第六讲 散文的翻译风格-荔枝蜜

第六讲 散文的翻译风格-荔枝蜜

《荔枝蜜》

花鸟草虫，凡是上得画的，那原物往往也叫人喜爱。蜜蜂是画家的爱物，我却总不大喜欢。说起来可笑。孩子时候，有一回上树掐海棠花，不想叫蜜蜂螫了一下，痛得我差点儿跌下来。大人告诉我说：蜜蜂轻易不螫人，准是误以为你要伤害它，才螫；一螫，它自己耗尽生命，也活不久了。我听了，觉得那蜜蜂可怜，原谅它了。可是从此以后，每逢看见蜜蜂，感情上疙疙瘩瘩的，总不怎么舒服。

A: The subjects of atists’paintings – flowers, birds, grass and insects – are also found attractive by most people. However, although bees, are a popular feature in paintings, I do not like them. The reason behind this is quite funny. In my childhood, I once climbed a crabapple tree to pick some flowers and unexpected was stung by a bee. It was o painful that I almost fell off the tree. The grown-ups told me that bees do not ordinarily sting people, but do so only when they feel threatened. And soon after they sting you, they die. After hearing this, I took pity on the bee and forgave it. But since then, whenever I see a bee, I feel all knotted inside and very uncomfortable.

B: Flowers, birds, grass and insects are lovely objects often appearing in paintings. Ridiculously I don’t like bees though they are often depicted by artists. When a child I climbed up a cherry-tree to pick some flowers and nearly fell off from a bee sting. Grownups told me that bees never stung unless they believed they were in danger, and when they did they died

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afterwards too. I forgave the bee for its sorrowful end. Nevertheless, the very sight of it always gave me an awkward feeling since then.

C: Flowers, birds, grass and insects which are popular with painters, are usually delightful things. Yet I never had much liking for bees though they often appear in paintings. The reason is laughable. One day when I was a child I climbed a cherry-tree to pick some blossom and got stung by a bee and the pain nearly made me fall off. Grownups told me that bees never stung unless they were afraid you were going to hurt them, and stinging someone would cost a bee its own life. When I heard that, I felt sorry for the bee and forgave it. Still, after that, the sight of a bee always filled me with misgivings.

今年四月，我到广东从化温泉小住了几天。四围是山，怀里抱着一潭春水，那又浓又翠的景色，简直是一幅青绿山水画。刚去的当晚，是个阴天，偶尔倚着楼窗一望，奇怪啊，怎么楼前凭空涌起那么多黑黝黝的小山，一重一重的，起伏不断？记得楼前是一片比较平坦的园林，不是山。这到底是什么幻景呢？赶到天明一看，忍不住笑了。原来是满野的荔枝树，一棵连一棵，每棵的叶子都密得不透缝，黑夜看去，可不就像小山似的！

A: Last April I went to Conghua Hot-spring in Guangdong for a few days’ stay. The spring was encircled by hills, thick with greenery, a regular painting of blue hills and green waters. It was a cloudy evening when I arrived. I happened to look out the window and was surprised by the sight of dark little mounds outside the window. One after another, crowding together, they turned the grounds outside, which I remembered as level, into hilly land. What was this mysterious scene? I wondered. The next day I took a quick look and broke out laughing. What I had

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seen were lychee trees that grew so close together and with such thick leaves that they looked like little mounds in the evening.

B: Last April, I went for a short stay in the Conghua Spa, Guangdong Province in the south of China. Beautiful as a landscape painting, the spa was a pool of clear spring water surrounded on all sides by verdant mountains. I arrived in an overcast evening. Looking out of the window by chance I was astonished to see layers upon layers of rolling dark hills rising before me. My memory had it that the hotel building faced a garden, not hills. Was that an illusion? I had to laugh next morning when I looked again at a wide stretch of lychee trees, with sense foliage. They resembled small hills in the dark.

C: Last April, I went for a short stay in the Conghua Hot Spring, Guandong. Beautiful as a traditional blue-and-green landscape painting, the spring was a pool of clear spring water surrounded on all sides by verdant mountains. I arrived one overcast evening. Happening to look out of the window I was astonished to see undulating dark hills looming tier after tier before me. The view from the Guest House, as I remembered it, was of a level garden, not of hills. Had my eyes played me false? I had to laugh the next morning when I looked again and saw a wide stretch of lychee trees with dense foliage. They had resembled small hills in the dark.

荔枝也许是世上最鲜最美的水果。苏东坡写过这样的诗句：“日啖荔枝三百颗，不辞长作岭南人”，可见荔枝的妙处。偏偏我来的不是时候，满树刚开着浅黄色的小花，并不出众。新发的嫩叶，颜色淡红，比花倒还中看些。从开花到果子成熟，大约得三个月，看

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来我是等不及在从化温泉吃鲜荔枝了。

A: Lychee is perhaps the sweetest and tastiest fruit in the world. Su Dongpo (1037-1101) wrote:

Were I to eat three hundred lychees each day,

To become a Lingman native I shan’t fuse.

