感受文学翻译的魅力

翻译是一项复杂的智力活动，不仅需要娴熟的技能，更需要艺术的创造性，文学翻译尤其如此。

文学翻译具有相当的难度，其中汉译英文学名著更是一般翻译人员望而生畏的事情。但是，了解并鉴赏名家名译，充分感受其中的艺术创造性，对于我们从事应用翻译工作也是大有裨益。

朱自清先生的《背影》是我国现代文学中脍炙人口的作品，含蓄朴实，感人至深。以下是开头的一段文字，后面的译文出自中外翻译名家。译者均为当代专业的翻译大家，功力不凡，译作各有千秋，但是，仔细比较，还是可以看出一些不同。在用词、节奏、衔接、风格和准确性方面，张译明显技高一筹。值得注意的是，译文3出自美国专业汉学家葛浩文之笔，不够简洁准确，但娓娓道来，体现出英语母语人士的审美情趣和阅读习惯，对我们做好汉译英工作有很好的启发和借鉴作用。

原文

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译文1

It is more than two years since I last saw father, and what I can never forget is the sight of his back. Misfortunes never come singly. In the winter of more than two years ago, grandma died and father lost his job. I left Beijing for Xuzhou to join father in hastening home to attend grandma’s funeral. When I met father in Xuzhou, the sight of the disorderly mess in his courtyard and the thought of grandma started tears trickling down my cheeks. Father said, “Now that things’ve come to such a pass, it’s no use crying. Fortunately, Heaven always leaves one a way out.”

（张培基 译）

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译文2

Though it is over two years since I saw my father, I can never forget my last view of his back. That winter my grandmother died, and my father’s official appointment was terminated, for troubles never come singly. I went from Beijing to Xuzhou to go back with him for the funeral. When I joined him in Xuzhou I found the courtyard strewn with things and could not help shedding tears at the thought of granny. “What’s past is gone,”said my father. “It’s no use grieving. Heaven always leaves us some way out.”

（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）

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译文3

It has been more than two years since the last time I saw my father, and the memory that has stayed with me the longest is the silhouette of his back. It was during the winter of that year; Grandmother had just died, and Father’s temporary appointment with the government had been terminated. Truly those were days when “calamities never come in ones”. I traveled from Beijing to Xuzhou, planning to return home with my father for the funeral. When I reached Xuzhou I met my father, and I noticed that his garden was in complete disarray. I thought again of Grandmother and was unable to hold back the flow of tears. Father said. “ Things are as they are, you shouldn’t be sad, for happily there is nothing under Heaven that is hopeless.”