翻译：风筝 (鲁迅)

翻译:风筝 (鲁迅) translation: alexcwlin; edit: adam.L 北京的冬季,地上还有积雪,灰黑色的秃树枝丫叉于晴朗的天空中,而远处有一二风筝浮动,在我是一种惊异和悲哀。 It is wintertime in Beijing. The ground is covered with thick snow. Leafless tree-branches in greyish-black color reach into the clear sunny sky. A couple of kites floating high in the air at distance saddle me with a feeling of bewilderment and melancholy. *************************************************** 故乡的风筝时节,是春二月,倘听到沙沙的风轮声,仰头便能看见一个淡墨色的蟹风筝或嫩蓝色的蜈蚣风筝。 The kite-flying season of my hometown is around February in springtime. If you happen to hear rustling sound of wind-wheels, look up and you would see a grayish-black crab-shaped kite or a light-blue centipede-shaped kite. 还有寂寞的瓦片风筝,没有风轮,又放得很低,伶仃地显出憔悴可怜的模样。 There is also the solitary tile-shaped kite which doesn’t have wind-wheels. Helplessly it flies at low altitude with a worn-out and piteous look. 但此时地上的杨柳已经发芽,早的山桃也多吐蕾,和孩子们的天上的点缀相照应,打成一片春日的温和。 At this time, the foliating willows and budding wild-peaches on the ground complement those children’s high-flying adornments to fill a warm spring’s day. 我现在在哪里呢?四面都还是严冬的肃杀,而久经诀别的故乡的久经逝去的春天,却就在这天空中荡漾了。 And where am I now? I am surrounded by bitter cold in all directions, but then a reminder of the long-gone springtime of my hometown is now going up and down in the sky. *************************************************** 但我是向来不爱放风筝的,不但不爱,并且嫌恶它,因为我以为这是没出息孩子所做的玩艺。Kite-flying is never my cup of tea. Not only that I dislike it, but I hate it with a passion because I always think that is something an unmotivated kid would do. 和我相反的是我的小兄弟,他那时大概十岁内外罢,多病,瘦得不堪,然而最喜欢风筝。 My little brother is the opposite. At that certain time he was around ten years old, sick all the time and skinny as a twig. He loved flying kites. 自己买不起,我又不许放,他只得张着小嘴,呆看着空中出神,有时竟至于小半日。 He couldn’t afford to buy a kite, and I wouldn’t allow him to fly one. All he could do was to gaze at the sky in fascination with his mouth open, and sometimes for duration of almost half-a-day. 远处的蟹风筝突然落下来了,他惊呼;两个瓦片风筝的缠绕解开了,他高兴得跳跃。他的这些,在我看来都是笑柄,可鄙的。 When a crab-shaped kite from afar fell off the sky, he would scream in amazement. When two tile-shaped kites became disentangled, he would jump up and down for joy. In my view, what he did was laughable and contemptuous. *************************************************** 有一天,我忽然想起,似乎多日不很看见他了,但记得曾见他在后园拾枯竹。 One day I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen him for many days but I did remember seeing him collect fallen twigs in the backyard. 我恍然大悟似的,便跑向少有人去的一间堆积杂物的小屋去。推开门,果然就在尘封的什物堆中发现了他。 Then it dawned on me. I ran to a seldom-visited storage shed and opened the door. As expected, I found him among a pile of dust-covered stuff. 他向着大方凳,坐在小凳上;便很惊惶地站了起来,失了色瑟缩着。 He was sitting on a small stool facing a big square chair. He stood up in shock; his face turned pale and he started to quiver. 大方凳旁靠着一个蝴蝶风筝的竹骨,还没有糊上纸,凳上是一对做眼睛用的小风轮,正用红纸条装饰着,将要完工了。 Leaning against the square chair were the bamboo ribs of a butterfly kite and the paper cover had not been pasted. On the chair was a pair of wind-wheels for the eyes. They were being decorated with red paper strips and close to completion. 我在破获秘密的满足中,又很愤怒他的瞒了我的眼睛,这样苦心孤诣地来偷做没出息孩子的玩艺。我即刻伸手折断了蝴蝶的一支翅骨,又将风轮掷在地下,踏扁了。 I felt self-satisfied in exposing his hidden secret and infuriated at him for making extra efforts in fooling me to do such nonsensical kid’s game. In the heat of all these, I reached out and broke a rib of the butterfly’s wing, and then threw the wind-wheels on the floor and stepped on them. 