《水调歌头》杨宪益、黄新渠、许渊冲、朱纯深和Turner五种译文对比赏析

 

译文来源：（排名不分先后）

译文一：杨宪益、戴乃迭译文：《中国文学古代诗歌卷》（汉英对照），外语教学与研究出版社和中国文学出版社，1998年，第230-231页。

译文二： 黄新渠先生译文：《中国古典诗词精华选萃》（汉英对照），作家出版社，2009年，第89-90页。  

译文三：许渊冲先生译文：许渊冲著《中诗英韵探胜》，北京大学出版社，2010年，第307页-310页

译文四：朱纯深先生译文：名作精译《中国翻译》汉译英选萃，青岛出版社出版，2005年，第132-135页。

译文五：Turner译文：许渊冲著《中诗英韵探胜》，北京大学出版社，2010年，第307页-309页

 

原文：

《水调歌头》

苏轼

丙辰中秋，欢饮达旦，大醉。作此篇，兼怀子由。

 

明月几时有？

把酒问青天。

不知天上宫阙，

今夕是何年？

我欲乘风归去，

又恐琼楼玉宇，

高处不胜寒。

起舞弄清影，

何似在人间？

 

转朱阁，

低绮户，

照无眠。

不应有恨，

何事长向别时圆？

人有悲欢离合，

月有阴晴圆缺，

此事古难全。

但愿人长久，

千里共婵娟。

 

杨宪益先生译文：

Shui Diao Ge Tou

To the Tune of Prelude to Water Melody

　　Su Shi

On the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year Bingchen I drank happily till dawn and wrote this in my cups while thinking of Ziyou.

　　Bright moon, when was your birth?

　　Wine cup in hand, I ask the deep blue sky;

　　Not knowing what year it is tonight

　　In those celestial palaces on high.

　　I long to fly back on the wind,

　　Yet dread those crystal towers, those courts of jade,

　　Freezing to death among those icy heights!

　　Instead I rise to dance with my pale shadow;

　　Better off, after all, in the world of men.

　　

Rounding the red pavilion,

　　Stooping to look through gauze windows,

　　She shines on the sleepless.

　　The moon should know no sadness;

　　Why, then, is she always full when dear ones are parted?

　　For men, the grief of parting, joy of reunion,

　　Just as the moon wanes and waxes, is bright or dim;

　　Always some flaw ?and so it has been since of old.

　　My one wish for you, then, is long life

　　And a share in this loveliness far, far away!

 

黄新渠先生译文：

                           MOON FESTIVAL                                  

                               To the tune Sui Diao Ge Tou

                      (Tune:“Prelude to Water Melody”)

                                          Su Shi (1036-1101 A. D.)

On the Mid-autumn Festival of 1076, I drank with great joy till dawn and became drunk. I composed this poem while missing my younger brother Ziyou.

                      

How rare the moon shines so bright?

Holding a goblet, I ask the blue sky.     

What a joyful air is it tonight,             

Amid the heavenly palace on high！  

I wish to ride the wind and fly back,            

Yet those jade towers and marble courts,             

Amid the icy heights would be much too cold.    

Instead, I try to dance and swing with my shadow.  

Is there anything better than the human world?

                                                

Turning around the red pavilions,                              

Stooping to peer through the latticed windows,     

The moon shines over those who can't fall asleep.        

There's no reason for her being so hard on men.  

Why is she always full when dear ones are apart?   

Men know the sorrow of parting and joy of reunion,  

The moon is bright or dim, she may wax or wane;                                                                

Things have never been perfect since ancient times. 

May we enjoy a lasting peaceful life,

And share her splendor across a thousand miles!        

Europe and China 1983 7/8                                  

Selected from Highlights of Classical Chinese Lyrics               

A Chinese-English Edition of Classical Chinese Poems P. 89-90  Revised: September 22,2010 

 

许渊冲先生译文：

Prelude to Water Melody
(Northern Song dynasty Su Shi 1037-1101A.D.)

How long will the full moon appear?
Wine cup in hand, I ask the sky.
I do not know what time of the year
It would be tonight in the palace on high.
Riding the wind, there I would fly,
Yet I’m afraid the crystalline palace would be
Too high and cold for me.
I rise and dance, with my shadow I play.
On high as on earth, would it be as gay?
The moon goes round the mansions red
Through gauze-draped window soft to shed
Her light upon the sleepless bed.
Why then when people part, is the oft full and bright?
Men have sorrow and joy; they part or meet again;
The moon is bright or dim and she may wax or wane.
There has been nothing perfect since the olden days.
So let us wish that man
Will live long as he can!
Though miles apart, we’ll share the beauty she displays.

朱纯深先生译文：

 

Mid-Autumn Festival

—To the tune of Shuidiaogetou

Su Shi

 

How often can we have

        such a glorious moon?

Raising my goblet, I put

        the question to Heaven.

Which year is it tonight,

        in your celestial palaces?

I wish to ride the wind, and

        return there, if not deterred

By the unbearable cold that must

        prevail at that height.

Aloof there, one could dance

                        but with a lonely shadow;

So why not

        stay on this Earth?

 

Hovering round my chamber,

Sidling through my gate,

        a witness to my sleepless night,

You must bear no grudge,

        but why should you turn so full

Every time when somebody’s away?

This is, anyway, an eternal flaw—

        an uncertain world

        under an inconstant moon.

Nonetheless, may all of us remain

        long in this world, and share

The immortal moon even though

                    thousand of miles apart!

 

John A. Turner译文：

Remembrance in Mid-Autumn – to the tune of “Barcarole Prelude”

 

 

“When did this glorious moon begin to be?’

Cup in hand, I asked of the azure sky:

And wondered in the palaces of the air

What calendar this night do they go by.

Yes, I would wish to mount the winds and wander there

At home; but dread those onyx towers and halls of jade

Set so immeasurably cold and high.

To tread a measure, to support with fleshless shade,

How alien to our frail mortality!

 

Her light round scarlet pavilion, ‘neath broidered screen, down streams

On me that sleepless lie.

Ah, vain indeed is my complaining:

But why must she beam at the full on those that sundered sigh?

As men have their weal and woe, their parting and meeting, it seems

The moon has her dark and light, her phases of fulness and waning.

Never is seen perfection things that die.

Yet would I crave one solitary boon:

Long be we linked with light of the fair moon

Over large leagues of distance, thou and I.