Listen to this article夏丏尊 / 著
蔡力坚 / 译
在我过去四十余年的生涯中，冬的情味尝得最深刻的，要算十年前初移居白马湖的时候了。十年以来，白马湖已成了一个小村落，当我移居的时候，还是一片荒野。春晖中学的新建筑巍然矗立于湖的那一面，湖的这一面的山脚下是小小的几间新平屋，住着我和刘君心如两家。此外两三里内没有人烟。一家人于阴历十一月下旬从热闹的杭州移居这荒凉的山野，宛如投身于极带中。
The winter chill I experienced some ten years ago by Lake Baima remains the most vivid memory about winter in my forty-plus years of life. When my family moved there, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, though a small village has sprung up since then. On the other side of the lake there was a new classroom building on the campus of Chunhui Middle School. On our side at the foot of a hill stood a couple of single-level cottages. We were neighbors only with another family－the Lius, and there were no other families within a radius of two miles. Moving from the bustling city of Hangzhou to this desolate wilderness in the dead of winter was like arriving in the North Pole.
那里的风，差不多日日有的，呼呼作响，好像虎吼。屋宇虽系新建，构造却极粗率，风从门窗隙缝中来，分外尖削，把门缝窗隙厚厚地用纸糊了，椽缝中却仍有透入。风刮得厉害的时候，天未夜就把大门关上，全家吃毕夜饭即睡入被窝里，静听寒风的怒号，湖水的澎湃。
Over there, the wind howled almost daily, like a tiger’s roar. It pierced through the cracks around window and door frames. Our home was poorly built though it was new. Even after we sealed off all visible cracks with layers upon layers of paper, the wind still managed to squeeze in, especially through ceiling cracks. On particularly windy days, we would shut the doors before dusk and get into bed immediately after supper, wrapping ourselves up in warm quilts, while listening to the roar of piercing gusts and the bellows of surging waves on the lake.
靠山的小后轩，算是我的书斋，在全屋子中风最小的一间，我常把头上的罗宋帽拉得低低地，在洋灯下工作至夜深。松涛如吼，霜月当窗，饥鼠吱吱在承尘上奔窜。我于这种时候深感到萧瑟的诗趣，常独自拨划着炉灰，不肯就睡，把自己拟诸山水画中的人物，作种种幽邈的遐想。
The room in the rear facing the hill－the one most likely to dodge the brunt of high winds－served as my study. I often sat there by a kerosene lamp until midnight with my hat pulled all the way down to cover as much of my forehead as possible. The wind would rumble through the thick vegetation outside. The moon would stare right through my frost-covered window. Hungry rats would race on the ceiling. At this moment and amidst this desolation I often found myself poetically inspired. Instead of retiring to bed, I would sit alone, sketch with ash from the stove, visualize myself in a landscape picture, and let my imagination fly.
现在白马湖到处都是树木了，当时尚一株树木都未种。月亮与太阳都是整个儿的，从上山起直要照到下山为止。在太阳好的时候，只要不刮风，那真和暖得不像冬天。一家人都坐在庭间曝日，甚至于吃午饭也在屋外，像夏天的晚饭一样。日光晒到哪里，就把椅凳移到哪里，忽然寒风来了，只好逃难似地各自带了椅凳逃入室中，急急把门关上。
Today there’re trees everywhere around the lake. Back then there were no trees to block the moon or the sun from the time when they climbed up the hills till they went below the horizon. On sunny days it was really nice if it was not so windy. We would feel as if it wasn’t winter time. Our entire family would bask in the sun in the yard, and even have lunch outdoors in the same way as we often had dinner in the summer. As the sun moved across the sky, we would have to move our tables and chairs around also and always stay where we could soak up the sun. When it suddenly became blustery, we would rush to seek refuge indoors.
在平常的日子，风来大概在下午快要傍晚的时候，半夜即息。至于大风寒，那是整日夜狂吼，要二三日才止的。最严寒的几天，泥地看去惨白如水门汀，山色冻得发紫而黯，湖波泛深蓝色。
Strong winds usually started blowing before dusk, and stopped around midnight. There were also times when incessant, relentless winds kept swirling around us for days. When the weather was extremely cold, dirt roads would turn pale like cement, mountains purplish, and the lake deep blue.
