水墨画(1)
郭沫若
天空一片灰暗,没有丝毫的日光。
海水的蓝色浓得惊人(2),舐岸的微波吐出群鱼喋噏的声韵。
这是暴风雨欲来时的先兆(3)。
海中的岛屿和乌木的雕刻一样静凝着了。我携着中食的饭匣向沙岸上走来,在一只泊系着的渔舟里面坐着。
一种淡白而无味的凄凉的情趣––我把饭匣打开,又闭上了(4)。
回头望见松原里的一座孤寂的火葬场(5)。红砖砌成的高耸的烟囱口上,冒出了一笔灰白色的飘忽的轻烟……
An Inkwash Painting
Guo Moruo
The sky was a sheet of murky grey, completely devoid of sunlight.
The sea was a ghastly dark blue. The gentle waves licking at the shore gave forth a humming sound like that of fish in shoals.
All that foreboded a storm.
Some isles in the sea stood quiet and still like ebony sculptures.
I walked towards the sandy beach carrying my lunch-box and then sat inside a fishing boat moored at the seashore.
What an insipid and dreary scene! I opened the lunch-box only to have it covered up again.
Looking back, I caught sight of a lonely crematorium looming out of a pine wood. Its towering red-brick chimney was giving off wisps of grayish smoke.
注释:
(1)“水墨画”除译An Inkwash Painting外,也可译为An Ink-and-Wash Painting。
(2)“海水的蓝色浓得惊人”译为The sea was a ghastly dark blue,其中ghastly的意思是“可怕的”,但兼有“不正常”的含义。
(3)“这是暴风雨欲来时的先兆”译为All that foreboded a storm。“先兆”也可译为foretold,但不如foreboded确切,因后者一般都针对不好的事物。
(4)“又闭上了”译为only to have it covered up again,其中only(用在不定式前)往往作“结果却”或“却又”解。
(5)“望见松原里的一座孤寂的火葬场”译为caught sight of a lonely crematorium looming out of a pine wood,其中用looming代替standing等能较好地表达“赫然耸现”的含义。
(6)“冒出了……轻烟”译为giving off…smoke,其中to give off是成语,意同to send out, to emit等。