-
许地山《落花生》翻译赏析（张培基
译）
原文：
落花生
许地山
我们屋后有半亩隙地。母亲说：
“
让它
荒芜着怪可惜，既然称们那么爱吃花生，就辟来做
花生园罢。
”
我们几姊弟和几个小丫头都很喜欢
——
买种的买种，
动土的动土，
灌园的灌园；
过不了几个月，居然收获了
!
妈妈说：
“
今晚我们可以做一个收获节
，也请你们爹爹来尝尝我们的新花生，如何
?”
我们
都答应了。母亲把花生做成好几样食品，还吩咐这节期要在园里的茅亭举行。
那晚上的天色不大好，
可是爹爹也到来，实在很难得
!
爹爹说：
“
你们爱吃花生么
?”
我们都争着答应：
“
爱
!”
<
/p>
“
谁能把花生的好处说出来
?”
。
姊姊说：
“
花生的气味很美。
”
哥哥说：
“
花生可以制油。
”
我说：
“
无论何等人都可以用贱价买它来吃；都喜欢吃它。这就是它的好处。
”
爹爹说：<
/p>
“
花生的用处固然很多；但有一样是很可贵的。这小小的豆不像那
好看的苹果、
桃子、石榴，把它们的果实悬在枝上，鲜红嫩绿的颜色，令人一望而发生羡
慕的心。它只把
果子埋在地的，等到成熟，才容人把它挖出来。你们偶然看见一棵花生瑟
缩地长在地上，不
能立刻辨出它有没有果实，非得等到你接触它才能知道。
”
我们都说：
“
是的。
”
母
亲也点点头。爹爹接下去说：
“
所以你们要像花生，因为它是有
用
的，不是伟大、好看的东西。
”
我说
：
“
那么，人要做有用的人，不要做伟大、体面的人了。
”
爹爹说：
“
这是我
对于你们的希望。
”
我们谈到夜阑
才散，所有花生食品虽然没有了，然而父亲的话现在还印在我心版上。
译文：
Peanuts
Behind our house
there lay half a mu of vacant land. Mother said,
“It’s a pity to let
it lie
waste. Since you all like to eat
peanuts so much,
why not plant some
here?” That exhilarated us
children and
our servant girls as well, and soon we started
buying seeds, ploughing the land and
watering the plants. We gathered in a
good harvest just after a couple of months!
Mother said, “How about giving a party
this evening to celebrate the harvest and inviting
your Daddy to have a taste of our
newly-
harvested peanuts?” We all
agreed. Mother
made quite a
few varieties of goodies out of the
peanuts, and told us that the party would be held
in the thatched
pavilion on the peanut
plot.
It looked like rain that evening,
yet, to our great joy, father came nevertheless.
Night sky is not very good, but the
father has come, it is hard to come by.
“Do you like peanuts?” asked Father.
“Yes, we do!” We vied in
giving the answer.
“Which of
you could name the good things in peanuts?”
“Peanuts taste good,” said my elder
sister.
“Peanuts produce
edible oil,” said my elder brother.
“Peanuts are so
cheap,” said I,
“that anyone
can afford to eat them. Peanuts are everyone’s
favorite. That’s why we call peanuts
good.”
“Peanuts are so
cheap,” said I, “that anyone can afford to eat
them. Peanuts are everyone’s
favorite.
Tha
t’s why we call peanuts
good.”
“It’s true that
peanuts have many uses,” said Father, “but they’re
most beloved in one respect.
Unlike
nice-looking apples, peaches and pomegranates,
which hang their fruit on branches and
win people’s instant admiration with
their brilliant colours, tiny little
peanuts bury themselves
underground and remain unearthed until
they’re ripe. When you come upon a peanut plant
lying
curled up on the ground, you can
never immediately tell whether or not it bears any
nuts until you
touch them.”
“That’s true,” we said in
unison. Mother also nodded. “So you must take
after peanuts,” Father
continued,
“because they’re useful though
not
great and nice-
looking.”
“Then you mean one should be useful
rather than gre
at and
nice-
looking,” I said.
“That’s what I expect of you,”
Father concluded.
We
kept chatting until the party broke up late at
night. Today, though nothing is left of the
goodies made of peanuts, Father’s words
remain engraved in my mind.
译文赏析：
就原文而言，作者用朴实
的语言记录了自己生活中的一个小故事，朴素、清新。而译
文也同样用简单而地道的英语
表达和原文在风格上保持了一致。
下面节选文中的片段对译文
进
行赏析，并提出一些个人认为需要改进之处给以建议。
选段一：
我们屋后有半亩隙地。母亲说：
“
让它荒芜着怪可惜，既然称们那么爱吃花生，就
辟来做花生园罢
。
”
我们几姊弟和几个小丫头都很喜欢
——
买种的买种，动土的动土，灌园
的灌园；过不了几个月，居
然收获了
!
译文：
Behind our house there
lay half a mu of vacant land. Mother said, “It’s a
pity to let it lie
waste.
Since
you
all
like
to
eat
peanuts
so
much,
why
not
have
them
planted
here.”
That
exhilarated us children and our servant
girls as well, and soon we started buying seeds,
ploughing
the land and watering the
plants. We gathered in a good harvest just after a
couple of months!
分析：
优点：
1.
“
屋后
”
从逻
辑上讲应该是房子的“后面”，用“
Behind
”，较为准确
，但有人
将其译为“
At the back
of
”则表示房间的“后部”。
2.
“
有一
亩空地
”
用“
lay
< br>”更具动感，通常人们会将其译成
there be
句
型。同时译
文用
It
’
s a pity to do
sth
符合英语表达习惯，且
to let it lie
waste
地道而朴实地
表达出了原文的意思。
3.
译文用
why not
…
表示一种商量的语气，有的译文用
let
’
s do sth
句式则没有这
种商量的语气
，且显得平淡。
4.
译文将
“
我们姐弟几个
”
译为
“
us children
”
简洁精练，
若译为
my brother, sister
and
I
则显得比较冗长繁琐。
5.
原文有破折号，但译文用
and soon
来代替，准确的传达了原文的含义。