譯林絮談

沙楓

“朝三暮四”與英譯

“朝三暮四”這句成語(yǔ)，《辭?！返慕忉屖沁@樣的：

莊子齊物論：“狙公賦茅，曰：‘朝三暮四’，眾狙皆怒；曰：‘然則朝四而暮三’，眾狙皆悅，名實(shí)未虧，而喜怒為用，亦因是也。”按朝三暮四與朝四暮三，名異實(shí)同，乃眾狙因之有喜怒；此以喻愚者之昧于審辨，巧者之工于設(shè)辭也。

列子把這則寓言寫得詳細(xì)一些，如下：

“宋有狙公者，愛狙，養(yǎng)之成群，能解狙之意；狙亦得公之心。損其家口，充狙之欲。俄而匱焉，將限其食?？直娋阎获Z于己也，先誑之曰：“與若芧，朝三而暮四，足乎？”眾狙皆起而怒。俄而曰：“與若芧，朝四而暮三，足乎？” 眾狙皆伏而喜?！?/p>

上文的“狙”與“茅”是什么呢？看了一則英譯，就明白了。這是英人A. L. Graham 譯的：

There was a keeper of monkeys in Sung who loved monkeys so much that he reared flocks of them. Hoe could interpret the monkey's thoughts, and the monkeys too caught what was in his mind. He made his own family go short in order to give the monkeys whatever they wanted. Before long he found himself in need, and decided to give them less to eat. Fearing that the monkeys would not submit to it tamely, he played a trick on them beforehand:

"If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, will that be enough?"

The monkeys all got up by a rage.

"Will it be enough if I give you four in the morning and three in the evening?"

The monkeys were all pleased and lay down again.

北京商務(wù)印書館出版的《漢語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)小詞典》對(duì)“朝三暮四”一詞解釋說(shuō)：“原指玩弄手法欺騙人，后用來(lái)比喻常常變卦，反復(fù)無(wú)常?！?/p>

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