From this you can see the marvel of lychees, that they could impel even a mandarin like Su Dongpo to wish to live in the then comparatively desolate provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, which were known as Lingnan in those days. Unfortunately, I did not come at the right time. The trees were full of small, light yellow flowers, not very pretty, not even as pretty as the pink, tender leaves that had just sprouted. I would take about three more months for the fruit to ripen. It looked as though I would not be able to stay long enough in Conghua to eat fresh lychees.

B: Lychee is perhaps the most delicious fruit in the world. Su Dongpo, an ancient Chinese poet wrote, “I’m willing to stay for even in Lingnan, eating three hundred lychees a day.” This showed how much the fruit was catered after. I had come at a time hwen the small yellow flowers, less attractive than the pale red leaves, were just blossoming when the fruit ripened three months later. So I wouldn’t be eating lychees here.

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C: Lychee is perhaps the most delicious fruit in the world. Su Dongpo, an ancient Chinese poet wrote, “I would gladly stay for ever in Lingnan, eating three hundred lychees a day.”This indicated how much the fruit was sought after. I had come at a time when the small and light yellow flowers, less attractive than the pink leaves, were just beginning to blossom. I would take another tree months for the fruit to ripen, so I would not be eating fresh lychees here this time.

吃鲜荔枝蜜，倒是时候。有人也许没听说这稀罕物儿吧？从化的荔枝树多得像汪洋大海，开花时节，那蜜蜂满野嘤嘤嗡嗡，忙得忘记早晚，有时还趁着月色采花酿蜜。荔枝蜜的特点是成色纯，养分多。住在温泉的人多半喜欢吃这种蜜，滋养精神。热心肠的同志为我也弄到两瓶。一开瓶子塞儿，就是那么一股甜香；调上半杯一喝，甜香里带着股清气，很有点鲜荔枝味儿。喝着这样的好蜜，你会觉得生活都是甜的呢。

A: But it was the right time to eat lychee honey. Maybe there are people who have never heard of this rare food. In Conghua, lychees grow into an ocean. During the blomming season, bees buzz about everywhere from morning till night, sometimes even under the moonlight. The speciality to lychee honey is its purity and its rich nourishment. Those who live by the hotspring like the honey for its nourishment. A warm-hearted comrade got tow jars for me. As soon as I opened one of them, the fragrance surged out. Stirring some of the honey into half a glass of water, I found a freshness to its sweet taste, very much like lychee. To drink such good honey makes you feel that life is indeed sweet.

B: It was the best time for lychee honey though. Maybe some people had not heard of this rarity? At flowering time, bees buzzed all over the ocean of lychee

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trees in Conghua, gathering nectar from from dawn till dusk and under the moonlight too. The honey they produce were pure and nutritious. The local people all like this honey for a tonic. A warm-hearted friend got me two bottles too. A sweet aroma emitted as soon as the bottle was open. Mixed with water it tasted like fresh lychee, fragrant and delicate, sweetening the life for one sipping this heavenly honey.

C: It was the best time for lychee honey though. Maybe some people have not heard of this rarity? At this time of year, when the Conghua lychee trees seem a sea of lossom there is humming and buzzing everywhere as bees gather nectar from dawn till dusk and under the moonlight too. The honey they produce were pure and nutritious, and most of the local people like it and take it as a tonic. A warm-hearted friend got me too bottles too, and as soon as I opened one it scented the air. Mixed with water it tasted as fragrant and delicate as fresh lychee, a heavenly drink like nectar, and sipping it makes you feel you life is filled with sweetness.

结尾

诗人和翻译家梁宗岱说：“作品在译者心里唤起的回响是那么深沉和清澈，反映在作品里的作者和译者的心灵那么融合无间，二者的艺术手腕又那么旗鼓相当，译者简直觉得作者是自己前身，自己是作者再世，因而用了无上的热忱、挚爱和虔诚去竭力追摹和活现原作的神采。这时候翻译就等于两颗伟大的灵魂遥隔着世纪和国界携手合作”

埃文也在其《翻译与情操》一书中说：“翻译之所以是艺术，不仅由于它具有形式的

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美，而且还由于它具有情操的美。译者与作者必须心心相印，灵犀相通。翻译所需要的不是一支素描的笔，而是一颗燃烧的心。不仅要译出眼泪，而且要译出悲哀；不仅要译出笑声，而且要译出欢乐；不仅要译出拍案而起，而且要译出义愤填膺；不仅要译出效命疆场，而且要译出赤胆忠心；不仅要译出有形之事物，而且要译出无形之情操”（冯庆华，2002：170）。

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