林巍

Heart and Brain

原文

[1] 在西方，家長告訴孩子“做事要用腦”,“別走神”；而中國人自古就“心之官則思”，到現(xiàn)在還“心想事成”。是“腦”還是“心”在思維？這是一個科學(xué)問題？文化問題？

[2] 在科學(xué)上講，西醫(yī)的“心”與中醫(yī)的“心”并非是一個概念；前者是建立在解剖學(xué)、生理學(xué)和神經(jīng)學(xué)等基礎(chǔ)上的純粹生物概念，后者則不僅限于醫(yī)學(xué)，而且還是一種文化、哲學(xué)、宗教、甚至玄學(xué)的理念——“心者，神之舍也”。

譯文

[1] In the West, parents tell their children “to follow the head, not the heart” and “not to be absent-minded while learning”, whereas in China since ancient times, there have been sayings such as “The heart is the very organ generating thought” and “All wishes, from the bottom of ones heart, may come true”. Where is thinking taking place then – in the brain or in the heart? Should the answer to the discrepancy be found on a scientific or a cultural ground?

[2] Scientifically speaking, “heart” in Western medicine and“xin” (heart) in traditional Chinese medicine are not the same thing. The former is purely a biological concept based on anatomy, biology and neurology, etc.; while the latter is the “dwelling place of the spirit”, filled with connotations of culture, philosophy, religion and even metaphysics, which are far beyond the domain of medicine.

原文

[3] 其實，在中西跨文化視野里，對“腦”與“心”的理解，已經(jīng)超越了科學(xué)范疇，否則難以理解。例如，有人認為將英文的psychology翻譯為“心理學(xué)”是一種歷史的誤解，是中國人不知腦之作用、以心代腦的結(jié)果。按照純科學(xué)的觀點，該英文概念是對人的意識及其作用所進行的科學(xué)研究，故應(yīng)翻譯成“腦理學(xué)”。

[4] 在中國傳統(tǒng)文化里，人是一個整體，故“心”與“腦”不可分開。常見的是，思維緊張時，心跳也會加快。幸運的是，這一現(xiàn)象也被現(xiàn)代科學(xué)所證實：人的心理過程是一種非常復(fù)雜的功能系統(tǒng)活動，不可能獨立地局限于大腦一部分，而只能在相關(guān)要素的協(xié)同下得以完成。更神奇的是，近來多個案例證實，一個人經(jīng)過了心臟移植手術(shù)后,竟然會改變整個性格！

譯文

[3] The way to grasp the essence of “brain” and “heart” in fact should not be confined to a scientific approach; rather it ought to be viewed cross-culturally. Otherwise, certain issues can be beyond comprehension. For example, if purely from a scientific point of view, “psychology”—the scientific study of the human mind and its functions—is deemed to have been mistranslated into Chinese as “xin li xue” (the scientific study of the heart) due to the historical dislocation of heart and brain in their biological understanding, and should be corrected as “nao li xue” (the scientific study of the brain) accordingly.

[4] In traditional Chinese culture, man is viewed holistically as an inseparable unit of heart and mind, which is reflected in a common phenomenon where concentrated mind may cause palpitations. Fortunately, modern medicine, on the other hand, has also revealed that psychology is such a complicated functional process that all the relevant components of the body—not confined to the brain—are called upon to complete the task. More surprisingly, recent medical cases have demonstrated that once a persons heart has been transplanted, his character has altered as well.

原文

[5] 同時，西方人還說，我的心告訴我這樣，而我的大腦卻告訴我那樣。前者代表情感，后者代表理智。矛盾嗎？既矛盾又統(tǒng)一，因為二者都是人們心智的一部分。二者結(jié)合的功能可以非常神奇——既可使天堂變成地獄，亦可使地獄變成天堂。

[6] 所以，該用腦時用腦，該用心時用心。就人的整體而言，科學(xué)與文化因素其實匯聚于內(nèi)，而彰顯于外，同時又渾然一體，古今中外，概莫如是——這對于跨文化、跨語言方面溝通的理解，亦會有所幫助。?

譯文

[5] Westerners also say something like “my heart tells me one thing, but my mind tells me another”, by which the“heart” is meant emotions and the “brain” reasoning. They are contradictorily coexisting as part of human emotional intelligence, with which can make Heaven to be Hell, and Hell to be Heaven.

[6] The brain and heart are therefore perfectly endowed with our body, functioning differently but harmoniously. The scientific and cultural aspects of the exploration into the constitution both internally and externally, across the board, will surely benefit our understanding of cross-cultural and crosslinguistic communication as human beings. ?

解析

在[1]中，由于涉及到了中英文化中的俗語，故在翻譯中語言形態(tài)上的差異比較大。例如，“做事要用腦”并不是通常意義上的“do things with your brain”, 而是“to follow the head, not the heart”；“心想事成”則釋譯為All wishes, from the bottom of ones heart, may come true；至于“這是一個科學(xué)問題？文化問題？”，中文極為簡潔，而若翻譯清楚，則要作出相應(yīng)的變動與增添：這里的“問題”不是question,而是 answer 和 discrepancy，且應(yīng)補充 ground一詞,故整句譯為：Should the answer to the discrepancy be found on a scientific or a cultural ground?

在[2]中，對于“后者則不僅限于醫(yī)學(xué)，而且還是一種文化、哲學(xué)、宗教、甚至玄學(xué)的理念——‘心者，神之舍也”，由于極富中國文化的表述，故在英文里的句子結(jié)構(gòu)需作較大調(diào)整：...the latter is the“dwelling place of the spirit” filled with connotations of culture, philosophy, religion and even metaphysics, which are far beyond the domain of medicine. 將“心者，神之舍也”提前，以filled with的介詞短語連接后面，從而整合“文化、哲學(xué)、宗教、甚至玄學(xué)”的含義；其中，“理念”又不一定譯作ideas等，而connotations更符原意。在[3]中，對于“其實，在中西跨文化視野里，對“腦”與“心”的理解，似乎已超越了科學(xué)范疇”，原文是肯定表達，但譯文卻以否定表達should not be confined to a scientific approach; rather...此為一種“正說反譯”，為的是強調(diào)、增加語勢。

在[5]中，對于“前者代表情感，后者代表理智。矛盾嗎？ 既矛盾又統(tǒng)一，因為二者都是人們心智的一部分。二者結(jié)合的功能可以非常神奇——既可使天堂變成地域，亦可使地域變成天堂”，要注重“整體把握”，即不必限于the former means … the latter means的句式，同時也不必照譯后面的“問題”等——Is this contradictory? They are both contradictory and united…這樣太“實”，太“中文化”了；而加工、整合之后，便成現(xiàn)在的譯文。

同樣，在[6]中，求的是在整體段落上的“功能對等”，特別是將“科學(xué)、文化集人于一身”、“總體功能，綜合運用”，糅合一起翻譯出來；同時，將“對人性加深理解”譯為as human beings的介詞短語，置后處理。