劉正逐句對譯 《Jacob\'s Room by Virginia Woolf》及筆記

2018年精讀吳爾芙作品，劉正逐句對譯

《Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf》及筆記

（校勘和學習王家湘、蒲隆二譯本之正誤）

 

Chapter One

第一章

 

每章筆記分作者英文原文、劉正中文翻譯、劉正中英逐句對譯文和翻譯對比（校勘和學習王家湘、蒲隆二譯本之正誤）三部分組成。其中，第一章全部耗費時間是兩周/每天五小時。

A、作者英文全文

 

"So of course," wrote Betty Flanders, pressing her heels rather deeper in the sand, "there was nothing for it but to leave."

Slowly welling from the point of her gold nib, pale blue ink dissolved the full stop；for there her pen stuck；her eyes fixed, and tears slowly filled them. The entire bay quivered；the lighthouse wobbled；and she had the illusion that the mast of Mr. Connor's little yacht was bending like a wax candle in the sun. She winked quickly. Accidents were awful things. She winked again. The mast was straight；the waves were regular；the lighthouse was upright；but the blot had spread.

"……nothing for it but to leave," she read.

"Well, if Jacob doesn't want to play" (the shadow of Archer, her eldest son, fell across the notepaper and looked blue on the sand, and she felt chilly—it was the third of September already), "if Jacob doesn't want to play"—what a horrid blot! It must be getting late.

"Where IS that tiresome little boy?" she said. "I don't see him. Run and find him. Tell him to come at once." "……but mercifully," she scribbled, ignoring the full stop, "everything seems satisfactorily arranged, packed though we are like herrings in a barrel, and forced to stand the perambulator which the landlady quite naturally won't allow……"

Such were Betty Flanders's letters to Captain Barfoot—many-paged, tear-stained. Scarborough is seven hundred miles from Cornwall: Captain Barfoot is in Scarborough: Seabrook is dead. Tears made all the dahlias in her garden undulate in red waves and flashed the glass house in her eyes, and spangled the kitchen with bright knives, and made Mrs. Jarvis, the rector's wife, think at church, while the hymn-tune played and Mrs. Flanders bent low over her little boys' heads, that marriage is a fortress and widows stray solitary in the open fields, picking up stones, gleaning a few golden straws, lonely, unprotected, poor creatures. Mrs. Flanders had been a widow for these two years.

"Ja—cob! Ja—cob!" Archer shouted.

"Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath；it was her native town；the hub of the universe. But a stamp? She ferreted in her bag；then held it up mouth downwards；then fumbled in her lap, all so vigorously that Charles Steele in the Panama hat suspended his paint-brush.

Like the antennae of some irritable insect it positively trembled. Here was that woman moving—actually going to get up—confound her! He struck the canvas a hasty violet-black dab. For the landscape needed it. It was too pale—greys flowing into lavenders, and one star or a white gull suspended just so—too pale as usual. The critics would say it was too pale, for he was an unknown man exhibiting obscurely, a favourite with his landladies' children, wearing a cross on his watch chain, and much gratified if his landladies liked his pictures—which they often did.

"Ja—cob! Ja—cob!" Archer shouted.

Exasperated by the noise, yet loving children, Steele picked nervously at the dark little coils on his palette.

"I saw your brother—I saw your brother," he said, nodding his head, as Archer lagged past him, trailing his spade, and scowling at the old gentleman in spectacles.

"Over there—by the rock," Steele muttered, with his brush between his teeth, squeezing out raw sienna, and keeping his eyes fixed on Betty Flanders's back.

"Ja—cob! Ja—cob!" shouted Archer, lagging on after a second.

The voice had an extraordinary sadness. Pure from all body, pure from all passion, going out into the world, solitary, unanswered, breaking against rocks—so it sounded.

Steele frowned；but was pleased by the effect of the black—it was just THAT note which brought the rest together. "Ah, one may learn to paint at fifty! There's Titian…" and so, having found the right tint, up he looked and saw to his horror a cloud over the bay.

Mrs. Flanders rose, slapped her coat this side and that to get the sand off, and picked up her black parasol.

The rock was one of those tremendously solid brown, or rather black, rocks which emerge from the sand like something primitive. Rough with crinkled limpet shells and sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed, a small boy has to stretch his legs far apart, and indeed to feel rather heroic, before he gets to the top.

But there, on the very top, is a hollow full of water, with a sandy bottom；with a blob of jelly stuck to the side, and some mussels. A fish darts across. The fringe of yellow-brown seaweed flutters, and out pushes an opal-shelled crab—

"Oh, a huge crab," Jacob murmured—and begins his journey on weakly legs on the sandy bottom. Now! Jacob plunged his hand. The crab was cool and very light. But the water was thick with sand, and so, scrambling down, Jacob was about to jump, holding his bucket in front of him, when he saw, stretched entirely rigid, side by side, their faces very red, an enormous man and woman.

An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless, with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs, side by side, within a few feet of the sea, while two or three gulls gracefully skirted the incoming waves, and settled near their boots.

The large red faces lying on the bandanna handkerchiefs stared up at Jacob. Jacob stared down at them. Holding his bucket very carefully, Jacob then jumped deliberately and trotted away very nonchalantly at first, but faster and faster as the waves came creaming up to him and he had to swerve to avoid them, and the gulls rose in front of him and floated out and settled again a little farther on. A large black woman was sitting on the sand. He ran towards her.

"Nanny! Nanny!" he cried, sobbing the words out on the crest of each gasping breath.

The waves came round her. She was a rock. She was covered with the seaweed which pops when it is pressed. He was lost.

There he stood. His face composed itself. He was about to roar when, lying among the black sticks and straw under the cliff, he saw a whole skull—perhaps a cow's skull, a skull, perhaps, with the teeth in it. Sobbing, but absent-mindedly, he ran farther and farther away until he held the skull in his arms.

"There he is!" cried Mrs. Flanders, coming round the rock and covering the whole space of the beach in a few seconds. "What has he got hold of? Put it down, Jacob! Drop it this moment! Something horrid, I know. Why didn't you stay with us? Naughty little boy! Now put it down. Now come along both of you," and she swept round, holding Archer by one hand and fumbling for Jacob's arm with the other. But he ducked down and picked up the sheep's jaw, which was loose.

Swinging her bag, clutching her parasol, holding Archer's hand, and telling the story of the gunpowder explosion in which poor Mr. Curnow had lost his eye, Mrs. Flanders hurried up the steep lane, aware all the time in the depths of her mind of some buried discomfort.

There on the sand not far from the lovers lay the old sheep's skull without its jaw. Clean, white, wind-swept, sand-rubbed, a more unpolluted piece of bone existed nowhere on the coast of Cornwall. The sea holly would grow through the eye-sockets；it would turn to powder, or some golfer, hitting his ball one fine day, would disperse a little dust—No, but not in lodgings, thought Mrs. Flanders. It's a great experiment coming so far with young children. There's no man to help with the perambulator. And Jacob is such a handful；so obstinate already.

"Throw it away, dear, do," she said, as they got into the road；but Jacob squirmed away from her；and the wind rising, she took out her bonnet-pin, looked at the sea, and stuck it in afresh. The wind was rising. The waves showed that uneasiness, like something alive, restive, expecting the whip, of waves before a storm. The fishing-boats were leaning to the water's brim. A pale yellow light shot across the purple sea；and shut. The lighthouse was lit. "Come along," said Betty Flanders. The sun blazed in their faces and gilded the great blackberries trembling out from the hedge which Archer tried to strip as they passed.

