翟 潔
20世紀20年代末至40年代初,著名記者、美國作家艾格尼絲·史沫特萊(Agnes Smedley)曾在中國積極參加革命活動,特別是以較長時間親自參加新四軍活動。她曾經撰寫了大量的小說、報告文學。《中國的戰歌》(Battle Hymn of China)就是其中的一篇報告文學。在該書中,史沫特萊在描寫她的經歷時有這樣一句話:
The women leaders of the guerillas—one of them a military commander known as “Big Sister Chen”—,also informed me that they were calling a conference of women from eleven districts in the enemy rear and that I would be expected to speak on the international women`s movement and the achievements of Chinese women in the war ( Smedley,1944:319).
譯文:
游擊隊的女領導人(其中一位被叫作陳大姐的女指揮員)也通知我,……(江楓,1986:466-467)。
Janice R.MacKinnon和Stephen R.MacKinnon(1988:212)是專門研究史沫特萊個人生平的兩位美國學者,在談到《中國戰歌》時曾評價:It (Battle Hymn of China) is one of the best works of war reporting to have come out of World War II…而Battle Hymn of China的譯者江楓先生(1986:1-7)在《中國的戰歌》的譯序中寫道,他是激情昂揚的生命進行曲,是作者全心全意獻身于中國人民解放事業的真實寫照。通讀全文,我們可以讀出她對為中國人民的獨立而不懈奮斗的勇士們所表達的崇敬之情。翻譯時將敬稱“陳大姐”譯為Big Sister Chen表露出對她的崇敬心情。Janice R.MacKinnon和Stephen R.MacKinnon(1988:221)曾有一處描述也體現了這一點:
Smedley was keenly interested in Chen Shaomin,the only woman commander in the area.“Big Foot” or “ Big Sister” Chen as she was known at the time,had joined the party in the late twenties…To Smedley,Big Sister Chen superseded the traditional Chinese heroine—the woman warrior disguised as a man who becomes a battlefield commander,an Eastern Joan of Arc—because she went undisguised.
漢語稱呼的英語直譯大概都存在類似的問題.。如“師傅”是對傳授技藝或對僧人的尊稱、“泰山”在某些語境中是對岳父的敬謂,它們的英語直譯“master”和“father-in-law”離開具體的語境也沒有原文尊敬的涵義,但一旦有了具體語境,我們仍然可以解讀其中的敬義。W.J.F.Jenner在翻譯A Journey to the West時就把孫悟空、豬八戒、沙僧對唐僧的尊稱“師傅”譯為Master,Sidney Shapiro在翻譯The Outlaws of the Marsh時也把林沖對張教頭的敬謂“泰山”譯為father-in-law。閱畢譯本全文,讀者仍然可以感覺到徒弟對師傅、賢婿對丈人的濃濃敬意。
對語篇語言學頗有研究的張德祿先生在談到語篇的銜接時曾有這樣的結論:任何語篇的由語言形式體現的意義都是不完整的,總有一些意義是由語境因素實現的(張德祿,2001)。