-
毛荣贵，翻译美学，上海交通大学出版社，
2005
年
11
月
?
翻译美学的研究对象是翻译中的审
美客体（原文、译文）
，翻译中的审美主体（译者、
读者）
，翻译中的审美活动，翻译中的审美判断，审美欣赏，审美标准以及翻译过程中
富于创造性的审美再现等等。
?
生在杭州，吃在广州，死在柳州。
It is good to live in Hangzhou, to eat
in Guangzhou, and to die in Liuzhou.
（意合
美，
译文无
审美价值，无基本的“有效性”及“合适性”
）
语感中包含了美感的译者，其译文将是：
There are three best choices in China-
living in Hangzhou, eating in Guangzhou and buying
a
wooden coffin in
Liuzhou.
（
p.
23
）
?
As a youngster I was effervescent,
outgoing, and I talked too much. I had a talent
for saying
the wrong things at the
wrong time. I tortured myself because of the
foolish things I had said.
有基本语感的译者会译成：
我年轻的
时候，活力四射，乐于助人，非常健谈，却不知道在什么场合说什么话。言既
出口，内心
又懊恼不已。
试译：我年轻的时候，活力四射，乐于助人，非
常健谈，而且还有在错误的场合发表错
误言论的才能。言既出口，内心又懊恼不已。
（
23-24
）
?
The dress set
off to perfection the seventeen-inch waist, the
smallest in three counties, and
tightly
fitting basque showed breasts well matured for her
sixteen years.(Gone with the Wind)
傅东华：
她的腰围不过十七英寸，穿着那窄窄的春衫，显得十分合身。
里面紧紧绷着一
件小马甲，使得她胸部特别隆起。她的年纪虽只十六岁，乳房却已十分成熟了。
改译：
她的十七英寸的腰围，
在
附近三个县里算是最细的了，
这身衣服把她的细腰束得
尽善尽美
，
年方十六的她，
乳房已经十分丰满，
那紧而贴身的小马甲，
更使其跃然显现。
（
28
）
?
Change is part
of life and the making of character, hon. When
things happen that you do not
like, you
have two choices: You get bitter or better.
变化是生活的一部分，
而且也塑造了人
的意志品德，
亲爱的。当你不喜欢的事情发生了，你有两种选择：要么痛苦不堪；要么
痛快达观。
（
31
）
?
Youth is not a
time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a
matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and
supple knees; it is a matter of the
will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the
emotions; it
is the freshness of the
deep springs of life.
青春不是年华，而是心境；它不是桃面
，朱唇，
柔膝；
它是坚定的意志，
驰骋
的想象，
炽热的情感；
它是生命的源泉，
汩汩地涌出。
(31-32)
Youth means a
temperamental predominance of courage over
timidity of the appetite, of the
craving for adventure over the love of
ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a
boy
of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a
number of years. We grow old by deserting our idea
ls.
青春意味着性情的优越，
勇气驱走怯懦，
冒险战胜苟安。
二十岁有之，
六十岁则更常见。
岁月有加，并非垂老；理想泯灭，暮年即至。
（
32
）
Years
may
wrinkle
the
skin,
but
to
give
up
enthusiasm
wrinkles
the
soul.
Worry,
fear,
self-distrust bows the
heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
岁月悠悠，容颜衰老；抛弃热
忱，心灵受损。担忧、恐惧、自暴自弃。必然重创心灵
，令心灵屈从、精神蒙尘。
（
32
）<
/p>
Whether
60
or
16,
there
is
in
every
human
being
?
s
heart
the
lure
of
wonder,
the
unfailing
childlike appetite
of what
?
s next and the joy
of the game of living. In the center of your heart
and my heart there is a wireless
station: so long as it receives messages of
beauty, hope, cheer,
courage and power
from men and from the Infinite, so long are you
young.
无论年届花甲，
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
还是二八芳龄，
< br>心中皆有奇迹的诱惑，永恒的童真，生命的快乐，
你我心中皆有一台天
线，只要接收来自人们和上帝的美丽、希望、快乐、勇敢的信息，就会青春永驻，风华
正茂。
（
32
）
When the aerials are down, and
your spirit is covered with sorrow of cynicism and
the ice of
pessimism, then you are
grown old, even at 30, but as long as your aerials
are up, to catch
waves of optimism,
there is hope you may die young at 80.
一旦天线倒下，心灵为愤世嫉
俗和悲观厌世的冰雪所覆盖，
你就
有可能年方二八而衰；
只要天线不倒，
不断接受乐观
的电波，你有望年届八十而终，年轻依旧。
（
32
）
During the war
he was sent on dangerous secret missions abroad.
Very exciting! He was a
sort of James
Bond.
在战争中，
他被派往国外担任一项危险的秘密使命
。
太令人兴奋了！
他是位出色的谍报人员。
（
34
）
To
many
parents,
the
three
Gs---
gays,
guys
and
gangs---have
replaced
the
three
Rs
as
benchmarks of school life
.
对于许多父母来说，同性恋、枪支、团体这三个词已经代替了
读、写、算作为学校的标准尺度。
（
36
）
More
recently
he
introduced
himself
into
the
debate
on
welfare
reform
by
insisting
that
unwed motherhood, not joblessness, was
the problem.
最近，由于坚持认为是未婚母亲而
不是失业才是问题症结所在，他使自己卷入关于福利政策改革的争论中去。
（
37-38
）
The
rocks
presented
a
high
impenetrable
wall,
over
which
the
torrent
came
tumbling
in
a
sheet
of
feathery
foam,
and
fell
into
a
broad,
deep
basin,
black
from
the
shadows
of
the
surrounding
forest.
< br>山岩壁立，不可逾越。岩顶上一道的瀑布，飞流直下，水花四溅，
雾气弥漫，
山泉轰然落入一个宽广的深潭，周围树林的影子，
使得潭水一片
黝黑
。
（
42
）
Gradually the
river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters
flow more quietly, and in the
end,
without
any
visible
break,
they
become
merged
in
the
sea,
and
painlessly
lose
their
individual
being.
其后，河面逐渐展宽，两岸相距愈远，水流趋缓
，最后则流入大海，
与海水融为一体，海天一色，平心静气地结束其单独存在的那一段历
程。
（
43
）
（物称）
The horrible sense of
his view of her so deadened her that she staggered
.
真没想到，
他居然会这样看待她；她吓得魂飞魄散，体瘫肢软
。
（
45
）
Analysis
of
a
damaged
material
usually
requires
intuitive
judgment
followed
by
real-
time
testing. (When we are doing an
analysis of a damaged material, it usually
requires intuitive
judgment followed by
real-time testing.)
