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一粒种子的力量(双语)

2017-09-16 英语环球广播 英语环球ChinaPlus

早上好!又到周末啦!


在欣赏今天的美文之前,小编有个问题问大家。


你们知道世界上什么东西的气力最大吗?

大象?恐龙?还是小蚂蚁?


在今天小编给大家推荐的散文《野草》中,作者夏衍给出了不一样的答案。


作者简介



夏衍


XIA YAN

夏衍(1900-1995),原名沈乃熙,字端先,浙江省余杭县(今杭州)彭埠镇严家弄人,是新文化运动的先驱者之一,中国著名文学、电影、戏剧作家,文艺评论家、文学艺术家、翻译家、社会活动家。

《野草》是夏衍在抗战期间写的一篇寓理散文,赞颂小草的那种为常人看不见的顽强生命力,以象征手法鼓舞国人坚定抗战胜利的信心。

接下来让我们一起欣赏由沈汀、李源为您朗读的这篇散文。英文版本由张培基翻译。

野草(夏衍)



有这样一个故事。

有人问:世界上什么东西的气力最大?回答纷纭的很,有的说“象”,有的说“狮”,有人开玩笑似的说:是“金刚”,金刚有多少气力,当然大家全不知道。

结果,这一切答案完全不对,世界上气力最大的,是植物的种子。一粒种子所可以显现出来的力,简直是超越—切。这儿又是一个故事。


人的头盖骨,结合得非常致密与坚固,生理学家和解剖学者用尽了一切的方法,要把它完整地分出来,都没有这种力气,后来忽然有人发明了一个方法,就是把一些植物的种子放在要剖析的头盖骨里,给它以温度与湿度,使它发芽,一发芽,这些种子便以可怕的力量,将一切机械力所不能分开的骨骼,完整地分开了,植物种子力量之大,如此如此。

这,也许特殊了一点、常人不容易理解,那么,你看见笋的成长吗?你看见过被压在瓦砾和石块下面的一颗小草的生成吗?他为着向往阳光,为着达成它的生之意志,不管上面的石块如何重,石块与石块之间如何狭,它必定要曲曲折折地,但是顽强不屈地透到地面上来,它的根往土壤钻,它的芽地面挺,这是—种不可抗的力,阻止它的石块,结果也被它掀翻,一粒种子的力量的大,如此如此。
  

没有一个人将小草叫做“大力士”,但是它的力量之大,的确是世界无比。这种力,是一般人看不见的生命力,只要生命存在,这种力就要显现,上面的石块,丝毫不足以阻挡,因为它是一种“长期抗战”的力,有弹性,能屈能伸的力,有韧性,不达目的不止的力。
  

种于不落在肥土而落在瓦砾中,有生命力的种子决不会悲观和叹气,因为有了阻力才有磨炼。生命开始的一瞬间就带了斗争来的草,才是坚韧的草,也只有这种草,才可为傲然地对那些玻璃棚中养育着的盆花哄笑。


Wild Grass


by Xia Yan


There is a story which goes like this:


Someone asked, "What has the greatest strength on earth?" The answers varied. Some said, "The elephant." Some said, "The lion." Some said jokingly, the fierce-browed guardian gods to Buddha. But nobody of course could tell how strong the guardian gods were supposed to be.


All the answers turned out to be wide of the mark. The mightiest thing on earth is the seed of a plant. The great strength which a seed is capable of is simply matchless. Here goes another story:

  

The bones forming a human skull are so tightly and perfectly fit together that all physiologists or anatomists, hard as they try, are powerless to take them apart without damaging them.


It so happened that, at the suggestion of someone, some seeds of a plant were placed inside a human skull awaiting dissection before heat and moisture were applied to cause them to grow. Once they started to grow, they let loose a terrific force to separate all the skull bones, leaving each of them intact. This would have been impossible with any mechanical power under the sun. See, how powerful the seeds of a plant can be!


This story may be somewhat too unusual for you to understand. Well, have you ever seen the growth of a bamboo shoot? Or the growth of tender grass from under a heap of rubble or rocks? Seeking sunlight and survival, the young plant will labour tenaciously through twists and turns to bring itself to the surface of the ground no matter how heavy the rocks overhead may be or how narrow the opening between them. While striking its roots deep into the soil, the young plant pushes its new shoots above-ground. The irresistible strength it can muster is such as to overturn any rock in its way. See, how powerful a seed can be!


Though nobody describes the little grass as a "husky", yet its herculean strength is unrivalled. It is the force of life invisible to the naked eye. It will display itself so long as there is life. The rock is utterly helpless before this force — a force that will forever remain militant, a force that is resilient and can take temporary setbacks calmly, a force that is tenacity itself and will never give up until the goal is reached.


When a seed falls under debris instead of on fertile soil, it never sighs in despair because to meet with obstruction means to temper itself.


Indomitable is the grass that begins its very life with a tough struggle. It is only fit and proper that the proud grass should be jeering at the potted flowers in a glass house.



翻译要点:

1.“世界上什么东西的气力最大”译为What is the most powerful thing in the world?,其中on earth和in the world同义,但此处用on earth通常在疑问句或最高级后加强语气。

2.half-jokingly=半开玩笑性质地,复合词在翻译中也十分常见,不仅生动传神,也大大减短了翻译时句子的长度。

3.“金刚”在这里指守护佛法的天神(不是好莱坞电影里那只大猩猩哦),经常怒目作勇猛之相,因此译为 fierce-browed guardian gods to Buddha.

4.“这一切答案完全不对”译为All the answers turned out to be wide of the mark.其中 wide of the mark,意即“离谱,不正确”,也可以用far from来译。

5.“使它发芽”译为to cause them grow~也可译为to cause them to put out fresh shoots.

6.“将…叫做”译为describe …as…

7.herculean源自于希腊神话,原意是宙斯之子大力神赫拉斯科,此处代指“力大无比的”。

作者通过一个普通但富有哲理的故事,表现出种子的力量是不可估量的,从而揭示出民众力量的强大。篇幅短小精悍,语言朴实自然。


张培基先生的译文自然流畅,简洁质朴。特别是其中对野草、石头拟人化的翻译十分生动灵活。这些拟人手法的翻译句子你能找到吗?

往期精彩:

艰难的国运与雄健的国民

幼年鲁迅

想北平

夕暮

我的父母之乡

黎明前的北京

落花生

匆匆

荷塘月色

故都的秋

差不多先生

长冬过后

时间即生命

论矫情



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