作者：唐孝先   小畑薰良和英譯《李白詩集》  圖片

 

日本學者、翻譯家小畑薰良（Shigeyoshi Obata，1888-1971），明治二十一年6月30日生於日本大阪府一戶富裕的農家。父親小畑萬治郎通漢學，在小畑薰良學習假名前，就教他《論語》。也許因為家學淵源，受父親治學熏陶，小畑薰良從小熱愛中國古典文學，諳熟李白詩歌。

1906年，他從大阪茨木中學畢業，入早稻田大學預科文科班，隨後升入早稻田大學。

1907年，小畑薰良從早稻田大學退學，去美國留學。他先後畢業於威斯康辛大學、芝加哥大學。之後在芝加哥大學研究生院攻讀中世紀英國文學。

後來他作為日本外務省翻譯官，任職紐約日本總領事館。期間他翻譯出版了《李白詩集》。他曾應邀去歐洲，遊學一年，1925年回日本。他廣泛接觸東西方社會、語言、文學，促使他形成海納百川的心態。

1922年，小畑薰良在紐約出版了他英譯的《李白詩集》(The Works of Li Po, the Chinese Poet)。該書共選譯李白詩一百二十四首（包括杜甫等有關李白的詩八首）。世界上最早、最全面翻譯李白詩歌成英文的就是這位日本人。

全書融翻譯與研究、作品和資料為一體，為西方世界提供第一部李白詩集專輯，深受英文讀者歡迎，影響深遠。

呂叔湘先生評述小畑薰良譯筆曰：「以平實勝」，「所謂平實，非一語不增，一字不減之謂也。小畑之譯太白詩，常不以貌似，而語氣轉折，多能曲肖。」

現從英譯《李白詩集》中選錄八首中英文對照的詩，略加評註。

春日醉起言志

處世若大夢，胡為勞其生？

所以終日醉，頹然卧前楹。

覺來盼庭前，一鳥花間鳴。

借問此何時，春風語流鶯。

感之欲嘆息，對酒還自傾。

浩歌待明月，曲盡已忘情。

AWAKING FROM SLEEP ON A SPRING DAY

Life is an immense dream, why toil?

All day long I drowse with wine,

And lie by the post at the front door.

Awakening, I gaze upon the garden trees,

And, hark, a bird is singing among the flowers.

Pray, what season may this be?

Ah, the songster’s a mango-bird.

題目中「言志」指詩歌，語出《書 · 舜典》「詩言志」，省譯了。「處世」有live in the world之意，譯為life，可也。「處世若大夢」修辭用明喻(simile)，而Life is an immense dream.修辭用隱喻(metaphor)。「醉」不用drunken 翻譯，用drowse with wine，雅得多。此處「流鶯」絕非prostitute，譯者用mango-bird（一種蜂鳥）譯之。

月下獨酌

花間一壺酒，獨酌無相親。

舉杯邀明月，對影成三人。

月既不解飲，影徒隨我身。

暫伴月將影，行樂須及春。

我歌月徘徊，我舞影零亂。

醒時同交歡，醉後各分散。

THREE WITH THE MOON AND HIS SHADOW

With a jar of wine I sit by the flowering trees.

I drink alone, and where are my friends?

Ah, the moon above looks down on me;

I call and lift my cup to his brightness.

And see, there goes my shadow before me.

Hoo! We’re a party of three, I say,—

Though the poor moon can’t drink,

And my shadow but dances around me,

We’re all friends to-night,

The drinker, the moon and the shadow.

Let our revelry be met for the spring time!

I sing, the wild moon wanders the sky.

I dance, my shadow goes tumbling about.

While we’re awake, let us join in carousal.

Only sweet drunkenness shall ever part us,

Let us pledge a friendship no mortals know,

And often hail each other at evening

Far across the vast and vaporous space!

此處「相親」并非男方、女方論婚談嫁初次見面，而是指朋友。「月將影」，即月與影。「無情遊」意為忘卻世情之交遊，英譯為a friendship no mortals know （無人知道的友誼）。「雲漢」本指銀河，此處借指仙境，英譯成the vast and vaporous space。

訪戴天山道士不遇

犬吠水聲中，桃花帶露濃。

樹深時見綠，溪午不聞鐘。

野竹分青靄，飛泉掛碧峰。

無人知所去，愁倚兩三松。

ON GOING TO VISIT A TAOIST RECLUSE ON MOUNT TAI-TIEN, BUT FALLING TO MEET HIM

A dog barks afar where the waters croon.

The peach flowers are deeper-tinted, wet with rain.

The wood is so thick that one espies a deer at times.

But cannot hear the noon bell in this lonely glen.

The wild bamboos sway in the blue mist,

And on the green mountainside flying cascades glisten.

What way has he gone? There is none to tell;

Sadly I lean against a pine tree here and there.

本篇寫於唐開元六、七年（718-719），李白十八、九歲時。當時他隱居在戴天山（又名大康山或大匡山，在四川昌隆縣北五十里。）大明寺內讀書。「桃花帶露濃」，一為桃花增色，二點出入山時間為早晨，與「溪午不聞鐘」在時間上相映照，言正午時來到溪邊，卻不聞鐘聲，暗指道士未歸。「青靄」，青色的雲氣。全詩翻譯明白平實，有身臨道士生活的世外桃源之感。

送友人

青山橫北郭，白水饒東城。

此地一為別，孤蓬萬里征。

浮雲遊子意，落日故人情。

揮手自茲去，蕭蕭班馬鳴。

TAKING LEAVE OF A FRIEND

Blue mountains lie beyond the north wall;

Round the city’s eastern side flows the white water.

Here we part, friend, once forever.

