懷念啟功先生1Remembering Uncle Qi Gong

在我十二三歲，父親被關進牛棚2的日子里，伯父啟功不但收留3了我，而且耳提面命4地教我唐詩。意想不到的是，他對我的“快樂教學法”，竟影響5了我偏愛生態文學批評理論的趣味。

Uncle Qi Gong gave me a home during the “Cultural Revolution”， when I was twelve or thirteen years old， my father being locked up. He took it upon himself to teach me Tang poetry， too. Little did I know that my interest in ecocriticism was taking shape with his “merry teaching” in those days.

我還能清楚記憶的有兩件事6。第一是有一天我在榮寶齋看到了一位王姓畫家畫的梅花，回家描述一番后，他說：“這畫兒不太對?！边@使我不解：畫有好與不好之分，從何談起“對”或“不對”呢7？他的解釋是，梅花兒生在雨水多的南方，花心兒朝下，像傘一樣，俗稱“罩水梅”。王先生把梅花兒畫得朝上，成向日葵了，雨水進入8花心兒，很快就爛了。梅花兒沒有那么傻。藝術不能出大格兒。9兒時的我，喜歡模仿他詼諧的話語風格，于是我馬上說：“好，那我就把‘草木有本心10，不求美人折’改成‘梅花有本心，不肯朝天開’得了?！?/p>

Two such teaching moments are still as fresh as yesterday. The first was about a painting of Chinese plum blossoms that I saw at Rongbaozhai， by a painter Mr. Wang. As I told Uncle Qi Gong about it， he said， “Something is wrong with it.” That’s puzzling—Paintings could be good or bad. But a right or wrong painting？ What’s he talking about？ He went on to explain that Chinese plum grows in the rainy south. Their flower blossoms face downward like an umbrella， popularly known as “water-shielding plum blossoms”. Mr. Wang painted the blossoms head-up like sunflowers. Rainwater could be trapped in the flowers and rotten them in no time. Plum blossoms are not that foolish. Art shouldn’t stray from reality. The teenager me liked mimicking his witty speech， so I blurted out， “Okay then， I’ll change ‘Grass and trees have their own mind， never seeking to be picked by a beauty’ to ‘Plum blossoms have their own mind， never blooming towards the sky.’”

另一件是我背誦完初唐王績的詩《食后》，他問我：“楚豆11是什么？”我說：“就是湖北一帶的豆子唄。”他用手指點著我的額頭說：“編12！就知道你會編。”然后仔仔細細地對我講：“那其實是牡荊的果實，可入藥。不僅湖北，咱北京也有，叫荊條，葉子一對兒一對兒的?！蔽椅嫔隙湔f：“不聽，不聽，大爺念經13。”他說：“我不念經，你懶蟲一輩子也甭想知道什么是楚豆?！?/p>

The other moment was when I finished reciting an early Tang poet Wang Ji’s “After a Meal，” and he asked me， “What’s chudou？” I blundered， “I bet it’s beans from Hubei，” as I figured that Chu is the ancient name for present day Hubei， and dou literally means beans. He pressed a finger at my forehead and said， “Talking through your hat！ I knew you would do so.” Then he explained meticulously， “Actually， chudou are the seeds of chaste trees， which can be used in medicine. They are not only found in Hubei—we have them in Beijing too. They are called jingtiao. Their leaves grow in pairs.” I covered my ears and said， “I’m not listening， I’m not listening. Uncle’s preaching.” He laughed， “If it’s not for my preaching， you lazy bug would never know what chudou is in your whole life.”

后來我在美國接觸到生態文學批評理論，有種似曾相識的感覺14，因為其中一個焦點是對“人格化”或“擬人”的討論15。這理論認為文學藝術是人在描寫客觀世界，所以總帶著人的色彩甚至偏見，擬人也就不可避免，但一定要接近事物本身的情況。16這就要求文學家、藝術家仔細了解事物的特性。也就是說17，最低要求是知道楚豆是什么，較高要求是知道花朵在何時何地以何種形式開放。

These moments flashed back later in the United States in a déjà vu， when I came across the ecocriticism theory with its focus on anthropomorphism. The theory holds that literature and art are subjective representations of the world， inevitably colored by human perspectives and biases; that personification is unavoidable， but it must closely align with the actual nature of things. This requires writers and artists to have a meticulous understanding of the characteristics of objects. As in my stories， one should at least know what chudou is， and a step up would be to know when and where flowers bloom and in what form.

