英譯蘇軾的《前赤壁賦》/My First Visit to the Red Cliff
摘自（徐英才翻譯的《英譯唐宋八大家散文精選》）
"A Selection from the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties" Translated by Yingcai Xu
前赤壁賦*1
蘇軾
壬戌之秋，七月既望*2，蘇子與客泛舟*3遊於赤壁之下。清風徐來，水波不興。舉酒屬客，誦明月之詩，歌窈窕之章*4。少焉，月出於東山之上，徘徊於鬥牛*5之間。白露橫江，水光接天。縱一葦之所如，淩萬頃之茫然。浩浩乎如馮虛禦風，而不知其所止；飄飄乎如遺世獨立，羽化而登仙。
於是飲酒樂甚*6，扣舷而歌之。歌曰：“桂棹兮蘭槳，擊空明兮溯流光。渺渺兮予懷，望美人兮天一方。”*7客有吹洞簫者，倚歌而和之。其聲嗚嗚然，如怨如慕，如泣如訴，餘音嫋嫋，不絕如縷。舞幽壑之潛蛟，泣孤舟之嫠婦。
蘇子*8愀然，正襟危坐，而問客曰：“何為其然也？”客曰：“‘月明星稀，烏鵲南飛。’*9此非曹孟德之詩乎*10？西望夏口，東望武昌。山川相繆，鬱乎蒼蒼，此非孟德之困於周郎者乎*11？方其破荊州，下江陵，順流而東也，舳艫千裏，旌旗蔽空，釃酒臨江，橫槊賦詩，固一世之雄也，而今安在哉？*12況吾與子漁樵於江渚之上，侶魚蝦而友麋鹿。駕一葉之扁舟，舉匏樽以相屬。*13寄蜉蝣於天地，渺滄海之一粟。哀吾生之須臾，羨長江之無窮。挾飛仙以遨遊，抱明月而長終。知不可乎驟得，托遺響於悲風。”
蘇子曰：“客亦知*14夫水與月乎？逝者如斯，而未嚐往也; 盈虛*15者如彼，而卒莫消長也。蓋將自其變者而觀之*16，則天地曾不能以一瞬。自其不變者而觀之*17，則物與我皆無盡也*18，而又何羨乎？且夫天地之間，物各有主。苟非吾之所有，雖一毫而莫取。惟江上之清風，與山間之明月。耳得之而為聲，目遇之而成色。取之無禁，用之不竭，是造物者之無盡藏也，而吾與子之所共適。”
客喜而笑，洗盞更酌。肴核既盡，杯盤狼籍。相與枕藉乎舟中，不知東方之既白。
My First Visit to the Red Cliff
Su Shi
It was the 17th day of the 7th month in the autumn of the year Ren Xu when I sailed down to the foot of the Red Cliff with some friends. A cool breeze was wafting, too soft to ripple the water. Raising my cup, I toasted my friends and chanted the stanza on the gentle and graceful orb from the verse about the bright moon. Soon, the moon rose from behind the east mountain and began to roam between the Southern Dipper and the Altair. White mist heaped up across the river, and the moonlight stretched far into the horizon to merge into the sky. Like a piece of reed, our sloop drifted on a boundless expanse of water, so vast that we felt as if we were riding wind in the firmament, wondering where to moor, and so ethereal that we felt as if we were ascending into heaven and becoming immortal.
This enchanted the gaiety of drinking. We sang while tapping on the side of the boat:
Oh, the magnolia oars, paddling in the clear water,
Oh, the cassia boat, sailing up the moonlit river;
But where I’ve reached is so remote,
From the beloved in my rapt heart.
Someone among the friends started to play the Xiao Flute, accompanying the verse. The music kept streaming out and lingering in the air, so melancholic that it sounded like a continuous sigh of sorrow or like a ceaseless weep with grief, which could entice a scaly dragon perching in a deep pool to rise and dance, or make a widow sitting on a lonely boat cry.
