首页 > 中国诗歌 > 中诗翻译
华章英韵 | 清明诗两首 ‖ 总第2期


  导读:本期邀请资深翻译家吴伟雄教授,让我们一起欣赏吴教授精心挑选的两首风格不同的清明古诗,细细品味梨花风起踏春时,雨落纷纷寄哀思。
主持人:王如利、丁立群
 
Introduction
  又到一年一度风清景明时节,今天向各位亲爱的读者推出古诗英译栏目“华章英韵”第二期。本期邀请资深翻译家吴伟雄教授,让我们一起欣赏吴教授精心挑选的两首风格不同的清明古诗,细细品味梨花风起踏春时,雨落纷纷寄哀思。

     Today is the Tomb Sweeping Day. We will introduce to you, dear readers, the second issue of Chinese Verse in English Rhyme, an English translation column of ancient Chinese poetry. We feel greatly honored that Professor Wu Weixiong, a senior translator, accepted our invitation for this issue. Two poems of different styles are carefully selected for the special occasion. Let's enjoy the pear flowers in the spring outing days, and give expression to our grief in reading the poems.

清明
(唐) 杜牧

清明时节雨纷纷,
路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有,
牧童遥指杏花村。

The Tomb Sweeping Day
By DU Mu  (Tang Dynasty)
Translated by WU Weixiong

It drizzles thick and fast on this mourning day;
The mourner travels, heart lost in dismay.   
When asked for a wineshop to kill his gloomy time,
A cowboy points to Apricot Hamlet faraway.

译者说
  杜牧这首《清明》诗,千百年来传诵不断。原诗通俗易懂,译意却费心思。
  首先,“清明”之译。有音译和意译两种。音译照汉语拼音方案,“清明(节)”译为Qingming(Day/Festival)就行。意译很热闹,译法包括:Pure Bright Day (或Festival,下同),Pure Brightness Day, Clear and Bright Day, All Souls Day, Tomb Sweeping Day, Tomb Visit day, Mourning Day。维基百科的介绍是:The Qingming also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English; During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors, and make ritual offerings. 该诗是写往先人长眠之地去扫墓拜祭的,译为the Tomb Sweeping Day最合适;首句所指译为this mourning day,与下文语义连贯更紧了。  
  其次是“清明时节”。典籍英译研究2018年4月2日收集了杜牧《清明》英译本30种,其中,有25种译为“节”或“日”(特指清明这天),占83%,其余的,译为season, days 或term,占17%。传统上,清明扫墓,广东很多地方称“行清”,选在清明这一天,叫“行正清”。另外,对每一扫墓人(家)来说,只是一天之事。因此,“清明”如上译。
  再次是“路上行人”。有两种理解:第一种是孤身无伴、赶路遇雨人;第二种是熙熙攘攘的行人。据著名学者杨鸿儒教授理解为前者的评析,孤身在他乡的旅途上感到孤独、凄凉也合逻辑,再联想“借问酒家”的发问人应该是说话人(诗人),故取第一种观点。
  译诗依照原诗绝句的尾韵韵式,为aaba;主流格律为抑扬格五音步。

苏堤清明即事
(宋) 吴惟信

梨花风起正清明,
游子寻春半出城。
日暮笙歌收拾去,
万株杨柳属流莺。

Causeway Su in the Spring Outing Days
By WU Weixin(Song Dynasty)
Translated by Wu Weixiong

The Spring Outing Days are greeted by pear flowers;
Most people are outing to Causeway Su for leisure hours.
When a day’s recreation stopping at sunset time,
In the willows the homing orioles enjoy the prime.

译者说
  
清明节又叫踏青节(Spring Outing Days)。人们把花开时吹过的风叫做“花信风”,意即带有开花音讯的风候,首句可理解为“盛开的梨花迎来踏青时节”。这首《苏堤清明即事》的意境,并非孤独凄凉、心情阴郁,而是轻松欢快、心旷神怡,故题目不宜译为Tomb Sweeping Day。这首诗虽然没有写明“清明时节”,但是在清明前后春意盎然的这一段日子,外出踏青赏春,正是佳期,当然不仅仅限于清明这一天,而“梨花风起”也不止在这一天,故译为the Spring Outing Days。诗人写的是,正在清明前后这段时期每一天城里人出游踏青,苏堤的盛况:白天游人如鲫,尽兴而归;日暮时分,归巢黄莺在“万株杨柳”中享受的最佳时光(the prime time)。译诗末行prime,取其形容词前加定冠词之义,表示the best time而略time。游人回家了,流连知返的鸟儿也回其“家”啦,故译文有homing;末句的“流莺”,是诗中日暮归巢的黄莺the homing orioles。
  
译诗四行20个音步:第一行四音步(抑扬扬格2,抑扬格2);第二行六音步(抑扬格4,抑抑扬扬格2);第三行五音步(抑抑扬格3,抑扬格2);第四行五音步(抑抑扬格3,抑扬格2)。主流格律为抑扬格和抑抑扬格五音步。译诗依照原诗的aabb韵式。

The Translator

  吴伟雄,男,广东新会人,英语译审。中国翻译协会四、五届理事(1998-2009),专家会员。2011年中国译协授予“资深翻译家”荣誉证书。好为诗词佳句译事票友。先后在广东肇庆和云浮两市从事外事管理和翻译工作。2006-2017年,受聘北京理工大学珠海学院外国语学院教授,授《汉英互译》《英语诗歌选读》和《中英诗歌鉴赏》等。在《中国翻译》《中国科技翻译》和《上海翻译》发文16篇,出版编著5本。2005年在中国译协和桂林市人民政府合办的“桂林山水甲天下”名句国际译文征集活动中获连珠三奖:优秀奖(第一名),入围奖和鼓励奖。

  Mr. WU Weixiong, native of Xinhui, Guangdong, China, is a Prof. of Translation (English). An expert member of the Translators Association of China, he was member of the 4th and 5th Councils of the TAC (1998-2009), and awarded the TAC Certificate of Honor of Senior Translator in 2011. He enjoys being an amateur translator of poetic lines and noted sentences. After working as a director and chief translator of the Foreign Affairs Offices of the People’s Governments successively in Zhaoqing and Yunfu municipalities in Guangdong, he became a professor in Foreign Languages School of Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhuhai from 2006 to 2017, teaching Translation between English and Chinese, Selected Readings of English Poems, Poetic Appreciation: Chinese and English, etc. He has published 16 papers in three core journals for translation in China and 5 books on translation. He won three awards, EXCELLENT (first place), MERIT and ACHIEVEMENT, in the international CALL FOR TRANSLATIONS OF THE NOTED SAYING “桂林山水甲天下”organized by Guilin Municipal Government and the TAC in 2005.

朗诵者简介
  
王劫苏,出生于辽宁省沈阳市,北京理工大学珠海学院英语教师。硕士研究生毕业于法国巴黎第三大学。研究兴趣:语言学、中西文化差异、心理学。先后开设大学英语、英语语音、雅思英语、西方文化概论、法语等课程。
主办:中诗网 译诗群
总策划:周占林 宛城卧龙
责任编辑: 西江月
要喝就喝纯贵坊