"Don't lag, boys. You've got nothing to change into," said Betty, pulling them along, and looking with uneasy emotion at the earth displayed so luridly, with sudden sparks of light from greenhouses in gardens, with a sort of yellow and black mutability, against this blazing sunset, this astonishing agitation and vitality of colour, which stirred Betty Flanders and made her think of responsibility and danger. She gripped Archer's hand. On she plodded up the hill.

"What did I ask you to remember?" she said.

"I don't know," said Archer.

"Well, I don't know either," said Betty, humorously and simply, and who shall deny that this blankness of mind, when combined with profusion, mother wit, old wives' tales, haphazard ways, moments of astonishing daring, humour, and sentimentality—who shall deny that in these respects every woman is nicer than any man?

Well, Betty Flanders, to begin with.

She had her hand upon the garden gate.

"The meat!" she exclaimed, striking the latch down.

She had forgotten the meat.

There was Rebecca at the window.

The bareness of Mrs. Pearce's front room was fully displayed at ten o'clock at night when a powerful oil lamp stood on the middle of the table. The harsh light fell on the garden；cut straight across the lawn；lit up a child's bucket and a purple aster and reached the hedge. Mrs. Flanders had left her sewing on the table. There were her large reels of white cotton and her steel spectacles；her needle-case；her brown wool wound round an old postcard. There were the bulrushes and the Strand magazines；and the linoleum sandy from the boys' boots. A daddy-long-legs shot from corner to corner and hit the lamp globe. The wind blew straight dashes of rain across the window, which flashed silver as they passed through the light. A single leaf tapped hurriedly, persistently, upon the glass. There was a hurricane out at sea.

Archer could not sleep.

Mrs. Flanders stooped over him. "Think of the fairies," said Betty Flanders. "Think of the lovely, lovely birds settling down on their nests. Now shut your eyes and see the old mother bird with a worm in her beak. Now turn and shut your eyes," she murmured, "and shut your eyes."

The lodging-house seemed full of gurgling and rushing；the cistern overflowing；water bubbling and squeaking and running along the pipes and streaming down the windows.

"What's all that water rushing in?" murmured Archer.

"It's only the bath water running away," said Mrs. Flanders.

Something snapped out of doors.

"I say, won't that steamer sink?" said Archer, opening his eyes.

"Of course it won't," said Mrs. Flanders. "The Captain's in bed long ago. Shut your eyes, and think of the fairies, fast asleep, under the flowers."

"I thought he'd never get off—such a hurricane," she whispered to
Rebecca, who was bending over a spirit-lamp in the small room next door.
The wind rushed outside, but the small flame of the spirit-lamp burnt
quietly, shaded from the cot by a book stood on edge.

"Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.

The two women murmured over the spirit-lamp, plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush and clean bottles while the wind raged and gave a sudden wrench at the cheap fastenings.

Both looked round at the cot. Their lips were pursed. Mrs. Flanders crossed over to the cot.

"Asleep?" whispered Rebecca, looking at the cot.

Mrs. Flanders nodded.

"Good-night, Rebecca," Mrs. Flanders murmured, and Rebecca called her ma'm, though they were conspirators plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush and clean bottles.

Mrs. Flanders had left the lamp burning in the front room. There were her spectacles, her sewing；and a letter with the Scarborough postmark. She had not drawn the curtains either.

The light blazed out across the patch of grass；fell on the child's green bucket with the gold line round it, and upon the aster which trembled violently beside it. For the wind was tearing across the coast, hurling itself at the hills, and leaping, in sudden gusts, on top of its own back. How it spread over the town in the hollow! How the lights seemed to wink and quiver in its fury, lights in the harbour, lights in bedroom windows high up! And rolling dark waves before it, it raced over the Atlantic, jerking the stars above the ships this way and that.

There was a click in the front sitting-room. Mr. Pearce had extinguished the lamp. The garden went out. It was but a dark patch. Every inch was rained upon. Every blade of grass was bent by rain. Eyelids would have been fastened down by the rain. Lying on one's back one would have seen nothing but muddle and confusion—clouds turning and turning, and something yellow-tinted and sulphurous in the darkness.

The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets. It was hot；rather sticky and steamy. Archer lay spread out, with one arm striking across the pillow. He was flushed；and when the heavy curtain blew out a little he turned and half-opened his eyes. The wind actually stirred the cloth on the chest of drawers, and let in a little light, so that the sharp edge of the chest of drawers was visible, running straight up, until a white shape bulged out；and a silver streak showed in the looking-glass.

In the other bed by the door Jacob lay asleep, fast asleep, profoundly unconscious. The sheep's jaw with the big yellow teeth in it lay at his feet. He had kicked it against the iron bed-rail.

Outside the rain poured down more directly and powerfully as the wind fell in the early hours of the morning. The aster was beaten to the earth. The child's bucket was half-full of rainwater；and the opal-shelled crab slowly circled round the bottom, trying with its weakly legs to climb the steep side；trying again and falling back, and trying again and again.

 

B、劉正中文翻譯

 

“所以，當然。”貝蒂·弗蘭德斯寫道，把她的鞋跟在沙裏壓得更深。“沒有任何值得留戀了，隻好離開。”

從她的金筆尖的尖端緩緩地湧出，淡藍色的墨水溶化了句號；因為她的筆被紙卡住了；她的眼睛出神看著，眼淚慢慢充滿了雙眼。整個海灣顫抖起來；燈塔搖晃著；她幻想著康納先生小遊艇的桅杆在陽光下像蠟燭一樣在彎曲著。她快速地眨了眨眼。事故是件可怕的事情。她又眨了眨眼。桅杆是筆直的；波浪也是規律的；連燈塔也是直立的；但是墨漬卻已經蔓延。“……沒有任何值得留戀了，隻好離開。”她念著。

“好吧，如果雅各不想玩的話。”阿切爾的影子，她的長子，倒映在落在沙灘的信紙上並泛著藍色。她覺得很冷了——這已經是九月三號了。“如果雅各不想玩。”——多麽可怕的汙點！一定要晚了。

“那個討厭的小孩子在哪裏？”她說。

“我沒看見他。跑去快找到他。叫他馬上過來。”“……但是幸運的是”，她潦草地寫著，忽略了那個句號，“一切似乎令人滿意地安排好了，盡管我們擁擠得像桶裏的鯡魚一樣，並且被迫豎著放置那童車，女房東那裏很自然地不會允許……

正如貝蒂·弗蘭德斯寫給巴爾富特上尉的信——很多頁麵，都被沾滿了淚痕。

斯卡伯勒距離康沃爾七百英裏：巴爾富特上尉在斯卡伯勒：西布魯克已經死了。眼淚使她的花園裏所有的大麗花在紅色浪花中起伏著，並在她的眼睛裏閃耀著玻璃溫室，鮮亮的刀子把廚房裝飾得閃爍發光，並讓賈維斯夫人，那個教區校長的妻子，當讚美詩的曲調奏起時，弗蘭德夫人低頭看著她小孩子的頭，在教堂裏思考：婚姻是一個堡壘，而寡婦們孤零零地在開放的曠野上流浪著，偶爾拾起石頭，或者拾起幾根金色的秸稈，顯得那麽孤獨的，沒有保護的，而又可憐的生物。弗蘭德斯夫人成為寡婦已經兩年了。

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾喊道。

“斯卡伯勒，”弗蘭德斯夫人在信封上寫道，劃了一道粗線在下麵。這是她的家鄉；宇宙的中心。可郵票呢？她在她的包裏搜著；然後她把書包開口向下拿著；然後在她的膝蓋上摸索著倒出來的東西，一切如此地忙亂。

