October Days1十月天

Just below me on the hillside is a forty-acre field that slopes gently down to the valley. Last year it was ploughed by a motor-tractor： this year I rejoice to say it is being ploughed in the old way， as it has been ploughed for a thousand years. I suppose we ought to be grateful for the motor-tractor and the steam-digger that in cheapening production cheapen our food， but I am glad that the farmer below me has returned to the ancient way. When the machine comes in， the poetry goes out， and though poetry has no place in the farmer’s ledger2 it is pleasant to find that he has sound reasons for reverting to the primitive plough. All the operations of the fields are beautiful to see. They are beautiful in themselves and beautiful in their suggestions of the permanence of things in the midst of which we come and go like the guests of a day. Who can see the gleaners in the field， or the haymakers piling the hay on the hay-wain， or the mower bending over the scythe without the stirring of the feelings which the mere beauty of the scene or of the motion does not explain？3 Indeed the sense of beauty itself is probably only the emanation of the thoughts subtly awakened by the action. It is so with pictures4. I do not know any painting that lives in my mind with a more abiding beauty than one of Millet’s. It is just a solitary upland field， with a flight of birds and an untended plough lying in the foreground. The barrenness and austerity of the scene5 are almost forbidding at the first glance， but as the mind dwells on it， it becomes instinct with6 meaning and emotion. Evening has come and darkness is falling over the land. The labourer has left the field and the rooks are going home. In the midst of the ancient solitude and silence that have taken possession of the earth， the old plough has the passion of personality. It embodies the epic of man’s labour with the intensity that direct statement could not convey but only the power of suggestion can give.

就在我下方的山坡上，有一片四十英亩的田地，坡度徐缓地往下延伸到山谷。去年这块地用一辆拖拉机犁过，而今年我会乐滋滋地说，人们正以古老的方式犁这块地，就是沿用千年的那种方式。依我看，我们应该感谢拖拉机和蒸汽挖掘机，它们既降低了生产成本，也降低了食品价格，但我高兴的是地里那个农民已然回归了古老的耕作方式。随着机器的引进，诗歌过时了。虽然那位农民的日常算计中没有诗歌的份额，但我欣喜地发现，他依然满有理由转回去使用简陋的犁铧。田间地头的劳作全都赏心悦目，不仅美在它们自身，还美在它们透出的种种迹象，暗示着我们如匆匆过客般亲历事物之恒久。谁瞧见有人田间埋头拾穗，或弯腰挥镰割草，抑或往车上堆放干草，能不心潮荡漾？何以如此情难自禁，单以风光美丽或动作漂亮是说不通的。事实上，美感本身可能只是显现被行为隐约唤起的想法。欣赏画作亦然。我不知道留存于我心的画作，有哪幅能比米勒的任一幅更具持久的魅力。他画的只是一片孤零零的高地田野，一群飞翔的鸟儿，前景里有一把无人看顾的犁躺在那儿。一派贫瘠萧瑟的景象，初看几乎令人悚然心惊，但神游其中，它便渐渐充满意义与情感。夜幕已经降临，黑暗开始笼罩大地。农民离开了田地，秃鼻乌鸦也要归巢。在已然占据大地的远古的孤独与静谧之中，那把古老的犁富于强烈的个性。它象征着人类劳动的史诗，气势之盛难以直言道明，只能借助暗示传递几分。

And so it is with the scene before me. As I watch the ploughman drawing that straight， undulating line in the yellow stubble of the field， he seems to be not so much a mortal as a part of the landscape， that comes and goes as the seasons come and go， or as the sun comes and goes7. His father， it may be， ploughed this field before him， and his father before him， and so on back through the centuries to the days when the monks still drank their sack8 and ate their venison in the monastery below， which is now only a mound of stones. And over the new-ploughed soil the rooks， who have as ancient an ancestry as himself， descend in clouds to forage as they have descended in these late October days for a thousand years. And after the rooks， the starlings. They have gathered in hosts after the pleasant domestic intimacies of summer for their winter campaigning， and stream across the sky in those miraculous mass man-oeuvres that affect one like winged and noiseless music. When they swoop down on the upturned soil the farmer blesses them. He forgets the devastations of the summer in the presence of the ruthless war which the mail-clad host is making on the leather-jackets and other pestilent broods that lurk in the soil.9 They， too， have their part in the eternal economy of the fields. They are notes in that rhythm of things which touches our transitoriness with the hint of immemorial ancestry.

