中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

“大阵仗”见于《红楼梦》

“大阵仗”，已成这里一些人的口头禅。也许有人以为这是广东俗语。其实，这三个字，也曾见于曹雪芹的《红楼梦》，在第七回“宴宁府宝玉会秦钟”里面。这一段文字如下：

秦氏笑道：“今儿巧，上回宝叔立刻要见的我那兄弟，他今儿也在这里，想在书房里呢，宝叔何不去瞧一瞧？”宝玉听了，即便下炕要走。尤氏凤姐都忙说：“好生着，忙什么？”一面便吩咐好生小心跟着，别委曲着他，倒比不得跟了老太太过来就罢了。凤姐说道：“既这么着，何不请进这秦小爷来，我也瞧一瞧。难道我见不得他不成？”尤氏笑道：“罢，罢！可以不必见他，比不得咱们家的孩子们，胡打海摔的惯了。人家的孩子都是斯斯文文的惯了，乍见了你这破落户，还被人笑话死了呢。”凤姐笑道：“普天下的人，我不笑话就罢了，竟叫这小孩子笑话我不成？”贾蓉笑道：“不是这话，他生的腼腆，没见过大阵仗儿，婶子见了，没的生气。”凤姐道：“凭他什么样儿的，我也要见一见！别放你娘的屁了。再不带我看看，给你一顿好嘴巴。”贾蓉笑嘻嘻的说：“我不敢扭着，就带他来。”

凤姐的泼辣，闻其声，可见其为人了。

“大阵仗”，怎译呢？

两本《红楼梦》英译本，都没有译出。

王际真译得简单之至，未译对话，只述大意，上引这么多话，他只用了这样一句话：

Chin Chung, Chin-shih's brother whom Pao-yu had expressed a desire to meet, happened to be visiting his sister.

McHugh 则译得详细得多，译了一些对话，也综述对话内容，译文如下：

"My younger brother, for whom you recently asked, happens to be here today. He is probably in the library now. If you like, go and welcome him!"

Pao Yu quickly slid down from the heated divan.

"Why do you not have him come here? I should also like to make his acquaintance," suggested Madame Phoenix. "Or perhaps I should not ask to?"

Mistress Yung tried to dissuade her from her request. The boy was so shy and simple, quite different from the cheeky, lively boys of Chia clan. She would be disappointed and would only be inclined to laugh at him. But Madame Phoenix stuck to her request.

译者把尤氏所说的“可以不必见”，当作是凤姐所说的话，译成“Or perhaps I should not ask to”了。

新出的 Hawkes 的《红楼梦》英译本，将“贾蓉笑道：‘他生的腼腆，没见过大阵仗儿，婶子见了，没的生气。’”这段话，译作：

"He's very, very shy, Auntie", said Jia Rong. "We are afraid that if you saw him it might irritate you."

Hawkes 的新英译本是全译本，可是“没见过大阵仗儿”这一句，还是略去不译了，有可能是译者不十分懂得这句话的意义，故略去不译，以免出错。