中國文學(xué)英譯絮談

沙楓

"輕舟已過萬重山"

唐代詩人李白的詩句：“朝辭白帝彩云間，千里江陵一日還。”生動(dòng)地描繪出長江三峽中江流迅疾的情景。長江的最大流速每小時(shí)二十五至二十八公里。

李白這兩句詩，有人英譯為：

At dawn I left Paiticheng city,
High among the rosy clouds.
And came downstream in a day,
One thousand li to Chiangling town.

這兩句詩，是李白《下江陵》的前兩句，后兩句則是：“兩岸猿聲啼不住，輕舟已過萬重山?！?/p>

Bynner 翻譯的全詩如下：

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，似未能譯出“千里江陵一日還”之神速，而第四句也未能譯出“輕舟已過萬重山”之輕捷。

Payne 的英譯則是這樣：

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.

第二句似乎譯出了“千里江陵一日還”的神速，用“slipped”來譯“輕舟已過”的“過”，也相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)，但句首加一“So”，似反而把語氣削弱。

吳經(jīng)熊的英譯是這樣的：

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“已過”譯作“rolled away”，也不錯(cuò)。

Cooper 的英譯是這樣的：

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.

“萬重山”譯作“many fold mountains”，頗能譯出意境。

下面則是劉師舜的英譯：

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.

“萬重山”譯作“unending mountains”，似不及“many fold mountains”了。

關(guān)正恒的英譯則是這樣：

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.

“萬重山”譯作“ranges and ranges of mountains”，與譯作“many fold mountains”，異曲同工。

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