汉译英赏析：冯骥才《珍珠鸟》

 《珍珠鸟》

A Pair of Pearl Birds

真好！朋友送我一对珍珠鸟。放在一个简易的竹条编成的笼子里，笼内还有一卷干草，那是小鸟舒适又温暖的巢。

What a nice pair of Pearl birds my friend gave me! I kept them in a simple cage woven with bamboo strips. Inside the cage I put some dry grass to serve as their nest and keep them warm and comfortable.

有人说，这是一种怕人的鸟。

It is said that the Pearl birds are easily scared in the present of man.

我把它挂在窗前，那儿还有一盆异常茂盛的法国吊兰。我便用吊兰长长的、串生着小绿叶的垂蔓蒙盖在鸟笼上，它们就像躲进深幽的丛林一样安全；从中传出的笛儿般又细又亮的叫声，也就格外轻松自在了。

I hung the cage over the window next to a pot of exuberant¹ French bracketplant. I put the long trailing vines of the plant with their small green leaves on the top of the cage, making the birds feel safe and sound as they did deep in the woods. Their singing, as clear and pleasant as the flute², was an indication that they were very much relaxed and at ease.

汉译英赏析：冯骥才《珍珠鸟》

阳光从窗外射入，透过这里，吊兰那些无数指甲状的小叶，一半成了黑影，一半被照透，如同碧玉；斑斑驳驳，生意葱茏。小鸟的影子就在这中间隐约闪动，看不完整，有时连笼子也看不出，却见它们可爱的鲜红小嘴从绿叶中伸出来。

When the sunlight streamed through the window, half of the small nail-like leaves of the plant were left in the shadow and the other half illuminated³, looking like emeralds, casting greenish specks⁴ of light on my desk. The shadows of the birds flashed back and forth⁵ among the leaves. You could hardly see their bodies, not even the cage sometimes, but occasionally you could see them putting out their lovely red beaks⁷ through the leaves.

我很少扒开叶蔓瞧它们，它们便渐渐敢伸出小脑袋瞅瞅我。我们就这样一点点熟悉了。

As I seldom tried to part the leaves to look at them, gradually they plucked up their courage to put out their small heads to look at me. By and by they became accustomed to my presence.

三个月后，那一团愈发繁茂的绿蔓里边，发出一种尖细又娇嫩的鸣叫。我猜到，是它们，有了雏儿。我呢？决不掀开叶片往里看，连添食加水时也不睁大好奇的眼去惊动它们。过不多久，忽然有一个小脑袋从叶间探出来。更小哟，雏儿！正是这个小家伙。

Three months later some thinner and weaker cries were heard through the more exuberant leaves. I knew what had happened. They must have had a baby bird. However, I was not so curious as to look inside the cage and disturb them, not even when I added food and water for them. A few days later I saw a tiny head thrust out. Oh, it was the tiny baby bird, the one that had been uttering the thin and weak cries.

它小，就能轻易地由疏格的笼子钻出身。瞧，多么像它的母亲：红嘴红脚，灰蓝色的毛，只是后背还没有生出珍珠似的圆圆的白点；它好肥，整个身子好像一个蓬松的球儿。

As it was very small, it could easily get out of the cage through the holes. It looked very much like its mother, the red beak⁶, the red claws and the grayish blue down. The only difference was that it had not developed the pearl-like whitish dots on its back. Its body was as plump as a ball of fluff.

起先，这小家伙只在笼子四周活动，随后就在屋里飞来飞去，一会儿落在柜顶上，（一会儿神气十足地站在书架上，啄着书背上那些大文豪的名字；）一会儿把灯绳撞得来回摇动，跟着跳到画框上去了。只要大鸟在笼里生气儿地叫一声，它立即飞回笼里去。

For the first few days it fluttered about the cage only, and then it began to fly all over the room. At one minute it got to the top of the cupboard; at another it darted⁸ to the bookcase, pecking at the names of the great writers on the spines⁹ of the books. At one moment, it knocked the string of the switch and left it swinging back and forth like a pendulum¹⁰; at another, it switched around to the frame of the painting. But it had to fly back to the cage when its parents were angry and called it to return.

我不管它。这样久了，打开窗子，它最多只在窗框上站一会儿，决不飞出去。

I let it do as it pleased. After some time, even when I opened the window, it would not fly away. The most it would do was to stand on the window frame for a few moments and then turn around and flutter back again.

渐渐它胆子大了，就落在我书桌上。

By and by it became so bold as to come and rest on my desk. At first it kept at arm's length from me.

