艾青《偶像的话》 -经典散文英译-中英双语赏析

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◎　艾　青　Ai Qing

偶像的话①

◎　艾青

在那著名的古庙里，站立着一尊高大的塑像，人在他的旁边②，伸直了手还摸不到他的膝盖。很多年以来，他都使看见的人不由自主地肃然起敬，感到自己的渺小，卑微③，因而渴望着能得到他的拯救。

这尊塑像站了几百年了，他觉得这是一种苦役④，对于热望从他得到援助的芸芸众生，明知是无能为力的，因此他由于羞愧而厌烦⑤，最后终于向那些膜拜者说话了：

“众生啊，你们做的是多么可笑的事！你们以自己的模型创造了我，把我加以扩大⑥，想从我身上发生一种威力，借以镇压你们不安定的精神。而我却害怕你们⑦。

“我敢相信：你们之所以要创造我，完全是因为你们缺乏自信——请看吧，我比之你们能多些什么呢？而我却没有你们自己所具备的。

“你们假如更大胆些，把我捣碎了，从我的胸廓里是流不出一滴血来的。

“当然，我也知道，你们之创造我也是一种大胆的行为，因为你们尝试着要我成为一个同谋者，让我和你们一起，能欺骗更软弱的那些人。

“我已受够惩罚了⑧，我站在这儿已几百年⑨，你们的祖先把我塑造起来，以后你们一代一代为我的周身贴上金叶，使我能通体发亮，但我却嫌恶我的地位，正如我嫌恶虚伪一样。

“请把我捣碎吧，要么能将我缩小到和你们一样大小，并且在我的身上赋予生命所必需的血液⑩，假如真能做到，我是多么感激你们——但是这是做不到的呀。

“因此，我认为，真正能拯救你们的还是你们自己。而我的存在，只能说明你们的不幸。”说完了最后的话⑪，那尊塑像忽然像一座大山一样崩塌了。

The Idol Speaks

◎ Ai Qing

There stood in a well-known ancient temple a huge statue. It was so tall that people standing by were unable to touch even its knees however hard they tried to reach for it. For many, many years, visitors couldn’t help feeling so overawed and dwarfed at the sight of it that they looked to it eagerly for salvation.

Having stood there for several hundred years, the statue had now come to detest it as a kind of forced drudgery. And it knew perfectly well that it could do nothing whatsoever to help the suffering mortal beings craving for salvation by it. Feeling bored as well as ashamed, it began to address its worshippers at long last:

“O ye mortals, what a ridiculous thing you’ve done! You’ve created me in your own image, and an image of gigantic dimensions at that, believing that I can thus be powerful enough to rid you of your worries and cares. As a result, however, I’ve become just scared of you.

“I’ve every reason to believe that it is your lack of self-confidence that has prompted you to create me. Look, in what way am I superior to you? As a matter of fact, I even lack what you yourselves are equipped with.

“If you’re bold enough to smash me to pieces, you won’t see a single drop of blood trickling down my chest.

“Of course I’m also aware that it’s a daring act of yours to have created me, in an attempt to make me an accomplice of yours so that I can join you in hoodwinking those who are even weaker than you.

“I’ve had enough of punishment, having been footed to the spot for several hundred years! Ever since your forefathers moulded me, people have been gilding me all over from generation to generation to keep me glittering from top to toe. Nevertheless, I’m sick of my present position as much as I’m of hypocrisy.

“Please smash me, or reduce me to your size and instill life-giving blood into me! I would be very grateful to you if that could ever be done. But it’s simply impossible!

“I hold, therefore, that you yourselves only are your saviours, and my presence can only mean your misfortune.” With that, the statue crumbled all of a sudden like a huge mountain.

艾青（1910—1996），浙江金华人。1929年赴法国巴黎习画，1932年回国后放弃绘画而写诗，1941年奔赴延安。他不仅是诗人，也是散文家。《偶像的话》是他写于五十年代的一篇随笔。

注释

①“偶像的话”译为The Idol Speaks，比直译The Idol’s Words或The Idol’s Remarks生动有力，动词用现在不定式符合英语标题写法。

②“人在他的旁边”译为people standing by，即people standing by its side。成语to stand by作“站在……旁边”解。

③“不由自主地肃然起敬，感到自己的渺小，卑微……”译为couldn’t help feeling so overawed and dwarfed，干脆利落，灵活处理。如译为couldn’t help having a feeling of reverence and calling themselves petty and low，似欠简练。

④“这尊塑像站了几百年了，他觉得这是一种苦役”译为Having stood there for several hundred years, the statue had now come to detest it as a kind of forced drudgery，其中to detest（憎恨）和forced（强加的）均为添加成分，原文虽无其词而有其意。

⑤“由于羞愧而厌烦”译为Feeling bored as well as ashamed，作灵活处理，意即“不仅羞愧，而且厌烦”。

⑥“把我加以扩大”译为and an image of gigantic dimensions at that，补充前面的You’ve created me in your own image。成语at that作“而且”解。

⑦“而我却害怕你们”译为As a result, however, I’ve become just scared of you。文中“而”的实际意思是“这样一来”或“结果”，故译为As a result，不宜译为In the meantime或And等。

⑧“我已受够惩罚了”译为I’ve had enough of punishment，其中to have had enough of…是惯用语，意思是“对……已受够”，等于to have had too much of…。

⑨“我已站在这儿几百年”译为having been footed to the spot for several hundred years，和having been standing here for several hundred years同义，但突出了“固定一个地方”的意思。

⑩“赋予生命所必需的血液”本可译为bestow lifegiving blood upon me，但to bestow与blood连用，比喻不确切，故改译为instill life-giving blood into me，其中to instill… into…作“把……输入到……”（to put… into… drop by drop）解。

⑪“说完了最后的话”译为With that、With that last remark、With these words等皆可，其中介词With表示“与此同时”。With that相当于Upon finishing these words。

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