戴著巴拿馬帽子的查爾斯·斯蒂爾把他的畫筆停在半空中。就像一些易怒的昆蟲的觸角一樣，那把畫筆在明確地抖動著。這裏那個女人正在移動著——實際上想站起來——是動還是站讓她感到困惑！他點擊著畫布草率地畫了紫黑色的一塊,為了景觀需要它。太平淡了——灰色夾雜著淡紫色，一顆星或一隻白色的鷗就這樣的懸著——通常過於平淡。批評家們會說這太平淡了，因為他是一個無名之輩，展出自然不引人關注。在他的手表鏈上戴著十字架，那是他那女房東的孩子們最喜歡的東西。如果他的女房東喜歡他的畫——他們經常這樣做，那他將很滿意。

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾喊道。

雖然被孩子們的噪音所激怒，但是他還是愛著孩子們。斯蒂爾緊張地抓著他的調色板上的黑色小卷。

“我看見了你的兄弟——我看見你的兄弟了，”他點點頭，說著，當阿切爾從他身後蹣跚而過，拖著他的鍬，穿過眼鏡怒視著那位老先生。

“在那邊—在石頭上，”斯蒂爾嘀咕著，用他的牙齒咬著花筆，擠出生的赭色顏料，並持續地將他的目光盯在貝蒂·弗蘭德斯的背上。

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾叫著，落後了一秒鍾之後。聲音顯得非常地悲哀，來自全身的純潔、全部熱情的純潔，傳到了外界之中，但是卻顯得孤獨、沒有任何應答，這聽起來如同打碎在岩石上。斯蒂爾皺起了眉頭。但是對黑色的效果感到滿意——正是這筆顏色把其餘的一切全組織到了一起。“啊，可以在五十歲了學習畫畫！那裏有橘黃色……等等，找到了正確的色彩，他看了看，看見了他驚恐地一片雲籠罩在海灣上。

弗蘭德夫人站了起來，拍打她的外套邊緣，把沙子脫掉，拿起她黑色的遮陽傘。

岩石是那些非常堅實的棕色岩石之一，或相當黑的，就像是從沙灘上冒出來的一些原始的東西。皺巴巴的帽貝的殼和稀疏散落著幹海藻的纏繞，一個小男孩必須把他的腿伸得很開，而且確實感到相當的英雄，才可以到達頂峰。

但是，在岩石頂部卻是一個充滿水的空洞，和一個泥沙的底部；有一大塊水母粘在一邊，還有一些貽貝。一條魚飛馳而過。黃褐色海藻的邊緣飄動著，並推出了一個蛋白色的石蟹——“哦，一隻大個的螃蟹，”雅各嘀咕道——在沙子的底部，它伸出虛弱的腿開始了它的旅程。現在！雅各伸下他的手想抓住它。螃蟹很冷，非常輕。但是水裏有沙子有些渾濁，然後如此就要爬下來，雅各把他的水桶放在他麵前，正要跳下去，他卻看到完全是一個大塊兒的男人和女人僵硬的、並排著的臉色通紅的躺在那裏。

一個大塊兒的男人和女人（在提前關門的日子）不知疲倦地扭展著身軀，他們的頭靠在手絹上，肩並肩地，在離海隻有的幾英尺的範圍內，兩三條海鷗在湧來的海浪中翩翩起舞，停落在他們的靴子附近。

紅著臉躺在手帕上的這對兒大塊兒男女盯著雅各。雅各也盯著他們。他非常小心地抓住他的水桶，雅各然後故意跳了起來，首先非常無所顧忌地跑開了，而且越跑越快，海浪正迎麵撲向他，使得他不得不避開它們，海鷗在他麵前飛起，向外漂浮後再稍微安頓下來。一個大個子的黑女子正坐在沙灘上。他跑向她。

“阿姨！阿姨！”他哭了，每次在氣喘噓噓地頂峰時刻哭泣著說。

海浪圍繞著她。她原來是一塊岩石。她被按壓時彈出的海藻覆蓋著。他迷路了。

他站在那裏。他的臉色鎮靜下來。他正要吼叫，在懸崖下的黑樹枝和稻草中間時，他看到一個完整的頭骨——也許是一頭牛的頭骨，一個頭骨，也許裏麵還有牙齒。心不在焉地哭泣著，他跑得越來越遠，直到他把頭骨抱在懷裏。

“他在那兒！”弗蘭德太太喊道，幾秒鍾之後繞過岩石，就看遍了整個海灘。“他有什麽東西？把它放下，雅各！立刻放下它！有些東西是可怕的，我知道。你為什麽不和我們在一起？淘氣的小男孩！現在把它放下。現在你們兩個來吧。”她掃了一下，一隻手握著阿切爾，另一隻手摸著雅各的手臂。但是雅各躲了起來，撿起了羊顎，這回骨頭已經鬆散了。

搖著她的包，抓住她的遮陽傘，握住阿切爾的手，講述可憐的科諾先生因為火藥爆炸失去了他的眼睛的故事，弗蘭德斯太太急匆匆地邁著沉重的步伐跑上了陡峭的巷子，在她心靈的深處意識到了一直埋藏著一些不安感。

沙灘上那對兒戀人躺著不遠處的老羊沒有下顎的頭骨附近。幹淨的，白色的，刮風的，沙礫的，在康沃爾海岸沒有哪裏一塊兒比它更沒汙染的骨頭。海冬青會從頭骨眼窩裏長出來，它將會變成粉末，或者被某個高爾夫球員，在一天之內擊球打中它，會驅散掉一點點灰塵——不，但不是在寄宿處，弗蘭德斯太太想著。帶著年幼的孩子們出來，這次已是一個很好的實驗了。沒有人可以幫助她推這個嬰兒車。雅各就是這麽一小撮人，已經如此地倔強。

“把它扔掉吧，親愛的，是的，”她說。當他們上路時，但是雅各從她身邊扭動起來；風起來的時候，她拿掉了帽子的別針，看了看海，又重新別上了。風已在上升。海浪顯示它的不安，如同有生命力的東西一樣，躁動不安，在風暴之前，它期待著海浪的鞭打。漁船斜靠在水邊上。一道淡黃色的光芒照射在紫色的海麵上；然後關閉了。燈塔已經點亮了。“來吧，”貝蒂·弗蘭德斯說。太陽在他們的臉上閃閃發光，阿奇爾試著去從樹籬中把一個金光閃閃的大黑莓顫抖著剝出來。“不要拖延，孩子。你們沒有任何東西去改變風暴的到來，”貝蒂說道，把他們拉了過來，看著地球上的不安情緒顯得如此色彩斑斕，從花園裏的溫室突然發出一陣閃光，帶著一種忽黃忽黑的色彩變化，迎著熾熱的日落，這種令人驚訝的激動和色彩的活力，激起了貝蒂·弗蘭德斯，使她想到了責任和危險。她握住阿切爾的手。她上了山。

“我要求你記住什麽？”她說。

“我不知道，”阿切爾說。

“呃，我也不知道，”貝蒂幽默而簡單地說道。誰又會否認這種空虛的心態，再加上豐富多彩的組合，母親智慧，老太太的故事，隨意的方式，驚人的大膽時刻，幽默和多愁善感——誰會否認在這些方麵每個女人都比任何男人都好？

