翻译论坛| 刘禹锡《陋室铭》及7个译本

编者按

    《陋室铭》为唐代文学家、哲学家刘禹锡（772-842）所作。《陋室铭》夹叙夹议，融情于景。看似描写恬适、静雅的陋室环境，实则叙说主人的高雅风度、两袖清风的情怀。该文融对比、白描、隐寓、用典等修辞手法于一体，合辙押韵、极富韵感，犹如金石掷地又自然流畅，曲虽终却余音绕梁，让读者回味无穷。该文表现了刘禹锡高风亮节、洁身自好、不与世俗同流合污、不追逐名利却安贫乐道的极简主义的生活态度和隐逸情趣。

    本次选取了七个英译本，译者分别为许景城（诗歌、散文两版本）、罗经国、颜林海、孙大雨、Stephen、海外逸士X.L.Woo。所选译本适用于课堂教学，翻译学研究和语料库研究。通过知网检索发现有国内高校翻译专业学生将其中的三个译本（罗经国、海外逸士X.L.Woo、许景城）放置在功能对等理论框架下进行阐释，欲知详情请看此次随此篇一同推送的延伸阅读：《从功能对等理论角度分析<陋室铭>英译文》（发表于《现代语文》2016.4）。

    河北卫视新闻主播王益豪、红叶朗诵中文原诗，双语主播李强朗诵许景城两个英译版本，录音师张晖对音频编辑。特此感谢。

为你读诗

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（英文朗诵：李强  中文朗诵：王益豪、红叶  音频编辑：张晖）

中文原文：

陋室铭

[唐] 刘禹锡

山不在高，有仙则名。

水不在深，有龙则灵。

斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。

苔痕上阶绿，草色入帘青。

谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁。

可以调素琴，阅金经。

无丝竹之乱耳，无案牍之劳形。

南阳诸葛庐，西蜀子云亭。

孔子云：何陋之有？

译本一（诗歌版）：

Ode to the Humble Hut

By Liu Yuxi

许景城 译（Tr. Peter Jingcheng Xu）

Renowned will be a hill if angles live,

Regardless of its being high or low.

Ensouled will be a lake if dragons live,

In spite of its being deep or shallow.

Humble is the hut where I dwell,

Yet all shames my virtues dispel.

Green are the stone steps with lichens creeping,

Blue is my room through screens from grass shining.

Conversing to me are the erudite,

Never dropped in by the illiterate.

Reading the sutra and playing the lyre,

Never are we troubled by noisy string and flute sound;

Nor are we fatigued by heavy official files around.

There in Nanyang sees Zhuge's thatched hut;

There in West Shu stands Yang Xiong's arbor,

Just as Confucius said, “Humble’s the hut?”

Notes:

1.Liu Yuxi (772-842) was a famous poet and philosopher in Tang Dynasty. He used to be an investigating censor and an active revolutionary. After the failure of Yong Zhen Innovation, he lost his official rank and degraded to serve as an unimportant official in Langzhou (now Changde in Hunan).

2.The Ode or Inscription was written to express the author’s attitude towards life and wealth and rank. He in pursuit of his high moral integrity would rather stay as a hermit in the humble hut than work with toadies in the imperial court.

3.Screens here refer to the screens made of bamboos and used to shut out the mosquitoes or other insects.

4.The sutra here means the Buddhist scriptures.

5.Zhuge Liang was a prestigious statesman and strategist of Shu Kingdom and before becoming the prime minister to Liu Bei, the duke of Shu Kingdom, he lived as a recluse in Wolonggang, Nanyang in Henan province.

6.Yang Ziyun, whose real name was Yang Xiong, was a famous litterateur in West Han Dynasty. He had a thatched pavilion in Shu Shire (now Sichuan).

初译时间：2012-3-27

改译时间：2017-2-1

译本二（散文版）：

An Inscription to the Humble Hut

By Liu Yuxi

许景城 译（Tr. Peter Jingcheng Xu）

Renowned is a mountain not for its height but for the immortal who lives in it. Ensouled is a sea not for its depth but for the dragon that inhabits it. It's true of my humble hut where I see my morality, virtues, and happiness but shames. Lichens are creeping up to the stone steps blanketed in green while the shining grass echoes the bamboo portiere of my room in blue. Coming to my house and conversing to me are the intelligent not the illiterate. From time to time, we can play the lyre, or read Buddhist scriptures, never to be troubled by noisy string and flute sounds or heavy official documents. Thus, my humble hut is like the thatched shed where Zhuge Liang from Nanyang lived and the thatched pavilion where Yang Ziyun from West Shu Shire dwelled. Just as Confucius once uttered, "Is it humble?" 