The
effectiveness
of
the
electronic
computer
lies
in
its
great
speed
and
accuracy
in
calculation.
(The
effectiveness
of
the
electronic
computer
is
achieved
because
it
has
great
speed and accuracy in calculation.)
Even the dissolution in water cannot
enable common salt to change its chemical
properties.
(Even though we dissolve it
in water, we cannot enable common salt to change
its chemical
properties.)
Illness brought her a strange
restlessness and made her all the more eager to
cling to life and
squeeze
from
it
the
last
drop
of
happiness.
It
made
her
envy
health,
but
it
also
made
sentimental over a leaf that the wind
had blow into her room.
这种病使她特别敏感不安，
她
越发急切于抓住人生不放，
似乎是要把人生
的甜蜜幸福挤到最后一滴而后已。
这病使她
多么羡慕人家的健康
，也使她多愁善感，见一叶飘零，随风入室，便愁绪满怀，无已自
解。
< br>（
46
）
It begins when a feeling of stillness
creeps into my consciousness. Everything has
suddenly
gone quiet. Birds do not
chirp. Leaves do not rustle. Insects do not sing.
1
．
起初，
有一种平静的感觉悄然袭上我的心头。刹那间，万物都沉寂无声。鸟儿不再
啁啾，树叶不
再沙沙作响，昆虫也停止了欢唱。
2
．
起初，
有一种平静的感觉悄然爬上我的心头。
世间万物，
顿时沉寂。
鸟儿不再啁啾，
树叶不再婆娑，昆虫不再
吟唱。
（
65
）
?
For the rest,
after the first six months, she grew quickly, and
could soon walk and talk. She
was a
real beauty, with the
Earnshaws
?
handsome dark
eyes, but the Linton
?
s fair
skin, and
small features with blonde,
curly hair. She was sensitive and affectionate.
She did not look a
great deal like her
mother, as she could be sweet and gentle; her
anger was never furious, and
her love
was deep and tender.
1
．
其余的
时候呢，她在六个月之后，就成长得很快，也很快会走路说话了。她真是个
美人，继承了
恩萧家漂亮的黑眼睛，却有林顿家的细白皮肤，秀气的脸庞和金色的
卷发。她是个善感、
温柔的女孩子。她并不很像她的母亲，因为她是那么温和、恬
静；她即使生气也不会发怒
的，而她的爱是那样深沉、柔和。
2
．
其余的
时候呢，她在六个月之后，就成长得很快，也很快会走路说话了。她真是个
美人，继承了
恩萧家漂亮的黑眼睛，却有林顿家的细白皮肤，秀气的脸庞和金色的
卷发。她是个善解人
意、温柔体贴的女子。她并不很像她的母亲，因为她是那么温
和恬静；她的怒，绝非暴风
骤雨般的狂怒；她的爱，却似水柔情般的挚爱。
翻译，在某种
程度上说，是对译者协作能力的一种考验。原文所无的美，尤其是表
象美，能在译者笔下
创造扯拉。比如上一段末句，何等平淡：她即使生气也不会发
怒的，
而且她的爱是那样深沉、
柔和。
译文
2
就平添了几分表达整饰美和形象美
（
69
）
?
If any one would make me the greatest
king that ever lived, with palaces and gardens and
fine
dinners, and wines and coaches,
and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants,
on condition
that I should not read
books, I would not be a king. I would rather be a
poor man in garret
with plenty of books
than a king who did not love reading.
如
果有人让我成为有史以来最伟大的君王，给我宫殿花园，锦食美食、
琼浆玉液、
香车
宝马、
成群奴婢，但须以不再读书为代价，
我宁可不作君王。
我宁愿作一个身处阁楼但
有书相伴的穷人，而
不作一个不爱读书的君王。
（
70
）<
/p>
?
We
can nowhere find a better type of a perfectly free
creature than in the common house fly.
Not free only, but brave. There is no
courtesy in him; he does not care whether it is
king or
clown whom he tastes; and in
every step of his swift, mechanical march, and in
every pause
of his resolute
observation, there is one and the same expression
of perfect egotism, perfect
independence and self-confidence, and
conviction of the world
?
s
having been made for flies.
Strike at
him with your hand; and to him, the aspect of the
matter is, what to you it would be,
if
an acre of red clay, ten feet thick, tore itself
up from the ground and came crashing down
with an aim. He steps out of the way of
your hand, and alights on the back of it. You
cannot
terrify him, nor govern him, nor
persuade him, nor convince him.
He has
his won positive opinion on all matters; not an
unwise one, usually, for his own ends;
and will ask no advice of yours. He has
no work to do---no tyrannical insects to obey. The
earthworm
has
his
digging;
the
bee
her
gathering
and
building;
the
spider
her
cunning
network;
the
ant
her
treasury
and
accounts.
All
these
are
comparative
slaves,
or
people
of
business.
But
your
fly,
free
in
the
air,
free
in
the
chamber---a
black
incarnation
of
caprice---wondering, investigating,
flitting, flirting, feasting at his will, with
rich variety of
choice in feast, from
the heaped sweets in the
grocer
?
s window to chose of
the butcher
?
s back
yard---what freedom is like this? (John
Ruskin: The Freedom of the Fly)
我们无论在什么
地方都找不到像普通家蝇那样一种绝对自由的生物了。
苍蝇不仅自由放
< br>任，而且勇敢无畏。它全然不将什么谦恭礼让，不管是高贵的国王，还是贫贱的村夫，
它都毫不在意，
照样去吮舔；
在它敏捷而机械式地前进的每
一步，
或在它果断观察的每
一间歇，总是露出一副自命不凡、无
求于人、
十分自信的申请，俨然认为世界是为苍蝇
而创造的。<
/p>
如果你用手去拍打它，
其情其景好像一
块一英亩大十英尺厚的红色黏土拔地而起，
突然
劈头盖脑地照直
朝你猛砸下来。
可是，苍蝇却振翅一飞，
逃脱了你的一掌一击，
接着又
轻落在你的手背上。你吓不倒它，制服不了它；既不能动之以情，也不能晓之以理
。
苍蝇对一切事物都有自己的明确的见解，
< br>就其所要达到的目的而言，
这些见解却也不失
为睿智之见
。
它不会征求您的高见。
苍蝇无需干活，
在虫豸中没有统治它的暴君能使之
俯首听命。
蚯蚓要疏松土壤
；蜜蜂要采花酿蜜和营造蜂房；蜘蛛要巧结迷网；蚂蚁也要
聚财盘宝。
< br>相形之下，它们只是一群庸碌之辈。而我们的苍蝇却在户外逍遥自在，
活像
一位反复无常的黑色精灵鬼。它到处游逛，到处查访，东飞西荡，搔首弄姿，同时还能
大饱口福，
从食品店橱窗里陈列的糖果点心到肉铺后院存放的大堆肉食，
诸般美味，
任
其挑选，还有何种自由堪
与之媲美呢？（
77-78
）
?
