英译古诗

春晓

唐-孟浩然
春眠不觉晓 处处闻啼鸟
夜来春雨声 花落知多少
SPRING DAWN
I overslept unaware lf daybreak in spring,
Have heard birds crying almost everywhere
A nightlong of noise from winds and rains
I wonder the fallen flowers are countable.

宿建德江

唐-孟浩然
移舟泊烟者 日暮客愁新
野旷天低树 江清月近人
SOJOURN AT CHIEN THE RIVER
My boat was transferred and moored at a hazy islet
A traveler suffered new worries as dusk approached
Sky in wild wilderness seemed lower than the trees
River’s clear water sent the moon closer to people

登幽州台歌

唐—陈子昂
前不见古人 后不见来者
念天地之悠悠 独怅然而泪下
ON ASCENDING YU CHOW TOWER
Ahead of me I see no ancient people
Nor do I see of any follower behind
To consider an illimitable universe
I feel so sad that am weeping alone!

题都城南庄

-唐 崔护
去年今日此门中 人面桃花相映红
人面不知何处去 桃花依旧笑春风

DEDICATED TO SOUTH VILLA AT TUCHENG
Yesterday on this day and right in this door
A rosy face was reflecting with peach blossom
The whereabouts of such a face is now unknown
Yet the blossoms keep smiles at spring breeze


长相思

白居易

Tune: “Everlasting Longing”
汴水流,泗水流,See the Bian River flow And the Si River flow!
流到瓜州古渡头.By Ancient Ferry, mingling waves, they go,
吴山点点愁.The Southern hills reflect my woe.

思悠悠,恨悠悠,My thoughts stretch endlessly, My grief wretches endlessly,
恨到归时方始休.So thus until my husband comes to me,
月明人倚楼.Alone on moon-lit balcony.



早发白帝城 李白

Sailing Early From Baidi Town Li Bai
朝辞白帝彩云间,We set sail at dawn from Baidi Town under a rosy sky,
千里江陵一日还.On s thousand-li trip down to Jiangling and back the same day.
两岸猿声啼不住,The noisy chatter of apes from the shores followed us all the way.
轻舟已过万重山.Lightly, our boat skipped past ten thousand green mountains high.


渔歌子 张志和

Tune: “ A Fisherman’s Song” Zhang Zhihe
西塞山前白鹭飞,In front of western hills white egrets fly up and down,
桃花流水鳜鱼肥.In peach-mirrored stream mandarin fish are full grown.
青箬笠,绿蓑衣,In my blue bamboo hat and green straw cloak,
斜风细雨不须归. I’d Fain go fishing careless of slanting wind and fine rain.



一剪梅 李清照

红藕香残玉簟秋,
轻解罗裳,独上兰舟.
云中谁寄锦书来?
雁字回时,月满西楼.

花自飘零水自流.
一种相思,两处闲愁.
此情无计可消除.
才下眉头,却上心头.

Tune: A Twig of Ume Blossoms
The jade-like mat feels autumn’s cold, I change a coat and amid the fading fragrance of lotus pink alone I boat.
W

ill wild returning geese bring letters through the cloud?
When they come, with moonbeams my west chamber’s overflowed.

As water flows and flowers fall without leaving traces,
One and the same longing overflows two lonely places.
I cannot get rid of this sorrow: kept apart from my eyebrows, it gnaws my heart.



声声慢 李清照

寻寻觅觅,冷冷清清,
凄凄惨惨戚戚.
乍暖乍寒时候,最难将息.
三杯两盏淡酒,
怎敌他晚来风急?
雁过也,正伤心,却是旧时相识.

满地黄花堆积.
憔悴损,如今有谁堪摘?
守着窗儿,独自怎生得黑?
梧桐更兼细雨,
到黄昏点点滴滴.
这次第,怎一个愁字了得.

Tune: Slow, Slow Tune

I look for what I miss,
I know not what it is:
I feel so sad, so drear,
So lonely, without cheer.
How hard is it to keep me fit in this lingering cold!
Hardly warmed up by cup on cup of wine so dry.
Oh! How could I endure at dusk the drift of wind so swift?
It breaks my heart, alas!
To see the wild geese pass, for they are my acquaintances of old.

The ground is covered with yellow flowers faded and fallen in showers.
Who will pick them up now?
Sitting alone at the window how could I but quicken the pace of darkness which won’t thicken?
On parasol-trees a fine rain drizzles as twilight grizzles.
Oh! What can I do with a grief beyond belief!!



生查子 欧阳修

Tune: Mountain Hawthorn Ouyang Xiu
去年元夜时,
花市灯如昼.
月上柳梢头,
人约黄昏后.

今年元夜时,
月与灯依旧.
不见去年人,
泪满春衫袖.

Last year on this moonlit spring night,
Lanterns in Flower Fair were bright.
The moon rose above the willow tree,
At dusk he had a tryst with me.

This year on the same moonlit night,
The moon and lanterns are as bright.
Where is my beloved of last year?
My sleeves are wet with tear on tear.



