Neighbour Rosicky (Excerpt I)

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When Doctor Burleigh told neighbour Rosicky he had a bad heart,Rosicky protested.

當伯利醫生告知羅西基，說他心臟不好時，羅西基斷然否定。

2 “So? No,I guess my heart was always pretty good.I got a little asthma,maybe.Just a awful short breath when I was pitchin’ hay last summer,dat’s all.”

2 “哦？不，我覺得這顆心一直都挺好的。我平時有點兒氣喘，也許有點兒吧。只是今年夏天垛干草那陣喘得厲害些，就這么回事。”

3 “Well,now,Rosicky,if you know more about it than I do,what did you come to me for? It’s your heart that makes you short of breath,I tell you.You’re sixty-five years old,and you’ve always worked hard,and your heart’s tired.You’ve got to be careful from now on,and you can’t do heavy work any more.You’ve got five boys at home to do it for you.”

3 “嘿，得了吧！羅西基，你要是比我懂心臟，還來找我干嗎？告訴你吧，你喘不上氣就是因為你心臟出了毛病。你都六十五歲的人了，還一直拼命干活兒，你這顆心啊，累了。從現在起你必須得當心，不能再干重活兒了。你家里有五個小伙子，讓他們替你干吧。”

4 The old farmer looked up at the Doctor with a gleam of amusement in his queer triangular-shaped eyes.His eyes were large and lively,but the lids were caught up in the middle in a curious way,so that they formed a triangle.He did not look like a sick man.His brown face was creased but not wrinkled,he had a ruddy colour in his smooth-shaven cheeks and in his lips,under his long brown moustache.His hair was thin and ragged around his ears,but very little grey.His forehead,naturally high and crossed by deep parallel lines,now ran all the way up to his pointed crown.Rosicky’s face had the habit of looking interested,—suggested a contented disposition and a reflective quality that was gay rather than grave.This gave him a certain detachment,the easy manner of an onlooker and observer.

4 老農夫抬起一雙古怪的三角眼，用一種逗趣的目光打量醫生。那雙眼睛很大，很有精神，只是上眼皮以某種奇怪的方式在正中處高高翹起，結果讓眼睛呈三角形。他看上去并不像個病人，黝黑的臉上有皺紋，但并非皺紋滿面，刮得干干凈凈的腮頰紅光煥發，那溜褐色小胡子下的嘴唇也很紅潤。他頭發稀疏，蓬亂，耷拉在耳朵周圍，但其中少有白發。他前額禿得很高，額頭上平行的凹線如今已擴展到他尖尖的頭頂。羅西基那張臉總顯得對什么都感興趣，顯示出一種樂觀知足、凡事都從好的方面去考慮的秉性。這使他多少有了點旁觀者和觀察家所具有的那種超然和悠然。

5 “Well,I guess you ain’t got no pills fur a bad heart,Doctor Ed.I guess the only thing is fur me to git me a new one.”

5 “唷，埃德大夫，我看你是沒有治心臟的藥吧。看來要解決我的問題，只有另外換顆新的了。”

6 Doctor Burleigh swung round in his desk-chair and frowned at the old farmer.“I think if I were you I’d take a little care of the old one,Rosicky.”

6 伯利醫生從桌前轉過身來，對著這個老農夫皺起了眉頭。“我在想啊，羅西基，我要是你，我就會稍稍顧惜一下這顆舊的。”

7 Rosicky shrugged.“Maybe I don’t know how.I expect you mean fur me not to drink my coffee no more.”

7 羅西基把肩一聳。“興許我不懂該怎樣顧惜。我看你是想告訴我，就別再喝咖啡了。”

8 “I wouldn’t,in your place.But you’ll do as you choose about that.I’ve never yet been able to separate a Bohemian from his coffee or his pipe.I’ve quit trying.But the sure thing is you’ve got to cut out farm work.You can feed the stock and do chores about the barn,but you can’t do anything in the fields that makes you short of breath.”

