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我可能是天津人 ]
侯宝林
还是从火车上说起吧!大约在我四岁多的时候，我坐过火车。当时带我坐车的人，是我的舅舅，叫张全斌。我记得那时我的打扮挺滑稽的，穿着蓝布大褂、小坎肩，戴瓜皮小帽。那时候，小孩子打扮成那个样子，够不错了。在我的童年中，也就只：有过这么一次。在火车上，因为小，没坐过火车，也很少见过家里以外的人，觉得挺新鲜。也许人在幼年时代终归想要些温暖吧!那时舅舅抱着我，哄着我，我觉得很温暖。一路上吃了半斤炒栗子，睡了一会儿觉，就到了北京。根据这个情况，现在估计起来，我可能是从天津来的。我现在对我原来的父母还有个模糊不清的印象，父亲、母亲的形象还能回忆起一点儿，但很模糊。究竟家里姓什么?哪里人?不知道。我只知道自己的生日和乳名。生日是自己长大以后听家里大人说的，是农历十月十五酉时生人。所以我的乳名叫“酉”，北京人爱用儿化韵，前面加个小，后面加“儿”，就叫“小酉儿”。关于我个人的历史情况，我就知道这一些，再多一点都记不起来了。
汉译英参考译文：
I Might Have Come from Tianjin
Hou Baolin
Translated by LIU Shi-cong
Let me begin with my trip on the train. When I was about four years old I had traveled by train. The man I traveled with was my uncle Zhang Quanbin. I still remem琤er how funny I looked the way I was dressed - in a blue cloth gown with a short sleeveless jacket over it and a skullcap on the head. In those days it was good enough for small kids to be dressed like that. However, it was my only experience to boast about in my childhood. As I had never traveled by train or met anyone outside my family before, I felt everything on the train was new to me. Probably in childhood, one always needs some comfort. Sitting in my uncle's lap, being humored all the way, I was very happy. We ate half a jin of roast chestnuts, had a nap and soon ar瑀ived in Beijing. With the hints mentioned above I assume
I might have come from Tianjin. Even today I can recol琹ect what my own parents looked like but, of course, my impression is blurry. As for what my family name was and where my parents came from, I really don't know. I only remember my birthday and my infant name. I was told about my birthday by my foster-parents when I grew up. I was born in the “you\" period (between 5-7 p.m.), 15th of the 10th lunar month. So I was named You. Prefixed with xiao-young, and suffixed with a diminutive er--an inti琺ate way of addressing young and small things by Beijingers, my name, therefore, became Xiao You'r. This is all I know about my childhood and beyond that I do not re琺ember much else.
[导 读]
侯宝林是难得的相声演员，是天才的艺术家。他己于l993年去世，中国文化的一大损失。1982年，他写了一本《我的青少年时代》，由北京出版社出版，这段文字为该书的第一段。侯宝林是一个有多方面才能的艺术家。他的相声说得好，也有多种因素，其一是他的语言好。他使用民间流行的口语，语言里有丰富的社会内容和文化内涵，有很强的生命力。话由他说出来，特别有味道。他的语言普通百姓喜欢，文化程度高的人也欣赏，所以他生前被北京大学请去作兼职教授。
翻译侯宝林的文字要用口头语言，要简单明了，要有韵味。通过下面几个例句加以说明。
例1. 当时带我坐车的人，是我的舅舅，叫张全斌。
The man I traveled with was my uncle Zhang Quanbin。
这句话有两个地方要处理好，一是“带我”，二是“坐车”。因为前面已经提到坐火车的事，此处似乎不必再把“坐火车”重译出来，译出来反而啰嗦。“带我”也不宜寻求相应的动词直译，用to take或to carry似乎都不妥。用“The man I traveled with”表示了“带我坐车的人”，虽然其中有一个定语从句，实际上是一个很简单的说法，说起来很顺口。
例2。我记得那时我的打扮挺滑稽的，穿着蓝布大褂、小坎肩，戴瓜皮小帽。
I still remember how funny I looked the way I was dressed—in a blue cloth gown with a short sleeveless jacket over it and a skullcap on the head。
译文里用“the way I was dressed”来衔接句子的前后两部分，符合英语用法。用字经济，结构紧凑，意思清楚。
例3. 那时舅舅抱着我，哄着我，我觉得很温暖。
Sitting in my uncle's lap，being humored all the way，I was very happy。
此句较短，且有两个主语，前半句主语是舅舅，后半句主语是“我”。在一个较短的英语句子里，主语的变换容易出现视角的不一致，又考虑到，文章通篇是从“我”出发进行叙述，还是统一以“我”为主语好一些。
例4. 生日是自己长大以后听家里大人说的，是农历十月十五酉时生人。所以我的乳名叫“酉”，北京人爱用儿化韵，前面加个小，后面加“儿”，就叫“小酉儿”。
I was told about my birthday by my foster-parents when I grew up. I was born in the \"you\" period (between5—7 p.m.)，15th of the 10th lunar month. So I was named You. Prefixed with xiao-young, and suffixed with a diminutive er--an intimate way of addressing young and small things by Beijingers，my name，therefore，became Xiao You'r。
例4的翻译涉及了中国文化，也就是英语文化里没有的内容，如，中国的“农历”、“酉时”、“乳名”、“儿化韵”等。这些东西在英语里没有十分对应的说法，翻译时又不便过多加注，同时译文也不能拉得太长。这就需要变通，用较为规范的英语把中国的文化内容说清楚。不是脱离原文的解释，仍属基于原文的翻译，文字上禁得起对照原文的推敲。在the “you” period的后面加了（between 5 - 7 p.m.)，解释了“酉时”。用汉语拼音写xiao，在后面加波折号解释“小”的意思。同样，在a diminutive of的后面加波折号解释“儿”，的意思。 “北京人爱用儿化韵”是在解释 “儿”的时候顺便翻译出来的——an intimate way of addressing young and small things by Beijingers。这样就把“小酉儿”Xiao You'r的意思和构成说得比较清楚了。
译文在用词和句子的组织上注意了侯宝林语言口语化的特点，总体上与原文的风格是相符的。
[译者地址1300071南开大学外国语学院] | 
发表于 2005-7-22 09:49:02
