家乡网中国文学英译絮谈
"轻舟已过万重山"
唐代诗人李白的诗句：“朝辞白帝彩云间，千里江陵一日还。”生动地描绘出长江三峡中江流迅疾的情景。长江的最大流速每小时二十五至二十八公里。
李白这两句诗，有人英译为：
At dawn I left Paiticheng city,
High among the rosy clouds.
And came downstream in a day,
One thousand li to Chiangling town.
这两句诗，是李白《下江陵》的前两句，后两句则是：“两岸猿声啼不住，轻舟已过万重山。”
Bynner 翻译的全诗如下：
From the walls of Po-ti high in the colored dawn
To Kiang-ling by night-fall is three hundred miles,
Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me
To my boat these ten thousand mountains away.
第二句，似未能译出“千里江陵一日还”之神速，而第四句也未能译出“轻舟已过万重山”之轻捷。
Payne 的英译则是这样：
At dawn amid colored clouds I left White Emperor City,
A thousand miles to Chiang-ling——I was there in a day!
Chattering monkeys on the cliffs, no end to their bawling.
So the light boat slipped past the ten thousand mountains.
第二句似乎译出了“千里江陵一日还”的神速，用“slipped”来译“轻舟已过”的“过”，也相当不错，但句首加一“So”，似反而把语气削弱。
吴经熊的英译是这样的：
At early dawn I left Po Ti among the many-colored clouds.
Now I find myself back in Chiang-ling——a thousand li in the course of a day!
The monkeys had hardly done with their continuous howling on the shores,
Before ten thousand ranges of hills had rolled away from my light skiff!
他把“已过”译作“rolled away”，也不错。
Cooper 的英译是这样的：
At dawn we leave White King, its clouds all colored,
For passage to Kiang-ling in one sun's circuit.
While both banks' gibbons cry calls still unceasing,
Our light boat has gone by many fold mountains.
“万重山”译作“many fold mountains”，颇能译出意境。
下面则是刘师舜的英译：
In the morning I leave Po-ti perched in the clouds,
The thousand li to Chiang-ling are compressed to a day.
Before the wailing of the apes on both banks ceases,
The light boat has left behind unending mountains.
“万重山”译作“unending mountains”，似不及“many fold mountains”了。
关正恒的英译则是这样：
In the morning I leave Po-ti hidden high up in the colored clouds,
And make the return trip to Chiang-ling a day affair.
While the apes' wailing on both banks keep coming without a break,
My light boat has already passed ranges and ranges of mountains.
“万重山”译作“ranges and ranges of mountains”，与译作“many fold mountains”，异曲同工。
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