張培基英譯散文賞析之《生命》

生命
Life
何爲
He Wei
| 譯文摘自張培基《英譯中國散文選二》

如果迴歸自然，各有不同的方式，後人總是尊重前人最後一次選擇。一位朋友偶然講起一件事，有如一篇小小說，聽者動容。
There are various ways of returning to nature, but people generally respect the last wish made by their parents towards their journey’s end. A friend of mine incidentally related to me the following occurrence which, like a little story, is very touching:
要點：
1，“前人最後一次選擇”譯者按”父母的臨終願望“之意譯爲the last wish made by their parents towards their journey’s end，其中one’s journey’s end意爲“臨終，生命的盡頭”也可譯爲the last wish made by their parents towards the end of their life journey
2, “一位朋友偶然講起一件事”譯爲A friend of mine incidentally related to me the following occurrence，其中relate 意爲“講述”其同義詞有recount，recourse, speak of，occurrence指“發生的事情”比thing更加高端啊有木有~
3，“聽者動容“即”令聽者動容“或”令人動容“=touching

在新開發的叢林裏，一條蜿蜒的小徑上，一個衣着素色的女人踽踽獨行，徑直走向林子裏的一棵樹。這裏許多樹大小參差不一，有的移植不久，不過都長得很快。在一個時期內，都挺直有神。新生的樹葉嫩綠有生機。當然，有人專門護理這些紀念樹。
In a newly opened-up forest, a quietly dressed woman walked all by herself on a winding path straight towards one of the trees. There were many trees of varying sizes, and some had just been transplanted, but all were shooting up fast, standing straight and stout and covered with light green young leaves. Evidently, some people had been put in charge of these meMorial trees.
要點：

1，“在新開發的叢林裏，一條蜿蜒的小徑上，一個衣着素色的女人踽踽獨行，徑直走向林子裏的一棵樹。“本句雖然是四個散句，表達的卻是一連串的動作，因此可以調整順序後將其整合爲” 一個衣着素色的女人獨自沿着蜿蜒的小徑走向一棵樹“譯爲In a newly opened-up forest, a quietly dressed woman walked all by herself on a winding path straight towards one of the trees.
2，“衣着素色的“譯爲a quietly dressed，此處的quiet意指”顏色素淨，不顯眼“；”踽踽獨行“即”獨自行走“=walked all by herself
3，shoot up意爲“上冒，噴出，猛長“=spring up,更加生動形象地表現出樹木那富有生機的生長狀態~是一個值得借鑑的好詞，
4，“有人專門護理這些紀念樹“譯爲some people had been put in charge of these memorial trees。此處”專門護理“宜理解爲”專門負責照顧這些樹“，也可譯爲some person had been specially assigned to take good care of the memorial trees

綜述：類似於shoot up這種生動形象的詞我們之前也見過不少，比如put forth, sprout up/out~

不知多少年來，這個女人總是帶着一束鮮花默默地置於樹根旁，然後仰起頭來，對着樹身凝視，翕動着她獨有的小小嘴脣，既像獨語，又像傾訴。她退後一步，打量她這樹高了多少，細心地除去樹下斑斑駁駁的落葉，向這顆移植多年的樹傾身擁抱，親了一下，輕輕摩挲樹皮的皺紋，如同面對一個有生命的軀體。不久，她依依不捨的轉身離去，消失在暮色漸濃的秋天最後一抹餘暉裏。
As she had been doing for we don’t know how many years, the woman stood silently beside the tree with a bunch of fresh flowers in her hand. She raised her head to fix her eyes on the tree and kept moving her unique small lips as if she were soliloquizing or sharing her innermost feelings with someone. She took a step back to assess how much the tree had grown in height and softly removed the mottled fallen leaves under it. She bent forward to hug and kiss the tree that had been transplanted many years before, and gently stroked its wrinkled bark as if it were something alive. Then she reluctantly turned round and left, vanishing into the last rays of an autumn day in the deepening dusk.
要點：
1，“不知多少年來“譯爲As she had been doing for we don’t know how many years,其中we don’t know how是插入語，用以表達原文的”不知“此從句也可譯爲”她這樣做已經許多年了“即As had always been the case for many years或as she had been doing this for many years~在《我坐了木船》中也有類似表述——“跑了不知多少趟，總算有眉目了”譯爲After making you don't know how many visits, there eventually appear signs of positive outcome.其中的you don’t know how也是插入語，修飾many。
2，“翕動“即”不斷地張合“故譯kept moving
3，“依依不捨“一般都用reluctant來翻，如It the time to go back. We were fascinated by the scenery and reluctant to leave.該返回了，我們被這景色深深吸引住了，不願離去。