伯父西去后，我還未寫過懷念的文字。這里的回顧18算是我心靈上的自我救贖，雖很短，但是，想讓他知道，他的教誨，我年幼無知時雖貌似抵制過，實際上一直深深地記在19心里。

After Uncle Qi Gong passed away， I hadn’t written anything to remember him. This reminiscence is a self-redemption of my soul. Brief as it is， I want him to know that his teachings， which I seemingly resisted in my na?ve adolescent days， have been engraved in my heart all along.

* 博士，北京外國語大學英語學院講師。研究領域是英中對比語言學、英語史和語法化。

1本文節選自美國西華盛頓大學英美文學系俞寧教授所著的《吾愛吾師》，俞教授用細膩的筆觸記錄了青少年時期在啟功先生的蔭護下成長的經歷。感謝俞教授同意譯者發表此文，感謝陳國華教授和俞教授給予的翻譯指導。標題原文用“啟功先生”，是敬稱，在文內稱“伯父啟功”，英文Mr.不能表達出這種相應關系，遂選用Uncle Qi Gong。" 2“牛棚”，轉喻，指“文革”期間關押知識分子進行改造的地方。譯文沒有直譯為cowshed，因為“cultural revolution”和locked up足以說明主人公當時的境遇。" 3“收留”，不是“領養”，不可譯為adopted，實際就是給了作者一個家。" 4“耳提面命”，這個成語生動描寫了啟功先生對少年俞寧的殷切教誨，不可分成“提著耳朵”“面對面”這樣的具體動作來譯；從下文啟功先生和俞先生的互動來看，教誨懇切，卻非嚴厲，所以譯文選擇take it upon himself表示啟功先生親力親為。" 5“影響”，這里其實是“塑造”的意思，譯為influence不對。譯文將“趣味”作為主語，處理為“my interest… was taking shape”。" 6“兩件事”，指上文“快樂教學法”的具體事例，譯文用two such teaching moments，既明確了與上文的邏輯關系，也給下文做了鋪墊。

7“從何談起……呢”，原文生動地描繪少年俞寧的內心活動，譯文句子以短小、口語化表達為好，故對應譯為“But a right or wrong painting？ What’s he talking about？”。" 8“進入”，此處可譯為be trapped，“陷于某處無法脫離”的意思，生動表達水進得來流不走的樣子。" 9“藝術不能出大格兒”，是地道的北京口語，譯文“Art shouldn’t stray from reality.”選詞短小、簡潔，與原文文體相仿。" 10“草木有本心”，出自唐代詩人張九齡的《感遇十二首·其一》，“本心”意思是天性，譯為their own mind。" 11“楚豆”，此處用拼音音譯，這樣下文對“楚”和“豆”的字面理解才好譯。" 12“編”，即“不懂裝懂”，英文talking through one’s hat意思是“to voice irrational， illogical， or erroneous ideas”，符合句意和通俗用法的要求。

13“大爺念經”，并無大爺念經文之意，是比喻說教，“大爺又給我上課了”，把小孩兒的淘氣反抗態度活靈活現地表達出來。譯文選了Uncle’s preaching，而不是chanting，正是要表達這種態度。" 14“有種似曾相識的感覺”，此處采取了增譯。其中，these moments與上文two such moments相呼應。flash back與these moments和déjà vu搭配使用，類似電影中回憶的鏡頭，有很強的畫面感。" 15“因為……討論”，此處用介詞詞組with its focus on anthropomorphism來譯，邏輯合理，句式簡潔。

16“這理論……情況”，這個一逗到底的句子可以分為兩個義群（“這理論……偏見”和“擬人……情況”），用兩個that從句引出，這樣，英文段落邏輯更清晰。" 17“也就是說”，模糊表示與上文兩個故事的關系，譯文as in my stories讓上下文銜接更明確。" 18“回顧”，譯文reminiscence是reminisce的名詞形式，據Merriam-Webster dictionary online，與remember和recollect相比，reminisce更具懷舊的意味。" 19“深深地記在”，這里譯者在初稿中曾用deeply翻譯“深深地”，與原文在字面上一一對應。蒙俞教授審閱，指出：“中文有‘深深地’不難受；英文一個deeply覺得多余。我寫英文，特別警惕副詞和形容詞。我覺得它們幫倒忙。”譯者查閱Merriam-Webster dictionary online，果然發現engrave詞條下注解1a（to impress deeply as if with a graver），這一個動詞即可對應漢語“深深地刻在”的含義，遂終稿去掉了deeply，這樣才與原文神似。