【原文】
今年的清明
廖天元
[1]清明到来，我们必然会想起生命的美好，感叹生命的无常，反思生活的过往。生命里有一些东西必然会失去，有些朋友注定会走远，有些亲人注定会离开，我们必须要坦然面对。 [2]但是，我们渴望一切是自然的新陈代谢，像季节一样安静地轮回。普通人没几个能在意外来临时镇定自若，当悲伤突然降临不免会痛不欲生。[3]今年这个清明，注定会成为情感宣泄的出口，悲伤的眼泪会在天空横飞。就允许人们任性一回吧，为逝去的生命，为逝去的英灵。[4]每个人在心中点燃祈祷的烛光，祈祷悲剧不再上演，从此安康、天下太平。
多少年后回顾起来，2020年必定会成为人类史上的一个分水岭。对于中国人特别是那些灾难降临的人和家庭来讲，这个清明节更是有着不同寻常的含义。
就题目而言，参赛者一般译成Qingming Festival of This Year、This Year’s Qingming、Tomb Sweeping Day in 2020等，应当说都可接受，但从读者角度，不是每个西方人都知道 Qingming（特别是在文中首次出现）的含义；而this year贴近原文，故不妨用Tomb-sweeping Day in This Year。
[1]中，“清明到来”，其中的“到来”一般用了comes，如When the Qingming Festival comes、When it comes to the Tomb-Sweeping Day、When Qingming Festival comes等，似乎不错，但推敲起来，应该是comes round，因该词组有happen regularly之意，如：①My birthday seems to come around quicker every year.（生日似乎一年比一年来得更快了。）②The summer vacation had come round again. I was happy that I could forget about school at least for a while.（又是暑假了，真高兴，起码眼下不用想学校的事了。）
对于“我们必然会想起生命的美好，感叹生命的无常，反思生活的过往”，一般都能译出意思，且注意到了之前讲过的词语变化，如“we are sure to realize the beauty of life, sigh the impermanence of life, and reflect on the past life”“we are used to inevitably think of the goodness of life, exclaim the impermanence and reflect over the past of it”“the memory of brilliant life; the lament of varied life; the reflection on past life all these feelings”“It's inevitable to remind us the wonderfulness of life，sign it's ebb and flow, and reflect on the passing”等。
对于“生命里有一些东西必然会失去，有些朋友注定会走远，有些亲人注定会离开”，一般译成“In our life, some things are doomed to be lost, some friends will grow apart, and some relatives are bound to leave”“There must be something to lose, some friends to drift, and some relatives to depart in our life”“that some things in life are bounded to lose, some friends are destined to go far, and some relatives are doomed to pass away”等，这些似乎没有大问题，但分析起来，似乎还有将词句进一步融汇、整合的空间。
对此，不妨从中国传统文学中的“互文”手法来综合理解。所谓互文，是“参互成文，含而见文”，即在一句或更多句中，看似说两件或更多事，实则相互呼应、互相交错、互相渗透、互相补充，表达一个完整的意思。典型的，如王昌龄《出塞》中的“秦时明月汉时关”，并非是指“秦朝的月亮”“汉朝的边关”，而是“秦汉时的明月和秦汉时的边关”，而翻译时也可将“秦汉”理解为一种泛指：The bright moon and the strategic fortification have always been there from dynasty to dynasty。范仲淹《岳阳楼记》中的名句“不以物喜，不以己悲”，应理解为“人不应因‘物’（所处环境）或‘己’（个人遭遇）而喜，也不应因‘物’或‘己’而悲”，英译为：One should not be pleased or saddened by external gains or personal losses. 同理，此处对于“一些东西”“有些朋友”“有些亲人”亦可融会贯通，如将主语合成 some things and some people in life that…，而将谓语“失去”“远走”“离开”的意思整合为be lost or apart。
同时，对于“想起”“感叹”“反思”几个密集表达“思绪万千”的词组，不妨用being overwhelmed with trains of thoughts and feelings。
“我们必须要坦然面对”，参赛者有多种较好译法，如“we have no choice but to confront it”“we must keep rational and wise”“nonetheless, we are supposed to take them in stride”“we have to face with a calm mindset”“we cannot but come to terms with the fact that …”等。此外，对状语“必然”，为了强调，亦可按英文表达习惯前置处理。
故此，该部分不妨译为：Inevitably, whenever Tomb-sweeping Day (Qingming) comes round, we are overwhelmed with trains of thoughts and feelings – the beauty and impermanence of life flowing through our minds. There are some things and some people in life that are bound to be lost or apart – be they our friends or loved ones, with which we will have to cope at complete ease.
