日本人的吸收方式

∷林巍 文／譯

原 文

[1]“日本人見好就學(xué)”，而且是以最簡易和實(shí)用的方式，這是世人對日本人吸收外來文化和技術(shù)的基本態(tài)度和做法的評論。看看日本的文字和汽車，便會一目了然了。

[2] 日本的文字，由“漢字”、“平假名”、“片假名”組成， 看上去是拼湊起來的，很不統(tǒng)一；日本的汽車，更是“八國聯(lián)軍”，各顯其能。

[3] 有一個歷史故事：德國人第一次把汽車賣給日本人時，曾得意地說，不久日本人會發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的質(zhì)量有多好，從而會大量訂購的。但在久等不來之后，發(fā)現(xiàn)日本人已“照貓畫虎”，造出了更為新穎的汽車，根本不用訂購了。

[4] 就地理位置而言，日本列島是中國和朝鮮半島的近鄰，從未受到過外來文化的侵略和征服，因而在吸取外來文化和科技時，具有很大的自主性。

[5] 中國文化對于日本文化固然有著巨大影響，但是日本吸收了中國的漢字、法律制度、儒教，卻拒絕了不符合日本國情的宦官制度、科舉制度及以儒教基本法則為準(zhǔn)的“同姓不婚”制度。同樣的，在吸收日本的佛教文化時，亦允許僧人娶妻、吃葷，形成了一種更為寬容的佛教文化。

[6] 在家畜飼養(yǎng)方面，日本人也沒有學(xué)習(xí)中國人的閹割牲畜的技術(shù)。對于西方的先進(jìn)性技術(shù)，日本在模仿、改造的基礎(chǔ)上，將其制造得更加精細(xì)和廉價(jià)。所以，日本人對于外部世界的吸收方式是值得借鑒的。

譯 文

[1] The statement that “Japanese will copy everything suitable to them” in a simpli fied and practical way may signify a popular view of Japanese attitude towards foreign cultures and technologies. Japanese writing characters and cars illustrate well this approach.

[2] The Japanese writing system borrows Kanji from Chinese, and creates Hiragana, Katakana characters of its own, with an inconsistent outlook; similarly Japanese cars are made of multinational ideas and advantages with appropriate modi fications.

[3] Here is a historical story: when Germen sold their first car to the Japanese, they were pretty much convinced that their partner would come back to them very soon with a bulk order based on the car’s high quality. However, they were very disappointed to find out that the Japanese had replicated their car with a slightly improved model, and consequently they didn’t need any order anymore.

[4] Geographically, Japan is located in between China and the Korean peninsula, a position immune from foreign invasion, capable of taking in foreign cultures and technologies with a high degree of autonomy.

[5] The Japanese adopted Chinese writing, legal system and Confucianism, but left the eunuch system,the imperial examination system, and “same surname marriage prohibition” of Confucian doctrine, which were deemed to be contradictory to Japanese culture. Similarly,when embracing Buddhism, the Japanese made it more tolerant religion by allowing monks to marry and eat meat.

[6] In breeding livestock, Japanese didn’t learn the techniques of castration from the Chinese either. Western advanced technologies, once imported to Japan, would all be copied and modi fied to make them finer and cheaper.There is surely something to be learnt from the Japanese way of taking in things from the outside world.

譯 注

在[1]中，“見好就學(xué)”可譯為 learn whatever is deemed to be good...，但此處針對日本人行事的特點(diǎn)，變通為“copy everything suitable to them”，其中的copy不是“復(fù)印”，而是動詞“模仿”，如Jean always copies the way I dress （瓊總是模仿我穿衣服的樣子）。“一目了然”一般可譯為clear at a glance，但這里其實(shí)是“充分說明”之意，故用了illustrate，其意為to clarify, as by use of examples or comparisons，顯得更有分量。

在[2]中，“日本的文字，由‘漢字’、‘平假名’、‘片假名’組成”實(shí)際包含兩層含義，即從中文借來的漢字和自己創(chuàng)造的平假名、片假名，故在譯文中要有所體現(xiàn)，變通為borrows Kanji from Chinese, and creates Hiragana, Katakana characters of its own；“看上去是拼湊起來的，很不統(tǒng)一”，“拼湊”可譯為put piece together; knock them together，但此處可與“不統(tǒng)一”合并，譯為 with an inconsistent outlook，亦含其意；“八國聯(lián)軍”自然不是指歷史上the Eight-Power Allied Forces (troops sent to China by eight western countries in 1900)，而是中國人的通俗說法，泛指多國強(qiáng)勢，故用了multinational ideas and advantages，而“各顯其能”實(shí)指善加利用，譯為with appropriate modi fication，意指一種技術(shù)上的吸納。

在[3]中，“得意地說”，這里不見得是 complacently said that，而是一種主觀判斷，故用了convince，其意為 to deeply believe to be so；由于日本是德國的生意伙伴，因而不妨將其譯為partner；“照貓畫虎”英文可為draw a tiger with a cat as a model; copy something without catching its spirit, copy in form but not in spirit等，這里可不必這樣復(fù)雜，僅replicate即可，而所謂“新穎的汽車”，根據(jù)實(shí)情，譯為a slightly improved model更加確切。

在[4]中，“從未受到過外來文化的侵略和征服”似可用...hasn’t been invaded and conquered by foreign cultures，但分析起來又非如此，雖然很受中國文化的影響，但并非“侵略和征服”，故這里不妨寬泛地理解為immune from foreign invasion；“具有很大的自主性”不妨譯為介詞短語with a high degree of autonomy，類似的還有“港人治港，高度自治”：Hong Kong people govern Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy。

在[5]中，“吸收”常用的譯語為absorb, take in, draw, assimilate 等，鑒于這里是指對文化的采納，故可為adopt，而在“吸收佛教文化”時，則又用了embrace（或convert）以顯其宗教色彩。至于“拒絕”，又并非一定要refuse，此處用了leave (left)，因該詞除了其基本含義外，亦有不理不睬之意，如No one speaks to him, he’s always left out（沒人跟他講話，他總是被人冷落）等。

在[6]中，“對于西方的先進(jìn)性技術(shù)”是介詞短語結(jié)構(gòu)，但在譯文中可處理成主語，同時可增添once imported to Japan，使含義更為明確?！敖梃b”一般情況下可譯為 use for reference,draw lessons from, draw on the experience of... 等，而此處不妨簡約為 learnt。