张培基英译散文赏析之《狗》

狗

The Dog

老舍

Lao She

| 译文摘自张培基《英译中国散文选二》

中国狗恐怕是世界上最可怜最难看的狗。此处之“难看”并不指狗种而言，而是与“可怜”密切相关。无论狗的模样身材如何，只要喂养得好，它便会长得肥肥胖胖的，看着顺眼。中国人穷。人且吃不饱，狗就更提不到了。因此，中国狗最难看；不是因为它长得不体面，而是因为它骨瘦如柴，终年夹着尾巴。

Of all dogs in the world, those in China are perhaps the most pitiful and ugly-looking. But it is their wretched life rather than their breed that is to blame for their ugliness. All dogs, if well-fed, will be plump and nice-looking irrespective of their bodily form. In poverty-striken China, people don’t even have enough to feed themselves, let alone dogs. Chinese dogs are ugly-looking not because they are born like that, but because they’ve been reduced to skin and bones by hunger, with tails between their legs all the year round.

要点：

1， plump表示“胖乎乎的”，之前说过这种小词在文学翻译中灰常常用，比如“各种走”“各种跑”“各种哭”“各种笑”都是需要积累的~

2， “中国人穷。人且吃不饱，狗就更提不到了”即“在贫穷的中国，人尚且吃不饱，更别提狗了”译为In poverty-striken China, people don’t even have enough to feed themselves, let alone dogs. let alone 作“更别提”“更不必说”解，之前我们也有过总结，表相同意思的还有much less, still much, not to mention

3， “而是因为它骨瘦如柴，终年夹着尾巴“译为but because they’ve been reduced to skin and bones by hunger, with tails between their legs all the year round.其中by hunger 是增益成分。”夹着尾巴“译为with tails between their legs all

综述：从上一段可以看出，老舍这篇杂文语言简洁质朴，句式较为简单，童鞋们注意选词依旧要体现文学性~

每逢我看见被遗弃的小野狗在街上寻找粪吃，我便要落泪。我并非是爱作伤感的人，动不动就要哭一鼻子。我看见小狗的可怜，也就是感到人民的贫穷。民富而后猫狗肥。

I always feel like crying whenever I see a homeless little dog roaming about the street in search of human excrement. It doesn’t mean that I’m a sentimental, lachrymose sort. It’s because I associate the misery of the little dog with the poverty of our people. Our cats and dogs will never get nice fat unless our people are well-off.

要点：

1，“我并非是爱作伤感的人，动不动就要哭一鼻子“即”我并非是伤感爱哭的人“译为It doesn’t mean that I’m a sentimental, lachrymose sort，lachrymose的意思为”爱哭的“，sort意为”某一种人“，等于sort of person.”爱哭的“译为后置定语（which is）easily moved to tears也可

2，“我看见小狗的可怜，也就是感到人民的贫穷。”即“我将小狗的悲惨同人民大众的贫穷联系在了一起”译为It’s because I associate the misery of the little dog with the poverty of our people

3，“民富而后猫狗肥。”即“只有人民富裕了，猫狗才会茁壮成长”，“只有…才”的译法有很多种，此处译者译为Our cats and dogs will never get nice fat unless our people are well-off.较“only when…”更加简洁~

中国人动不动就说：我们地大物博。那也就是说，我们不用着急呀，我们有的是东西，永远吃不完喝不尽哪！

We are apt to declare that ours is a big country with rich natural resources, meaning that there is no need for us to worry because we have plenty of everything to last us forever and ever. Well, why not take a look at our dogs!

要点：

1，“动不动就说”即“经常说”，译为be apt to declare

2，“地大物博”译为a big country with rich natural resources

3，“哼，请看看你们的狗吧！”译为Well, why not take a look at our dogs!将感叹句译为反问句，可以增强语气

综述：以上两段有很多口语化的表述，注意译者是如何处理的

还有：狗虽那么摸不着吃，那么随便就被人踢两脚，打两棍，可是它们还照旧的替人们服务。尽管它们饿成皮包着骨，尽管它们刚被主人踹了两脚，它们还是极忠诚的去尽看门守夜的责任，狗永远不嫌主人穷。这样的动物理应得到人们的赞美，而忠诚、义气、安贫、勇敢，等等好字眼都该归之于狗。可是，我不晓得为什么中国人不分黑白的把汉奸与小人叫作走狗，倒仿佛狗是不忠诚不义气的动物。我为狗喊冤叫屈！猫才是好吃懒作，有肉即来，无食即去的东西。洋奴与小人理应被叫作“走猫”。

Dogs always remain man’s faithful servants though they are underfed and kicked and beaten without any reason. A dog continues to perform with loyal devotion the duty of guarding the door and keeping watch at night though he has been starved to a skeleton and kicked at by his master. He never minds how poor his master is. Such an animal deserves our high praise. We should attribute to them such laudatory epithets as “devotion”, “loyalty”, “content with poverty”, “courage”, etc. But I wonder why we have been undiscriminatingly calling traitors and villains “running dogs”, as if dogs were disloyal and unfaithful animals. I should voice grievances for them!Cats, however, are greedy and lazy. They come to you when you have meat to offer, but otherwise leave you. Flunkeys of imperialism and mean persons should have been called “running cats”.

要点：

1，“随便”译为without any reason

2,“饿成皮包着骨”译为been starved to a skeleton，和前面的 reduced to skin and bones by hunger同义

3，“狗永远不嫌主人穷”可译为He never minds how poor his master is。“嫌弃”还可以根据语境译为complain~

4,“这样的动物理应得到人们的赞美”译为Such an animal deserves our high praise，或者earn out high commendation

5,” 我为狗喊冤叫屈”可译为I should voice grievances for them，“喊冤叫屈”还可译为cry out about one's grievances

6，“有肉即来，无食即去”即译为They come to you when you have meat to offer, but otherwise leave you.用otherwise代替已知情况，是省略情况的一种~

或者是因为狗的脾气好，不像猫那样傲慢，所以中国人不说“走猫”而说“走狗”？假若真是那样，我就又觉得人们未免有点“软的欺，硬的怕”了！

不过，也许有一种狗，学名叫作“走狗”；那我还不大清楚。

Perhaps the reason why we prefer to say “running dogs” rather than “running cats” is that dogs are good-tempered while cats are supercilious. If so, I would think that people are perhaps inclined to bully the weak and fear the strong.Maybe there is a kind of dog whose scientific name is “running dog”. I’m not quite sure.

要点：

1，“欺软的，怕硬的”即“欺软怕硬”，采取分拆译法译为bully the weak and fear the strong

综述：老舍的文章句式都不是很复杂，重点注意其口语化表达的翻译方法。