散文佳作汉译英翻译赏析：a slave mother为奴隶的母亲-柔石（双语）
a slave mother为奴隶的母亲
柔石
rou shi
她的丈夫是一个皮贩，就是收集乡间各猎户底兽皮和牛皮，贩到大埠上出卖的人。但有时也兼做点农作，芒种(1)的时节，便帮人家插秧，他能将每行插得非常直，假如有五人同在一个水田内，他们一定叫他站在第一个做标准。然而境况总是不佳，债是年年积起来了。他大约就因为境况的不佳，烟也吸了，酒也喝了，钱也赌起来了。这样，竟使他变做一个非常凶狠而暴躁的男子，但也就更贫穷下去，连小小的移借，别人也不敢答应了。
he was a dealer in animal skins which he bought from hunters in the countryside and sold in town. sometimes he also worked in the fields; early each summer he turned
farm-hand, transplanting rice for other people. as he had learned to transplant the seedlings in wonderfully straight rows, the peasants always asked him to help them. but he never made enough money to support his family and his debts mounted with each passing year. the wretchedness of his life and the hopeless situation he was in caused him to take to smoking, drinking and gambling, and he became vicious and bad-tempered. as he grew poorer, people stopped lending him money, even in small sums.
在穷底的结果的病以后，全身便变成枯黄色，脸孔黄的和小铜鼓(2)一样，连眼白也黄了。别人说他是黄疸病，孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。有一天，他向他底妻子说：“再也没有办法了，这样下去，连小锅子也都卖去了。我想，还是从你底身上设法罢。你跟着我挨饿，有什么办法呢？”
with poverty came sickness. he grew sallow: his face took on the sickly colour of a brass drum and even the whites of his eyes became yellow. people said that he had
jaundice and urchins nicknamed him “yellow fellow”. one day, he said to his wife,“there’s no way out of it. it looks as if we’ll even have to sell our cooking pot. i.m
afraid we have to part. it’s no use both of us going hungry together.”
“我底身上？……”
“we have to part? ...”
他底妻坐在灶后，怀里抱着她刚满三周岁的男小孩。她讷讷地低声地问。
muttered his wife, who was sitting behind the stove with their three-year-old boy in her arms.
“你，是呀，”她的丈夫病后的无力的声音，“我已经将你出典了(3)……”
“yes, we have to part,” he answered feebly. “there’s somebody willing to hire you as a temporary wife, …”
“什么呀？”他底妻几乎昏去似的。
“ what?” she almost lost her senses.
“三天前，王狼来坐讨了半天的债回去以后，我也跟着他去，走到了九亩潭边，我很不想要做人了。但是坐在那株爬上去一纵身就可落在潭里的树下，想来想去，终没有力气跳了。猫头鹰在耳朵边不住在啭，我底心被它叫寒起来，我只得回转身，但在路上，遇见了沈家婆，她问我，晚也晚了，在外做什么。我就告诉她，请她代我借一笔款，或向什么人家的小姐借些衣服或首饰去暂时当一当，免得王狼底狼一般的绿眼睛天天在家里闪烁(4)。可是沈家婆向我笑道：
“three days ago, wang lang came here and spent a long time pressing me to pay my debt to him. after he had left, i went out. i sat under a tree on the shore of chiumous lake and thought of committing suicide. i wanted to climb the tree and dive into the water and drown myself, but, after thinking about it, i lost courage. the hooting of an owl frightened me and i walked away. on my way home, i came across mrs. shen, the matchmaker, who asked me why i was out at night. i told her what had happened and asked her if she could borrow some money for me, or some lady’s dresses and ornaments that i could pawn to pay wang lang so that he’d no longer be prowling after me like a wolf. but mrs. shen only smiled and said,
“‘你还将妻养在家里做什么呢，你自己黄也黄到这个地步了？”
“ ‘what do you keep your wife at home for? and you’re so sick and yellow!’
“我低着头站在她面前没有答，她又说：“‘儿子呢，你只有一个了，舍不得。但妻——’
“i hung my head and said nothing. she continued,“ ‘since you’ve got only one son, you might find it hard to part with him. but as for your wife…’
“我当时想：‘莫非叫我卖妻子么？’
“i thought she meant that i should sell you, but she added,
“而她继续道：“‘但妻——虽然是结发的，穷了，也没有法，还养在家里做什么呢？’
“ ‘of course she is your lawful wife, but you’re poor and you can’t do anything about it. what do you keep her at home for? starve her to death?’
“这样，她就直说出：‘有一个秀才，因为没有儿子，年纪已五十岁了，想买一个妾；又因他底大妻不允许，只准他典一个，典三年或五年，叫我物色相当的女人：年纪约三十岁左右，养过两三个儿子的，人要沉默老实，又肯做事，还要对他底大妻肯低眉下首。这次是秀才娘子向我说的，假如条件合，肯出八十元或一百元的身价。我代她寻了好几天，终于没有相当的女人。’她说：现在碰到我，想起了你来，样样都对的。当时问我底的意见怎样，我一边掉了几滴泪，一边却被她催的答应她了。”说到这里，他垂下头，声音很低弱，停止了。他底妻简直痴似的，话一句没有。又静寂了一息，他继续说：“昨天，沈家婆到过秀才底家里，她说秀才很高兴，秀才娘子也喜欢，钱是一百元，年数呢，假如三年养不出儿子，是五年。沈家婆并将日子也拣定了——本月十八，五天后。今天，她写典契了。”
“then she said straight out, ‘there’s a fifty-year-old scholar who wants a concubine to bear him a son since his wife is barren. but his wife objects and will only allow him to hire somebody else’s wife for a few years. i’ve been asked to find them a woman. she has to be about thirty years old and the mother of two or three children. she must be honest and hard-working, and obey the scholar’s wife. the scholar’s wife has told me that they are willing to pay from eighty to a hundred dollars for the right sort of woman. i’ve looked around for one for several days, but without any luck. but your wife is just the woman i’ve been looking for.’“she asked me what i thought about it. it made me cry to think of it, but shecomforted me and convinced me that it was all for the best.”
