaning of life. Once I had thought that Granny sitting in the solitude was waiting silently for her death to come and had no any expectation. I had also considered how bored and bitter she would feel in her loneliness and darkness. But, actually she was spending her days under the sunlight in so calm a mood. Before her eyes the hands of the clock turned backward. The lives of the past were coming back nearer and nearer. She found the lost years and got from them new comfort and pleasure. The real life is the life in one’s memory, and the life in the memory is more vivid than it is in reality. Life lasts forever in the memory. One day Granny fell ill and was sent to the hospital; I felt very sorry. People said that perhaps she could not get over such an illness, and perhaps she would never be back to the courtyard. When I was alone in the courtyard I always recalled the days when there had been Granny, the black dog and me. I felt lonely and sad. Everyday I asked the one who sent food to the hospital about the condition of Granny. One day someone told me that Granny could eat again, and when she opened her eyes she could clearly tell the stories of her ancestors and perhaps she would come back soon. Granny did come back to the courtyard again and I was deeply moved by her strong vitality. I then highly valued each day I spent with her in the courtyard. Each day Granny sat there bathing in the warm sunshine and pondering over her past with her head leaned low as before. That autumn she was visibly weakened and sat fewer and fewer hours in the courtyard. One day she told me, I knew I would come back; I must be back and wait for him at home. She said it was an autumn day, a day like today, leaves fell rustling everywhere, when my husband left early in the morning. He was a good ironsmith, and wore a coat and carried a cloth-wrapper on his back. At the door he said, you’d better not go out of the courtyard, for the baby’s just a month old. When I earn money I’ll surely be back. He said if he could not earn money he would be back before the end of the year. I made a new cotton coat for him, but he hasn’t come back yet. Since that day I made a new cotton coat for him every autumn, but he still hasn’t come back. Now, I cannot make a coat; I can’t see anything, and if he comes back I cannot make out what he is really like… I caressed Granny’s hands lightly; they were very cool. A few dead leaves came whirling from the bare trees and threads of cold rain of late autumn fell from the sky. Granny suddenly shivered with cold and her hands shook a little. She said, I feel bad today. It is getting colder again, but why hasn’t he come back yet? In murmuring so, tears rolled slowly down from her dim eyes. The next day Granny was gone. People of her family said that she got up in the middle of the night and made her way to the middle of the cabinet, and rummaged out of it the coat she had made for her husband. She said it was cold, and she should go and send it to him. She then fell asleep