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文 學 院

第 三 屆 「新 紀 元 全 球 華 文 青 年 文 學 獎」

The Third Global Youth Chinese Literary Award for the New Century

 

文學翻譯組別外文中譯原稿

 

請用中文，翻譯下列合共四篇英文原稿

 

1.

It is a fact that not once in my life have I gone out for a walk. I have been taken out for walks; but that is another matter. Even while I trotted prattling by my nurse’s side I regretted the good old days when I had, and wasn’t, a perambulator. When I grew up it seemed to me that the one advantage of living in London was that nobody ever wanted me to come out for a walk. London’s very drawbacks – its endless noise and bustle, its smoky air, the squalor ambushed everywhere in it – assured this one immunity.

Whenever I was with friends in the country, I knew that at any moment, unless rain were actually falling, some man might suddenly say “Come out for a walk!” in that sharp imperative tone which he would not dream of using in any other connexion. People seem to think there is something inherently noble and virtuous in the desire to go for a walk. Any one thus desirous feels that he has a right to impose his will on whomever he sees comfortably settled in an arm-chair, reading. It is easy to say simply “No” to an old friend. In the case of a mere acquaintance one wants some excuse. “I wish I could, but” – nothing ever occurs to me except “I have some letters to write.” This formula is unsatisfactory in three ways. (1) It isn’t believed. (2) It compels you to rise from your chair, go to the writing-table, and sit improvising a letter to somebody until the walkmonger (just not daring to call you liar and hypocrite) shall have lumbered out of the room. (3) It won’t operate on Sunday mornings. “There’s no post out till this evening” clinches the matter; and you may as well go quietly.

 

----from Max Beerbohm: Going Out For A Walk

 

我一生真的一次都没有出去散步过。曾经有人带我出去散步，但那是另一回事儿。就连我在保姆身边一边小跑，一边还说着天真话的时候，我都怀念那时的美好时光，那时我有婴儿车，却并非散步者。长大后我渐渐了解到，住在伦敦有一大好处，就是从不会有人想和我出去散步。伦敦到处是嘈杂的声音和繁忙的景象、空气里充满了烟尘、污秽无处不在，这些缺点都更确保了不会有人邀我出去散步。

我和朋友一起呆在乡下的时候，我知道，除非正在下雨，不然随时都可能有人突然提出“我们出去散步吧！”，而且是用那种在任何其他情况下他都不会想用的尖利的命令口气。人们似乎认为，出去散步的渴望有种崇高、正直的内在特质。任何渴望如此的人，当他见到那些正舒服地躺在扶手椅里看着书的人们时，都觉得他有权利将他的意志强加于他们。对老朋友直接说“不”很容易。但对相交不深的朋友，人们总想找些借口，说“我希望能去，但是……”。而我能想到的借口则总是“我有些信要写。”这样的借口有三个不令人满意之处。(1) 没有人信。(2) 这让你不得不从躺椅中站起来，到写字桌前坐下，佯装写信给别人，直到那个想要哄骗你出去散步的家伙无趣地从屋子里走开，他只是不太方便叫你骗子或者伪君子。(3) 这招星期天早上不奏效。“今晚前不会有邮件送出的。”这样的回答让事情无法扭转，你也就不得不乖乖地出去散步了。

 

——摘自马克斯•比尔博姆《外出散步》

 

2.

The most complex lesson the literary point of view teaches – and it is not, to be sure, a lesson available to all, and is even difficult to keep in mind once acquired – is to allow the intellect to become subservient to the heart. What wide reading teaches is the richness, the complexity, the mystery of life. In the wider and longer view, I have come to believe, there is something deeply apolitical – something above politics – in literature, despite what feminist, Marxist, and other politicized literary critics may think. If at the end of a long life of reading the chief message you bring away is that women have had it lousy, or that capitalism stinks, or that attention must above all be paid to victims, then I’d say you just might have missed something crucial. Too bad, for there probably isn’t time to go back to re-read your lifetime’s allotment of five thousand or so books.

People who have read with love and respect understand that the larger message behind all books, great and good and even some not so good as they might be, is, finally, cultivate your sensibility so that you may trust your heart. The charmingly ironic point of vast reading, at least as I have come to understand it, is to distrust much of one’s education. Unfortunately, the only way to know this is first to become educated, just as the only way properly to despise success is first to achieve it.

 

----from Joseph Epstein: Narcissus Leaves the Pool

 

文学的观点所能教授的最复杂的一课，就是让智力服从于心灵。而且这课绝对不是每个人都上得到的；况且即便获得了这课知识，也很难记住。广泛阅读教会我们生活的丰富多彩、错综复杂和神秘莫测。从长远角度考虑，我开始相信，文学中有些东西完全与政治无关，它们超越于政治之上，尽管这个想法可能与女性主义者、马克思主义者还有一些其他的带有政治性的文学评论家所想的不一样。如果在长达一生的阅读之后，你获得的主要信息是：女人一生真惨，或者是资本主义腐败透了，或者是受害者应倍受关注；那么我要说，你很可能错失了一些至关重要的信息。这就太糟了。因为或许你没有时间再回去重读你这一生中读过的那五千余册书。

那些怀着爱与尊重来阅读的人们会了解，所有的书——伟大的或是一些并不那么伟大的书，背后都蕴含着一个更重要的信息，那就是阅读最终是要培养你的情感，这样你才会信任你的心灵。大量阅读的迷人之处就是让人怀疑自己曾受过的教育，这尽管有些讽刺，但至少我是这样理解的。遗憾的是，想要了解这点，唯一的途径就是首先要受教育，正如要真正藐视成功，唯一的途径就是首先要取得成功。

 

——摘自约瑟夫•爱泼斯坦《那希索斯：告别水中影》

 

3.