这时，他底妻简直连腑脏都颤抖，吞吐着问：
at this point, his voice trailed off, he hung his head and stopped.
“昨天在你底面前旋了三个圈子，可是对你说不出。不过我仔细想，除出将你底身子设法外，再也没有办法了。”“决定了么？”妇人战着牙齿问。“只待典契写好。”“倒霉的事情呀，我——一点也没有别的方法了么？”“倒霉，我也想到过，可是穷了，我们又不肯死，有什么办法？今年，我怕连插秧也不能插了。”
“yesterday, mrs. shen went to see the scholar again. she came back and told me that both the scholar and his wife were very happy about the idea of having you and had
promised to pay me a hundred dollars. if you bear them a child they will keep you for three years, if not—for five. mrs. shen has fixed the date for you to go –the eighteenth of this month, that is, five days from now. she is going to have the contract drawn up today.” trembling all over, the wife faltered,
这时，在她过去的回忆里，却想起恰恰一年前的事：那时她生下了一个女儿，她简直如死去一般卧在床上。死还是整个的，她却肢体分作四碎与五裂：刚落地的女婴，在地上的干草堆上叫：“呱呀，呱呀，”声音很重的，手脚揪缩。脐带绕在她底身上，胎盘落在一边，她很想挣扎起来给她洗好，可是她底头昂起来，身子凝滞在床上。这样，她看见她底丈夫，这个凶狠的男子，绯红着脸，提了一桶沸水到女婴的旁边。她简直用了她一生底最后的力向他喊：“慢！慢……”但这个病前极凶狠的男子，没有一分钟商量的余地，也不答半句话，就将“呱呀，呱呀，”声音很重地在叫着的女儿，刚出世的新生命，用他底粗暴的两手捧起来，如屠户捧将杀的小羊一般，扑通，投下在沸水里了！除出沸水的溅声和皮肉吸收沸水的嘶声以外，女孩一声也不喊。她当时剜去了心一般地昏去了。
then, looking back upon the past, she remembered what had just happened one year before: she was lying on her bed more dead than alive after giving birth to a baby girl. the newborn infant was lying on a heap of straw on the ground, crying at the top of her lungs and twitching her little limbs. the umbilical cord was wound round her body and the placenta left by her side. the poor young woman was anxious to get up to wash her baby. but she could only manage to lift her head while her whole body seemed to remain glued to the bed. all of a sudden she saw her husband, fierce and flushed, come up to the baby with a bucket of boiling water. “stop, stop! ... ,” she threw what little strength she had into yelling at him. the vicious husband, nevertheless, was uncompromising. without saying a word, he held up in both hands the baby with her cry of new life and, like a butcher slaughtering a small lamb, splashed her into the boiling water. the baby immediately stopped crying. all was silent except for the sizzling of her flesh in the boiling water. the young woman fainted away at the heart-rending scene.
翻译解析：
作家柔石，浙江宁海人，1931年在上海牺牲，年仅30，本文是他于1930年写成的最优秀的短篇小说。作品揭露当时浙东一带农村典妻制度的野蛮和残酷，对农村劳动妇女的苦难表示了极大的同情。
(1)“芒种”为中国24节气之一，约在每年6月上、中旬，该时农村多忙于夏收夏种。如英译为mangzhong或wheat in the ear，势必借助脚注，详加说明，否则外国读者无法理解。现结合上下文干脆把它译为early each summer。
(2)“小铜鼓”译为a brass drum。注意brass和bronze、copper在颜色上的区别。三者之中，仅brass是浅黄色。
(3)“我已经将你出典了……”如逐字直译为i’ve pawned you或i’ve hired you out，均欠达意。现以增词释义的办法译为there’s somebody willing to hire you as a temporary wife，可较清楚地交代原意。
(4)“免得王狼底狼一般的绿眼睛天天在家里闪烁”译为so that he’d no longer be prowling after me like a wolf，用prowling after（潜行觅食）代替原文中有关比喻，同样传神。
(5)“这一晚，她和她底丈夫都没有吃晚饭。”意即夫妇两人都不想吃饭，故译that evening, neither he nor she felt like having supper。如按字面直译为that evening, both husband and wife did not eat supper，就未能表达原句含义。
(6)“三周四岁离娘身”译为a child of three can move about free，有节奏，有韵律，易于上口。
(7)“烧饭的黄妈”即在厨房干活的女仆，可简译为the kitchen-maid。
(8)“你应该称一称你自己底老骨头是多少重”意即“你应该珍惜自己的身子”，故译为 you should take good care of your old carcase，其中carcase本作“死尸”解，指活人的“身 躯”时，是带有轻蔑或嘲笑口气的用语。