它先是离我较远，见我不去伤害它，便一点点挨近，然后蹦到我的杯子上，俯下头来喝茶，再偏过脸瞧瞧我的反应。我只是微微一笑，依旧写东西，它就放开胆子跑到稿纸上，绕着我的笔尖蹦来蹦去；跳动的小红爪子在纸上发出嚓嚓响。

Seeing that I was not harmful, it inched toward me, jumped up to the edge of my cup and lowered its head to drink my tea and then turned to look at me and see what I was going to do in response to its mischief¹¹. I gave it a smile and went on with my writing. It then moved onto my paper, hopping¹² around the nib¹³ of my pen, scratching the paper with its red claws.

我不动声色地写，默默享受着这小家伙亲近的情意。这样，它完全放心了。索性用那涂了蜡似的、角质的小红嘴，“嗒嗒”啄着我颤动的笔尖。我用手抚一抚它细腻的绒毛，它也不怕，反而友好地啄两下我的手指。（有一次，它居然跳进我的空茶杯里，隔着透明光亮的玻璃瞅我。它不怕我突然把杯口捂住。是的，我不会。）

I wrote on, undistracted, enjoying in silence the friendliness¹⁴ of the small creature. By now it seemed to trust me completely. What happened next was that it started pecking at the nib of the pen with its wax-like hard beak. I gently stroked its soft fluff and it was very well received. To show its intimacy¹⁵ toward me, it pecked at my fingers a couple of times. Once it even got into my empty cup, eyeing me through the transparent¹⁶ glass. It was not worried that I should put my hand over the cup and smother¹⁷ it inside. No, I would never do that.

白天，它这样淘气地陪伴我；天色入暮，它就在父母的再三呼唤声中，飞向笼子，扭动滚圆的身子，挤开那些绿叶钻进去。

During the day it kept me company joyfully¹⁸. When it turned dark, it would return to the cage at the repeated calls of its parents, waggling its small plump body inside through the leaves.

有一天，我伏案写作时，它居然落到我的肩上。我手中的笔不觉停了，生怕惊跑它。呆一会儿，扭头看，这小家伙竟扒在我的肩头睡着了，银灰色的眼睑盖住眸子，小红脚刚好给胸脯上长长的绒毛盖住。我轻轻抬一抬肩，它没醒，睡得好熟！还呷呷嘴，难道在做梦？

One day I was working at the desk when the small bird flew over and rested on my shoulder. I stopped writing for fear that it would fly off. After a moment when I turned and looked at it, I found it had fallen asleep there, its silver eye-lids covering its eye-balls, its red claws buried in its fluffy¹⁹ chest. I slightly lifted my shoulder, but it did not awake. It was having a fast sleep. Once it opened its beak a bit — obviously it was enjoying itself in a dream.

我笔尖一动，流泻下一时的感受：

I then put my pen to the paper, noting down my feelings of the moment.

信赖，往往创造出美好的境界。

Mutual²⁰ trust can create happy relationships indeed.

（译者：张梦井、杜耀文）

1 exuberant   

adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的

参考例句：

• Hothouse plants do not possess exuberant vitality.在温室里培养出来的东西，不会有强大的生命力。
• All those mother trees in the garden are exuberant.果园里的那些母树都长得十分茂盛。

2 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

3 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

4 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

7 beaks   

n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者

参考例句：

• Baby cockatoos will have black eyes and soft, almost flexible beaks. 雏鸟凤头鹦鹉黑色的眼睛是柔和的，嘴几乎是灵活的。 来自互联网
• Squid beaks are often found in the stomachs of sperm whales. 经常能在抹香鲸的胃里发现鱿鱼的嘴。 来自互联网

8 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 spines   

n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊

参考例句：

• Porcupines use their spines to protect themselves. 豪猪用身上的刺毛来自卫。
• The cactus has spines. 仙人掌有刺。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。

11 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

12 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

13 nib   

n.钢笔尖；尖头

参考例句：

• The sharp nib scratched through the paper.钢笔尖把纸戳穿了。
• I want to buy a pen with a gold nib.我要金笔。

14 friendliness   

n.友谊，亲切，亲密

参考例句：

• Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面，我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
• His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。

15 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

16 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

17 smother   

vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息

参考例句：

• They tried to smother the flames with a damp blanket.他们试图用一条湿毯子去灭火。
• We tried to smother our laughter.我们强忍住笑。

18 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

19 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

20 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。