文化篇章的翻译

2.4　文化篇章的翻译

翻译的理想单位是语篇。翻译即是用译语语篇传达原语语篇信息，以实现交际目的。按照系统功能语言学创始人韩礼德的定义，语篇是指任何一个构成完整统一体的语段，可长可短，可为口头语也可为书面语。（“The word text is used in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole.”–Cohesion in English，1976）

就篇章而言，粘连（cohesion）与连贯（coherence）最为重要。粘连是篇章的有形网络，连贯是篇章的无形网络。作者往往利用词语的重复、词义的联想、对比、照应以及各种修辞手段铺设有形网络，编织无形网络，使文本传神达意。由于汉语和英语实现粘连的手法有同有异，汉译英时应该按照英语的表达习惯实现粘连。（陈宏薇1998）

中文诗歌，尤其是古诗词，往往承载着厚重的文化信息。汉语是意合语言，强调篇章的整体结构；而英语是形合语言，强调篇章句式结构的严谨性。

例14.汉语古诗《春晓》

春　晓

孟浩然

春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。

夜来风雨声，花落知多少？

译文1　Witter Bynner译

ASpring Morning

I awake light-hearted this morning of spring,

Everywhere round me the singing of birds——

But now I remember the night, the storm,

And I wonder how many blossoms were broken?

宾纳（Bynner）是英译中国古诗的名家。对于他的译文，评论家的意见各不相同。吕叔湘在这首诗的《赘言》中写道：“通首言之，仍是译中佳品”。

编者认为，该译文给读者的感觉是在用英语讲述一个故事，一个春天早晨睡意朦胧中感受大自然美好春景诗意的故事，基本传达了诗文信息。译文按照英语行文习惯添加了主语，只是没有能够译出汉语诗词的韵律之美。

译文2　Ta Kung Pao译

Spring Dawn

Sleeping in the spring, one hardly knows it’s daylight.

Birds are heard everywhere trilling.

There’ve been sounds of wind and rain in the night，

How many blossoms have been falling?

译文3　翁显良译

One Morning in Spring

Late! This spring morning as I awake I know.

All around me the birds are crying, crying.

The storm last night, I sensed its fury.

How many, I wonder, are fallen, poor dear flowers!

译文4　许渊冲译

A Spring Morning

This morn of spring in bed I’m lying，

Not woke up till I hear birds crying.

After one night of wind and showers，

How many are the fallen flowers!

译文5　吴钧陶译

The Spring Dawn

Slumbering, I know not the spring dawn is peeping，

But everywhere the singing birds are cheeping.

Last night I heard the rain dripping and winds weeping，

How many petals are now on the ground sleeping?

译文6　孙大雨译

Spring Dawn

Feeling not when cometh th’peep of spring dawn，

Everywhere birds’songs I hear in my slumber.

Though the sounds of wind and rain all th’night long，

Know I not how many th’flowers fall in number.

许译、吴译和孙译都在传递原诗文基本信息的同时，力图用译文再现原文文体特点：诗的韵律，因此在语篇信息的传达方面做得比其他译文更好。再如：

例15.汉语古诗《江雪》

江　雪

柳宗元

千山鸟飞绝，万径人踪灭。

孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪。

译文1　Witter Bynner译

Ahundred mountains and no birds；

Athousand paths without a footprint；

Alittle boat, a bamboo cloak，

An old man fishing in the cold river-snow.

译文2　许渊冲译

From hill to hill no bird in flight，

From path to path no man in sight.

Astraw-cloaked man afloat, behold!

Is fishing snow on river cold.

译文3　朱纯深译

Athousand mountains

No birds flying

Ten thousand paths

Devoid of human trace

Alone boat, a bark-caped

Old man –

Alone, he angles

Acold river of snow.

宾纳的译文传递了原诗的基本语义信息，但略显平淡无华，诗的味道不够浓。另外，第二句用footprint来翻译“人踪”也不够准确，因为footprint也可以指动物的脚印，不一定是人的踪迹。

许渊冲先生的译文讲究韵律优美，诗词的韵味比较浓。但遗憾的是，原文中“江”的画面美感在该译文中缺失。

朱纯深先生的译文尝试用直译的方式来再现中文原诗的意境之美，随意中透露着独到的炼词。例如，“独钓寒江雪”中的“钓”字，朱先生用了“angle”一词来强调雪中垂钓的画面，用“a cold river of snow”来描述江和雪融为一体难以分割的情景，直接用“he angles a cold river of snow”这样反常规的句子来凸显旷野中独钓寒江雪的宏大气魄。编者认为，使用这种现代意象派的描摹译法，可以帮助再现汉语古诗的韵味。

