提起《红楼梦》中最让你印象深刻的情节是哪一段？是痴情女情重愈斟情那一回？还是秋窗风雨夕，黛玉写完这诗到回目末尾发生的一连串事情？

每个人心中都有一个红楼梦，正如一千个人心中有一千个哈姆雷特。

今天就让我们来看看被故事情节所淹没的诗词—《枉凝眉》和《葬花吟》。在赏析中文魅力时，再细细品读翻译之美。

【枉凝眉】

杨宪益 戴乃迭 译

一个是阆苑仙葩，一个是美玉无暇。

One is an immortal flower of fairyland,

The other fair flawless jade,

若说没奇缘，今生偏又遇着他；

And were it not predestined

Why should they meet again in this existence?

若说有奇缘，如何心事终虚化？

Yet, if predestined,

Why does their love come to nothing?

一个枉自嗟呀，一个空劳牵挂。

One sighs to no purpose,

The other yearns in vain;

一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。

One is the moon reflected in the water,

The other but a flower in the mirror.

想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，

How many tears can well from her eyes?

怎经得秋流到冬尽，春流到夏！

Can they flow on from autumn till winter,

From spring till summer?

【葬花吟】

杨宪益 戴乃迭 译

花谢花飞飞满天，红消香断有谁怜？

As blossoms fade and fly across the sky,

Who pities the faded red, the scent that has been?

游丝软系飘春榭，落絮轻沾扑绣帘。

Softly the gossamer floats over spring pavilions,

Gently the willow fluff wafts to the embroidered screen.

闺中女儿惜春暮，愁绪满怀无释处，

A girl in her chamber mourns the passing of spring,

No relief from anxiety her poor heart knows;

手把花锄出绣闺，忍踏落花来复去。

Hoe in hand she steps through her portal,

Loath to tread on the blossom as she comes and goes.

柳丝榆荚自芳菲，不管桃飘与李飞。

Willows and elms, fresh and verdant,

Care not if peach and plum blossom drift away;

桃李明年能再发，明年闺中知有谁？

Next year the peach and plum will bloom again,

But her chamber may stand empty on that day.

三月香巢已垒成，梁间燕子太无情。

By the third month the scented nests are built,

But the swallows on the beam are heartless all;

明年花发虽可啄，却不道人去梁空巢也倾！

Next year, though once again you may peck the buds,

From the beam of an empty room your nest will fall.

一年三百六十日，风刀霜剑严相逼。

Each year for three hundred and sixty days

The cutting wind and biting frost contend.

明媚鲜妍能几时，一朝飘泊难寻觅。

How long can beauty flower fresh and fair?

In a single day wind can whirl it to its end.

花开易见落难寻，阶前闷杀葬花人。

Fallen, the brightest blooms are hard to find;

With aching heart their grave-digger comes now.

独倚花锄泪暗洒，洒上空枝见血痕。

Alone, her hoe in hand, her secret tears

Falling like drops of blood on each bare bough.

杜鹃无语正黄昏，荷锄归去掩重门。

Dusk falls and the cuckoo is silent;

Her hoe brought back, the lodge is locked and still;

青灯照壁人初睡，冷雨敲窗被未温。

A green lamp lights the wall as steep enfolds her,

Cold rain pelts the casement and her quilt is chill.

怪奴底事倍伤神，半为怜春半恼春：

What causes my two-fold anguish?

Love for spring and resentment of spring;

怜春忽至恼忽去，至又无言去不闻。

For suddenly it comes and suddenly goes,

Its arrival unheralded, noiseless its departing.

昨宵庭外悲歌发，知是花魂与鸟魂？

Last night from the courtyard floated a sad song –

Was it the soul of blossom, the soul of birds?

花魂鸟魂总难留，鸟自无言花自羞。

Hard to detain, the soul of blossom or birds,

For blossoms have no assurance, birds no words.

愿奴胁下生双翼，随花飞到天尽头。

I long to take wing and fly

With the flowers to earth's uttermost bound;

天尽头，何处有香丘？

And yet at earth's uttermost bound

Where can a fragrant burial mound be found?

未若锦囊收艳骨，一抔净土掩风流。

Better shroud the fair petals in silk

With clean earth for their outer attire;

质本洁来还洁去，强于污淖陷渠沟。

For pure you came and pure shall go,

Not sinking into some foul ditch or mire.

尔今死去侬收葬，未卜侬身何日丧？

Now you are dead I come to bury you;

None has divined the day when I shall die;

侬今葬花人笑痴，他年葬侬知是谁？

Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers,

But who will bury me when dead I lie?

试看春残花渐落，便是红颜老死时。

See, when spring draws to a close and flowers fall,

This is the season when beauty must ebb and fade;

一朝春尽红颜老，花落人亡两不知。

The day that spring takes wing and beauty fades

Who will care for the fallen blossom or dead maid?

英文中的翻译最初令我惊艳的一句翻译，是泰戈尔《飞鸟集》中郑振铎译本中的一句话：“let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves”被翻译成了“生如夏花之绚烂，死如秋叶之静美”，把当时对英文翻译懵里懵懂的我上了一堂很惊艳的课。

能够把中国古典艺术中的文字，翻译到七八分，不仅需要扎实的英文基础，更需要的是对中国传统文化的理解。前段时间金庸先生的《射雕英雄传》的译本终于确定会在明年二月发行，中国的武侠梦、中国的古典文化终于要一步步走出国门了。