張培基英譯中國現代散文選(一)之《話說短文》

話說短文 
     ——冰心 
   也許是我的精、氣、神都江堰市不足吧(1)，不但自己寫不出長的東西，人讀一本刊物時，也總是先挑短的看，不論是小說、散文或是其他的文學形式，最后才看長的。 
   我總覺得，凡是為了非傾吐不可而寫的作品，都是充滿了真情實感的。反之，只是為寫作而寫作，如(2)上之為應付編輯朋友(3)，一之為多拿稿費，這類文章大都是盡量地往長里寫，結果是即便的一點點的感情，也被沖洗到水分太多(4)、淡而無味的地步。 
   當由一個人物，一樁事跡，一幅畫面而發生的真情實感，向你襲來的時候，它就像一根扎到你心尖上(5)的長針，一陣卷到你面前的怒潮，你只能用最真切、最簡練的文字，才能描畫出你心尖上的那一陣劇痛和你面前的那一霎驚惶！ 
   我們偉大的祖國，是有寫短文的文學傳統的(6)。那部包括上下數千年的《古文觀止》，“上起東周，下迄明末，共選輯文章220篇”有幾篇是長的(7)？如杜牧的《阿房宮賦》，韓愈的《祭十二郎文》(8)等等，哪一篇不是短而充滿了真情實感？今人的巴金的《隨感錄》，不也是一個實例嗎(9)？

注釋： 
《話說短文》是冰心寫于1988年1月的隨筆。作者一針見血地指出“為寫作而寫作”的不正之風以及崇尚長文的時弊。 
(1)“也許是我的精、氣、神都不足吧”也可譯為Perhaps due to deficiency in my mental and physical energy，但不如Perhaps due to my failing energies簡潔。“精、氣、神”在文中顯得俏皮，意即“精力”，故譯為energies即可。 
(2)“如”即‘比如說“，譯為say。英語中舉例時常用say這個字，和for詞example同義。 
(3)“為應付編輯朋友”的意思是“遷就編輯朋友之約或要求”，故譯為top humour one’s editor-friends。英語to humour作to gratify by compliance解。 
(4)“也被沖洗到水份太多”意即“變得夸張空洞”，故譯為“become inflated。 
(5)“你心尖上”即“你的內心深處”或“你的心頭”，譯為your heart即可，不宜按字面譯為the tip of your heart。 
(6)“我們偉大的祖國，是有寫短文的文學傳統的”也可譯為Our great motherland has a literary tradition of short essays，但不如Our motherland is known for its literary tradition of short essays靈活順口。 
(7)“……有幾篇是長的？”譯為Do you find anything unduely long…，其中unduely是添加成分，作“不適當地”或“過分地”解，原文雖無其詞而有其意。 
(8)“《祭十二郎文》”譯為An elegiac Address to My Nephew Shi’erlang，其中My Nephew是為交待“十二郎”何許人而添加的成分，有助于讀者的理解，屬釋義性譯文。 
(9)“……不也是一個實例嗎？”譯為Isn’t …another like example of pithy writing?，其中like和of pithy writing均為添加成分，原文雖無其詞而有其意。

 
A Chat about Short Essays 
                         ——Bing Xin 
    Perhaps due to my failing energies, not only have I refrained from writing anything long, but also, in reading a magazine, for example, I usually finish its shorter pieces of writing first, be they fiction, prose or any other forms of literature, before going on to the longer ones. 
    I always believe that anything written with an irresistible inner urge to unbosom oneself must be full of genuine feelings. On the contrary, if one writes simply for the sake of writing—say, to humour one’s editor friends, or worse still, to earn more remuneration, one will most probably make his writings unnecessarily long until they become, despite what little feeling they may contain, inflated and wishy-washy. 
    When true emotions aroused by a person, an event or a scene come upon you like a pin pricking your heart or an angry tide surging threateningly before you, all you can do is use y=the most vivid and succinct language to describe the severe pain in your heart or the momentary feeling of panic caused by the angry tide. 
    Our great motherland is known for its literary tradition of short essays. Do you find anything unduely long in A Treasury of Best Ancient Chinese Prose with its 220 essays selected from a period of several thousand years in ancient China from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty down until the end of the  Ming Dynasty? Aren’t the essays in it, like Du Mu’s Rhapsody on Epang Palace and Han Yu’s An  Elegiac Address to My Nephew Shi’erlang, all short and yet full of true feelings? Isn’t A  Collection of Random Thoughts by Ba Jin, our contemporary, another like example of pithy writing?