張培基英譯中國現代散文選(一) 之《白楊禮贊》

白楊禮贊 
    ——茅盾 
   白楊樹實在是不平凡的，我贊美白楊樹！ 
   當汽車在望不到邊際的高原上奔馳，撲入你的視野的，是黃綠錯綜的一條大氈子(1)；黃的，那是土，未開墾的處女土，幾十萬年前由偉大的自然力所堆積成功的黃土高原的外殼；綠的呢，是人類戰勝自然的結果，是麥田，和風吹送，翻起了一輪一輪的綠波——這時你會真心佩服昔人所造的兩個字“麥浪”，若不是妙手偶得，便確是經過錘煉的語言的精華；黃與綠主宰著，無邊無垠，坦蕩如砥(2)，這時如果不是宛若并肩的遠山的連峰提醒了你（這些山峰憑你的肉眼來判斷，就知道是在你腳底下的），你會忘記了汽車是在高原上行駛。這時你涌起來的感想也許是“雄壯”，也許是“偉大”，諸如此類的形容詞；然而同時你的眼睛也許覺得有點倦怠，你對當前的“雄壯”或“偉大”閉了眼(3)，而另一種味兒在你的心頭潛滋暗長(4)了——“單調”！可不是，單調，有一點兒吧？ 
   然而剎那間，要是你猛抬眼看見了前面遠遠地有一排，——不，或者甚至只是三五株，一二株，傲然地聳立，像哨兵似的樹木的話，那你的懨懨欲睡(5)的情緒又將如何？我那時是驚奇地叫了一聲的！ 
   那就是白楊樹，西北極普通的一種樹，然而實在不是平凡的一種樹！ 
那是一種力爭上游的一種樹，筆直的干，筆直的枝。它的干呢，通常是丈把高，像是加過人工似的，一丈以內，絕無旁枝；它所有的丫枝呢，一律向上，而且緊緊靠攏，也像是加過人工似的，成為一束，絕無橫斜逸出(6)；它的寬大的葉子也是片片向上，幾乎沒有斜生的，更不用說倒垂了；它的皮，光滑而有銀色的暈圈，微微泛出淡青色。這是雖在北方的風雪的壓迫下卻保持著倔強挺立的一種樹！哪怕只有碗來精細罷，它卻努力向上發展，高到丈許，二丈，參天聳立，不折不撓，對抗著西北風。 
   這就是白楊樹，西北極普通的一種樹，然而決不是平凡的樹！它沒有婆娑的姿態，沒有屈曲盤旋(7)的虬枝，也許你要說它不美麗，——如果美是專指“婆娑”或“橫斜逸出”之類而言，那么白楊樹算不得樹中的好女子；但是它卻是偉岸(8)，正直，樸質，嚴肅，也不缺乏溫和，更不用提它的堅強不屈與挺拔，它是樹中偉丈夫！當你在積雪初融的高原上走過，看見平坦的大地上傲然挺立這么一株或一排白楊樹，難道你覺得樹只是樹？難道你就想不它的樸質，嚴肅，堅強不屈，至少也象征了北方的農民；難道你竟一點也不聯想到，在敵后的廣大土地上，到處有堅強不屈，就像這白楊樹一樣傲然挺立的守衛他們家鄉的哨兵(9)，難道你又不更遠一點想到這樣枝枝葉葉靠緊團結，力求上進的白楊樹，宛然象征了今天在華北平原縱橫激蕩(10)，用血寫出新中國歷史的那種精神和意志。 
   白楊不是平凡的樹。它是西北極普遍，不被人重視，就跟北方農民相似；它有極強的生命力(11)，磨折不了，壓迫不倒，也跟北方的農民相似。我贊美白楊樹，就因為它不但象征了北方的農民，尤其象征了今天我們民族解放斗爭中所不可缺的(12)樸質，堅強，以及力求上進的精神。 
讓那些看不起民眾，賤視民眾，頑固的倒退的人們去贊美那貴族化的楠木(13)（那也是直干秀頎(14)的），去鄙視這極常見，極易生長的白楊罷，但是我要高聲贊美白楊樹！

