∷林巍 文／譯

原 文

[1] 人們一般認(rèn)為，“言為心聲”，即有何種思想感情便有怎樣的語言表達(dá)。然而，語言在許多情況下，又是有限的，不能盡如人意。

[2] 在我國古典文學(xué)作品中，不乏這樣的表述。例如，劉禹錫的《視刀環(huán)歌》: “常恨言語淺，不如人意深”；黃庭堅(jiān)的《品令》：“口不能言，心下快活自省”，《妙法蓮華經(jīng)·方便品》：“止、止不須說！我法妙難思”，以及“余欲無言”、“解人難索”、“辭不達(dá)意”等等。

[3] 更為典型是陶潛的《飲酒》：“此中有真意，欲辯已忘言”，而陸機(jī)的《文賦》：“恒患意不稱物，文不逮意”，透露的則是一種作者與言語之間永恒的掙扎。

[4] 著名學(xué)者錢鐘書論道：“談藝時(shí)每萌此感。聽樂、讀畫，睹好色勝景，神會魂與，而欲明何故，則已大難，即欲道何如，亦類賈生賦中鵬鳥之有臆無詞。巧構(gòu)形似，廣設(shè)譬喻，有如司空圖以還撰《詩品》者之所為，縱極描摹刻畫之功，僅收影響模糊之效，終不獲使他人聞見親切。是以或云詩文品藻只是繞不可言者而盤旋”（《管錐編》）。

[5] 當(dāng)代作家章詒和亦有一段刻骨銘心的描述：“我拿起筆，也是在為自己尋找繼續(xù)生存的理由和力量，拯救我即將枯萎的心。而提筆的那一刻，才知道語言的無用，文字的無力。它們似乎永遠(yuǎn)無法敘述出一個(gè)人內(nèi)心的愛與樂，苦與仇”（《往事并不如煙》）。正如劉勰在《文心雕龍·神思》中所說：“思表纖旨，文外曲致，言所不追，筆固知止”。

[6] 同時(shí)，語言一旦形成，又有其相對的獨(dú)立性和多面性。例如，墨子的說“言多方”，“行而異，轉(zhuǎn)而危，遠(yuǎn)而失，流而離本”（《墨子·小取》）；呂不韋言：“言不可以不察”，“多類非而是，多類是而非”（《呂氏春秋·察傳》）。而這從另一方面證實(shí)了語言的“不可靠性”。

[7] 總之，理解語言的局限性，其實(shí)有利于我們更深刻地認(rèn)識和掌握語言。

譯 文

[1] It is said “words are the voice of the mind”, that is to say whatever thinking and emotions one may have will finally be re flected in his or her language. However, in many cases, language is limited and may not be as powerful as one may expect.

[2] Concerning the issue, there is no shortage of descriptions of this kind in Chinese classical literatures. For examples, Liu Yuxi (772—842)wrote: “How lamentable it is that words are so powerless to express one’s deep feelings; there is no match between the two” (“Shidao huange”);Huang Tingjian (1045—1105) had a poem: “While my mouth may not be unable to utter what I am feeling, my heart is really content with what I have appreciated”(“Pinling”). Also, a Buddha in the Lotus Sutra:“Stop, stop! There is no need to utter anymore since my dharma is so marvelous and it is impossible to convey it to anyone” (Miaofa lianhua jing, “Fangbian”). Meanwhile, expressions of this kind are: “my feelings can hardly be described in any language”, “it is hard to find someone who can really appreciate what I have meant”, “my language fails to express my idea” so on and so forth.

[3] More typically, Tao Yuanming (365—427) said in his “Poems after Drinking Wine”: “There are certain things that move me deeply,which I would like to tell but at the very moment I lose the words”. The critic Lu Ji (261—303) had a comment in his Rhapsody on Literature:“My constant concern is that my ideas may not have re flected the objects accurately, and my writing may be de ficient of my abundant ideas”, revealing a constant struggle between an author and his language.

[4] As the well-known scholar Qian Zhongshu points out,“Discussing literatures or arts often causes the same frustration. When listening to music, viewing a painting, or enjoying fabulous scenery,your heart and soul are merged with the things that have been perceived. Yet it is almost impossible for you to describe and convey what you have been moved by at the spot; if you do that, you may end up resembling the roc in Jia Yi’s poem where he could not put his thoughts into words properly. Or, if you imaginatively construct a delicate framework of analogies where abundant metaphors and figures of speech are presented, as Sikong Tu did in his Modes of Poetry, you may have drawn or carved a replica vividly, but still only fashioned a resemblance which never affects others to have the same aesthetic experience as you had.That is the reason why it has been widely agreed that literary criticism, for instance, should basically never be expressed in words; it can only be circled around in the field (Limited Views).

[5] The contemporary writer Zhang Yihe has a heartbreaking writing: “By writing this book, my desire was to relieve my dying heart and to gain some strength and purpose for my survival.However, I was dead wrong! The moment I picked up the pen,I realized how powerless and useless the words, the language!... I doubt they can ever convey a person’s true love, joy, pain or hatred” (The Past Events Have not Vanished like Smoke). This has proved literary critic Liu Xie’s (465—522) point in his Dragon Carvings on the Literary Mind: “The delicate nuances of language lie at the boundaries of thought and the subtle meanings of a sense of feeling beyond any written words: this is where a speech is held back from its further pursuit and a pen halts without a clear realization”.

[6] Meanwhile, once a saying is formed it becomes independent and multifaceted. As Mozi said that “Utterance has many meanings”,“As the language is being conveyed its meanings may vary gradually; as it changes its course, it may damage someone. When it is carried far away, it will be lost somewhere; when it is set adrift it will deviate from its original route” (Mozi, “Xiaoqu”). Also, the historian Lü Buwei pointed out in his The Spring and Autumn Annals of Lü: “Words cannot go without being scrutinized”. “More often than not words appear to be one thing but turn up to be another”. These comments have illustrated the “unreliability” of a language from another prospective.