下雪原是我所不憎厌的，下雪的日子，室内分外明亮，晚上差不多不用燃灯。远山积雪足供半个月的观看，举头即可从窗中望见。可是究竟是南方，每冬下雪不过一二次。我在那里所日常领略的冬的情味，几乎都从风来。
I didn’t hate snow. On snowy days, it was unusually bright indoors, and I could almost do without my kerosene lamp in the evening. Standing by a window, we could enjoy the view of snow-capped mountains in the distance. The snow would usually stay there for about two weeks. But we were in the south, after all. Each winter it snowed only once or twice. So my taste of winter was almost always associated with the wind.
白马湖的所以多风，可以说有着地理上的原因。那里环湖都是山，而北首却有一个半里阔的空隙，好似故意张了袋口欢迎风来的样子。白马湖的山水和普通的风景地相差不远，唯有风却与别的地方不同。风的多和大，凡是到过那里的人都知道的。风在冬季的感觉中，自古占着重要的因素，而白马湖的风尤其特别。
Geography is at least partly responsible for the frequent wind gusts around Lake Baima. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the lake area has however a quarter-mile-wide opening on the north to greet, as it were, the southernly movement of cold air. If you look at the mountains and water in this area, you won’t find them to be much different from other areas nearby, but visitors here won’t fail to notice the unusual frequency and strength of wind gusts. Wind chill always plays an oversized role in defining how we feel about winter, but it’s only more so around the Lake Baima area.
现在，一家僦居上海多日了，偶然于夜深人静时听到风声，大家就要提起白马湖来，说“白马湖不知今夜又刮得怎样厉害哩！”
It’s been a while since we settled down in Shanghai. Occasionally we hear the sound of the wind at night. This reminds us of Lake Baima: we just can’t imagine how the wind is blowing over there.
译文讲评
【例句】日光晒到哪里，就把椅凳移到哪里，忽然寒风来了，只好逃难似地各自带了椅凳逃入室中，急急把门关上。
【讨论译文】Where there was sunshine, there we would move our chairs. When the cold wind came, however, we would scamper indoors like refugees, each carrying a chair or stool and hastily closing the doors behind us.
第一句的译文据称是模仿下列成语的句式：“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”（有志者事竟成。）可是这两者的结构不一样，后半句用了“there we would move our chairs”，与前面不对应，与成语用法也不对应，失去了该成语的组合特征，无法引起译者所希望的联想。正常套用该成语的例子（后半句也用there’s )，如：“Where there’s life, there’s hope.” “Where there’s love, there’s courage.” “Where there’s wildfire, there’s smoke.” “Where there’s tea，there’s hope.” “Where there’s light，there’s darkness.” 等等。所以讨论译文是不通的，如果要把它说得通，那应该是：“We would move our chairs where there was sunshine”。
另外，译者将“逃难似地……逃入室中”译成scamper indoors like refugees，可是不想一想refugees真的是这样逃的吗？虽然中文里确实用了“逃难似地”，似乎相当于“像难民那样”，也就是译者翻译的like refugees，但作者在这里强调的是进入室内的速度快，而不是说其他方面如同难民。笔者反复说过，翻译最忌讳的就是只看字面，而不看实意，只看局部，而不看整体。中文里用“逃难似地” 来表示逃跑速度快是正常用法，但在英语里说scamper indoors like refugees就非常莫名其妙，因为速度不是难民逃跑的特征，难民逃跑可以快也可以慢，其特征是流离失所，背井离乡，无家可归。那么，人家跑进自己家里怎么可能会like refugees?这就是不加思索、照搬原文用法带来的荒唐结果。
【参考译文】As the sun moved across the sky, we would have to move our tables and chairs around also and always stay where we could soak up the sun. When it suddenly became blustery, we would rush to seek refuge indoors.
