譯林絮談

沙楓

兩個(gè)小孩問倒孔子

“愚公移山”這個(gè)寓言，是出自《列子》的《湯問》篇。列子即列御寇，戰(zhàn)國時(shí)人。

“愚公移山”這個(gè)寓言，原文是這樣的：

太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高萬仞。本在冀州之南，河陽之北。北山愚公者，年且九十，面山而居。??????北山愚公長息曰：“汝心之固，固不可徹，曾不若孀妻弱子。雖我之死，有子存焉；子又生孫，孫又生子；子又有子，子又有孫；子子孫孫無窮匱也，而山不加增，何苦而不平?”河曲智叟亡以應(yīng)。??????自此，冀之南，漢之陰，無隴斷焉。

《列子》一書有好幾個(gè)人的英文譯本。茲介紹 Graham 所翻譯的愚公的一番話如下：

"Certainly your mind is set too firm for me ever to penetrate it. You are not even as clever as the widow's little child. Even when I die, I shall have sons surviving me. My sons will beget me more grandsons, my grandsons in their turn will have sons, and these will have more sons and grandsons. My descendants will go forever, but the mountains will get no bigger. Why should there be any difficulty about leveling it?"

譯文是忠實(shí)流暢的。

《列子》的《湯問》篇中，有一則關(guān)于孔子的故事，全文是這樣的：

孔子?xùn)|游，見兩小兒辯斗，問其故。一兒曰：“我以日始出時(shí)去人近，而日中時(shí)遠(yuǎn)也?！币粌阂匀粘醭鲞h(yuǎn)，而日中時(shí)近也。一兒曰：“日初出大如車蓋，及日中，則如盤盂，此不為遠(yuǎn)者小而近者大乎？”一兒曰：“日初出滄滄涼涼，及其日中如探湯，此不為近者熱而遠(yuǎn)者涼乎？”孔子不能決也。兩小兒笑曰：“孰為汝多知乎？”

對(duì)這個(gè)問題，讀者的解答又是如何呢？

現(xiàn)介紹 Graham 的英譯如下：

When Confucius was travelling in the East, he saw two small children arguing and asked them the reason. One child said he thought that the sun is nearer to us at sunrise, the other that it is nearer at noon. The first child said:

"When the sun first rises it is as big as the cover of a car; by noon it is as small as a plate or a bowl. Don't you think it must be nearer when it is big than when it is small?"

The other child answered:

"When the sun first rises the air is cool, by noon it is like dipping your hand in hot water. Don't you think it must be nearer when it is hot than when it is cool?"

Confucius could not answer the question. The two children laughed: "Who says you are a learned man?"

問得好。也譯得好。

版權(quán)所有