[7] In short, by realizing its limitations, we may in fact gain certain insights in mastering a language.

譯 注

在[1]中，“言為心聲”有幾種譯法，如speech is the picture of the mind; the tongue speaks what the heart thinks 等，本文用的是words are the voice of the mind， 試加比較。類似的還有：“人的心理真是奇妙，言為心聲一點(diǎn)不假”（A person’s psychology is a subtle thing; how true it is that words are echoes of the heart）。

對于“不盡如人意”，未采取一般的譯法，如far from being satisfactory; not just as one wishes; not entirely satisfactory等，而是根據(jù)上下文，譯為 language ... may not be as powerful as one may expect，以更符合原意。其實(shí)，該種表述可有多種，因語境的不同而變化，如：“這當(dāng)然不是件容易的事情，而且我敢說，這總會讓人覺得不盡如人意”（Of course this is hard, and I can say I fell short many times）；“農(nóng)村的生活環(huán)境也不盡如人意”（Life in the country may not be much better）；“作為教師，意味著大量的犧牲和付出更多的時(shí)間，可報(bào)酬卻不盡如人意”（Becoming a teacher means a lot of sacri fices and lot of time worked but the pay is not satisfying）；“有時(shí)候，盡管我們盡力了，結(jié)果還是不盡如人意”（Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the outcome is not positive）；“盡管數(shù)量不盡如人意，但質(zhì)量還是很好的”（Although it’s not suf ficient in quantity, it is perfect in quantity）等等。

在[2]中，對于古代作家的引用，標(biāo)示出生卒年，為的是讓讀者對其有一大致時(shí)間段的了解，而對于古代典籍引書的處理，則可分為兩種：一種是即使翻譯過去也沒有實(shí)際意義的，如《視刀環(huán)歌》、《品令》等，便不妨音譯出，附于引文后；另一種，有實(shí)際意義、易于理解的，便翻譯其意，放于引文前，如下述段落中的《飲酒》、《文賦》、《文心雕龍》等。

對于下述經(jīng)典語句，亦可作出不同的翻譯，如：“常恨言語淺，不如人意深”（How regrettable it is that words are so shallow, they never match the depth of one’s feelings）；“口不能言，心下快活自省”（my mouth cannot utter the words, but my heart is quite content with its understanding）；“止、止不須說！我法妙難思”（Stop, stop!There is no need to utter. My dharma is so marvelous and it’s impossible to conceive）；“余欲無言”（there are no words to express what I wish to say）、“解人難索”（it’s hard to find someone who can appreciate my words）、“辭不達(dá)意”（the words fail to convey the idea）等等，試加比較。

在[3]中，對于陶淵明、陸機(jī)的名句，亦可作出不同的翻譯，如：“此中有真意，欲辯已忘言”（these is a fundamental truth in these things and,I would like to utter it out but lack the words）；“恒患意不稱物，文不逮意”（my constant worry is that my ideas may not equal my objects and my writing may fall short of my ideas）試加比較。至于“透露的則是一種作者與言語之間永恒的掙扎”，則不妨為：...revealing a constant struggle between an author and his language.

在[4]中，“談藝時(shí)每萌此感。聽樂、讀畫，睹好色勝景，神會魂與，而欲明何故，則已大難，即欲道何如，亦類賈生賦中鵬鳥之有臆無詞”，其中的“感”，不是一般的feeling, sensation 等，而此處不妨略為夸張為frustration；“欲明何故，則已大難”、“有臆無詞”講述的都是“臆”與“詞”之間的矛盾，故多用了 impossible,not appropriate, describe, put into words 等等。

在[5]中，“我拿起筆，也是在為自己尋找繼續(xù)生存的理由和力量，拯救我即將枯萎的心。而提筆的那一刻，才知道語言的無用，文字的無力。它們似乎永遠(yuǎn)無法敘述出一個(gè)人內(nèi)心的愛與樂，苦與仇”，其中的“理由和力量”未必是reason and power，而這里可理解為purpose and strength，或調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)詞序；“而提筆的那一刻”，其潛臺詞是“才知我是大錯特錯了”，故不妨補(bǔ)充道I was dead wrong!“語言的無用，文字的無力”，其實(shí)是一種“互文”，即“語言和文字的無用和無力”，故可融合

譯之：how powerless and useless the words, the language!

在[6]中，“言多方”除本譯文外，似還可譯成 language is multifaceted,speech takes many directions, word is always unpredictable 等等，試加比較。

在[7]中，“更深刻地認(rèn)識和掌握語言”，容易譯成more deeply recognize and master the language，其實(shí) insight一詞在此更能傳意，其意為 the act or fact of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively；同時(shí)，不妨將“認(rèn)識”并于“掌握”（語言）之中，譯為we may in fact gain certain insights in mastering a language，以為更加貼切。英漢翻譯中，常有這種“合并同類項(xiàng)”，如：“他初出茅廬，沒有什么經(jīng)驗(yàn)”（He is a green hand）；“這聽起來好像是童話故事，但它確實(shí)是真人真事，不相信也無濟(jì)于事”（It sounded like a fairy tale—but it was all too brutally real）；就其基本內(nèi)容而言，這一學(xué)說提出的論點(diǎn)包括：光速是宇宙中最快的速度 （Basically,the theory proposed, among other things, that the maximum speed possible in the universe is that of light）；這個(gè)國家濫伐森林，造成生態(tài)失調(diào)（Ecological imbalance has shadowed the country because of its being prodigal of its forests）?？梢?，譯文因此被“簡化”許多。