《红楼梦》中的服饰描写展现了高度艺术美感,绚丽多彩的服饰色彩的描写便可见一斑。《红楼梦》中诸如“海棠红”、“蜜合色”、“玫瑰紫”、“葱黄”等颜色随处可见,这些颜色为小说大为增色,但也给译者带来诸多困难。本文将赏析杨宪益及其夫人戴乃迭的译本,供大家学习参考。
一、基本颜色
张培基认为基本颜色词是指那些本来就用以表达事物色彩的颜色词,即white(白色)、black(黑色)、grey(灰色)、brown(棕色)、red(红色)、green (绿色)、yellow(黄色)、blue(蓝色)、purple(紫色)。英语和汉语对基本颜色词的分类基本一致,采用对等翻译即可。
例1、白绫红里 A white silk stomacher lined with red
红莲绿叶 The lotus flowers were pink, the lives green
解析:虽然对等翻译即可,但也要根据具体情况做适当调整。比如第二句话中的“红莲”,中国传统文化中“红莲”的“红”实际上一般为粉色。
例2、1) 穿着青皱绸一斗珠的羊皮褂子
译文:in a blue silk tunic lined with a curly sheepskin
2) 鸳鸯“穿着水红绫子袄儿,青缎子背心,束着白绉绸裙子“。
译文:Yuan-yang was wearing a pink silk jacket, a sleeveless black satin jacket and a white silk sash.
3) 宝玉“登着青缎粉底小朝靴”
译文:His court boots were of black satin with white soles.
解析:青是我国古代一个常用的颜色词,可表绿色,蓝色,还可表灰色和黑色,本身色彩模糊不定。上面三句话中,都有“青”,但翻译不一。第二句中译者将“青”译为“black”可能是与下文“白”形成对比。第三句中“青缎粉底”则是根据实施情况来处理。因为“青”有时也形容黑色,而“粉”有时也形容白色。
二、实物颜色词
实物颜色词即具体事物的色彩构成其自身的显著特征,以此类具体事物为主体而形成的颜色词,如雪白、火红、肉色等。
例3、……裙边系着豆绿宫绦双鱼比目玫瑰佩……
译文:She had double red jade pendants with pea-green tassels attached to her skirt.
解析:在翻译具体实物加色彩词的颜色词时,杨译采用的一种方式是对应的英语实物加色彩词。比如“豆绿”译为“pea-green”, “石榴红”译为“pomegranate-red”, “葱黄”译为“leek-yellow”。但此种方法不是唯一的。
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