《杀死一只仿声鸟》（节选二）

文/哈珀·李 译析/吴文安

《杀死一只仿声鸟》（节选二）

文/哈珀·李 译析/吴文安

A tticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, “My father—”

[2] Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep-away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him Atticus would say, “I’m too old for that, son.”

[3] Our father didn’t do anything. He worked in an of fi ce, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump-truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone.

阿迪克斯身体虚弱：他快五十岁了。杰姆和我问他为啥这么老，他说自己一切起步太晚，而我们觉得这让他显得能力不足和不像男子汉。他比我们学校里同学的父母都老，因此每逢同学们说“我的爸爸如何如何”，我们都无言以对。

[2]杰姆是个橄榄球迷。玩抓球游戏时，阿迪克斯再累也不会拒绝，但如果杰姆要抱摔他，阿迪克斯就会说：“我太老了，不能来这个，儿子。”

[3]爸爸总是无所事事。他在一个办公室工作，而不是药店。阿迪克斯不是县里的自卸卡车司机，不是警长，不经营农场，不是修车工，他做的事情几乎不能让任何人羡慕。

[4]除此之外，他还带着眼镜。他的左眼几乎全盲，还说左眼视力不佳是他们芬奇家的遗传病。要看清什么东西，他就转过头，用右眼去看。

[4] Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind in his left eye, and said left eyes were the tribal curse of theFinches. Whenever he wanted to see something well, he turned his head and looked from his right eye.

[5] He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the living room and read.

[6] With these attributes, however, he would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to: that year, the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary. After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn’t fi ght any more, her daddy wouldn’t let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn’t fi ght publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail. Francis Hancock, for example, knew that.

[5]我们同学父亲做的事情，他都不做：他从不狩猎，他不玩扑克牌，不钓鱼，不喝酒，不抽烟。他只坐在客厅里阅读。

[6]尽管有这些特点，他倒不是我们所想的那样一直默默无闻：那一年，学校里纷纷议论他为汤姆·罗宾逊辩护的事儿，都对他嗤之以鼻。在我和塞西尔·雅各布争斗之后，我就奉行懦夫政策，因此大家就说斯格特·芬奇不会再和别人打架了，她的爸爸不让。这一点不完全正确：在公共场合，我不会为阿迪克斯而打架，但在家里这样的私人场合就不同。如果是远房亲戚，我会和他拼个你死我活。举个例子，弗兰西斯·汉考克就深知这一点。

[7] When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn’t teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments there of; he said Atticus wasn’t interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

[7]阿迪克斯给我们气枪玩，却不教我们射击。杰克叔叔就教我们一些常识；他说阿迪克斯对枪不感兴趣。一天，阿迪克斯对杰姆说：“我希望你能在后院里射击罐头盒，但我知道你会去打鸟。那些蓝背樫鸟，你想怎么打都可以。但你要记住，杀死一只仿声鸟可是罪过。”

[8]那是唯一一次我听阿迪克斯说做什么事是个罪过，我就去问莫迪小姐。

[8] That was the only time I everheard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

[9] “Your father’s right,” she said.“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

[9]“你父亲是对的，”她说，“仿声鸟除了为我们唱歌之外什么都不做。它们不在人们的花园里乱啄一气，不在谷仓里筑巢。除了尽心尽力地为我们唱歌，它们什么都不做。所以杀死一只仿声鸟是种罪过。”

【背景知识】由于小说的叙述视角为小女孩，所以“孩子的话”不能全信。作者着力塑造的主人公阿迪克斯在女儿眼里竟然“没有男子汉气概”，竟然被人嘲笑，竟然“一无所长，一无是处”，而曾经的神枪手竟然“对枪不感兴趣”。此处的伏笔和反讽手法很有趣，也是第一人称视角叙述的特殊效果之一。

【第一段】阿迪克斯真正显老的原因是日夜怀念去世的妻子，既当爹又当妈操碎了心，但他又不能对子女直言。这是作者隐含的叙述声音和意图。该段中有个词组re fl ect upon需要细心查证和表达，其真正意思是“to affect other people’s opinion of someone or something, especially in a bad way”，即阿迪克斯显老给别人以不良印象。

【第二段】keep-away和tackle都是橄榄球术语，不能按照普通词汇去理解。

【第三段】此时女儿还不理解父亲阿迪克斯作为律师的身份和重要性，所以女儿的看法实际上是误解，是反语。等女儿旁听父亲法庭辩论之后，才对父亲的工作有进一步了解。这也为后文做了铺垫，因为绝大部分小镇居民都对阿迪克斯尊敬有加。

【第五段】这段文字看似贬低阿迪克斯，却从另一侧面反映出他的独特之处：他洁身自好，知识渊博，善良正直。

【第六段】该段原文用词讲究，比如inconspicuous、complimentary、commit myself to a policy。前两个词语属于委婉语，而译文不再绕弯，直截了当，意思明晰。第三个短语是小孩子故意咬文嚼字，大词小用，译文也予以保留。

〔〕〔〕

【第七段】阿迪克斯是神枪手，女儿后来经过疯狗事件才知道。而阿迪克斯的话点明小说主题，即千万不要去伤害无辜的好人（不要杀死仿声鸟）。

【第九段】莫迪小姐的语言很有特色，口语化明显，翻译起来比较困难。短语eat up有夸张成分，译文引申为“乱啄一气”。此处对话点明小说主题——不要杀死仿声鸟的缘由，即仿声鸟有百利而无一害。书中的人物汤姆·罗宾逊和布尔·拉德利就像仿声鸟那样无辜。

【小结】小说叙述借助第一人称有限视角展开，容易让读者误解。译者在此需要把握叙述的分寸，以全篇故事线索为背景组织语言，适当翻译反讽和伏笔，以及小女孩童稚有趣的心理活动和措辞。

To Kill A Mockingbird (Excerpt II)

By Harper Lee