注釋： 
《白楊禮贊》是茅盾在抗日戰爭期間1941年3月寫的一篇著名散文。 
(1)“是黃綠錯綜的一條大氈子”譯為something like a huge yellow-and-green felt blanket，其中something like是為適應英語上下文而增添的成分，變隱喻為明喻，使譯文讀來更順當。又yellow-and-green（或yellow and green）和yellow green不同，前者為黃綠雜處，構成一種花色，后者為黃綠混合，即綠中帶黃。 
(2)“坦蕩如砥”意即平坦得像一塊磨刀石，現直譯為flat like a whetstone，保留原文的比喻。 
(3)“你對當前的‘雄壯’或‘偉大’閉了眼”意即你對眼前的景色不再感到“雄壯”或“偉大”，現譯為you are oblivious of its being spectacular or grand，其中oblivious of作“忘卻”或“不覺得”解。 
(4)“潛滋暗長”意即“逐漸開始”，現譯為coming on。英語短語to come on作to begin by degree解。 
(5)“懨懨欲睡”作“困倦”解，故譯為weariness。 
(6)“橫斜逸出”指樹枝從樹干的旁邊斜伸出來，現譯為sideway growth。 
(7)“屈曲盤旋”意即彎彎曲曲地向上爬，現譯為twine and climb。 
(8)“偉岸”意即“高大”，現譯為big and tall。 
(9)“守衛他們的家鄉的哨兵”中的“哨兵”實際上指“士兵”或“戰士”，不宜譯為sentries。全部短語應譯為soldiers guarding our homeland。 
(10)“縱橫激蕩”意即到處同敵人英勇戰斗，現譯為fighting heroically。 
(11)“有極強的生命力”譯為are bursting with vitality，其中burst with意同full of。 
(12)“我們民族解放斗爭中所不可缺的……”譯為…central to our struggle for national liberation，其中central to意同essential to。 
(13)“楠木”是一種常綠喬木，質地堅硬，為貴重木材，現譯為namu。 
(14)“秀頎”意即美麗而高大。現譯為good-looking and tall。

 
Tribute to the White Poplar 
                           ——Mao Dun 
    The white poplar is no ordinary tree. Let me sing its praises. 
    When you travel by car through Northwest China’s boundless plateau, all you see before you is something like a huge yellow-and-green felt blanket. Yellow is the soil—the uncultivated virgin soil. It is the outer covering of the loess plateau accumulated by Mother Nature several hundred thousand years ago. Green are the wheat fields signifying man’s triumph over nature. They become a sea of rolling green waves whenever there is a soft breeze. One is here reminded of Chinese expression mai lang meaning “rippling wheat” and cannot help admiring our forefathers’ ingenuity in coining such a happy phrase. It must have been either the brainwave of a clever scholar, or a linguistic gem sanctioned by long usage. The boundless highland, with dominant yellow and green, is flat like a whetstone. Were it not for distant mountain peaks standing side by side (which, as your naked eyes tell you, are bellow where you stand), you would probably forget that you are on the highland. The sight of the scene will probably call up inside you a string of epithets like “spectacular” or “grand”. Meanwhile, however, your eyes may become weary of watching the same panorama, so much so that you are oblivious of its being spectacular or grand. And you may feel monotony coming on. Yes, it is somewhat monotonous, isn’t it? 
    Now what will become of your weariness if you suddenly raise your eyes only to catch 
sight of distant row of trees (or just a couple of them) standing there proudly like sentries. For my part, I cannot keep from uttering an exclamation of surprise! 
    They are white poplars. Though very common in Northwest China, they are no ordinary trees! 
    With straight trunks and branches, white poplars aim high. Their trunks are usually over ten feet tall and, as if wrought by human effort, utterly bare of branches below ten feet. Their twigs, also like things artificially shaped, all reach out towards the sky and grow close together in a cluster without any sideway growth. Their leaves are broad and point upwards with very few slanting sideways, much less upside down. Their glossy barks are a faint light green with hazy silver spots.  They stand erect and unbending in face of North China’s violent wind and snow. Though they may be only as big as the mouth of bowl, they strive to grow upwards until they reach the towering height of some twenty feet and stand indomitable against the northwest wind. 
    They are white poplar. Though very common in Northwest China, they are no ordinary tree! You may call them unattractive because they have neither the graceful carriage of a dancer, nor such branches as can twine and climb. But nevertheless they are big and tall, honest and upright, simple and plain, earnest and unyielding—and not without gentleness and warmth though. They are giants among trees! When you trudge through the melting snow of the highland and see one or a row of white poplars standing proudly on the vast plains, how could you look upon them as nothing but mere trees?How could you forget that with all their simplicity, earnestness and unyieldingness, they are symbolic of our peasants in the North? How could you fail to associate them with our dauntless soldiers guarding our homeland all over the vast rear? How could you fail to see that these trees, ever striving to put out their closely knit branches and leaves in an upward direction, are symbolic of the spirit and will of our men who, fighting heroically all over the northern plains, are writing the history of New China with their own blood? 
    White poplars are no ordinary trees. But these common trees in Northwest China are as much ignored as our peasants in the North. However, like our peasants in the North, they are bursting with vitality and capable of surviving any hardship or oppression. I pay tribute to them because they symbolize our peasants in the North and, in particular, the spirit of honesty, tenacity and forging ahead—a spirit central to our struggle for national liberation. 
    The reactionary diehards, who despise and snub the common people, can do whatever they like to eulogize the elite nanmu (which is also tall, straight and good-looking) and look down upon the common, fast-growing white poplar. I, for my part, will be loud in my praise of the latter!