《水浒传》翻译赏析论文

水浒传(节选)三种译文赏析

In this essay, I‟m trying to make some comparisons among the three English versions of the Chinese novel《水浒传》(ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS translated by Peal S.Buck; WATER MARGIN worked out by J.H.Jackson; OUTLAWS OF THE MARSH by Sidney Shapiro. I would pick out some sentences from the Chapter 47 of their works for analysis and appreciation.

The version of Peal‟s was published in 1933,it is also the earliest English version for 《水浒传》.The method Peal adopted was literal translation. In the preface she said she tried to keep the authentic style of the original work. But she actually skipped many poems in the novel. WATER MARGIN worked out by J.H. Jackson has been largely deleted and rewritten, it is more in a style of western culture. Sidney Shapiro‟s OUTLAWS OF THE MARSH was translated by both the method of literal translation and liberal translation.

Following I would give some examples took from the Chapter 47 to tell the differences among these three versions.

Example 1李应出到厅前，连忙问道:“你且言备细缘故，怎么地来？”杜兴气定了，方才道：“小人赍了东人书札，到他那里第三重门下，却好遇见祝龙，祝虎，祝彪弟兄三个坐在那里。小人声了三个喏，祝彪喝道：…你又来做甚么？‟小人躬身禀道：…东人有书在此拜上。‟祝彪那厮变了脸，骂道：…你那主人恁地不晓人事！早晌使个泼男女来这里下书，要讨那个梁山泊贼人时迁，如今我正要解上州去，又来怎地？‟……”

In Peal‟s version, the first sentence LiYing said was translated as:"Tell us in detail, what happened?"; in Jackson‟s version:"take your time and tell us all about it.";in Sidney‟s version:"Pray speak out all the cause for this. How has this come about?"The first version,Pear‟s,is concise,and follows the sequence of the original

sentence,it is kind of stereotypical.Jackson made some alteration,but the phrase"take your time"may not accord with the original meaning,and he deleted the part of asking for the reason.Shapiro‟s version seems to be more suitable,it does not change the structure of the sentence,and conform to the meaning of the original sentence.The word “prey”shows the calmness of LiYing at that time and his self-cultivation.

The next sentence:“你那主人恁地不晓人事！”.In version of Peal‟s,she translated it as:”how can your master be so ignorant?”,then in Jackson‟s version:"Why does your master not understand human affairs?”,Shapiro translated it as:"That lord of yours---how is it he knows so little of propriety?”The word “ignorant”Peal chose can‟t exactly express the real meaning of“不晓人事”，"ignorant"can be apprehended as “stupid”.And the “human affairs”Jackson chose does not exactly conform to the meaning of “人事”，"human affairs"emphasizes more on the things in the related to human，but “人事”here is more related to the human relationships.And about the version of S hapiro‟s,he used the word “lord”instead of “master”,it seems to me that this word showed the nobility of LiYing‟s status,and “knows so little of propriety”is more similar to the meaning of “不晓人事”。

Example 2且说石秀挑着柴担先入去，行不到二十来里，只见路径曲折多杂，四下里弯环相似，树木丛密，难认路头，石秀便歇下柴担不走。听得背后法环响得渐近，石秀看时，却见杨林头带一个破笠子，身穿一领旧法衣，手里擎着法环，于路摇将进来。石秀见没人，叫住杨林说道：“看见路径弯杂难认，不知那里是我前日跟随李应来时的路。天色已晚，他们众人都是熟路，正看不仔细。”杨林道：“不要管他路径曲直，只顾拣大路走便了。”

In Peal‟s version she translated “里”as"li",while the other two translator converted it into miles.I think this is based on if the translator is on the side of the author or if they wants the reader to get easier comprehension.And the same, in Peal‟s