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。