散文長壽之道英譯賞析

　　我已經(jīng)到了望九之年，可謂長壽矣。因此經(jīng)常有人向我詢問長壽之道，養(yǎng)生之術(shù)。下面是小編分享的英譯散文《長壽之道》賞析，歡迎大家閱讀!

　　長壽之道

　　The Secret of Longevity

　　季羨林

　　Ji Xianlin

　　我已經(jīng)到了望九之年，可謂長壽矣。因此經(jīng)常有人向我詢問長壽之道，養(yǎng)生之術(shù)。我敬謹(jǐn)答曰：“養(yǎng)生無術(shù)是有術(shù)。”

　　Approaching ninety, I’m really old. People often ask me for advice on how to keep fit and live a long life.The answer I would give is, “The best way to keep fit is by making no efforts towards it.”

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，題目“長壽之道”本可譯為The way to Live a Long Life,現(xiàn)譯為The Secret of Longevity，意思基本相同，但后者更為簡練，適宜做題目，朗朗上口

　　2，“望九之年”即“快到九十歲了，年近九十”，譯為Approaching ninety

　　3,“養(yǎng)生之術(shù)”即“養(yǎng)生的方法”，譯為how to keep fit and live a long life或the way to keep in good health

　　4,“我敬謹(jǐn)答曰……”即“我的答案是……”譯為The answer I would give is，would 常見于表達(dá)勸告，意見的句中

　　5，“養(yǎng)生無術(shù)是有術(shù)”譯為he best way to keep fit is by making no efforts towards it.即“養(yǎng)生的最好方法就在于不要為它做過多的努力”，凡是向這個意思靠攏就可以

　　這話看似深奧，其實(shí)極為簡單明了。我有兩個朋友，十分重視養(yǎng)生之道。每天鍛煉身體，至少要練上兩個鐘頭。曹操詩曰：“對酒當(dāng)歌，人生幾何?”人生不過百 年，每天費(fèi)上兩個鐘頭，統(tǒng)計起來，要有多少鐘頭啊!利用這些鐘頭，能做多少事情呀!如果真有用，也還罷了。他們二人，一個先我而走，一個臥病在家，不能出門。

　　That sounds profound, but is in fact very simple. Two friends of mine put in great efforts to keep in good health. They spent at least two hours per day doing physical exercise. Cao Cao (1) says in one of his poems like this: Cup to cup calls for song, Man’s life – how long? Few people live to be 100. Two hours per day during one’s lifetime – what a tremendous amount of time it would add up to! And what a lot could be done with that much time! It would have been all right though if my two friends’ physical exercise had really helped. But fact is, one of the two has passed away before me and the other now never shows up, being confined to bed with illness.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“十分重視養(yǎng)生之道”譯為put in great efforts to keep in good health，其中“重視”譯為put in great efforts to do 是為了和上文make no efforts towards形成呼應(yīng)

　　2，“曹操”是屬中國古典文化中特有的詞匯，此處采用加注法，將“曹操”的“個人信息”放在了腳注里~

　　3，“對酒當(dāng)歌，人生幾何”中“人生幾何”意為“人生是多么短暫”也可理解為反問語氣“人生的歲月又能有多久呢?”，譯者根據(jù)反問語氣譯為Man’s life – how long?

　　4，“統(tǒng)計起來，要有多少鐘頭啊!”意為“這些時間相加是多么龐大的一個數(shù)字啊”，故譯為what a tremendous amount of time it would add up to!