with the coat in her arms. She looked very calm, and people said she had gone without any suffering. That left only the black dog and me in the courtyard. It snowed heavily that winter. The white snow buried Granny’s long and persevering expectations. In my obscure meditation there was often a quiet and a bit harsh voice leisurely telling a long story, which had no ending. The figure of Granny had gone with the wind, but her memory still lives on in the green leaves of life. What can I recall when I am old with my hair silver, I asked myself. 在这里,我期待着陌生朋友们的译文,我愿和你们一起分享汉译英、英译汉的快乐。我是可怕的Trivium I’m the Terrible Trivium 我是可怕的Trivium 在我自学英语的那些年,曾有一段时间,每天只学习英语语法,因为我背了很多单词,却写不好一封长信,于是我就寄希望于学习语法了。我想,语法,不就是语言的法则吗?有一本书上也说,学语言就是学语法规则,就像学数学要记公式一样。只要背熟了公式,解题就容易多了。所以,我真的以为只要学好了语法,英语就学了一半,甚至可以做到事半功倍。 那段时间,只要县城里那个小书店来了英语语法书我都要买来,比如,《英语语法》,《趣味英语语法》,甚至《医用英语语法》都买来了。我十分认真地学习名词、动词、代词、介词、形容词、副词……然后是主语、谓语、宾语……再后来是简单句、并列句、复合句……然后又是时态、语态……陈述式、虚拟式、命令式……可是一段时间过去,我却觉得语法学得越多,分析句子就越繁琐,有些句子用语法一点点地分析之后,反而让人糊涂了。 这时,朋友N告诉我,对语法知识要做到“难得糊涂”。你想想,连英语国家的学生都害怕的东西,何况我们中国人呢?过了好多年,当我翻译的《小米勒旅行记》出版时,我想起在书里那只令人恐怖的大脏鸟就是用“I’m the terrible Trivium.”来吓唬小米勒他们的,而这个可怕的trivium 就是中世纪学校里每个学生必读的“grammar, rhetoric, logic”(语法、修辞、逻辑)。 一般来说学习任何一种语言都要下苦功,古人有“十年磨一剑”的格言,学习语言也如同磨剑,要历经千锤百炼,才能制成真正的宝剑,用起来得心应手。我重新梳理了学过的语法知识,想从中理出一条主线。我想,既然语言的最基本单位是词,只要把词的知识弄明白了,语法的难度恐怕就减轻了一半。我首先从名词开始。从简单的事物,再到复杂和抽象的事物。首先,既然名词就是代表这些事物的,那么,名词也分为abstract nouns(抽象名词)和common nouns(普通名词)。想一想很有意思,很多表示事物性质和特性的词都是抽象名词。比如: advice (忠告) care (关心) color (颜色) courage (勇气) faith (信仰) headache (头痛) kindness (善良) wealth (财富) wisdom (智慧) 人名、地名和很多具体事物的名称都是普通名词,也是最常见的: Sir Isaac Newton (伊萨克·牛顿勋爵) basketball (篮球) internet (因特网) mobile-phone (移动电话) 另外还有一些是专有名词(proper names),是一些特定的地方和事物专用的: The British Commonwealth of Nations (英联邦) NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization)(北大西洋公约组织) APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)(亚太经合组织) 中文里有一群,一对,一列,这些表示群体的词,英语里也是,这些有下划线的词有好几个是表示一群的,可拼写却大不相同: a crowd of people (一群人) a flock of sheep (一群羊) a herd of cattle (一群牛) a shoal of fish (一群鱼) a swarm of bees (一群蜜蜂) an English class (一个英语班) a team of swimmers (一队游泳者) 我觉得,英语有趣的地方是,英语的名词还分为可数名词和不可数名词,所谓可数名词,就是可以通过词尾的变化,变成复数形式的词。而不可数名词就没有这种变化。比如,上面提到的很多抽象名词,advice,care,courage,faith,headache,health,help,kindness,wealth,wisdom 都是不可数的,此外还有furniture, news, information, 等等。 但是,仅仅记住简单的规则是不够的。我曾听朋友说过这么一句话:Sheep are always sheep, and deer are deer everywhere. 我听了以后忍不住笑了。用这样的方法记忆英语的特殊规则多么有趣啊!又一次,我翻看一个小学生的英语作业本,发现他写了一句:Fish and fish are two fish. Swine and swine are two swine. 啊,原来老师是这样教孩子学习英语名词的单、复数同形的!看来,并不是只有天才或者语法专家才会有好主意呢。 英语名词的单数和复数实际上不那么简单,有的专家总结说,单复数的变化有二十多种,而且每种形式都有一些例外,我过去一直是用死记硬背的方式来记忆,后来应用起来就很呆板。后来我改变了方法,在阅读中记忆,在与朋友的交谈中和书信往来中熟悉这些变化,慢慢地就变成自己的习惯。但是,有一些词的变化却是没有规律的,比如下面这些名词的复数要加es: motto —— mottoes (格言) potato —— potatoes (土豆) tomato —— tomatoes (西红柿) 但是,下面这几个词的复数就只加s: piano —— pianos (钢琴) studio —— studios (摄影棚) tornado —— tornados (龙卷风) 还有的是既可以用-es,也可以用-s,比如: fresco —— frescoes或:frescos (壁画法) gingko —— gingkoes或:gingkos (银杏) portico —— porticoes或:porticos (有圆柱的门廊)