张培基英译散文赏析之《长寿之道》

时间：2022-05-11 16:50:00 英语四级我要投稿

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张培基英译散文赏析之《长寿之道》

长寿之道

The Secret of Longevity

季羡林

Ji Xianlin

| 译文摘自张培基《英译中国散文选二》

我已经到了望九之年，可谓长寿矣。因此经常有人向我询问长寿之道，养生之术。我敬谨答曰：“养生无术是有术。”

Approaching ninety, I’m really old. People often ask me for advice on how to keep fit and live a long life.The answer I would give is, “The best way to keep fit is by making no efforts towards it.”

要点：
1，题目“长寿之道”本可译为The way to Live a Long Life,现译为The Secret of Longevity，意思基本相同，但后者更为简练，适宜做题目，朗朗上口
2，“望九之年”即“快到九十岁了，年近九十”，译为Approaching ninety
3,“养生之术”即“养生的方法”，译为how to keep fit and live a long life或the way to keep in good health
4,“我敬谨答曰……”即“我的答案是……”译为The answer I would give is，would 常见于表达劝告，意见的句中
5，“养生无术是有术”译为he best way to keep fit is by making no efforts towards it.即“养生的最好方法就在于不要为它做过多的努力”，凡是向这个意思靠拢就可以

综述：一向很喜欢季老的散文，没有过多复杂抽象的内容，简单流畅中蕴藏着大智慧，读完无论是思想上还是翻译上都有收获~开头短短几句话，实则大有文章~

这话看似深奥，其实极为简单明了。我有两个朋友，十分重视养生之道。每天锻炼身体，至少要练上两个钟头。曹操诗曰：“对酒当歌，人生几何？”人生不过百年，每天费上两个钟头，统计起来，要有多少钟头啊！利用这些钟头，能做多少事情呀！如果真有用，也还罢了。他们二人，一个先我而走，一个卧病在家，不能出门。

That sounds profound, but is in fact very simple. Two friends of mine put in great efforts to keep in good health. They spent at least two hours per day doing physical exercise. Cao Cao (1) says in one of his poems like this: Cup to cup calls for song, Man’s life – how long? Few people live to be 100. Two hours per day during one’s lifetime – what a tremendous amount of time it would add up to! And what a lot could be done with that much time! It would have been all right though if my two friends’ physical exercise had really helped. But fact is, one of the two has passed away before me and the other now never shows up, being confined to bed with illness.

要点：
1，“十分重视养生之道”译为put in great efforts to keep in good health，其中“重视”译为put in great efforts to do 是为了和上文make no efforts towards形成呼应
2，“曹操”是属中国古典文化中特有的词汇，此处采用加注法，将“曹操”的“个人信息”放在了脚注里~
3，“对酒当歌，人生几何”中“人生几何”意为“人生是多么短暂”也可理解为反问语气“人生的岁月又能有多久呢？”，译者根据反问语气译为Man’s life – how long?
4，“统计起来，要有多少钟头啊！”意为“这些时间相加是多么庞大的一个数字啊”，故译为what a tremendous amount of time it would add up to!
5，“如果真有用，也还罢了”意即“如果真有用也还好”
6，“一个卧病在家，不能出门”译为the other now never shows up, being confined to bed with illness. 译者在此进行了灵活处理，用never shows up表示不能出门。being confined to bed with illness表“卧病不起”

综述：散文中的口语化表达可以拉近作者和读者的距离，但在翻译时，如果对其逐字翻译只能造成困扰~

因此，我首创了三“不”主义：不锻炼，不挑食，不嘀咕，名闻全国。我这个三不主义，容易招误会，我现在利用这个机会解释一下。我并不绝对反对适当的体育锻炼，但不要过头。一个人如果天天望长寿如大旱之望云霓，而又绝对相信体育锻炼，则此人心态恐怕有点失常，反不如顺其自然为佳。

I’m known to all for having initiated three Nos, namely, no exercising, no picky eating, no grumbling. My three Nos, however, are apt to be misunderstood. So I need to take this opportunity to make an explanation. Exercise, if moderate, is all right, but I disapprove of overdoing it. One who overrates physical training while dreaming of living a long life must be mentally unbalanced. He should learn to let things take their own course.

要点：
1，“不嘀咕”即“不抱怨”，译为no grumbling，其中grumble表示“抱怨，发牢骚，嘟囔”十分形象，其同义词还有complain， gripe， mutter
2，“天天望长寿如大旱之望云霓”表示“十分渴望长寿”此处只译出了其中心意思，一是为了句式简洁，二是overreact也在一定程度上表达了“十分渴望”的意思
3，“绝对相信体育锻炼”即“高估体育锻炼的价值”，译为overrates physical training
4，“顺其自然”= let things take their own course（任事情自然发展）

综述：依旧是口语化的表述~对于我们的双语转化能力绝对是好的素材

至于不挑食，其心态与上面相似。常见有人年才逾不惑，就开始挑食，蛋黄不吃，动物内脏不吃，每到吃饭，战战兢兢，如履薄冰，窘态可掬，看了令人失笑。以这种心态而欲求长寿，岂非南辕而北辙！

As to picky eating, I often find people barely over forty becoming very choosy about food. They abstain from eating egg yolks and tripe. They behave gingerly at table as if treading on thin ice. The embarrassment they show cannot but evoke laughter from all. Acting with such a mentality, they can only end up in defeating their own purpose of increased longevity.

要点：
1，“才逾不惑”译为“不到四十”而不是“才过四十”，译为barely over forty
2，“动物内脏”若是直译，则是the internal organs of animals,或 animal entrails，今译tripe （杂碎），而且为熟食，比较符合上下文
3，“每到吃饭战战兢兢，如履薄冰”= behave gingerly at table as if treading on thin ice
4，“窘态可掬，看了令人失笑”=the embarrassment they show cannot but evoke laughter from all，其中cannot but意为“禁不住，不得不”如：I cannot but laugh to hear such a story.听到这样的故事，我禁不住发笑。
5，“岂非南辕而北辙”中的“岂非”是反问句的标识，但以惊叹号结尾，因此此处突出作者肯定的语气，译为they can only end up in defeating their own purpose of increased longevity。又“南辕北辙”比喻行动和目的正好相反。译为end up in defeating their own purpose of…

综述：本段大量四字词出没~

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