賞讀 : 林語堂英譯《西青散記序》

《西青散記序》，是林语堂中英對照《揚州瘦馬》的第一篇。

《西青散记》是清代史震林的散文。關于此文的作者及背景，此處不赘述。仅就中英文的譯文作一赏析。

先将《西青散记序》原文，和譯文分别列出:

西青散記序 ( 清 ) 史震林

余初生時，怖夫天之乍明乍暗。家人曰：晝夜也。怪夫人之乍有乍無，曰生死也。教余別星，曰孰箕斗。別禽，曰孰鳥鵲。識所始也。

生以長，乍明乍暗，乍有乍無者，漸不為異，間於紛紛混混時，自提其神於太虛而俯之，覺明暗有無之乍乍者，微可悲也。

襁褓膳雌，家人曰：其子猶在，匍匐往視，雙雛睨余，守其母羽。輟膳以悲。悲所始也。

匍匐牆下，得物謂飴，捧而吮之。家人癡余曰: 石也。上有字，字為西，字為青，強余讀，讀所始也。

其凹如臼至今對之，是為散記。；“”

乾隆二年十二月十二日梦中作。

林語堂譯文如下 :

Beginning of Knowledge and of Sorrow

Preface to WEST-GREEN RANDOM NOTES

Shih Chenli

When I was a child, I was frightened by the sudden alternations of light and darkness and was told that it was night and day.

I was mystified by the sudden appearance and disappearance

of beings and was told that it was birth and death.

People told me to distinguish the stars and said, " That one is the Sieve, and that one the Dipper."

I learned to distinguish the birds and was told this one was a raven and that a magpie.

This was how my knowledge began.

When I grew older, I gradually lost the wonder at the sudden

alternations of light and darkness and appearance and disappearance

of beings.

Sometimes in the maze of confusions I let my spirit soar

upward to space.

Looking down at the sudden changes of light and

birth and death of things, I felt a twinge of sorrow.

I remember that once in my childhood, I was going to feed a hen.

Someone told me that its young chicks were there. I crawled over and saw two chicks hiding under the wings of their mother and peeping at me. I was seized with a sense of sorrow and forgot about the feeding. This was how my sorrows began.

Once I was crawling along the garden walls and found an

object. I was going to suck it like a piece of candy. People laughed

at me and said it was a piece of rock.

On this rock stood one word

" West, " and another word, ""Green, " and I was forced to learn these

two words. This was how my reading began.

That a piece of rock, hollow at the center, still facing me on my desk, where I am writing these Random Notes .

对于熟悉文言汉语和英语的人，此文的汉语似乎比英语难懂一些。

而且，古汉語言简意賅，英語冗长。篇幅长短明显不同。

现在分段對照 。先把英语譯成白话文，再用注解方式，来对照古汉语的文本。

一 标题: 西青散記序 ( 清 ) 史震林

Beginning of Knowledge and of Sorrow

Preface to WEST-GREEN RANDOM NOTES

Shih Chenli

译文 : 认知和悲悯的开始

西青散記序言 史震林

注 : 譯者加上一段文字 : “认知和悲悯的开始“，这显然是为了让外国读者明了此文的主题。

二 余初生時，怖夫天之乍明乍暗。家人曰：晝夜也。

When I was a child, I was frightened by the sudden alternations of light and darkness and was told that it was night and day.

譯文 : 当我还是孩子時，我害怕于(天的)明亮和黑暗交替，于是被告知，这就是夜晚和白天。

注: 余初生時，譯为 :當我是个孩子時。

天之乍明乍暗，譯为 :sudden alternations of light and darkness.

明暗的突变，或明暗的变换无常。天字，没有直譯出来。

家人曰，没有直譯，而是用被动语态，was told , 我被告知，，。

通篇凡有“家人”的地方，均用 people 表示，或者用 was told 句型表示。

三 ，怪夫人之乍有乍無，曰生死也。

I was mystified by the sudden appearance and disappearance

of beings and was told that it was birth and death.

譯文 : 我感到迷惑的是人的出现和消失。被告知这就是生与死。

怪，mystified , “感到迷惑“来表达。

appearance and disappearance，出現与消失，乍字，用sudden 来譯。

中文的“曰“字前面，省略了“家人”二字。

英文则用 was told ，被动語态表示。

这两段文字，分别叙述中文作者幼时對天和人的最初认识。即 :

天之乍明乍暗

人之乍有乍無

此二句成对偶句，讀来上口。

这是人出生后對宇宙和人生的最基本认知。

英文译文，似乎有意省略了“天“。但 “人” 字譯成 beings ，此意仅代表“生物“， 而不是通常的 human beings 。( 人类 ) 。 不解其理由 。

四 教余別星，曰孰箕斗。別禽，曰孰鳥鵲。識所始也。

People told me to distinguish the stars and said, " That one is the Sieve, and that one the Dipper."