思君令人老”：Missing you makes me old .原文5个汉字，译文5个英文单词。

但当原文的深层内容和表现形式有矛盾时，翻译家就需要原作进行“深化”和“浅化”处理，也就是依其精而译其粗。许渊冲举《诗经.采薇》最后一段的英译进行说明：

昔我往矣， When i left here,

杨柳依依。 Willows shed tear.

今我来思， I come back now,

雨雪霏霏。 Snow bends the bough,

行道迟迟， Long,long the way,

载渴载饥。 My grief o'erflow.

莫知我哀！ Who know？ Who knows？


海客谈瀛洲， 烟涛微茫信难求。
越人语天姥， 云霓明灭或可睹。
天姥连天向天横， 势拔五岳掩赤城；
天台四万八千丈， 对此欲倒东南倾。
我欲因之梦吴越， 一夜飞渡镜湖月。
湖月照我影， 送我至剡溪；
谢公宿处今尚在， 渌水荡漾清猿啼。
脚著谢公屐， 身登青云梯。
半壁见海日， 空中闻天鸡。

千岩万壑路不定， 迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龙吟殷岩泉， 栗深林兮惊层巅。
云青青兮欲雨， 水澹澹兮生烟。
列缺霹雳， 邱峦崩摧，
洞天石扇， 訇然中开；
青冥浩荡不见底， 日月照耀金银台。
霓为衣兮风为马， 云之君兮纷纷而来下；
虎鼓瑟兮鸾回车。 仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄动， 怳惊起而长嗟。
惟觉时之枕席， 失向来之烟霞。
世间行乐亦如此， 古来万事东流水。
别君去兮何时还？ 且放白鹿青崖间。
须行即骑访名山， 安能摧眉折腰事权贵，
使我不得开心颜？

A seafaring visitor will talk about Japan,
Which waters and mists conceal beyond approach;
But Yueh people talk about Heavenly Mother Mountain,
Still seen through its varying deeps of cloud.
In a straight line to heaven, its summit enters heaven,
Tops the five Holy Peaks, and casts a shadow through China
With the hundred-mile length of the Heavenly Terrace Range,
Which, just at this point, begins turning southeast.
My heart and my dreams are in Wu and Yueh
And they cross Mirror Lake all night in the moon.
And the moon lights my shadow
And me to Yan River
With the hermitage of Xie still there
And the monkeys calling clearly over ripples of green water.
I wear his pegged boots
Up a ladder of blue cloud,
Sunny ocean half-way,
Holy cock-crow in space,
Myriad peaks and more valleys and nowhere a road.
Flowers lure me, rocks ease me. Day suddenly ends.
Bears, dragons, tempestuous on mountain and river,
Startle the forest and make the heights tremble.
Clouds darken with darkness of rain,
Streams pale with pallor of mist.
The Gods of Thunder and Lightning
Shatter the whole range.
The stone gate breaks asunder
Venting in the pit of heaven,
An impenetrable shadow.
But now the sun and moon illumine a gold and silver terrace,
And, clad in rainbow garments, riding on the wind,
Come the queens of all the clouds, descending one by one,
With tigers for their lute-players and phoenixes for dancers.
Row upon row, like fields of hemp, range the fairy figures.
I move, my soul goes flying,
I wake with a long sigh,
My pillow and my matting
Are the lost clouds I was in.
And this is the way it always is with human joy:
Ten thousand things run for ever like water toward the east.
And so I take my leave of you, not knowing for how long.
But let me, on my green slope, raise a white deer
And ride to you, great mountain, when I have need of you.
Oh, how can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office
Who never will suffer being shown an honest-hearted face!




Orson Scott写的《安德系列》中的第三部，叫做《星际屠异》（Xenocide）。里面提到了一个叫做Path的行星，上面居民的祖先是古代地球上的中国人，移居外星之后也不敢忘本，在离地球几十万光

年之外的殖民星上还是按照古代中国人的生活方式生存、繁衍。

基本上只要看过古装电视剧就可以想象这颗行星上的人是什么样子了。不过老外也很有意思，编了一个风俗——该星球上的人喜欢用古代中国的名人给孩子取名，称之为“心中的祖先”，希望孩子长大后的品行会和名字的原主一致。还好这个习俗只在上层阶级流行，不然就算中华文明源远流长英才辈出，制造的名人也不够大家来抢的。

因为这种追星热，猜名字变成了一个很有趣的挑战。比方说，书里描写了该行星上的高级祭司，精通神学，和掌权的星际委员会关系良好，在数千个殖民星球上也有很高的声望，经常担任特使调停各星球间的矛盾、主持签订条约。他的名字叫做Han Fei-tzu。这个很好猜，根据读音就可以知道，他父母一定是韩非子的粉丝。

这位韩非子老兄有一位天资聪颖的女儿，很小的时候就被发现是一位天才，而且深受神的宠爱，有施行神迹的能力。该女儿名叫“Qing-jao”。我想破了头也想不到有哪位名人叫做青椒的，一定是老外汉语拼音不过关。

所幸后来作者抒情了一把，为不懂中文的读者解释“Qing-jao”的意思是“Gloriously Bright”，那是一个中国古代女诗人的名字，一个在男权社会里赢得尊重的女诗人，本名叫作Li Qing-jao。