民歌是民间文化的精华，其翻译的难度不亚于古诗词，歌曲旋律的保留同样很重要。

例16.中国云南民歌《小河淌水》

歌词原文：哎！月亮出来亮汪汪，亮汪汪，想起我的阿哥在深山。哥像月亮天上走，天上走。哥啊!哥啊！山下小河淌水清悠悠。哎！月亮出来照半坡，照半坡，看见月亮想起我的哥。一阵清风吹上坡，吹上坡，哥啊！哥啊！哥啊！你可听见阿妹叫阿哥？

译文1　A Gentle Stream

Oh! The moon is rising so bright, so bright. I can’t help missing my sweetheart deep in the woods, out of my sight. You are like the moon in the sky, in the sky. Oh, my sweetheart, sweetheart! Down the hill’s slowly flowing a crystal clear gentle stream. Oh! The moonlight shines over the mountain slope. Seeing the moon, I miss my sweetheart all the more. A bracing breeze is blowing over the slope. Oh, my sweetheart, sweetheart! Do you hear me calling you, my sweetheart? Oh, sweet heart!（熊若磐、梁联发2003）

译文2　A Flowing Stream

Oh! The moon is rising so bright, so bright. I can’t help missing my sweetheart deep in the mountain. You are like the moon in the sky, in the sky. Oh, my sweetheart, sweetheart! Down the hill’s a clear stream slowly flowing by. Oh! The moonlight shines over the mountain slope. Seeing the moon, I miss my sweetheart all the more.Abracing breeze is blowing over the slope. Oh, my sweetheart, sweetheart! Could you hear me calling you, my sweetheart? Oh, sweet heart!（编者修改）

所做改动主要是为了保持原曲舒缓悠扬的风格及韵味。因此删减了译文中对意义影响不大的词（例如: out ofmy sight），将“Down the hill’s slowly flowing acrystal clear gentle stream”改译为“Down the hill’s a clear stream slowly flowing by”，减少相同音乐节拍下需要唱出的词素，并将“by”这样的开音节词放在句尾拖音处，方便发音。改译力图向目标语人群尽量准确地传递原曲意蕴风格，力求用英文演唱时不至于因词素太多而导致节奏紧张，失去原曲舒缓深情悠扬的风格。另外，原歌词中“你可听见阿妹叫阿哥”，编者用了“Couldyou hear”来代替原译文的“Do you hear”。编者认为，用情态动词“could”来表达原文“可”，比用助动词“do”更合适贴切。

该译例还涉及诸如“阿哥”之类的文化特色词语的翻译，为达到原文效果，用“sweetheart”而不用“dear brother”直译。另外，如“悠悠”之类的汉语叠词英译也在此出现。英译文中使用“slowly flowing by”这样近似叠音节的词语，力图再现原文的音效情境。

此译也体现了功能目的篇章翻译原则。翻译生成的目标语篇章须为该翻译的目的服务，需让目标语读者感受与源语读者同样的信息及效果，从而实现动态对等的翻译目标。

例17.中国红歌《映山红》

歌词原文：夜半三更哟盼天明，寒冬腊月哟盼春风。若要盼得哟红军来，岭上开遍哟映山红。

参考译文：

In the pitch dark night, we hope for the morning,

In the coldest winter, we long for the spring.

If we’re looking forward to Red Army’s arrival,

Wait till the azalea blooms all over the mountain.（编者译）

该歌词原文没有主语，译成英语时需按英语行文习惯添加主语，以方便英文读者理解。另外，中文歌词“盼”译成英文时分别使用了“ hope for”，“long for”，和“look forward to”三个不同短语，以符合英文习惯，避免重复。

语言的实际使用单位是语篇或意群段落。翻译作为一项跨语言、跨文化的交际行为，其基本使用单位自然也是语篇。因此，理想的翻译境界需是从双语篇章层次出发，进行全方位的解码、编码，完成综合理解和表达。

小结

翻译是一项跨语言、跨文化的活动。语言与文化密不可分，各民族的语言文化之间有同有异。加强对相关语言文化的比较，增强跨文化意识，明确翻译的目的，跳出原文的藩篱，才能创作出优秀的译本。

练习

一、试简述语言与文化的关系。

二、简述跨文化意识及背景文化知识对翻译的意义。

三、简述直译、意译、归化、异化的概念，并举例说明。

四、试分析下面译文的优缺点。

我在花园里种满了芬芳的玫瑰花，远远望去，像一片燃烧的晚霞。我想等朋友来做客的时候，让他们携带些玫瑰回家。我相信朋友捧着火红的玫瑰渐渐走远的背影，一定能点燃易感的情怀。

All over my garden I’ve planted nothing but roses, fragrant and—If looked at from afar—ablaze with colour like sunset clouds. I would be very happy if any one of my visiting friends should desire to pick and take some for their homes. I trust that any friend of mine carrying the roses would vanish into the distance feeling that his emotion had been rekindled.

