老舍《想北平》 -经典散文英译-中英双语赏析

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想北平

◎　老舍

设若让我写一本小说，以北平作背景，我不至于害怕，因为我可以拣着我知道的写，而躲开我所不知道的。让我单摆浮搁的讲一套北平，我没办法。北平的地方那么大，事情那么多，我知道的真觉太少了，虽然我生在那里，一直到廿七岁才离开。以名胜说，我没到过陶然亭 〔1〕  ，这多可笑！以此类推，我所知道的那点只是“我的北平”，而我的北平大概等于牛的一毛。

可是，我真爱北平。这个爱几乎是要说而说不出的。我爱我的母亲。怎样爱？我说不出。在我想作一件事讨她老人家喜欢的时候，我独自微微的笑着；在我想到她的健康而不放心的时候，我欲落泪。言语是不够表现我的心情的，只有独自微笑或落泪才足以把内心揭露在外面一些来。我之爱北平也近乎这个。夸奖这个古城的某一点是容易的，可是那就把北平看得太小了。我所爱的北平不是枝枝节节的一些什么，而是整个儿与我的心灵相粘合的一段历史，一大块地方，多少风景名胜，从雨后什刹海的蜻蜓一直到我梦里的玉泉山的塔影 〔2〕  ，都积凑到一块，每一小的事件中有个我，我的每一思念中有个北平，这只有说不出而已。

真愿成为诗人，把一切好听好看的字都浸在自己的心血里，像杜鹃 〔3〕  似的啼出北平的俊伟。啊！我不是诗人！我将永远道不出我的爱，一种像由音乐与图画所引起的爱。这不但是辜负了北平，也对不住我自己，因为我的最初的知识与印象都得自北平，它是在我的血里，我的性格与脾气里有许多地方是这古城所赐给的。我不能爱上海与天津，因为我心中有个北平。可是我说不出来！

伦敦，巴黎，罗马与堪司坦丁堡，曾被称为欧洲的四大“历史的都城”。我知道一些伦敦的情形；巴黎与罗马只是到过而已；堪司坦丁堡根本没有去过。就伦敦，巴黎，罗马来说，巴黎更近似北平——虽然“近似”两字都拉扯得很远——不过，假使让我“家住巴黎”，我一定会和没有家一样的感到寂苦。巴黎，据我看，还太热闹。自然，那里也有空旷静寂的地方，可是又未免太旷 〔4〕  ；不像北平那样既复杂而又有个边际 〔5〕  ，使我能摸着——那长着红酸枣的老城墙！面向着积水滩，背后是城墙，坐在石上看水中的小蝌蚪或苇叶上的嫩蜻蜓，我可以快乐的坐一天，心中完全安适，无所求也无可怕，像小儿安睡在摇篮里。是的，北平也有热闹的地方，但是它和太极拳相似，动中有静。巴黎有许多地方使人疲乏，所以咖啡与酒是必要的，以便刺激；在北平，有温和的香片茶就够了。

论说巴黎的布置已比伦敦罗马匀调的多了，可是比上北平还差点事儿。北平在人为之中显出自然，几乎是什么地方既不挤得慌，又不太僻静：最小的胡同里的房子也有院子与树；最空旷的地方也离买卖街与住宅区不远。这种分配法可以算——在我的经验中——天下第一了。北平的好处不在处处设备得完全，而在它处处有空儿，可以使人自由的喘气；不在有好些美丽的建筑，而在建筑的四周都有空闲的地方，使它们成为美景。每一个城楼，每一个牌楼，都可以从老远就看见。况且在街上还可以看见北山与西山呢！

好学的，爱古物的，人们自然喜欢北平，因为这里书多古物多。我不好学，也没钱买古物。对于物质上，我却喜爱北平的花多菜多果子多。花草是种费钱的玩艺，可是此地的“草花儿”很便宜，而且家家有院子，可以花不多的钱而种一院子花，即使算不了什么，可是到底可爱呀。墙上的牵牛，墙根的靠山竹与草茉莉，是多么省钱省事而也足以招来蝴蝶呀！至于青菜，白菜，扁豆，毛豆角，黄瓜，菠菜等等，大多数是直接由城外担来而送到家门口的。雨后，韭菜叶上还往往带着雨时溅起的泥点，青菜摊子上的红红绿绿几乎有诗似的美丽。果子有不少是由西山与北山来的，西山的沙果，海裳，北山的黑枣，柿子，进了城还带着一层白霜儿呀！哼，美国的橘子包着纸；遇到北平的带霜儿的玉李，还不愧杀！

