名师讲解散文《泥土的微笑》英译

泥土的微笑

Smile of the Earth

“泥土”一词并不是指“泥”，而是指“土”、“土地”，所以译为the earth。Smile表达的是一种欢乐的情绪，而不仅仅是“笑容、微笑”的意思。

我在花园里种满了芬芳的玫瑰花，远远望去，像一片燃烧的晚霞。我想等朋友来做客的时候，让他们携带些玫瑰回家。我相信朋友捧着火红的玫瑰渐渐走远的背影，一定能点燃易感的情怀。

All over my garden I've planted nothing but roses, fragrant and--If looked at from afar--ablaze with colour like sunset clouds. I would be very happy if any one of my visiting friends should desire to pick and take some for their homes. I trust that any friend of mine carrying the roses would vanish into the distance feeling that his emotion had been rekindled.

译这一句时要注意中文的说话方式：我......玫瑰花，（我或者人们）远远望去，（玫瑰）像一片......，我......让他们......。中文叙事的角度是不停变化的，而且，第一部分“我......玫瑰花”重点是在“种满了”上。译文考虑了这些因素，将“种满了”用all over my garden放到句首加以突出，使这一部分所表达的意思在语气的分量上与原文相当。然后用"I"作为主语，把整句串起来，作为这一段叙述的中心。

“我想”是说我的一种愿望，所以译为I would be very happy if...; should是表示将来的一种可能性；for their homes看似与原文不符，但原文的“带......回家”并不是说带回去就完事了，而是说要用玫瑰花装点居室，带花为的是(for)美化他们的家。

朋友并非特指哪一位，而是任何一位，所以译为any friend of mine。“点燃”此处译为rekindled，而不是kindled，是因为原文含义指人们原先有过的，现已淡忘的“情怀”被重新点燃。

有一天，一位非常要好的女友来探望我，我知道她平素最喜欢花花草草了，临别时我说，采一束玫瑰点缀你的闺房，保证十里飘香。

A close friend came for a visit the other day. I know her to be a lover of flowers and plants, and for that reason I told her at her departure that she should pick a bunch of roses to decorate her boudoir. I promised that the scent of the roses would be wafted far, far away.

“探望我”也可以译为came to visit me，但came for a visit更好，既然是come且visit，被访者当然就是“我”了，这句也体现了英语介词多的特点。

“女友”只译作friend，而在后面某处说girl friend，是因为英语中girl friend也有“恋爱对象”的意思，为避免误会，先不译，而放到后面，译为That girl friend of mine。况且作者是男是女我们并不知道。

“平素最喜欢”英语可以说she loves...，但更合乎习惯的说法是she's a lover of...，另如He's a good driver是说他开车开得好。

for that reason是根据原文的句间含义加上的，把中文的意义关联，改为英文的形式关联。

“十里飘香”：中文用数字往往虚指，此处“十里”便并不表示实际的距离，而是说花香浓郁幽远，所以译为would be wafted, far away。

女友轻轻跨进花园，东闻闻，西嗅嗅，神采飞扬，就是不肯采摘。我说没关系，多的是，我又不是花店的老板，不会靠玫瑰赚钱的。说完我就举起剪刀准备献美。女友急忙拦住，高声叫着不可不可。

That girl friend of mine, tiptoeing into the garden in high spirits, sniffed here and smelt there, but in the end she didn't pick a single rose. I said there were so many of them that she could pick as many as she'd like to; I told her that I was not a florist and didn't make a living out of them. While saying so I raised the scissors for the sacrifice of the flowers, but she vehemently stopped me, crying no, no, no!

“不肯采摘”译成英语时必须有宾语，考虑到语句的连贯，再加上语气方面的缘故，译成了didn't pick a single rose。

这里中文的意思是说：你采吧，采多少都没关系，因为我这里玫瑰花多的是，而且我又不是开花店的，不以此谋生。中文的意义关联十分明显。根据这一分析，英文便把“没关系”隐去了。

make a living out of: 从......中谋得生活来源。

while表示的是同时，vehemently表示的是激烈的态度，句末的感叹号更是表明了阻止剪花的决心，因为英语里感叹号用的很少，表示的感情也较为激烈。

这么美丽的玫瑰剪下来，让人心疼。她抓紧我的袖子叮咛：千万不能剪啊，玫瑰是泥土的微笑，谁忍心杀戮美得醉人的微笑？

To cut such beautiful roses would hurt one, she said. With her hands clutching at my sleeves, she told me that by no means should they be cut. Roses are the smiling face of the earth, and who could be so iron-hearted as to destroy a smile so exhilarating?

让人心疼：hurt one是使某人伤心的意思，也可以说gives one heartache。