爹爹接下去说：“所以你们要像花生，因为它是有用的，不是伟大、好看的东西。”
“So you should try to be like the peanut,” Dad went on, “because it is useful, though not great or attractive.”
落花生◎许地山
我们屋后有半亩隙地。母亲说：“让它荒芜着怪可惜，既然你们那么爱吃花生，就辟来做花生园罢。”我们几个姊弟和几个小丫头都很喜欢——买种的买种，动土的动土，灌园的灌园；过了不几个月，居然收获了！
妈妈说：“今晚我们可以做一个收获节，也请你们的爹爹来尝尝我们的新花生，如何？”我们都答应了。母亲把花生做成好几样食品，还吩咐这节期要在园里的茅亭举行。
那晚上的天色不大好，可是爹爹也来到，实在很难得！爹爹说：“你们爱吃花生吗？”
我们都争着答应：“爱！”
“谁能把花生的好处说出来？”
姊姊说：“花生的气味很美。”
哥哥说：“花生可以榨油。”
我说：“无论何等人都可以用贱价买它来吃；都喜欢吃它。这是它的好处。”
爹爹说：“花生的用处固然很多；但有一样是很可贵的。这小小的豆不像那好看的苹果、桃子、石榴，把它们的果实悬在枝上，鲜红嫩绿的颜色，令人一望而发生羡慕的心。它只把果子埋在地底，等到成熟，才容人把它挖出来。你们偶然看见一棵花生瑟缩地长在地上，不能立刻辨出它有没有果实，非得等到你接触它才能知道。”
我们都说：“是的。”母亲也点点头。爹爹接下去说：“所以你们要像花生，因为它是有用的，不是伟大、好看的东西。”我说：“那么，人要做有用的，不要做伟大、体面的人了。”爹爹说：“这是我对于你们的希望。”
我们谈到夜阑才散，所有花生食品虽然没有了，然而父亲底话现在还印在我心版上。
选自杨川庆编著《许地山散文选集》，百花文艺出版社2004年版。
The Peanut
Tr. by Liu Shicong
At the back of our house there was half a mu of vacant land.“It’s a pity to let it go to waste like that,” Mother said.“Since you all enjoy eating peanuts, let us open it up and make it a peanut garden.” At that my brother, sister and I were all delighted and so were the young housemaids. Some went to buy seeds, some dug the ground and others watered it and, in a couple of months, we had a harvest!
“Let us have a party tonight to celebrate,” Mother suggested,“and ask Dad to come for a taste of our fresh peanuts. What do you say?” We all agreed, of course. Mother cooked the peanuts in different styles and told us to go to the thatched pavilion in the garden for the celebration.
The weather was not very good that night but, to our great delight, Dad came all the same.“Do you like peanuts?” Dad asked.
“Yes!” We all answered eagerly.
“But who can tell me what the peanut is good for?”
“It is very delicious to eat,” my sister took the lead.
“It is good for making cooking oil,” my brother followed.
“It is inexpensive,” I said.“Almost everyone can afford it and everyone enjoys eating it. I think this is what it is good for.”
“Peanut is good for many things,” Dad said,“but there is one thing that is particularly good about it. Unlike apples, peaches or pomegranates that display their fruits up in the air, attracting you with their beautiful colors, peanut buries its fruit in the earth. It does not show itself until you dig it out when it is ripe and, unless you dig out, you can’t tell whether it bears fruit or not just by its frail stems above ground.”
“That’s true,” we all said and Mother nodded her assent.“So you should try to be like the peanut,” Dad went on,“because it is useful, though not great or attractive.”
“Do you mean,” I asked,“we should learn to be useful but not seek to be great or attractive?”
“Yes,” Dad said.“This is what I wish you to be.”
We stayed up late that night, eating all the peanuts Mother had cooked for us. But Father’s words remained vivid in my memory till this day.