那麽，貝蒂·弗蘭德斯就是這樣的女人。

她把她的手放在花園門口。

“肉！”她喊道。

敲了敲門閂。她已經忘記了帶肉回來。

窗戶上露出了麗貝卡的麵孔。前屋皮爾斯太太的露台在晚上十點全部露了出來，桌子中間放著一盞強大的油燈。刺眼的光線落在了花園裏。直行穿過草坪;照亮了孩子的桶和伸出樹籬的一顆紫色的翠菊。弗蘭德斯夫人放下她的針線活兒在桌子上。那裏有她的大卷的白棉布和她的鋼製眼鏡；她的針線盒；她的棕色羊毛纏繞在一張舊明信片上。那裏有蘆葦和《海濱》雜誌；油地毯上還有從男孩的靴子沾帶進來的沙子。一個長腿昆蟲映出身影從一個角落飛到另一個角落，然後撞上了燈泡。風直接吹過了穿過窗戶的雨水，當閃亮的銀光通過那些燈的時侯。一片葉子匆匆地、固執地拍打在玻璃上。海上出現了一場颶風。

阿切爾無法入睡。

弗蘭德夫人彎下腰來。“想想仙女，”貝蒂·弗蘭德斯說。“想想那些可愛的，可愛的小鳥在它們的巢穴上安頓下來。現在閉上你的眼睛，看到老母鳥在嘴裏有一隻蟲子。現在請閉上你的眼睛，“她低聲說，“閉上你的眼睛。”

住宿屋似乎充滿了潺潺流水，水箱溢出；水冒泡，吱吱作響，沿著管道流下，往下流過窗戶。“水衝進來什麽了？”阿切爾嘀咕著。

弗蘭德斯太太說：“隻是洗澡水被跑掉了。”

有東西在門外折斷的聲音。

“我說，那輪船不會下沉嗎？”阿切爾睜開眼睛說。

“當然不會，”弗蘭德斯太太說。

“船長早就在床上了。閉上你的眼睛，想著仙女，在花下快速入睡。”

“我以為他根本不會睡著了——在這樣的颶風中。”她低聲對麗貝卡說。麗貝卡正彎著身子坐在隔壁門口的一盞燈旁。

風在外麵衝了出來，但是那隻小小的油燈靜靜地燃燒著，從床邊放置的一本書遮擋住了燈光的影子。

“他奶吃得好嗎？”弗蘭德夫人低聲說，麗貝卡點點頭，走到小床邊，把被子卷了下去。弗蘭德夫人俯下身，焦急地看著嬰兒：似乎睡著了，但是皺著眉頭。窗戶搖了搖，麗貝卡偷偷地像一隻貓一樣的走進來，把窗戶銷子鎖住。

兩個女人在油燈之間低聲說著話，策劃著的管住孩子的永恒謀略和清洗瓶子的話題。當狂風大作並突然地扭動著廉價的窗口插銷。

兩人都轉頭看了一下嬰兒床。他們的嘴唇緊閉著。弗蘭德夫人衝過來。

“睡著了？”麗貝卡低聲說，望著嬰兒床。

弗蘭德斯太太點了點頭。

“麗貝卡，晚安，”弗蘭德太太低聲說，麗貝卡叫她“媽媽”，雖然他們是策劃著管住孩子的永恒謀略和清洗瓶子的要點話題的同謀。

弗蘭德斯夫人已經離開了前麵的房間裏正在點著的油燈。那裏有她的眼鏡，她的針線活兒；還有斯卡伯勒郵戳的一封信。她也沒有拉上窗簾。

燈光在草地上閃閃發光，倒映在孩子的周圍有金線的綠桶上，旁邊劇烈地顫抖著的翠菊。此刻風正在撕叫著穿過海岸，紛紛向山上傾瀉，突然猛然一躍，在山的背上旋轉而起。它是怎樣散布在城市的空洞中的！燈光似乎在閃爍，顫抖著。海港裏的燈光、臥室窗戶的燈光都高高地升起！在它麵前搖晃著黑暗的波浪，它在大西洋上空飛馳著，用這種方式把船上空看到的星星甩開。

前麵的客廳裏傳來“哢嗒”一聲。皮爾斯先生熄滅了燈。花園立刻消失了，變成了一個黑暗的土地。每寸土地上正下著雨。每片草葉都被雨水壓得彎曲了。眼皮本來被雨水快速打住而無法睜開。一個人放平後背躺著，他什麽也看不見，但是隻會看到混亂和混雜——雲在上下左右地翻滾著，在黑暗中顯示出有些黃色和硫磺色。

前臥室的小男孩已經把毯子踢掉了，躺在床單下麵。那裏很熱；也相當粘稠和潮濕。阿切爾攤開了一隻手臂壓在枕頭上。他滿臉通紅著。當沉重的窗簾被風吹動了一下，他轉過身，半睜著眼睛。看著風真的把衣櫃裏的衣服掀開，並放出一點點光可以看見抽屜邊緣楞角，筆直地閃動著，一直奔向白色的光影，並在鏡子裏閃現出了銀色的條紋。

雅各在另一張床上，已經睡著了，進入了深沉的睡眠中。那隻大黃牙的羊顎放在他的腳下，他已經把它踢到鐵床欄附近。

在淩晨的幾個小時裏，外麵的雨水更加直接而有力地傾瀉下來。翠菊被敲打到地上。孩子的桶裏全是半滿的雨水，蛋白色的石蟹在水桶底部緩緩地盤爬著，用微弱的腿試著爬上陡峭的桶壁的一邊。掉了下來，再次嚐試著向上爬，一次又一次地嚐試著。

 

C、中英逐句對譯和譯文比較

 

2018年精讀吳爾芙作品，劉正逐句對譯

《Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf》及筆記

（校勘和學習王家湘、蒲隆二譯本之正誤）

 

Chapter One

第一章

 

“So of course.”wrote Betty Flanders,

“所以，當然。”貝蒂·弗蘭德斯寫道，

pressing her heels rather deeper in the sand. 

把她的鞋跟在沙裏壓得更深。

“there was nothing for it but to leave.”

“沒有任何值得留戀了，隻好離開。”

 

【劉正筆記】人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，①“there was nothing for it but to leave.”

譯為：“看來隻有走了。”顯然不符合原意。

 

Slowly welling from the point of her gold nib,

從她的金筆尖的尖端緩緩地湧出，

pale blue ink dissolved the full stop;

淡藍色的墨水溶化了句號;

for there her pen stuck;

因為她的筆被卡住了;

her eyes fixed,

她的眼睛出神看著，

and tears slowly filled them.

眼淚慢慢充滿了它們。

The entire bay quivered;

整個海灣顫抖起來；

the lighthouse wobbled;

燈塔搖晃著;

and she had the illusion that the mast of Mr. Connor’s little yacht was bending like a wax candle in the sun.

她幻想著康納先生小遊艇的桅杆在陽光下像蠟燭一樣在彎曲著。

She winked quickly.

她快速地眨了眨眼。

Accidents were awful things.

事故是可怕的事情。

She winked again.

她又眨了眨眼。

The mast was straight;

桅杆是筆直的;

the waves were regular;

波浪是規律的;

the lighthouse was upright;

燈塔是直立的;

but the blot had spread.

但是墨漬已經蔓延。

“……nothing for it but to leave ,”she read.

“……沒有任何值得留戀了，隻好離開。”她念著。

 

【劉正筆記】人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，①“……nothing for it but to leave ,”譯為“看來隻有走了”。還是不符合原意。

 

“Well, if Jacob doesn’t want to play.”

