-
泥土的微笑
我在花园里种满了芬芳的玫瑰花，
远远望去，
像一片燃烧的晚霞。
我想等
朋友来做客的时
候，
让他们携带些玫瑰回家。
< br>我相信朋友捧着火红的玫瑰渐渐走远的背影，
一定能点燃易感
的情怀。有一天，一位非常要好的女友来探望我，
我知道她平素最喜欢花花草草了，
临别时
我说，采一束玫瑰点缀你的闺房吧，保证十里飘香。
<
/p>
女友轻轻跨进花园，东闻闻，西嗅嗅，神采飞扬，就是不肯采摘。我说没关系，多的是，<
/p>
我又不是花店的老板，不会靠玫瑰赚钱的。说完我就举起剪刀准备献美。女友急忙拦住，高
声叫着不可不可。
这么美丽的玫瑰剪
下来，
让人心疼。
她抓紧我的袖子叮咛：千万不要剪啊，
玫瑰是泥土的
微笑，谁忍心杀戮美得醉人的微笑？
我的灵魂悚然一惊，
丑陋的泥土，
卑微的泥土，
朴素的泥土，
因为玫瑰，
露出了惊艳一笑。
因为这一笑，让人爱惜非常。
一个朋友在拍卖会上有幸购得一个花瓶，
花瓶细颈大肚，
< br>碎花蓝白调子，流光溢彩。从造
型到色彩，整个如唐朝盛世的化身，雍容，华贵，
高傲，悠闲，目空一切。朋友请我们大家
观赏。奇怪的是每一个参观者都小心谨慎，生怕
碰坏这盛唐的宝贝。其实不过是一撮泥土，
经过窑烧才千修百炼成瓷中经典。
江南的紫砂壶玲珑剔透，
泥人张的彩塑令人拍案
叫绝，
它们不都是泥土的微笑吗？弥珍弥
贵。即使曾丑陋，即使
曾卑微，即使曾朴素，同样让人肃然起敬。
我懂得了，
即使再平凡的人，
也没有理由被埋没，
只要努
力活出色彩，
一定叫人刮目相看。
Smile of the Earth
All over
my garden I've planted nothing but roses, fragrant
and--If looked at from afar--ablaze
with
colour
like
sunset
clouds.
I
would
be
very
happy
if
any
one
of
my
visiting
friends
should
desire to pick and
take some for their homes. I trust that any friend
of mine carrying the roses
would vanish
into the distance feeling that his emotion had
been rekindled. A close friend came
for
a visit the other day. I know her to be a lover of
flowers and plants, and for that reason I told
her at her departure that she should
pick a bunch of roses to decorate her boudoir. I
promised
that the scent of the roses
would be wafted far, far away.
That
girl friend of mine, tiptoeing into the garden in
high spirits, sniffed here and smelt there,
but in the end she didn't pick a single
rose. I said there were so many of them that she
could pick
as many as she'd like to; I
told her that I was not a florist and didn't make
a living out of them.
While saying so I
raised the scissors for the sacrifice of the
flowers, but she vehemently stopped
me,
crying no, no, no!
To cut such
beautiful roses would hurt one, she said. With her
hands clutching at my sleeves,
she told
me that by no means should they be cut. Roses are
the smiling face of the earth, and
who
could be so iron-hearted as to destroy a smile so
exhilarating?
My mind was thoroughly
boggled: the ugly earth, the humble earth, the
plain earth--it is only
because of the
roses that it reveals an amazing and bright smile,
and it is for the sake of that
smile
that it wins the care and pity of men.
Of late a friend of mine invited me to
appreciate a Tang Dynasty vase that he was
fortunate
enough to have bought at an
auction. The vase, with its slim neck, plump body,
and fine little
flowers on a blue and
white background, has a noble shape and a rich
colouring, elegant, refined,
proud,
poised, and supercilious, an extreme embodiment of
the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. I
was filled with wonder to think that
while everyone present was taking great care not
to cause
the slightest damage to the
Tang treasure, it was to me nothing but an object
made of clay. It had
only become a
piece of classic art after being baked in a china
kiln.
Both
the
exquisiteness
of
the
boccaro
teapots
made
in
south
China,
and
the
shockingly
beautiful sculptures by Clay Sculptor
Zhang of Tianjin--aren't they all smiles of the
earth? They
are
such
exquisite
treasures
that--even
if
they
look
ugly,
humble,
plain,
or
whatever--they
no
doubt deserve respect and veneration.
Now
I
understand
that
no-one,
however
ordinary,
should
be
condemned
to
anonymity,
and
that anyone who adds a dash of colour
to life deserves our respect.
