我的书斋生活
My Private Library

邵洵美
Shao Xunmei

| 译文摘自张培基《英译中国散文选二》

你们简直可以说，洵美是生活在书斋里的：会客室里是书，卧房里是书，楼梯边上也是书，连三层楼上的洗澡间里也是书。所以 一定要我指出哪一间是书斋，那可不容易。
You may as well call me a bookworm. I have books everywhere in my home – in the drawing room and the bedroom, on either side of the staircase, and even in the bathroom on the third floor. So it’s next to impossible for me to point out exactly where my study is.

要点：
1，“简直可以说”即“不妨说”译为may as well(做…倒也无妨)。
2,“你们简直可以说，洵美是生活在书斋里的”整句话理解为“你们不妨说，询美是个书虫”，译为You may as well call me a bookworm. Bookworm指“在书斋埋头学习的人”在此意为“生活在书斋的人”。
3，it’s next to impossible译为“…简直是不可能的”，Next to 在此意为“几乎，近乎”。

综述：将“洵美是生活在书斋里的”转化为“洵美是个书虫”即贴切，又生动形象，这个译法值得我们琢磨和学习。

也许在我卧房隔壁的一间最像，中间有只书桌，可是书桌上又堆满了书，没有地方摆稿纸，也没有地方摆砚台，我又不会用钢笔写文章。用钢笔写，我总嫌太滑，太快；它几乎不容你思想。我喜欢毛笔，它总伴着你，有时也许比你快一步，可是你总追得到。
Maybe it’s the room next to my bedroom. In the middle of it stands nothing but a desk piled high with lots of books so that there is practically no room for me to place my writing paper and the inkstone. The inkstone is indispensable to me because I always use a writing brush instead of a pen in doing my writing. I find the pen too slippery and moving a bit too fast, thus leaving little time for me to do more thinking. I prefer the writing brush because I can always keep pace with it. Though it sometimes may also move along a bit too fast, yet I can always catch up.

要点：
1，“我又不会用钢笔写文章”应按“砚台是我必须的，因为我写文章只用毛笔，不会用钢笔”理解，意译为The inkstone is indispensable to me because I always use a writing brush instead of a pen in doing my writing。
2，“它总伴着你”意即“它总和你思维的步调一致”译为I can always keep pace with it。

综述：注意以上不太好理解的两句，这类句子本文还有不少，需要注意。

这个小房间里还有两只安乐椅；一个书架，里面是我最心爱的书籍，不肯借人的。墙上只有一张水仙画，浅淡的笔姿给你一种清高的空气；偶然在看书的时候想到自己不久要穷得不成个样子，它就会显示给你一个最伟大的希望——所以有几个晚上，我简直就呆对着这张画。
There are only two armchairs in the room plus a bookcase holding my most favorite books, which are not to be borrowed by anybody. Hanging on the wall is a painting of narcissi done with light touches of ink imparting an air of moral superiority. Occasionally, while I am reading, I suddenly realize I’ll soon face penury. Then the painting will cheer me up with bright hopes. On several nights, I just sat in this room staring at it blankly.

要点：
1，plus此处意为“外加”等于and。
2，“浅淡的笔姿”即“淡淡的墨迹”，译为light touches of ink。
3，“清高”即“清白高洁”主要是道德上的操行清高，因此译为moral superiority。
4，“它就会显示给你一个最伟大的希望”意即“它会让你看到光明的未来并使你振作”，译为Then the painting will cheer me up with bright hopes。
5，“我简直就呆对着这张画”即“我就只是直直地盯着这幅画”译为I just sat in this room staring at it blankly。

综述：理解理解，还是重在理解。一定要最真实地表达出作者的意思。

这个小房间，长不满十五尺，宽不满十尺，关于现代诗的书籍，我都放在里面： 书架里放不下，便放在桌子上；桌子上放不下，便堆在椅子里；椅子里放不下，便叠在地上。理由是我从不整理我的书籍，买到了新书就随便放，看过了又随便丢；假使为了写一篇文章，需要参考时，每每费半个一个钟头去寻觅。
The little room is about 5 meters in length and 3 meters in width. I keep all books on modern poetry there. Then the bookcase is full, I put them on the desk. Then the desk is full, I pile them up on the chairs. When the chairs are full, I pile them up on the floor. I never sort them out. I lay aside casually new acquisitions as well as books I’ve just finished reading. Consequently, it often takes me couple of hours to hunt down a book for reference when I am writing.

要点：
1，“不满”可按“大约，左右”来理解，译为about。
2,“长不满十五尺，宽不满十尺” 译为The little room is about 5 meters in length and 3 meters in width三尺等于一米，因此15尺=5米，10尺=3米，单位换算也是翻译的一个必备技能。此外，这个表示“长…宽…”的固定句式也是需要记住的。
 3，“书架里放不下，便放在桌子上；桌子上放不下，便堆在椅子里；椅子里放不下，便叠在地上。”原文句式相同，两两对仗，译者亦采用结构相同的英文来译，最大限度地体现了原文的风格。
4，“买到了新书就随便放，看过了又随便丢”译为I lay aside casually new acquisitions as well as books I’ve just finished reading.其中把“随便放”和“随便丢”都译为lay aside casually.此外，将“买到了新书新书”译为new acquisitions（新获得的事物），这点我们之前也见过，在《虎》中，译者将“后来父亲房内多了一张虎皮椅垫“译为From then on, my father had a new acquisition in his room—namely, the tiger-skin chair cushion,中a new acquisition较something new确切，前者能更加确切地表达”新增添的东西“。
5，“hunt down a book for reference”即“找某本书作为参考” ,译者将原句“需要参考时，每每费半个一个钟头去寻觅（书）”合译为一句了。

通常一个人有了这许多放书的房间，他便总会为他们取许多雅致的名字： 什么室，什么斋，什么楼之类。一半当然为了借这个机会可以写些大字，叫做匾的人刻好了挂起来；一半也是为自己或是家人找书的时候容易辨别。我却懒得花这种心思，所以像上面所说的那个房间，我们便叫作“楼上书房”。楼下的叫作“楼下 书房”；三层楼的叫作“三层楼书房”。
Generally speaking, with so many rooms for storing books, one will assign to each an elegant name, to be inscribed on a horizontal board hung above the door, partly for show and partly for convenience. I, nevertheless, have never been in a mood for doing the same. I just call the above-mentioned room “Upstairs Study”, the room downstairs “Downstairs Study” and the bathroom on the third floor “Third-floor Study”.

要点：
1，“给..起名”即assign names to。
2，“一半当然为了借这个机会可以写些大字，叫做匾的人刻好了挂起来；一半也是为自己或是家人找书的时候容易辨别。”即“一半为了装饰，一般为了方便”，意译为partly for show and partly for convenience。
3，“我却懒得花这种心思”意为“我却无心这样做”，意译为I, nevertheless, have never been in a mood for doing the same。

综述：以上两段意译的部分比较多，很考验中文理解和双语转换能力，同时要注意一些固定表达的积累如“长…宽…”,“给…起名”等。

声明:本双语文章的中文评析系沪江英语原创内容,转载请注明出处。中文评析仅代表作者个人观点，如有不妥之处，欢迎指正。