论长幼,论力气,他是都敌不过我的,我当然得到完全的胜利,于是傲然走出,留他绝望地站在 小屋里。后来他怎样,我不知道,也没有留心。 In terms of age and brute strength, he was not my match. Of course it was a total victory for me. I strutted out and left him standing in the shed in devastation. I didn’t know or care what happened afterwards. *************************************************** 然而我的惩罚终于轮到了,在我们离别得很久之后,我已经是中年。我不幸偶而看到了一本外国 的讲论儿童的书,才知道游戏是儿童最正当的行为,玩具是儿童的天使。 I finally received my just deserts. Long after we went our own ways and I reached middle age, I regrettably stumbled upon a foreign book about children. After reading it, I found out playing games would be normal behavior for children and toys would be little angels to them. 于是二十年来毫不忆及的幼小时候对于精神的虐杀的这一幕,忽地在眼前展开,而我的心也仿佛 同时变了铅块,很重很重地坠下去了。 Suddenly the long-forgotten scene in which I mentally abused him at our childhood age twenty years ago seemingly was replayed right in front of my very eyes; at the same time, my heart sank like a piece of very heavy lead. *************************************************** 但心又不竟坠下去而至于断绝,它只是很重很重地坠着,坠着。 My sinking heart didn’t hit bottom, but just kept sinking lower and lower. *************************************************** 我也知道补过的方法的:送他风筝,赞成他放,劝他放,我和他一同放。我们嚷着,跑着,笑着 ──然而他其时已经和我一样,早已有了胡子了。 I knew how to make up to him, such as buying him a kite, encouraging him to fly a kite, and accompanying him to fly a kite. We could shout, run and laugh together. But by the time he was at that age with a beard just like me. *************************************************** 我也知道还有一个补过的方法的:去讨他的宽恕,等他说:“我可是毫不怪你呵。”那么,我的心一定就轻松了,这确是一个可行的方法。 I also knew another way for redemption, and that would be to ask for his forgiveness. Once he said: “I’m not a bit bitter about you”, then a great burden would be lifted off my mind. That would be a practical solution. 有一回,我们会面的时候,是脸上都已添刻了许多“生”的辛苦的条纹,而我的心很沉重。 At one time when we met, our faces had been furrowed with the grind of life and I was heavy-hearted. 我们渐渐谈起儿时的旧事来,我便叙述到这一节,自说少年时代的糊涂。“我可是毫不怪你呵。”我想,他要说了,我即刻便受了宽恕,我的心从此也宽松了罢。 Gradually our conversation turned to tidbits in the old days when we were little. I recounted the episode and admitted it was a youth’s folly. I was thinking he was about to say: “I’m not a bit bitter about you.” Then I would be forgiven right away and a load would be lifted off my mind forever. *************************************************** “有过这样的事么?”他惊异地笑着说,就象旁听着别人的故事一样。他什么也记不得了。 “Did it really happen?” He laughed in amazement as if he were listening to someone else’s story. He didn’t remember a thing. *************************************************** 全然忘却,毫无怨恨,又有什么宽恕可言呢?无怨的恕,说谎罢了。 It was totally forgotten. How could there be forgiveness if there was no bitterness? To feel good about receiving a pardon from someone without a grain of bitterness in heart, I might as well lie to myself. *************************************************** 我还能希求什么呢?我的心只得沉重着。 What else could I ask for? My heart just had to live with a heavy burden. *************************************************** 现在,故乡的春天又在这异地的空中了,既给我久经逝去的儿时的回忆,而一并也带着无可把握的悲哀。我倒不如躲到肃杀的严冬中去罢,──但是,四面又明明是严冬,正给我非常的寒威和冷气。 Now my hometown’s spring is alive in the sky of this strange place, which also brings back memory of my long-gone childhood and a bout of irrepressible sadness. Maybe I should hide away in the bitter cold of deep winter; but then again isn’t deep winte r already everywhere around me showing me its extreme mercilessness and coldness. *************************************************** 一九二五年一月二十四日 January 24th, 1925