中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

杜牧诗中的“红”与“白”

杜牧是唐朝比较有名的诗人，但其作品之英译，并不多见，不像李白、杜甫、白居易、王维、李商隐等人的诗之有英译专集。

前些时，看了他的《山行》一诗的三种英译，一首见于 Kotewall 译的“The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse”，一首见于 Rexroth 译的“Love and the Turning Year: One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese”，一首见于吴经熊的“The Four Seasons of Tang Poetry”。

原诗为：

远上寒山石径斜，白云生处有人家。
停车坐爱枫林晚，霜叶红于二月花。

Kotewall 的英译如下：

After I climb the chill mountain's steep stone paths,
Deep in the white clouds there are homes of men.
I stop my carriage, and sit to admire the maple-grove at nightfall,
Whose frozen leaves are redder than the flowers of early Spring.

译者把“霜叶”译作“frozen leaves”虽似夸张，却具特色。

Rexroth 的英译如下：

I climb the cold mountain by
A steep path through the rocks,
To my little cabin in
The place where the clouds are born.
I halt my cart and look out
Over the forest of maples
In the sunset.
The frozen leaves are more brilliant than
Any flowers of Spring.

译者是把“有人家”译作“有我家”（my little cabin）了。

吴经熊的英译如下：

Driving up the cold mountain
Among the coils of a rocky path,
I find in the depth of the white clouds
Several families are leading a quiet life.
I halt my carriage and sit awhile
To admire the maples in the eventide.
How the frost has dyed their leaves
To a deeper crimson than the flowers of March!

“霜叶”的英译，加上“Dyed”（染）字，有其主观。

最近又看到了 Graham 的英译。在“Poems of Late Tang”一书中，Graham 的英译如下：

Far up the cold mountain the stony path slopes;
Where the white clouds are born there are homes of men.
Stop the carriage, sit and enjoy the evening in the maple wood;
The frosty leaves are redder than the second month's flowers.

“坐”字，Graham也是译为“sit”。

“霜叶”，Graham 译作“Frozen leaves”，吴经熊译作“the frost has dyed their leaves”，罗旭龢译作“Frozen leaves”，Rexroth 译作“Frosted leaves”，四人译法，是各个不同的。

在“霜叶红于二月花”中，一个“红”字，红得出色。

在杜牧的一些诗中，所用的色彩字眼，也是突出的，固不限于“红”这一瑰丽的色泽。例如：“公道世间惟白发，贵人头上不曾饶。”

这一个“白”字，又何尝不刺眼？这两句诗，有吴经熊的英译：

In the world only the white hair is just and fair,
For it does not spare even the heads of the great!

据吴经熊说，他有一个朋友把这两句英译改成四行如下：

In this world only the white hair
Is just and fair;
For it does not spare
Even the head of a millionaire!

经此一改，反更生动。一个“millionaire”承前押后，一连四行，皆押韵也。