回家真好（一）

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春节越来越近，各位小伙伴是否已经踏上回家的路？本周我们分两期为大家推送华盛顿•欧文的一篇散文，看看欧文如何书写回家的喜悦。

Dulce Domum (1)

回家真好（一）

Washington Irving

华盛顿·欧文

We had passed for some time along the wall of a park, and at length the chaise stopped at the gate. It was in a heavy magnificent old style, of iron bars, fancifully wrought at top into flourishes and flowers. The huge square columns that supported the gate were surmounted by the family crest. Close adjoining was the porter’s lodge, sheltered under dark fir trees, and almost buried in shrubbery.

我们沿花园围墙走了一阵，马车最后在大门口停下。那是老式的铁栅门，样子很厚重很讲究，铁栅顶端锻有漂亮的花饰。支撑铁门的巨大方柱的上面冠以家族纹章。铁门旁是门卫的小房，房顶上方被幽森的冷杉遮挡，下面几乎被灌木丛掩埋。

The postboy rang a large porter’s bell, which resounded through the still, frosty air, and was answered by the distant barking of dogs, with which the mansion house seemed garrisoned. An old woman immediately appeared at the gate. As the moonlight fell strongly upon her, I had a full view of a little primitive dame, dressed very much in the antique taste, with a neat kerchief and stomacher, and her silver hair peeping from under a cap of snowy whiteness. She came curtseying forth, with many expressions of simple joy at seeing her young master. Her husband, it seemed, was up at the house keeping Christmas Eve in the servants’ hall; they could not do without him, as he was the best hand at a song and story in the household.

马车驭者敲响大门铃，铃声在寂静寒冷的空中回响，随之从远处传来狗的叫声，看来这座大宅院有狗驻守。一个老妇人立即出现在门口。当月光明亮地照在她身上，我眼前所见俨然是一个古代的娇小女人，身穿古式的衣服，颈上围着一条小巧的方巾，胸前戴一件兜饰，雪白的帽子下面露着银发。她行屈膝礼走过来，说了很多因看见年轻主人而感到高兴的话。她丈夫似乎正在仆人的餐厅里忙着过圣诞夜的事情；人们没有他不行，因为他在这个家里唱歌讲故事都是一把好手。

My friend proposed that we should alight and walk through the park to the hall, which was at no great distance, while the chaise should follow on. Our road wound through a noble avenue of trees, among the naked branches of which the moon glittered as she rolled through the deep vault of a cloudless sky. The lawn beyond was sheeted with a slight covering of snow, which here and there sparkled as the moon beams caught a frosty crystal; and at a distance might be seen a thin transparent vapour, stealing up from the low grounds and threatening gradually to shroud the landscape.

我的朋友建议我们下车，穿过花园直奔仆人的餐厅走过去，好在距离不远，马车可以在后面跟着。我们沿一条宽敞的林间大路蜿蜒前行，月亮在晴朗高远的天空移动，月光透过光秃秃的树枝闪闪发亮。那面的草坪盖着一层薄薄的雪，月光照到霜样的结晶时，有些地方便闪烁亮光；远处隐约可见一层透明的薄雾从低矮的地面缓缓升起，眼看就要将周围变成一片朦胧的景色。

译后语

关于文章标题，“Dulce Domum”原是一首歌曲的名字，英裔加拿大作曲家罗伯特·S. 安布罗斯（Robert Steele Ambrose, 1824—1908）所作，意为“Sweetly at Home”，此处译为《回家真好》。

阅读英语时，如能经常对英汉两种语言的表达方式和句子结构进行比较，常常会发现，我们用英语写作或做汉英翻译时，感觉棘手的一些概念在英语经典作家的笔下往往变得很简单、很自然，而且很生动。阅读美国作家华盛顿•欧文的作品就有这种感觉。例如：

(1) It was in a heavy magnificent old style, of iron bars, fancifully wrought at top into flourishes and flowers.

这句话的后半部分“fancifully wrought at top into flourishes and flowers”是说“铁栅顶端锻有漂亮的花饰”，这个表达方式看起来很简单，但“work”（锻）的过去分词形式的选择和介词短语“at top”的位置安排都是很有讲究的，除轻重音节的排列和节奏的效果外，很能唤起读者的想象。

(2) She came curtseying forth, with many expressions of simple joy at seeing her young master.

这里with短语中的“joy”一词有连接作用，对于前面的“expressions”具有修饰功能，后面的at短语道出“joy”产生的原因。这一小词使整个句子显得既自然又紧凑。

以上内容摘自《英语经典散文翻译与赏析》，刘士聪选译，谷启楠审译。图片来自网络。

本书为近代重要英语作家、名人的散文随笔选译本，收录蒲柏、骚塞、兰姆、狄更斯、吉卜林、休谟等名家的60篇散文精品。书中每个篇目包括作家简介、原文、译文和译后语四部分。

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