《浮生六记》英译阅读与讨论（一）
文/刘士聪
沈复的《浮生六记》目前有三个译本：
1. Six Chapters of A Floating Life（林语堂译）
2. Six Records of a Floating Life（Translated by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui）
3. Chapters from a Floating Life（Translated by Shirley M. Black）
“阅读与讨论”文字，中文取自《浮生六记》（淮茗注释，中州古籍出版社，郑州，2010）；英译文取自译本3。
阅读讨论《浮生六记》译文Chapters from a Floating Life，也读原文，了解乾隆朝一个普通文人的家庭生活、夫妻的恩爱与不幸，以及他们的艺术审美情趣。我们惊叹沈复古文修养之好，他的文字，不论是《闺房记乐》还是《坎坷记愁》，让人感动，让人同情。关于译文，译者在其译文《前言》里有一段叙述：
In translating the memoirs I have tried first of all to recreate the subtle emotional atmosphere, at once tragic, passionate and gay, which is, in my opinion, the outstanding characteristic of Shen Fu’s original. I have also tried to be as meticulous as I could in expressing the exact meaning of the Chinese words, at the same time trying to approximate the feeling of the author’s own way of expressing himself. This is a rather difficult job with languages as different from one another as Chinese and English and I do not know that I have even partially succeeded.
这段文字对我们阅读和理解她的译文很重要，她有如下三种尝试：第一，tried... to recreate the subtle emotional atmosphere； 第二，tried to be as meticulous as I could in expressing the exact meaning of the Chinese words；第三，trying to approximate the feeling of the author’s own way of expressing himself。阅读译文时应想到译者的这几条意旨，在她的译文里，我们常常看到的不是字词的对译，而是对语义浓缩的文言进行解读，用英语将其内在含义说透，且行文自然流畅，少有翻译腔。这种译法考虑了译文读者，也展示了一个翻译策略，我们不妨称之为“释义”翻译。
在谈到中国文论和中国古典哲学著作中的术语翻译时，宇文所安说，“……其实没有什么最佳的翻译，只有好的解说。任何翻译都对原文有所改变，而且，任何一种传统的核心概念和术语的翻译都存在这个问题；……”1中国古典文学作品，也包括现当代文学作品，有很多叙述和描写的语汇，习惯上可能不叫“术语”，但它们的翻译，宇文所安的“解说”思想也适用。Shirley M. Black在翻译《浮生六记》时似乎就是这样做的，请阅读时留意。
如，在描写陈芸时有这样的文字：
“其形削肩长颈，瘦不露骨，眉弯目秀，顾盼神飞，唯两齿微露，似非佳相。一种缠绵之态，令人之意也消。”
“顾盼神飞”一词是这样翻译的：Her glance sparkled with intelligence and humour...
《红楼梦》第三回描写探春时也用了这个词：
“第二个削肩细腰，长挑身材，鸭蛋脸儿，俊眼修眉，顾盼神飞，文彩精华，见之忘俗。”
霍克斯2译文：... large, expressive eyes shot out glances that sparkled with animation.
诸如这类词语在英语里难找到对应词，翻译只能对其进行解释，随译者的理解，解释的文字也不尽相同。
《浮生六记》译文对原文有删减，对情节有编排；细观全文，偶尔有误解和误译，翻译这样的文字，任何译者都难免。
译例1：
【原文】余生乾隆癸未冬十一月二十有二日，正值太平盛世，且在衣冠之家，居苏州沧浪亭畔，天之厚我，可谓至矣。东坡云：“事如春梦了无痕。”苟不记之笔墨，未免有辜彼苍之厚。
【译文】I was born in 1763, at a time of peace and unusual prosperity, in the reign of the Emperor Ch’ien Lung, on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month, in the winter of the year of the sheep. Mine was a full-dress family, one of scholars and gentle-people, who lived near the gardens of the Ts’ang-lang Pavilion, in the city of Soochow.
The gods, I should say, have always been more than generous to me; but, as the poet Su Tung-p’o wrote:
‘Life is like a spring dream
which ends—and leaves no traces.’
By setting down this story of mine, then, I hope to show my gratitude for Heaven’s many favours. (p1)
【简评】可就以上译文思考下面几个问题：
1. 译文第一句语序的变化，译者为什么选择这样译；2“. 太平盛世”译法；3.“ 事如春梦了无痕”译文；4.“ 苟不记之笔墨，未免有辜彼苍之厚”将意义否定的句子译为肯定句。
译例2：
【原文】……时但见满室鲜衣，芸独通体素淡，仅新其鞋而已。见其绣制精巧，询为己作，始知其慧心不仅在笔墨也。【背景：乾隆乙未（1775）冬，芸之“堂姐出阁，余又随母往”，作者对所见芸的装束描述如下：】
【译文】The house was gay, on this ceremonious occasion, with the rainbow-hued new robes of the family and the wedding guests. Yuen alone, looked her quiet, simple self, having added nothing to her everyday dress but a pair of bright new shoes. When I had admired the artistry of their embroidery and learned that she had made the shoes herself, I began to understand that Yuen was extremely capable and practical; that reading, writing, and composing poetry were only a few of her many accomplishments. (p5)
【简评】译者运用想象，描写婚礼场景，“满室鲜衣”，译作家人和客人色彩鲜艳的新衣； gay（brightly colored） 和rainbow-hued（in different colors），是意义一致的两个形容词，意为“亮丽、多彩”；“芸独通体素淡”，译文“Yuen alone, looked her quiet, simple self”，不只指芸的穿着，更指她历来以“素淡”为美，意义深一层。“笔墨”，《现代汉语词典》中解释为“指文字或诗文书画等”，译者将其译作“reading, writing, and composing poetry”，很符合原文所指，且具体、确切，译文读者好懂。
译者充分挖掘原文内涵，做符合原文的“解说”和“补偿”，译文不浅不薄，有血有肉有味道，考虑了读者对译文的期盼。
注释：
1. 见《中国文论》导言，第15页。
2. 指戴维·霍克斯（David Hawkes，1923—2009），著名汉学家，年轻时即翻译《楚辞》（The Songs of the South），其著作A Little Primer of Tu Fu是颇具权威且广为人知的唐诗翻译作品，而他的译作The Story of the Stone（《红楼梦》）更是身为翻译家的非凡成就，为了全心致力于此翻译计划，他于1971 年辞去牛津大学中文系系主任一职。