隨筆
隨筆，聊天
There are a lot of mistakes in the English version of novel "Soul Mountain".
We just list obvious mistakes here. In the following list we use
[CHINESE] standing for: <靈山>， 高行健著，聯經出版事業公司，1990，
and
[ENGLISH] standing for: "Soul Mountain", Gao Xingjian, Translated by Mabel
Lee, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York, 2000.
1.
[CHINESE] P. 9, Line 5: 一床灰棉線毯子，不知是洗不幹淨還就是它本色，你壓
在竹席子底下，扔開了油膩的枕頭，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 8, Line 16: The cotton blanket is a suspicious grey - either
it hasn't been washed properly or that's the original colour. You throw
aside the greasy pillow from under the bamboo mat and ...
[NOTE]: Should be: The cotton blanket is a suspicious grey - either it hasn't
been washed properly or that's the original colour, which you put under
the bamboo mat and throw the greasy pillow aside ...
2.
[CHINESE] P. 17, Line 13: 你吸著醬菜，豬下水，生皮子，鬆油柴，稻草和石灰
混雜的氣息，兩邊的小鋪麵南貨，醬園，油坊，米店，中西藥鋪，綢布莊，鞋攤，
茶館，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 16, Line 12: You breathe in the smell of soya sauce pickles,
boiled pork, raw hide, pine wood, dried rice stalks and lime as your eyes
busily take in the narrow shopfronts lining the street with products of
the South. There are soya bean shops, oil shops, rice shops, Chinese and
Western medicine shops, silk and cotton shops, shoe shops, tea shops, ...
[NOTE]: 豬下水 is pig's offal, not boiled pork; 醬園 is "sauce and pickle
shop", not soya bean shop; 茶館 is teahouse, not tea shop.
3.
[CHINESE] P. 19, Line 7: 深秋時分，風吹著枯黃的瓦楞草，陽光十分明朗。
[ENGLISH] P. 18, Line 9: They mid-autumn wind blows through the dry yellow
weeds in the rubble and the sun is very bright.
[NOTE]: "in the rubble" should be "in the roof-tiles".
4.
[CHINESE] P. 26, Line 6: 一手抓過那匪首擱在桌上的快慢機，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 26, Line 4: In one swift action, faster than it takes to tell
this, he snatched the rival bandit chief's machine gun from table and ...
[NOTE]: 快慢機 is 712-type pistol, not machine gun.
5.
[CHINESE] P. 32, Line 16: 還有那青蛙知了高聲唱，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 32, Line 27: "And, when the frog heard, it croaked loudly and
the owl waved his conductor's baton."
[NOTE]: 青蛙知了 is "the frog and cicada".
6.
[CHINESE] P. 36, Line 9: 在海拔兩千五百公尺觀察大熊貓的營地，
[ENGLISH] P. 36, Line 1: In the 2500-metre giant panda observation compound
at Haiba, ...
[NOTE]: 海拔 is "above sea level", not the name of a place; the same mistakes
are in [ENGLISH] P. 36, Line 17 and in [ENGLISH] P. 411, Line 8.
7.
[CHINESE] P. 38, Line 6: 我無意起身，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 37, Last Line: Mindlessly, I get up.
[NOTE]: should be: I don't want to get up.
8.
[CHINESE] P. 80, Line 3: 這小房間裏放了一張硬木的雕花架子床，掛著蚊帳，一
個鑲著圓鏡子的紅木衣櫃，
[ENGLISH] P. 81，Line 5: The room has a carved timber bed with a mosquito
net and a red wooden wardrobe with a round mirror;
[NOTE]: 紅木 is mahogany or padauk, not "red wooden" ; the same mistake
is in
[ENGLISH] P. 203, Line 19.
9.
[CHINESE] P. 92, Line 12: 這就叫踏破鐵鞋無處尋，尋來全不費功夫！
[ENGLISH] P. 93, Line 28: This means that if you wear old iron shoes you
won't find it anywhere and to look would be a total waste of time!
[NOTE]:
10.
[CHINESE] P. 138, Line 7: 遊人都爭先恐後搶著上船，似乎並不曾注意到這陰森
的崖穴旁有一個洞口，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 136, Line 7: The sightseers scrambling onto the boats don't
seem to notice the hole by the crack in the heavily wooded cliff and ...
[NOTE]: 陰森 is gloomy, not "heavily wooded".
11.
[CHINESE] P. 146, Line 10: 五十二歲上終於中了個二名的榜眼，
[ENGLISH] P. 145, Line 23: finally at the age of fifty-two he managed to
get his name on the list of successful candidates, albeit amongst the names
at the bottom of the list.
[NOTE]:二名的榜眼 is "the second place" of the list.
12.
[CHINESE] P. 153, Line 5: 她父親當時被隔離審查，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 153, Line 7: At the time a neighbour had reported her father
and ...
[NOTE]: should be: At the time her father was singled out and investigated
and ...
13.