当夜幕无声落下，
将一切远山近景从你的视线抹去的时候；
当热闹的晚会结束，
< br>欢声笑
语已经消逝的时候，什么都没有留下，只有思想还在活动。
1
．
When night falls, blurring from view
the distant hills and the nearby landscape, or
when
a hilarious party is over and all
the noise and laughter gone, nothing is left but
your own
thoughts.
2
．
Nothing, but your own thoughts, is
left, when night falls, blurring from view the
distant
hills and the nearby landscape,
or when a hilarious party is over and all the
noise
and
laughter gone.
英语句子以“尾重”
（
end-wei
ght
）为美。
（
80
）
In a wagon, you can be
one place today and another the next day.
1
．
坐着马
车，你今天可以在一个地方，明天又可以在另外一个地方。
2
．
坐着马
车，你可以今日看山，明天玩水。
（
87
）
I am never at a loss for
a word; Pitt is never at a loss for the word.
（英国
18
世纪大演说家
Charles James
Fox
认为他的对手
William
Pitt
比他更加出色）
1
．
我总是
能凑合找个词儿说说，可是皮特什么时候都能找到恰如其分的词儿。
2
．
我总能找到一个词，而皮特总能找到那个绝妙好词。
3
．
我总能
找到一个觉得妙的词，而皮特总能找到那个意思其党的词。
4
．
我和皮
特都能出口成章，但我用的词大都不可言妙，而他用的总是妙不可言。
改译：我总是滔滔不绝，而皮特则是字字
珠玑
。
（
88-89
）
Mole had suddenly realized that his old
house was nearby. It was very close. All Mole had
to
do was find it. All of a sudden he
deeply wanted to see his old home again.
Mole
?
s house was
small, and not as nice as his
friend
?
s houses. But it was
his, and he wanted to see it!
1
．
鼹鼠突
然记起，他的老家就在这附近，近得很。此时，他需要干的就是去发现它。
突然，他真的
想再看一眼他的老家。他的家很小，没有朋友们的那么气派，但那毕
竟是自己的家呀，他
就是想看看！
2
．
鼹鼠突
然记起，他的老家就在这附近，近得很。此时，他需要干的，只要四下寻找
一下就行了。
突然，他真的想再看一眼他的老家。他的家很小，没有朋友们的那么
气派，但那毕竟是自
己的家呀，他就是想看看！
（
89
）<
/p>
So
long,
chicken.
Hello!
Tofu.
Tofu
and
a
host
of
other
products
made
from
the
mighty
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
soybean are
pushing aside meat, milk and even ice cream on
grocery store shelves these days
as
scientists rave about the health benefits of soy.
1
．
再见，
鸡肉。你好豆腐！科学家们对大豆有益健康的赞扬，使得如今着杂货店的货
架上，豆腐和
其他很多用大豆制成的食品正逐步取代肉类、牛奶甚至冰淇淋。
2
．
再见，
鸡肉。你好，豆腐！因科学家们对大豆有益健康的事实摇旗呐喊，而使得如
今杂货店的货
架上的豆腐和其他豆制品正在把肉类、牛奶甚至冰淇淋挤到一旁。
（
91
）
The
rich
man
believes
he
possesses
his
big
house,
his
expensive
clothes,
his
horses
and
servants and his bank accounts. He does
not. He depends on them. He worries about them.
They possess him. He is their slave.
1
．
有钱人
认为他拥有大房子、昂贵的服饰、马匹、奴婢和银行存折。其实，他并没有
真正拥有，他
依靠着这些财富，他为财富而忧心忡忡，是财富占有了他。他是财富
的奴隶。
2
．
富人以为是他占有大屋、华服、马群、奴仆和银行存折。不。富人傍财而活，为财
所累，被财所占。富人，财之奴也。
（
105
）
Parents bear children,
bore teenagers and board new weds.
父母生儿育
女，还要招青春期子
女的厌烦，待其新婚时，还得包吃包住。
（
114
）
Accident: car, caress, careless and car
less.
车祸：驾车上路、卿卿我我、一不当心，车子没
了。
（
114
）
林语堂译《声声慢》
：多少年来，译界高手趋之若鹜，竞相译之
，在众多译作中，林语
堂的译文闪闪发光，胜出一筹！林译不仅一气连用了七个
so
，更让人叫好的是，林译
连用了七个以
d
字母开头的形容词，一气呵成，自然构成了
Alliteration
，与李清照的原
诗的尾韵遥相呼应
，词趣洋溢。
（
118
）
Spring (Thomas Nash)
The fields breathe sweet, the daisies
kiss our feet,
Young
love
meet, old wives
a-sunning sit.
In every street these
tunes our ears do greet,
Cuckoo, jug-
jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring! The
sweet Spring!
遐思译：
田野吐芬芳，雏菊舔衣裳，
情侣去踏青，老妪暖夕阳，
悠悠春之声，入耳实难忘。
布谷声声叫，夜莺呖呖唱！
春！馨香的春！
（
120
）
Disease: ill, pill, bill
and sometimes will.
疾病：不舒服，吃药，付帐单，有时还要写遗
嘱。
（
121
）
Better late than the late.
1
．
迟到总比丧命好。
2
．
晚了总
比完了好。
（
127
）
我从小就对自己没有信心，
这是问题的根子。
这种情绪使我受到一点点表扬多会难为情，
使我怎么也说不出一个“不
”字，也使我不敢向父母多要一分钱。此外，这种缺乏信心
的情况也影响了我对钢琴的热
爱。
1
．
I
lack
confidence
since
childhood,
which
was
the
root
of
the
problem.
I
would
feel
embarrassed while
receiving the slightest praise. I found it hard to
say
“
no
”
.
I even dared
not
to
ask
for
one
more
cent
from
my
parent.
Besides,
this
lack
of
confidence
also
influenced my love for the piano.
2
．
At
the
root
of
it
is
my
diffidence
by
which
I
have
been
enslaved
since
childhood.
It
embarrasses
me
at
the
mildest
flattery,
crushes
me
utmost
efforts
to
say
“
no
”
,
and
prevents
me
from
asking
my
parent
for
one
cent
more
than
necessary.
Among
other
things, diffidence has
wormed its way into my love of the piano.
（
140
）
?
丹麦语言学家
Jespersoen
讲过一个著名的语言笑话：
A
young
lady
home
from
school
was
explaining.