I learned to distinguish the birds and was told this one was a raven and that a magpie.

This was how my knowledge began.

译文 : 家人教我识别星星，说 : “这是箕星，那是北斗星“。我學着区分鳥类，于是家人教我这是乌鸦，那是喜鹊。

这就是我认知的开始。

五 生以長，乍明乍暗，乍有乍無者，漸不為異，間於紛紛混混時，自提其神於太虛而俯之，覺明暗有無之乍乍者，微可悲也。

When I grew older, I gradually lost the wonder at the sudden

alternations of light and darkness and appearance and disappearance

of beings.

Sometimes in the maze of confusions I let my spirit soar

upward to space.

Looking down at the sudden changes of light and

birth and death of things, I felt a twinge of sorrow.

譯文 : 当我再长大一些，對天之明暗，人之有無渐渐没有惊异。有时在迷惑之际，我提起自己精神，翱翔于太空，俯视瞬间的光之明暗，人之存亡，感到不太悲伤了。

按 : 此段中文意思比较模糊。似乎是说，随着年龄的增长，他對天和人认知的哀伤有所渐弱，而且学会了看淡此事。

a twinge of 一丝，一串，此處强调较少。

六 襁褓膳雌，家人曰：其子猶在，匍匐往視，雙雛睨余，守其母羽。輟膳以悲。悲所始也。

I remember that once in my childhood, I was going to feed a hen.

Someone told me that its young chicks were there. I crawled over and saw two chicks hiding under the wings of their mother and peeping at me. I was seized with a sense of sorrow and forgot about the feeding. This was how my sorrows began.

譯文 : 记得我小时候，有一次要去喂母鸡。家人告诉我，母鸡的小鸡也在那里。我匍匐过去，看见两只小鸡藏在母鸡翼下，窥視着我。我被一丝悲哀摄住，忘记了喂食。这是我悲哀的开始。

注 :

“襁褓膳雌”，襁褓，应是指一岁以下的孩子，应该是说作者自己。但一岁大，不会自己走去喂小鸡。这里没有譯出“襁褓”二字。只是譯为“记得我小时候，要去喂母鸡 ”。

“膳雌“，喂母鸡。

be seized with ,被某物抓住，，，此處用“摄住”，即是 “被拿住“，“吸引住”之意。

原文只是 “輟膳以悲。”，英譯显然加注了含义。

七 匍匐牆下，得物謂飴，捧而吮之。家人癡余曰: 石也。上有字，字為西，字為青，強余讀，讀所始也。

其凹如臼至今對之，是為散記。

Once I was crawling along the garden walls and found an

object. I was going to suck it like a piece of candy. People laughed

at me and said it was a piece of rock.

On this rock stood one word

" West, " and another word, ""Green, " and I was forced to learn these

two words. This was how my reading began.

That a piece of rock, hollow at the center, still facing me on my desk, where I am writing these Random Notes .

譯文 : 一次我匍匐花园牆下，发现一物。我想把它當糖一样吸吮它。家人笑我，说这是块石头。在这个石头上，有一个“西“字，还有一个“青”字。家人教我識讀这两个字。这是我读书的开始。

这块石头中间是空的。仍在桌上，面对着我。于是我开始写散记。

按 : 原文仅是 “墙下，”，此處加了“花园“二字。

“得物谓飴“，中文似不易懂 。“谓“字，古汉语有“认为，以为“之意。此處即: “得一物以为是糖。”

林語堂譯为“发现一物，吮之如飴“之意。

“捧而吮之”的 “捧”字没有直譯。

“癡余”，笑我癡呆，此處仅用 laughed

at me ，( 笑话我 )

“ 是为散记 ” : 中文此語似乎意指: 于是以“西“ “青” 二字为名写散记。因为不明确，英譯也没有提及。

这篇散文，记述了史震林自己幼童时代对宇宙人生的最初认知，以及儿时喂小鸡，捡石头的趣事。这也是许多人小时候生活的类似经历。只不过他用笔生动地记述下来。借助古汉语的特有笔调，讀之隽永。

林语堂先生，将此文放在他系列英譯書《揚州瘦馬》的第一篇，显然對此文情有独钟。

阅读此文，是同时对汉语古文，白话文，英文的研读。英譯者的譯文，是在理解古汉语原文的基础上，用白话文的意思，翻成英文。

古汉语的有些个别词句，英譯者将其省略。有些地方，只将词意通融，以换句话说的方式譯出。

三者比较，可以品味出三种语言表达方式的异同，也算是一种读书乐趣。

2020年元月春节  深圳 海汇閣人