初译时间：2012-3-27

改译时间：2017-2-1

译本3：

An Epigraph in Praise of My Humble Home

By Liu Yuxi

罗经国 译

A mountain needn't be high; It is famous so long as there is a deity on it. A lake needn't be deep; It has supernatural power so long as there is a dragon in it. My home is humble, But it enjoys the fame of virtue so long as I am living in it. The moss creeping onto the doorsteps turns them green. The color of the grass reflected through the bamboo curtains turns the room blue. Erudite scholars come in good spirits to talk with me, And among my guests there is no unlearned common man. In this humble room, I can enjoy playing my plainly decorated qin, or read the Buddhist Scriptures quietly, Without the disturbance of the noisy that jar on the ears, or the solemn burden of reading official documents. My humble home is like the thatched hut of Zhuge Liang of Nanyang, or the Pavilion Ziyun of Xishu. Confucius once said: "How could we call a room humble as long as there is a virtuous man in it?"

选自：罗经国（译）.《古文观止》（汉英翻译）.北京：外语教学与研究出版社,2005.

译本4：

An Epigraph for My Humble Room

By Liu Yuxi

颜林海 译

A mountain has a fame not for its height, but for a deity being in it. A lake has a spirit not for its depth, but for a dragon being in it. My room, although simple and humble, is famous for my virtues. Here, moss kisses the steps, and green grass catches the eyes. Confabbing here are all erudite men but shallow people. Here I can play my undecorated qin (a Chinese zither), and read diamond sutra, neither interrupted by such noises as from those silk-string and woodwind instruments, nor exhausted by official documents. My room, famous for my virtues, like Zhuge Liang's Thatched Cottage in Nanyang and Ziyun's Pavilion in western Shu, is just described as Confucius said:"How can such a room be simple and humble?"

选自：

颜林海教授：四川师范大学外国语学院教授，文学硕士。翻译理论与翻译实践硕士生导师、英语教育硕士研究生导师。长期从事翻译教学及翻译实践。研究方向为翻译理论与实践。

译本5：

Inscription For My Shabby Hut

孙大雨 译

Mountains need not always be high, They're famed if therein fairies abide. Waters need not always be deep, They're hallowed where dragons are spied. This is a simple, mean abode, Only my virtue lends it fragrance. Moss smears a fringe of green upon The stone steps forming the terrace; And peering through the screen, there throbs the emerald of the lush grass. Great scholars drop in casually, And talk and laugh in abandoned ways; While in this cordial company Nonentities have ne'er a place. The ancient zither we might play, Or golden-lettered scriptures peruse. No concert bands our ears confuse, And no official files await Our tackling—to excruciate. To Zhuge's cottage at Nanyang, Or Ziyun's pavilion in Sichuan, mine may well be compared. So, as Confucius once had said, "How could it be considered mean?"

选自：孙大雨. 《古诗文英译集》.上海外语教育出版社, 1997.

孙大雨（1905-1997），中国著名文学翻译家、莎士比亚研究专家。原名孙铭传，原籍浙江诸暨县，毕业于清华学校高等科。曾先后在美国达德穆文学院和耶鲁大学研究院学习英国文学，回国后历任武汉大学、北京师范大学、北京大学、浙江大学、暨南大学外文系教授，中央政治学校英语教授兼主任。1920年开始发表作品。1955年加入中国作家协会。他先后翻译了莎士比亚的八部著作，并完成了《屈原诗英译》《古诗文英译集》《英诗选译集》等译著。著有诗集《自己的写照》、《精神与爱的女神》等。

译本6：

An Eulogium on a Humble Cell

Stephen 译

A mount needs not be high; it becomes noted when on it fairies dwell. A body of water needs not be deep; it would be ensouled, if a dragon makes it its resting whereabouts. This hut of mine is a humble one, but I make it virtuously fragrant in repute. The green moss creeping on the stepping stones and the verdure in the courtyard peeing through the screen do tell the presence of spring. Here could be heard the table-talks and laughters of renowned scholars, but the rough and gross come not hither their wares to sell. Here plain table-heptachord could be plucked and golden classics read the worldly cares to quell. But there are without riotous strings and pipes to confuse the ears, and tedious official documents to ring quietude's knell. Zhuge's recluse cottage at Nanyang and Yang Xiong's hermit arbour in West Shu, — according to Confucius, wherefore could either one of them be branded as a humble cell?

译文7﹕

Eulogy on My Humble Abode

海外逸士（X.L.Woo） 译

Known will hills be if fairies dwell, no matter high or low; and charmed will waters be if dragons lurk, no matter deep or shallow. A humble abode though this is, my virtues make it smell sweet. Verdant are the stonesteps overgrown with moss, and green seems the screen as the grass seen through it.  I chat and laugh only with great scholars and have no intercourse with the ignorant.  I can play simple zither and read Buddhist sutras; no string and bamboo instruments to grate on my ears and no government documents to weary my mortal form.  That's what like Zhuge's cottage in Nanyang and Ziyun's pavilion in Xishu as Confucius quoth, "How canth it be humble?"

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