久居兰室不闻其香。-- 此言直击人类审美心理的弱点。同时，也启迪我们，以汉语为母语者观察英语，其美感的直觉性也许强于native speakers。鉴于此，落下译笔之前，若是先能把玩一番，鉴赏英语表达之美，不仅能提高译趣，还能提高译文质量。

美国著名作家John Updike（约翰•厄普代克）有一短篇，题目是Delicate Wives（娇妻），开头一段是：

Veronica Horst was stung by a bee, and it should have produced no more than a minute of annoyance and pain, but she, in the apparent bloom of health at the age of twenty-nine, turned out to be susceptible to anaphylactic shock, and nearly died. Fortunately, her husband, Gregor, was with her, and threw her fainting body, all but blood-pressureless, into their car and speeded careening through the heart of town to the hospital, where she was saved. When Les Miller heard about the event, from his wife, Lisa, who was breathlessly fresh from a session of gossip and women's tennis, he was stung by jealousy: he and Veronica had had an affair the previous summer, and by the rights of love he should have been the one to be with her and to save her heroically. Gregor even had the presence of mind, afterward, to go around to the local police and explain why he had been speeding and careening through stop signs. "It seems incredible," Lisa innocently told her husband, "that here she's nearly thirty and apparently has never been stung before, so nobody knew she would react this way. As a child I was always getting stung, weren't you?"

美哉，上段！

美感具有直觉性，直觉性，有强有弱，但是，有一点是共同的，那就是始于文字表达的外部特点，或曰“表象美”（overt aesthetic value）。

上段先后出现了三个stung。stung乃sting（刺、螫、叮）之过去分词，它的反复运用即构成了不可多得的表象美，stung有用其本义（denotation）的，也有用其转义(connotation)的。除stung之外，上段还用了别的connotative words。比如（以出现次序为序）：

a/ in the apparent bloom of health at the age of twenty-nine

b/ and threw her fainting body …

c/ through the heart of town to the hospital

遣词美，造句亦美。小说之首段，仅用了四、五句话，就极富概括力地交代了故事涉及的两对夫妇，并按时派生出的第三对。四人的姓名，大致外貌，甚至个性都有了一个轮廓式的，但又不乏细致笔触的描绘，这是怎样的笔力！John Updike固然笔力不凡，但英语句式之美也为他提供了用武之地。

语言学家早就注意到了与汉语句式相比时英语所显示出的句式美，他们如此比喻：英句结构好似“一串葡萄”，主干短短，却结附着果实却累累。 

请看“葡萄型”的句子：

Fortunately, her husband, Gregor, was with her, and threw her fainting body, all but blood-pressureless, into their car and speeded careening through the heart of town to the hospital, where she was saved.

上句是并列句，亦复合句，介词短语接介词短语，介词短语后面又接一个定语从句！似可用八字来形容此句：欲止还言，喋喋不休。更称奇的是，这又是一句典型的periodic sentence（圆周句，又称悬念句），句子最末一个单词不出现，整句句意就不明朗，不完整。惜乎，汉语无此句式。首段的其他几句，也闪烁着别样的美。

审美，不可局限于直觉，就如国人懂得以“秀外慧中”写女人一样，除了关注和欣赏文字表达之“秀外”，更重要的是能赏识其“慧中”。能鉴赏文字作品之“慧中”，即审美的非美学表象要素，非易事一桩，这有涉审美能力及理智性。

Gregor even had the presence of mind, afterward, to go around to the local police and explain why he had been speeding and careening through stop signs.

-- 此句写Gregor。以even had the presence of mind…刻画Gregor的个性，入木三分！ presence of mind的意思是The ability to think and act calmly and efficiently, especially in an emergency（镇定, 沉着）。但是，这并非作者的本意。试想，驾车超速行驶，次日还要专门主动到警察局去为超速行车作解释，此事体现了Gregor怎样的个性？不是有点“迂腐”，就是爱小题大做。作者借此表象写Gregor的性格，与后面的描写一脉相承。他是一个性情古怪而又以自我为中心的人。因此，the presence of mind就值得咀嚼，是描写Gregor个性的点睛之笔。此句可译：事后，格雷戈尔居然还有心情跑了一趟警察局，解释他……

   "It seems incredible," Lisa innocently told her husband, "that here she's nearly thirty and apparently has never been stung before, so nobody knew she would react this way. As a child I was always getting stung, weren't you?"

-- 此句写Lisa。副词innocently，好似在不经意间一笔带过，其实，此副词，表面述实，实则写人。其丈夫和Veronica有染，Lisa还蒙在鼓里，全然不知。一个innocently巧妙暗递了此信息，同时，Lisa的个性也由innocently一词跃出。若将它译成“纯洁的莉莎”，则不识innocently之大美也。此句可译：不知隐情的莉莎 / 没有心计的莉莎。

审美，为传递美，创造美作铺垫。 

When Les Miller heard about the event, from his wife, Lisa, who was breathlessly fresh from a session of gossip and women's tennis, he was stung by jealousy: he and Veronica had had an affair the previous summer, and by the rights of love he should have been the one to be with her and to save her heroically.

其中有一个定语从句： 

… who was breathlessly fresh from a session of gossip and women's tennis 

众所周知，fresh from是英语的一个固定搭配，意思是：just returned from （刚从…归来）。审美意识告诉我们，笔力纵横的John Updike一般不太可能将fresh from作为一个固定搭配来使用，更可能的是，这个fresh跟前面的breathlessly构成翻新出奇的搭配，breathlessly fresh的搭配就出彩了，fresh有“气色好的，年轻的，精神饱满的”的含义，用副词breathlessly来修饰fresh，神形兼备也！breathlessly fresh似可译成：娇喘吁吁，却容光焕发。若将fresh from视作固定搭配，亦可翻译，且语法上也说得通，如译：她刚从……回来，气喘吁吁的样子。原文字里行间的非表象美则痛失哉！ 

一叶知秋，一段知美。翻译，是一种遗憾的艺术。译者经常只能“独享”原文之美，而无法在译文中原汁原味地传递原文之美，表象的，非表象的。英语有英语的美，汉语有汉语的美，宛如男性有男性的美，女性有女性的美，难以彼此“移植”哟。

试译Delicate Wives的首段：

维罗妮卡•霍斯特被蜜蜂螫了一下，这本没有什么大不了，只该给她造成片刻的烦恼和疼痛而已。在29岁这个年龄，维罗妮卡显然正处健康的巅峰阶段，不料，她却易患过敏性休克，这一螫险些要了她的性命。幸好，丈夫格雷戈尔在她身边，他赶紧把不省人事、气息奄奄的维罗妮卡抱上他们的车，风驰电掣、横冲直撞地穿过镇中心，将她送入医院救治脱险。莱斯•米勒是从妻子莉莎那里听说此事的。当时莉莎娇喘吁吁，容光焕发，刚从外面聊了一通张家长李家短的闲话，打完一场女子网球回来。听闻此事，莱斯被妒忌心所螫：去年夏天，莱斯和维罗妮卡曾有过一段情。籍爱之名，在维罗妮卡身边，演绎英雄救美的，理应是他呀。事后，格雷戈尔居然还有心情跑了一趟警察局，解释他为何置停车信号于不顾而飞车过街。“这好像挺不可思议的，”不知隐情的莉莎跟丈夫说，“维罗妮卡都快三十了，明摆着，以前从来没被螫过，所以谁都不会料到她的反应会如此强烈。我小时候经常被螫，你不也是吗？”