选自乔萍、翟淑蓉、宋洪玮编著《散文佳作108篇》，译林出版社1999年版 。
New Words
delight v . cause (sb.) great satisfaction, enjoyment, or joy 使高兴，使欣喜
thatched n . plant stalks used as roofing material 茅草；茅草屋顶
pavilion n . large and often sumptuous tent 楼阁
frail adj . physically weak 脆弱的
assent n . agreement with a statement or proposal to do something 同意；赞成
《落花生赏析》
本文是许地山（1892—1941）的名篇。作者回忆自己童年时代一个小小片断，以朴实无华、清新自然的笔调，自然平实、简洁凝练的语言风格，从花生的平凡而有用，谈到做人的道理，富于哲理，反映了他身处旧社会的污泥浊流而洁身自好、不慕虚名的思想境界。全文只有二十四句话，通篇不足六百字，但是因为文章比较口语化，而且偏向于日常生活的琐事，加之散文翻译的要旨就是要充分保留原文的风格和特色，所以翻译起来也有一定的难度。
作为我国散文汉译英的泰斗，刘士聪先生在翻译《落花生》的时候做到了充分保留原文风格和特色，使得译文读起来朗朗上口，自然流畅。译本用词简单明了，读者容易接受，同时译文风格清新流畅，字里行间可以看出译者严谨的翻译作风。从语言处理上来看，译本注重通篇语境，适当的句式和用词的调整使得文章读起来清新自然。另外，译者还注重添加文章的口语色彩，使之更加符合英语语言习惯。
译文的开篇之句就奠定了全文的基调。诵读译句“At the back of our house there was half a mu of vacant land.”其间相对重读的词语有back，house，there，half，vacant。全句念来，词语轻、重读彼此交错，语流均衡适中，语势徐缓，语气柔和，自然而然地进入作品主题，符合原作娓娓道来的精神。从叙事口吻来讲，本文是作者对父亲循循善诱、谆谆教导的感念，对母亲慈祥、勤劳的追忆，对敦厚和睦家庭氛围的回味。全文宛如涓涓溪流，缓缓地流进读者的心田。为了再现原作这一整体基调，译者在把握作者的叙事角度与速度、重构句式以及选词用字等方面做出了富有成效的努力。比如将“我们几姊弟和几个小丫头都很喜欢——买种的买种，动土的动土，灌园的灌园；过不了几个月，居然收获了!”译为“At that my brother, sister and I were all delighted and so were the young housemaids. Some went to buy seeds, some dug the ground and others watered it and, in a couple of months, we had a harvest!”既生动形象地再现了“戏剧式演出”的特色，又勾勒出我们欢快、急切地种花生的情景。译者以英语中类似的平行结构的句式“some went to … some began to … and others watered … ”在形象地传译出紧张而轻快的劳动节奏之后，又逗引出时间短语“in a couple of months”，一切尽在预料中又出乎预料，表达了我们收获了劳动的惊喜之情。
译者向读者传递的是直感的人生经验，译文语势连贯，行云流水，感染力很强。如爹爹问花生的好处，说“我们”争着答。为再现“争答”的情形，译者将“我们”的“答话”置于句首，巧妙地暗示出“争答”的意味，给人身临其境的感觉。在表现艺术上，可谓“不着一字，尽得风流”。译文将“姐姐说”“哥哥说”“我说”中的“说”，分别译为“my sister took the lead”“my brother followed”“I said”，使译文富于变化，句子长短均衡，节奏感强，但更为重要的是向读者描绘出一幅和谐温暖的生活画面：我们的答话虽有争先恐后之势，但并无你争我抢之感，场景上依然井然有序，有条不紊，给人留下了“我们”彬彬有礼，家教良好的联想，体现了译文文字的韵味。
好的译文不仅要从整体上把握译作艺术之美的感悟与创造过程，也要使译文词句与原文相符，还要使叙事语气与行文风格和原文一致，缺一不可。父亲借用花生谈到对孩子们的期望时，译者从英文的视角出发将译文做了相应的调整，显得文通理顺。出于对英文整体行文的节奏或句式平衡的考虑，译者未曾将“母亲也点点头”处理为“Mother also nodded”而是将其译为“Mother nodded her assent”。译文中增译“Yes”，是根据英文问答模式，对前文问话的回应——先有父亲认真听取后的回应，后有自然带出的“期望”，译文前后贯通，十分自然。译文将“体面的”译为“attractive”，显然是紧承前面英文(attracting you with their beautiful colors)表达而来的转换与传译，前后贯通，意味上彼此渗透，别有情韵，堪称上乘佳译!译文中增加了“Mother had cooked for us”，是从英文出发对前文内容的回应，也再次凸现作者对“父母”的感念之情。而且将原文的一句话，分译为单独的两句话，既彰显了两句话的重要性，也取得了行文至此，一锤定音的尾重功效。
译者主体与文本审美对翻译中选词造句、谋篇布局与传情达意有着不可或缺的影响，译文应从叙事口吻、文意贯通的艺术、译文精美性的再创造等层面来探讨散文翻译中美的感悟、传译与创造，艺术地传译出原文情随意转、丰富多样的韵味。
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