綜述：本段有很多文學性較強的詞如“獨語“”傾訴“”斑斑駁駁的“摩挲”“ 翕動”都是我們需要積累的哦~還是那句話：文學性很重要的一個體現就是在選詞用詞上~

一陣秋風吹過，樹葉沙沙地響動，彷彿隱祕的私語。女人頓時回過身來，惟有她才能聽懂私語的全部含意。於是喃喃自語向大樹告訴。含着淚，走向她的歸途。年復一年，小徑上的女人孤獨的背影，顯得越來越蒼老了。

At a sudden gust of the autumn wind, the tree rustled like it was whispering secretly and the woman, being the only person capable of understanding the full implications of the whisper, immediately turned round. Then, after mumbling a few words to the tree, she said goodbye to it and set out on her way home with tears in her the years went by, the woman, a regular solitary visitor on the path, became older and older.
要點：
1，”一陣秋風吹過“即”秋風起“或”起了一陣秋風“，故譯At a sudden gust of the autumn wind，其中at的含義是”由於“”作爲對…的反應“
2，“樹葉沙沙地響動，彷彿隱祕的私語“譯爲the tree rustled like it was whispering secretly and the woman.”沙沙地響動“=rustle,簡潔生動~擬聲詞在文學翻譯中的作用也是應該引起重視的~
3，“.惟有她才能聽懂私語的全部含意“其實隱含了”因爲“這層關係，因此譯爲being the only person capable of understanding the full implications of the whisper
4，“小徑上的女人孤獨的背影，顯得越來越蒼老了“如果直接譯爲”背影變得蒼老“會引起外國讀者的困惑，因此可以按照”常見於小徑上的那個孤獨女人，顯得越來越蒼老了“，譯爲the woman, a regular solitary visitor on the path, became older and older.

綜述：介詞，擬聲詞，顯示了譯者紮實的語法功底和語言功底，惟有不斷積累和運用才能成就的事業~

若干年後，這棵樹長得更高大了，樹冠綴滿蔥蘢的樹葉。它屹立在這片土地上，風吹來，滿樹充滿生命的綠色更繁茂了。它對着蒼穹，仰望太陽、月亮和星星的運行，與大自然親密無間連成一片。
Several years later, the tree became even taller and was crowned with verdant foliage. It stood erect and became more and more luxuriantly green in the wind. It looked up at the firmament to watch the motions of the sun, moon and stars and thus merged itself with Mother Nature.
要點：
1，“風吹來“也是採用介詞+名詞的形式譯爲in the wind，置於句中，凸顯句式的簡潔~
2,”綴滿“=be crowed with=be filled with，crowed 較filled更加生動
3，“與…連成一片”=merge oneself with

又過了些時候，靠近大樹旁出現了一棵新移植的小樹。小樹很壯碩，也很安靜。隨着歲月遞增，年長日久，大樹和小樹埋在泥土下的根莖錯節，相互交織。兩棵樹下各埋着一個精緻的小木盒，木盒裏的骨灰，逐漸化爲樹根下的有機肥，融入樹身內。兩個老者相繼以這樣的方式迴歸自然，在大自然的懷抱中，生命得以延續。樹上每一片小綠葉都蘊含着綠色的希望。這是真的，是一首歌頌樹葬的詩篇。不用問他們是誰，是誰，就是誰。
Another period of time afterwards, there appeared close to it a newly transplanted small tree. It was robust and quiet. With the passage of time, the roots of the two trees had become twined together. They each had a delicate small wooden cinerary casket buried underneath them. The ashes in the caskets had gradually turned into organic fertilizer passing into the trees trunks by way of the roots. The two elderly persons had successively chosen the same way of returning to nature so as to have life prolonged in the bosom of nature. Each tender leaf in the trees was pregnant with green hope. It’s a true story. It’s a poem singing the praises of tree burial. No need to identify the two elderly people though. It could be any person.
要點：

1，“根莖錯節，相互交織”即“樹根相互盤繞”即the roots of the two trees had become twined together.
2,” 兩棵樹下各埋着一個精緻的小木盒”譯爲They each had a delicate small wooden cinerary casket buried underneath them. have done表被動~
3，“木盒裏的骨灰，逐漸化爲樹根下的有機肥，融入樹身內”即“木盒裏的骨灰，逐漸化爲有機肥，，通過樹根，進入樹身”譯爲The ashes in the caskets had gradually turned into organic fertilizer passing into the trees trunks by way of the way of 已經粗線好多次了意同於through
4，“是誰，就是誰”即“可能是任何一個人”，譯爲It could be any person

綜述：注意本段中式散句的翻譯，有些句子直譯會引起困惑，需要譯者把握及整合其具體意思而後進行翻譯~本篇文章短小而有有味道，文字清新且富有詩意，無論是賞析還是拿來做練習都是一種享受~