汉译英经典笔译:谁有资格嘲讽笼外鸟
发布时间:2017年11月10日
发布人:nanyuzi  

谁有资格嘲讽笼外鸟

 

文/谢连波

 

笼外之鸟理应是自由的,无羁无绊,无拘无束,自由自在,所谓“海阔凭鱼跃,天高任鸟飞”1,该是多幸运啊!

 

因之,困于笼内之鸟都无不想冲破樊笼而获得自由,最传奇的莫过于鹦鹉求教于禅宗达摩的故事了。一只被囚于笼子里的鹦鹉见到达摩,就请教说:西来意,西来意,请你教我出笼计。达摩慈悲为怀便授以秘诀:出笼计,出笼计,两腿伸直两眼闭。鹦鹉得法装死,果然得以脱逃。

 

然而,我却看到了欲投笼中、想放弃自由的笼外鸟。

 

一个深冬的某天下午,我们一行到了江门市新会小鸟天堂2。据说“天堂”里的鸟儿暮出晨归,傍晚七时许倾巢而出,早晨六时许百鸟归飞,此刻非观鸟时间,我们游兴索然,在观鸟楼前徘徊一会,囫囵而览了一阵景致,便怅然若失地离去3。我走在后头,将出大门之际,忽见左边有景点4“鸟趣园”,更见好多学生模样的游人在围观,便亦趋前而往。哦,那边厢有三个偌大的网笼,各有十数丈方圆空间,里面尽是各种鸟儿,或懒洋洋地啄食,或腾跳翻飞嬉闹,或吱吱喳喳啼唱,好不幸福快乐的样子。啊!难道这里亦是“小鸟天堂”么?

 

笼内鸟儿的情状就有些似人类梦想中的乌托邦呀!众鸟在笼内和平相处,地位平等,既无鹰隼袭击之险,亦无饥寒交迫之虞,无忧无虑,优哉游哉,闲适舒服,所缺的惟在天空上任飞翔的自由而矣。安闲丰足的生活与自由相比,孰更可宝贵?乞丐是最自由的吧,可安闲富裕中人有几个愿当乞丐?但亦有为了自由连死都不怕、连幸福的爱情都可抛却的,这恐怕是不同的人有不同的答案吧!

 

忽见一只乌黑的八哥自天空飞下,直飞落到笼网之上,探头探脑地朝笼里张望,看样子很想往笼网里钻,它在笼网上蹦,从此跳往彼,从彼蹦到此,欲寻进网之门,可惜的是大网恢恢,疏而不漏,怎么也进不了笼内。无奈之余,这八哥张望一番,可能是嗅到了饲料的美味,扑凌一下便飞到饲料室门前啄食盘里的残渣去了。

 

这八哥放弃天空任飞的自由欲进笼中,可能是近人性5的原故吧!这八哥多有人养,性驯且乖巧,时日久了不但放之不飞,还能像鹦鹉似的学舌说话呢,这应是鸟类的例外吧?正这么想时,忽又见一只麻雀自天空飞落笼网上,其情状很似那只八哥,钻不进笼内便飞到饲料室前啄食了。

 

这八哥与麻雀,本自野林天外的么,为何不要自由而欲投罗网?或者本自笼网之内偶然机会逃出,眷恋笼内生活又飞回来?但不管怎样,都与传统的价值观相左。“羁鸟恋旧林,池鱼思故渊”,鱼鸟与人一样爱自由啊!

 

想起《围城》名句:城里的欲往外冲,城外的欲往里钻。难道这鸟雀亦如此?

 

但我仔细地观察一会,笼里的似乎不欲外冲,只是笼外的八哥和麻雀欲往里钻。这是为什么呢?是笼内“天堂”似的安适生活和鸟多热闹的环境6吧!这是以最可宝贵的自由为代价的,一旦入了笼网,就再也不能在蓝天白云下高翔,就彻底地告别了江湖,就失去天性而成为人们的玩物。但笼外鸟却宁愿作出这样的选择7

 

就想,笼外鸟作此选择恐怕有其深刻原因吧,天地间的自由都是相对的,除了弱肉强食猛禽袭击之外,还时有人类猎杀,大自然的环境倒不如大笼网里的安宁与舒适了。

 

都说鸟通人性,想想人也似鸟性。人何尝不像鸟儿一样,害怕艰苦穷困而贪图安逸,畏惧孤独而喜欢繁华热闹!很多人都会说高处不胜寒,都说仕途险恶官场不自由,都说钱多了会变坏,都说城里人多拥挤废气弥漫8,但现实里有多少人不想高官厚禄?不想往城里靠?

 

嘿!谁有资格嘲讽笼外鸟呢?

 

 

Who Are We to Ridicule Birds Who Want to Live in a Cage?

 

译/李运兴

 

Birds outside a cage, as a rule, should be unrestrained and carefree. A Chinese saying presents just such a scene: “In the boundless sky the birds fly as far as they can while in the vast ocean the fish leap as high as they can.” How fortunate they are!

 

Therefore, birds that are caught and put in a cage all want to break free from their confinement and regain their freedom. The most legendary story about this is that of a parrot who seeks advice from Bodhidharma on how to escape from his cage. He says: “Why do you come west, why do you come west? I want to escape the cage, which way is the best?” The merciful Patriarch thus instructed him: “To escape the cage, to escape the cage. Straighten out your two legs, and shut your two eyes.” The bird acted accordingly and he escaped.