是的，北平是个都城，而能有好多自己产生的花，菜，水果，这就使人更接近了自然。从它里面说，它没有像伦敦的那些成天冒烟的工厂；从外面说，它紧连着园林、菜圃与农村。采菊东篱下 〔6〕  ，在这里，确是可以悠然见南山的；大概把“南”字变个“西”或“北”，也没有多少了不得的吧。 〔7〕  像我这样的一个贫寒的人，或者只有在北平能享受一点清福了。 〔8〕

好，不再说了吧；要落泪了，真想念北平呀！

Fond Memories of Peiping

◎ Lao She

I have no misgivings about writing a novel with Peiping as its background because I can choose to write about what I am most familiar with while shying away from what is less known to me. But I shall be at a complete loss if I should be called upon to write exclusively about Peiping. Peiping is so big and multifaceted that very little of it, I believe, is known to me though I was born and brought up there and never went away until I was 27. Just fancy that I have neglected to visit even Tao Ran Ting, a local scenic attraction! It follows that, in contrast with Peiping in its entirety, what little I know about it is probably a mere drop in the ocean.

I do cherish, however, a genuine love for Peiping — a love that is almost as inexpressible as my love for mother. I smile by myself when I think of something I can do to please mother; I feel like crying when I worry about mother’s health. Words fail me where silent smiles and tears well express my innermost feelings. The same is true of my love for Peiping. I shall fail to do justice to this vast ancient city if I should do no more than extol just one certain aspect of it. The Peiping I love is not something in bits and pieces, but a phase of history and a vast tract of land completely bound up with my heart. Numerous scenic spots and historical sites from Shi Sha Hai Lake with its dragonflies after a rain to the Yu Quan Shan Mountain with the dream pagoda on top — all merge into a single whole. I associate myself with everything in Peiping no matter how trivial it is; Peiping is always in my mind. I can’t tell why.

If only I were a poet so that, with all the sweet and beautiful words at my command, I could sing of the grandeur of Peiping in as longing a note as that of a cuckoo! Alas, I am no poet! I shall never be able to express my love — the kind of love as inspired by music or painting. That is quite a letdown to both Peiping and myself, for it is to this ancient city that I owe what I have within me, including my early knowledge and impressions as well as much of my character and temperament. With Peiping possessing my heart, I can never become attached to either Shanghai or Tianjin. I can’t tell why.

London, Paris, Rome and Constantinople are known as the four major “historic capitals” of Europe. I know something about London; I have been to Paris and Rome only briefly; I have never visited Constantinople at all. Of all these cities, Paris has the closest affinity with Peiping (The word “affinity” may perhaps sound a bit farfetched). Nevertheless, if I should make my home in Paris, I would feel very lonely as if I had no home at all. As far as I know, Paris is too much of a bustling town. It does have quiet open spaces, but they smack of mere expanses of vacancy. Peiping is complicated and yet tangible. I can feel it by touch. I can feel the red wild jujubes growing on its ancient city wall! I can spend a whole day enjoying myself sitting on a rock to observe tiny tadpoles in the water or tender dragonflies on reeds while facing me lies Ji Shui Tan Pond and right behind me rises the high city wall. I can thus enjoy a perfect inner calm, free from any desire or fear, like a child sleeping peacefully in the cradle. There are also bustling places in Peiping, to be sure, but like the traditional Chinese shadow boxing Tai Ji Quan, the city retains its stillness in the midst of motion. While Parisians have to turn to coffee or wine for the relief of boredom caused by so many wearisome places in their city, the mild beverage of jasmine tea will be more than adequate for dwellers of Peiping.

Though Paris has a better layout than London or Rome, it nevertheless cannot compare with Peiping. In Peiping, one always finds the natural in the midst of the artificial. The city as a whole is neither too crowded nor too secluded. Even houses tucked away in very small lanes have their own courtyards and trees. Even the most secluded places are situated within a stone’s throw of business or residential districts. Such a layout is, to my mind, without equal all over the world. However, what distinguishes Peiping is not the perfect layout, but the open spaces here and there where people can breathe freely; not the many beautiful buildings, but the open grounds around each building which add to its architectural beauty. Each gate tower of the city wall and each pailou (decorated archway) can be seen from afar. And the Northern and Western hills are visible to people in the open streets.

