散书偶感

何为

Random Thoughts on Giving away Books

Hei Wei

 

乍一听来，“散书”的说法很费解。那天京华老友在长话中说，他们有些上年纪的同行，正在散书或考虑散书。他就是其中的一个。原来“散书”之说，出自一位德高 望重的世纪老人，前辈作家，大意谓少年是集书的时候，老年是散书的时候。是啊，人到老年，有些事不能不考虑该如何处理了。

The idea of giving away one’s books sounds rather puzzling at first. The other day, my friend Jing Huatold me over the long-distance that some of his elderly colleagues were giving away or considering giving away the books they owned and that he himself was doing the same. The idea originated with a venerable old veteran writer, who said something to the effect that youth is the time for collecting books and old age for giving away books. Yes, getting on in years, one needs to ponder over the question of how to deal with certain things in life.

要点：

1，“偶感”即“突然兴起的感想”或“随机的感想”译为random thoughts即可

2，“在长话中说”即“在长途电话中说”译为 told me over the long-distance，其中the long distance =the long distance phone call

3,“大意谓”即“大意指”或“大概意思是说”译为something to the effect that,这个表达在第一册也出现过，说明还是比较常用的

4，getting on in years意为“上了年纪”如：I am getting on in years and have difficulty getting about.  我已步垂老之年,行动多有不便.

综述:本段有些词需要深入理解，注意“上了年纪”的表达~

散书也是近年来我常常想到的问题。我的所谓藏书，实在并无足道，不过从幼时学文开始，数十年文学生涯中，相偕而来的书日益增多。现在隻能将书刊杂乱地到处堆置，倘若集中起来，也是一个小小的书城。

In recent years, I, too, have often turned over in my mind the question of books though, in fact, my so-called private library is not worth mentioning. Nevertheless, it has kept accumulating in the scores of years of my literary career. Now, piled up in a jumble here and there in my house,they add up to quite a large number though.

要点：

1，“散书也是近年来我常常想到的问题”译为In recent years, I, too, have often turned over in my mind the question of books，其中turn over in my mind 意为“在我脑海里翻转”，此处表示“常常想到”，生动！

2，“…我的所谓藏书”与前文组成让步的关系，增译关联词though，使行文结构更加清晰

3，“倘若集中起来，也是一个小小的书城”意即“然而（这些书）加起来的数量也是很可观的”译为they add up to quite a large number though。

综述：

turn over in my mind以及第三点，都显示出了译者不拘于原文，从写作角度出发来组织译文的“境界”，值得学习。

那年我的工作调到福州，搬家最苦最累的是搬书。到福州数年，“文革”期间我的书幸而未遭劫，及至下放到偏僻的闽北山区，全部书籍都随卡车装去，那真是一种磨 难。两年后忽又调回省城，于是所有的书又装车回到福州。长途漫漫，车上驮着沉重的书，山一程，水一程，书上沾着山野的露水，带着青草的味。直至数年后，那整箱整箱的书又运回上海，重返我离去的地方。以我多年的生命，绕了一个难以索解的怪圈。全靠我家老二的强劳力和灵巧聪慧，才能保全颠沛流离中的旧书。在焚书的年代，保存旧书无异是一笔小财富。

Years ago, when I was transferred to a new post in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province, the removal of my books gave me a big headache. During the several years when I was in that city, my books were lucky enough to survive the disaster of the so-called “Cultural Revolution”. But, whenI was sent to do manual labour in the remote mountains of northern Fujian, all the books had to go with me by truck, which plunged me into a world of trouble. Two years later, when I was suddenly transferred back to Fuzhou, the books had to be loaded on a truck again fora long ride over mountains and rivers, exposing themselves to the dew drops of the mountain area and inhaling the aroma of green grass. It was not until some years later that the books, then packed in boxes, were at last transported back to Shanghai, the place where I had originally come from. I owe the safety of my books to the efforts of my second son, who is physically strong and bright and clever. Books that have survived the age of obscurantism are without doubt an invaluable asset.

