《殺死一只仿聲鳥》（節選二）

文/哈珀·李 譯析/吳文安

《殺死一只仿聲鳥》（節選二）

文/哈珀·李 譯析/吳文安

A tticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, “My father—”

[2] Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep-away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him Atticus would say, “I’m too old for that, son.”

[3] Our father didn’t do anything. He worked in an of fi ce, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump-truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone.

阿迪克斯身體虛弱：他快五十歲了。杰姆和我問他為啥這么老，他說自己一切起步太晚，而我們覺得這讓他顯得能力不足和不像男子漢。他比我們學校里同學的父母都老，因此每逢同學們說“我的爸爸如何如何”，我們都無言以對。

[2]杰姆是個橄欖球迷。玩抓球游戲時，阿迪克斯再累也不會拒絕，但如果杰姆要抱摔他，阿迪克斯就會說：“我太老了，不能來這個，兒子。”

[3]爸爸總是無所事事。他在一個辦公室工作，而不是藥店。阿迪克斯不是縣里的自卸卡車司機，不是警長，不經營農場，不是修車工，他做的事情幾乎不能讓任何人羨慕。

[4]除此之外，他還帶著眼鏡。他的左眼幾乎全盲，還說左眼視力不佳是他們芬奇家的遺傳病。要看清什么東西，他就轉過頭，用右眼去看。

[4] Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind in his left eye, and said left eyes were the tribal curse of theFinches. Whenever he wanted to see something well, he turned his head and looked from his right eye.

[5] He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the living room and read.

[6] With these attributes, however, he would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to: that year, the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary. After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn’t fi ght any more, her daddy wouldn’t let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn’t fi ght publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail. Francis Hancock, for example, knew that.

[5]我們同學父親做的事情，他都不做：他從不狩獵，他不玩撲克牌，不釣魚，不喝酒，不抽煙。他只坐在客廳里閱讀。

[6]盡管有這些特點，他倒不是我們所想的那樣一直默默無聞：那一年，學校里紛紛議論他為湯姆·羅賓遜辯護的事兒，都對他嗤之以鼻。在我和塞西爾·雅各布爭斗之后，我就奉行懦夫政策，因此大家就說斯格特·芬奇不會再和別人打架了，她的爸爸不讓。這一點不完全正確：在公共場合，我不會為阿迪克斯而打架，但在家里這樣的私人場合就不同。如果是遠房親戚，我會和他拼個你死我活。舉個例子，弗蘭西斯·漢考克就深知這一點。

[7] When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn’t teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments there of; he said Atticus wasn’t interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

[7]阿迪克斯給我們氣槍玩，卻不教我們射擊。杰克叔叔就教我們一些常識；他說阿迪克斯對槍不感興趣。一天，阿迪克斯對杰姆說：“我希望你能在后院里射擊罐頭盒，但我知道你會去打鳥。那些藍背樫鳥，你想怎么打都可以。但你要記住，殺死一只仿聲鳥可是罪過。”

[8]那是唯一一次我聽阿迪克斯說做什么事是個罪過，我就去問莫迪小姐。

[8] That was the only time I everheard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

[9] “Your father’s right,” she said.“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

[9]“你父親是對的，”她說，“仿聲鳥除了為我們唱歌之外什么都不做。它們不在人們的花園里亂啄一氣，不在谷倉里筑巢。除了盡心盡力地為我們唱歌，它們什么都不做。所以殺死一只仿聲鳥是種罪過。”

【背景知識】由于小說的敘述視角為小女孩，所以“孩子的話”不能全信。作者著力塑造的主人公阿迪克斯在女兒眼里竟然“沒有男子漢氣概”，竟然被人嘲笑，竟然“一無所長，一無是處”，而曾經的神槍手竟然“對槍不感興趣”。此處的伏筆和反諷手法很有趣，也是第一人稱視角敘述的特殊效果之一。

【第一段】阿迪克斯真正顯老的原因是日夜懷念去世的妻子，既當爹又當媽操碎了心，但他又不能對子女直言。這是作者隱含的敘述聲音和意圖。該段中有個詞組re fl ect upon需要細心查證和表達，其真正意思是“to affect other people’s opinion of someone or something, especially in a bad way”，即阿迪克斯顯老給別人以不良印象。

【第二段】keep-away和tackle都是橄欖球術語，不能按照普通詞匯去理解。

【第三段】此時女兒還不理解父親阿迪克斯作為律師的身份和重要性，所以女兒的看法實際上是誤解，是反語。等女兒旁聽父親法庭辯論之后，才對父親的工作有進一步了解。這也為后文做了鋪墊，因為絕大部分小鎮居民都對阿迪克斯尊敬有加。

【第五段】這段文字看似貶低阿迪克斯，卻從另一側面反映出他的獨特之處：他潔身自好，知識淵博，善良正直。

【第六段】該段原文用詞講究，比如inconspicuous、complimentary、commit myself to a policy。前兩個詞語屬于委婉語，而譯文不再繞彎，直截了當，意思明晰。第三個短語是小孩子故意咬文嚼字，大詞小用，譯文也予以保留。

〔〕〔〕

【第七段】阿迪克斯是神槍手，女兒后來經過瘋狗事件才知道。而阿迪克斯的話點明小說主題，即千萬不要去傷害無辜的好人（不要殺死仿聲鳥）。

【第九段】莫迪小姐的語言很有特色，口語化明顯，翻譯起來比較困難。短語eat up有夸張成分，譯文引申為“亂啄一氣”。此處對話點明小說主題——不要殺死仿聲鳥的緣由，即仿聲鳥有百利而無一害。書中的人物湯姆·羅賓遜和布爾·拉德利就像仿聲鳥那樣無辜。

【小結】小說敘述借助第一人稱有限視角展開，容易讓讀者誤解。譯者在此需要把握敘述的分寸，以全篇故事線索為背景組織語言，適當翻譯反諷和伏筆，以及小女孩童稚有趣的心理活動和措辭。

To Kill A Mockingbird (Excerpt II)

By Harper Lee