Spring Waters
春水

原著:杜甫
英文翻译:
Prof. Stephen Owen (Harvard University)
From The Poetry of Du Fu, re-posted under the
CCA-NCND 3.0 license.

三月桃花浪,江流复旧痕。
In the third month “peach blossom waves,”
the River’s current returns to its old high mark.
朝来没沙尾,碧色动柴门。
With dawn it swallowed the spit of sand,
its sapphire colors stir by my ramshackle gate.
接缕垂芳饵,连筒灌小园。
Tying bits of line together, I let the sweet bait dangle,
a “tube wheel” waters my small garden.
已添无数鸟,争浴故相喧。
Countless birds have been added,
all trying to bathe together and willfully making a racket.
学习笔记:

1. Waters: 复数。泛指一大湾水、一大江水等。这里是说春汛。

2. In the third month “peach blossom waves”: 此语境中,把“三月”直说成“第三个月”可以保留中文文化中月份次序与节令的密切关系。译成“March”会令“三月”的时令寓意淡化很多。

据译者注,“桃花浪”是指桃花盛开时节时的水浪。

3. Return to its old high mark: 复旧痕。

Mark: 潮涨潮落所致的高低水位在岸边留下的痕迹。

4. 朝来没沙尾: with dawn it swallowed the spit of sand:没:淹没。英译为被吞没(swallowed)。

Sandpit:海/河沿岸漂砂形成的地貌,亦称为“沙嘴”。

5. 柴门:my ramshackle gate. “Ramshackle”的字典定义是“in bad condition and likely to fall down”. 就是说,这里的“柴”的意思是破旧,不成木。

“Gate” for “门”: 只习惯住高楼的同学可能很难区别英文的“door”和“gate”的意思。住过带院子的平房的同学就没问题了。

6. 灌小园: … waters my small garden. 灌: 浇灌。

英译为什么要加“my”呢?

中文是一个“以人为中心”的文化。通常一个句子中,物与人有默认的主宾关系。“灌小园”中,这小园很自然地被默认是属于做“灌”这个动作的人的。

英文中,物与语者的关系必须明确指定。例如,“I had my breakfast”, 中文只需说:我吃早餐了。

7. 故相喧: willfully making a racket. “Racket”的字典定义是“a loud annoying noise that continues for a long time”,与“球拍”、“罪案集团”是同一个字。


Curated with study notes by:

Sue雪

Australian NAATI certified translator. Most interested in subtitling and trans-creation of websites.

My translation, your voice.


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