中國文學英譯絮談

沙楓

“大有大的難處”

有一篇評論《紅樓夢》的文章，題目是《大有大的難處》。文章是這樣開頭的：

《紅樓夢》第六回寫劉姥姥來到榮國府。王熙鳳覺察出她是來借錢的，就搶先訴苦：“誰家有什么？不過也是個空架子。”她恐怕劉姥姥不信，又繼續(xù)嘆了一回苦經(jīng)：“況是我近來接著管些事，這些親戚們又都不大知道。二則外頭看著雖是烈烈轟轟的，殊不知大有大的難處，說與人也未必信罷?！?/p>

“大有大的難處”，這真是一語道破了賈府的沒落趨勢和困境??????

“大有大的難處”，英文怎譯呢？

翻了《紅樓夢》的兩本英譯本，McHugh 根本沒有翻譯第六回中“劉姥姥一進榮國府”這一部分。王際真是翻譯了這一部分了，也翻譯了王熙鳳講的話了，不過，偏偏就漏譯了“大有大的難處”這一句。

王際真把王熙鳳上述講的一番話，譯成如下：

Besides, I have been taking care of things lately. You must appreciate the fact that although we seem prosperous, actually it is not at all easy for us to manage. That is the truth, though few would believe it."

“外頭看著雖是烈烈轟轟的”譯作“Although we seem prosperous”，是譯得簡明的。可惜沒有翻譯“大有大的難處”。

牛津大學教授 Hawkes 新譯的《紅樓夢》，譯文是很詳盡的，他譯了《紅樓夢》前二十六回，就用了篇幅四百七十九頁。原著為二百六十八頁。而王際真節(jié)譯《紅樓夢》前二十六回，只用了篇幅二百一十五頁，McHugh 則用了二百零八頁。

鳳姐所說的“大有大的難處”，這句話，王際真和 McHugh 都沒有翻譯，Hawkes 卻譯了，而且譯得不錯。

鳳姐的這一段話，Hawkes 的譯文如下：

And since I took over the management of the household, I find there are quite a lot of relations that I don't even know about. And then again, of course, though we may look thriving enough from the outside, people don't realize that being a big establishment like ours carries it own difficulties. They won't believe it if you tell them, but it is true.

譯文是忠實詳盡而且易懂，譯得不錯。

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