張培基英譯中國現代散文選(一)之《父親》

父親 

——魯彥 

  “父親已經上了六十歲了，還想作一點事業，積一點錢，給我造起屋子來(1)。”一個朋友從北方來，告訴了我這樣的話。 

  他的話使我想起了我的父親(2)。我的父親正是和他的父親完全一樣的。 

  我的父親曾經為我苦了一生，把我養大，送我進學校，為我造了屋子，買了幾畝田地。六十歲那一年，還到漢口去做生意，怕人家嫌他年老，只說自己五十幾歲(3)。大家都勸他不要再出門，他偏背著包裹走了。 

  “讓我再幫兒子幾年(4)！”他只是這樣說。 

  后來屋子被火燒掉了，他還想再做生意，把屋子重造起來。我安慰他說，三年以后我自己就可積起錢造屋了(5)，還是等一等吧。他答應了。他給我留下了許多造屋的材料，告訴我這樣可以做什么那樣可以做什么。他死的以前不久，還對我說： 

“早一點造起來吧，我可以給你監工(6)。” 

  但是他終于沒有看見屋子重造起來就死了。他彌留的時候對我說，一切都滿足了。但是我知道他倘能再活幾年，我把屋子造起來，是他所最心愿的。我聽他彌留時的呻吟和嘆息。我知道他還想再活幾年，幫我造起屋子來。 

現在我自己已是幾個孩子的父親了。我愛孩子，但我沒有像前一輩父親的想法，幫孩子一直幫到老，幫到死還不足。我贊美前一輩父親的美德，而自己卻不跟著他們的步伐走去。 

  我覺得我的孩子累我，使我受到極大的束縛。我沒有對他們永久的計劃，甚至連短促的也沒有。 

  “倘使有人要，我愿意把他們送給人家！”我常常這樣說，當我厭惡孩子的時候。 

  唉，和前一輩做父親的一比，我覺得我們這一輩生命力薄弱得可憐，我們二三十歲的前輩，  他們雖然老的老死的死了，但是他們才是真正活著到現在到將來。 

  而我們呢，雖然活著，卻是早已死了。

 

注釋 

《父親》是我國近代優秀作家魯彥（1901-1944）寫的一篇散文。文章追述父親為兒子勞碌一生，是對父愛的贊頌。原文風格樸素，英譯時文字也應力求通俗。 

(1)“積一點錢，給我造起屋子來”譯為to save up for a house to be built for me，其中to save up for是成語，作“為……而把錢存起來”解。 

(2)“他的話使我想起了我的父親”譯為that put me in mind of my father等于That reminded me of my father。To put one in mind of,,,是成語。 

(3)“只說五十幾歲”譯為tried to make out that he was still in his fifties，其中to make out是成語，作“聲稱”或“假裝”等解。 

(4)“讓我再幫兒子幾年！”譯為：Let me toil a few more years for my son’s sake！如把原文中的“幫”字直譯為help，則欠達意。 

(5)“就可積起錢造屋了”譯為would have laid by enough money for a new house，其中laid by是成語，作“積蓄”解。 

(6)“早一點造起來吧，我可以給你監工。”如逐字硬譯為Let the construction of the house get started as soon as possible so that I can oversee the work for you則欠口語化。現用意譯法靈活處理為You’d better get started right away so that I can watch to see that everything is done properly。 

Father 

——Lu Yan 

    “Father is now over sixty, but he still wants to work to save up for a house to be built for me,” a friend of mine from North China told me. 

    That put me in mind of my father. My father was very much like his. 

    Father went through untold hardships for me all his life. He brought me up, sent me to school, had a house built for me and bought me a few mu of land. He went to Hankou to engage in trade the year when he was already sixty. And he tried to make out that he was still in his fifties lest people should consider him too old to be of much use. We had all tried to dissuade him from going out to Hankou, but he simply wouldn’t listen and left home carrying the luggage on his back. 

    “Let me toil a few more years for my son’s sake!” That was what he said. 

    It happened afterwards that the house was burned down. And he wanted to go back to his business in order to have the house rebuilt. I tried to console him, saying that there was no need for him to do it because in three years’ time I myself would have laid by enough money for a new house. He agreed. Then he gave me a lot of building materials and told me what to do with them. Shortly before his death, he urged me, 

    “You’d better get started right away so that I can watch to see that everything is done properly.” 

    Unfortunately he didn’t live long enough to see the new house. He told me on his deathbed that had nothing to feel sorry about. But I knew he would be much happier if he could live a few more years just to see the new house put up. When I heard his dying groans and sighs, I believed they were caused not by physical pain, but by regret for not being able to live a few more years to help me with the new house. 

    Now I myself am a father of several children. Though I love my kids, I do not share the idea of father and people of his time that one can never do too much in his lifetime to help his children.   Much as I admire father and people of his time for their moral excellence, I can never follow in their footsteps. 

    I think of my children as an encumbrance to me I haven’t worked out a long-term plan for them, nay, not even a short-term one. 

    “I’d like to give away my kids to anyone who’s willing to take them!” That’s what I say whenever I am fed up with them. 

    Alas, compared with father and people of his time, the present generation, I think, have pitifully low vitality. We in our twenties or thirties cannot compare with our elders in their sixties or seventies. Today they may be advanced in years or even no more, but they will, nevertheless, live forever and ever. 

    As for us, though still alive, we have long been dead.