You go ten thousand miles, drifting away

Like an unrooted water-grass.

Oh, the floating clouds and the thoughts of a wanderer!

Oh, the sunset and the longing of an old friend

We ride away from each other, waving our hands,

While our horses neigh softly, softly….

這首送別詩，充滿詩情畫意；詩人與友人策馬辭行，情意綿綿。「孤篷」，篷是植物篷草，遇風吹散，詩裡借喻遊子，譯者譯為an unrooted water-grass，很好。「班馬」，與其它馬脫離的馬。

怨情

美人捲珠簾，深坐蹙蛾眉。

但見淚痕濕，不知心恨誰。

THE NIGHT OF SORROW

A lovely woman rolls up

The delicate bamboo blind.

She sits deep within,

Twitching her moth eyebrows.

Who may it be

That grieves her heart?

On her face one sees

Only the wet traces tears.

這首五言絕句，以描寫一位美人的神態，表現她的哀怨之情。「珠簾」，有珠子鑲嵌的簾子，應是bead curtain，並非bamboo blind（竹簾）。「深坐」，久久呆坐。「蛾眉」：delicate eyebrows; long slender eyebrows，直譯為moth eyebrows，缺乏美感，有些肉麻。

夜靜思

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。

舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。

ON A QUIET NIGHT

I saw the moonlight before my couch,

And wandered if it were not the frost on the ground.

I raised my head and looked out on the mountain moon,

I bowed my head and thought of my far-off home.

這首小詩，用敘述的語氣，寫遠離故鄉之情，意味深長，耐人尋繹。「夜靜思」：靜靜的夜裡產生的思緒。「床」不譯作bed，譯成couch。「明月」譯作the mountain moon，意為明月清晰，隱約可見月球上的山脈。

金陵酒肆留別

風吹柳花滿店香，吳姬壓酒喚客嘗，

金陵子弟來相送，欲行不行各盡觴。

請君試問東流水，別意與之誰短長。

PARTING AT A TAVERN OF CHIN-LING

The wind blows the willow bloom and fills the whole tavern with fragrance

While the pretty girls of Wu bid us taste the new wine.

My good comrades of Chin-ling, hither you have come to see me off.

I, going, still tarry; and we drain our cups evermore.

Pray ask the river, which is the longer of the two—

It’s east-flowing stream, or the thoughts of ours at parting?

這是李白即將離別金陵（今江蘇省南京市）東遊揚州時留贈友人的送別詩。「留別」，臨別時贈詩給送行者。「吳姬」，吳地的青年女子，這裡指酒店中的侍女。「壓酒」，新酒釀熟時，壓緊榨床取酒。「金陵子弟」譯作good comrades of Chin-ling，意為志同道合的金陵好朋友。「欲行」的是李白，「不行」的是金陵子弟，並非李白欲行又止。

長干行

妾髮初覆額，折花門前劇。

郎騎竹馬來，遶床弄青梅。

同居長干里，兩小無嫌猜。

十四為君婦，羞顏未嘗開。

低頭向暗壁，千喚不一回。

十五始展眉，願同塵與灰。

常存抱柱信，豈上望夫臺。

十六君遠行，瞿塘灩澦堆。

五月不可觸，猿聲天上哀。

門前遲行跡，一一生綠苔。

苔深不能掃，落葉秋風早。

八月蝴蝶黃，雙飛西園草。

感此傷妾心，坐愁紅顏老。

早晚下三巴，預將書報家。

相迎不道遠，直至長風沙。

A LETTER FROM CHANG-KAN

I would play, plunking flowers by the gate,

My hair scarcely covered my forehead, then.

You would come, riding on your bamboo horse,

And loiter about the bench with green plums for toys.

So we both dwelt in Chang-kan town,

We were two children, suspecting nothing.

At fourteen I became your wife,

And so bashful that I could never bare my face,

But hung my head, and turned to the dark wall;

You would call me a thousand times,

But I could not look back even once.

At fifteen I was able to compose my eyebrows,

And beg you to love me till we were dust and ashes.

You always kept me the faith of Wei-sheng,

Who waited under the bridge, unafraid of death,

I never knew I was to climb the Hill of Wang-fu

And watch for you these many days.

I was sixteen when you went on a long journey

Traveling beyond the Keu-Tang Gorge,

Where the giant rocks heap up the swift river,

And the rapids are not passable in May.

Did you hear the monkeys wailing

Up on the skyey hight of the crags?

Do you know your foot-marks by our gate are old,

And each and every one is filled up with green moss?

The mosses are too deep for me to sweep away;

And already in the autumn wind the leaves are falling.

The yellow butterflies of October

Fluttering in pairs over the grass of the west garden.

My heart aches at seeing them….

I sit sorrowing alone, and alas!

The vermillion of my face is fading.

Some day when you return down the river,

If you will write me a letter beforehand,

I will come to meet you—the way is not long—

I will come as far as the Long Wind Beach instantly.

這是一首寫商婦的愛情和離別的詩，全詩熔敘事、狀景、抒情於一爐。長干，今南京；古金陵，居民多經商。「劇」，遊戲。「十五始展眉」四句，描寫夫婦婚後的熾烈愛戀。《莊子 · 盜跖》云：「尾生與女子（約會）於梁（橋）下，女子不來，水至不去，抱梁柱而死。」小夫妻寧願同生共死，懷著尾生抱柱的信念。英譯You always kept the faith of Wei-sheng, Who waited under the bridge, unafraid of death, 出現Wei-sheng （尾生）這個名字。「遲行跡」，「遲」，等待。「行跡」，指與丈夫共同生活時留下的足跡。「長風沙」，地名，在今安徽安慶市東長江邊上。