一組古詩詞的英譯

很多譯詩愛好者都喜歡翻譯中國古典詩詞，一是對現有的譯本不滿意（尤其老外那些），一是想鍛煉自己的英語表達能力。我也不例外，只是後來翻譯的經驗多了，越來越覺得文學翻譯應該將外語譯為母語才好，畢竟外語學得再好，也不如運用母語得心應手。我這些詩詞英譯大多是十年前的東西，如今回頭看看，還真對當時的譯法感到驚訝，如果我現在來譯，無論形式，遣詞造句，必定會保守些。這裡選了一部分還能見人的貼出來，就當留個紀念吧。 《飲馬長城窟行》 漢樂府 青青河畔草，綿綿思遠道。 遠道不可思，宿昔夢見之。 夢見在我傍，忽覺在他鄉。 他鄉各異縣，展轉不相見。 枯桑知天風，海水知天寒， 入門各自媚，誰肯相為言！ 客從遠方來，遺我雙鯉魚。 呼兒烹鯉魚，中有尺素書。 長跪讀素書，書中竟何如： 上言加餐食，下言長相憶。 Song of Watering Horses Near the Great Wall - A Han dynasty Yuefu The riverside grass verdant Extends unendingly far away. I shouldn’t yearn for a far-off man, Yet I dreamed of him in the night. I dreamed about him by my side, Then woke to find him still away, Away in various distant places, Tossing about out of my sight. A leafless tree can feel the wind, An unfrozen sea can feel the cold; Warmly greeted by their families, Would one of them tell me his news? A traveler from afar arrives And brings me a carp-shaped case. I tell my boy to break the carps And a silk letter in them we find. Then I kneel with my back erect To read what the message says: ‘Eat well & take care of your health, I’ve been missing you all the time. ’ 《蟬》 虞世南 垂緌飲清露，流響出疏桐。 居高聲自遠，非是藉秋風。 Cicada By Yu Shinan (558 – 638) With fresh dew thou rins’st thy hanging ribbons［1］ . There flows thy voice strong Out of bare parasol trees. As thou liv’st on high, thy far-reaching sound is wafted along Yet not by the autumn breeze. 1): The shape of a cicada's antennae looks like hanging ribbons. In ancient China, the term hat ribbons (for knotting under the jaw to fasten the hat) was often used as a metonymy for a high official. 《杳杳寒山道》 寒山 杳杳寒山道，落落冷澗濱。 啾啾常有鳥，寂寂更無人。 淅淅風吹面，紛紛雪積身。 朝朝不見日，歲歲不知春。 Deep, Shady, the Cold Mountain Trail By Han Shan (??? – ???) Deep, shady, the Cold Mountain trail; Bleak, chilly, the brink of a ravine. Cheep, chirp, the birds are often heard. Peace, silence, others won't be seen. Whistle, rustle, the winds rub my face; Flitter, flutter, I'm in the snow's embrace. Morn after morn, the sun always hides. Year after year, I’ve unknown spring's trace. 《鹿柴》 王維 空山不見人，但聞人語響。 返景入深林，復照青苔上。 Deer Enclosure By Wang Wei (701 – 761) Still mountains: no one to be seen, Yet human voices drift therein. In thick woods, the sunlight returns, And in the patterns it makes, appear mosses green. 《夜思》 李白 牀前明月光，疑是地上霜。 舉頭望山月，低頭思故鄉。 按：此詩文本出自（清）沈德潛《唐詩別裁集》