Sitting up, I, in a serious tone, asked the player, “Why is the music so somberly stirring?” “‘The moon is luminous, the stars are sparse, the birds are flying south,’” he replied. “Isn’t this the visualization of a scene as described in Cao Mengde’s poem? The place we have now reached faces Xiakou to the West and Wuchang to the East, and is heavily encircled by verdant mountains and stretching water. Isn’t this a déjà vu of Mengde being trapped by General Zhou? Although it goes without saying that Cao Mengde could well be considered a hero for his generation, when he broke through Jingzhou, swept over Jiangling, and then rolled eastward down the Yangtze River in warships chained up for over a thousand miles, with banners and flags flaunting in defiance of the vast open skies, while drinking with relish before the river and composing poems with his lance resting on his lap, where is he now? If he is nowhere to be found, then what about us? You and I are fishing in the river, gathering firewood in the islet, with fish and shrimp as our companions, and milu and deer as our friends, and riding a sloop while drinking from our gourd cups. We are like mayflies wandering in this terrestrial world or pieces of millet drifting on a deep blue ocean. What a short life span we have, yet how endless the Yangtze River is! I wish we could roam in the firmament with flying immortals or live forever with the bright moon. I know this is not something easily obtainable and therefore I can only leave the wistful music to the dreary wind.”
I commented, “Do you happen to know the nature of water or the moon? Water is always on the run like this, but never lost in its course; the moon always waxes and wanes like that, but never out of its sphere. When viewed from a changing perspective, nothing in this universe can remain unchanged even within a blink of an eye, but when looked at from an unchanging perspective, everything conserves itself, and so do we. Therefore, what’s in them to be admired? Besides, in this universe, everything has its rightful owner. If something does not belong to you, then you shall not even have a bit of it. However, the fresh breeze over this river and the bright moon above the mountains are an exception. If you can hear it, it is a sound to you; if you can see it, it is a view to you. It never ends and is never exhausted. It is the infinite treasure that nature has for both of us to enjoy.
Hearing this, he cheered up and laughed. We had our cups rinsed and refilled. Soon all the dishes and fruits were gone. With plates and cups left strewn all over, we leaned against each other and fell asleep right in the boat, unaware that the east was already turning white.
注釋：
1. 蘇軾寫有兩篇《赤壁賦》，本篇在前，稱為《前赤壁賦》，另一篇在後，稱為《後赤壁賦》。因要表示先後，故本篇譯作My First Visit to the Red Cliff，另一篇譯作My Second Visit to the Red Cliff。
再者，為什麽不把 “赤壁”譯成漢語拚音Chibi呢？應該說，譯成漢語拚音也是完全可以的，但原文是文藝作品，非文獻性作品，譯成有意義的 the Red Cliff更具形象性。
2. “既望”裏的“既”表示已經完成，“望”是指農曆小月十五日，大月十六日，所以“既望”即指農曆十七日，“七月既望”譯作the 17th day of the 7th month。
3. 原文並未說用的是帆船，而且蘇軾和他的朋友用的很可能不是帆船，那麽用動詞sail來譯“泛舟”是不是可以呢？完全可以！雖然sail最早指的是“楊帆而行”，但現在完全可以用它來指“無帆而行”，很多現代英語詞典隻把它定義為to move along or travel over water。比如：
a. The moon sails in the night sky.
b. The ship was sailing to China.
c. The steamship is sailing to Li*****on.
4. “明月之詩”和“窈窕之章”並非書名或者章節名，而指的是《詩經》裏有關章節，故不能作詩名而大寫。這裏譯作… and chanted the stanza on the gentle and graceful orb from the verse about the bright moon.
5. “鬥牛“裏的“鬥”指的是鬥宿（即南鬥），“牛”指的是“牛宿”（即牛郎星），譯作the Southern Dipper 和 the Altair.
6. “於是飲酒樂甚”意譯為This enchanted the gaiety of drinking，這裏的enchant是動詞，是“使喜悅”、“使陶醉”的意思，比如：
a. The flowers you sent her greatly enchanted her.
b. Her gaiety and wit have enchanted us all.
c. The audience was clearly enchanted by her performance.
7. “桂棹兮蘭槳，擊空明兮溯流光。渺渺兮予懷，望美人兮天一方”的大意是“桂木做的船啊蘭木做的槳，逆流劃開了月光浮動的江；多麽深沉遙遠啊我的情懷，仰望著我思慕的人在遠方”。因為是歌詞，故譯作lyric格式，其中帶有韻律。另外，原歌詞裏的第一，二句把“棹”（船）與“槳”合在了一起寫，而英譯時，為便於處理，把它們分開了。
Oh, the magnolia oars, paddling in the clear water,
Oh, the cassia boat, sailing up the moonlit river;
But where I’ve reached is so remote,
From the beloved in my rapt heart.