要点：

1，“搬家最苦最累的是搬书”译为the removal of my books gave me a big headache，译者避免了直译的啰嗦，巧妙地将原文意思表现了出来~

2，“下放到偏僻的闽北山区”译为I was sent to do manual labour in the remote mountains of northern Fujian，译者在此用do manual labour为“下放”做了一个小小的解释，便于外国读者理解

3，“长途漫漫，车上驮着沉重的书，山一程，水一程”将意思整合下，合译为a long ride over mountains and rivers，简洁流畅

4，“焚书的年代”，可译为the age of book-burning,,现译the age of obscurantism(愚昧)

综述:本段虽长，但语言都比较容易理解，因此难度不大，但若要译得和张爷爷一样流畅，还需要费费脑细胞~

这些旧书伴随我一生。在我的人生道路上相伴愈久，依恋之情也愈深。一般说来，私人藏书大致可分三类：待读又不可不读的书，可读可不读的书，不读的书。最后一类最简单，论斤卖掉当纸浆即可。第二类最难处理，大体上总要过目一遍，常常为一本书的去留煞费踌躇。书是有感情的，总是藕断丝连的依依不舍，恨起来快刀斩乱麻统统散掉。我年轻时曾说过，书是最忠实的，只要你不离弃，它永不背叛你。啊，我的书！

All my books are my life-long companions. The longer the companionship, the more profound my attachment for them. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of books in my private collection, namely, books for required reading that have not yet been read,books for optional reading and books unworthy of reading. Books of the last kind can be disposed of easily, that is, by selling them off cheap as waster paper bound for the pulp mill. The second kind of books are most difficult to handle. I generally give a glance into them before making a difficult decision on whether to keep them or not. Books are emotional and always reluctant to part from me. And sometimes, in a fit of impatience, I will even feel like resolutely doing away them all at once. As I said in my young days, books are most faithful and will never betray you so long as you don’t abandon them. Oh, my books!

要点：

1，“待读又不可不读的书”即“需要读但是还没读的书”译为books for required reading that have not yet been read，其中required 作“必须的”解

2，“可读可不读的”即“选择性阅读的”，译为books for optional reading

3，“论斤卖掉当纸浆即可”译为by selling them off cheap as waster paper bound for the pulp mill.，译者再一次摆脱行文束缚，用cheap代替by jin，表示“论斤卖”,用as waste paper bond for the pulp(纸浆) mill，表示“纸浆”，站在理解的高度重新组织行文的做法，也有助于读者的理解

4，“恨起来快刀斩乱麻统统散掉”即“有时一阵心烦，就想立刻把它们都散掉”译为sometimes, in a fit of impatience, I will even feel like resolutely doing away them all at once.

综述：诸如“可读可不读的”“快刀斩乱麻”之类的词都是要在理解的基础上去翻译。

说到第一类书，古典文学名著的精品以外，有许多文友们著作的签名本，也有自己喜欢的杂书，都是非保留不可的，生也有涯，将来不得而知。

散书的年纪到了。我也想有所行动，然而那些山积的旧书，倘若分门别类，分批分散出去，从包扎装箱到邮寄，如此繁杂的体力劳动，现在我是无能为力了。幸而我故纸堆里有价值的东西不多，姑且等一等再说。

Books of the first kind consist ofmany autographed copies of works by my literary friends and miscellaneous favorite books of mine as well as luxe editions of literary classics. They are to be kept intact by all means. But, as there is a limit to human life, the future of these books is unknown.

It is high time for me to give away my collected books. But it is beyond my power to do the toilsome labour of sorting out piles upon piles of books and then doing all the wrapping, packing and mailing. Fortunately, there are few things of much worth among piles of my musty old books. So I might as welltake it easy.

要点：

1，“有许多文友们著作的签名本”即“有许多文友们签名的本”译为many autographed copies of works by my literary friends

2，“…然而那些山积的旧书，倘若分门别类，分批分散出去，从包扎装箱到邮寄，如此繁杂的体力劳动，现在我是无能为力了”翻译时先找到句子主干，可避免译出来的文字过于松散，本句主干即“我已经无力做这些繁重的活了，（比如）…”，因此译为But it is beyond my power to do the toilsome labour of…

3，“故纸堆”即“旧书堆”此处译者增译musty（发霉的）增强了文章的表现力

4，take it easy意即“沉住气”，用在此处较wait更贴合原文意思。

综述：

本篇文章语言平实，少有生涩难译的字眼，因此难度不大，但如果流畅地译下来，也是需要一番功夫滴~在这方面还是要向大师多多学习，此外，从写作的高度，根据意思重新组织行文，也是作为译者必不可少的技能，是我们今后努力的方向。