懷念啟功先生1Remembering Uncle Qi Gong

在我十二三歲，父親被關(guān)進(jìn)牛棚2的日子里，伯父啟功不但收留3了我，而且耳提面命4地教我唐詩(shī)。意想不到的是，他對(duì)我的“快樂(lè)教學(xué)法”，竟影響5了我偏愛(ài)生態(tài)文學(xué)批評(píng)理論的趣味。

Uncle Qi Gong gave me a home during the “Cultural Revolution”， when I was twelve or thirteen years old， my father being locked up. He took it upon himself to teach me Tang poetry， too. Little did I know that my interest in ecocriticism was taking shape with his “merry teaching” in those days.

我還能清楚記憶的有兩件事6。第一是有一天我在榮寶齋看到了一位王姓畫(huà)家畫(huà)的梅花，回家描述一番后，他說(shuō)：“這畫(huà)兒不太對(duì)。”這使我不解：畫(huà)有好與不好之分，從何談起“對(duì)”或“不對(duì)”呢7？他的解釋是，梅花兒生在雨水多的南方，花心兒朝下，像傘一樣，俗稱(chēng)“罩水梅”。王先生把梅花兒畫(huà)得朝上，成向日葵了，雨水進(jìn)入8花心兒，很快就爛了。梅花兒沒(méi)有那么傻。藝術(shù)不能出大格兒。9兒時(shí)的我，喜歡模仿他詼諧的話(huà)語(yǔ)風(fēng)格，于是我馬上說(shuō)：“好，那我就把‘草木有本心10，不求美人折’改成‘梅花有本心，不肯朝天開(kāi)’得了。”

Two such teaching moments are still as fresh as yesterday. The first was about a painting of Chinese plum blossoms that I saw at Rongbaozhai， by a painter Mr. Wang. As I told Uncle Qi Gong about it， he said， “Something is wrong with it.” That’s puzzling—Paintings could be good or bad. But a right or wrong painting？ What’s he talking about？ He went on to explain that Chinese plum grows in the rainy south. Their flower blossoms face downward like an umbrella， popularly known as “water-shielding plum blossoms”. Mr. Wang painted the blossoms head-up like sunflowers. Rainwater could be trapped in the flowers and rotten them in no time. Plum blossoms are not that foolish. Art shouldn’t stray from reality. The teenager me liked mimicking his witty speech， so I blurted out， “Okay then， I’ll change ‘Grass and trees have their own mind， never seeking to be picked by a beauty’ to ‘Plum blossoms have their own mind， never blooming towards the sky.’”

另一件是我背誦完初唐王績(jī)的詩(shī)《食后》，他問(wèn)我：“楚豆11是什么？”我說(shuō)：“就是湖北一帶的豆子唄。”他用手指點(diǎn)著我的額頭說(shuō)：“編12！就知道你會(huì)編。”然后仔仔細(xì)細(xì)地對(duì)我講：“那其實(shí)是牡荊的果實(shí)，可入藥。不僅湖北，咱北京也有，叫荊條，葉子一對(duì)兒一對(duì)兒的。”我捂上耳朵說(shuō)：“不聽(tīng)，不聽(tīng)，大爺念經(jīng)13。”他說(shuō)：“我不念經(jīng)，你懶蟲(chóng)一輩子也甭想知道什么是楚豆。”

The other moment was when I finished reciting an early Tang poet Wang Ji’s “After a Meal，” and he asked me， “What’s chudou？” I blundered， “I bet it’s beans from Hubei，” as I figured that Chu is the ancient name for present day Hubei， and dou literally means beans. He pressed a finger at my forehead and said， “Talking through your hat！ I knew you would do so.” Then he explained meticulously， “Actually， chudou are the seeds of chaste trees， which can be used in medicine. They are not only found in Hubei—we have them in Beijing too. They are called jingtiao. Their leaves grow in pairs.” I covered my ears and said， “I’m not listening， I’m not listening. Uncle’s preaching.” He laughed， “If it’s not for my preaching， you lazy bug would never know what chudou is in your whole life.”

后來(lái)我在美國(guó)接觸到生態(tài)文學(xué)批評(píng)理論，有種似曾相識(shí)的感覺(jué)14，因?yàn)槠渲幸粋€(gè)焦點(diǎn)是對(duì)“人格化”或“擬人”的討論15。這理論認(rèn)為文學(xué)藝術(shù)是人在描寫(xiě)客觀世界，所以總帶著人的色彩甚至偏見(jiàn)，擬人也就不可避免，但一定要接近事物本身的情況。16這就要求文學(xué)家、藝術(shù)家仔細(xì)了解事物的特性。也就是說(shuō)17，最低要求是知道楚豆是什么，較高要求是知道花朵在何時(shí)何地以何種形式開(kāi)放。

These moments flashed back later in the United States in a déjà vu， when I came across the ecocriticism theory with its focus on anthropomorphism. The theory holds that literature and art are subjective representations of the world， inevitably colored by human perspectives and biases; that personification is unavoidable， but it must closely align with the actual nature of things. This requires writers and artists to have a meticulous understanding of the characteristics of objects. As in my stories， one should at least know what chudou is， and a step up would be to know when and where flowers bloom and in what form.

伯父西去后，我還未寫(xiě)過(guò)懷念的文字。這里的回顧18算是我心靈上的自我救贖，雖很短，但是，想讓他知道，他的教誨，我年幼無(wú)知時(shí)雖貌似抵制過(guò)，實(shí)際上一直深深地記在19心里。

After Uncle Qi Gong passed away， I hadn’t written anything to remember him. This reminiscence is a self-redemption of my soul. Brief as it is， I want him to know that his teachings， which I seemingly resisted in my na?ve adolescent days， have been engraved in my heart all along.