我眼前的画面也是如此。我注视着耕夫在遍布黄色麦茬的田野上划出那条高低起伏的直线，觉得他似乎不是一个普通人，而是风景的一部分，频繁地出现和消失，伴随着四季更迭或昼夜交替。他的父亲，或许在他之前就耕过这片地，还有他父亲的父亲，耕着耕着，顷刻间时光倒流几百年，回到僧侣们依然在修道院里饮萨克酒、吃鹿肉的日子，而当年位于田野下方的那座修道院，如今只剩下一堆石块。盘旋在新耕土地上的秃鼻乌鸦，和耕夫本人有着同样古老的祖先，它们成群地从天而降，一起觅食，上千年来多少个十月下旬的日子亦复如是。秃鼻乌鸦之后是椋鸟。夏天愉悦亲昵的家庭生活结束后，大量椋鸟聚集起来，为它们越冬的斗争做准备。它们以神奇的群体飞翔特技掠过长空，和振翅而作的无声乐曲一样打动人心。眼见它们俯冲而下，落在深翻过的土壤上，农民自会送上祝福。这支全副武装的鸟儿大军正在向潜藏于土壤的大蚊幼虫和其他害虫幼虫发动无情的攻击，他目睹全程，自然忘了夏天遭受的祸害。这些鸟儿也参与了田地的永久经营。它们构成了那首万物咏叹调的一个个音符，给我们眼前的倏忽一瞬平添了些许悠悠远古的意味。

The ploughman has reached the far end of his furrow and rests his horses while he takes his lunch by the hedgerow. That is aflame once more with the returning splendours of these October days. The green of summer has turned to a passion of gold and scarlet and yellow and purple10， and all over the landscape the foliage is drunk with colour. The elms that have stood so long garbed in sober green are showing wonderful tufts and curls of bright yellow at the top， like old gentlemen who are growing old gaily. It is as though they have suddenly become vocal and hilarious and are breaking into song. A few days hence they will be a glory of bright yellow. But that last note of triumph does not belong to October. It is in the first days of November that the elm is at its crowning hour. But the beech is at its best now， and the woodlands that spread up the hillside glow， underfoot and overhead， with the fires of fairyland.

耕夫已经到达犁沟的尽头，他在灌木树篱旁吃午饭，正好让马儿也在一旁歇息。随着十月天缤纷秋色的复归，那道树篱再度燃起耀眼的光焰。夏天的苍翠转为热烈的金黄、绯红、黄褐和绛紫，整片林地的树叶浸染了绚丽的色彩。那些身披朴素绿装已久的榆树，在树巅露出一簇簇、一绺绺怡人的亮黄色，犹如一个个欣然老去的年长绅士。它们似乎陡然开始发声，欢笑之余引吭高歌。几天后，它们将变成一片亮灿灿的金黄，但那首胜利曲调最后的音符并不属于十月。十一月的头几天才是榆树顶起黄冠的时期。不过，此时正是山毛榉最美的时候，蔓延到山腰的山毛榉林从头到脚红得鲜艳，仿佛闪耀着仙境之火。

In the bright warm sunshine there is a faint echo of the songs of spring. There are chirrups and chatterings from voices that have been silent for long. There is the “spink11， spink” of the chaffinch， and from the meadowland at the back there comes at intervals the song of a lark， not the full song of summer， but no mean imitation of it. It is the robin， however， who is now chorister-in-chief12. His voice was lost or unnoticed when the great soloists were abroad， but now he is left to sing the requiem of the year alone—unless we include the owl13 who comes punctually every evening as the dusk falls to my garden， and utters a few owlish incantations.

