英语口译练习:中国古语诗词之葬花词

英语口译练习:葬花词

原文
花谢花飞花满天，红消香断有谁怜？ (又一说花谢花飞飞满天)
　　游丝软系飘香榭，落絮轻沾扑绣帘。
　　闺中女儿惜春暮，愁绪满怀无处诉；(又作愁绪满怀无释处）
　　手把花锄出绣闺，忍踏落花来复去。
　　柳丝榆荚自芳菲，不管桃飘与李飞；
　　桃李明年能再发，明年闺中知有谁？
　　三月香巢已垒成，梁间燕子太无情。
　　明年花发虽可啄，却不道人去梁空巢也倾。
　　一年三百六十日，风刀霜剑严相逼；
　　明媚鲜妍能几时，一朝漂泊难寻觅。
　　花开易见落难寻，阶前愁杀（又作闷杀）葬花人；
　　独倚花锄泪暗洒，洒上空枝见血痕。
　　杜鹃无语正黄昏，荷锄归去掩重门；
　　青灯照壁人初睡，冷雨敲窗被未温。
　　怪奴底事倍伤神？半为怜春半恼春：
　　怜春忽至恼忽去，至又无言去不闻。
　　昨宵庭外悲歌发，知是花魂与鸟魂？
　　花魂鸟魂总难留，鸟自无言花自羞；
　　愿奴胁下生双翼，随花飞到天尽头。
　　天尽头，何处有香丘？
　　未若锦囊收艳骨，一抔净土掩风流；
　　质本洁来还洁去，强于污淖陷渠沟。
　　尔今死去侬收葬，未卜侬身何日丧？
　　侬今葬花人笑痴，他年葬侬知是谁？
　　试看春残花渐落，便是红颜老死时；
　　一朝春尽红颜老，花落人亡两不知！

《葬花词》英译一：

林語堂的译本

Taiyu Predicting Her Own Death
Tsao Shuehchin

Fly, fly ye faded and broken dreams
Of fragrance, for the spring is gone!
Behold the gossamer entwine the screens,
And wandering catkins kiss the stone.

Here comes the maiden from out her chamber door,
Whose secret no one shall share.
She gathers the trodden blossoms lingeringly,
And says to them her votive prayer.

I smell the scent of elm seeds and the willow
Where once did blush the peach and pear.
When next they bloom in their new-made spring dress,
She may be gone—no one knows where.

Sweet are the swallow’s nests, whose labors of love
This spring these eaves and girders grace.
Next year they’ll come and see the mistress’s home
To find her gone—without a trace.

The frost and cutting wind in whirling cycle
Hurtle through the seasons’ round.
How but a while ago these flowers did smile
Then quietly vanished without a sound.

With stifled sobs she picks the wilted blooms,
And stands transfixed and dazed hourlong,
And sheds her scalding tears which shall be changed
Into the cuckoo’s heartbreak song.

But the cuckoo is silent in the twilight eve,
And she returns to her lone home.
The flickering lamp casts shadows upon the wall,
And night rain patters, bed unwarmed.

Oh, ask not why and wherefore she is grieved.
For loving spring, her heart is torn
That it should have arrived without warning,
And just as noiselessly is gone.

I heard last night a mournful wail and I knew
It was the souls of parting flowers,
Harried and reluctant and all in a rush,
Bidding their last farewell hours.

Oh, that I might take winged flight to heaven,
With these beauties in my trust!
‘Twere better I buried you undefiled,
Than let them trample you to dust.

Now I take the shovel and bury your scented breath,
A-wondering when my turn shall be.
Let me be silly and weep atop your grave,
For next year who will bury me?

Oh, look upon these tender, fragile beauties,
Of perfumed flesh and bone and hair.
The admirer shan’t be there when her time is up,
And the admired shall no longer care!

林语堂简介：

林语堂（1895---1976年），出生于福建龙溪（现福建省漳州市平和县坂仔镇）的一个基督教家庭，父亲为教会牧师。原名和乐，后改玉堂，又改语堂。笔名毛驴、宰予、岂青等，中国当代著名学者、文学家、语言学家。早年留学国外，回国后在北京大学等著名大学任教，1966年定居台湾，一生著述颇丰。

《葬花词》英译二：

杨宪益、戴乃迭的译文
As blossoms fade and fly across the sky,
Who pities the faded red, the scent that has been?
Softly the gossamer floats over spring pavilions,
Gently the willow fluff wafts to the embroidered screen.
A girl in her chamber mourns the passing of spring,
No relief from anxiety her poor heart knows;
Hoe in hand she steps through her portal,
Loath to tread on the blossom as she comes and goes.
Willows and elms, fresh and verdant,
Care not if peach and plum blossom drift away;
Next year the peach and plum blossom will bloom again,
But her chamber may stand empty on that day.
By the third month the scented nests are built,
But the swallows on the beam are heartless all;
Next year, though once again you may peck the buds,
From the beam of an empty room your nest will fall.
Each year for three hundred and sixty days
The cutting wind and biting frost contend.
How long can beauty flower fresh and fair?
In a single day wind can whirl it to its end.
Fallen, the brightest blooms are hard to find;
With aching heart their grave-digger comes now
Alone, her hoe in hand, her secret tears
Falling like drops of blood on each bare bough.
Dusk falls and the cuckoo is silent;
Her hoe brought back, the lodge is locked and still;
A green lamp lights the wall as sleep enfolds her,
Cold rain pelts the casement and her quilt is chill.
What causes my two-fold anguish?
Love for spring and resentment of spring;
For suddenly it comes and suddenly goes,
Its arrival unheralded, noiseless its departing.
Last night from the courtyard floated a sad song--
Was it the soul of blossom, the soul of birds,
Hard to detain, the soul of blossom or birds?
For blossoms have no assurance, birds no words.
I long to take wing and fly
With the flowers to earth’s uttermost bound;
And yet at earth’s uttermost bound
Where can a fragrant burial mound be found?
Better shroud the fair petals in silk
With clean earth for their outer attire;
For pure you came and pure shall you go,
Not sinking into some foul ditch or mire.
Now you are dead I come to bury you;
None has divined the day when I shall die;
Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers,
But who will bury me when dead I lie?
See, when spring draws to a close and flowers fall,
This is the season when beauty must ebb and fade;
The day that spring takes wing and beauty fades
Who will care for the fallen blossom or dead maid?

杨宪益、戴乃迭简介：

杨宪益（1915年1月10日－2009年11月23日），生于天津，祖籍安徽盱眙(今属江苏省淮安市)鲍集镇梁集村，中国著名翻译家、外国文学研究专家、诗人。戴乃迭，原名Gladys B.Tayler, 婚后更名为Gladys Yang，1919年戴乃迭生于北京一个英国传教士家庭。戴乃迭七岁时返回英国，在教会中学接受教育。1937年戴乃迭考入牛津大学，最初学习法语语言文学，后转攻中国语言文学，是牛津大学首位中文学士。戴乃迭女士是中国文学出版社英籍老专家、在国际上享有崇高声誉的翻译家和中外文化交流活动家，1999年11月18日逝世。杨宪益与夫人戴乃迭（于1940年在重庆举办婚礼）合作翻译全本《红楼梦》、全本《儒林外史》等多部中国历史名著，在国外皆获得好评，产生了广泛影响。