能给人以震撼
能给人以感悟
能给人以启迪
能给人以方向
能给人以力量
其他
打卡学翻译 10 | 西南联大英文课 | 林清玄：常想一二 Dwell on One or Two （附3个珍贵视频）
关注“北极光翻译”
学习英语，领悟翻译，沟通世界！
翻译服务
北极光翻译
提供以下翻译服务
社科论文；政府文件；文学艺术；网站宣传
旅游美食；时政新闻；法律合同；各种证件
商务合作 CAT培训
WeChat/QQ: 563730218
7年600万字文学翻译实践
2012年获得CATTI二级笔译
Introduction
林清玄（1953—2019），台湾高雄人，当代著名散文家，诗人，学者。他是台湾作家中最高产的一位，也是获得各类文学奖最多的一位，集当代“禅意散文”之大成，被誉为“当代散文八大家”之一。散文《桃花心木》《和时间赛跑》《百合花开》入选小学语文教材；已出版散文集《莲花开落》《冷月钟笛》《温一壶月光下酒》《鸳鸯香炉》《金色印象》《白雪少年》《在梦的远方》《在云上》《心田上的百合花》《菠萝蜜》《用岁月在莲上写诗》、“菩提十书”系列、《禅意散文精选》（全四册）等，散文集一年中重印超过20次，十本“菩提系列”更是震撼了文学界。他的文章质朴空灵有佛性，平易中饱含感人的力量，抚慰着我们焦虑的心境。
“在穿过林间的时候
我觉得麻雀的死亡给我一些启示
我们虽然在尘网中生活
但永远不要失去想飞的心
不要忘记飞翔的姿势。”
这是著名作家林清玄1月22日的微博，1月23日他便去世了，如今看来竟是一种告别，正应了他那句话：“我知道我会写到离开时间的最后一刻。”65年的生涯中，他笔耕不辍，用质朴而充满佛性的文字抚慰着无数人焦虑的心，此刻，让我们读其文听其语来送别他吧！
林清玄
在央视《开讲啦》第50期的励志演讲
《不怕人生的转弯》
汉译英
常想一二
Dwell on One or Two
林清玄 著 潘绍中 译
朋友买来纸笔砚台，请我题几个字挂在新居客厅墙壁上。我便在朋友面前展纸、磨墨，写了四个字：“常想一二”。
A friend of mine brought over a newly purchased set of paper, brush, ink-stick and ink-slab, and asked me to write something for the wall in the sitting room of this new house. I unfolded the paper, ground the ink-stick on the slab, and wrote out the words: “Dwell on one or two.”
朋友说：“这是什么意思？”我说：“俗话说‘人生不如意事十常八九’，但扣除八九成的不如意，至少还有一二成是如意的、快乐的、欣慰的事情，我们如果要过快乐人生，就要常想那一二成好事，这样就会感到庆幸、懂得珍惜，不致被八九成的不如意所打倒了。”朋友听了，非常欢喜，抱着“常想一二”回家了。
“What does this mean?” asked my friend. “You know the popular saying,” I replied, “Life means frustration eight or nine times out of ten". Deducting the eighty or ninety per cent of frustration, you still have ten or twenty percent of success, happiness or gratification. If you want to enjoy life, you should focus on the one or two times you are happy, be thankful and cherish them. Then you’ll never be overwhelmed by the eight or nine times when you are unhappy.” Happily my friend left, carrying the scroll in his arm.
几个月后，他来探视我，又来向我求字，说是：“每天在办公室里劳累受气，一回家之后看见那幅‘常想一二’就很开心，但是墙壁太大，字显得太小，你就再写几个字吧！”对于好朋友，我一向有求必应，于是为“常想一二”写下了“不思八九”，上面又写了“如意”的横批，中间随手画一幅写意的瓶花。
A few months later, he called on me again and asked for more calligraphy, “Every day I have to slave and suffer in the office. But as soon as I get home and see the words ‘Dwell on one or two’, I brighten up and feel happy. But they do look so small on that big wall, can you write a few more words for me?” As I am always ready to oblige my good friends, I wrote an antithetical couplet for him, adding the second part, “Forget about eight or nine” and the horizontal inscription, “As you wish”. To fill up the space in between, I did a free-hand drawing of a vase full off lowers.