“好吧，如果雅各不想玩的話。”

the shadow of Archer,

阿切爾的影子，

her eldest son,

她的長子，

fell across the notepaper and looked blue on the sand,

倒映在沙灘上飄落的信紙上並泛著藍色。

 

【劉正筆記】人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，①“fell across the notepaper and looked blue on the sand”譯為“落在了信紙上，落在了沙灘上，顯得蘭幽幽的”。顯然，這句話翻譯和理解有問題。

 

and she felt chilly—

她覺得很冷—

it was the third of September already.

這已經是九月三號了。

“if Jacob doesn’t want to play.”

“如果雅各不想玩。”

— what a horrid blot!

—多麽可怕的汙點！

It must be getting late.

一定要晚了。

“Where is that tiresome little boy?” she said.

“那個討厭的小孩子在哪兒呢？”她說。

“I don’t see him.

“我沒看見他。

Run and find him.

跑去找到他。

Tell him to come at once.”

叫他馬上過來。”

“……but mercifully,” she scribbled, 

“......但是幸運的是”，她潦草地寫著，

ignoring the full stop,

忽略了那個句號，

 “everything seems satisfactorily arranged,

“一切似乎令人滿意地安排好了，

packed though we are like herrings in a barrel, 

盡管我們擁擠得像桶裏的鯡魚一樣，

and forced to stand the perambulator which the landlady quite naturally won’t allow……”

並被迫著去豎著放置那童車，女房東很自然地不會允許......”

Such were Betty Flanders’s letters to Captain Barfoot—  

這正是貝蒂·弗蘭德斯給巴爾富特上尉的信—

many-paged, tearstained. 

很多頁麵，都被沾滿了淚痕。

Scarborough is seven hundred miles from Cornwall:

斯卡伯勒距離康沃爾七百英裏：

Captain Barfoot is in Scarborough:

巴福特上尉在斯卡伯勒：

Seabrook is dead.

西布魯克已經死了。

Tears made all the dahlias in her garden undulate in red waves and flashed the glass house in her eyes,

眼淚使她的花園裏所有的大麗花在紅色浪花中起伏著，並且玻璃暖房在她的眼睛裏閃耀著，

and spangled the kitchen with bright knives,

用鮮亮的刀子把廚房裝飾得閃爍發光，

and made Mrs. Jarvis,

並讓賈維斯夫人，

the rector’s wife,

那個教區校長的妻子

think at church,

在教堂裏思考，

while the hymn-tune played and Mrs. Flanders bent low over her little boys’ heads,

當讚美詩的曲調奏起時，弗蘭德夫人低頭看著她小孩子的頭，

that marriage is a fortress and widows stray solitary in the open fields,

婚姻是一個堡壘，而寡婦孤零零地在開放的曠野上流浪著，

picking up stones,

拾起石頭，

gleaning a few golden straws,

拾起幾根金色的秸稈，

lonely, unprotected, poor creatures.

孤獨的，沒有保護的，可憐的生物。

 

【劉正筆記】人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，①“lonely, unprotected, poor creatures.

”譯為“孑然一身，無依無靠，真可憐。”顯然意譯太多。

 

Mrs. Flanders had been a widow for these two years.

弗蘭德斯夫人成為寡婦已經兩年了。

“Ja — cob! Ja — cob!” Archer shouted.

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾喊道。

“Scarborough,” Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope,

“斯卡伯勒，”弗蘭德斯夫人在信封上寫道，

and dashed a bold line beneath;

劃了一道粗線在下麵。

it was her native town;

這是她的家鄉;

the hub of the universe.

宇宙的中心。

But a stamp?

可郵票呢？

She ferreted in her bag;

她在她的包裏搜著；

then held it up mouth downwards;

然後她把書包開口向下拿著；

then fumbled in her lap,

然後在她的膝蓋上摸索著倒出來的東西，

 

【劉正筆記】人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，①“then fumbled in her lap”譯為“隨後在衣兜裏摸”，顯然是誤譯。她沒有理解上一句“then held it up mouth downwards”的動作含義。這是講她把書包口向下，把裏麵東西全部倒在自己的膝蓋和腿麵上。接下來隻能是在她的膝蓋上摸索著倒出來的東西中是否有郵票。

 

all so vigorously that Charles Steele in the Panama hat suspended his paint-brush.

一切如此地忙亂。戴著巴拿馬帽子的查爾斯·斯蒂爾把他的畫筆停在半空中。

Like the antennae of some irritable insect it positively trembled.

就像一些易怒的昆蟲的觸角一樣，那把畫筆明顯地發抖著。

Here was that woman moving —

這裏那個女人正在移動著—

actually going to get up —

實際上卻想站起來—

confound her!

讓她感到困惑！

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“confound her!”這句話譯文為：“討厭！”以我現在的英文，無法理解。②人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，這句話翻譯為“管她呢！”應該是描寫她不知道該動還是該站的困惑。

 

He struck the canvas a hasty violet-black dab.

他點擊著畫布畫出草率地紫黑色的一塊。

For the landscape needed it.

為了景觀需要它。

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“He struck the canvas a hasty violet-black dab.”這句話譯文為：“他在畫布上匆匆抹上一筆紫黑色”，根本沒有翻譯出“dab”的含義，顯然屬於漏譯。而且原文使用“struck”已經含有使用畫筆點擊畫布的含義，如果翻譯為“抹上”，可能不太符合原意。

 

It was too pale —

太平淡了—

greys flowing into lavenders, 

灰色夾雜著淡紫色，

and one star or a white gull suspended just so —

一顆星或一隻白色的鷗就這樣的懸著—

too pale as usual.

通常過於平淡。

The critics would say it was too pale,

批評家們會說這畫太平淡了，

for he was an unknown man exhibiting obscurely, 

因為他是一個無名之輩，展出自然不會引人關注，

a favourite with his landladies’ children,

一個他女房東的孩子們最喜歡的東西，

wearing a cross on his watch chain,

在他的手表鏈上戴著十字架，

and much gratified if his landladies liked his pictures —

並且他將很滿意，如果他的女房東喜歡他的畫— 

which they often did.

他們通常喜歡。

“Ja — cob! Ja — cob!” Archer shouted.

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾喊道。

Exasperated by the noise, yet loving children,

被噪音所激怒，還是愛著孩子們

Steele picked nervously at the dark little coils on his palette.

斯蒂爾緊張地抓著他的調色板上的黑色小卷。

“I saw your brother — I saw your brother,” he said,

“我看見了你的兄弟—我看見你的兄弟了，”他說，

nodding his head,

他點點頭，

as Archer lagged past him,

當阿切爾從他身後蹣跚而過，

trailing his spade,

拖著他的鍬，

and scowling at the old gentleman in spectacles.

穿過眼鏡怒視著那位老先生。

“Over there — by the rock,” Steele muttered,

“在那邊—在石頭上，”斯蒂爾嘀咕著，

with his brush between his teeth,

畫筆咬在他的牙齒之間，

squeezing out raw sienna, 

擠出生的赭色顏料，

and keeping his eyes fixed on Betty Flanders’s back.

並保持他的目光盯在貝蒂弗蘭德斯的背上。

“Ja — cob! Ja — cob!” shouted Archer, 

“雅各！雅各！”阿切爾叫著，

lagging on after a second.

落後了一秒鍾之後。

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“lagging on after a second.”這句話翻譯為“接著又慢吞吞地向前走去”。應該是譯者的創作太多了，超出了原作的內涵。

 

The voice had an extraordinary sadness.

