晚清首版《华盛顿全传》底本之谜新探

A New Inquiry into the Original Text of Life of George Washington First Translated in Late Qing Dynasty

晚清士人黎汝谦与蔡国昭合作翻译的《华盛顿全传》是华盛顿·欧文所著Life of George Washington的首个中译本,目前国内存在译本由英语原著直译和日语译本转译两种观点。现有史料显示蔡国昭在神户领事馆担任的是西文译员一职,且黎汝谦、蔡国昭合译的《华盛顿全传》的地名译法并无日语转译的痕迹,此皆指向译本系依照华盛顿·欧文的英语原著译出。

Life of George Washington , translated jointly by Li Ruqian and Cai Guozhao in the late Qing Dynasty, is the first Chinese version of the book by Washington Irving. At present, there are two opinions in China about the original text of this translated version： translation from the original English version and the translation from the Japanese version. Existing historical documents show that Cai Guozhao served as a Western-language translator at the Kobe consulate, and that there is no trace of Japanese in their translation of the geographical names, all of which testify that the translation is from the original English version.