“
Take
an
egg,
”
she
said,
“
and
make
a
perforation
in
the
base
and
a
corresponding
one
in
the
apex.
Then
apply
the
lips
to
the
aperture, and by
forcibly inhaling the breath the shell is entirely
discharged of its contents.
”
And
old
lady,
who
was
listening
exclaimed,
“
It
beats
all
how
folks
do
things
nowadays.
When I was a gal
they made a hole in each end a
nd
sucked.”
一个从学校汇价的年轻女子正在解释。
“取一枚鸡蛋，
”她说，
“在底部打一只孔
，在顶
部再打一只相应的孔。
然后置嘴唇于孔上，
竭力吸气，
而后蛋壳中所贮之物即会被抽近。
”
一位在侧聆听的老妇惊叹：
“如今的人做事真希奇。我小时候，我们
一头打一个洞，吸
就是了。
”
（
144
）
?
大词（
big
words
）
英国语言学家
A. G
.
Gardiner
的
On Big
Words
：
It looks
so learned and knowing that it calls attention to
the absurdity like a college cap on a
donkey
?
s ear.
We do not make a thing more impressive
by clothing it in grand
words any more
than we
crack a nut more
neatly by using a sledgehammer. We only distract
attention from the thought
to the
clothes it wears. If we are wise our wisdom will
gain from the simplicity of our speech,
and if we are foolish our folly will
only shout the louder through big words.
妄图以冠冕堂
皇的词修饰一件事，
使其留下深刻的印象，<
/p>
无异于抡起大锤砸核桃一样荒诞不经。
这样
做只能把人们的注意力从思想内容分散到装饰外表上。
如果我们是聪明人，
我们的智慧
将从简单的语言中得以提升；
如果我们
是愚蠢的人，
那么，
我们的愚昧只能从我们使用
的大词中得以彰显。
（
144-145
）
（但如运用恰当，
“大词”也可以传递委婉、和谐、
庄重
等表现效果）
?
The first fall
of snow is not only an event but is a magical
event. You go to bed in one kind of
world and make up to find yourself in
another quite deferent, and if this is not
enchantment,
then where is it to be
found? The very stealth, the eerie quietness of
the thing makes it more
magical. If all
the snow fell at once in one shattering crash,
awakening us in the middle of the
night,
the event
would be
robbed
of
its
wonder.
But
it
flutters
down,
soundless, hour
after
hour
while
we
are
sleep.
Outside
the
closed
curtains of
the
bedroom
a
vast
transformation
scene is
taking place, just as if a myriad of elves and
brownies were at work, and we turn and
yawn and stretch and know nothing about
it. And then what an extraordinary change it is!
It
is as if the house you are in had
been dropped down in another continent. Even the
inside,
which has not been touched,
seems different, every room appearing smaller and
cozier, just
as if some power were
trying to turn it into a
woodcutter
?
s hut or a snug
log cabin.
这场初雪并非一场寻常变化，
而是魔幻
般的变化。
你上床睡觉时是一个世界，
醒来时却
发现自己已置身于另一个迥然不同的世界。
假如这不是魔法，
< br>那么魔法又到哪儿去寻觅
呢？而这一切都在静谧中神秘地发生，
< br>使得这场初雪愈发迷人。
如果所有的雪在瞬间轰
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
然落下，在午夜将我们惊醒，那么
这场雪就无奇妙可言。雪花落下，纷纷扬扬，无声无
息，不停不息，
而此刻的我们正在梦乡。
窗帘拉拢的卧室外，
苍茫大地正在
发生一场巨
变，就像无数调皮的小精灵和小仙童在干活；
此刻，
一无所知的我们却在辗转反侧、打
着哈欠、舒展四肢。于是，我们见到了一场巨变！你的
寓所，似乎落到了一个新大陆，
甚至屋内，虽然没有被人动过手脚，似乎也发生了变化。
每一间屋子都显得更加小巧、
更加温馨，好似某种神奇的力量把它变成了伐木的工棚或是
温暖的小木屋。
（
148-149
）<
/p>
When a girl leaves her home
at eighteen, she does one of two things.
Either she falls into
saving
hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes
the cosmopolitan standard of virtue
and
becomes worse. (Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie) <
/p>
一个
18
岁的姑娘离家出走门，她无
非有两种遭遇。
要么落到好人手里，
而过上
好日子，
要么马上接受了三教九流的道德标
准，由好变坏。
（
149-150
）
The small and elite club of clones,
restricted until now to females like Dolly the
sheep and
Cumulina the mouse, has gone
co-ed with the cloning of a male mouse.
(It
?
s a Boy! Scientists
Clone First Mammal)
1
．
小而精
的克隆家族，迄今是由多利羊和卡母里那鼠等雌性动物组成，但是，随着雄
性鼠的克隆成
功，克隆家族从此有了雄性。
2
．
由少数
精英构成的克隆家族，
一直是由多利羊和卡母里那鼠组成的雄性天下，
< br>但是，
随着雄性鼠的克隆成功，雌雄共存的局面已经开始。
（
154-155
）
Husbands have been killed, babies born
deformed, wives left deserted, children crippled
in
accidents, homes burned to the
ground---
I?
ve looked and
heard and wet and thought this too
much
for anyone to bear
…
and then
I?
ve been astounded at how
happiness of a kind can be
regained out
of the hell of grief. (Margaret Foster: Why I Am
Glad to Be 40)
丈夫被杀、婴
儿畸形、妇人被
弃、儿童致残、房屋焚毁——我目睹、我耳闻、我哭泣、我尝想：如此
灾难，在这个世界
上，何人能承受！——然而，接下去，我之所见，让我震惊，人们如
何一步步走出被动的
地域，获得了这样那样的幸福。
（
159
）
They vanish from a world
where they were of no consequence; where they
achieved nothing;
where they were a
mistake and failure and foolishness; where they
have left no sign that they
had
existed.
他们从世界上消失了，他们对这个世界来说
，无关紧要；他们一无所有，
一事无成；
他们来到这个世界本来是一个错误，一个失败，一种不智；他们在生活过
的世界上没
有留下一点一滴的痕迹。
（
161
）<
/p>
Happiness
isn
?
t about what happens to
us; it
?
s about how we
perceive what happens to us.
It
?
s
the knack of
finding a positive for every negative, and viewing
a setback as challenge. It
?
s
not
wishing for what we
don
?
t have, but enjoying
what we do possess.
