《红楼梦》中“义”字的伦理涵义及英译研究

The Ethical Implication of"Yi"in A Dream of Red Mansions and its English Translation

《红楼梦》中的“义”是一个核心伦理概念。本文聚焦于“义”的核心概念及含有“义”的合成词,通过考察和比较霍克斯、闵福德和杨宪益、戴乃迭两个译本,发现两个译本均充分传达了“义”字的多层含义,但在具体处理上差异较大。两译本相较,杨译本偏向于直译,或根据上下文的具体语境做简化处理,霍译本不仅更贴近英文读者的阅读习惯,整体上较杨译更为准确,更能体现深层的、具体语境的、情感的涵义,措辞也更为丰富。霍译本对原作和中国文化有着深度的理解,加上母语优势,能在直译和意译之间保持一种微妙的平衡和张力;但作为英语母语译者,霍译无法避免因文化障碍对少部分词语的处理存在牵强附会之嫌。

In A Dream of Red Mansions,"Yi"appears as one of the core ethical concepts.This study focuses on the English translation of"Yi"and those composite phrases containing"Yi".It is found that both Hawkes and Yang’s version have fully conveyed the multiple meanings of"Yi"but differences exist in their specific translation strategies.Compared with Yang’s preference for literal translation and simplification based on the context,Hawkes’translation caters more to the reading habits of English readers,and in some cases,Hawkes’version is more accurate than Yang’s,which can better express the deep,specific and emotional connotations of the source text and is more conformable with using a more abundant vocabulary.Hawkes successfully maintains a balance between free translation and literal translation owing to his profound comprehension of the source text and Chinese culture as well as his advantage of being a native English speaker.Nevertheless,it is also for his identity as a native English speaker that he fails to avoid a few misunderstandings of the source text caused by cultural barriers.