与钱歌川教授商榷——关于《西厢记》中“西风紧”一句,意译或直译,孰宜?

Discussion with Professor Qian Gechuan on Translation ——Which is better, literal translation or free translation of the Sentence "Bitter is the West Wind" in the novel The Story of West Wing-room

钱歌川教授在其所著《翻译的基本知识》第七章〈直译和意译举例〉中 ,以熊式一先生所译《西厢记》中一名句“碧云天 ,黄叶地 ,西风紧 ,塞雁南飞 ,晓来谁染霜林醉 ?尽是离人泪。”认为把“西风紧”译为“Bitteristhewestwind” ,似乎有点犯了直译的毛病 ,而且前面的形容词bitter在英国人的观念中发生矛盾。并以英国的桂冠诗人JohnMasefield的《西风歌》出面说明。钱老提出“最好还是意译。”笔者不敢苟同 ,遂从地学因素观点出发 ,分析阐明《西风歌》与《西厢记》中同为thewestwind ,缘何两者情景迥异的因果原由。若为符合英国人的观念 ,采取“入乡随俗”方式意译西风 ,似嫌欠妥。笔者赞同以“直译加注”方式以译西风 ,较为恰切。

In the 7th chapter <Giving Examples to Literal Translation and Free Translation of The Basis Knowledge of Translation> written by Professor Qian Gechuan, the author, professor, Qian, considered that it seemed to be in error being adopted the mode of literal translation by Mr. Xiong Shiyi to translate 'Bitter is the West wind' in the famous section of The Story of West Wing-room i.e., 'Grey are the clouds in the sky and faded the leaves on the ground,Bitter is the west wind as the wild geese fly from the north to the south, How is it that in the morning the white frosted trees are dyed as red as a wine flushed face? It must have been caused by the tears of those who are about to depart.' And he thought that the adjective 'bitter' in front of the west wind did not chime in with the English concepts. In the meantime, by means of the contents in 《The Song of West Wind》 written by English poet Laureate John Mansfield (1878-1967), Professor Qian Suggested, 'Still it is best to adopt the mode of free translation to translate the west wind.' But I had a different opinion from his viewpoint, according to the geographical factors, I analyzed and explained whats the different reason of the west wind between China and Great British, between The 《Song of West Wind》 and 《The Story of West Wing-room》 It seemed to be improper to take the mode of 'Do in Rome as Romans do' to translate 'the west wind' only in order to Chime in with the English concepts. Therefore I supposed, 'it is more proper to choose the mode of 'Literal translation adding explanation' to translate it.