幸福不是什么事情降临
到我们头上，
幸福是我们如何感知降临在我们头上的事情。
其诀窍在于，
在消极中寻找
积极，
视挫
折为挑战。
幸福不是我们想得到我们没有得到的，
而是享受我们
现在正拥有
的。
（
162
）
Stanford
University,
famous
as
one
of
northern
California
?
s
several
institutions
of
higher
learning, is sometimes called
“
the Harvard of the
West
”
. Its reputation is
based on its location,
its intelligent
students, its distinguished faculty, its growth
opportunities offered to students,
its
overseas programs, its substantial endowment, and
its recent extensive growth.
斯坦福大
学，是北加州几个高等学校之一，有时被称为“西部哈佛”
。它的声誉基于它
所处的位
置，基于才智出众的学生，基于卓越而优秀的师资，基于学生获得的成长机遇，
基于海
外的科研项目，基于可观的捐赠以及最近的全面发展。
（
163
）
被动语态的翻译：
The
feeling of the nation must be quickened; the
conscience of the nation must be roused; the
propriety of the nation must be
startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be
exposed; and its
crimes against God and
men must be proclaimed and denounced.
我
们必须触动这个国家的
感情，
唤醒她的良知，撼动她的礼仪规范
，揭露她的伪善，公开和谴责她违反上帝和人
类的罪行。
（
164
）
?
Let every
nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill,
that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and
the
success of liberty.
让每一个
关心我们或对我们怀有敌意的国家知道，我们愿付出任何代
价，
承受任何负担，
迎接任何困难，
支持任何朋友，
反抗任何敌人，
以争取和维护自由。
（
165
）
?
非人称主语：
发怒之后，我不难过，也不后悔。
After I got angry, I felt neither
sorrow nor regret.
Neither sorrow nor
regret followed my passionate outburst.
进入青年期，他工作了，他恋爱了。
After he became a youth, he got a job
and then fell in love with a girl.
Youth sees (finds) him on a job and in
love.
Only the thought of his mother
gave him the strength to go on doing it.
他想起了母亲，
才鼓
足勇气继续干下去。
< br>
The want of his family had kept him
from school, and he seemed to feel the loss.
他因家境贫
寒失学，似乎感到了失学的痛苦。
Careful
comparison
of
them
will
show
you
the
differences.
你只消比较一下，就会发现不
同。
The application of
electronic computers makes for a tremendous rise
in labor productivity.
人
们使用了电
脑，劳动生产率突飞猛进。
Courage
deserted him.
他失去了勇气。
The morning sun greeted us as we came
out on deck.
登上甲板，我们便见到一轮旭日。
He gave up all the hope when the
appearance of a distant sail kindled his hope of r
escue.
他绝
望了，正在此时，他见到远方的帆影，点燃了
绝处逢生的希望。
四十岁的女人呢？揽镜自照，
昔日光滑的额头已见依稀纹路，
浓密的黑发也全没了光泽。
< br>哦，
时光流逝太快，
还没有很好地一览风光，
怎么就已入了秋境呢？便觉得有三分惆怅，
三分无奈。然而，思之又觉得释
然。
What has become of a woman at forty?
The answer
comes from the mirror, which
shows up vaguely discernible wrinkle on the
formerly smooth
forehead and the thick
black hair with its gloss gone. A touch of
frustration and helplessness
comes over
me as I realize how time flies. Before I have
sufficiently admired the scenery and
enjoyed
the
beauties
of
life,
it
?
s
already
autumn.
However,
a
second
thought
brings
me
relieved calm.
（
17
0
）
有的人如游客，不急不慌，走走
停停，看花开花落，看云卷云舒，有时也在风中走，雨
里行，
心
却像张开的网，
放过了焦躁苦恼。
Others travel
leisurely like tourists. They would
take time off now and then for a look
at blooming flowers or fallen petals. They would
stop
to admire clouds gathering and
dispersing. Even when they go against the wind or
are caught
in the rain, they never get
annoy6ed, for worries ship off their minds as from
an open net.
（
170-171
< br>）
她们或许是我们的奶奶，满头银丝，满脸皱纹，世人
多用“慈祥”去形容她们，但很少
有人能品味皱纹背后那岁月与历史拂过的幽香。
她们无须再用铅华刻意雕饰，
我却分明
看见她
和她的老伴共同演出那首动人的歌——《牵手》
。
She
is
very
charming
when
singing
“
Hand in
Hand
”
in a duet with her
lifelong companion. White-haired and wrinkled,
she may be one of our grannies, a
perfect image of kindness as she is often
described. The
furrows
ploughed
by
time
deny
replenishment
with
cosmetics,
for
they
are
fertile
soil
radiating the fragrance of history.
（
171
）
每天不厌地擦拭，清洁着我的小屋，
不使它被尘埃埋没，
回家来时，便总有一份欢欣的
感觉。不管夜有多深，总有一盏小灯亮着，留给迟
归的人，远远望见，温暖便从窗口一
直注入心底。
Day in
and day out my room is cleaned with meticulous
care to keep it always
dust-free, so
that it greets me with a pleasant look whenever I
return. No matter how far into
the
night, there is always a light at that window
shining through darkness like a beacon to the
one
bound
for
home
late.
The
sight
of
it,
even
in
the
distance,
brings
warmth
from
the
window all the way to the heart.
（
172
）
于是，暮色中匆匆的人群里总有我赶路的身影，雨里，雾里，雪里，只盼着早些回家，
< br>洗去一身的疲劳，泡上一杯清茶，点上一炷檀香，
打开半卷的书卷，一任轻柔的旋
律把
我带进一个美丽的境界??所有的喧嚣和乱都被抛在朔风冷雨里，因为我已经到家了
。
Thus the gathering dark often finds me
hastening home in a hurrying crowd. Whether it
rains
or snows, windy or foggy, it is
the longing to be home that quickens my steps. To
be home
means to end a
day
?
s fatigue and enjoy
myself in a world of my own. With a nice cup of
tea
and a burning sandalwood incense by
my side, I can either resume my suspended reading,
or
listen leisurely to a soft melody
and let myself be carried away to a
fairyland
…
All the urban
noises and disturbances are shut out,
thrown to the winds and rain, for I am saf4e at ho
me.
（
172
）
又过了几个月，
我看见他们手上戴了结婚戒指。
可是他们不像以前那样健谈了，
她又在
看书，他
在看报。
Months later, rings appeared
glistening on their fingers but chatting was
gradually replaced by reading, one with
a book the other a newspaper.
（
173
）
我或许是在发泄心中无
法诉说的一种情绪，
或是在构思一首暂时还羞于见人的小诗，
或
是再次拿起久违的彩笔勾勒童年的彩虹，请你让我信笔驰骋。
I
t may be that
I?
m venting
some
pen-up
feelings
long
denied
expression,
or
trying
to
compose
a
little
poem
not
yet
presentable
for
the
time
being,
or
attempting
to
sketch
out
something
visualized
from
my
childhood
memories which glows in my mind like a rainbow.
