《雨前》的张培基英译本赏析

2020-08-13 11:40张洁婷
青年文学家 2020年21期

摘  要:张培基先生曾将何其芳的散文《雨前》译成英文,向国外介绍该优秀作品。本文从泰特勒翻译三原则角度赏析张译本。

关键词:《雨前》;张培基;泰特勒

作者简介:张洁婷(1996.10-),女,汉,广东省肇庆人,硕士,研究方向:英语语言文学。

[中图分类号]:H159  [文献标识码]:A

[文章编号]:1002-2139(2020)-21-0-01

亚历山大·泰特勒提出了三条翻译原则:译文应完全复写出原作的思想;译文的风格与表达形式应与原作一致;译文应与原作同样流畅。《雨前》的张培基译本符合三条原则,是难得的佳作。

张译本忠于原作思想,符合原则一。首先,张对标题的翻译契合作者情感。《雨前》描述了万物和作者对雨的期盼,张把标题译为Praying for the Rain,体现对原作主题的准确把握。其次,张通过增译把原作内容完整翻译了出来,便于外国读者理解。如:

(1)那隆隆的有力的搏击,从山谷反响到山谷,仿佛春之芽就从冻土里震动,惊醒,而怒茁出来。

Over there, whenever the rumble of thunder reverberated across the valley, the buds of spring would seem to sprout freely after being disturbed and roused up from their slumber in the frozen soil.

原句描述了雷声的威力。通过添加whenever…would…句型,张忠实地强调了雷声的巨大影响。补充的after一词把嫩芽“怒茁出来”的结果移到了“震动、惊醒”的过程前,亦突出了雷鸣之响。

张译本保留了原作的音韵和修辞美,与原作风格一致,符合原则二。如:

(2)有的还未厌倦那船一样的徐徐的划行。

Some keep swimming leisurely and tirelessly like a slow boat.

(3)在这多尘土的国度里,我仅只希望听见一点树叶上的雨声。

Now, in this dusty country of ours, what I yearn for is to hear the drip-drip of rain beating against leaves.

叠词“徐徐”生动地写出鸭子悠闲自在、缓慢游动的情态,富有音乐感。相应地,译文的leisurely和tirelessly均以音素/i/结尾,slow和boat有同样的元音音素,它们给人强烈的韵律感。例(3)的拟声词drip-drip使雨声仿佛近在耳边,符合原作调动读者感官的特点。

(4)几天的阳光在柳条上撤下的一抹嫩绿,被尘土埋掩得有憔悴色了……

The willow twigs, daubed with a light green by several days of sunshine, are now covered all over with the dust and look so sickly…

(5)还有干裂的大地和树根也早已期待着雨。雨却迟疑着。

And the perched soil and tree roots have likewise been dying for rainfall. Yet the rain is reluctant to come down.

原作善用擬人手法,“憔悴色”、“期待”和“迟疑”把景物拟人化。与之对应,译文的daub意为涂抹,把阳光拟人化,sickly表明柳条像人一般憔悴。例(5)的dying for与reluctant情感色彩浓烈,突出了对雨的盼望和雨的残忍。张译在修辞上和原作一致,独具匠心。

张擅长中英句式的转换和语序的合理调整,译文流畅,符合原则三。如:

(6)一大群鹅黄色的雏鸭游牧在溪流间。清浅的水,两岸青青的草,一根长长的竹竿在牧人的手里。

With a long bamboo pole in hand, he would look after a large flock of gosling-yellow ducklings moving about on the limpid water of a shallow brook flanked on both sides by green grass.

原作由短句组成。通过介词with和分词moving与flanked,张将句子主干和其他内容紧密连接起来,符合英语语用习惯。

(7)也许是误认这灰暗的凄冷的天空为夜色的来袭……遂过早地飞回它们温暖的木舍。

They are hastening back to their warm wooden dovecote earlier than usual perhaps because they have mistaken the bleak leaden sky for nightfall…

中文句子的重点内容常在句末,而英文的在句首。原句中鸽子归家的行动在后。张在译文中把该行动前移了,有利于外国读者把握重点信息。

参考文献:

[1]Tytler, Alexander. Essay on the Principles of Translation[M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching  and Research Press, 2012.

[2]张培基.《英译中国现代散文选(二)》[M]. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社, 2007.