少年維持的煩惱（之二）

S：

你也應該聽過《少年維特的煩惱》，即使沒有看過這部歌德的著作，也肯定聽過同名的流行曲。

這個星期我正式擱置了二個計劃，其一是翻譯整部《麥田捕手》；其二純綷是讀《戀人絮語》。我刻意點明是正式擱置，是因為這兩個星期開始忙碌，所以已經甚少能夠騰出時間，專心完成這兩項工作。

但真正擱置的原因，當然並非沒有時間。起初我選擇在這時開始譯《麥田捕手》，是因為想在大學面試前完成，收錄到作品集中。但經過朋友分析，他認為現在不是好時機。首先，這是十多萬字的長篇小說，作品集不必收錄這麼長篇的作品，倒不如多譯一些短篇，似乎更加化算。另外，既然我是有決心在這生想要譯出一本自己的《麥田捕手》，待我翻譯的技巧和經驗更加成熟再譯也不遲，這兩點我都十分同意。

牛缺遇盜英文翻譯_NiuQue encountering robbers_紅譯本LaTraductionRouge

牛缺者，上地之大儒也，下之邯鄲，遇盜于耦沙之中，盡取其衣裝車，牛步而去。視之歡然無憂吝之色。盜追而問其故。曰：「君子不以所養害其所養。」盜曰：「嘻！賢矣夫！」既而相謂曰：「以彼之賢，往見趙君。使以我為，必困我。不如殺之。」乃相與追而殺之。 燕人聞之，聚族相戒，曰：「遇盜，莫如上地之牛缺也！」皆受教。

NiuQue was a well educated person from the Upland. He encountered some robbers at OuSha when he was on the way down to HanDan. The robbers robbed his clothes and carriage and all.  Niuque walked away. The robbers looked at him and saw that he did not seem worried or unhappy at all. So, they went on to ask him why did he have such reaction. NiuQue answered, “A wise man would not risk his own life for what fulfills his life.” “Oh! How enlightened is this person!” Said the robbers. Then, they discussed, “A clever man like him would surely ask for Chiu’s emperor help to capture us when he went down to HanDan. We better kill him.” So, the robbers chased after NiuQue and murdered him. A person from the country Yan heard this, so he gathered his relatives and warned them, “In case of encountering robbers, do not act like what NiuQue from the Upland did.” The relatives had all agreed.

少年維持的煩惱（之一）

S：

情人節快樂。

我一直認為，想引用別人的說話，首先當然要理解那句說話的意思、以及一切其內在的含意，否則便很容易會曲解作者的原意。而理解的最底限度，至少是應該曾經看過一遍原文。例如要引用一段電影對白，至少也應該把整齣電影，從頭到尾看過一次等等。

然而當你看見我抄寫《戀人恕語》的節錄時，我只是讀了那本書的首幾章節，甚至直到今天，還是一半都未有讀到。

For what I love

1.         ‘點解’ in Cantonese literally means (though it’s a spoken language) ‘how to explain’; ‘為甚麼’ in Chinese literally means ‘for what’; ‘pourquoi’ in French literally also means ‘for what’ (pour-quoi = for-what).

The above expressions would all be translated into ‘why’ in English. In addition, to draw a question mark with your index finger – it is the expression in sign language that is equivalent to ‘why’, which is distinguished from ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ etc.

No translators would hesitate to translate ‘pourquoi’ into ‘why’, vice versa. According to Oxford Dictionary, ‘why’ means by ‘for what reason or purpose.’