中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

《红楼梦》英译的错误例子

张振玉写的《译学概论》一书,有一章是专谈误译的,并列举了一些名著译文的误译例子,其中有几个是《红楼梦》书中英译的错误。

例一,为第二十七回《葬花诗》中的两句,原文为:

“柳丝榆荚自芳菲,不管桃飘与李飞。”

英人翟理士(Giles)译成如下:

They are willow-sprays and flowers of elm,
And these have scent enow,
I care not if the peach and plum
Are stripped from every bough.

错在哪里呢?书中说:

黛玉葬花自是在暮春,已是绿肥红瘦时候。“柳丝榆荚自芳菲”,芳菲,盛也,非芳香也,柳丝榆荚并无香味。柳丝榆荚既绿肥而正盛,桃飘李飞则红瘦而已衰,正是盛者自盛,不管衰残者之可悯可怜。故不管桃李飘落者乃柳丝榆荚也。而 乃对此二句不但误解其意,亦误解其文法。若谓先误解其文法,后始误解其意,亦未为不可。盖“柳丝榆荚自芳菲”已自有主词,“不管桃飘与李飞”则无主词,究竟谁“不管”?译者误以为第一人称主词省去,乃黛玉自道之意,遂译为“柳丝榆荚既有芳香可爱,我林黛玉便不管桃李飘落,且由它去”之意,已忘记黛玉系为伤花惜花而葬花也。

例二,是第二十六回中的“凤尾森森,龙吟细细”。原文是:

说着,顺着脚一径来至一个院门前,只见凤尾森森,龙吟细细。举目望门上一看,只见匾上写着“潇湘馆”三字。

英人 Florence and Isabel McHugh 的英译是这样的:

At last he came to a secret door which was hidden away behind a thicket of high ferns by the edge of a quiet pond. A mysterious humming, which seemed to come from a water dragon lying, at the bottom of the pond, filled the air.

英译又错在哪里呢?书中说:

“凤尾森森,龙吟细细”两句,不但平仄和谐,且亦对仗工稳。英译真荒唐万分,可谓胡说八道。第一、“凤尾”系竹之一种,名为“凤尾竹”。第二、“龙吟”系用以写凤尾竹所发出之柔和和低细之声,微风吹来,竹声萧萧是也。译者把“凤尾”躲过未译。“龙吟”既无法躲过,乃胡思乱想道:“院旁有池,池中有水,水底有龙,龙必吟啸”。呜呼!西方之汉学家!

英人 David Hawkes 后来却译对了,译文如下:

Moving on, without much thinking where he was going, he came presently to the gate of a courtyard. Denser than patters on the phoenix tail, the stirred leaves murmured with a pent dragon's moan. The multitudinous bamboos and the board above the gate confirmed that his feet had, without conscious direction, carried him to the Naiad's House.

又上引《葬花诗》那两句,王际真也是译对的,译文如下:

The willow threads and elm blossoms
Still flaunt their luxuriance.
They care not that the peach petals dance
Nor that the plums are flown.

译文中的“They”字,自是柳同榆,当非林黛玉了。

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