聲音顯得非常地悲哀。

Pure from all body,

來自全身的純潔，

pure from all passion,

來自全部熱情的純潔，

going out into the world,

傳播到外界之中，

solitary, unanswered, breaking against rocks —

獨自，沒有回答，打碎在岩石上—

so it sounded.

這聽起來。

Steele frowned;

斯蒂爾皺起了眉頭。

but was pleased by the effect of the black —

但是對黑色的效果感到滿意— 

it was just THAT note which brought the rest together.

正是這個注釋把其餘的一切組合到了一起。

“Ah, one may learn to paint at fifty! There’s Titian……”

“啊，可以在五十歲了學習畫畫！那裏有澄黃色......”

and so, having found the right tint,

等等，找到了正確的色彩，

up he looked and saw to his horror a cloud over the bay.

他看了看，看見了讓他驚恐地一片雲籠罩在海灣上。

Mrs. Flanders rose,

弗蘭德夫人站了起來，

slapped her coat this side and that to get the sand off,

拍打她的外套邊緣，把沙子脫掉，

and picked up her black parasol.

拿起她黑色的遮陽傘。

The rock was one of those tremendously solid brown,

岩石是那些非常堅實的棕色岩石之一，

or rather black,

或相當黑的，

rocks which emerge from the sand like something primitive.

從沙灘上冒出來就像是一些原始的東西。

Rough with crinkled limpet shells and sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed,

皺巴巴的帽貝的殼和稀疏散落著幹海藻的纏繞，

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed,”漏譯了“locks”，譯者顯然是按照“sparsely strewn with dry seaweed,”來翻譯和理解的。但是他把“sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed”譯為“縷縷幹海藻散步其間”屬於意譯。“locks of”沒有“縷縷”含義，而是“纏繞”含義。

 

a small boy has to stretch his legs far apart,

一個小男孩必須把他的腿邁得很大，

and indeed to feel rather heroic,

而且確實感到相當的英雄，

before he gets to the top.

在他到達頂峰之前。

But there, on the very top,

但是，最高處

is a hollow full of water,

卻是一個充滿水的空洞，

with a sandy bottom;

和一個沙地的底部；

with a blob of jelly stuck to the side,

有一大塊水母粘在一邊，

and some mussels.

還有一些貽貝。

A fish darts across.

一條魚飛馳而過。

The fringe of yellow-brown seaweed flutters,

黃褐色海藻的邊緣飄動著，

and out pushes an opal-shelled crab —

並推出了一個蛋白色的石蟹—

“Oh, a huge crab,” Jacob murmured —

“哦，一隻巨大的螃蟹，”雅各嘀咕道—

and begins his journey on weakly legs on the sandy bottom.

在沙子的底部它虛弱的腿開始了它的旅程。

Now! Jacob plunged his hand.

現在！雅各伸下他的手。

The crab was cool and very light.

螃蟹很冷，也非常輕。

But the water was thick with sand,

但是水裏有沙子有些渾濁，

and so, scrambling down,

於是，就要往下爬，

Jacob was about to jump,

雅各正要跳下去，

holding his bucket in front of him,

把他的水桶放在他麵前，

when he saw,

當他看到，

stretched entirely rigid,

完全是僵硬的，

side by side,

肩並肩地，

their faces very red,

他們的臉色很紅，

an enormous man and woman.

一個大塊頭的男人和女人。

An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless,

一個大塊頭的男人和女人（這是提前關門的日子）不知疲倦地扭展著，

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“it was early-closing day”譯為“在漲潮的日子”。②人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，這句話翻譯為“天快黑了”。看起來，兩個譯文全不可靠。

 

with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs,

他們的頭靠在手絹上，

side by side,

肩並肩地，

within a few feet of the sea,

在離海有幾英尺之內，

while two or three gulls gracefully skirted the incoming waves,

兩三條海鷗在湧來的海浪中翩翩起舞，

and settled near their boots.

停落在他們的靴子附近。

The large red faces lying on the bandanna handkerchiefs stared up at Jacob.

大紅臉男女躺在手帕上的盯著雅各。

Jacob stared down at them.

雅各盯著他們。

Holding his bucket very carefully,

非常小心地抓住他的水桶，

Jacob then jumped deliberately and trotted away very nonchalantly at first,

雅各然後故意跳了起來，首先非常無所顧忌地跑開，

but faster and faster as the waves came creaming up to him and he had to swerve to avoid them,

而且越來越快，海浪迎麵撲向他，他不得不避開它們，

and the gulls rose in front of him and floated out and settled again a little farther on.

海鷗在他麵前升起，漂浮在外麵再稍微安頓下來。

A large black woman was sitting on the sand.

一個大個子的黑人女子正坐在沙灘上。

He ran towards her.

他跑向她。

“Nanny! Nanny!” he cried,

“阿姨！阿姨！”他哭了，

sobbing the words out on the crest of each gasping breath.

每次氣喘噓噓地頂峰時刻哭泣著說。

The waves came round her.

海浪圍繞著她。

She was a rock.

她原來是一塊岩石。

She was covered with the seaweed which pops when it is pressed.

她被按壓時彈出的海藻覆蓋著。

He was lost.

他迷路了。

There he stood.

他站在那裏。

His face composed itself.

他的臉色鎮靜下來。

He was about to roar when,

他正要吼叫，

lying among the black sticks and straw under the cliff,

躺在懸崖下的黑色樹枝和稻草中間，

he saw a whole skull —

他看到一個完整的頭骨—

perhaps a cow’s skull,

也許是一頭牛的頭骨，

a skull, perhaps,

一個頭骨，也許，

with the teeth in it.

裏麵還有牙齒。

Sobbing, but absent-mindedly,

嗚咽著，但心不在焉，

he ran farther and farther away until he held the skull in his arms.

他跑得越來越遠，直到他把頭骨抱在他的手臂裏。

“There he is!” cried Mrs. Flanders,

“他在那兒！”弗蘭德太太喊道，

coming round the rock and covering the whole space of the beach in a few seconds.

幾秒鍾之後繞過岩石，覆蓋整個海灘。

“What has he got hold of?

“他有什麽東西？

Put it down, Jacob!

把它放下，雅各！

Drop it this moment!

立刻放下它！

Something horrid, I know.

有些東西是可怕的，我知道。

Why didn’t you stay with us?

你為什麽不和我們在一起？

Naughty little boy!

淘氣的小男孩！

Now put it down.

現在把它放下。

Now come along both of you,”

現在你們兩個來吧。”

and she swept round,

她掃了一下，

holding Archer by one hand and fumbling for Jacob’s arm with the other.

一隻手握著阿切爾，另一隻手摸著雅各的手臂。

But he ducked down and picked up the sheep’s jaw,

但是他躲了起來，撿起了羊顎，

which was loose.

它已經鬆散了。

Swinging her bag,

搖著她的包，

clutching her parasol,

抓住她的遮陽傘，

holding Archer’s hand,

握住阿切爾的手，

and telling the story of the gunpowder explosion in which poor Mr. Curnow had lost his eye,

正講述著可憐的科諾先生因為火藥爆炸失去了他的眼睛的故事，

Mrs. Flanders hurried up the steep lane,

弗蘭德斯太太急匆匆地跑上了陡峭的巷子，

aware all the time in the depths of her mind of some buried discomfort.

意識到了在她的心靈的深處一直埋藏著一些不適。

There on the sand not far from the lovers lay the old sheep’s skull without its jaw.

沙灘上在離那對兒戀人不遠處躺著老羊沒有下顎的頭骨。

Clean, white, wind-swept, sand-rubbed,

幹淨的，白色的，刮風的，沙礫的，

a more unpolluted piece of bone existed nowhere on the coast of Cornwall.