 

However, I have seen birds that, out of their own will, seek to enter a cage and give up their freedom.

 

One late winter afternoon, we came to visit the Birds’ Paradise, a banyan tree-covered islet, near the city of Jiangmen in Guangdong Province. The birds there, it is said, fly away in large flocks at about seven in the evening and return around six in the morning. Having come at the wrong time, we could only wander around the pavilion-styled Bird Watching Tower, our eyes involuntarily taking in whatever came into view, after which, in unreserved disappointment, we decided to leave. I followed along, and just before we approached the exit, I spotted an intriguing sight on the left side of the road. It was called The Garden of Birds’ Interest. Many people looking like students swarmed around it, watching. Coming closer, we saw three huge net-like cages, each with a circumference of more than one hundred feet. Inside were a rich variety of birds, some lazily pecking away at their food, some leaping and fluttering or chirruping merrily – all seemed happy and carefree. Can this really also be such a “paradise” for these small birds?

 

The state of the birds in the cages is somewhat like our much-dreamed-of Utopia. The birds in the cages live in peace and harmony, and they enjoy equal status, free from either attacks from hawks or shortage of food. They enjoy ease, leisure and comfort, but in return they sacrifice the freedom of soaring freely in the sky. Comfort or freedom, which is more precious? A beggar may enjoy the greatest freedom, yet how many rich people, if there are any, wish to be reduced to a mere beggar? Of course, there are some people who are willing to give up their lives or the joy of love for the sake of freedom. After all, different people may have different answers to the same question.

 

Suddenly a black mynah swooped down from the sky and landed on the top of a cage. Taking furtive peeks inside, he seemed eager to get in. He jumped to and fro in search of a possible opening but found that the mesh of the cage was so tightly woven that no gap was big enough for him to get through. At his wit’s end, he began to look and smell around. Perhaps having caught the scent of some delicious food, he flapped his wings and came down to peck at the dregs in a plate in front of the bird food prep room.

 

Why would this mynah, free as he is, want to enter a cage? It’s probably because, so far as I can imagine, he has had much contact with men. Mynahs are mostly raised as family pets and have become tame and clever. They won’t fly away even if they are given the chance. Like parrots, they can also learn to imitate human speech. So I began to think that this mynah’s behavior was probably an exception. However, just as I was reaching this conclusion I saw a sparrow fly down to the cage-top and begin to repeat what the mynah had done: he also attempted to enter the cage, and then, frustrated, came down for the food dregs as a second choice.

 

Why would this mynah and this sparrow, if they come from wild woods and open sky, want to forsake their freedom and be trapped in a net? Perhaps they may be escapees from another cage, who now want to go back to the comfort of confinement? Whichever is the case, their behavior goes against our traditional conception as expressed in these lines from an ancient poem: “Birds in a cage want to fly back to their old forests, fish in a pond to swim in their native waters.” After all, surely fish and birds love freedom just as much as humans do!

 

At this point, a much quoted remark from the novel Fortress Besieged came into my mind: “The people outside want to break in, and the people inside are desperate to get out.” Perhaps this also applies to birds?

 

I observed the birds in their cages for a while, but I found no sign that any of them wanted to get out, while it was clearly true that the two birds outside wanted to get in. What could be the reason underlying these birds’ behavior? Is it the ease and comfort of a caged paradise, or the company of a large bird community? However, all these are gained at the cost of their freedom. Once they enter into a cage, they can no longer fly freely in the blue sky, which means that they have to bid their last farewell to the natural world and will be deprived of their wild nature and be reduced to a mere plaything of men. How is it possible that the birds outside could wish to make such a choice?

 

I think, however, that there may be a profound reason behind their attempt. Freedom on earth is only relative. The outside world is ruled by the law of the jungle: besides the attacks of birds of prey, there is also the risk of being hunted and killed by men; inside the cage is certainly a safer and more comfortable place.

 

We often say birds possess some human characteristics, and I believe men are also similar to birds in some ways. Both fear hardships and poverty and covet ease and comfort; both hate loneliness and like to live a rich and luxurious life. Many say that a high social position invites trouble, that an official career is risky and entails losing your freedom, that getting rich brings decadence or that the city is overcrowded and polluted, but in reality how many of us can really resist the lure of high status and a fat salary or the temptations of city life?

 

Hey! Who are we to ridicule birds who want to live in a cage?

 

注释:

 

1. 引语中两个小句的顺序在译文中有所颠倒,“天高任鸟飞”译为主句,这样可更好地和上文呼应。

 

2. 小鸟天堂位于距广州市100公里外的江门市新会区的河心沙洲上,岛上有一株500多年的大榕树,枝干蔓延,独木成林,成为鸟类乐园。译文据此稍加释义:a banyan tree-covered islet。

 

3. 这几个小句被译为一个较长的英语句子,语义和结构都有所变通和调整。

 

4. 此处“景点”不宜译为scenic spot,因为这只是景区中一个令作者感兴趣的地方。

 

5. “近人性”译为“和人接触多”之意,这符合下文内容。

 

6. “鸟多热闹的环境”译作“有一大群鸟的陪伴”之意。

 

7. 此句译为问句,语气应和原句相同。

 

8. 四个“都说”用四个that 引导的宾语从句对译。

 

(选自《英语世界》杂志2015年第5期)