《红楼梦》第三十七回中探春请帖英译赏析

【摘要】《红楼梦》第三十七回中探春写请帖邀约宝玉结诗社，其贴文辞清丽，俊逸浪漫。本文选择两个英译本，从意义传达、情感传达、文化传达三个方面进行赏析。

【关键词】《红楼梦》;探春请帖;英译赏析

【作者简介】胡秋，四川职业技术学院外语系。

《红楼梦》第三十七回探春致贴邀请宝玉结诗社，其帖文采风流，清新浪漫。本文赏析中国翻译家杨宪益与其夫人戴乃迭译本及英国汉学家霍克斯译本，以下简称为杨译和霍译。

一、意义传达

“前夕新霁，月色如洗，因惜清景难逢，讵忍就卧，时漏已三转，犹徘徊于桐槛之下，未防风露所欺，致获采薪之患。”

探春描述自己因贪赏夜景导致生病的过程。“讵忍就卧，时漏已三转，犹徘徊于桐槛之下，未防风露所欺，致获采薪之患”，杨译为“I stayed up until midnight strolling under the trees. As a result， I caught a chill in the dew.” 霍译为 “Thrice the clepsydra had been turned， and still I lingered beneath the tall paulownias， reluctant to go in. But in the end the treacherous night air betrayed me， and by morning I was lamentably indisposed.” 霍译尽力保留原文意义，如“时漏已三转”和“徘徊于桐槛之下”。漏，漏壶，古代的定时器，霍译为“clepsydra”。“未防风露所欺”，霍译为 “treacherous night air betrayed me”表现出探春的俏皮风趣。杨译则体现原文大意，颇为简洁流畅。

二、情感传达

“昨蒙亲劳抚嘱，复又数遣侍儿问切，兼以鲜荔并真卿墨迹见赐，何瘝痌惠爱之深哉！”

前文提到探春生病之时，宝玉亲自探病，并遣丫鬟送去鲜荔枝以及颜真卿的书法。探春感激宝玉深切的关爱慰问，感叹“何瘝痌惠爱之深哉”。“ 瘝痌”，病痛，这里是说宝玉像病生在自己身上那样关切对方的健康。杨译 “You took the trouble to come in person and cheer me up yesterday， then sent your maids with gifts of fresh lichees and Yan Zhenqings cal?ligraphy. I was extremely touched by your kind concern.” 霍译 “How kind of you to have visited me in my sickroom！ and how exquisitely thoughtful to have sent your maid-servant shortly after?wards with solicitous inquiries and with those delicious lychees and the calligraphy by Yan Zhen-qing！” 霍譯一气呵成，句式优美，以整句译整句。“How kind of you” 和“how exquisitely thoughtful”开头的并列感叹句，以及 “kind”， “exquisitely” ，“solicitous”等词语的使用，表现出探春对宝玉的深情厚谊铭感于心，强烈而真挚。杨译用了两个句子，形式上不及霍译紧凑，情感表达不似霍译强烈。

三、文化传达

“孰谓莲社之雄才，独许须眉，直以东山之雅会，让余脂粉。”

探春钦羡古人开诗社，饮酒赋诗的雅兴，认为这不该是专属于男子的特权，邀请宝玉结社。“东山之雅会”指东晋宰相谢安在东山结社。许译 “Why should the genius of the Lotus Society be confined to men？ Why should girls be excluded from cultured gatherings like those in the Eastern Hills？ ” 许译“东山之雅会”为 “cultured gatherings like those in the Eastern Hills”， 并加以注释 “ The Jin Dynasty landlord-official Xie Au used to organize cultured gatherings in his country retreat”. 许译传达出原文的文化内涵。霍译为“Why should the founding of poetry clubs be the sole preroga?tive of the whiskered male， and female versificators allowed a voice in the tunable concert of the muses only when some enlightened patriarch sees fit to invite them？” . “ concert of the muses”， 字面意思是缪斯的音乐会。缪斯是古希腊神话中掌管文艺的女神，赋予诗人灵感。霍译以西方文化来阐释中国文化。

从以上分析可见，两个文本各有特色，杨译体现原文大意，译文自然流畅，传达出原文的文化内涵。霍译忠实度高，句式优美，情感表达强烈真挚，以西方文化来阐释中国文化。

参考文献：

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[2]Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. A Dream of Red Mansion [M].Beijing： Foreign Language Press，

[3]曹雪芹.红楼梦[M].北京：人民文学出版社，1983.

[4]蔡义江.红楼梦诗词曲赋鉴赏[M].北京：中华书局，2001.