Night Thoughts By Li Bai (701-762) In front of the bed, there’s moonlight. Or is it, frost on the ground? I look up; the mountain moon is bright! I droop head; the heart is homeward bound. 《黃鶴樓》 崔顥 昔人已乘黃鶴去，此地空餘黃鶴樓。 黃鶴一去不復返，白雲千載空悠悠。 晴川歷歷漢陽樹，芳草萋萋鸚鵡洲。 日暮鄉關何處是？煙波江上使人愁。 The Yellow Crane Tower By Cui Hao (704 - 754) The ancient immortals rode the yellow cranes away, Only the empty Yellow Crane Tower is left in this place. The yellow cranes, once gone, have never come back again, And a thousand years of white clouds have stayed calmly in the skies. The bright river is clear, so are the trees on the Hangyang bank, And the fragrant grass is lush on the Parrot Islet. The sun sets, whereabouts is my homeland? The hazed waves on the river make one fret. 《江雪》 柳宗元 千山鳥飛絕，萬徑人蹤滅。 孤舟蓑笠翁，獨釣寒江雪。 River Snow By Liu Zongyuan (773-819) Over a thousand mountains, bird flights have disappeared; Throughout myriad paths, human tracks are covered. In straw cloak and hat, an old man's in the lone boat, In a freezing river and the snow, angling alone. 《春望》 杜甫 國破山河在，城春草木深。 感時花濺淚，恨別鳥驚心。 烽火連三月，家書抵萬金。 白頭搔更短，渾欲不勝簪。 Spring Prospect By Du Fu (712 – 770) The Capital［2］ is in shatters, Though hills and rills are still there. The spring comes to the City, Yet sees weeds and shrubs everywhere. The flowers catch my tears, As if feel my lamentation. Flitting birds startle my heart, As I'm being vexed at separation. The beacon fires have been burning For three months so far this year. I would give ten thousand in gold For a letter from home to arrive here. Worried scratching of head Causes my hair to become thin, Soon there will not be enough Of it to hold a hairpin. 2) At the end of 755, An Lushan, a general of Sogdian-Turkish origin, revolted against the Tang Dynasty with his Tartar troops. In July 756, seeing that it was under imminent threat, the Emperor abandoned Changan, the imperial capital. On the discovery of his departure, panic and looting broke out in the city which fell to the Tartar troops shortly afterwards. It is generally believed that Du Fu was captured by a group of rebels and taken by them, perhaps as a porter, to the capital where the poem was composed. 《春夜喜雨》 杜甫 好雨知時節，當春乃發生。 隨風潛入夜，潤物細無聲。 野徑雲俱黑，江船火獨明。 曉看紅濕處，花重錦官城。 Rejoicing at Rain in a Spring Night By Du Fu (712 – 770) The good rain knows the seasons, And comes around when spring is here. Following the wind, it glides into the night, Moistens things, delicate and soundless. The paths in outskirt are as dark as clouds, The only lights are from lanterns of river boats. The dawn shall see splashes of steeped red: The heavy flowers in the City of Brocade［3］. 3) Present-day Chengdu. 《楓橋夜泊》 張繼 月落烏啼霜滿天， 江楓漁火對愁眠。 姑蘇城外寒山寺， 夜半鐘聲到客船。 Night Mooring by the Maple Bridge By Zhang Ji (??? – ???) As the moon went down, the crows cawed in the frosty air. At the brooding maples did fishing-torches drowsily stare. Outside Gusu［4］ , from the Cold Mountain Temple, the toll Of its bell reached, through midnight, the rover's boat. 4) Present-day Suzhou, it is a city in the Jiangsu province, well-known for its beautiful gardens and stone bridges. The Cold Mountain Temple and the Maple Bridge are about 2 miles west of the city. 《花非花》 白居易 花非花，霧非霧， 夜半來，天明去。 來如春夢幾多時？ 去似朝雲無覓處。 A Flower, Yet not Truly a Flower By Bai Juyi (772–846) A flower, yet not truly a flower; a fog, yet not truly a fog; It comes at midnight, and leaves at daybreak. Coming like a spring dream, how long can it be? Leaving like a morning cloud, nowhere to be found. 