2020-06-24 00:55:00
我們從Everyman Library 或The World’s Classics 中取出以年代為順序的英國代表散文選來讀的時(shí)候,便可發(fā)覺英文造句的變遷,以前流行寫很長的句子,現(xiàn)在卻傾向于簡化了。我們的生活,一天天的繁忙起來,沒有前人那樣悠閑自在;從前從歐洲到亞洲,要走上十幾年才走得到,現(xiàn)在抵消一兩天工夫就行了。一切都縮短了,英文的造句也不在例外,以前一個(gè)句子長達(dá)三百字以上,常常一頁書只有一句,并不算什么稀奇。至于一百多字長的句子,更是俯拾皆是。
例如約摸在二百年前出版的Lawrence Sterne 著The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy 一書,我們就可以在其中讀到一百四十五字長的如下的文句:
I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much de pended upon what they were then doing;—that not only the production of a rational being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;—and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost;—had they duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly, I am verily persuaded I snould have made a quite different figure in the world, from that in which the reader is likely to see me.
(我希望我的父親或是我的母親,不,我的雙親,因?yàn)樗麄儍扇送瑯拥貙Υ硕加辛x務(wù),當(dāng)他們生我的時(shí)候,會(huì)注意到他們所做的事;如果他們適當(dāng)?shù)叵脒^,他們當(dāng)時(shí)所做的事,是有何等大的影響;那不單是產(chǎn)生一個(gè)有理性的人,而且身體適合的形成和要素的配合,也許他的天賦及其心靈的典型都產(chǎn)生出來:而由于那時(shí)他們最強(qiáng)烈的性情和意向,恐怕要甚至改變他們?nèi)业拿\(yùn);如果他們適當(dāng)?shù)刈屑?xì)考慮過這一切,因而照著進(jìn)行的話,我確信我早成為與讀者諸君此后可能見到的我,完全兩樣的一個(gè)人物了吧。)
以上是依照原文也譯成一個(gè)長長的中文句子,如能表出原意已屬萬幸,泱談不上通順流利。
據(jù)R. Flesch 的研究,伊利莎白時(shí)代的文句,長度平均是四十五字,維多利亞時(shí)代平均是二十九字,到現(xiàn)代便只有十幾二十字了。文章要使人容易了解,最要緊的條件,就是句子要短,每句不到十九個(gè)字的句子,是最容易了解的,二十八字以上的句子就相當(dāng)費(fèi)解了。
現(xiàn)代的文人不愿咬文嚼字,故意矯揉造作,只求平易通達(dá),所以都是用的短句,例如美國的大作家海明威(Ernest Hcmingway)所寫的短篇Cat in the Rain 起頭的一節(jié):
There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the people they passed on the stairs on their way to and from their room. Theif room was on the second floor facing the sea. It also faced the public garden and the war monument. There were big palms and green benches in the public garden. In the good weather there was always an artist with his easel. Artists liked the way the palms grew and the bright colours of the hotels facing the gardens and the sea. Italians came from a long way off to look up at the war monument. It was made of bronze and glistened in the rain. It was raining. The rain dripped from the palm trees. Water stood in pools on the gravel paths.
(那旅館里只住著兩個(gè)美國人。他們從房間里出來,或是從外面回到房間里去的途中,在樓梯上所碰到的人,一個(gè)也不認(rèn)識。他們的房間,是在面對著海的二樓。那又朝向公園和戰(zhàn)爭紀(jì)念碑。在公園中有大的棕櫚樹和綠色的櫈子。當(dāng)天氣晴和的時(shí)候,總是有一個(gè)畫家?guī)е嫾艿焦珗@里去。畫家們喜歡棕櫚樹生長的樣子,喜歡那些面向公園和海的旅館的鮮明的色彩。意大利人從遠(yuǎn)處來此看那戰(zhàn)爭紀(jì)念碑。那是銅制的,在雨中閃耀發(fā)光。那時(shí)正下著雨。雨從棕櫚樹上落下來。在那石子鋪的小路上,有著一灘灘的水。)
海明威的文章平均每句只有十一個(gè)字,正是所謂tough style(吃力的文體)。除了必要的以外,決不加修飾語句,俾可給讀者一個(gè)正確而簡明的印象。在上面這十二個(gè)句子當(dāng)中,有九句是單句,只有兩句是復(fù)句,一句是合句。就是那復(fù)句也都把其中的關(guān)系代名詞省略掉了(即any of the people(that)they passed 及l(fā)iked the way(in which)the palms grew)。