在康沃爾海岸沒有哪裏會存在一塊比它更沒汙染的骨頭。

The sea holly would grow through the eye-sockets;

海冬青會從頭骨眼窩裏長出來，

it would turn to powder,

頭骨會變成粉末，

or some golfer,

或者某個高爾夫球員，

hitting his ball one fine day,

在一個晴朗的日子裏擊球，

would disperse a little dust —

會將它驅散成一點點灰塵—

No, but not in lodgings,

不，但不是在寄宿的房子裏，

thought Mrs. Flanders.

弗蘭德斯太太想著。

It’s a great experiment coming so far with young children.

這是一個很好的實驗，帶著年幼的孩子們。

There’s no man to help with the perambulator.

沒有人可以幫助這個嬰兒車。

And Jacob is such a handful;

雅各就是如此的一小撮；

so obstinate already.

已經如此固執。

“Throw it away, dear, do,” she said,

“把它扔掉吧，親愛的，是的，”她說。

as they got into the road;

當他們上路時，

but Jacob squirmed away from her;

但是雅各從她身邊扭動起來;

and the wind rising,

風起來的時候，

she took out her bonnet-pin,

她拿掉了她帽子的別針，

looked at the sea,

看了看海，

and stuck it in afresh.

又重新別上了。

The wind was rising.

風已在上升。

The waves showed that uneasiness, 

海浪顯示它的不安，

like something alive, restive,

如同有生命力的東西一樣，躁動不安，

expecting the whip of waves before a storm.

在風暴之前期待著海浪的鞭打。

The fishing-boats were leaning to the water’s brim.

漁船斜靠在水邊上。

A pale yellow light shot across the purple sea;

一道淡黃色的光芒照射在紫色的海麵上；

and shut.

然後關閉了。

The lighthouse was lit.

燈塔點亮了。

“Come along,” said Betty Flanders.

“來吧，”貝蒂·弗蘭德斯說。

The sun blazed in their faces and gilded the great blackberries trembling out from the hedge which Archer tried to strip as they passed.

太陽在他們的臉上閃閃發光，阿奇爾試著去把一個金光閃閃的大黑莓顫抖著從樹籬中剝出來。

“Don’t lag, boys.

“不要拖延，孩子。

You’ve got nothing to change into,” said Betty,

你們沒有任何東西去改變了，”貝蒂說道，

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“You’ve got nothing to change into”譯為“你們沒有衣服可以換了”。②人民文學出版社出版的蒲隆譯本中，“You’ve got nothing to change into”譯為“你們再沒有鬼把戲可變了”。顯然，這兩個理解不符合小說的原意。這裏是想說明孩子們已經沒有任何可能去改變大風暴的到來。

 

pulling them along,

把他們拉了過來，

and looking with uneasy emotion at the earth displayed so luridly, 

看著地球上的不安情緒顯得如此色彩斑斕，

with sudden sparks of light from greenhouses in gardens,

從花園裏的溫室突然發出一陣閃光，

with a sort of yellow and black mutability,

帶著一種不停變化的黃色和黑色，

against this blazing sunset,

迎著熾熱的日落，

this astonishing agitation and vitality of colour,

這種令人驚訝的激動和色彩的活力，

which stirred Betty Flanders and made her think of responsibility and danger.

激起了貝蒂弗蘭德斯，使她想到了責任和危險。

She gripped Archer’s hand.

她握住阿切爾的手。

On she plodded up the hill.

她沉重地登上了山，

“What did I ask you to remember?” she said.

“我要求你記住什麽？”她說。

“I don’t know,” said Archer.

“我不知道，”阿徹爾說。

“Well, I don’t know either,”

“呃，我也不知道，”

said Betty, humorously and simply,

貝蒂說道，幽默而簡單地

and who shall deny that this blankness of mind,

誰又會否認這種空虛的心態，

when combined with profusion,

再加上豐富多彩的組合，

mother wit, old wives’ tales,

母親智慧，老太太的故事，

haphazard ways,

隨意的方式，

moments of astonishing daring,

驚人的大膽時刻，

humour, and sentimentality —

幽默和多愁善感—

who shall deny that in these respects every woman is nicer than any man?

誰會否認在這些方麵每個女人都比任何男人都好？

Well, Betty Flanders, to begin with.

那麽，貝蒂弗蘭德斯，首先就是這樣。

She had her hand upon the garden gate.

她把她的手放在花園門口。

“The meat!” she exclaimed,

“肉！”她喊道。

striking the latch down.

敲了敲門閂。

She had forgotten the meat.

她已經忘記了肉。

There was Rebecca at the window.

窗戶上是麗貝卡。

The bareness of Mrs. Pearce’s front room was fully displayed at ten o’clock at night，

前屋皮爾斯太太的露台在晚上十點全部露出來，

when a powerful oil lamp stood on the middle of the table.

桌子中間站著一盞強大的油燈。

The harsh light fell on the garden;

刺眼的光線落在了花園裏。

cut straight across the lawn;

直行穿過草坪;

lit up a child’s bucket and a purple aster and reached the hedge.

照亮了一個孩子的桶和伸出樹籬的一顆紫色的翠菊。

Mrs. Flanders had left her sewing on the table.

弗蘭德斯夫人放下她的針線活在桌子上。

There were her large reels of white cotton and her steel spectacles;

那裏有她的大卷的白棉布和她的鋼製眼鏡;

her needle-case;

她的針線盒;

her brown wool wound round an old postcard.

她的棕色羊毛纏繞在一張舊明信片上。

There were the bulrushes and the Strand magazines;

那裏有蘆葦和《海濱》雜誌;

and the linoleum sandy from the boys’ boots.

還有在地毯上從男孩的靴子上沾進來的沙子地。

A daddy-long-legs shot from corner to corner and hit the lamp globe. 

一個長腿昆蟲映出身影從一個角落飛到另一個角落，然後撞上了燈泡。

The wind blew straight dashes of rain across the window,

風直接吹過了穿透窗戶的雨水，

which flashed silver as they passed through the light.

當閃亮的銀光通過那些燈的時侯。

A single leaf tapped hurriedly, persistently, upon the glass.

一片葉子匆匆地、固執地拍打在玻璃上。

There was a hurricane out at sea.

海上出現了一場颶風。

Archer could not sleep.

阿切爾無法入睡。

Mrs. Flanders stooped over him.

弗蘭德夫人彎下腰來。

“Think of the fairies,” said Betty Flanders.

“想想仙女，”貝蒂弗蘭德斯說。

“Think of the lovely, lovely birds settling down on their nests.

 “想想那些可愛的，可愛的小鳥在它們的巢穴上安頓下來。

Now shut your eyes and see the old mother bird with a worm in her beak.

現在閉上你的眼睛，看到老母鳥在嘴裏有一隻蟲子。

Now turn and shut your eyes,” she murmured,

現在請閉上你的眼睛，“她低聲說，

“and shut your eyes.”

“閉上你的眼睛。”

The lodging-house seemed full of gurgling and rushing;

住宿屋似乎充滿了潺潺流水，

the cistern overflowing;

水箱溢出;

water bubbling and squeaking and running along the pipes and streaming down the windows.

水冒泡，吱吱作響，沿著管道流下，往下流過窗戶。

“What’s all that water rushing in?” murmured Archer.

 “水衝進來的是什麽？”阿切爾嘀咕著。

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“What’s all that water rushing in?”譯為“那些水怎麽回事都衝進來了？”明顯是意譯。

 

“It’s only the bath water running away,” said Mrs. Flanders.

