翻译擂台第51期点评

 

文/许景城

 

【原文】

 

一年一度，北京城又到了热吃羊肉的时节。

 

寒意渐浓的晚上，邀上三五好友找一家涮肉馆，煽上一个炭锅，点上两盘羊肉，要上几瓶“小二”，边吃边喝边聊些闲话，其乐也融融。待到微醺时，再多烦心事，也都无影无踪了。

 

按照《本草纲目》的说法，各类肉食中，凡猪肉：苦，微寒，有小毒。羊肉气味：苦、甘，大热，无毒。黄牛肉气味：甘，温，无毒。

 

由于羊肉属于大热之物，因此过去北京人讲究冬天吃羊肉，像涮锅子，只有立秋之后才应市，过了立春便再没有地方吃了。这也是遵从孔老夫子的谆谆教诲——不时不食。

 

（摘自汪曾祺《京城羊肉爆烤涮》）

 

本期翻译擂台所选的文本节选自中国著名作家汪曾祺先生的散文名篇《京城羊肉爆烤涮》的开头几段。

 

第一段看似简单，其实英译起来很不容易，尤其是“热吃”一词。此处的“热”何意？在笔者看来，有三层意思。其一，强调“吃羊肉”这种趋势、潮流和传统的季节来临。其二，呼应文章标题《京城羊肉爆烤涮》的“爆烤涮”，强调羊肉为热菜，非冷菜，注意原文文章后面其实作者对这些饮食烹饪词做了一一考据，足见其重要性。其三，对应后面段落提及中医《本草纲目》中所涉及的“热”“大热”等词，强调羊肉食物的药性。如何将此三层意思全部表达出来对译者是个考验。在本期擂台的参赛投稿中，未发现有很好处理这一问题的译文，有些译文顾此失彼，有些译文漏译和误译。在笔者看来，用hot一词或许就可达到效果，即“here comes a hot trend and tradition again to eat ‘hot’ mutton”来释译“又到了热吃羊肉的时节”，前一个hot等同于popular，后一个加了引号的hot指代食物的属性和烹饪手法，看似直译，其实是通过重复该词、合理搭配和运用标点等释译策略达到忠实传词达意的效果。另外，对于“热吃羊肉”中“羊肉”的翻译，参赛投稿中，除了一些误译为eat hot beef外，无外乎两种主要译法，即“eat (instant-boiled) mutton/lamb”或者“enjoy mutton hotpot”。不管直译为肉，还是合理转译为肉锅，笔者觉得都可行。

 

节选原文中作者多处使用排比句式，比如第二段中几个动作事件的并列。参赛投稿中做得好的也不多见。有些译文甚至直接打乱顺序，重新组合，比如投票候选译文1、3、4，亦或直接略去部分并列动词，比如候选译文2、6。处理比较好的，基本直接再现原文风格的是候选译文5。再如第三段中《本草纲目》节引部分，句式统一，用词简单，干脆利落。投票候选的六个译文大体都意识到这个句式的排比修辞特征，只是一些译文句式用词不够凝练，比如译文2、6。其他译文各有优劣，其中值得一提的是译文4，局部处理较有特色，将所有涉及中医的“微寒”“大热”“温”等词统一放置在所修饰肉食的前面，作为前置定语修饰，并且整齐划一地在对应英文词后面加上natured一词以示属性，此种译法值得提倡。不过遗憾的是，该译文（及译文6）此部分用语不够简练，比如重复出现to one’s health这种画蛇添足的表达。

 

所选原文文本语言朴实无华，却富含中国传统文化负载词，比如与饮食有关的“涮肉馆”“煽…炭锅”“小二”，与传统节气相关的“立春”“立秋”，与中医有关的“热”“大热”“微寒”“温”，与中国哲学有关的“孔老夫子”，等等。英译起来着实不易，处理亦须得当。

 

关于“涮肉馆”，译文有a hotpot restaurant（译文1、6）、a mutton restaurant（译文2）、a restaurant（译文3）、an instant-boiled mutton restaurant（译文4、5）等。除了译文3没有专有名词概念化之外，其他几个或多或少都往名词概念化方向做了尝试。涮肉，这里毋庸置疑涮的是羊肉片，故此译文4、5比较达意。

 

至于“煽……炭锅”，六个候选译文的处理皆不理想，未能向译入语读者有效传达北京人吃炭火锅的精髓。比如：译文1“a steamy charcoal pot”和译文2“a boiling charcoal pot”的steamy 和boiling只强调锅内沸水情况，并未点 出给锅“煽”炭加热这一动作；译文3“a charcoal hotpot”也未将“煽”这个动作译出；译文4直接略去不译；译文5“burn a charcoal pot”的burn一词并不等同于“煽”；译文6仅用重复性的“a hot pot”笼统指称。何为“煽”？查汉语大词典可知，作为动词，其意为“炽盛”“扇火使旺”。故此，笔者感觉用“fan fires up for a coal pot”即可传神达意。