五、翻译下列句子及篇章，注意载文化词句的翻译以及汉、英表述的不同。

1.施恩勿记，受恩勿忘。

2.一年之计在于春，一日之计在于晨。

3.无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来。

4.端午节那天，人们都要吃粽子。

5.于是，暮色中匆匆的人群里，总有我赶路的身影，雨里、雾里、风里、雪里，只盼着早些回家。

6.在盼中，日子真的流得飞快，转眼上了小学，继而初中，然后高中，最后大学；盼的欲望更加强烈，盼的内容也逐渐丰富了：盼好成绩毕业，盼有一份好工作，盼事业有成，盼挣钱替父母分忧，盼有一个好爱人——不知不觉，天天踩着盼的石阶而上，自己竟成了一个大男人，一个挣钱养家糊口的忙碌人。

7.君子和而不同。

8.河畔长着青草绿树。

9.祝大家平平安安。

10.广交会是中国政府在1957年创办的。50多年来，广交会顺应时势变化，不断创新办展理念和办展方式，不断优化参展企业和参展商品，始终保持着旺盛的生命力和蓬勃的发展势头，成为中国历史最久、规模最大、声誉最佳的国际著名展会，成为中国对外贸易发展的缩影。一部广交会的历史，就是一部生动的新中国对外开放史。

11.建设民主法治、公平正义、诚信友爱、充满活力、安定有序、人与自然和谐相处的社会主义和谐社会，要广泛团结一切可以团结的力量，充分调动一切积极因素，激发全社会的创造活力；要妥善处理各方面利益关系，让全体人民共享改革和建设的成果；要正确处理改革发展稳定的关系，努力为经济社会持续发展创造有利条件和良好环境。

六、译文赏析。

1.品读散文英译：郁达夫散文《故都的秋》（张培基译）

故都的秋Autumn in Peiping

秋天，无论在什么地方的秋天，总是好的；可是啊，北国的秋，却特别地来得清，来得静，来得悲凉。我的不远千里，要从杭州赶上青岛，更要从青岛赶上北平来的理由，也不过想饱尝一尝这“秋”，这故都的秋味

Autumn, wherever it is, always has something to recommend itself. In North China, however, it is particularly limpid, serene and melancholy. To enjoy its atmosphere to the full in the onetime capital, I have, therefore, made light of travelling a long distance from Hangzhou to Qingdao, and thence to Peiping.

江南，秋当然也是有的，但草木凋得慢，空气来得润，天的颜色显得淡，并且又时常多雨而少风；一个人夹在苏州上海杭州，或厦门香港广州的市民中间，混混沌沌地过去，只能感到一点点清凉，秋的味，秋的色，秋的意境与姿态，总看不饱，尝不透，赏玩不到十足。秋并不是名花，也并不是美酒，那一种半开、半醉的状态，在领略秋的过程上，是不合适的。

There is of course autumn in the South too, but over there plants wither slowly, the air is moist, the sky pallid, and it is more often rainy than windy. While muddling along all by myself among the urban dwellers of Suzhou, Shanghai, Xianmen, Hong Kong or Guangzhou, I feel nothing but a little chill in the air, without ever relishing to my heart’s content the flavour, colour, mood and style of the season. Unlike famous flowers which are most attractive when half opening, good wine which is most tempting when one is half drunk, autumn, however, is best appreciated in its entirety.

不逢北国之秋，已将近十余年了。在南方每年到了秋天，总要想起陶然亭的芦花，钓鱼台的柳影，西山的虫唱，玉泉的夜月，潭柘寺的钟声。在北平即使不出门去吧，就是在皇城人海之中，租人家一椽破屋来住着，早晨起来，泡一碗浓茶，向院子一坐，你也能看得到很高很高的碧绿的天色，听得到青天下驯鸽的飞声。从槐树叶底，朝东细数着一丝一丝漏下来的日光，或在破壁腰中，静对着像喇叭似的牵牛花（朝荣）的蓝朵，自然而然地也能够感觉到十分的秋意。说到了牵牛花，我以为以蓝色或白色者为佳，紫黑色次之，淡红色最下。最好，还要在牵牛花底，教长着几根疏疏落落的尖细且长的秋草，使作陪衬。

