偶讀《西青散記》
偶讀林語堂譯清代史震林的《西青散記》，頗詫異於其譯事之草率。如序中「微可悲也」一語，林竟將之譯為「I felt a twinge of sorrow」。「微」通「無」，不是很基本的文言常識嗎？此外他譯「襁褓膳雌」一段也有些問題，「膳」是進食而非餵食，故「膳雌」意思，應是解「正在食用母雞」而不是「餵飼母雞」；及「守其母羽」，迺是指小雞守着牠們母親被抓去烹食前遺下的羽毛。否則若真似其譯文所寫：「小雞們都安穩的待在母親翅膀下」，那整件事又有何悲哀意味可言？
附：史震林《西青散記序》
「余初生時，怖夫天之乍明乍暗。家人曰：晝夜也。怪夫人之乍有乍無，曰生死也。教余別星，曰孰箕斗。別禽，曰孰鳥鵲。識所始也。生以長，乍明乍暗，乍有乍無者，漸不為異，間於紛紛混混時，自提其神於太虛而俯之，覺明暗有無之乍乍者，微可悲也。
襁褓膳雌，家人曰：其子猶在，匍匐往視，雙雛睨余，守其母羽。輟膳以悲。悲所始也。匍匐牆下，得物謂飴，捧而吮之。家人癡余曰: 石也。上有字，字為西，字為青，強余讀，讀所始也。其凹如臼至今對之，是為散記。乾隆二年十二月十二日夢中作。」
林語堂譯本：
‘When I was a child, I was frightened by the sudden alternations of light and darkness and was told that it was night and day. I was mystified by the sudden appearance and disappearance of beings and was told that it was birth and death. People told me to distinguish the stars and said, “That one is the Sieve, and that one the Dipper.” I learned to distinguish the birds and was told this one was a raven and that a magpie. This was how my knowledge began. When I grew older, I gradually lost the wonder at the sudden alternations of light and darkness and appearance and disappearance of beings. Sometimes in the maze of confusions I let my spirit soar upward to space. Looking down at the sudden changes of light and birth and death of things, I felt a twinge of sorrow.
I remember that once in my childhood, I was going to feed a hen. Someone told me that its young chicks were there. I crawled over and saw two chicks hiding under the wings of their mother and peeping at me. I was seized with a sense of sorrow and forgot about the feeding. This was how my sorrows began. Once I was crawling along the garden walls and found an object. I was going to suck it like a piece of candy. People laughed at me and said it was a piece of rock. On this rock stood one word “West,” and another word, “Green,” and I was forced to learn these two words. This was how my reading began. That a piece of rock, hollow at the center, still facing me on my desk, where I am writing these Random Notes.’
另：《西青散記》雖是很典型寫才子佳人的書，但其文筆是出名好的。今故略引兩段以見其善：
「負濠面野，市聲已遠，蒹葭楊柳，新翠蓊然，漁村田舍意也。竹欄外，方池為密萍所漫，魚唼喋呴萍隙，不得見。池外野水數灣，漉沙者步水中如鷺，亭上人啣杯望之，彼則自顧其業耳。 ……各道客況，離家幾何時，道路幾何里，旅遊相識幾何人，老親與稚子別至今又益幾何齒；身無歲不為客，夢無夜不還家，囊中錢贈何人，笥中衣典何處；髮某年白，病某年滋，視某年昏；地所歷孰多，遊所至孰遠，名利心孰淡，倦遊欲歸意孰深。相告太息，酒寒忘飲。」－卷一（頁22－23）
「事有小而不忘，思之不可再得，與人言生感慨者。……八九歲獨負筐採棉，懷煨餅，鄰有兄名中哥，長一歲，呼中哥為伴，坐棉下分煨餅共食之。棉內種芝麻，生綠蟲，似蠶而大，捻之相恐嚇，中哥作駭態，蹙額縮頸以為笑。後雖長，常採棉也。採棉日宜陰，日炙敗葉，屑然而脆，粘於花，天晴每承露采之，日中乃已，或兼採雜菽，棉與菽相和筐中，既歸乃別之也。幼時未得其趣。前歲自西山歸湖上，攜稚兒採棉於村北。秋末陰涼，黍稷黃茂，早禾既獲，晚菜始生，循田四望，遠峰一青，碎雲千白，蜻蜓交飛，野蟲振響，平疇良阜，獨樹破巢，農者鋤鐮異業，進退俯仰，望之皆從容自得。稚兒渴，尋得餘瓜於蟲葉斷蔓之中，大如拳，食之生澀。土（虫桀）飛擲，翅有聲激激然，兒捕其一，旋令放去。晚歸，稚兒在前，自負棉徐步隨之，任意問答，遙見桑棗下夕陽滿扉，老母倚門而望矣。」－卷二（頁70－71）
如此意蘊深長的文字，縱便觀乎歷代的古文「名篇」，恐怕亦未嘗多見。誠如鍾叔河所言，這些段落即使是「放在上品的筆記當中，亦堪稱佳構」、「張岱《陶庵夢憶》、龔煒《巢林筆談》亦無以過之」。是以也難怪知堂老人雖嫌此書「太漂亮有才子氣」，亦得悻悻然承認其文有「可取」了（見《秉燭後談．兒時雜事》，一笑）。
18/5/2022