　　5，“如果真有用，也還罷了”意即“如果真有用也還好”

　　6，“一個臥病在家，不能出門”譯為the other now never shows up, being confined to bed with illness. 譯者在此進(jìn)行了靈活處理，用never shows up表示不能出門。being confined to bed with illness表“臥病不起”

　　因此，我首創(chuàng)了三“不”主義：不鍛煉，不挑食，不嘀咕，名聞全國。我這個三不主義，容易招誤會，我現(xiàn)在利用這個機(jī)會解釋一下。我并不絕對反對適當(dāng)?shù)捏w育鍛煉，但不要過頭。一個人如果天天望長壽如大旱之望云霓，而又絕對相信體育鍛煉，則此人心態(tài)恐怕有點(diǎn)失常，反不如順其自然為佳。

　　I’m known to all for having initiated three Nos, namely, no exercising, no picky eating, no grumbling. My three Nos, however, are apt to be misunderstood. So I need to take this opportunity to make an explanation. Exercise, if moderate, is all right, but I disapprove of overdoing it. One who overrates physical training while dreaming of living a long life must be mentally unbalanced. He should learn to let things take their own course.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“不嘀咕”即“不抱怨”，譯為no grumbling，其中g(shù)rumble表示“抱怨，發(fā)牢騷，嘟囔”十分形象，其同義詞還有complain， gripe， mutter

　　2，“天天望長壽如大旱之望云霓”表示“十分渴望長壽”此處只譯出了其中心意思，一是為了句式簡潔，二是overreact也在一定程度上表達(dá)了“十分渴望”的意思

　　3，“絕對相信體育鍛煉”即“高估體育鍛煉的價值”，譯為overrates physical training

　　4，“順其自然”= let things take their own course(任事情自然發(fā)展)

　　至于不挑食，其心態(tài)與上面相似。常見有人年才逾不惑，就開始挑食，蛋黃不吃，動物內(nèi)臟不吃，每到吃飯，戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)兢兢，如履薄冰，窘態(tài)可掬，看了令人失笑。以這種心態(tài)而欲求長壽，豈非南轅而北轍!

　　As to picky eating, I often find people barely over forty becoming very choosy about food. They abstain from eating egg yolks and tripe. They behave gingerly at table as if treading on thin ice. The embarrassment they show cannot but evoke laughter from all. Acting with such a mentality, they can only end up in defeating their own purpose of increased longevity.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“才逾不惑”譯為“不到四十”而不是“才過四十”，譯為barely over forty

　　2，“動物內(nèi)臟”若是直譯，則是the internal organs of animals,或 animal entrails，今譯tripe (雜碎)，而且為熟食，比較符合上下文

　　3，“每到吃飯戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)兢兢，如履薄冰”= behave gingerly at table as if treading on thin ice

　　4，“窘態(tài)可掬，看了令人失笑”=the embarrassment they show cannot but evoke laughter from all，其中cannot but意為“禁不住，不得不”如：I cannot but laugh to hear such a story.聽到這樣的.故事，我禁不住發(fā)笑。

　　5，“豈非南轅而北轍”中的“豈非”是反問句的標(biāo)識，但以驚嘆號結(jié)尾，因此此處突出作者肯定的語氣，譯為they can only end up in defeating their own purpose of increased longevity。又“南轅北轍”比喻行動和目的正好相反。譯為end up in defeating their own purpose of…

　　我個人認(rèn)為，第三點(diǎn)最為重要。對什么事情都不嘀嘀咕咕，心胸開朗，樂觀愉快，吃也吃得下，睡也睡得著，有問題則設(shè)法解決之，有困難則努力克服之，決不視芝麻綠豆大的窘境如蘇迷廬山般大，也決不毫無原則隨遇而安，決不玩世不恭。有這樣的心境，焉能不健康長壽?

　　To my mind, the last of the three Nos, i.e., avoid grumbling under any circumstances, is the most important. Be broad-minded, optimistic and cheerful, and you will be able to eat with a good appetite and enjoy a sound sleep. When you are faced with problems, try every means to solve them. When you meet with difficulties, do your best to overcome them. Never fret over trifles, nor take an attitude of cynical indifference towards life. That’s the way to be long-lived.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“我個人認(rèn)為，第三點(diǎn)最為重要。對什么事情都不嘀嘀咕咕…”譯者將這三句融為一句來譯，彰顯了原文的結(jié)構(gòu)，使得行文更加有條理

　　2，“…心胸開朗，樂觀愉快”和“吃也吃得下，睡也睡得著…”首先是無主句要增主語，其次兩句有潛在的因果關(guān)系，譯為Be broad-minded, optimistic and cheerful, and you will be able to eat with a good appetite and enjoy a sound sleep.

