少年對《雙城記》兩段的翻譯

椰子

周末，我讓兒子翻譯他們十年級英文課指定閱讀的小說《雙城記》裡讓他印象最深，最能反映人物性格的段落。40分鐘後，兒子寫出來對以下兩段的譯文。

A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens （1999, Dover Publications, Inc.）

“We were so robbed by that man who stands there, as all we common dogs are by those superior Beings----taxed by him without mercy, obliged to work for him without pay, obliged to grind our corn at his mill, obliged to feed scores of his tame birds on our wretched crops, and forbidden for our lives to keep a single tame bird of our own, pillaged and plundered to that degree that when we chanced to have a bit of meat, we ate it in fear, with the door barred and the shutters closed, that his people should not see it and take it from us----I say, we were so robbed, and hunted, and were made so poor, that our father told us it was a dreadful thing to bring a child into the world, and that what we should most pray for, was, that our women might be barren and our miserable race die out!” （252頁）

譯文：
”我們被站在那兒的那個人欺壓得不行了，就像我們所有的窮狗們被那些高貴的人欺壓的一樣。無情地要求我們交稅，逼着我們為他免費效勞，逼着我們在他的磨坊里磨穀子，逼着我們用自己僅有的糧食餵他養的鳥，也不允許我們自己養一隻鳥。把我們折磨到如果有一小片肉吃時，我們提心弔膽地把它吃下，把門和窗都關上，不讓他們看見和奪去----我跟你說，我們被他不斷地盜竊，被追趕，被他害得窮苦無比，連我們父親都說把一個孩子生下來是多麼可恨的一件事，說我們應該請求讓我們的母女們不生孩子，讓我們這可恨的人群死光！”

 “I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. I see her and her husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was not more honoured and held scared in the other’s soul, than I was in the souls of both.

“I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, foremost of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place—then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day’s disfigurement----and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and faltering voice.

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” (292-293頁)

譯文：
“我看見我在他們心中的地位，也在他們後人的心中的地位，世代傳連。我看見她，在她年老時，在這天的周年為我哭泣。我看見她與她丈夫走完他們的路時，在他們這世上最後的歸點並肩躺着，也知道在他們互相的心中，對方的地位都沒有我的地位重。

“我看見那個躺在她身邊，為我而命名的那個孩子，看到他在我那過去的職業道路上成長，成功。我看到他獲得無限的勝利，使我的名字在那裡被他的名聲發揚，光大。我看見我在我的名聲上灑上的污點，被時間淡化。我看到他，偉大正義的執法人，將一個也為我而取名的男孩，一個有着我熟悉的額頭和金髮的男孩，帶來這裡：那時已經變得美麗，平靜，沒有一絲今日的混亂，我也聽到他以溫和的語氣給他兒子述說我的故事。

“我現今做的事，比我先前都出色；我現今走向的終點，比我先前都平靜。”

 2013年4月13日下午