It is more than a decade since I last saw autumn in North. When I am in the South, the arrival of each autumn will put me in mind of Peiping’s Tao Ran Ting with its reed catkins, Diao Yu Tai with its shady willow trees, Western Hills with their chirping insects, Yu Quan Shan Mountain on a moonlight evening and Tan Zhe Si with its reverbrating bell/ remind me of the reed catkins at Tao Ran Ting, the shady willow trees at Diao Yu Tai, the chirping insects at Western Hills, the moon on Yu Quan Shan Mountain, and the reverberating bell at Tan Zhe Si Temple. Suppose you put up in a humble rented house inside the bustling imperial city, you can, on getting up at dawn, sit in your courtyard sipping a cup of strong tea, leisurely watch the high azure skies and listen to pigeons circling overhead. Saunter eastward under locust trees to closely observe streaks of sunlight filtering through their foliage, or quietly watch the trumpet-shaped blue flowers of morning glories climbing half way up a dilapidated wall, and an intense feeling of autumn will of itself well up inside you.As to morning glories, I like their blue or white flowers best, dark purple ones second best, and pink ones third best. It will be most desirable to have them set off by some tall thin grass planted underneath here and there.

北国的槐树，也是一种能使人联想起秋来的点缀。像花而又不是花的那一种落蕊，早晨起来，会铺得满地。脚踏上去，声音也没有，气味也没有，只能感出一点点极微细极柔软的触觉。扫街的在树影下一阵扫后，灰土上留下来的一条条扫帚的丝纹，看起来既觉得细腻，又觉得清闲，潜意识下并且还觉得有点儿落寞，古人所说的梧桐一叶而天下知秋的遥想，大约也就在这些深沉的地方。

Locust trees in the North, as a decorative embellishment of nature, also associate us with autumn. On getting up early in the morning, you will find the ground strewn all over with flower-like pistils fallen from locust trees. Quiet and smellless, they feel tiny and soft underfoot. After a street cleaner has done the sweeping under the shade of the trees, you will discover countless lines left by his broom in the dust, which look so fine and quiet that somehow a feeling of forlornness will begin to creep up on you. The same depth of implication is found in the ancient saying that a single fallen leaf from the wutong/phoenix tree is more than enough to inform the world of autumn’s presence.

2.试比较、简评古诗《静夜思》的不同英译本。

静夜思

李　白

床前明月光，

疑是地上霜。

举头望明月，

低头思故乡。

NIGHT THOUGHTS

I wake, and moonbeams play around my bed，

Glittering like hoar-frost to my wandering eyes；

Up towards the glorious moon I raised my head，

Then lay me down—— and thoughts of home arise

（Herbert A. Giles译）

THE MOON SHINES EVERYWHERE

Seeing the Moon before my couch so bright

I thought hoar frost had fallen from the night.

On her clear face I gaze with lifted eyes：

Then hide them full of Youth’s sweet memories.

THOUGHTS INATRANQUIL NIGHT

Athwart the bed

I watch the moonbeams cast a trail

So bright, so cold, so frail，

That for a space it gleams

Like hoar-frost on the margin of my dreams.

I raise my head，——

The splendid moon I see：

Then droop my head，

And sink to dreams of thee——

My fatherland, of thee!

（L. Cranmer-Byng译）

NIGHT THOUGHTS

In front of my bed the moonlight is very bright.

I wonder if that can be frost on the floor?

I lift up my head and look at the full moon, the dazzling moon.

I drop my head, and think of the home of old days.

（Amy Lowell译）

ONAQUIET NIGHT

I saw the moonlight before my couch，

And wondered if it were not the frost on the ground.

I raised my head and looked out on the mountain moon，

I bowed my head and thought of my far-off home.

（S. Obata译）

IN THE QUIET NIGHT

So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed——

Could there have been a frost already?

Lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight.

Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home.

I decry bright moonlight in front of my bed，

I suspect it to be hoary frost on the floor.

I watch the bright moon, as I tilt back my head.

I yearn, while stooping, for my homeland more.

（徐忠杰译）

Asplash of white on my bedroom floor. Hoarfrost?

I raise my eyes to the moon, the same moon.

As scenes long past come to mind, my eyes fall again on the splash，

And my heart aches for home.

（翁显良译）

Quiet Night Thoughts

Moonlight before my bed,

Could it be frost instead?

Head up, I watch the moon,

Head down, I think of home.

（赵甄陶译）