小試身手：二十五屆梁實秋文學翻譯獎譯文組

二十五屆梁實秋文學獎已落幕，今年我參加散文翻譯組，未得獎，但還是把當初琢磨好幾天的譯文貼上來，給自己留點紀念。

順便附上評審單德興先生對得獎作品的講評短文。

譯者：汪芃

I. 蚊風正盛

　　這些天，夜漸漸熱起來，蚊子也跟著來了，渾把我們的臥室當成露天戲院般自由來去，我總睡睡醒醒，不時揮毛巾趕蚊子，還把毛巾一端沾了水，好添點份量。今早醒來，我犯了失眠後的頭昏──像喝醉似的。這種醉倒挺好，對寫作大有裨益，因為這樣便能將每個字的意義拋到腦後，寫起東西再沒顧忌。昨天傍晚，內人捧著幾碼長的網子回家，我倆便跪在地上，給整個壁爐披上頭紗，火爐簡直成了個新娘子。（咱倆有個理論：蚊子會從煙囪飛進家裡。）我也在第三大道的五金行買了幾片可調節的紗窗，紗窗都裝上了，但這房子的窗框老舊，形狀早就走了，導致紗窗和窗框之間的縫隙奇大無比，蚊子除非患上象皮病腿腫，否則大概都能大搖大擺走進來。此外，我還添了一架陳年冷氣機，只消二十五塊美金，十分合算，而且我真心喜歡這機器。這冷氣機可說是完全不冷，只在蒸騰的暑氣邊上吹吹了事，而且直發出吱嘎聲，震天價響，令人想到地鐵。正因如此，我得以熄燈闔眼，把濕毛巾擱在手邊備用，然後在第一支針戳著的時候，想像自己是在地底搭車，至於那針扎呀，不過是幾個氣沖沖的女孩子拿著別針在戳我罷了。

──摘自懷特〈威廉．史傳克〉

II. 古代文化的教育

　　中國傳統教育和黃金時期的古雅典教育頗多相仿之處。雅典男孩須將荷馬史詩通篇熟背，而中國的男孩子同樣得把儒家經典牢記在心；雅典人的教育推崇天神，但奉行外在形式即可，智識上的辯論推敲則無所限制，而中國人亦然，儘管他們得學習各種祭祖儀式，卻不一定要將所有信仰照單全收。受過良好教育的成年人應該雍容自若，事事可懷疑、可探究，然而斷然做出結論便稍嫌庸俗了。對於自己的見地，在晚宴上與人從容談論可以，捍衛得臉紅脖子粗倒不必。蘇格蘭的文史大家卡萊爾讚譽柏拉圖是「氣宇不凡的雅典君子，即便在猶太教的錫安天堂也能泰然處之」，中國的古聖先賢也具備這類「身處錫安、心猶泰然」的典型，而不消說，這種特質在基督教世界的智者身上自然少見；諸如哥德這類特例，多是崇尚古希臘精神的人。雅典人和中國人樂於享受生活，而他們這種悠然的人生觀，皆是由絕妙的美感出落而成的。
　　縱然如此，古希臘和中國文明仍有千差萬別，畢竟普遍說來，古希臘多勇士，而中國則多懶漢。希臘人盡心發揚科學藝術，也竭力鬥垮彼此，在這些項目上的成就均可謂前無古人，他們將所有氣力投入勤政愛國的志業，以為宣洩，因此古希臘城邦的政壇角色給趕下台後，往往領著一幫亡命之徒回去反擊。而中國人呢，一旦宦途失意，卻是退隱山林，為文作詩，坐享田園之樂去了。

──摘自羅素〈教育之目的〉

原文：

I. Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes have arrived with the warm nights, and our bedchamber is their theater under the stars. I have been up and down all night, swinging at them with a face towel dampened at one end to give it authority. This morning I suffer from the lightheadedness that comes from no sleep─a sort of drunkeness very good for writing because all sense of responsibility for what the words say is gone. Yesterday evening my wife showed up with a few yards of netting, and together we knelt and covered the fireplace with an illusion veil. It looks like a bride. (One of our many theories is that mosquitoes come down chimneys.) I bought a couple of adjustable screens at the hardware store on Third Avenue and they are in place in the windows; but the window sashes in this building are so old and irregular that any mosquito except one suffering from elephantiasis has no difficulty walking into the room through the space between sash and screen. I also bought a very old air-conditioning machine for twenty-five dollars, a great bargain, and I like this machine. It has almost no effect on the atmosphere of the room, merely chipping the edge off the heat, and it makes a loud grinding noise reminiscent of the subway, so that I can snap off the lights, close my eyes, holding the damp towel at the ready, and imagine, with the first stab, that I am riding in the underground and being pricked by pins wielded by angry girls.
─from “Will Strunk” by E. B. White (1899-1985)


II. Education in Ancient Cultures

Traditional Chinese education was, in some respect, very similar to that of Athens in its best days. Athenian boys were made to learn Homer by heart from beginning to end; Chinese boys were made to learn the Confucian classics with similar thoroughness. Athenians were taught a kind of reverence for the gods which consisted in outward observances and placed no barrier in the way of tree intellectual speculation. Similarly, the Chinese were taught certain rites connected with ancestor-worship, but were by no means obliged to have the beliefs which the rites would seem to imply. And easy and elegant skepticism was the attitude expected of an educated adult; anything might be discussed, but it was a trifle vulgar to reach very positive conclusions. Opinions should be such as could be discussed pleasantly at dinner, not such as man would fight for. Carlyle calls Plato “a lordly Athenian gentleman, very much at his ease in Zion.” This characteristic of being “at his ease in Zion” is found also in Chinese sages, and is, as a rule, absent from the sages produced by Christian civilizations, excerpt when, like Goethe, they have deeply imbibed the spirit of Hellenism. The Athenians and the Chinese alike wished to enjoy life, and had a conception of enjoyment which was refined by an exquisite sense of beauty.

There were, however, great differences between the two civilizations, owing to the fact that, broadly speaking, the Greeks were energetic and the Chinese were lazy. The Greeks devoted their energies to art and science and mutual extermination, in all of which they achieved unprecedented success. Polities and patriotism afforded practical outlets for Greek energy: when a politician was ousted, he led a band of exiles to attack his native city. When a Chinese official was disgraced, he retired to the hills and wrote poems on the pleasures of country life.
─from “The Aims of Education” by Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

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