 

“小二”一词，众所周知，指小瓶的“二锅头”。英译这一中国家喻户晓的酒文化词相对容易，六个候选译文皆采用纯音译策略来处理“二锅头”，而对于“小”的处理，有的译本采用直译策略，比如small bottles of Erguotou（译文1）和small-bottled “Erguotou”（译文5），其他几个译本则略去未译，比如bottles of Erguotou（译文2、6）、some Erguotou（译文3）和the Erguotou (a kind of Chinese liquor)（译文4）。译文4或许考虑到目标语读者的接受度，在专有名词后面用括号的形式对其进行阐释，此举值得肯定，然而稍显冗长。其实可采用音译加直译再加意/补译的方式来翻译该文化负载词，即small-bottled Erguotou spirits，简洁达意。

 

对于原文中涉及的两个节气“立春”“立秋”，六个译文中，将其进行概念化（即专有名词化）翻译的有译文2、3、5，其他几个译文虽直译达意，却未能凸显中国独特的节气文化。

 

有关“热”“大热”“微寒”“温”等这些独特的中医文化负载词的翻译，有时可直接模糊化处理，用笼统的英文词hot、hugely/largely hot、slightly cold和warm来对应。若在文中首次出现，建议还是用heat-natured、hugely/largely heat-natured、slightly cold-natured、warm-natured的形式来指代。当然，还可使用脚注形式对每个词解释说明。不过，随着中国文化软实力不断增强，以及中医文化的海外接受度、认可度、知名度逐渐提高，有时添加脚注反显多余。六个译文中，有的采用笼统模糊策略，比如译文3；有的采用adj.+natured的形式，比如译文4；有的采用be of +n.的句式，比如译文3、5；还有的采用be adj. in nature/property的形式，比如译文2。比较有趣的是译文1和6：译文1用slight cold feeling指“微寒”，用body-warming既指“大热”也指“温”，原文指食物属性和药性，译文貌似想突出药效，然而若仔细研读其译文并根据前后搭配，发现这些表述难免又产生歧义；译文6所用表述cold food、hot food、warm food也同样会产生歧义。

 

关于孔夫子的教诲“不时不食”，原文是一个否定式的直接引语祈使句式，四个字言简意赅、铿锵有力，而六个候选译文皆采用意译转译策略，多数采用肯定式的陈述和转述句式，失去了原文的警示效果。有的译文虽保留祈使句式，比如译文2、3，却因文字不简练和采用肯定式而令警示效果打折。建议直接译为“Never eat unseasonal food!”。

 

至于“孔老夫子”的翻译，六个候选译文皆译为Confucius，并无不可。然而，Confucius一词只是孔夫子的音译，夫子乃旧时对学者的尊称，汪曾祺先生加上“老”字，说明其对孔子的敬意是“更上一层楼”，故此笔者感觉在Confucius前面加Master一词或许更好。

 

在撰写点评的过程中，笔者注意到几位读者在本期擂台投票推文留言区关于“凡猪肉”的留言，这场小小的辩论甚是有趣，一方认为是猪肉一品种，另一方认为是猪肉统称。笔者通过CNKI文献查找，未发现有“凡猪肉”为猪肉一品种的说法。另外，查阅《本草纲目》，有兽部一“豕”释名部分“豕之子，曰猪，曰豚”的表述，以及集解部分如下表述：“颂曰：凡猪骨细，少筋多膏，大者有重百余斤。食物至寡，故人畜养之，甚易生息。时珍曰：猪天下畜之，而各有不同。生青兖徐淮者耳大，生燕冀者皮浓，生梁雍者足短，生辽东者头白，生豫州者咮（喙）短，生江南者耳小（谓之江猪），生岭南者白而极肥。猪孕四月而生，在畜属水，在卦属坎，在禽应室星。”可见，集解开头的“凡猪”是笼统称谓，指普遍意义上的“猪”这个概念，之后，集解进一步说明，不同地方所养的猪，其称谓也不一样。这前后其实并不矛盾，二者就是上义词和下义词之别。此外，汪曾祺先生在引用《本草纲目》时，只节引部分内容，略去“江猪肉”等内容，直接以“凡猪肉”来对比“羊肉”“黄牛肉”这两大类食物，足见“凡猪肉”统称之意。故此，笔者认为此处的“凡”即“但凡”“凡是”“一般意义上”“普遍意义上”之意。译文用不可数名词pork这一笼统概念便能忠实传达原文之意。大家为准确翻译而深入查阅资料的精神值得鼓励和赞扬，更希望大家在探讨翻译问题时能就问题本身做有理有据的交流，避免意气用事和过激言论，真正领悟批判性思维的精髓，这样方能有大收益和大进步。

 

译路漫长艰难，译途云遮雾罩。译无定法，译道难寻。以上分析为笔者之浅见甚至愚见，仅供各位参考，不当之处还望谅解。

 

参考译文：

 

Once a year, here in Beijing comes a hot trend and tradition again to eat “hot” mutton.

