散文汉译英佳作赏析：夏衍《野草》

Wild Grass

夏衍

Xia Yan

有这样一个故事。

There is a story which goes like this:

有人问：世界上什么东西的气力最大?回答纷纭的很，有的说“象”，有的说“狮”，有人开玩笑似的说：是“金刚”。金刚有多少气力，当然大家全不知道。

There is a story which goes like this: Someone asked, "What is the most powerful thing in the world?"There was a variety of answers."Elephant," someone said."Lion," another said."Buddha's guardian¹ warrior²," still another said half-jokingly. As to how powerful the Buddha's guardian warrior was, no one was sure.

结果，这一切答案完全不对，世界上气力最大的，是植物的种子。一粒种子所可以显现出来的力，简直是超越一切，这儿又是一个故事。

In fact none of the answers was correct. The most powerful thing in the world is the seed of plants. The force displayed by a seed is simply incomparable. Here goes another story.

人的头盖骨，结合得非常致密与坚固，生理学家和解剖学者用尽了一切的方法，要把它完整地分出来，都没有这种力气，后来忽然有人发明了一个方法，就是把一些植物的种子放在要剖析的头盖骨里，给它以温度与湿度，使它发芽，一发芽，这些种子便以可怕的力量，将一切机械力所不能分开的骨骼，完整地分开了，植物种子力量之大，如此如此。

The bones of a human skull³ are so tightly and firmly joined that no physiologist⁴ and anatomist had succeeded in taking them apart whatever means they tried. Then someone invented a method. He put sonic seeds of a plant in the skull to be dissected⁵ and provided the necessary temperature and moisture to make them germinate⁶. Once the seeds germinated⁷, they manifested a terrible force with which he succeeded in opening up the human skull that had failed to be opened even by mechanical means.

这，也许特殊了一点，常人不容易理解，那么，你看见笋的成长吗?你看见过被压在瓦砾和石块下面的一颗小草的生成吗? 

You may think this is too unusual a story to be grasped by the common mind. Well, have you ever seen how the bamboo shoots grow? Have you ever seen how frail⁸ young grass grow out from under debris⁹ and rubble¹⁰?

它为着向往阳光，为着达成它的生之意志，不管上面的石块如何重，石块与石块之间如何狭，它必定要曲曲折折地，但是顽强不屈地透到地面上来，它的根往土壤钻，它的芽往地面挺，这是一种不可抗的力，阻止它的石块，结果也被它掀翻，一粒种子的力量的大，如此如此。

In order to get the sunshine and bring its will to grow into play, no matter how heavy the rocks are and how narrow the space between the rocks, it will wind its way up irresistibly¹¹, its roots drilling downward and its sprouts¹² shooting upward. This is an irresistible¹³ force. Any rock lying in its way will be overturned. This again shows how powerful a seed can be.

没有一个人将小草叫做“大力士，但是它的力量之大，的确是世界无比。这种力，是一般人看不见的生命力，只要生命存在，这种力就要显现，上面的石块，丝毫不足以阻挡，因为它是一种“长期坑战的力，有弹性，能屈能伸的力，有韧性，不达目的不止的力。

Though the little grass has never been said to be herculean, the power it shows is matchless in the world. It is an invisible force of life. So long as there is life, the force will show itself. The rock above it is not heavy enough to prevent it from growing because it is a force that keeps growing over a period of time, because it is an elastic¹⁴ force that can shrink and expand, because it is a tenacious¹⁵ force that will not stop growing until it is grown.

种子不落在肥土而落在瓦砾中，有生命力的种子决不会悲观和叹气，因为有了阻力才有磨炼。生命开始的一瞬间就带了斗争来的草，才是坚韧的草，也只有这种草，才可以傲然地对那些玻璃棚中养育着的盆花哄笑。

The seed does not choose to fall on fertile land but among debris. If it is filled with life, it is never pessimistic or sad, for it is tempered by resistance and pressure. The grass that fights its way out since the moment it is hom can be called "strong' and “tenacious"; only the grass that fights its way up since its birth has the right to laugh with justified¹⁶ pride at the potted plants in glassed green houses.

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