譯林絮談

沙楓

“圣誕禮物”的小說

“圣誕禮物”的故事，層出不窮，然而使人留下深深印象的，無疑是美國作家奧亨利（O Henry）的小說《賢士的禮物》（The Gift of the Magi）了。

這出悲喜劇，刻劃入微，人多知道，不必細表了。這里，只介紹奧亨利小說原文的片段，以及中文翻譯如何貼切入微。原文是：

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

張曼儀的中文譯文如下：

他一進門就停住了，有如獵犬嗅到鵪鶉，一動也不動。他雙眼凝視著德娜，眼睛里，有一種她難了解的表情，她給這表情嚇白了。那不是憤怒，不是驚奇，不是不贊許，不是恐懼，也不是她所能預想的任何情緒。他只是呆呆地凝視著她，臉上帶著那奇怪的表情。

原文是：

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again——you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas,' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice——what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

中譯是：

“詹，親愛的，”她叫了起來，“別那樣望著我。我剪了頭發(fā)，把它賣了，因為我不能夠過圣誕節(jié)也不送給你禮物。它會再長起來——你不介意吧？我沒辦法不這樣。我的頭發(fā)長得頂快。詹，說‘圣誕快樂’吧，讓我們快快活活吧。你不曉得我給你買了一件多漂亮、多好的禮物。”

原文是：

"Isn't a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

中譯是：

“詹，漂亮不漂亮？我走遍了全市才找到它。你現(xiàn)在每天一定要看上一百次表了。把你的表給我，我要看看配起來怎么樣。”

原文是：

"Del," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."

中譯是：

“德，”他說，“讓我們把圣誕禮物收起來，暫時保存一下。他們實在是很好的，可是現(xiàn)在還用不著。因為我把金表賣掉了，換錢給你買梳子?，F(xiàn)在我們可以把肉扒煎起來了吧?！?/p>

香港出版的《新編文選》對奧亨利有這樣的評語：“他對于小人物，是以高度的樂觀主義精神去發(fā)掘他們靈魂的寶藏，例如他最有名的一篇小說《麥琪的禮物》（即上述《賢士的禮物》），就表現(xiàn)了這樣的主題?！?/p>

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