* 博士，北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)英語(yǔ)學(xué)院講師。研究領(lǐng)域是英中對(duì)比語(yǔ)言學(xué)、英語(yǔ)史和語(yǔ)法化。

1本文節(jié)選自美國(guó)西華盛頓大學(xué)英美文學(xué)系俞寧教授所著的《吾愛(ài)吾師》，俞教授用細(xì)膩的筆觸記錄了青少年時(shí)期在啟功先生的蔭護(hù)下成長(zhǎng)的經(jīng)歷。感謝俞教授同意譯者發(fā)表此文，感謝陳國(guó)華教授和俞教授給予的翻譯指導(dǎo)。標(biāo)題原文用“啟功先生”，是敬稱(chēng)，在文內(nèi)稱(chēng)“伯父啟功”，英文Mr.不能表達(dá)出這種相應(yīng)關(guān)系，遂選用Uncle Qi Gong。" 2“牛棚”，轉(zhuǎn)喻，指“文革”期間關(guān)押知識(shí)分子進(jìn)行改造的地方。譯文沒(méi)有直譯為cowshed，因?yàn)椤癱ultural revolution”和locked up足以說(shuō)明主人公當(dāng)時(shí)的境遇。" 3“收留”，不是“領(lǐng)養(yǎng)”，不可譯為adopted，實(shí)際就是給了作者一個(gè)家。" 4“耳提面命”，這個(gè)成語(yǔ)生動(dòng)描寫(xiě)了啟功先生對(duì)少年俞寧的殷切教誨，不可分成“提著耳朵”“面對(duì)面”這樣的具體動(dòng)作來(lái)譯；從下文啟功先生和俞先生的互動(dòng)來(lái)看，教誨懇切，卻非嚴(yán)厲，所以譯文選擇take it upon himself表示啟功先生親力親為。" 5“影響”，這里其實(shí)是“塑造”的意思，譯為influence不對(duì)。譯文將“趣味”作為主語(yǔ)，處理為“my interest… was taking shape”。" 6“兩件事”，指上文“快樂(lè)教學(xué)法”的具體事例，譯文用two such teaching moments，既明確了與上文的邏輯關(guān)系，也給下文做了鋪墊。

7“從何談起……呢”，原文生動(dòng)地描繪少年俞寧的內(nèi)心活動(dòng)，譯文句子以短小、口語(yǔ)化表達(dá)為好，故對(duì)應(yīng)譯為“But a right or wrong painting？ What’s he talking about？”。" 8“進(jìn)入”，此處可譯為be trapped，“陷于某處無(wú)法脫離”的意思，生動(dòng)表達(dá)水進(jìn)得來(lái)流不走的樣子。" 9“藝術(shù)不能出大格兒”，是地道的北京口語(yǔ)，譯文“Art shouldn’t stray from reality.”選詞短小、簡(jiǎn)潔，與原文文體相仿。" 10“草木有本心”，出自唐代詩(shī)人張九齡的《感遇十二首·其一》，“本心”意思是天性，譯為their own mind。" 11“楚豆”，此處用拼音音譯，這樣下文對(duì)“楚”和“豆”的字面理解才好譯。" 12“編”，即“不懂裝懂”，英文talking through one’s hat意思是“to voice irrational， illogical， or erroneous ideas”，符合句意和通俗用法的要求。

13“大爺念經(jīng)”，并無(wú)大爺念經(jīng)文之意，是比喻說(shuō)教，“大爺又給我上課了”，把小孩兒的淘氣反抗態(tài)度活靈活現(xiàn)地表達(dá)出來(lái)。譯文選了Uncle’s preaching，而不是chanting，正是要表達(dá)這種態(tài)度。" 14“有種似曾相識(shí)的感覺(jué)”，此處采取了增譯。其中，these moments與上文two such moments相呼應(yīng)。flash back與these moments和déjà vu搭配使用，類(lèi)似電影中回憶的鏡頭，有很強(qiáng)的畫(huà)面感。" 15“因?yàn)椤懻摗保颂幱媒樵~詞組with its focus on anthropomorphism來(lái)譯，邏輯合理，句式簡(jiǎn)潔。

16“這理論……情況”，這個(gè)一逗到底的句子可以分為兩個(gè)義群（“這理論……偏見(jiàn)”和“擬人……情況”），用兩個(gè)that從句引出，這樣，英文段落邏輯更清晰。" 17“也就是說(shuō)”，模糊表示與上文兩個(gè)故事的關(guān)系，譯文as in my stories讓上下文銜接更明確。" 18“回顧”，譯文reminiscence是reminisce的名詞形式，據(jù)Merriam-Webster dictionary online，與remember和recollect相比，reminisce更具懷舊的意味。" 19“深深地記在”，這里譯者在初稿中曾用deeply翻譯“深深地”，與原文在字面上一一對(duì)應(yīng)。蒙俞教授審閱，指出：“中文有‘深深地’不難受；英文一個(gè)deeply覺(jué)得多余。我寫(xiě)英文，特別警惕副詞和形容詞。我覺(jué)得它們幫倒忙。”譯者查閱Merriam-Webster dictionary online，果然發(fā)現(xiàn)engrave詞條下注解1a（to impress deeply as if with a graver），這一個(gè)動(dòng)詞即可對(duì)應(yīng)漢語(yǔ)“深深地刻在”的含義，遂終稿去掉了deeply，這樣才與原文神似。