《红楼梦》的炼字与翻译
2017-05-05 09:28:53 etogether.net 网络 次
文中的“酿”字，就该细节来讲，有许多字可供选择。曹雪芹不用“宠”、“惯”、“纵”等字，却惟独选中了“酿”字。粗读不觉其优，细味方察出“酿”字较诸字深邃。人的情性的养成，非一日之功，而是逐渐的。“酿”字贴切地把性格的成因及其渐进的过程揭示了出来。
“酿”字，出自贾政之口，入于“众人”之耳，是宝玉“大承笞挞”之时遭到气急败坏的父亲的谩骂，且包含了贾政对众人的叱责与不满。译文a用spoil，译文b用corrupt;译文a用完成进行时态，译文b用强调句（强调主体为the encouragement)将这一切与前文的分析联系起来，我们不难看出，译文a与原文比，没有几多斟酌的痕迹;而译文b却不失为传达原文风格的成功做法。
无独有偶，曹雪芹在下文中写妒妇金桂，再用了 “酿”字：
只吃亏了一件，从小时父亲去世的早，又无同胞弟兄，寡母独守此女，娇养溺爱，不啻珍宝，凡女儿一举一动，彼母皆百依百随，因此未免娇养太过，竟酿成个盗跖的性气。（第七十九回）
译文a：
In one respect only had she been unlucky. Because her father had died when she was a child，and she had no brothers either, her widowed mother had spoiled this only daughter, doting on her and failing in with all her whims. Inevitably，this over-indulgence had made her like the brigand Dao Zhi of old：...
译文b：
Her chief drawback sprang from the fact that she had lost her father at a very early age； and as her widowed mother had no other child of her own and doted on her excessively，she had been thoroughly spoiled. By treating her every whim as law and gainsaying her nothing, her mother had turned her into a monster.
该处的“酿”字，意义与例1无异，但因句中接连出现“娇养溺爱”、 “百依百随”、“娇养太过”等内容上相匹配的词，两位译者显然都注意到了这一点。
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