中國文學(xué)英譯絮談

沙楓

《醉翁亭記》中的誤譯

“醉翁之意不在酒”這句成語，出自歐陽修的《醉翁亭記》。

在這篇《醉翁亭記》中，有這樣的幾句：

“作亭者誰？山之僧智仙也。名之者誰？太守自謂也?！?/p>

英國漢學(xué)大師翟理士（Giles）將之譯成如下：

It was built by a Buddhist priest, called Deathless Wisdom, who lived among these hills, and who received the above name from the Governor.

張振玉指出這是昧于文法的誤譯。他說：

按“名之者誰”的“之”系代名詞，代首句中“亭”字，非代“山之僧智仙”也。原意正是“作亭者誰？名亭者誰？”譯者誤。

耿亮的譯文是這樣的：

Who built the tower? A Buddhist monk, the Wise Immortal. Who gave it the mane? The Prefect refers to himself.

翟氏父子（Chu Chai and Winberg Chai）的英譯是這樣：

Who built the arbor? It was built by the monk of hill, call Chih Hsin. Who gave it this name? It was named by the governor himself.

“名之者誰”的“之”，譯對本來是不難的。

“之”字是虛字，“也”字也是虛字。這一篇《醉翁亭記》，一共用了二十一個“也”字。

錢歌川在《中英文中的虛字》一文中說：

“Giles 就一個（虛字）也沒有能夠翻譯出來。這實在不能怪他譯得不完善。對于虛字最聰明的辦法就是放下不譯，與其翻譯錯誤，不如不譯的好。”

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