三国演义两种译本的赏析

《三国演义》选段两种译本的对比赏析

一引言

原文选自我国第一部长篇章回体历史演义小说《三国演义》，为其第一回“宴桃园豪杰三结义斩黄巾英雄首立功”开篇。

《三国演义》以描写战争为主，反映了吴、蜀、魏三个政治集团之间的政治和军事斗争。大概分为黄巾之乱、董卓之乱、群雄逐鹿、三国鼎立、三国归晋五大部分。在广阔的背景上，上演了一幕幕波澜起伏，气势磅礴的战争场面，成功刻画了近两百个人物形象，其中曹操、刘备、孙权、诸葛亮、周瑜、关羽、张飞等等人物形象脍炙人口，不以敌我叙述方式对待各方的历史描述，对后世产生了极其深远的影响。编者罗贯中将兵法三十六计汇融于字里行间，既有情节，也有兵法韬略。

该选段“话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。周末七国分争，并入于秦。及秦灭之后，楚、汉分争，又并入于汉。汉朝自高祖斩白蛇而起义，一统天下，后来光武中兴，传至献帝，遂分为三国。”为作者交代故事发生的历史背景，短短不足七十个字就将历史上政权更迭、各方势力纵横捭阖、你争我夺争霸天下的历史演变和兴衰展现的淋漓尽致。

原文虽为文言文，但用语较为平实，因此在语义的理解上不会对当代读者产生较大困难，也必然不会给译者带来困惑。然而，区区几十个字却承载了较为丰富的历史史实，且放眼天下兴衰、大气恢弘。因此，要想将原文的翻译做到神形兼备、既忠实于原意又体现出其精髓实属不易。接下来，我将从选词用句和语言风格两方面着手，对比译者张琴（以下简称Z）和译者Moss Roberts（以下简称M）对该选段的翻译，力求呈现较为客观的翻译对比赏析。

二对比赏析

首先，让我们一起来看一下二位译者对原文的翻译。

原文：“话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。周末七国分争，并入于秦。及秦灭之后，楚、汉分争，又并入于汉。汉朝自高祖斩白蛇而起义，一统天下，后来光武中兴，传至献帝，遂分为三国。”

Z版： As a natural rule, an overall structure, like a country or an organization, after a long period of division, tends to unite at last; while after a long time union, it tends to divide. It is the same with dynasties in antiquity. At the end of Zhou dynasty, seven dynasties which contended with each other finally were conquered by Qin dynasty and became part of it. After the rule of Qin dynasty, two dynasties, Chu and Han, emerged and they fighted against each other with Han being the victor in the end. It began when Liu Bang, the Han emperor, cut off a white serpent to indicate the uprising. After the victory of the uprising, the whole empire became the domain of Han. And it lasted for two hundred years. At the end of West Han, Wang Mang who wanted to usurp Han established the New dynasty. But he was overthrowed by Liu Xiu who was persist in restoring West Han, therefore, the legacy of Han remained. Then Han lasted for another two hundred years until the rule of emperor Xian who was the last emperor of Han dynasty. After that, the empire was divided into three parts which were respectively possessed by three kingdoms known as Wei、Shu、Wu.

M版：Here begins our tale. The empire, long divided, must unite; lone united, must divide. Thus it has been. In the closing years of the Zhou dynasty, seven kingdoms warred among themselves until the kingdom of Qin prevailed and absorbed

the othe six.But Qin soon fell, and on its ruins two opposing kingdoms, Chu and Han, fought for mastery until the kingdom of Han prevailed and absorbed its rival, as Qin had done before.The Han court's rise to power began when the Supreme Ancestor slew a white serpent, inspiring an uprising that ended with Han's ruling a unified empire.Two hundred years later, after Wang Mang's usurpation, Emperor Guang Wu restored the dynasty, and Han emperors ruled for another two hundred years down to the reign of Xian, after whom the realm split into three kingdoms.

通过对两篇译文的对比，我们可以很明显地看到二位译者都很好地遵循了作者的原意，且照顾读者的感受、用语平实易懂，可谓既存了真又喻了俗。由于原文为古文言文，在遣词造句和用语习惯等方面与我们熟悉现代汉语有很大的不同，因此需要两位译者在存真喻俗的基础上对语言的风格、词句的选用方面下功夫，使译文在风格和笔调方面与原文相近。加之原文以历史分合演变为线索，其间的重大历史史实虽都有呈现，但一些史实还需要译者的还原以使译文在意义上更便于读者理解。

两篇译文到底孰强孰弱，接下来我将逐一分析、揭晓。

原文：话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。

Z版：As a natural rule, an overall structure, like a country or an organization, after a long period of division, tends to unite at last; while after a long time union, it tends to divide.

M版：Here begins our tale. The empire, long divided, must unite; lone united, must divide. Thus it has been.