[CHINESE] P. 159, Line 12: 說是山裏的農民逮到了一頭四不像的怪獸，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 159, Line 4: saying the peasants had caught this half-bird-half-
fish creature up in the mountains.
[NOTE]: 四不像 is the nickname of elk, meaning "nothing on earth".
14.
[CHINESE] P. 161, Line 13: 苦艾的氣味和飛鳴的蟲子，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 160, Last line: the feeling of sadness and the chirping of
winged insects, ...
[NOTE]: 苦艾 is moxa or Chinese mugwort.
15.
[CHINESE] P. 165, Line 15: 居然！
[ENGLISH] P. 165, Line 16: Of course!
[NOTE]:
16.
[CHINESE] P. 167, Line 6: 所謂強龍壓不過地頭蛇，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 167, Line 6: "The powerful dragon cannot overcome the snake
on the ground."
[NOTE]: should be: "The powerful dragon cannot overcome the snake in its
old haunts." The same mistakes is in [ENGLISH] P. 216, Line 33.
17.
[CHINESE] P. 169, Line 3: 燒出的炭，都銀灰色，
[ENGLISH] P. 169, Line 5: the charcoal burns with a silver flame and ...
[NOTE]: should be: the charcoal is silver grey and ...
18.
[CHINESE] P. 176, Line 1: 沒法不，都一個勁回頭，連駝子，五十好幾的人，也
歪著頭直瞅。
[ENGLISH] P. 175, Line 14: It was impossible not to. All of them eagerly
looked back, even the hunchback. There were more than fifty of them, all
staring with their heads turned to one side.
[NOTE]: should be: ..., even the hunchback, who was more than fifty years
old, ...
19.
[CHINESE] P. 220, Line 7: 每秒一百多公尺，
[ENGLISH] P. 222, Line 6: of more than three hundred kilometers per hour.
[NOTE]: should be: of more than one hundred kilometer per second.
20.
[CHINESE] P. 287, Line 2: 那座隋代的舍利塔前，研讀 。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 281, Line 1: Later, while reading an inscriptions in the Abandon
Profit Pagoda, ...
[NOTE]: 舍利塔 is "the Pagoda for Buddhist relics".
21.
[CHINESE] P. 316, Line 14: 唐堯時
[ENGLISH] P. 309, Line 13: During the time of Emperor Yao of the Tang Dynasty,
[NOTE]: 唐堯 is not the Tang Dynasty.
22.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 7: 秦國大將白起拔郢，
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 5: When the great generals of Qin left Ying without
any booty, ...
[NOTE] should be: When the great general of Qin, Bai Qi, seized Ying,
23.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 10: 西麵八嶺山，
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 12: The Baling Mountains on the south ...
[NOTE]: "south" should be "west".
24.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 13: 有十多米厚。
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 18: there is a build up of at least ten millimetres
of silt.
[NOTE]: "millimetres" should be "metres".
25.
[CHINESE] P. 325, Line 9: 他淹死的那地方據說在長江下遊的采石磯，
[ENGLISH] P. 319, Line 12: It is said that the spot where he drowned was
at Coloured Rock Crag in ...
[NOTE]: 采石磯 should be "Quarry Crag".
26.
[CHINESE] P. 326, Line 13: 可他自己卻年紀輕輕死於傷寒，
[ENGLISH] P. 320, Line 25: However he died quite young from a chill.
[NOTE]: 傷寒 is typhoid, not "a chill".
27.
[CHINESE] P. 326, Line 16: 我恐怕並非楚人的苗裔，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 320, Line 33: Not being a Miao descendant of the Chu people,
...
[NOTE]: 苗裔 is "descendant", not "a Miao descendant"; the same mistakes
is in [ENGLISH] P. 448, Line 32.
28.
[CHINESE] P. 403, Line 11: 一個金筆盒子，
[ENGLISH] P. 391, Line 15: a gold pen box, ...
[NOTE]: should be: a fountain-pen box, ...
29.
[CHINESE] P. 451, Line 14: 伊格小妮子 。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 433, Line 1: became nuns ...
[NOTE]: 小妮子 is girl.
30.
[CHINESE] P. 464, Line 5: 他的畫毋須題款，
[ENGLISH] P. 446, Line 10: His paintings were not for money, ...
[NOTE]: 題款 is inscription, not "for money".
31.
[CHINESE] P. 467, Line 10: 遇到了那位妖嬈的女媧，
[ENGLISH] P. 450, Line 3: he encountered the seductive beauty Yaorao.
[NOTE]: should be: he encountered the seductive beauty Nv Wa.
32.
[CHINESE] P. 470, Line 17: 道聽途說，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 453, Line 16: moralistic ramblings, ...
[NOTE]: 道聽途說 is hearsay, not "moralistic ramblings".
33.
[CHINESE] P. 515, Line 6: 他們當然會給我一筆獎金，一個零頭的零頭。
[ENGLISH] P. 495, Line 15: I would only get a certain amount as a reward
for being a leader among leaders.
[NOTE]: 零頭 is a small amount, not "leader".
