翻译：风筝 (鲁迅)

翻译：

风筝

(

鲁迅

)

translation: alexcwlin; edit: adam.L

北京的 冬季，地上还有积雪，灰黑色的秃树枝丫叉于晴朗的天空中，而远处有一二风筝浮动，在

我是一种惊异和悲哀。

It is wintertime in Beijing. The ground is covered with thick snow. Leafless tree-branches in greyish-

black color reach into the clear sunny sky. A couple of kites floating high in the air at distance saddle me

with a feeling of bewilderment and melancholy.

*************** ************************************

故乡 的风筝时节，是春二月，倘听到沙沙的风轮声，仰头便能看见一个淡墨色的蟹风筝或嫩蓝色

的蜈蚣风筝。

The kite-flying season of my hometown is around February in springtime. If you happen to hear rustling

sound of wind-wheels, look up and you would see a grayish-black crab-shaped kite or a light-blue

centipede-shaped kite.

还有寂寞的瓦片风筝，没有风轮，又放得很低，伶仃地显出憔 悴可怜的模样。

There is also the solitary tile-shaped kite which

doesn’t have wind

-wheels. Helplessly it flies at low

altitude with a worn-out and piteous look.

但此时地上的杨柳已经发芽， 早的山桃也多吐蕾，和孩子们的天上的点缀相照应，打成一片春日

的温和。

At this time, the foliating willows and budding wild-peaches on the ground complement those

children’s

high-flying adornments to fill a warm spring

’s day

.

我现在在哪里呢？四面都还是严冬的肃杀，而久经诀别的故乡的久经逝去的春天，却就在这天 空

中荡漾了。

And where am I now? I am surrounded by bitter cold in all directions, but then a reminder of the long-

gone springtime of my hometown is now going up and down in the sky.

****************************************** *********

但我是向来不爱放风筝的，不但不爱，并且嫌恶它，因为我以为这 是没出息孩子所做的玩艺。

Kite-flying is never my cup of tea. Not only that I dislike it, but I hate it with a passion because I always

think that is something an unmotivated kid would do.

和我相反的是我的小兄弟，他 那时大概十岁内外罢，多病，瘦得不堪，然而最喜欢风筝。

My little brother is the opposite. At that certain time he was around ten years old, sick all the time and

skinny as a twig. He loved flying kites.

自己买不 起，我又不许放，他只得张着小嘴，呆看着空中出神，有时竟至于小半日。

He couldn’t afford to buy a kite, and I wouldn’t allow him to fly one. All he could do was to gaze at the

sky in fascination with his mouth open, and sometimes for duration of almost half-a-day.

远处的蟹风筝突然 落下来了，他惊呼；两个瓦片风筝的缠绕解开了，他高兴得跳跃。他的这些，

在我看来都 是笑柄，可鄙的。

When a crab-shaped kite from afar fell off the sky, he would scream in amazement. When two tile-shaped

kites became disentangled, he would jump up and down for joy. In my view, what he did was laughable

and contemptuous.

*************************** ************************

有一天，我忽然想起，似乎多日 不很看见他了，但记得曾见他在后园拾枯竹。

One day I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen him for many days but I did remember seeing him collect

fallen

twigs in the backyard.

我恍然大悟似的，便跑向少有人去的一 间堆积杂物的小屋去。推开门，果然就在尘封的什物堆中

发现了他。

Then it dawned on me. I ran to a seldom-visited storage shed and opened the door. As expected, I found

him among a pile of dust-covered stuff.

他向着大 方凳，坐在小凳上；便很惊惶地站了起来，失了色瑟缩着。

He was sitting on a small stool facing a big square chair. He stood up in shock; his face turned pale and he

started to quiver.

大方凳旁靠着一个蝴蝶风筝的竹骨，还没有糊上纸，凳上是一 对做眼睛用的小风轮，正用红纸条

装饰着，将要完工了。

Leaning against the square chair were the bamboo ribs of a butterfly kite and the paper cover had not been

pasted. On the chair was a pair of wind-wheels for the eyes. They were being decorated with red paper

strips and close to completion.