高冬梅

幾個朋友1鉆進(jìn)我的書房，看到墻上高高懸掛著“靜心巢2”三個字，或不解，或抨擊，說人家舞文弄墨之人3，給自己書房起的名字都是閣、軒、榭、齋、轅、室之類4，你怎么用了個巢?。?/p>

巢，在字典里的意思是：一是“鳥在木上曰巢”，二是比喻盜匪盤踞的地方。我沒干過偷盜打劫之事5，盜匪自然跟我不搭邊;“鳥在木上”，一只在樹上筑巢棲息的小鳥，倒是跟我有關(guān)。

在寸土寸金的都市里，我很多年都沒找到棲身的地方。有時，我甚至想：就不該把自己塞進(jìn)都市里來。便時常想念起自己的鄉(xiāng)村之巢。6那巢是父親用粗糙的雙手一磚一瓦地筑起來的。當(dāng)初，他沒有想過這巢里的雛燕7將來要飛向哪里，他只是想，他是父親，是父親就要為孩子筑巢。

現(xiàn)在，那巢已經(jīng)有些破舊了，盡管這樣，它仍舊在抗擊著風(fēng)霜雨雪的襲擊。守衛(wèi)者不是長大的小燕，仍是老燕。老燕曾對小燕說，既然長大8了，就要飛得高些、遠(yuǎn)些。于是，小燕想筑新的巢。

心誠所至。9經(jīng)過幾年的打拼，在這鋼筋水泥的叢林里，終于有了一個屬于我自己的巢，卻不甚滿意，因為巢并非凈土10。書房的窗外便是喧鬧的農(nóng)貿(mào)市場，吆喝聲此起彼伏，更有遠(yuǎn)處汽車的噪音充斥于耳。老公說，嫌吵，就把窗簾拉上。我苦笑不已，窗簾可以擋住視線，卻擋不住不安的心啊。這次，老公沒有揶揄我，也沒讓我拿棉花塞住耳朵，出人意料地說了句很“文學(xué)”的話：“你關(guān)上心門，心就靜了。”

“關(guān)上心門，心就靜了！”心靜一樣可以免受鬧市的干擾，于是，興沖沖地跑進(jìn)書房，在一張宣紙上寫下“靜心巢”三個字。靜心巢，我默默重復(fù)著這個名字，心，燕雀般地飛揚(yáng)起來……11

Some visiting friends were puzzled by and even found fault with the name I gave to my study： Jing Xin Chao （Nest of Inner Peace）， which was written on a piece of rice paper hung high on the wall. They argued that a real man of letters should have a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation rather than calling it a nest.

Chao is defined as follows in the dictionary： first， a place where a bird perches in a tree; and second， a metaphor for a bandit hideout. I was born a law-abiding person who， absolutely， has nothing to do with a bandit hideout. But the first definition indeed appertains to me.

In this city where every inch is gold， I couldn’t settle down until after many years. Sometimes， the more I regretted to have forced myself into the city， the more I would miss my humble home in the countryside. For me， that was a nest my father built with his two calloused hands， brick by brick and tile by tile. At that time， he never gave a thought to where his child might one day settle down; his only idea was that as a father， he ought to build a nest for his child.

Although that weather-beaten nest has already got a bit rundown， it still stands firm. Its caretaker is not the grown-up child but her father who once said to her， “Since you’re fully-fledged， the sky is the limit.” So the child began to dream of building a new nest of her own.

Just as the old saying goes， “Hard work always pays off.” After many years of struggle， in the midst of this dense forest of scaffolding， I finally had a nest of my own. However， I wasn’t completely satisfied with my nest for it couldn’t be called a real place of inner peace： outside the window of my study was a noisy market， and the shouts of stall keepers and even the noises of distant cars almost pierced through my ears. My husband told me to close the curtains when I felt disturbed. I made a helpless smile， “The curtains can block my sight， but they cannot shut off a restless heart！” At this point， my husband didn’t mock at me or tell me to get earplugs， but came up with a very profound remark： “Close the door of your mind， and you will reach the inner peace”， which was rather unexpected to me.

“Close the door of your mind， and you will have the inner peace！” If your mind is at peace， then you can avoid being disturbed by the noisy fair. I ran into the study in delight， and inscribed Jing Xin Chao， three Chinese characters on a piece of xuan paper. I repeated this name for my study in a low voice over and over when my heart， like a merry swallow， felt like soaring…

1“幾個朋友”在此處譯為some visiting friends，visiting一詞的增譯既是對原文深刻理解后的再還原，亦簡潔凝練地反映出朋友來訪作者書房的事實。? 2“靜心巢”在此處采用了拼音加括號內(nèi)解釋的譯法，作為首次出現(xiàn)在文中的核心專有名詞，此譯法兼顧音與義，使譯文更為準(zhǔn)確。? 3“舞文弄墨之人”一般可譯成a man who shows off / plays with literary skill，但這里不妨譯為a real man of letters，以對應(yīng)下文作者給書房定名時選擇“靜”“心”“巢”三字的由來和寓意。? 4在譯文中，“閣、軒、榭、齋、轅、室之類” 籠統(tǒng)地譯為了a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation，原因在于這幾個字在此處的字典意并無太大分別，而是為了突出一種文雅感，譯者抽取這些詞的共通點(diǎn)進(jìn)行適當(dāng)?shù)囊庾g、整合，也不失為一種選擇。? 5若將“我沒干過偷盜打劫之事”簡單地譯為I haven’t done any robbery一類的動賓結(jié)構(gòu)，只是做到了詞語層面的對應(yīng)，卻忽略了原文的藝術(shù)和文體色彩。反話正說，be born一詞的運(yùn)用將作者的情感色彩傳遞得貼切又傳神。

6“就不該”一詞隱藏著一種懊悔的情緒和一個已經(jīng)完成的動作，故在此譯為regret to have forced。而對于“有時，我甚至想：就不該把自己塞進(jìn)都市里來。便時常想念起自己的鄉(xiāng)村之巢?！边@兩句話的翻譯，譯者選擇使用the more... the more...結(jié)構(gòu)來處理這兩個互為因果影響的句子，符合原文的邏輯關(guān)系。? 7“這巢里的雛燕”顯然是一種比喻，“巢”實際指的是家，“雛燕”指的是孩子，故不妨譯為his child。? 8“長大”一般譯為grow up，但此處鑒于上文提及的“老燕”“小燕”和下文提及的“飛得高些、遠(yuǎn)些”，不妨將該詞理解為“羽翼豐滿”之意，故譯為fully-fledged。? 9“心誠所至”可以聯(lián)想到成語“精誠所至，金石為開”，二者原意都強(qiáng)調(diào)人的專心誠意。聯(lián)系下文可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，該詞語在此處實際上指的是“不懈的打拼和奮斗”，而不僅僅是“專心誠意”，故譯成：Hard work always pays off.? 10“凈土”一詞是佛教術(shù)語，一般專指阿彌陀佛國土，此處的“凈土”指的是能讓人達(dá)到心靜的外在環(huán)境，通“靜”之意。聯(lián)系通篇文章以及作者為其書房所起的名字，所以譯者將其處理為a real place of inner peace。

11“心，燕雀般地飛揚(yáng)起來……”所暗含的是一種雀躍的心情和感覺，feel like一詞恰有“感覺像是……”之意，正好貼合此處。另，對于“飛揚(yáng)”一詞的譯法，譯者并沒有選擇rise、fly upward等常見詞，而是選用了soar，一是該詞具有suddenly feel very happy and hopeful之意，二是它含有“翱翔;高飛”之意，契合本文的意象。