{
解释
}
1
）
泥土的微笑
Smile of the Earth
“泥土”一词并不是指“泥”
，而是
指“土”
、
“土地”
，所以译为
the earth
。
smiles
表达的是
一种欢乐的情绪，而不仅仅是“笑容、微笑”的意思。
2
）
我在花园里种满了芬芳的玫瑰花，远远望去，像一片燃烧的晚霞。我想等朋友来做客的
时候，让他们携带些玫瑰回家。
All
over
my
garden
I've
planted
nothing
but
roses,
fragrant
and--If
looked
at
from
afar--ablaze
with
colour
like
sunset
clouds.
I
would
be
very
happy
if
any
one
of
my
visiting
friends
should
desire to pick and
take some for their homes.
解析：
译这一句时要注意中文的说话方式：
我
< br>......
玫瑰花，
（我或者人们）
< br>远远望去，
（玫瑰）
像一片
..
....
，我
......
让他们
......
。中文叙事的角度是不停变化的，而且，第一部分“我
......
玫
瑰花”重点是在“种满
了”
上。译文考虑了这些因素，将“种满了”用
all over
my garden
放到句首加以突出，使这一部分所表达的意思在语气的分量上与原文
相当。然后用
作为
主语，把整句串起来
，作为这一段叙述的中心。
“我想”是说我的一种愿望，所以译为
I would be
very happy if...; should
是表示将来的一种
可能性；
for
their
homes
看似与原文不符，但原文的“带
......
回家”并不是说带回去就完事
了，而是说要用玫瑰花装点居室，带花
为的是
(for)
美化他们的家。
3
）
我相信
朋友捧着火红的玫瑰渐渐走远的背影，一定能点燃易感的情怀。
I trust that any friend of
mine carrying the roses would vanish into the
distance feeling that his
emotion had
been rekindled.
解析：朋友并非特指哪一位，而是任何一位，所以译为
any
friend
of
mine
。
“点燃”此处译
为
rekindled
，而不是
kindled
< br>，是因为原文含义指人们原先有过的，现已淡忘的“情怀”被
重新点燃。
4
）
有一天，
一位非常要好的女友来探望我，
我知道她平
素最喜欢花花草草了，
临别时我说，
采一束玫瑰点缀你的闺房，
保证十里飘香。
A close
friend came for a visit the other day. I know her
to be a lover of flowers and plants, and
for that reason I told her at her
departure that she should pick a bunch of roses to
decorate her
boudoir. I promised that
the scent of the roses would be wafted far, far
away.
解析：
“探望我”
也可以译为
came to visit
me
，
但
came for a vi
sit
更好，
既然是
come
且
visit
，
被访者
当然就“我”了，这句也体现了英语介词多的特点。
“女友”只译作
friend
，而在后面某处
说
girl
friend
，是因为英语中
girl
friend
也有“恋爱对
象”的意思
，为避免误会，先不译，而放到后面，译为
That girl friend of
mine
。况且作者是
男是女我们并不知道。
< br>
“平素最喜欢”英语可以说
she
loves...
，但更合乎习惯的说法是
she's a
lover of...
，另如
He's
a good
driver
是说他开车开得好。
for that reason
是根据原文的句间含义加上的
，把中文的意义关联，改为英文的形式关联。
“十里飘香”
：中文用数字往往虚指，此处“十里”便并不表示实际的距离，
而是说花香浓
郁幽远，所以译为
would be
wafted, far away
。
5
）
女友轻
轻跨进花园，东闻闻，西嗅嗅，神采飞扬，就是不肯采摘。
That girl friend of mine, tiptoeing
into the garden in high spirits, sniffed here and
smelt there, but
in the end she didn't
pick a single rose.
解析：
中文是一连串的动词，
译成英文则需要分清几个动词的主次，
这里
“东闻闻，
西嗅嗅
.
.....
不肯采摘”是主要动词，
“进花园”不十分重要，所
以用了一个分词短语处理。
“不肯
采摘”译成英语时必须有宾语，考虑到语句的连贯，再加上语气方面的缘故，译成了
di
dn't pick a single rose
。
6
）
我说没
关系，多的是，我又不是花店的老板，不会靠玫瑰赚钱的。
I said there were so many of them that
she could pick as many as she'd like to; I told
her that I
was not a florist and didn't
make a living out of them.
解析：这里中文的意思是说：你采吧，采多少都没关系，因为我这里玫瑰花多的是，而且我
又不是开花店的，不以此谋生。中文的意义关联十分明显。根据这一分析，英文便把“没关
系”隐去了。
make a living out
of:
从
......
中谋得生活来
源。
7
）
说完我就举起剪刀准备献美。女友急忙拦住，高声叫着不可不可。
While saying so I raised
the scissors for the sacrifice of the flowers, but
she vehemently stopped
me, crying no,
no, no!