8 “我要是你呀，就不再喝了。但這種事你得自己拿主意。我從來都沒法讓一個波希米亞人不喝咖啡，不抽斗煙。我不想再費口舌了。不過有一點是肯定的，你不能再下地干活兒了。你可以喂喂牛，養養豬，在谷倉里做點雜事，但千萬不能下地干活兒，那會讓你氣喘的。”

9 “How about shelling corn?”

9 “剝剝玉米也不成？”

10 “Of course not!”

10 “當然不成！”

11 Rosicky considered with puckered brows.“I can’t make my heart go no longer’n it wants to,can I,Doctor Ed?”

11 羅西基皺起眉頭想了片刻。“我沒法讓這個心臟跳多久了，沒我以為的那么久，是吧，埃德大夫？”

12 “I think it’s good for five or six years yet,maybe more,if you’ll take the strain off it.Sit around the house and help Mary.If I had a good wife like yours,I’d want to stay around the house.”

12 “只要不讓它太累，我想還能跳上個五六年，也許更久。就待在屋里幫幫瑪麗吧。我要是像你這樣有個好老婆，我就寧愿整天都待在家里。”

《鄰居羅西基》是美國女作家薇拉·凱瑟（1873—1947）于1930年發表的一篇重要短篇小說。小說通過回憶和追述的手法，講述了波希米亞移民羅西基樸素而充實的一生，展現了拓荒者及其后代善良、樸素、勤勞、熱愛生活、眷念土地的可貴品質。小說主題深刻，結構勻稱，筆觸細膩，文字優美，人物性格刻畫清晰，翻譯時應注意描摹。

有篇名提示，此處neighbour 一詞不必譯出。捷克人名Rosicky 本該譯作“羅西茨基”，但高校長期并廣泛使用的教材《美國文學選讀》（南開大學出版社，1991）在“作品介紹”中將其譯作“羅西基”，故按約定俗成從之，以免增加讀者的認知成本。

a awful = an awful，dat’s all = that’s all，移民羅西基講英語發音不標準，作者模仿其發音拼寫，后文還會出現此類拼寫或語法錯誤，譯者須結合語境加以辨別。last summer 指剛過去的那個夏天，后文講羅西基離開診所后下起了“今冬的第一場雪”，故事背景又是在美國中西部的內布拉斯加，故此處宜譯作“今年夏天”。

首句中的it 還原為“心臟”（玄奘早就總結了“代詞還原法”），末句中的it 省略（漢語使用代詞的頻率遠不及英語）。不要一見boy 就譯成男孩，應結合語境選擇其義項。例如“A boy’s will is the wind’s will,/ And the thoughts of youth are long,long thoughts”（少年的心愿是風的心愿，/青春的遐想是悠長的遐想）。

請注意這段人物描寫的翻譯。譯好描述性語言是翻譯的基本功之一，這就像學繪畫先得學好素描一樣。有人把very little grey 翻譯成“頭發有些灰白了”，這是因混淆了little（否定用法：很少，幾乎不）和a little（肯定用法：少許，一些）之故。

fur = for。英語男子名埃德華、埃德蒙和埃德溫都可用“埃德”這個昵稱（小說并未交代伯利醫生的全名）。

注意譯文在直接引語中添加了語氣詞“啊”，移動了稱呼語“羅西基”的位置。比較一下不添不移的語氣效果。

feed the stock 不宜翻譯成“喂喂家畜”（漢語這么說略顯生硬）。

注意對話體“口語”跟書面語的區別，如第12 段中的good wife 在家常話中譯作“好老婆”就比譯成“賢妻”更為合適。

小說就是故事（story），好的故事大凡都可讀，可講，可聽，而且讀起來要引人入勝，講起來要娓娓動聽，聽起來要津津有味。翻譯小說也是在講故事，所以，譯者應該把可讀、可講、可聽作為檢驗譯文的方法。譯完后不妨自己先讀讀（出聲朗讀），看語句是否通順，語氣是否恰當，節奏是否和諧等，當然，前提是譯文的思想內容要與原文一致。 □