书城文学信仰之海
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第19章 翻译的政治(3)

Punctuation is bound to change, like the rest of language; punctuation is made for man, not man for punctuation; a good sentence should be intelligible without the help of punctuation in most cases; and if you get in a muddle with your dots and dashes, you may need to simplify your thoughts, and shorten your sentence.

标点同语言一样在变;标点为人所役使,人不可为标点所役使;佳句十九不必借重标点而自成头绪,为文点点圈圈破破折折难取难舍之际,不妨简化思路,斩短文句。

董桥翻译的另一大特色是典雅。美国的报刊上有这样一句话:“The New York restaurant business is in trouble. No one dines anymore. They just eat.”董桥把它译为:“纽约饮食业前景堪虞,盖昔日用膳之情调荡然无存,人人但求果腹耳。”怀旧的温馨情调与萧条的凄凉现实形成了鲜明的对比,文字的典雅与所指的寒碜构成了奇妙的张力。《时代》周刊原总编辑在谈到传媒操守与责任时,说要“warmth without sloppiness; sharpness and snap without cruelty; worldliness without vulgarity”。董桥的译文是:“温馨而不伤感;尖锐而不凉薄;入世而不低俗。”可谓曲尽原语之妙。也许是也做过多年报刊主编的缘故,董桥深知新闻从业者的甘苦和职守。

简洁和典雅是就风格而言,从内容上说,董桥的翻译也做到了忠实,下例即可为证:

Innumerable are the men and women now writing for bread, who have not the least chance of finding in such work a permanent livelihood. They took to writing because they knew not what else to do, or because the literary calling tempted them by its independence and its dazzling prices. They will hang on to the squalid profession, their earnings eked out by begging and borrowing, until it is too late for them to do anything else—and what then? With a lifetime of dread experience behind me, I say that he who encourages any young man or woman to look for his living to“literature”, commits no less than a crime.

今之男女,煮字以疗饥者多不胜数,实则得以靠此为维生者万中无一。此辈中人或因别无他技而舞文弄墨,或因惯见文人一行自立门户、风光无穷而效颦操觚,不惜乞哀告怜,举债度日,终致进退维谷,悔之晚矣,不知如何是好?区区一生命运多舛,回首前尘,深感鼓励晚辈以文为生,简直罪过。

董桥简洁、典雅、忠实的翻译令人想起钱锺书先生的翻译。援引两则钱先生译文如下,即可一眼看出二者颇多相似之处:

I would have broken mine eyestrings, crack’d them butTo look upon him, till the diminutionOf space had pointed him sharp as my needle;Nay, followed him till had melted fromThe smallness of gnat to air, and thenHave turn’d my eyes and wept.

极目送之,注视不忍释,虽眼中经络迸裂无所惜;行人渐远浸小,纤若针亦,微若蠛蠓亦,消失于空朦亦,已矣!回眸而啜其泣矣!

Why, at the height of desire and human pleasure—worldly, social, amorous, ambitious, or even avaricious—does there mingle a certain sense of doubt and sorrow?

入世务俗,交游应酬,男女爱悦,图营势位,乃至贪婪敛财,人生百为,于兴最高、心最欢时,辄微觉乐趣中杂以疑虑与忧伤,其故何耶?

第一例是莎士比亚剧作《辛白林》中女主角叹惜丈夫远行时说的话,第二例是拜伦发出的人生喟叹。钱锺书先生的翻译可谓如影随形,也极简洁、典雅、忠实。这样的翻译也是董桥的追求。

余光中在评论钱锺书在《谈艺录》和《管锥编》里引述西文用文言撮要翻译时说,“非仅曲传原味,即译文本身亦可独立欣赏”。事实上,董桥在其散文集中的片言只语的翻译也可采用同样的方式进行欣赏。虽然董桥对于钱锺书先生的散文颇有微词,认为太“油”,但对于钱锺书的翻译,他还是极端地佩服。比如,拜伦致情妇书云:

Everything is the same, but you are not here, and I still am. I separation the one who goes away suffers less than the one who stays behind.