Those who are fond of studying or collecting curios will naturally be drawn to Peiping, which is remarkable for its rich store of books and curios. Personally I am not given to studying, nor do I have spare money to buy curios. But I am keen on the flowers, vegetables and fruit which grow in rich abundance in Peiping. Gardening is something very expensive. But since herbaceous flowers in Peiping are very cheap and each house has a courtyard of its own, it does not cost very much to plant a whole courtyard to such flowers which, though humble, are nevertheless lovely to look at, such as morning glories on the wall, china pinks at the foot of the wall and marvels-of-Peru. Yes, cheap as they are, they attract butterflies! Green vegetables, cabbages, hyacinth beans, young soya beans, cucumbers, spinach, etc. are often carried straight from the suburbs to your residential quarters for marketing. Often, leeks from rural farms after a rain still have specks of mud on their leaves. The vegetable stalls are so colourful that they present a scene of poetic charm. Fruits come mainly from the western and northern suburbs, such as crab apples and cherry apples from the Western Hills, and jujubes and persimmons from the Northern Hills. Look, how they are still covered with frostlike bloom when they are put on the market! Indeed, America’s paper-wrapped oranges will pale beside Peiping’s plums bearing a thin coating of frostlike bloom!

The city of Peiping brings its residents into closer contact with nature by growing flowers, vegetables and fruit in large quantities. The city proper is not plagued by factory chimneys such as you find in London giving off volumes of smoke all day long. On the outskirts of the city lie numerous flower gardens, vegetable farms and villages. An ancient Chinese poet by the name of Tao Yuanming says aptly in one of his famous poems, “Plucking chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge, I calmly view the southern hills.” To adapt it to life in Peiping, I might as well substitute the word “western” or “northern” for the word “southern” in the line. Peiping is probably the only place for a man of limited means like me to live an easy and carefree life in.

Now, let me leave off writing, for I am on the point of shedding tears. How I miss Peiping!

北京于1930年改称北平，1949年新中国成立时恢复旧名。《想北平》是老舍（1899—1966）名篇，写于1936年。约六十年前的古都风貌和生活情调，时至今日，已发生巨大变化。当时老舍在山东大学任教，正值日寇入侵，国难当头。文章热情颂扬北平，字里行间洋溢着强烈的爱国主义和民族自豪感。

注释

〔1〕 “我没到过陶然亭”译为I have neglected to visit even Tao Ran Ting, a local scenic attraction，其中a local scenic attraction是添加成分，俾国外读者理解“陶然亭”乃古都一大名胜。又，译文中neglected一词也可用failed来表达。
〔2〕 “梦里的玉泉山的塔影”译为the Yu Quan Shan Mountain with the dream pagoda on top，其中dream属定语形容词，作“梦一般完美的”解。
〔3〕 “杜鹃”是一种益鸟，也称“杜宇”、“布谷”或“子规”，英语为cuckoo。古代诗人认为杜鹃鸣声凄厉，旅人闻之，不禁产生思家的心情，故常用“啼血”形容其鸣声。“啼血”不宜直译，可结合上下文意译为its longing note。
〔4〕 “可是又未免太旷”译为but they smack of mere expanses of vacancy，其中smack of作“有些像……”解，用以表达原文“未免”的含义；又，“太旷”作“大而空”解，故译为expanses of vacancy。
〔5〕 “有个边际”意即“可触摸的”或“有实质的”，故译为tangible或palpable。
〔6〕 “采菊东篱下”出自东晋文学家陶渊明《论酒》诗。本是“采菊东篱下，悠然见南山”，两句相连。现用解释性翻译法，把诗人姓名、时代，以及上下诗句，交代清楚，否则外国读者无法理解。
〔7〕 “大概把‘南’字变个‘西’或‘北’，也没有多少了不得的吧。”这句紧接上面的诗句，英译时也须灵活处理，交代其内涵：To adapt it to life in Peiping, I might as well substitute the word “western” or “northern” for the word “southern” in the line。
〔8〕 “清福”可译为an easy and carefree life或a life free from worries and cares。

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