没想到过了几个月，我再婚的消息披露报端，引起许多离奇的传说与流言的困扰，朋友有一天打电话来，说他正坐在客厅我写的字前面，他说“想不出什么话来安慰你，念你自己写的字给你听：常想一二、不思八九，事事如意。”
Then, a few months later, something quite unexpected happened when my remarriage was reported in the newspapers, giving rise to numerous strange tales and annoying rumors. My friend called me, saying that he was sitting in front of my inscription. “As I can’t think of better words to comfort you, let me read what you wrote: Dwell on one or two; Forget about eight or nine—Everything as you wish.”
接到朋友的电话使我很感动，我常常觉得在别人的喜庆中锦上添花容易，在别人的苦难里雪中送炭却很困难，那种比例，大约也就是八九与一二之比。不能雪中送炭的不是真朋友，当然更甭说那些落井下石的人了。
I was very moved by this. How easy it is to add to somebody’s joy, I often think, and how hard to lend a helping hand in times of distress, —the ratio would probably come to nine to one, too. But those who do not help you when you need it most are not true friends, much less those who hit you when you’re down.
不过，一个人到了四十岁后，在生活中大概都锻炼出宠辱不惊的本事，也不会在乎锦上添花、雪中送炭或落井下石了。那是因为我们已经历过生命的痛苦与挫折，也经验了许多情感的相逢与离散，慢慢地寻索出生命中积极的、快乐的、正向的理念，这种理念正是“常想一二”。
Come to think of it, people over forty are mostly inured to the vicissitudes of life, caring little about receiving congratulations for success, getting help when in need, or being hit when down. For after experiencing so much anguish and frustration in life and going through so many sentimental meetings and partings, we have gradually found certain dynamic, happy, positive precepts in life, which may be summed up as “Dwell on one or two.”
“常想一二”的理念，乃是在重重乌云中寻觅一丝黎明的曙光，乃是在滚滚红尘中开启一些宁静的消息，乃是在濒临窒息时，有一次深长的呼吸。生命已经够苦了，如果我们把几十年的不如意事总和起来，一定会使我们举步维艰。
This means focusing on specks of light in the murky dark, gleaning bits of peace and quiet from the raucous, mundane world, or striving for refreshing breath on the verge of suffocation. Life is hard enough as it is; if we burden ourselves with all the frustrations built up over dozens of years, how can we go even one step further?
生活与感情陷入苦境，有时是无可奈何的，但是如果连思想和心情都陷入苦境，那就是自讨苦吃，苦上加苦了。
At times, we can’t help it when we find ourselves in dire straits, materially or emotionally; but if we let that make us miserable in mind or mood, we would only be piling more hardship on ourselves and suffer twice as much through our own fault.
我从小喜欢阅读大人物的传记和回忆录，慢慢归纳出一个公式：凡是大人物都是受苦受难的，他们的生命几乎就是“人生不如意事十常八九”的真实证言，但他们在面对苦难时也能保持正向的思考，能“常想一二”，最后他们超越苦难，苦难便化成对生命中最肥沃的养料。
I have been keen on reading biographies or memoirs of the great since childhood and found a kind of rule about their lives: all great people suffer. They mostly testify to the saying that life means frustration eight or nine times out of ten. Despite their sufferings, however, they can always maintain a positive way of thinking, or in other words, they can “dwell on one or two”, until they finally transcendtheir sufferings and turn them into great inspiration for life.
使我深受感动的不是他们的苦难，因为苦难到处都有，使我感动的是：他们面对苦难的坚持、乐观与勇气。
What deeply moves me about great people is not their suffering, for sufferings are common and omnipresent; it is their perseverance, optimism and courage in the face of suffering that move me most.
原来如意或不如意，并不是决定于人生的际遇，而是取决于思想的瞬间。
So success or failure in life does not hinge on mere opportunities, but upon one's frame of mind.
