裴舒蕓
(天津農(nóng)學院 天津 300000)
葛浩文在翻譯《紅高粱家族》的過程中,充分發(fā)揮了譯者主體性,在盡量忠實原文的前提下,進行了適度改寫,以提高譯文的可讀性和可接受性。[1]譯者主體性在《紅高粱家族》翻譯過程中主要體現(xiàn)在以下幾方面:
例1:爺爺他們走在街上聽到人們的唧唧低語聲,便昂首挺胸,竭力想表現(xiàn)出英雄氣概,心里卻七上八下,忐忑不安,沉重的憂慮像石頭一樣壓在每個人心頭。
譯文:When Granddad and the others heard whispers from the crowd, they raised their heads and thrust out their chests, wanting to leave a gallant impression.Deep down, however, they were worried.
此處描寫的是主人公“我爺爺”余占鰲做杠夫時,在綦翰林家抬水銀棺材時的心情,原著使用了一些四字成語和隱喻,如“心上八下”“忐忑不安”“像石頭一樣壓在每個人心頭”。而譯文僅用“worried”一詞來表現(xiàn)主人公的憂慮,反映出葛浩文譯文對詞匯采用了簡化的方式。一方面,使譯文易讀易懂;另一方面,簡潔不重復的表達,也更契合西方讀者的審美需求。
例2:一輪明月冉冉升起,遍地高粱肅然默立,高粱穗子浸在月光里,像蘸過水銀,汩汩生輝。
譯文:A bright round moon climbed slowly in the sky above the solemn, silent sorghum fields, bathing the tassels in its light until they shimmered like mercury.
原文中,莫言使用了一些具有中國古典韻味的詞匯,如“冉冉升起”“汩汩生輝”。為了便于譯文讀者理解,葛浩文采用了意譯或釋義的譯法,用“climbed slowly”和“shimmered”進行翻譯,經(jīng)過簡化處理,降低了外國讀者的閱讀難度。[2]
例1:你簡直是魯班門前搶大斧,關爺面前耍大刀,孔夫子面前背《三字經(jīng)》,李時珍耳邊念《藥性賦》,給我拿下啦!
譯文: You schemed to manipulate the local government and deceive me, like someone wielding an ax at the door of master carpenter Lu Ban, or waving his sword at the door of the swordsman Lord Guan,or reciting the Three Character Classic at the door of the wise Confucius, or whispering the Phapsody on the Nature of Medicine in the ear of the physician Li Shizhen.
對于“魯班”“關爺”“孔夫子”“李時珍”等富含中國文化背景的詞匯,若譯者僅譯名字,而不加注釋的話,外國讀者對這些人物一無所知,會阻礙讀者的理解。因此,葛浩文選擇直譯加文內(nèi)注釋的方法進行解釋和說明,在每個人名前添加最簡潔的文字介紹其身份。這樣,既幫助西方讀者更深入地理解原文,也保證了讀者閱讀的流暢性。
例2:那天是清明節(jié),桃紅柳綠,細雨霏霏,人面桃花,女兒解放。
譯文:It was Qingming, the day set aside to attend ancestral graves, peach trees were in full bloom, willows were green, a fine rain was falling, and the girls’ faces looked like peach blossoms.It was a day of freedom for them.
清明節(jié)是中國傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日,是中國人掃墓祭祖的日子。大多數(shù)西方讀者對這個節(jié)日非常陌生。鑒于此,葛浩文此處采用增譯法進行補充,最大限度保留了原文的文化印跡。
例1:長大后努力學習馬克思主義,我終于悟到:高密東北鄉(xiāng)無疑是地球上最美麗最丑陋、最超脫最世俗、最圣潔最齷齪、最英雄好漢最王八蛋、最能喝酒最能愛的地方。
I didn’t realize until I’d grown up that Northeast Gaomi Township is easily the most beautiful and most repulsive, most unusual and most common, most sacred and most corrupt, most heroic and most bastardly,hardest-drinking and hardest-loving place in the world.
葛浩文在翻譯此處時省去“馬克思主義”,使這句中的政治色彩被巧妙地消除,回避了因中西方意識形態(tài)差異而導致讀者在閱讀時可能產(chǎn)生的抵觸情緒。[3]
例1:“大哥大哥大哥,太君讓我干,我不敢不干……你死后升了天,騎白馬,配雕鞍,穿蟒袍,墜金鞭……”
“Elder brother elder brother elder brother,Commander made me do it, couldn’t help myself…you exist in heaven, where you ride a white horse on a carved saddle, wear fine clothes, carry a golden whip…”
原文的“升天”,在中國道教文化中,指人得道成神成仙以后生活的世界,這有別于基督教中的“天堂”(heaven)。但為了讓譯入語讀者理解原文,葛浩文用“exist in heaven”來譯“升了天”。這是因為西方人大多信基督教,選用一個大多數(shù)讀者熟悉的宗教詞匯,更容易讓目標語讀者理解和接受。
從以上例證可以看出,譯者葛浩文在從事翻譯活動時,通過對原作進行一定程度的改寫,以使其符合譯者所處社會主流意識形態(tài)和審美需求,以達到譯作被盡可能多的讀者接受的目的。