　　2，“決不視芝麻綠豆大的窘境如蘇迷廬山般大”不宜直譯，譯者采取意譯法譯為Never fret over trifles，其中fret over意為“焦慮于”

　　3，“也決不毫無原則隨遇而安，決不玩世不恭”譯者將原文上下兩句的意思合并在一起合譯為nor take an attitude of cynical indifference towards life

　　我現(xiàn)在還想補(bǔ)充一點(diǎn)，很重要的一點(diǎn)。根據(jù)我個人七八十年的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，一個人決不能讓自己的腦筋投閑置散，要經(jīng)常讓腦筋活動著。根據(jù)外國一些科學(xué)家實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果，“用腦傷神”的舊說法已經(jīng)不能成立，應(yīng)改為“用腦長壽”。人的衰老主要是腦細(xì)胞的死亡。中老年人的腦細(xì)胞雖然天天死亡，但人一生中所啟用的腦細(xì)胞只占細(xì)胞總量的四分之一，而且在活動的情況下，每天還有新的腦細(xì)胞產(chǎn)生。只要腦筋的活動不停止，新生細(xì)胞比死亡細(xì)胞數(shù)目還要多。勤于動腦筋，則能經(jīng)常保持腦中血液的流通狀態(tài)，而且能通過腦筋協(xié)調(diào)控制全身的功能。

　　One more important point: According to my personal experience of the past eighty years or so, one should put his brain to frequent use instead of letting it stay idle. The result of experiments made by some foreign scientists has shown that frequent use of the brain leads to longevity instead of doing harm to it as people used to believe. Man’s aging is mainly caused by the death of cerebral cells. However, though the cerebral cells of middle-aged and elderly people keep dying every day, man uses up in his lifetime only one fourth of the total cerebral cells, and new cerebral cells will, under normal conditions, keep growing up daily. As long as you use your head regularly, dead cerebral cells will always be outnumbered by new ones. Regular use of the head will ensure the normal circulation of cerebral blood and our control of the whole bodily function through its coordination.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“投閑置散”即“讓…閑著”譯為letting it stay idle

　　2，“新生細(xì)胞比死亡細(xì)胞數(shù)目還要多”譯為dead cerebral cells will always be outnumbered by new ones，其中 be outnumbered by 意為“在數(shù)量上被…超過”

　　我過去經(jīng)常說：“不要讓腦筋閑著。”我就是這樣做的。結(jié)果是有人說我“身輕如燕，健步如飛”。這話有點(diǎn)過了頭，反正我比同年齡人要好些，這卻是真的。原來我并沒有什么科學(xué)根據(jù)，只能算是一種樸素的直覺。

　　I used to urge, “Never have an idle head!” And I myself have acted accordingly. Some people have consequently saddled me with the epithets: “agile like a swallow” and “walking as if on wings.” They are exaggerating to be sure, but it’s true that I’m in better health than people of the same age. The above has come of plain intuition, without any scientific basis.

　　這就是我的“長壽之道”。

　　So much for my “secret of longevity”.

　　要點(diǎn)：

　　1，“結(jié)果是有人說我…”譯為Some people have consequently saddled me with the epithets…其中 to saddle with意即“把…強(qiáng)加給某人”，epithets意為“表述詞語，稱號”

　　2，“過了頭”意為“太過夸張”譯為exaggerating

　　3， “身輕如燕，健步如飛”譯為“agile like a swallow” and “walking as if on wings.”

　　4，““這就是…”譯為So much for…(通常表示一種“到此為止”的意思)

　　屬于一種口語化的表達(dá)，貼合原文風(fēng)格,比如《生活大爆炸》里有一句so much for our friendship with Sheldon即“我們跟謝爾頓的友誼到此為止了” 還有So much for today!(今天就講這么多吧!)也是很常見的結(jié)束語