静心的妙招

The Secret of Inner Peace

 

文/高冬梅

 

几个朋友[1]钻进我的书房，看到墙上高高悬挂着“静心巢[2]”三个字，或不解，或抨击，说人家舞文弄墨之人[3]，给自己书房起的名字都是阁、轩、榭、斋、辕、室之类[4]，你怎么用了个巢啊？

 

Some visiting friends were puzzled by and even found fault with the name I gave to my study: Jing Xin Chao (Nest of Inner Peace), which was written on a piece of rice paper hung high on the wall. They argued that a real man of letters should have a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation rather than calling it a nest.

 

[1] “几个朋友”在此处译为some visiting friends，visiting 一词的增译既是对原文深刻理解后的再还原，亦简洁凝练地反映出朋友来访作者书房的事实。

 

[2] “静心巢”在此处采用了拼音加括号内解释的译法，作为首次出现在文中的核心专有名词，此译法兼顾音与义，使译文更为准确。

 

[3] “舞文弄墨之人”一般可译成a man who shows off / plays with literary skill，但这里不妨译为a real man of letters，以对应下文作者给书房定名时选择“静”“心”“巢”三字的由来和寓意。

 

[4]在译文中，“阁、轩、榭、斋、辕、室之类”笼统地译为了a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation，原因在于这几个字在此处的字典意并无太大分别，而是为了突出一种文雅感，译者抽取这些词的共通点进行适当的意译、整合，也不失为一种选择。

 

巢，在字典里的意思是：一是“鸟在木上曰巢”，二是比喻盗匪盘踞的地方。我没干过偷盗打劫之事[5]，盗匪自然跟我不搭边；“鸟在木上”，一只在树上筑巢栖息的小鸟，倒是跟我有关。

 

Chao is defined as follows in the dictionary: first, a place where a bird perches in a tree; and second, a metaphor for a bandit hideout. I was born a law-abiding person who, absolutely, has nothing to do with a bandit hideout. But the first definition indeed appertains to me.

 

[5] 若将“我没干过偷盗打劫之事”简单地译为I haven’t done any robbery 一类的动宾结构，只是做到了词语层面的对应，却忽略了原文的艺术和文体色彩。反话正说，be born 一词的运用将作者的情感色彩传递得贴切又传神。

 

在寸土寸金的都市里，我很多年都没找到栖身的地方。有时，我甚至想：就不该把自己塞进都市里来。便时常想念起自己的乡村之巢。[6]那巢是父亲用粗糙的双手一砖一瓦地筑起来的。当初，他没有想过这巢里的雏燕[7]将来要飞向哪里，他只是想，他是父亲，是父亲就要为孩子筑巢。

 

In this city where every inch is gold, I couldn’t settle down until after many years. Sometimes, the more I regretted to have forced myself into the city, the more I would miss my humble home in the countryside. For me, that was a nest my father built with his two calloused hands, brick by brick and tile by tile. At that time, he never gave a thought to where his child might one day settle down; his only idea was that as a father, he ought to build a nest for his child.

 

[6] “就不该”一词隐藏着一种懊悔的情绪和一个已经完成的动作，故在此译为regret to have forced。而对于“有时，我甚至想：就不该把自己塞进都市里来。便时常想念起自己的乡村之巢。”这两句话的翻译，译者选择使用the more... the more... 结构来处理这两个互为因果影响的句子，符合原文的逻辑关系。

 

[7] “这巢里的雏燕”显然是一种比喻，“巢”实际指的是家，“雏燕”指的是孩子，故不妨译为his child。

 

现在，那巢已经有些破旧了，尽管这样，它仍旧在抗击着风霜雨雪的袭击。守卫者不是长大的小燕，仍是老燕。老燕曾对小燕说，既然长大[8]了，就要飞得高些、远些。于是，小燕想筑新的巢。

 

Although that weather-beaten nest has already got a bit rundown, it still stands firm. Its caretaker is not the grown-up child but her father who once said to her, “Since you’re fully-fledged, the sky is the limit.” So the child began to dream of building a new nest of her own.

 

[8] “长大”一般译为grow up，但此处鉴于上文提及的“老燕”“小燕”和下文提及的“飞得高些、远些”，不妨将该词理解为“羽翼丰满”之意，故译为fully-fledged。

 

心诚所至。[9]经过几年的打拼，在这钢筋水泥的丛林里，终于有了一个属于我自己的巢，却不甚满意，因为巢并非净土[10]。书房的窗外便是喧闹的农贸市场，吆喝声此起彼伏，更有远处汽车的噪音充斥于耳。老公说，嫌吵，就把窗帘拉上。我苦笑不已，窗帘可以挡住视线，却挡不住不安的心啊。这次，老公没有揶揄我，也没让我拿棉花塞住耳朵，出人意料地说了句很“文学”的话：“你关上心门，心就静了。”

 

Just as the old saying goes, “Hard work always pays off.” After many years of struggle, in the midst of this dense forest of scaffolding, I finally had a nest of my own. However, I wasn’t completely satisfied with my nest for it couldn’t be called a real place of inner peace: outside the window of my study was a noisy market, and the shouts of stall keepers and even the noises of distant cars almost pierced through my ears. My husband told me to close the curtains when I felt disturbed. I made a helpless smile, “The curtains can block my sight, but they cannot shut off a restless heart!” At this point, my husband didn’t mock at me or tell me to get earplugs, but came up with a very profound remark: “Close the door of your mind, and you will reach the inner peace”, which was rather unexpected to me.

 

[9] “心诚所至”可以联想到成语“精诚所至，金石为开”，二者原意都强调人的专心诚意。联系下文可以发现，该词语在此处实际上指的是“不懈的打拼和奋斗”，而不仅仅是“专心诚意”，故译成：Hard work always pays off.

 

[10] “净土”一词是佛教术语，一般专指阿弥陀佛国土，此处的“净土”指的是能让人达到心静的外在环境，通“静”之意。联系通篇文章以及作者为其书房所起的名字，所以译者将其处理为a real place of inner peace。

 

“关上心门，心就静了！”心静一样可以免受闹市的干扰，于是，兴冲冲地跑进书房，在一张宣纸上写下“静心巢”三个字。静心巢，我默默重复着这个名字，心，燕雀般地飞扬起来……[11]

 

“Close the door of your mind, and you will have the inner peace!” If your mind is at peace, then you can avoid being disturbed by the noisy fair. I ran into the study in delight, and inscribed Jing Xin Chao, three Chinese characters on a piece of xuan paper. I repeated this name for my study in a low voice over and over when my heart, like a merry swallow, felt like soaring…

 

[11] “心，燕雀般地飞扬起来……”所暗含的是一种雀跃的心情和感觉，feel like一词恰有“感觉像是……”之意，正好贴合此处。另，对于“飞扬”一词的译法，译者并没有选择rise、fly upward 等常见词，而是选用了soar，一是该词具有suddenly feel very happy and hopeful 之意，二是它含有“翱翔；高飞”之意，契合本文的意象。