原来，决定生命品质的不是八九，而是一二。
And it is not the eight or ninety percent probabilitybut the ten or twenty percent possibilitythat determines the quality of life.
本文是 2003年第十五届 “韩素音青年翻译奖”汉译英部分的参赛原文。 《常想一二》是一位台湾作家所写的一篇地道的中国式随笔，于平常小事中探讨人生哲学，全文涵义隽永，发人深思。翻译时，既要传表达出原文的意思，更要传达出原文的哲理和韵味。翻译此类文章之前一定要吃透原文的内容、语言难点、通篇的语气和行文特点。汉语表示强调时喜欢重复，而英语表示强调时则忌重复同一个词，尤其是在本文的行文中更是如此，翻译时应多留心。
【翻译要点评析】
1.标题“常想一二”的翻译就是个难点，可以意译为： Recall the Rare Happy Moments of Life Oftener/ Hang on to a Few Happy Thoughts/ Always be Positive/ Choosing Optimism；可借用英语中类似的习语：Every cloud has a silver lining 或 Think often of the Silver Lining (of the cloud of life) 。这个标题源于汉语中的俗语“人生不如意事十常八九”，通篇都用“（常想）一二”和“（不思）八九”及其变化“一二成”和“八九成”等贯穿全文，重复达十余次之多，因此以上的各种译法似乎放入文中都显罗嗦。“常想一二”不仅指“常常去想”，更有“着重考虑”之意，用focus on 或 concentrate on等译法似乎也可。不过作为标题贯串全文，译法最好能综合这两层意思。按照《简明牛津词典》（The Concise Oxford Dictionary简称 COF）的定义：“dwell on/upon: spend time on; linger over; write, brood, or speak at length on”这个短语似乎比 often think of 和 focus on 等更能包含“常想一二”在全文中的意思。译文中的标题加了引号，是为了提醒读者，这是句有待大家进一步思考的引子。在文章中，则根据上下文做了适当的变化。
2.在“人生不如意事十之八九”中的“不如意事”如何翻译？通过阅读全文，可知所谓的“不如意事”就是人生中遇到的种种挫折坎坷，不顺心的事，英语中的“frustration”正好可以较恰当的表达此意，本句可译作“Life means frustration eight or nine times out of ten”。
3.“至少还有一二成是如意的、快乐的、欣慰的事情”中的“如意”在此处的意思是人生得意之时、得意之事，所以本句可译为“you still have ten or twenty percent of success, happiness or gratification”。
4.在“朋友听了，非常欢喜，抱着‘常想一二'回家了。”中又出现了一次“常想一二”，是译作“Dwell on one or two.”还是其它的译法呢？从第二段的讲述中可知，这里的“常想一二”是指那幅字，因此译为“scroll ”即可，不必再重复其内容。
5.“又来向我求字”中的“字”在此处并非指一般的汉字，而是专指“书法”，应译作“calligraphy”。
6.“……于是为“常想一二”写下了“不思八九”，上面又写了“如意”的横批 ……”是一幅对联，因此把“不思八九”译为“Forget about eight or nine”和 “Dwell on one or two”对应，横批就可以说成是“As you wish”。
7.汉语行文中多用成语和典故，如文中的“锦上添花”、“雪中送炭”、“落井下石”，在《汉英大辞典》（吴光华主编）中这些成语分别被解释为“ add to sth. already beautiful ”，“ offer fuel in snowy weather ”，“ drop down a stone on the man who has fallen into a well/ add insult to injury ”，在译文中如果照搬这些直译的解释会让英语读者感到陈词滥调，罗嗦冗长，而且作者的本义就是辞典中的解释吗？汉译英时，除非是专门介绍这些成语和典故，否则遇到此类词汇通常会抛开其字面意思，把它们看作一般词汇，放在上下文中去理解，找出作者的真正意思，进行表达，也就是所说的意译。此处可译作“caring little about receiving congratulations for success, getting help when in need, or being hit when down ”。
8.“生活与感情陷入苦境，那就是自讨苦吃，苦上加苦了。”的意思是人生会遇到许多的不如意事，这是我们无法预料和避免的，我们能做的就是调节好自己的情绪，以一颗平常心来面对生活，而不是顾影自怜，总觉得自己非常无助和可怜。这句可译成“At times, we can't help it when we fond ourselves in dire straits, materially or emotionally; but if we let that make us miserable in mind or mood, we would only be piling more hardship on ourselves and suffer twice as much through our own fault. ”
9.“公式”在英文中是“formula”，而此处的意思是通过阅读归纳出了一个规律，所以应译成“a rule”。
10.最后两小段是很有哲理的结论，“原来……”表示的是“恍然大悟”、“原来如此” 之义，英语中顺接时可用“so”，而“It turns out that …”表示发生了与预期不同的事情，“It so happens that …”强调事件的偶然性，“It dawns on me that…”则表示语气上与上文的转折，由“不知”到“知”。
（参考潘绍中的译评）
桃花心木
Mahogany
林清玄 著 陈文伯译
乡下老家前面的空地，租给人家种桃花心木的树苗。
In front of my old country house, a piece of uncultivated land was rented to others to plant mahogany trees.
