趣味英语莎士比亚全部著作将被翻译成中文

趣味英语莎士比亚全部著作将被翻译成中文

The British Government has pledged £1.5 million to translate the complete works of Shakespeare into Chinese. The project will be delivered by the Royal Shakespeare Company, who have also received government funding for a tour of China. The stated aim is to boost tourism and ‘cultural links’.

英国政府已决定要花150万英镑把莎翁的全部著作翻译成中文。皇家莎士比亚公司(英国一家大型剧院公司)将负责此项目的运转，为此，政府同时也资助他们来中国巡演。(大家可以开始存钱啦!)据称，该项目的目的是刺激旅游业及增强“文化纽带”。

ARE THE BRITS HAPPY? 英国人开心吗?

The plays and poetry of William Shakespeare are arguably England’s greatest cultural treasure. Every school child studies his work, and he is considered to be the greatest Englishman to ever wield a pen. Until the 20th century though, Shakespeare was almost unknown in China. The new translations and accompanying tour will bring Shakespeare to

a wider audience in China. What, though, do those who hail from the land of The Bard’s

birth feel about their government sponsoring this project? Are they glad to see Shakespeare shared more widely?

莎士比亚的戏剧和诗歌可以说是英国最伟大的文化瑰宝。每个孩子在学校必学其作品，他也被评为英国有史以来最伟大的作家。但是莎翁的赫赫声名直到20世纪才在中国渐渐

流传开来。这一批译文和巡演将把他的作品引荐给更多的中国读者。但是，莎翁家乡的人民对他们政府资助这一项目有何看法呢?有更多人一起分享莎翁的传世著作，他们对此感

到欣慰吗?

I read through pages of comments at the bottom of several articles announcing the project. Only a very few resented this use of taxpayers’ money, with most expressing pride that ‘their’ playwright was to be presented afresh in the world’s most spoken language. However, there are some huge challenges involved in translating Shakspeare into Chinese.

我阅读了几篇新闻稿下面的多页评论后发现，只有寥寥数人反对政府如此使用纳税人的钱，绝大多数人都对“英国人自己的”剧作家将通过世界上使用率最高的语言，以崭新面

貌示人而引以为豪。然而，把莎翁作品翻译成中文可不是易事，可谓困难重重。

A HISTORY OF CHINESE TRANSLATIONS 谁是先行者?

The first translations of Shakespeare into Mandarin were by Lin Shu (1852-1924) and entitled Strange Stories from across the Seas. They were not direct translations, but taken from a children’s book of prose adaptations of Shakespeare’s stories. The first Chinese encounters with Shakespeare were therefore not with the verse of his plays but the stories and characters in a simplified format.

林纾(1852-1924)可谓是翻译莎士比亚著作的第一人(编者注：事实上，由于林纾不谙外文，翻译过程是由他的合作者魏易口述，再由林纾笔译的)，其翻译的首本《吟边燕语》原文并非作品本身，而是改编成散文的儿童读物。所以中国读者初遇莎翁作品，读到的不是他的剧作，而是简化后的故事及人物。

COMPLEX LANGUAGE 复杂的言语

The influence of Shakespeare’s storylines has definitely been greater than that of his language. The first translation of a play didn’t come until 1922, courtesy of Tian Han and Shakespeare’s language does not easily submit to translation. Many of the words, figures of