[2]中，（一切）“是”，不应简单理解为is /are，而是一种动态的“按照”“遵循”，可用follow等。
“自然的新陈代谢”，若译成 natural metabolism似不完全，可用the law of natural metabolism。
“轮回”，源于宗教术语，如佛教、印度教、婆罗门教等都认为生命是世代轮转循环的，作者借此多少表达某种心理安慰，故译文中不宜用过于宗教化的词语，如samsara、transmigration、RINNE等，而可用同时具有世俗含义的reincarnate，如：①The IMF has predicted that China’s monstrous current account surplus would soon reincarnate itself in an expanded form.（国际货币基金组织预言，中国庞大的经常账户盈余会使其财政迅速膨胀。）②如中国俗语说的，“二十年后又是一条好汉”。（As the Chinese saying goes, “We will reincarnate and become another hero twenty years later.）
同时，“安静”“镇定自若”，原文有重叠部分，译文中应有所区别。
“普通人”，许多人译成common people、ordinary men、layfolks、average persons等，其实这里是一种泛指，可不必刻意译出。
此处的“悲伤”不是sadness、grief、sorrow，而是disaster、calamity、tragedy、catastrophe等。
此外，转折词“但是”也不必刻板地按照原文译出，而可作相应调整。
因而，此部分可译为：We yearn that all will follow the law of natural metabolism as quietly as the seasons reincarnate. However, few of us can stay composed and bear the pain when a sudden calamity falls upon us.
[3]中，“今年这个……”有其特殊之处，译文中不妨加以点明，如增译为year of COVID-19。
“注定会成为情感宣泄的出口，悲伤的眼泪会在天空横飞”，若译成become an exit to let off feelings and sad tears will fly around in the sky，显然太过直译，而to outpour our sorrow and tears又太过简化；a moment of the release of sorrow and will witness tears pouring out from people’ eyes意思不错，但距原文过远。更多的参赛译文如“become an outlet for emotional catharsis, and sad tears will fly across the sky”“to be an outlet for people’s inner feelings, with tears shed for sadness flying in the sky”“to serve as an emotional outlet that allows our sad tears to weep under the sky”等。
对于“就允许人们任性一回吧”，较为典型的译文如please allow people to be willful for once、Just allow people to be unrestrained once、Let people be wayward once、Let them be sensational等，但似乎还可变通一下，如用更具强调意味的… is the word，类似的：①Inclusiveness is the word for us to build relationship with other believers.（只有包容才能与其他宗教信徒建立良好关系。）②Once they have established a contact that itself is the word.（一旦他们建立了联系，这本身就说明了一切。）故可用“if… is the word, then…”。
至于“为逝去的生命，为逝去的英灵”，其中的“为”不应是简单的for，而可用更具感情色彩embrace等；同时，“生命”与“英灵”其实是不可分的，此处是一种统称。
综合而言，此部分不妨译为：Qingming in this year of COVID-19 is destined to be the outlet for emotions to vent, tears to fly all over the sky… If “indulging” is the appropriate word, let it be so for the time being, willfully embracing the demised souls and perished spirits.
对于[4]，较为典型的译文如“Let the candlelight of praying burn at the heart to pray that no tragedies would come again and well-being and peace would last forever”“We all pray in heart that the tragedy will never happen again, expecting a peaceful world”“Everyone will hold a candlelit vigil in their mind, praying for the welfare and peace forever, with such tragedy never happens”等，大都言之成理，但在词语的选择和句式的运用上似还可作进一步调整：Let’s light the candles in our hearts and pray: from now on, tragedies have no place in this land, peace and well-being will prevail forever!
应当指出，有些参赛译文显然是用翻译软件操作而未经任何修改、加工、编辑，这是我们所不提倡的，希望以后能够避免。
逝者已矣，生者不息。人类就是在种种灾难中存活、延续下去的，而年复一年地顾望远去的亡灵，会使人们对自己眼下做的事有更新的理解。
优胜译文：
@...
Qingming Festival 2020
By Lianyuan Liao
With the arrival of the Qingming Festival, we are bound to think of the goodness of life, sigh for the uncertainty of life and reflect on what has happened. We have got to face the reality that we are doomed to lose something, some friends and relatives. However, we desire that it is a natural process of metabolism and that it comes and goes silently like seasons. Few of us ordinary people are able to stay calm when accidents happen. Unavoidably，we will be inconsolable when griefs come to us unexpectedly. Without doubt, the Qingming Festival 2020 is an opportunity for releasing our emotions when tears of sadness will overflow. Just let us be wayward for once for the deceased, for the martyrs. Let’s light the candles in our hearts to pray that tragedy will not happen again, pray that human beings live happily and peacefully ever since.
An excerpt from Caught in the Rain in Qingming
@John
Tomb Sweeping Day This Year
On Tomb Sweeping Day we invariably ponder over the beauty as well as the unpredictability of life. We reflect on the past and come to realize that in time we will be robbed of some of the things we treasure so much in life. Our friends may part ways with us and our beloved family members are bound to be forever separated from us. Calmly and fearlessly we must accept all this. But we hope that what happens should be like the course nature has taken since times immortal, like the rotation of the four seasons. Ordinary people rarely, if ever, keep calm before death. And they will be grieved when misfortune befalls them. This year’s Tomb Sweeping Day will certainly be the occasion for mourning and grief with sad tears streaming down from the sky. Allow them to pour out their feelings and emotions freely this time, to mourn the death of the ordinary and heroic. Allow them to light up the candle in their hearts to pray for peace and prosperity, to pray that such misfortunes may never strike again.