When I am in such a mood,
please leave
me alone and let me write as the pen dictates me.<
/p>
（
173
）
珍惜感情
那是一个秋日微凉的黄昏。
刚跟丈夫
怄过气，一头湿漉漉的乱发披散，站在院子的当口，让锋使劲吹着。
< br>“过来！坏脾气小姐！
”说话的当儿，丈夫已拿着电吹风从房里走出来。没好意思
再别
扭，便拉过一把椅子顺从地坐下来。就这样，面对着满院子灿烂的花，不说一句话，
心
中的怨恨却早已全消了
一头雾气渐渐散近了，耳畔不时地有一种湿热的感觉。
“也许，
多年后的一个黄昏，
像现在，
你一个人独坐的时候，
你会想起眼前的这一刻的。
”
沉默了很长时间的丈夫，
突然说出这样的话来，
而且在声音中还带着一丝藏不住得伤感。
“那你呢？”
< br>
丈夫关掉了手中的吹风机，看了我一眼，
笑笑，
甩手拜正我的头，手中的电吹风又响了
起来，好一会才说：
“先你而去了。
”
<
/p>
“声音是那么肯定而平静。
而我好像突然明白了一直不做声的丈夫
心中的那一份痛惜的
感觉，就像是一个顽童突然看到了他顽劣的后果。
< br>
倘上帝真的要惩罚我，
让我在多年后独自面对这满院子
的鲜花。
那么，
我怎么敢去细想，
去揣
摩丈夫此刻的伤感和痛惜。
佛说，修五百年只能同舟，修一千
年才能同枕。而千年之后又能相守几时？
为什么敢轻易伤害的
总是我最亲爱的人，只是因为只有这个人会一次又一次地原谅我。
可是，就是因为这颗心
永远不会背弃我，我就一直地不重视它。
真有那么一天，叫我怎样面对满院鲜红依旧的花??？
Cherish the
Other
?
s Affection
It was towards sunset on a cool autumn
day.
Having just bickered with my
husband, I stood irritated in a draught by the
gate of the yard,
letting wet unkempt
hair flutter fiercely over my shoulders.
“
Come over, you peevish
girl!
”
said my
husband walking out into the yard with a blow
dryer.
I could not very well resist but
pull a chair and sit down compliantly. The
blooming flowers
of the yard presenting
a riot of color before my eyes quietly dispelled
all my grudges.
I felt warmth coming
off and on around my ears while the mist of vapor
was dispersing.
“
Perhaps,
this scene will come back to you years later when
you sit alone at sunset like
this.
”
A tinge of
melancholy was tangible in my
husband
?
s voice, which broke
the long silence.
“
What
about you then?
”
I asked.
My husband turned off the blow dryer
and looked at me with a smile. After adjusting the
pose
of my head he let the blow dryer
work again. It was quite some time before he gave
a reply:
“
Gone long before
you.
”
His voice
was so sure yet so calm. It suddenly dawned on me
that taciturn as he had been all
the
time, there was regret deep in his heart. I was
awe-struck like a mischievous boy brought
face to face with the damage he had
done.
If after many years I was, as God
would have it, left alone watching the glory of
the flowers,
would
I
have
the
heart
to
contemplate
and
figure
out
what
there
is
now
in
my
husband
?
s
mind?
The
Buddha
says:
It
take
five
hundred
years
?
religious
devotion
for
people
to
acquire
a
chance
of sharing a boat and one thousand years of
sharing a marriage bed. But how long is it
to keep each
other
?
s company in wedlock?
How come that I tend to hurt the one l
love most? It may be that he is the one who
forgives
me
each
time.
However,
it
is
precisely
because
there
is
no
danger
of
being
deserted
that
I
have all along taken him
for granted.
If it should eventually
happen, how could I bear to look at the same
splendid scene of flowers
all alone?
（
173-175
）
?
Vast
flats
of
green
grass,
dull-hued
spaces
of
mesquite
and
cactus,
little
groups
of
frame
houses, woods of light and tender
trees, all were sweeping into the east.
一片片茫茫的绿色
草原，
一簇簇色泽灰暗的牧豆树和仙人掌，
一群群小巧的木屋，
一丛丛轻枝嫩叶的树林
——一切都向东奔驰。
（
191-192
< br>）
?
Predictably, the winter will be snowy,
sleety, and slushy.
1
．
可以预言，今年冬天天将多雪，多冻雨，多泥泞。
2
．
可以预
言，今年冬天将雪花飘飘，雪雨交加，雪路泥泞。
（
192
）
?
双声、叠韵词
seesaw,
spick-and-span, black and blue, game and glee,
weal or woe, neither fish nor flesh// zigzag,
flip-flop, wish-wash, bric-a-brac,
feast or fast, tit for tat//part and parcel, bag
and baggage, kith
and kin, time and
tide, sum and substance, fit as a fiddle//to and
fro, hubbub, alpha and omega,
rough
and
tough,
high
and
dry,
linsey-
woolsey//
holus-bolus,
fuddy-duddy,
hugger-mugger,
jingle-jangle, higgledy-piggledy/ /bla-
bla, pooh-pooh, crack-crack, fifty-fifty, all in
all, shoulder to
shoulder
（
194-195
）
?
Away
the
ran,
pell-
mell,
helter-skelter,
yelling-creaming,
knocking
down
the
passenger
as
they
turn the corner. (Dickens)
我们乱七八糟、大喊大叫着
逃走了，转弯时撞倒了行人。
（
196
）
?
For a month the governor had dilly-
dallied over the choice of a successor.
州长对于选择继
任者磨磨蹭蹭了一个月。
（
< br>196
）
?
She was so
round and roly-poly I used to wonder how she ever
moved fast enough to catch
hold of a
bird.
她生得矮矮胖胖，我总奇怪她怎能快速行动捉住小鸟。
（
196
）
?
赤兔马泣曰：
“吾尝慕不食周粟之伯夷、叔齐之高义。玉可碎而不可损其白，竹可破而
不可毁其节
。士为知己而死，人因诚心而存，吾安肯食吴粟而苟活于世间？“言罢，伏
地而亡。
Chi-tu then said woefully,
“I
have long admired the
noble Bo Yi and Shu Qi who
refused the
food from their enemy and learnt that a jade, even
if shattered, can never lose its
purity
and likewise a bamboo, even if cleaved, will
remain straight. Since only for a bosom
friend does a noble man choose to die
and only for the virtue of honesty does a common
man
choose to live, how can I lick from
my enemy
?
s finger and live
an undeserved life?