The style of Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope is cautious and uniform; Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind, Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden’s page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope’s is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and levelled by the roller.

Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred, that of this poetical vigor Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope; and even of Dryden it must be said, that, if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden’s performances were always hasty, either excited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestic necessity; he composed without consideration, and published without correction. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden’s fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope’s the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it.

 

----from Samuel Johnson: Pope

 

德莱顿的风格反复无常、灵活多变，而蒲柏的风格则谨慎小心、始终如一。德莱顿顺着他情绪的变化来写作，而蒲柏则为了写作的规则而调控情绪。德莱顿的情感往往热情强烈、迅速敏捷，而蒲柏则总是不紧不慢、均衡温和。德莱顿的作品像是一片天然的牧场，平面高低不整，有着各式各样茂盛充裕的植被；而蒲柏的作品则如同一块天鹅绒草坪，用镰刀修剪过，再用滚轧机整平。

就天赋这种构成诗人的力量而言；这是一种令判断力不再冷淡、令知识不再呆滞的品质；是一种搜集素材、整合构想、充实内容、赋予生气的能量；这种优越性，在迟疑片刻后，必定还是归于德莱顿。但并不能就此推断，蒲柏写诗的活力就少，而德莱顿的较多，因为密尔顿之后的任何一个作家都逊色于蒲柏。而且即使就德莱顿而言，我们也必须承认，尽管他作品的段落更清晰，但他的诗并不比蒲柏的好。德莱顿的创作向来仓促，或者是受外部环境的启发，或者是出于内部需求的逼迫。他写作时毫无顾虑，出版前也从不修改。他所追求的，正是他的思想可以随时表达，或在某次出行时无意想起的总总；这也正是他所给与读者的。蒲柏总是谨慎小心、不慌不忙，以便浓缩自己的情感，增加意象，积累研习的成果和意外的灵感。如果说德莱顿因此就飞得更高的话，那么蒲柏则飞得更久。如果说德莱顿的火焰比较明亮的话，那么蒲柏的火焰则热度更均衡、持久。德莱顿总是超乎期望，而蒲柏也从不落后。

 

——摘自撒母耳•约翰逊《蒲柏》

 

4.

It was the first rose of the year, big, red and heavy-scented. I had watched it grow from a bud, but somehow I had missed the final stage of the metamorphosis, so that it seemed to have changed from a bud to a full-blown rose overnight.

I had been waiting impatiently for this ultimate apparition of fully developed beauty, but now that it was actually here I was at a loss how to deal with it, overwhelmed by such perfection. I looked at the rose through the window, but I hesitated to go out into the garden and address it directly, although it was waiting there in evident expectation of a first act of homage.

When I finally plucked up the courage to go to it, I buried my face in its petals and inhaled its fragrance but could think of nothing to say beyond the trite words, “beautiful, beautiful.” The rose seemed satisfied, however, and smiled at me warmly. A bee emerged from the heart of the rose, circled my head twice and flew off across the garden.

I felt that summer had begun.

 

----from Michael Bullock: The First Rose of the Summer

 

这是今年的第一朵玫瑰，又大又红，还散发着浓浓的香气。虽然我从它还是蓓蕾时就开始观察，但却错过了它最后骤变的阶段，于是对我而言，这蓓蕾似乎是在一夜之间盛放的。

我守候这最终盛放的美丽异象早已不耐烦了，但现在，当它实实在在地呈现在了我的面前，我却有些不知所措，完全沉浸于这完美的景色之中。我透过窗户，望着这玫瑰，但却迟迟没有走出去，在花园里直接地观赞它，尽管它显然在那里期待着第一个致敬。

但当我最终拾起勇气，来到它面前，埋首于它的花瓣中，再深吸一口它芬芳的气味时，我能想到的却只是毫无新意的“美啊！真美啊！”然而，这玫瑰却似乎相当满足，冲我嗳嗳地笑着。一只蜜蜂从玫瑰花心中飞出来，在我的头顶上转了两圈，然后穿过花园，飞走了。

那一刻，我感受到夏天来了。

 

——摘自迈克尔•布罗克《夏日的第一朵玫瑰》

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张冲先生推荐来的翻译竞赛，那就参加吧。可最后截稿日期似乎是个问题，也搞不清楚是11/15要寄到，还是按邮戳为准。不管它了，14号寄出去的，到不到都无所谓。反正到了也不会拿奖，翻得高兴就好。但其实翻得挺郁闷的，尤其是Samuel Johnson那篇，看都看不懂。不过看到成果还是挺高兴的，虽然还有很多问题。

最近翻译做的好郁闷，除了这篇，还有翻译课的作业The Open Boat by Stephen Crane，这周还有一篇文艺评论Moretto da Brescia's Portrait of a Young Man，还帮朋友友情翻译了一篇宗教方面的论文......现在看到翻译都想吐！！