中國文學英譯絮談

沙楓

“黃河入海流”

一本畫報刊登了關(guān)于黃河的一系列圖文，從一九七三年六月登到一九七四年五月，從《黃河源頭行》一直到《黃河入海流》。

“黃河入海流”，原是唐朝王之渙的一句詩，詩歌題為《登鸛雀樓》，全詩如下：

白日依山盡，黃河入海流。
欲窮千里目，更上一層樓。

這首詩，黃雯醫(yī)生的英譯是這樣的：

Pale sun on hill dies,
Huang-Ho seaward flows.
To view thousand lis
One more flight we go.

Bynner 的英譯是這樣的：

Mountains cover the white sun,
And oceans drain the golden river.
But you widen your view three thousand miles
By going up one flight of stairs.

譯者把“黃河”譯作“golden river”（金黃的河），有失原意。鸛雀樓在今山西省黃河北岸。

吳經(jīng)熊的英譯則是這樣：

The white sun has sunk behind the hills.
The Yellow River is pouring into the sea.
To see still farther into the horizon,
Let us go up one more storey.

該畫報的英文版把“黃河入海流”譯作“The Yellow River Pours into the Sea”，與上譯相同。

該畫報的中文版有此描述：

“我們坐的水文勘測船到了黃河的河口。陸地平緩地伸向海中，隨著潮汐的起落，海水動輒進退幾公里、十幾公里。船出河口幾十公里后，大陸才慢慢伸向海底深處，出現(xiàn)了碧藍色的大海，然而黃色河水還成塊成條地被碧波包圍著，輪廓分明地伸向天水交接處。旭日從海上升起時，霞光萬道?；仡欬S河，像一條金光大道，延伸在錦繡大陸上?！?/p>

這樣的描述，是精彩的。

后幾句的英譯是這樣的：

Only after we had gone several dozen kms did the land gradually sink beneath the water and the sea turn aquamarine, though the turbid waters of the Yellow River could still be seen in strips and patches stretching far into the horizon. Then the morning sun jumped out of the water, tingeing the world with splendor. The Yellow River was like a broad road glowing in gold, meandering through the brocade-like territory of our motherland.

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