偶讀林語堂譯清代史震林的《西青散記》，頗詫異於其譯事之草率。如序中「微可悲也」一語，林竟將之譯為「I felt a twinge of sorrow」。「微」通「無」，不是很基本的文言常識嗎？此外他譯「襁褓膳雌」一段也有些問題，「膳」是進食而非餵食，故「膳雌」意思，應是解「正在食用母雞」而不是「餵飼母雞」；及「守其母羽」，迺是指小雞守着牠們母親被抓去烹食前遺下的羽毛。否則若真似其譯文所寫：「小雞們都安穩的待在母親翅膀下」，那整件事又有何悲哀意味可言？
附：史震林《西青散記序》
「余初生時，怖夫天之乍明乍暗。家人曰：晝夜也。怪夫人之乍有乍無，曰生死也。教余別星，曰孰箕斗。別禽，曰孰鳥鵲。識所始也。生以長，乍明乍暗，乍有乍無者，漸不為異，間於紛紛混混時，自提其神於太虛而俯之，覺明暗有無之乍乍者，微可悲也。
襁褓膳雌，家人曰：其子猶在，匍匐往視，雙雛睨余，守其母羽。輟膳以悲。悲所始也。匍匐牆下，得物謂飴，捧而吮之。家人癡余曰: 石也。上有字，字為西，字為青，強余讀，讀所始也。其凹如臼至今對之，是為散記。乾隆二年十二月十二日夢中作。」
林語堂譯本：
‘When I was a child, I was frightened by the sudden alternations of light and darkness and was told that it was night and day. I was mystified by the sudden appearance and disappearance of beings and was told that it was birth and death. People told me to distinguish the stars and said, “That one is the Sieve, and that one the Dipper.” I learned to distinguish the birds and was told this one was a raven and that a magpie. This was how my knowledge began. When I grew older, I gradually lost the wonder at the sudden alternations of light and darkness and appearance and disappearance of beings. Sometimes in the maze of confusions I let my spirit soar upward to space. Looking down at the sudden changes of light and birth and death of things, I felt a twinge of sorrow.
I remember that once in my childhood, I was going to feed a hen. Someone told me that its young chicks were there. I crawled over and saw two chicks hiding under the wings of their mother and peeping at me. I was seized with a sense of sorrow and forgot about the feeding. This was how my sorrows began. Once I was crawling along the garden walls and found an object. I was going to suck it like a piece of candy. People laughed at me and said it was a piece of rock. On this rock stood one word “West,” and another word, “Green,” and I was forced to learn these two words. This was how my reading began. That a piece of rock, hollow at the center, still facing me on my desk, where I am writing these Random Notes.’
另：《西青散記》雖是很典型寫才子佳人的書，但其文筆是出名好的。今故略引兩段以見其善：
「負濠面野，市聲已遠，蒹葭楊柳，新翠蓊然，漁村田舍意也。竹欄外，方池為密萍所漫，魚唼喋呴萍隙，不得見。池外野水數灣，漉沙者步水中如鷺，亭上人啣杯望之，彼則自顧其業耳。 ……各道客況，離家幾何時，道路幾何里，旅遊相識幾何人，老親與稚子別至今又益幾何齒；身無歲不為客，夢無夜不還家，囊中錢贈何人，笥中衣典何處；髮某年白，病某年滋，視某年昏；地所歷孰多，遊所至孰遠，名利心孰淡，倦遊欲歸意孰深。相告太息，酒寒忘飲。」－卷一（頁22－23）
「事有小而不忘，思之不可再得，與人言生感慨者。……八九歲獨負筐採棉，懷煨餅，鄰有兄名中哥，長一歲，呼中哥為伴，坐棉下分煨餅共食之。棉內種芝麻，生綠蟲，似蠶而大，捻之相恐嚇，中哥作駭態，蹙額縮頸以為笑。後雖長，常採棉也。採棉日宜陰，日炙敗葉，屑然而脆，粘於花，天晴每承露采之，日中乃已，或兼採雜菽，棉與菽相和筐中，既歸乃別之也。幼時未得其趣。前歲自西山歸湖上，攜稚兒採棉於村北。秋末陰涼，黍稷黃茂，早禾既獲，晚菜始生，循田四望，遠峰一青，碎雲千白，蜻蜓交飛，野蟲振響，平疇良阜，獨樹破巢，農者鋤鐮異業，進退俯仰，望之皆從容自得。稚兒渴，尋得餘瓜於蟲葉斷蔓之中，大如拳，食之生澀。土（虫桀）飛擲，翅有聲激激然，兒捕其一，旋令放去。晚歸，稚兒在前，自負棉徐步隨之，任意問答，遙見桑棗下夕陽滿扉，老母倚門而望矣。」－卷二（頁70－71）
如此意蘊深長的文字，縱便觀乎歷代的古文「名篇」，恐怕亦未嘗多見。誠如鍾叔河所言，這些段落即使是「放在上品的筆記當中，亦堪稱佳構」、「張岱《陶庵夢憶》、龔煒《巢林筆談》亦無以過之」。是以也難怪知堂老人雖嫌此書「太漂亮有才子氣」，亦得悻悻然承認其文有「可取」了（見《秉燭後談．兒時雜事》，一笑）。
18/5/2022
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