此间百凡如故,我仍留而君已去耳。行行生别离,去者不如留者神伤之甚也。

董桥就特别欣赏这样的译文,认为拜伦是18、19世纪间的人物,用典雅的文言翻译,当然显得更加意远情旧了。

董桥的翻译就像钱锺书的翻译一样,既做到了对原文的正确理解,又不拘泥于原文,能用另一种语言对原文进行相应而完美的表述,这其实就是作为翻译最高境界的“化境”。正如钱锺书所言:“文学翻译的最高理想可以说是‘化’。把作品从一国文字转变成另一国文字,既能不因语文习惯的差异而露出生硬牵强的痕迹,又能完全保存原作的风味,那就算入得了‘化境’。……译本对原作应该忠实得以至于读来不像译本,因为作品在原文里绝不会读起来像翻译出来的东西。”

董桥的翻译显然深受钱锺书“化境”说的影响,并深得这一学说的神韵。众所周知,钱锺书家学渊源极深,他既有深厚的中国文化修养,又精通数种外语,而且坐拥书城,博览群书,自然能“跟原文平起平坐,谈情说爱,毫无顾忌”。那么董桥又是如何渐臻“化境”的呢?当然,我们一方面也不能否认其天赋和多年来留学英伦的经历,但更重要的是,也许正如董桥本人所言,依靠的是后天的勤奋和锻炼。

董桥曾经自述自己的创作,不是赏心的乐事,而是累人的苦差:“我写文章一向冷静,用功,很辛苦。”按照他的说法就是:“写作如练琴,非日日苦练数小时不足以言‘基本功夫’;无基本功夫者,虽情感如水龙头一扭而泻,究无水桶盛水,徒然湿漉漉一地水渍耳。”

其实,翻译作为一种特殊的创作,也具有创作的一般特性。董桥所谓的“基本功夫”就是语言文字。他说,“文字是肉做的”,增一分则太肥,减一分则太瘦,恰如其分最好。因此他提倡下笔要不惜“削、删、减、缩”,以下例子可以为证:

Thank you for your letter of today’s date. When we talked earlier this year, I said that I hoped that you would stay on the Executive Council for as long as you felt able to do so. As you know, I have always valued and respected your advice even, indeed particularly, when our views differed, since you always gave that advice honestly, impractically and in the interest of Hong Kong. But we both recognized that a point might come when you felt that the tensions between your appointment as Vice Chairman of the Preparatory Committee and your place on Executive Council became too great. I respect your judgment that you feel that that time has now come, and I therefore accept your resignation from the Executive Council.

原译: 顷接今日来信,内容备悉。今年较早时,我曾与你商谈。当时我说,只要你觉得能力所及,我希望你能一直在行政局留任。我向来很重视你的意见,相信你也知道: 即使彼此看法不同,我对于你的见解尤为重视,因为你提出意见时,完全是出于允诚,大公无私,并以香港的利益为依归。但我们都了解,你身为行政局议员,又获委任为筹委会副主席,终有一天,身兼两职的压力会大得难以应付。你认为现在已是退出行政局的时候,我尊重你的判断,只好接受你的请辞。

董译: 今日来信收悉,谢谢。月前晤谈中齿及深盼先生应接有暇,尽量留任行政局之职;此议实因平素甚为重视高见,双方观点相违时尤然,盖先生从来坦诚进言,不偏不倚,以香港利益为重也。然言谈间彼此亦深知身兼筹委会副主席及行政局议员之职,势必格外吃力,终致不胜其荷。先生既感辞职合时,自当依照尊裁,准予所请。

这是末任香港总督彭定康写给董建华的一封公开信。原译是香港政府的官方译文,有200余字,而董桥的译文约140字,几乎把原译删削了1/4。原译虽然能够达意,但终究显得苍白,且使用的书信文体也不地道。相较而言,董桥的译文紧凑,通篇采用了适当的公文语言,与英语书信在读者心目中产生的效果可以说难分轩轾。

董桥对文字的精练不是出于外在的需要,而是出于一种自觉的意识。他说:“煅句炼字是礼貌,是对读者的应尽的义务和责任。”要使“文章不长皱纹”,秘诀不外痛下苦功,专心致志,方可立些根本。所以,董桥在其新版自选集的扉页中写道:“我扎扎实实用功了几十年,我正正直直生活了几十年,我计计较较衡量了每一个字,我没有辜负签上我的名字的每一篇文字。”这不仅指其创作,也指其翻译。翻译中用心如此,岂能成为“误解作者,误告读者”的所谓“译者”。在这个译风浮躁的年代,董桥之言无异于暮鼓晨钟。