如何翻译“红军不怕远征难”?

来源:中国日报网双语新闻微信

作者:

2016-09-30

说起长征,人们会自然而然地想起毛泽东的长征诗。他的诗不但记下了长征中的重要事件,也让我们感受到一个无产阶级革命家的风采。

《长征》

——毛泽东

红军不怕远征难,万水千山只等闲。

五岭逶迤腾细浪,乌蒙磅礴走泥丸。

金沙水拍云崖暖,大渡桥横铁索寒。

更喜岷山千里雪,三军过后尽开颜。

这么有名的诗,用英语怎么翻译比较好呢?

有位Snow先生已经给出了英文版本。

注意!这里的Snow可不是《权力的游戏》里面的囧雪诺哦,而是那个写出《西行漫记》(Red Star over China, 又译《红星照耀中国》)、最早让世界了解中国共产党和红军真正形象的美国著名记者Edgar Snow (埃德加·斯诺)。

斯诺(1905.7.19—1972.2.15)1928年来到中国,曾任欧美几家报社驻华记者、通讯员。1933年4月到1935年6月,斯诺同时兼任北平燕京大学新闻系讲师。1936年6月斯诺访问陕甘宁边区,写了大量通讯报道,成为第一个采访革命老区的西方记者。

对于这段经历,斯诺在1937年出版的《西行漫记》中写道:

It was impossible to deny recognition of the Long March as one of the great exploits of military history.

不能不承认红军长征是世界军事史上的伟大成就之一。

在这本书介绍长征的那一章,斯诺援引毛泽东的著名诗篇《七律·长征》作为结语("epilogue")——

红军不怕远征难,

The Red Army, never fearing the challenging Long March,

万水千山只等闲。

Looked lightly on the many peaks and rivers,

五岭逶迤腾细浪,

Wu Ling's Range rose, lowered, rippled,

乌蒙磅礴走泥丸。

And green-tiered were the rounded steps of Wu Meng.

金沙水拍云崖暖,

Warm-beating the Gold Sand River's waves against the rocks,

大渡桥横铁索寒。

And cold the iron-chain spans of Tatu's bridge.

更喜岷山千里雪,

A thousand joyous li of freshening snow on Min Shan,

三军过后尽开颜。

And then, the last pass vanquished, Three Armies smiled.

是不是对这些翻译有点摸不着头脑?

还是再看看翻译大师许渊冲的译本吧:

红军不怕远征难,

Of the trying Long March the Red Army makes light;

万水千山只等闲。

Thousands of rivers and mountains are barriers slight.

五岭逶迤腾细浪,

The five serpentine ridges outspread like rippling rills;

乌蒙磅礴走泥丸。

The pompus Wumeng peaks tower but like mole-hills.

金沙水拍云崖暖,

Against warm cloudy cliffs beat waves of Golden Sand;

大渡桥横铁索寒。

With cold iron-chain bridge River Dadu is spanned.

更喜岷山千里雪,

Glad to see the Min Range snow-clad for miles and miles,

三军过后尽开颜。

Our warriors who have crossed it break into broad smiles.

虽然斯诺对于中国诗词的翻译没有达到大师水准,但他对于中央苏区、对于红军、对于长征的描写都非常细致入微。

来一段他对于长征的评价,大家感受下:

Adventure, exploration, discovery, human, courage and cowardice, ecstasy and triumph, suffering, sacrifice, and loyalty, and then through it all, like a flame, an undimmed ardour and undying hope and amazing revolutionary optimism of those thousands of youths who would not admit defeat by man or nature or God or death - all this and more seemed embodied in the history of an odyssey unequalled in modern times.


责任编辑:霍娟