于是谜底揭晓，原来Qing-jao不是青椒，而是清照，不知作者是从哪本书里看到这个英文译名的。李清照要是泉下有知，听见自己被老外卷着舌头叫做青椒，不知会怎么想。

书里列举了李清照的几首词，当然也是英文版的，看的时候感觉就像是猜谜语，很难和原句对上号。例如有一句“Thin fog and thick cloud, gloom all day”，猜得到原句是什么吗？乃是“薄雾浓云愁永昼”。

还有“Now my curtain's lifted only by the western wind. I've grown thinner than this golden blossom”。试着翻了一下——“现在我的窗帘被西风吹起，我变得比金色的花还瘦了”。

其实原句写得古雅一点，就是“帘卷西风，人似黄花瘦”。

诗词这东西，果然是翻译不得的啊，差一点点，就神韵全无了。叫老外怎么能分辨不同方块字间的微小差异，以及意境的天差地别。







Sinologist Burton Watson翻译：

Year after year will it break my heart?

The moonlit grave,

The stubby pines.

但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。[苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》]

We wish each other a long life so as to share the beauty of this graceful moonlight, even though miles apart.

独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲。[王维《九月九日忆山东兄弟》]

A lonely stranger in a strange land I am cast,

I miss my family all the more on every festive day.

大江

东去，浪淘尽，千古风流人物。[苏轼《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》]

The endless river eastward flows; with its huge waves are gone all those gallant heroes of bygone years.

路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索。[屈原《离骚》]

The way ahead is long; I see no ending, yet high and low I'll search with my will unbending.

两情若是长久时，又岂在朝朝暮暮。[秦观《鹊桥仙》]

If love between both sides can last for aye, why need they stay together night and day?

欲穷千里目，更上一层楼。[王之涣《登鹳雀楼》]

We widen our views three hundred miles by ascending one flight of stairs.

Exhausting my eyes to a thousand li further, I am ascending one more story of the tower.

在天愿做比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝。[白居易《长恨歌》]

In heaven let us be two birds flying ever together, and on earth two trees with branches interlocked forever.

叹人间，美中不足今方信。纵然是齐眉举案，到底意难平。[曹雪芹《红楼梦》]

I sigh, learning that no man's happiness in complete;

Even a pair thought well-matched

May find disappointment.

枉费了，意悬悬半世心，好一似，荡悠悠三更梦。忽喇喇似大厦倾，昏惨惨似灯将尽。呀！一场欢喜忽悲辛。叹人世，终难定！[曹雪芹《红楼梦》]

In vain her anxious thought for half a lifetime,

For like a disturbing dream at dead of night,

Like the thunderous collapse of a great mansion,

Or the flickering of a lamp that gutters out,

Mirth is suddenly changed to sorrow.

Ah, nothing is certain in the world of men.

丹青不知老将近，富贵于我如浮云。[杜甫《丹青引赠曹将军霸》]

Absorbed in painting, you know not old age is coming; indeed, to me wealth and rank are like clouds scudding.

衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴。[晏殊《蝶恋花》]

I find my gown too large, but I will not regret;

It's worth while growing languid for my dear coquette.

多情自古伤离别，更那堪，冷落清秋节。[柳永《雨霖铃》]

Lovers would grieve at parting as of cold.

How could you stand this clear autumn day so cold!

枝上柳绵吹又少，天涯何处无芳草！[苏轼《蝶恋花·花褪残红》]

Most willow catkins have been blown away, alas!

But there is no place where grows not the sweet green grass.

系我一生心，负你千行泪。[柳永《忆帝京》]

I shall miss you for the rest of my years,

Which can't compensate you for all your tears.

此情无计可消除，才下眉头，却上心头。[李清照《一剪梅》]

Such sorrow can by no means be driven away;

From eyebrows kept apart,

Again it gnaws my heart.

思悠悠，恨悠悠。恨到归时方始休，月明人倚楼。[白居易《长相思》]

My thought stretches endlessly;

My grief wretches endlessly.

Oh, when will my beloved come back to me?

Alo

ne I lean on moonlit balcony.

会当凌绝顶，一览众山小。[杜甫《望岳》]

When shall I reach the top and hold

All mountains in a single glance?

谁言寸草心，报得三春辉。[孟郊《游子吟》]

But how much love has the inch-long grass

For three spring months of the light of the sun?

前不见古人，后不见来者。念天地之悠悠，独怆然而涕下。[陈子昂《登幽州台歌》]

Where, before me, are the ages that have gone?

And where, behind me, are the coming generations?

I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end,

And I am all alone and my tears fall down.

安能摧眉折腰事权贵，使我不得开心颜？[李白《梦游天姥吟留别》]

Oh, how can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office

Who never will suffer being shown an honest-hearted face!

千呼万唤始出来，犹抱琵琶半遮面。[白居易《琵琶行》]

Yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us,

Still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar.

同是天涯沦落人，相逢何必曾相识。[白居易《琵琶行》]

We are both unhappy -- to the sky's end.

We meet. We understand. What does acquaintance matter?

长风破浪会有时，直挂云帆济沧海。[李白《行路难》]