反之,我們看Sterne 的那個(gè)長句中,竟用了九個(gè)之多的連詞,都是把從屬子句連在主句上的,這樣的主從關(guān)系,便叫作hypotaxis(從屬);與此相反的便叫作parataxis(并列),如羅馬皇帝的名句I came, I saw, I conquered. (我來了,我看見了,我征服了。)
文章之難于了解,不僅是在其太長,而且是在從屬輿并列的關(guān)系太復(fù)雜。原來古代的英語只有并列,后來因人的思想愈趨復(fù)雜,便發(fā)展到微妙的從屬關(guān)系了。例如古人說I know that:he is honest. (句中that 為指示代名詞)。今人說I know that he is honest. (句中的that 便成為連詞了)。古人說Had I the time? I would go. (前句原是問句)。今人說Had I the time(= If I had the time),I would go(前句成為假定句了)。由此可見從并列進(jìn)展到從屬的過程和跡象了。
中英文法不同,表現(xiàn)方法亦異。一般而論,中文簡潔而英文繁復(fù)。中文一字一義,至多一辭一義,而英文則常用冗長的修飾句來表達(dá)一個(gè)意思,所以英文每多長句。嚴(yán)幾道在“天演論”例言中說:“西文句中名物字多隨舉隨釋……少者二三字,多者數(shù)十百言。”他所指的就是說英文中的形容詞子句或分詞片語等,那些修飾語每置于其所形容的名詞之后,用which, who, that 等關(guān)系代名詞引道,少則二三字,多則幾十字或上百字,使得英文句子愈拉愈長。嚴(yán)氏又下斷話說:“假今仿此為譯,則恐必不可通。”所以我們翻譯這些像一列火車似的英文長句,必須把它切斷來譯,才可使之成為通順的中文。切斷的方法很多,現(xiàn)就其重要者,例解如下:
(1)在關(guān)系代名詞處切斷
Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors’minds ages ago.
(時(shí)間和偉大的思想是沒有什么重大關(guān)系的。那些思想直到今日,仍然和往昔在其創(chuàng)始者的頭腦中最初出現(xiàn)時(shí)一樣,是依舊很新鮮的。)
(2)在關(guān)系副詞處切斷
The pale old man was calmly sitting in the in convenient little back room which the household was taught to call his study, when the smiling face of the housemaid appeared at the door, holding a slip of paper in her hand.
(那位面容蒼白的老人正平靜地坐在那間不方便的內(nèi)室中,而那間內(nèi)室是他要家人稱為他的書齋的。這時(shí)候.手中拿著一張紙條的女仆的笑臉,便在門前出現(xiàn)了。)
(3)在副詞處切斷
In the life of a healthy youth there must be opportunities for physical daring and endurance, especiatly in such an age as ours when there is nothing compulsory to call out the reserves of physical power in the lives of young men.
(在一個(gè)健康青年的生命里,必須有機(jī)會(huì)來讓他養(yǎng)成身體上的勇氣與耐力。在我們所處的這個(gè)時(shí)代中,沒有任何強(qiáng)制的事物,可以在年輕人的生命中喚起內(nèi)蘊(yùn)的精力的,所以這種機(jī)會(huì)尤屬必要。)
(4)在動(dòng)詞處切斷
The president, in giving to his most powerful and most distinguished rival the greatest place which a president ever has it in his power to bestow, gave an excellent proof of the nobleness of his own spirit.
(那位總統(tǒng)把自己權(quán)力所能給與的最大職位,給與了他的最有勢力,而又最為卓越的敵手。這便是他的高尚精神的最好的證據(jù)。)
(5)在名詞處切斷
It was pleasant to review the past without anger or bitterness, although God knows he had cause enough for bitterness; the Theatre going to the dogs as it was and all these inexperienced muttering young actors playing leading parts in the West End.
(在既不生氣,也不難受的情況下,來回過過去是愉快的,雖則他心中自有足夠使倍感到難受的地方,不過不為他人所知罷了。例如看到戲劇界墮落到現(xiàn)在這個(gè)樣子,而一些毫無經(jīng)驗(yàn)的,連臺(tái)詞都念不清楚的年輕小伙子;卻在倫敦西區(qū)的大舞臺(tái)上當(dāng)超主角來。)
翻譯并無一定的方法,同樣一句話,十個(gè)人也許可以翻譯十種不同的譯文來,正所謂把戲人人舍變,各有巧妙不同。以上所舉五種不同的譯法,想來決不止此,我只不過是窺豹一斑而已。還有這五種方法,也并不限于在一句中只能用一種,譯者是可以同時(shí)并用的。一句英文的長句是應(yīng)該盡量把它譯成許多短句的,決不限于只能切斷為兩句。
當(dāng)然,現(xiàn)在某些有名氣的翻譯者,也并不一定要將英文的長句切斷來譯,只要譯出來的中文念得順口,意思明白,也就行了。
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