如夢令 - 李清照
1. 常記溪亭日暮
2. 沉醉不知歸路
3. 興盡晚回舟
5. 爭渡
6. 爭渡
7. 驚起一灘鷗鷺
1. I still recall that sunset gath'ring at Brookside
Pavilion;
2. We got so drunk, too drunk to tell our bearings
home.
3. By dusk, our gay mood spent, our boats we turned
4. Only to stray straight in to the depths of the
lotus groves.
5. Oh, on, we rowed!
6. And on, we rowed!
7. Startling to flight, herons and gulls of the sandy
shallows.
His lines 5 and 6 colored my interpretation and without further
research, my error in interpretation was compounded into modern day
outrageousness -- the person was so drunk and lost his way back to his boat; waded into the waters; thinking that he was still
on it and in shouts, urging the boat forward; naturally frightening the birds
on the bank. The main reason this
hilarity is often remembered as stated in the first line. Since the time frame had been established in the
first line, it would be redundant to translate 晚 as night. "late" is more appropriate but was left out in the translation. Line 3 is
ambiguous due to the conciseness of the language. This depends on whether 晚 is parsed as a verb or as an adjective. When parsed as a verb, the line is translated
as "... late I was in returning to my boat", implying he was
returning from the pavilion. As an
adjective, "... my boat in late return", implying the author was
already in the boat and was lost rowing his boat... Both scenarios made
sense. The author, Li Ch'ing-chao
is a woman and not to be expected to behave out of her status. However, she was not a typical woman; after
all no self-respecting woman should be drinking with a group of men at parties
unless she was a courtesan. She was no
typical woman of her times.
Whether the wading or shouting that the birds were startled, we do
not know. My version is now:
1. Often I think of the
nightfall in the pavilion by the brook.
2. Too drunk were we to know our back home.
3. When the gaiety has ended, late I was in returning to my boat,
4. Mistakenly, I waded into the deep end where the lotuses are,
5. "Onward row!" [I shouted,]
6. "Go, go! Go!"
7. Startling the flock of herons and gulls on the shallows.
However, without further research into the details, my interpretation is also wrong. This is because the usual meaning of 爭 ("to compete", "to vie") was used. It made sense. This is the sort of landmines we modern translators often stepped on and got blown up without realizing what had hit us. Another example is 坐 in 杜牧's line, 停車愛錯楓林晚! It does not mean "to sit" but "The reason is". So lines 3, 4, 5 & 6 are now corrected to be:
2. Too drunk were we to know our back home.
3. When the gaiety has ended, late I was in returning to my boat,
4. Mistakenly, I waded into the deep end where the lotuses are,
5. "Onward row!" [I shouted,]
6. "Go, go! Go!"
7. Startling the flock of herons and gulls on the shallows.
However, without further research into the details, my interpretation is also wrong. This is because the usual meaning of 爭 ("to compete", "to vie") was used. It made sense. This is the sort of landmines we modern translators often stepped on and got blown up without realizing what had hit us. Another example is 坐 in 杜牧's line, 停車愛錯楓林晚! It does not mean "to sit" but "The reason is". So lines 3, 4, 5 & 6 are now corrected to be:
3. When the gaiety has ended, late I was in returning to my boat/
... my late boat late in
return,
4. Mistakenly, into
where lotus blooms run deep,
5. How to cross?
6. How to cross?
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