明亮温暖的阳光下，依稀回荡着春天的歌声。沉寂许久的唧唧喳喳声再度响起。其中有仓头燕雀“斯平克，斯平克”的呼唤，后面的草地上还不时传来一只云雀的歌声——不是夏天的纵情放歌，但也绝不是对夏日谣曲的拙劣模仿。然而，知更鸟才是唱诗班的现任首席歌手。前些日子那些大牌独唱演员出来献艺时，它的声音消失了或者被忽视了，但现在只剩下它独唱本年度的安魂曲——除非我们把猫头鹰划归歌手之列。每天傍晚暮色降临之际，猫头鹰总会准时来到我的花园，念几句猫头鹰的咒语。

I can see the ploughman nearing the top end of the field， and can hear the jangle of the harness and his comments to the horses and almost the soft fall of the soil as the furrow is turned over. I think I will bid him adieu， for these October days provide tasks for me as well as for the ploughman. There are still some apples to pick， there is an amazing bed of carrots to be got up， there are laurels to be cut down， there are—oh， joy！—bonfires to be lighted， and there are young fir-trees to be transplanted. I think I will start with the bonfires.

我能看见耕夫正在接近田地上坡的尽头，可以听到马具叮叮当当的声音、耕夫对马儿的责怪，就连深翻犁沟时土壤轻轻溅落的声音也隐约可闻。我想我得向他告别了，因为十月天向耕夫和我都分派了任务。仍有一些苹果要采摘，有一畦成色不错的胡萝卜要拔出，有几棵月桂树要砍倒，有——哦，棒极了！——有篝火要点燃，还有枞树苗要移植。我想我还是先点燃篝火吧。

（译者单位：扬州大学）

1 本文选自英国作家阿尔弗雷德·乔治·加德纳的随笔集《道道畦沟》（Many Furrows）。作者寄情于金秋十月的田野风光，神游物外，思接千载，委婉而深沉地抒发今昔之比的感慨，是一篇蕴含诗情画意和深邃哲理的美文。美文需美译，翻译时应认真理解揣摩原意，精心炼词琢句，用自然贴切的对等语再现原文的神韵。 2 译文重新调整这一从句结构，将farmer作为行为主体；ledger（记账用的簿子）则取其喻义“日常算计”，译作“农民的日常算计中没有诗歌的份额”，读来顺畅自如。

3 将这一长句前三个并列的名词短语“gleaners … the mower bending over the scythe”译作“有人田间埋头拾穗，或弯腰挥镰割草，抑或往车上堆放干草”，节奏鲜明，朗朗上口，音美意美兼具；which译为设问“何以如此情难自禁”，照应前文the stirring of the feelings（心潮荡漾）；the mere beauty of the scene or of the motion则扩展为“单以风光美丽或动作漂亮”。概括而言，译文将原句的多重意思按照汉语习惯顺势铺陈，化为络绎行文，无阻隔之感，无斧凿之痕。 4 此处pictures若只译为“画作”，便难以进行比类，因而加上“欣赏”一词，凸显动态。 5 barrenness and austerity在原文中做主语，译文未囿于原文语法结构，采用小句意合。 6 be instinct with 充满着。

7 the seasons come and go译为“四季更迭”，the sun comes and goes译为“昼夜交替”。只要留心汉语的惯常说法，总能找出不同于词典概念意义的自然而贴切的对等语。 8 sack萨克葡萄酒，古老的葡萄酒术语，指16—17世纪产于西班牙本土及加那利群岛的葡萄酒。

9 此句中的“in the presence of ...”暗含解释原因。根据中文表达习惯，译文调整了全句的语序，先“因”后“果”，前后连续而贯通；mail是“铠甲”，host是“军队”，此处运用了暗喻修辞。 10 用带有修饰成分的双音节词分别对应原文简单的颜色词green、gold、scarlet、yellow和purple，译文包蕴具有情感色彩的视觉联想，呈现秋色缤纷的美景。

11 spink 仓头燕雀叫声。 12 chorister-in-chief 唱诗班首席歌手。 13 结合语境增补词义，将其译为“把猫头鹰划归歌手之列”，与前面的great soloists（大牌独唱演员）形成有效的语义衔接。