弗蘭德斯太太說：“隻有洗澡水跑掉了。”

Something snapped out of doors.

有東西在門外折斷了。

“I say, won’t that steamer sink?”

“我說，那輪船不會下沉嗎？”

said Archer, opening his eyes.

阿切爾睜開眼睛說。

“Of course it won’t,” said Mrs. Flanders.

“當然不會，”弗蘭德斯太太說。

“The Captain’s in bed long ago.

“船長早就在床上了。

Shut your eyes,

閉上你的眼睛，

and think of the fairies,

想著仙女，

fast asleep, under the flowers.”

快速入睡，在花下。”

“I thought he’d never get off —

“我以為他永遠不會睡著了—

such a hurricane,”

這樣的颶風。”

she whispered to Rebecca,

她低聲對瑞貝卡說，

who was bending over a spirit-lamp in the small room next door.

她正彎著身子在隔壁房門的一盞燈旁。

The wind rushed outside,

風在外麵衝了出來，

but the small flame of the spirit-lamp burnt quietly,

但是那隻小小的火焰燈靜靜地燃燒著，

shaded from the cot by a book stood on edge.

立著一本書的邊緣從床邊產生陰影。

“Did he take his bottle well?” Mrs. Flanders whispered,

“他奶吃得好嗎？”弗蘭德夫人低聲說，

and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt,

麗貝卡點點頭，走到小床邊，把被子卷了下去。

and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby,

弗蘭德夫人俯下身，焦急地看著嬰兒，

asleep, but frowning.

睡著了，但皺著眉頭。

The window shook,

窗戶搖了搖，

and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.

麗貝卡偷偷地像一隻貓一樣走過去，把窗戶楔了起來。

The two women murmured over the spirit-lamp,

兩個女人在油燈前低聲說話，

plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush and clean bottles while the wind raged and gave a sudden wrench at the cheap fastenings.

策劃著的（如何管住孩子的）永恒謀略和清洗奶瓶（的要點），當狂風大作並突然地扭動著便宜的緊固件時。

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①“plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush”翻譯為“永無休止的密謀策劃著有關哄嬰兒”。理解對，就是意譯太多。怎麽譯文更好？我以為應該是“策劃著的（如何管住孩子的）永恒謀略和清洗奶瓶（的要點）”。

 

Both looked round at the cot.

兩人都轉頭看嬰兒床。

Their lips were pursed.

他們的嘴唇緊閉著。

Mrs. Flanders crossed over to the cot.

弗蘭德夫人衝到床前。

“Asleep?” whispered Rebecca, looking at the cot.

“睡著了？”麗貝卡低聲說，望著嬰兒床。

Mrs. Flanders nodded.

弗蘭德斯太太點了點頭。

“Good-night, Rebecca,” Mrs. Flanders murmured,

“麗貝卡，晚安，”弗蘭德太太低聲說，

and Rebecca called her ma’m,

麗貝卡叫她媽媽，

 

【劉正筆記】譯林出版社出版的王家湘譯本中，①把“Rebecca called her ma’m”翻譯為“麗貝卡稱她為夫人”，顯然有誤。

 

though they were conspirators plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush and clean bottles.

雖然他們策劃著的（如何管住孩子的）永恒謀略和清洗奶瓶要點的同謀人。

Mrs. Flanders had left the lamp burning in the front room.

弗蘭德斯夫人已經離開了前麵的房間裏正在點著的燈。

There were her spectacles,

那裏有她的眼鏡，

her sewing;

她的縫紉;

and a letter with the Scarborough postmark.

還有斯卡伯勒郵戳的一封信。

She had not drawn the curtains either.

她也沒有拉上窗簾。

The light blazed out across the patch of grass;

燈光在草地上閃閃發光。

fell on the child’s green bucket with the gold line round it,

倒映在孩子的有周圍金色線的綠桶上，

and upon the aster which trembled violently beside it.

旁邊劇烈地顫抖著的翠菊。

For the wind was tearing across the coast,

因為風正在撕叫著穿過海岸，

hurling itself at the hills, and leaping,in sudden gusts,

紛紛向山上傾瀉，突然猛然一躍，

on top of its own back.

在自己的背上。

How it spread over the town in the hollow!

它是如何散布在城市的空洞裏！

How the lights seemed to wink and quiver in its fury,

燈光似乎在閃爍，顫抖著，

lights in the harbour,

海港裏的燈光，

lights in bedroom windows high up!

臥室窗戶的燈光高高地升起！

And rolling dark waves before it,

在它麵前搖晃著黑暗的波浪，

it raced over the Atlantic,

它在大西洋上空飛馳著，

jerking the stars above the ships this way and that.

用這種方式把船上空的星星甩開。

There was a click in the front sitting-room.

前麵的客廳裏傳來哢嗒一聲。

Mr. Pearce had extinguished the lamp.

皮爾斯先生熄滅了燈。

The garden went out.

花園消失了。

It was but a dark patch.

這隻是一片黑暗的土地。

Every inch was rained upon.

每寸土地上正下著雨。

Every blade of grass was bent by rain.

每片草葉都被雨水壓得彎曲了。

Eyelids would have been fastened down by the rain.

眼皮本來會被雨水快速固定的。

Lying on one’s back one would have seen nothing but muddle and confusion —

一個人放平後背躺下，什麽也看不見但是隻會看到混亂和混雜— 

clouds turning and turning,

雲在翻滾著

and something yellow-tinted and sulphurous in the darkness.

在黑暗中有些黃色和硫磺色。

The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets.

前臥室的小男孩已經把毯子踢掉，躺在床單下麵。

It was hot;

它很熱;

rather sticky and steamy.

相當粘稠和潮濕。

Archer lay spread out,

阿切爾攤開了，

with one arm striking across the pillow.

一隻手臂撞在枕頭上。

He was flushed;

他臉通紅著。

and when the heavy curtain blew out a little he turned and half-opened his eyes.

當沉重的帷幕吹了一下，他轉過身，半睜著眼睛。

The wind actually stirred the cloth on the chest of drawers,

風真的把衣櫃裏的衣服掀開，

and let in a little light,

並放出一點點光

so that the sharp edge of the chest of drawers was visible, running straight up,

讓抽屜裏的鋒利邊緣看得見，直線奔跑著，

until a white shape bulged out;

直到奔向白色的形狀出來，

and a silver streak showed in the looking-glass.

在鏡子裏出現了銀色的條紋。

In the other bed by the door Jacob lay asleep,

雅各在另一張床上，睡著了，

fast asleep, profoundly unconscious.

睡著了，深深地昏睡著。

The sheep’s jaw with the big yellow teeth in it lay at his feet.

那隻大黃牙的羊顎放在他的腳下。

He had kicked it against the iron bed-rail.

他已經把它踢在鐵床欄上了。

Outside the rain poured down more directly and powerfully as the wind fell in the early hours of the morning.

在淩晨幾個小時裏，外麵的雨水更加直接而有力地傾瀉下來。

The aster was beaten to the earth.

翠菊被敲打到地上。

The child’s bucket was half-full of rainwater;

孩子的桶裏有半滿的雨水，

and the opal-shelled crab slowly circled round the bottom,

蛋白色的石蟹緩緩在底部盤爬著，

trying with its weakly legs to climb the steep side;

用微弱的腿試著爬上陡峭的一邊。

trying again and falling back,

再次嚐試，回落下來，

and trying again and again.

一次又一次地嚐試。