《江城子 • 密州出獵》 蘇軾 老夫聊發少年狂。左牽黃，右擎蒼。 錦帽貂裘，千騎卷平岡。 為報傾城隨太守，親射虎，看孫郎。 酒酣胸膽尚開張。鬢微霜，又何妨。 持節雲中，何日遣馮唐。 會挽雕弓如滿月，西北望，射天狼。 Hunting outside Mizhou［5］, to the Tune of Riverside Town By Su Shi (1037 - 1101) For now, I shall show my youthful vigor, with a yellow hound on my left hand leash, and a gray falcon on my right hand glove. In satin caps and sable coats, a thousand riders sweep across the level hill. As the whole town turn out and follow me, the governor, I shall shoot a tiger myself like Sun Quan［6］ did. Half-drunk and bold with my chest exposed, I could not care less about the frost-like hairs in my sideburns. When will I be sent to defend the frontier like Feng Tang［7］ was? I shall then hold a bow, drawn as fully as a full moon, turn north-westwards and shoot the Celestial Wolf［8］. 5) Mizhou is an ancient town in modern day Shandong province, where Su Shi once worked as its governor. 6) Sun Quan was a ruler of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. 7) Feng Tang was a Han dynasty politician. 8) The Celestial Wolf refers to Sirius. It is a metaphor for the Western Xia, an enemy state of the Song Dynasty. 《江城子 •乙卯正月二十日夜記夢》 蘇軾 十年生死兩茫茫。不思量，自難忘。 千里孤墳，無處話淒涼。 縱使相逢應不識，塵滿面、鬢如霜。 夜來幽夢忽還鄉。小軒窗，正梳妝。 相顧無言，惟有淚千行。 料得年年腸斷處：明月夜，短松岡。 A Dream, to the Tune of Riverside Town By Su Shi (1037 - 1101) For ten years, the living roves and the dead stays. I don't think about you often, yet cannot forget you either. With your grave a thousand miles away, where can I tell my loneliness? Even if we met, how could you recognize me, with dust all over my face and hair like frost? Last night in a dream I suddenly returned home. By a little window, you were making yourself up. We looked at each other in silence, with tears coursing down our cheeks. I can envisage every year the heart-breaking place: the moon shines at night on the mound of short pines. 《青玉案 • 元夕》 辛棄疾 東風夜放花千樹。更吹落、星如雨。 寶馬雕車香滿路。 鳳簫聲動，玉壺光轉，一夜魚龍舞。 蛾兒雪柳黃金縷。笑語盈盈暗香去。 眾裡尋他千百度。 驀然回首，那人卻在，燈火闌珊處。 The Lantern Festival, to the Tune of Green Jade Bowl By Xin qiji (1140–1207) Tonight’s east wind blows through blooming flowers on thousands of trees And even blows down Showers of stars. Fine horses, carved carriages, and fragrance fill the roads. The sound of magic flutes flows, the lighted jade urns turn. All night the fishes and the dragons dance. Butterflies, snowy willows and golden threads Chortle away with light, sweet smells. I’ve been searching for her hundreds of times in the crowds, Then suddenly I look round, There the person is, In a dimly-lit spot. 附兩首現代的： 《斷章》 卞之琳 你站在橋上看風景, 看風景人在樓上看你。 明月裝飾了你的窗子, 你裝飾了別人的夢。 An Extract By Bian Zhilin (1910 - 2000) You stand on a bridge and watch the sights, A sightseer from upstairs watches you. The bright moon decorates your window, You decorate another person’s dreams. 《我愛這土地》 艾青

假如我是一只鳥， 我也應該用嘶啞的喉嚨歌唱： 這被暴風雨所打擊著的土地， 這永遠洶湧著我們的悲憤的河流， 這無止息地吹刮著的激怒的風， 和那來自林間的無比溫柔的黎明…… — 然後我死了， 連羽毛也腐爛在土地裡面。

為什麼我的眼裡常含淚水？ 因為我對這土地愛得深沉……

I Love This Land by Ai Qing

If I were a bird, I should sing, with a husky throat, this land that is being ravaged by storms, this river in which our indignation constantly surges, this raging gale that is blowing incessantly, and that infinitely gentle dawn emerging from the woods... — then I should die, and my feathers should also rot in the earth.

Why are my eyes always filled with tears? Because I deeply love this land...