荐书丨翻译大家如何处理成语这块“绊脚石”
成语是语言中定型的语汇，经过千百年披沙拣金，凝练而成。很多成语源自古代典籍和故事，是文化中的“活化石”；还有很多成语是老百姓日常用语，浅显易懂，却富于哲理。但在翻译过程中，成语又成了译者的难关，甚至是“绊脚石”。译得好，能使原文与译文相得益彰；译不好，就像是贴上去的补丁，与原文格格不入。
直译covet Sichuan after capturing Gansu最不可取，外国读者既不知道《后汉书》中的典故，也不知道“陇”和“蜀”究竟是个啥；avarice knows no bound语气又过于重了，avarice在英语中贬义明显，而宝钗只是与香菱开玩笑而已，并非真正说她贪婪。give him an inch and he’ll ask for a mile语气恰当，但需要调整修改才能放到情境当中。
You’re like the famous general:"one conquest breeds appetite for another". I advise you to take things more gently.
杨宪益先生的译文：
"The more you get the more you want!" chucked Pao-chai.
霍、杨两位先生的翻译都跳出了原文成语的圈子，杨宪益的翻译意思准确，直截了当，外国读者一看就懂；霍克斯教授的译法最接近原文，只是没有说出“陇”和“蜀”而已。
附助着薛蟠图些银钱酒肉，一任薛蟠横行霸道，他不但不去管约，反助纣为虐讨好儿。
In return for money and good meals from Hsueh Pan, he had not checked his disgraceful behavior but actually abetted him in order to curry favor.
In return for money, drinks, and dinners, he had lately given Xue Pana freehand in his nefarious activities-had, indeed, not only remained from interfering with him, but even "aided the tyrant in his tyranny".
杨先生还是一贯的简洁明了，将原文的意思准确地呈现给读者；霍克斯还是一贯的滴水不漏，将整句话逐字译出。
醍醐灌顶意思是灌输智慧，就好似将醍醐（乳酪）从人的头上灌下去一样，令人豁然开朗。《敦煌变文集·维摩诘经讲经文》：“令问维摩，闻名之如露入心，共语似醍醐灌顶。”
Pao-yu felt as if Buddha had suddenly shown him the light. "Aiya!" he exclaimed. "No wonder our family temple is called Iron Threshold Temple. So that’s the origin of the name."
霍克斯教授的译文：
The scriptures tell us that the revelation of the Buddha-truth comes "like ghee poured upon the head", Bao-yu must have had some such feeling as he listened to Xiu-yan, for he first of all gave a gasp of discovery and then laughed out loud.
"I see! That is why our family temple is called the ‘Temple of the Iron Threshold’!"
第一百十七回，宝玉要随癞头和尚出家，王夫人和宝钗等众人苦劝，宝玉说了这样一句话：“你们不知道，‘一子出家，七祖升天’呢。”
"Haven’t you heard the saying: 'When one son becomes a monk, the souls of seven generations of ancestors go to Heaven'?"
"Don’t you know the saying, ‘When one son renounces the world, seven of his ancestors will go to heaven’?"
“出家”“遁世”“当和尚”，原本是一回事儿，所以，霍克斯将“出家”译为become a monk，杨先生则译为renounce the world。
"Surely you know the saying, 'Marry a cock and follow the cock; marry a dog and follow the dog'? How can every girl be like your eldest sister, chosen as an Imperial Consort?"
闵福德教授的译文：
But to make the best of a dog’s life."
杨宪益先生和闵福德教授走的是截然不同的路子。杨先生的译文就是老百姓的大白话，直来直去，倒译回去还是“嫁了一只鸡，就跟着鸡；嫁了一只狗，就跟着狗”。可以说，与原文的形、意、神，甚至节奏，都完全吻合。
一句话里用了几个意思相近的成语来描述王熙凤，可见王熙凤是个多么厉害的角色。后来，“王熙凤”这三个字，差不多就成了表里不一、心狠手辣的代名词。
She’ll give you sweet talk when there’s hatred in her heart, she’s so double-faced and tricky. All the time she’s smiling she tries to trip you up, making a show of great warmth while she stabs you in the back. That’s the way she is.
霍克斯教授的译文：
She’s "soft of tongue and hard of heart," "two faces and three knives," she’ll "give you a smile and trip you up the while"，she’s "a welcoming fire when you see her，but a stab in the back when it’s dark" - all those things and more...
霍克斯和杨宪益先生的译文十分接近，连所用的词汇都差不多。所不同的是杨先生将三个成语分拆成三个句子，而霍克斯则保留了三个成语的独立形态，用一个句子贯穿起来。
汉语中“两面三刀”的字面意思有些模糊，“两面”好理解，“三刀”究竟是什么意思？杨先生将其译为she’s so double-faced and tricky，外国读者是很容易理解的；霍克斯教授将其直译为two faces and three knives，外国读者根据上下文也能明白，不过，他们也许会有疑惑，Why three knives? Why not four or five? 成语是语言的精粹，也是文化的活化石，杨宪益、戴乃迭、霍克斯、闵福德四位翻译家，将3000多个汉语成语巧妙转换，与英文无缝对接，其中很多译文堪称经典，值得我们反复体味和钻研。
本文摘编自中国外文局所属新世界出版社出版的《丹青难写是精神：〈红楼梦〉英译品读》。
王晓辉 著
新世界出版社
定价：68元
推荐阅读