 

On an increasingly chilly night, how amusing it is to invite a handful of friends to an instant-boiled mutton hot-pot restaurant where we can fan fires up for a coal pot, order two plates of mutton and several little-bottled “Erguotou spirits”, and then relish them while tittle-tattling. As tipsiness arrives, disquietude, however mounting, will vanish into thin air.

 

As recorded in The Compendium of Materia Medica, among all types of meat, pork tastes bitter, slightly cold-natured, and slightly poisonous; mutton smells bitter, sweet, largely heat-natured, and nonpoisonous; the yellow cattle boast sweet, warm-natured and non-toxic meat.

 

Since mutton is hugely heat-natured, the Beijinger in the past paid particular attention to feasting on mutton in winter. For example, instant-boiled mutton hot-pots were served only in the wake of the Start of Autumn. Posterior to the Start of Spring, however, there was no place to savor them. This custom also complies with Master Confucius’s indoctrination: Never eat unseasonal food!

 

(From Wang Zengqi’s article “Stir-fried, roasted or instant-boiled mutton in Beijing”)

 

优胜译文：

 

译文1：@ヴィンセント

 

Once again, it’s the season of the year for people in Beijing to enjoy mutton hotpot.

 

Few things are better than eating out with several friends in a hotpot restaurant as winter is draping a chilly cloak. Sitting around a steamy charcoal pot, you can have fun chatting with friends while tasting mutton and drinking small bottles of Erguotou. By the time you get tipsy, all the troubles would be put behind you.

 

According to "Compendium of Materia Medica", among all kinds of meats, pork is bitter with slight cold feeling and small poison, while mutton smells bitter, sweet,featuring body-warming and non-toxic, and yellow beef is sweet, body-warming, non-toxic.

 

The public believes mutton has the therapeutic effect of warming the body, which thus makes it an ideal food for winter. In the past, this kind of food like mutton hotpot was only served during the colder months after the beginning of fall, which goes in tandem with Confucius’ concept of adapting your diet to the changing seasons.

 

译文4：@就叫仙女吧

 

In Beijing, the season for mutton comes again.

 

In the evening when there is a stronger chill in the air, it seems a great pleasure for me to spend few hours with some of my close friends in an instant-boiled mutton restaurant. There, with the instant-boiled mutton and the Erguotou (a kind of Chinese liquor), we could enjoy the food, the liquor and chat with each other at the same time. How joyful it is! Then, all the vexation will go with the wind, when we are slightly drunk.

 

According to the Great Pharmacopoeia (a Chinese herbology volume written by Li Shizhen during the Ming dynasty), the cold-natured pork tastes bitter, and has little negative effects to one’s health; the hot-natured mutton tastes both sweet and bitter, and will do no harm to one’s health; and similarly, the warm-natured beef tastes sweet and has no bad impact.

 

Take into consideration that the mutton is hot in nature, in the past, people in Beijing preferred to have it in winter. Take the instant-boiled mutton as an example, it always prevailed in the autumn, but after the beginning of the spring people may failed to find it. That, in fact, is in line with Confucius’s “Seasonal Eating”.

 

译文5：@王晶

 

That time of year comes again when mutton finds its way into instant-boiled pots in Beijing.

 

On a chilly evening, you invite several friends to an instant-boiled mutton restaurant, burn a charcoal pot, order a few plates of mutton and a couple of small-bottled “Erguotou”, a kind of Chinese liquor popular in Beijing. What a joy it is eating, drinking and chatting with friends over the pot. When slightly drunk, you seem to be free from any worries.

 

According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, among various kinds of meat, the pork is of bitter smell and of slightly cold nature, with a little poison. The lamb, of hot nature and bitter and sweet smell, is non-toxic. The beef, non-toxic is of sweet smell and warm nature.

 

Mutton is hot in traditional Chinese medicine, so in the past the people of Beijing made it a habit to have it in winter. Instant-boiled mutton, for example, is only seasonal after the Start of Autumn and out of season in the wake of the Start of Spring, which is also in accordance with the wisdom of Confucius – “We should eat seasonally”.

 

– an excerpt from “Different Cooking Methods of Mutton in Beijing” by Wang Zengqi