”
With
these words, it fell dead.
（<
/p>
207
）
?
16~17
世纪的英国文豪
Francis Bacon
若是地下有知，
当会对此段之汉译
（王佐良译）
而
大发感慨！打个比方，文字飘逸古劲的《赤兔之死》译成英语，宛如一杯清醇的浓茶中
兑了一桶水。那么，
“
Of Studies
”的汉语今译，则是锦上添花！本已端庄的原文更加秀
逸多姿，
本已耐读的表达更加典雅精彩！语言的成功转换，令文章的内涵趋深、趋泛、
趋秀、趋雅
。
一叶知秋，
仅此一段，
便足以令我们领略文言的典雅和飘逸。
当试图以同样典雅飘逸的
英文文字来翻译上段文字，而发现不可能的时候，我们才能更真切地发出感叹：典雅，
非汉语莫属也！
（
208
）
?
四字格：
Although
lonely in a new land, Matzeliger was described by
his fellow workers and students
as
cheerful, of a friendly nature, honest, and
modest.
1
．
虽然马
泽利格独自来到一个陌生之地，但是他的同事仍然把他形容为乐呵呵的、待
人客气，诚实
和谦逊。
2
．
虽然马
泽利格单身一人，
又生活在异乡客地，
但正如他的同事和学生所
描述的那样，
他性情开朗，待人友善，笃守诚信，谦逊朴实。
（
214
）
?
现代中文的四字格的英译，也同样
让英语“寒碜”
！
平日，工作太忙，
或交际过繁，你难得与古今智者、中外名家相伴交谈。而今，你可凝
视屏息，侧耳倾听，
静心阅读，令学识渐长；你还可以依随自己的袄好，去干任何一件
感兴趣之事。静听音乐
，挥毫作画，
“收拾”残局，甚至，翻阅影集，遥念亲人。如此
等等，无一不是人生一乐！
At other times you may be
so occupied with your work or social
intercourse as to have no time for
books. Then you can peacefully listen to wise men
of all
time, enriching yourself with
their ideas, and enlarging your stock of
knowledge. Or you can
?
?
?
?
draw a picture,
or arrange Chinese chess for a near-end game. If
you are in the mood, you
may as well
open an album and let the photos bring back
memories of those now far away.
Isn
?
t any of
these a real pleasure in life?
（
< br>216
）
??心较比干多一窍
，病如西子胜三分。
（
《红楼梦》
）<
/p>
呜呼！应该承认，杨戴合译，乃珠联璧合。我们又不得不承认，
如此上乘英译，绝非陋
译。但是，让英语的
native sp
eakers
来读此译文，他们决计不会得到一个美女的影像。
笔者的美国友人
Bill
Hofmann
教授对此段的评价是：
I
can
hardly
see,
through
this
passage,
a
beauty
before
my
eyes,
the
overwhelming
impression being that the young woman
is frail and pale. When we say
somebody
?
s breath is
soft and faint, we do believe that she
or he is fatally sick and should be hospitalized
as soon
as possible.
此外，写林黛玉
的“袅袅婷婷”
、
“态生两靥之愁”
，
杨戴两人皆避而不译。这不仅有道
理，而且值得肯定。余尝想，若是硬译“袅袅婷婷”和
“态生两靥之愁”
，说不准，林
黛玉会不幸成为西方读者心目中
的女妖！
（
219
）
< br>
行路难，但人生之路谁都要走。有的人在赶路，心急切切，步急匆匆。眼中只有
目标却
忽略了风景。可路迢迢不知哪儿是终点。有的人如游客，不急不慌，走走停停，看
花开
花落，
看云卷云舒，
有时也在风中
走，
雨中行，
心却像张开网，
放过焦躁
苦恼。
To go on
a journey is
often full of hardships, but so long as one lives
he proceeds on his
life?
s
journey.
Different
people
go
along
differently.
Some
take
hasty
steps
in
anxiety.
Obsessed
with
reaching the next goal in time, they
spare no time for sightseeing along the way, nor
do they
have a clear view of where
their long roads end. Others travel leisurely like
tourists.
They
would take
time off now and then for a look at blooming
flowers or fallen petals. They would
stop to admire clouds gathering and
dispersing. Even when they go against the wind or
are
caught in the rain, they never get
annoyed, for worries slip off their minds as from
an open
net.
打个比
方，
上段汉语文字之意境，有情有景，
若龙井新茶泡上了清澈甘
美的虎跑水，乃
一杯令人回味的香茗，
同样的情，
却以散淡而无韵味的文字写之，
犹如一小撮龙井新茶
被泡上了一桶自来水，何味之有？（
221-222
）
峡内重峦叠嶂，
连绵不尽，
< br>奇峰异岭，
高插入云，
云雾弥漫，
迷幻莫测。
On both sides of
the
gorges there ranges upon ranges of rolling
mountains. Everywhere
you can se cliffs
of
unique
shapes
and
peaks
of
fantastic
aspects
towering
into
the
clouds.
The
mist
and
the
low-lying
clouds add an aura of mystery to the raw natural
beauty.
原句与英译相比，第一印象是：英语表达好“累”
！这个“累”
，不难理解。英语崇尚逻
辑，
表达条分缕析，
交代不可不周，
描述务求精确。
如此，
遣词必增，
造句必繁。
以
“云
雾弥漫”四字为例，在朦胧中给读者一种影像：
山脚、山腰和山顶，或云遮，或雾绕，
或飘逸，或静息，等等。汉语之魅力，由此可见。
（
224-225
）
< br>
模糊：
There is
the cheery push of elbow with which the waiter
shoves open the kitchen door when
he
bears in your tray of supper. There is the
suspicious and tentative withdrawal of a door
before
the
unhappy
book
agent
or
peddler.
There
is
the
genteel
and
carefully
modulated
recession
with
which
footmen
swing
wide
the
oaken
barriers
of
the
great.
There
is
the
sympathetic and awful silence of the
dentist
?
s
maid
who opens the door into the operating
room
and,
without
speaking,
implies
that
the
doctor
is
ready
for
you.
There
is
the
brisk
cataclysmic opening of a door when the
nurse comes in, very early in the morning---
“
It
?
s a
boy!
”
(
克里斯多芬·莫勒：
On Doors)
“
快乐的服务员会用肘部顶开厨房门，手里
的托盘上正放着
你的晚餐。面露愁容、心神不定的书商和小贩小心翼翼地推
开门。后退的男仆走着优雅的
小碎步，为贵宾缓缓打开栎木大门。充满同情
和一声不响的牙医助手打开通向手术室的门
，无言地向你表示医生正在等
你。一大早，兴奋的护士“哗”地一下打开门，走进来说：
“生了个男孩！
”
< br>遗憾的是，汉译上段文字，由于无法保留其非常规搭配，模糊遁迹，一个解读幽默、享
受幽默的心理过程也就不复存在。
（
243-244
）
One cannot see too
many summer sunrises on the Mississippi. They
are enchanting.