树苗种下以后，植树人总是隔几天才来浇水。他来的天数并没有规律，有时三天，有时五天，有时十几天才来一次。浇水的量也不一定，有时浇得多，有时浇得少。桃花心木苗有时就莫名其妙地枯萎了，所以，他来的时候总会带几株树苗来补种。
After the tree saplings were planted, the planter would come over to water them once every few days. His visits were on an irregular basis, an interval of three, sometimes five, or even a dozen of days. The amount of water he used for watering was also varied from time to time, sometimes more, sometimes less. Some mahogany saplings would then be found withered. Hence, whenever he came by, he would bring a few young plants to replace the withering ones.
我起先以为他太懒，隔那么久才为树浇水。但是，懒人怎么知道有几棵树会枯萎呢？他说：“种树是百年的基业，所以，树木自己要学会在土里找水源。我浇水只是模仿老天下雨，老天下雨是算不准的。如果无法在这种不确定中汲水生长，树苗自然就枯萎了。但是，只要在不确定中找到水源、拼命扎根，长成百年的大树就不成问题了。”
At first, I took him for a lazy man, someone who's too casual to take to heart the time to attend to his seedlings. However, how could someone like that know exactly how many plants were there withering? He said, "It takes a hundred years for trees to establish their firm footing. They need to explore water sources deep down in the soil for themselves. My watering is a simulation for raining, as unpredictable as rainfall. If a sapling can't adjust itself to the environment and find moisture for its own growth, naturally, it goes to wither. However, once it found water supply and settled its root deep in earth, no doubt the sapling would grow into a long-lasting tree."
种树人语重心长地说：“如果我每天都来浇水，每天定时浇一定量的水，树苗就会养成依赖的心，根就会浮在地表上，无法深入地下，一旦我停止浇水，树苗会枯萎得更多。幸而存活的树苗，遇到狂风暴雨，也会一吹就倒了。”
What he said was thought-provoking. He went on to explain, "If I came every day to give them a definite amount of water, the saplings would get used to it and rely on it. Their roots would remain skin-deep in the surface; there is no need for them to strike deep into the earth. If I happen to stop watering, the saplings would wither badly. Even those that survived accidentally would be easily broken in the storms."
植树者言，使我非常感动，想到不只是树，人也是一样。在不确定中，我们会养成独立自主的心，不会依赖，我们会把很少的养分转化为巨大的能量，努力生长。
I was moved by his remarks. I think the same is true for us human beings. When we encounter uncertainties, we would have to rely on ourselves and act on our own. In that way, we would be like the mahogany trees. Turning the little amount of nutrient we have absorbed into powerful energy to help us grow.
蒋雯丽朗诵林先生的《百合花》
推荐阅读
记着结合此软件一起使用哟！
翻译技术 | Search and Replace 翻译必备神器
篇篇有干货，天天有惊喜
点赞是鼓励，分享增知识！
长按以下二维码
欢迎关注“北极光翻译”