《葬花吟》三个英译本比较研究

A Comparative Study on Three English Versions of Lin Daiyu's Elegy on Flowers

《葬花吟》是《红楼梦》中的重要诗篇,其英译本以杨宪益、霍克斯、许渊冲三位译家的比较有代表性。从意象的传达看,杨氏从中国文化视角出发,多用直译,取得了与原作相似的效果;霍氏从西方文化视角出发,对原文的某些意象做了变通处理,措辞更显生动,有助于西方读者的解读;许氏直译和意译并用,在某些意象的再现上比较成功。从音韵的再现看,杨氏采用了中国古诗的押韵模式(abcb),以与原诗保持一致;霍氏和许氏则采用了英语诗歌中较常用的联韵模式(aabb),且三位译者在传译过程中大量使用了头韵。所以,三种译文读起来都富有音乐美,难分伯仲;从形美的再现看,三位译者都以诗体形式再现原作形式,诗行和每行的音节数基本上相似,传译出了原诗的形体美。总之,三种译文虽有不足,但瑕不掩瑜,为汉诗英译提供了许多值得借鉴的经验,值得研究和欣赏。

As one of the most important poems of A Dream of Red Mansions, Lin Daiyu＇s Elegy on Flowers has been translated into seven English versions, three of which are rendered respectively by Yang Xianyi, David Hawkes and Xu Yuanchong. The three’s are worth studying. First, from the reproduction of images, Yang Xianyi, based on the purpose of disseminating Chinese culture, mainly uses literal translation to make his version similar to the original in effect, while Hawkes adopts flexible ways to handle some images to facilitate the understanding of western readers, and Xu Yuanchong combines literal and free translation methods to reproduce some images more successfully. Second, from the reproduction of phonetic effect, Yang prefers the rhyme modes of Chinese classical poetry （abcb） to try to keep consistent with the original works, and Hawkes and Xu Yuanchong choose the most common rhyme form of English poetry （aabb）. Besides, these three translators all use lots of alliteration, so their versions are full of musical beauty equally. Third, from the reproduction of poetic form, three translators all adopt the poetic form, trying to maintain roughly the same numbers of lines and the foot of each line, so their versions reproduce the form beauty of the original works. In a word, in spite of some flaws, three versions offer many useful techniques and approaches in translating Chinese poetry into English, which are worthy of note and appreciation.