First, there
is eloquence of silence; for a sleep hush
broods
everywhere.
Next,
there
is
the
haunting
sense
of
loneliness,
isolation,
remoteness
from
the
worry
and
bustle
of
the
World.
the
dawn
creeps in stealthily; the solid walls of the black
forest soften to
gray, and the vast
stretches of the river open up and reveal
themselves;
the
water
is
glass-smooth,
gives
off
spectral
little
wreaths
of
white-
mist, there is not the faintest breath of wind,
nor stir of leaf; the
tranquility
is
profound
and
infinitely
satisfying.
密西西比河夏天的
日出真是百看不厌，让人神往。起先，万籁俱寂，静谧笼
罩一切；
接着，寂寞、孤独、还有远离尘嚣
的之
感萦绕于怀，挥之不去。
晨曦微露，郁郁葱葱，色泽深暗的树林渐渐呈现灰色，
宽广的密
西西比河撩起了面纱，容貌渐露。江面上，水波不兴，白雾袅袅，
萦纡迷离，风静而枝闲，恬静深沉，令人心旷神怡。
（模糊乃语言之共性）文笔极富文采，遣词空灵，运笔朦胧。对于这些空灵的遣词，朦胧的
运笔，汉译也未示弱：或文言今用，于古朴典雅中绘写意境；或文采斐然，于写意泼墨中白
< br>描情愫。
（
248-249
）<
/p>
两岸的豆麦和河底的水草所发散出来的清香，夹杂在水气中扑面
而吹来；月色便朦胧在这水气里。淡黑的起伏的连山，仿佛是踊
跃的铁的兽脊似的，
都远远的向船尾跑去了，
但我却还以为船慢
。
他们换了四回手，渐望见依稀的赵庄，而且似乎听到歌吹了，还
有几点火，料想便是戏台，但或者也许是渔火。
那声音大概
是横笛，宛转，悠扬，使我的心也沉静，然而又自失
起来，
觉得
要和他弥散在含着豆麦蕴藻之香的夜气里。
（鲁迅
《社戏》
）
The
scent
of
beans,
wheat
and
water-
weeds
wafted
towards
us
through the mist, and the
moonlight shone faintly through it. Distant
grey
hills,
undulating
like
the
backs
of
some
leaping
iron
beasts,
seemed
to
be
racing
past
the
stern
of
our
boat;
but
I
still
felt
our
progress was slow. When
the oarsmen had changed shifts four times,
we began to make out the faint outline
of Chaochuang and to catch
the sound of
singing the music. There were several lights too,
which
we guessed must be on the stage
unless they were fishermen
?
s
light.
The music was probably fluting.
Eddying round and round and up and
down, it soothed me and set me dreaming
at the same time, till I felt
as though
I was about to drift far away with it through the
night air
heavy with the scent of
beans, wheat and river-weeds.
（
249
）
那晚月儿已瘦削了两三分。
她晚妆才
罢，盈盈的上了柳梢头。天
是蓝得可爱，
仿佛一汪水似的；
月儿便更出落得精神了。
（朱自清
《桨
声灯影里的秦淮河》
）
The moon on that had waned a bit and
climbed gracefully above the
willows
like a girl painted for the evening. The sky was a
lovely blue
like an expanse of limpid
water, which made the moon brighter and
prettier.
“盈盈”二字岂能从相应的英译
gracefully
中获得？（
253
）
?
空白与省略：
阿
Q
没有家，住在本社的土谷祠里；没有固定的职业，只给人家作短工，割
麦便割麦，舂米便舂米，撑船便撑船。
Ah Q had no
family but lived in the Tutelary
God
?
s temple at
Weizhuang. He had no regular work either, being
simply an odd-job man for
others: When
there was wheat to be cut he would cut it; when
there was rice to be hulled he
would
hull it; when there was boat to be punted he would
punt it.
（
256
）
宁要风度，不要温度。
In chilly
weather, some ladies wear just so little in
order
to
be
graceful,
firmly
believing
that
being
showy
is
above
trembling and catching
cold.
此言留白甚多，
语义模糊
，初读抑或让人不解。但是幽默美感也就从中逸出。若译成英
语，
那就必须填满留白。
比较后的鉴别告诉我们：
如此缺乏留白的
英语表达其实扼杀文
采。调侃口吻让位于严肃，正经述实取代了幽默美感。
（
256
）
?
歧义：
I am still a beast at bay.
我现在仍然是海滩上的困兽。
at
bay
：
with escape cut off
；
cornered
，据此，上句可译为：我现在
仍是一头困兽。
（
266
）
（其实，如为前者，应是
at the
bay
）
雅各布森和罗森包姆在
《英语转换语法》
中提供了一句六解的例如，
可谓创歧义之纪录。
原句内涵虽不含谐谑成分，但歧义之多倒给人一种文字游戏的雅趣
。
The seniors were told to
stop demonstrating on campus.
1
．
The
senior were demonstrating and were asked, on
campus, to desist.
高年级学生在示威，上级在校园里要求他们停止示威。
2
．
The
seniors
were
demonstrating
and
were
asked
to
desist
on
campus
(although
they
could demonstrate everywhere).
< br>高年级学生在示威，高年级上级要求他们停止在校园里示威（但可在他处示威）
。
3
．
The seniors were demonstrating on
campus and were asked to desist.
高年级学生在校园中示威，上级叫他们停止示威。
4
．
People were demonstrating on campus,
and seniors were asked to stop them.
人们在校园中示威，高年级学生被要求去制止他们。
5
．
People were demonstrating and seniors
were asked, on campus, to stop them.
人们正在示威，高年级学生在校园中被要求去制止他们。
6
．
People
were
demonstrating
and
seniors
were
asked
to
stop
them
from
doing
so
on
campus
(although they could do it elsewhere).
人们正在正在示威，高年级学生被要求去制止他们到校园中来示威（但可在他处示
威）<
/p>
。
?
受制于封建的传统道德观，
女性在涉及到爱情之类话题时，
往往三缄其口，
迫不得已时
通常都采用模糊言语形
式表达。
如
《红楼梦》
第三十四回在叙
述薛宝钗去探望挨打后的
贾宝玉时有这么一段描写：
宝钗见他睁开眼说话，不象先时，心中也宽慰了好些，
便点头叹
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