Neighbour Rosicky (Excerpt XI)《鄰居羅西基》（節(jié)選十一）

On that very day he began to think seriously about the articles he had read in the Bohemian papers， describing prosperous Czech farming communities in the West. He believed he would like to go out there as a farm hand; it was hardly possible that he could ever have land of his own. His people had always been workmen， his father and grandfather had worked in shops. His mother’s parents had lived in the country， but they rented their farm and had a hard time to get along. Nobody in his family had ever owned any land，—that belonged to a different station of life altogether. Anton’s mother died when he was little， and he was sent into the country to her parents. He stayed with them until he was twelve， and formed those ties with the earth and the farm animals and growing things which are never made at all unless they are made early. After his grandfather died， he went back to live with his father and stepmother， but she was very hard on him， and his father helped him to get passage to London.

就從那一天起，他開始認(rèn)真考慮他在波希米亞文報紙上讀到過的那些文章，那些描述捷克移民在西部建立起富裕農(nóng)場社區(qū)的文章。他當(dāng)時只想去那里當(dāng)一個農(nóng)場工人，因?yàn)槟軗碛幸粔K自己的土地幾乎是非分之想。他的父輩都是工人，他父親和祖父曾在車間里干活。外祖父母倒是生活在鄉(xiāng)下，但他們種租來的地，日子過得很艱辛。他家族中沒人曾擁有過任何土地，因?yàn)橥恋貙儆诹硪粋€階層的人。母親死的時候羅西基還小，他被送到了他外祖父母在鄉(xiāng)下的家里。他在鄉(xiāng)下一直待到十二歲，所以與土地、農(nóng)畜和莊稼有一種特殊的聯(lián)系，一種只有在童年才能與之建立的聯(lián)系。外祖父死后，他回到父親和繼母身邊生活，但繼母對他很刻薄，于是父親設(shè)法幫他乘船去了倫敦。

After that Fourth of July day in Park Place， the desire to return to the country never left him. To work on another man’s farm would be all he asked; to see the sun rise and set and to plant things and watch them grow. He was a very simple man. He was like a tree that has not many roots， but one tap-root that goes down deep. He subscribed for a Bohemian paper printed in Chicago， then for one printed in Omaha. His mind got farther and farther west. He began to save a little money to buy his liberty. When he was thirty-five， there was a great meeting in New York of Bohemian athletic societies， and Rosicky left the tailor shop and went home with the Omaha delegates to try his fortune in another part of the world.

在公園廣場度過那個獨(dú)立日之后，回到鄉(xiāng)下的欲望就一直縈繞在他心頭。他所向往的就是在別人的農(nóng)場上干活，清晨看日出，傍晚看日落，種各種各樣的莊稼，守護(hù)著它們成長。他是個非常純樸的人，就像一棵根須不多但主根扎得很深的樹。他先后訂閱了兩份分別在芝加哥和奧馬哈出版的波希米亞文報紙。他的心朝著西部越飛越遠(yuǎn)。他開始攢錢，想買回他的自由。他三十五歲那年，波希米亞人的體育社團(tuán)在紐約舉辦了一次盛大的運(yùn)動會，羅西基乘機(jī)辭掉了服裝廠的工作，隨來參加運(yùn)動會的奧馬哈代表團(tuán)一起回到了內(nèi)布拉斯加州，想在世界的另一個地方碰碰運(yùn)氣。

Perhaps the fact that his own youth was well over before he began to have a family was one reason why Rosicky was so fond of his boys. He had almost a grandfather’s indulgence for them. He had never had to worry about any of them—except， just now， a little about Rudolph.

羅西基的青春時代在他成家之前就早已過去，興許這就是他特別寵愛自家孩子的一個原因。他對孩子們有一種近乎于老祖父般的寬容，從來都無需為他們當(dāng)中的任何一個擔(dān)心，可眼下他得稍稍為魯?shù)婪虿俨傩牧恕?/p>

【背景知識】《鄰居羅西基》是美國女作家薇拉·凱瑟（1873—1947）于1830年發(fā)表的一篇重要短篇小說。小說通過回憶和追述的手法，講述了波希米亞移民羅西基樸素而充實(shí)的一生，展現(xiàn)了拓荒者及其后代善良、樸素、勤勞、熱愛生活、眷念土地的可貴品質(zhì)。小說主題深刻，結(jié)構(gòu)勻稱，筆觸細(xì)膩，文字優(yōu)美，人物性格刻畫清晰，翻譯時應(yīng)注意描摹。

【第1段】注意參考譯文第一句中的“……讀到過的那些文章，那些描述捷克移民在西部建立起富裕農(nóng)場社區(qū)的文章”和第七句中的“……有一種特殊的聯(lián)系，一種只有在童年才能與之建立的聯(lián)系”，對照相應(yīng)的原文，可見“文章”（articles）和“聯(lián)系”（ties）在譯文中都被重復(fù)了一遍，部分修飾或限制這兩個名詞的定語被放在了重復(fù)的名詞之前。（關(guān)于這種譯法，請參見商務(wù)印書館2013年版《英漢翻譯二十講》第17講和第18講）。

【第2段】上次評析我們提到了譯文要講究遣詞選字，講究音韻節(jié)奏，并引用了朱光潛先生一段話：“文字傳神，大半要靠聲音節(jié)奏……對于文學(xué)作品無論是閱讀或是翻譯，如果沒有抓住它的聲音節(jié)奏，就不免把它的精華完全失去?！泵绹g學(xué)家尤金·奈達(dá)（1914—2011）在其Language and Culture： Context in Translation（《語言與文化——翻譯中的語境》）一書中也持這樣的看法，他認(rèn)為：文學(xué)語篇通常會表現(xiàn)出統(tǒng)一、平衡、節(jié)奏和諧等美學(xué)特征（p.59），除詩歌之外，好的散文體語篇（prose）也應(yīng)該有語音和語義的跌宕起伏（p.63），翻譯這類語篇，譯者在字詞和句法方面的偏差可以原諒，但營造不出原文的氣氛則不可饒?。╬.74）。參考譯文把to see the sun rise and set翻譯成“清晨看日出，傍晚看日落”就是秉承這種理念。

【第3段】我曾說過，“我們不能因?yàn)槟芜_(dá)說‘譯者在字詞和句法方面的偏差可以原諒’，就對這種‘偏差’熟視無睹，聽之任之”（商務(wù)印書館《英漢翻譯二十講》2013年版第80頁，2019年增訂版第106頁）。有個優(yōu)秀譯本把此段第一句譯成了“也許是在成家前他的青春時代就早已過去，所以他格外疼愛孩子”（北京燕山出版社《薇拉·凱瑟精選集》2004年版第310頁）。從譯文在句首用“也許”對應(yīng)原文句首的Perhaps來看，該譯者本來是力圖“在字詞和句法方面”不出偏差，但這種完全按照原文詞序安排的譯法往往會令譯者顧此失彼，此句譯文忽略了原文中的one reason（一個原因）恐怕就屬于這正情況。

【小結(jié)】本次譯析介紹了美國譯學(xué)家尤金·奈達(dá)的一種看法，但需要提醒讀者的是，奈達(dá)說“譯者在字詞和句法方面的偏差可以原諒”，是為了強(qiáng)調(diào)“營造不出原文的氣氛則不可饒恕”。其實(shí)我們做翻譯還是要追求譯文在意義、語氣、感情和文體風(fēng)格（包括原文營造的氣氛）等諸方面盡可能地接近原文。