《浮生六記》英譯閱讀與討論 （一）

劉士聰

沈復(fù)的《浮生六記》目前有三個(gè)譯本：

1. Six Chapters of A Floating Life（林語(yǔ)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?zhuān)兄莨偶霭嫔?，鄭州?010）;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(gè)普通文人的家庭生活、夫妻的恩愛(ài)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(lè)》還是《坎坷記愁》，讓人感動(dòng)，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 havetried 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 Fus original. I have alsotried to be as meticulous as I could in expressing the exact meaning of the Chinese words，at the same timetrying to approximate the feeling of the authors 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(duì)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 authors own way of expressing himself。閱讀譯文時(shí)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(duì)譯，而是對(duì)語(yǔ)義濃縮的文言進(jìn)行解讀，用英語(yǔ)將其內(nèi)在含義說(shuō)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(gè)翻譯策略，我們不妨稱(chēng)之為“釋義”翻譯。

在談到中國(guó)文論和中國(guó)古典哲學(xué)著作中的術(shù)語(yǔ)翻譯時(shí)，宇文所安說(shuō)，“……其實(shí)沒(méi)有什么最佳的翻譯，只有好的解說(shuō)。任何翻譯都對(duì)原文有所改變，而且，任何一種傳統(tǒng)的核心概念和術(shù)語(yǔ)的翻譯都存在這個(gè)問(wèn)題;……”1中國(guó)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(xiě)的語(yǔ)匯，習(xí)慣上可能不叫“術(shù)語(yǔ)”，但它們的翻譯，宇文所安的“解說(shuō)”思想也適用。Shirley M. Black在翻譯《浮生六記》時(shí)似乎就是這樣做的，請(qǐng)閱讀時(shí)留意。

如，在描寫(xiě)陳蕓時(shí)有這樣的文字：

“其形削肩長(zhǎng)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?！?/p>

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

《紅樓夢(mèng)》第三回描寫(xiě)探春時(shí)也用了這個(gè)詞：

“第二個(gè)削肩細(xì)腰，長(zhǎng)挑身材，鴨蛋臉兒，俊眼修眉，顧盼神飛，文彩精華，見(jiàn)之忘俗?！?/p>

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

諸如這類(lèi)詞語(yǔ)在英語(yǔ)里難找到對(duì)應(yīng)詞，翻譯只能對(duì)其進(jìn)行解釋?zhuān)S譯者的理解，解釋的文字也不盡相同。

《浮生六記》譯文對(duì)原文有刪減，對(duì)情節(jié)有編排;細(xì)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(mèng)了無(wú)痕。”茍不記之筆墨，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 Chien 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 Tsang-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-po 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 Heavens many favours. （p1）

[簡(jiǎn)評(píng)]可就以上譯文思考下面幾個(gè)問(wèn)題：

1. 譯文第一句語(yǔ)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(mèng)了無(wú)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(shí)但見(jiàn)滿(mǎn)室鮮衣，蕓獨(dú)通體素淡，僅新其鞋而已。見(jiàn)其繡制精巧，詢(xún)?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(duì)所見(jiàn)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(jiǎn)評(píng)]譯者運(yùn)用想象，描寫(xiě)婚禮場(chǎng)景，“滿(mǎn)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(gè)形容詞，意為“亮麗、多彩”;“蕓獨(dú)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(lái)以“素淡”為美，意義深一層?！肮P墨”，《現(xiàn)代漢語(yǔ)詞典》中解釋為“指文字或詩(shī)文書(shū)畫(huà)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(shuō)”和“補(bǔ)償”，譯文不淺不薄，有血有肉有味道，考慮了讀者對(duì)譯文的期盼。

1見(jiàn)《中國(guó)文論》導(dǎo)言，第15頁(yè)。? 2指戴維·霍克斯（David Hawkes，1923—2009），著名漢學(xué)家，年輕時(shí)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(shī)翻譯作品，而他的譯作The Story of the Stone（《紅樓夢(mèng)》）更是身為翻譯家的非凡成就，為了全心致力于此翻譯計(jì)劃，他于1971年辭去牛津大學(xué)中文系系主任一職。