其中一、二句末尾的“-er” 押全韻；三、四句末尾的“-t”押半韻。另外，有些行與行之間也帶韻。
8. “蘇子”即“蘇軾”，作者本人，故用表單數第一人稱的I譯出。
9. “月明星稀，烏鵲南飛”所引的是曹操《短歌行》中的詩句，故譯作詩的形式The moon is luminous, the stars are sparse, the birds are flying south，其間押[s]半韻。
10. “此非曹孟德之詩乎”的字麵意思是“這難道不正是曹孟德的詩嗎”不能譯成Isn't this Cao Mengde's poem? 因為這個“這難道不正是曹孟德的詩嗎”是“這難道不正是曹孟德的詩裏所描寫的情景嗎”的簡略形式，本譯文把它譯作Isn’t this the visualization of a scene as described in Cao Mengde’s poem?
11. “此非孟德之困於周郎者乎”的字麵意思是“這難道不正是曹孟德被周瑜圍困的地方嗎”，句式也正好跟上麵一句一樣。也正因如此，如果再一次用visualization of來譯就會顯得重複而單調，故用a déjà vu of把它譯作 Isn’t this a déjà vu of Mengde being trapped by General Zhou？
12. “方其破荊州，下江陵，順流而東也，舳艫千裏，旌旗蔽空，釃酒臨江，橫槊賦詩，固一世之雄也，而今安在哉”的意思是“當他攻破荊州，席卷江陵，順著長江向東而進軍的時候，戰船連接千裏，旌旗遮蔽天空，對江斟酒痛飲，橫端長矛朗誦詩篇，確實是一代英雄啊，可他如今又在哪裏呢?” 雖然這個長長的句子是個引語，但原文裏並沒有一點兒口語的口氣，反而有一種一氣嗬成的書麵語語氣，特別是在作了一連串的鋪墊“破荊州”、“下江陵”、“舳艫千裏”、“旌旗蔽空”、“釃酒臨江”、“橫槊賦詩”後嘎然而止，用一個短小精悍的反問句形式（rhetoric question）迸發出“可他如今又在哪裏呢？”
這段行文正是具有千斤之力啊！翻譯時要力求迸發出相當的力量。本譯文把它譯作：Although it goes without saying that Cao Mengde could well be considered a hero for his generation, when he broke through Jingzhou, swept over Jiangling, and then rolled eastward down the Yangtze River in warships chained up for over a thousand miles, with banners and flags flaunting in defiance of the vast open skies, while drinking with relish before the river and composing poems with his lance resting on his lap, where is he now?
13. “況吾與子漁樵於江渚之上，侶魚蝦而友麋鹿。駕一葉之扁舟，舉匏樽以相屬”的意思是“何況我同你在江中和沙洲上捕魚砍柴，以魚蝦為伴，與麋鹿為友，駕一葉小舟，在這裏用葫蘆作的杯子互相勸酒”。這裏我們來探討幾個問題：
(1) 從上句對曹操這個大英雄“而今安在”進行發問，到本句轉而談論作者本人，從而把平凡的自我跟不凡的偉人進行對比，原文裏沒有任何過度，如果照譯，譯文裏就會出現斷裂，意念就會連接不上，故本譯文在翻譯時加入了If he is nowhere to be found, then what about us? 加入這一句過渡語在英語裏極其重要，因為它直接點明了原文所要論述的主題，忽略了這一點，看似一句一句譯得頭頭是道，其實讀者讀起來會不知所雲。
(2) 原文裏上一句跟本句實際是一個對比，用上句曹操的偉大來反襯作者和他朋友的平凡，為了體現這一點，本譯文在句中插入一些and，使文字拖遝，節奏緩慢，行文繁瑣，以此來襯托出他們的平凡，譯作You and I are fishing in the river, gathering firewood in the islet, with fish and shrimp as our companions, and muli and deer as our friends, and riding a sloop while drinking from our gourd cups.
(3) “匏樽”裏的“匏”是“葫蘆”，“樽”是“酒器”，翻譯時，不要隨便把“匏樽”譯成wine cup了事，而非得把它譯作gourd cups，以顯示他們的平凡，隻能用“葫蘆杯”來喝酒。
14. 這裏加個happen to來提問，聽起來就比較客氣。
15. “盈虛”就是“月亮的圓缺”，英語的習慣說法是wax and wane。
16. viewed from a changing perspective意思是“從變化的角度來看”。
17. looked at from an unchanging perspective意思是”從不變的角度來看”。
18. everything conserves itself裏的conserve是“keep from change”，即“不變”的意思。
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