张培基英译中国现代散文选 之《笑》

笑 
——冰心 
   雨声渐渐的住了，窗帘后隐隐的透进清光来。推开窗户一看，呀！凉云散了，树叶上的残滴，映着月儿，好似萤光千点(1)，闪闪烁烁的动着。——真没想到苦雨孤灯之后，会有这么一幅清美的图画(2)！ 
   凭窗站了一会儿，微微的觉得凉意侵入。转过身来，忽然眼花缭乱，屋子里的别的东西，都隐在光云里；一片幽辉，只浸着墙上画中的安琪儿(3)。——这白衣安琪儿，抱着花儿，扬着翅儿，向着我微微的笑。 
  “这笑容仿佛在那儿看见过似的，什么时候，我曾……”我不知不觉的便坐在窗口下想，——默默的想。 
   严闭的心幕，慢慢的拉开了，涌出五年前的一个印象。——一条很长的古道。驴脚下的泥，兀自滑滑的。田沟里的水，潺潺的流着。近村的绿树，都笼在湿烟里。弓儿似的新月，挂在树梢(4)。一边走着，似乎道旁有一个孩子，抱着一堆灿白的东西。驴儿过去了，无意中回头一看。——他抱着花儿，赤着脚儿，向着我微微的笑。 
  “这笑容又仿佛是那儿看过似的！”我仍是想——默默的想(5)。 
   又现出一重心幕来，也慢慢的拉开了，涌出十年前的一个印象。——茅檐下的雨水，一滴一滴的落到衣上来。土阶边的水泡儿(6)，泛来泛去的乱转。门前的麦垅和葡萄架子，都濯得新黄嫩绿的非常鲜丽。——一会儿好容易雨情了，连忙走下坡去。迎头看见月儿从海面上来了，猛然记得有件东西忘下了，站住了，回过头来。这茅屋里的老妇人——她倚着门儿，抱着花儿，向着我微微的笑。 
   这同样微妙的神情，好似游丝一般，飘飘漾漾的合了拢来，绾在一起。 
   这时心下光明澄静，如登仙界(7)，如归故乡。眼前浮现的三个笑容，一时融化在爱的调和里看不分明了。

注释： 
本文是冰心（1900-1999）的早期成名之作，于1921年1月发表在《小说月报》第一期上。冰心的散文以秀丽典雅、纯真无邪著称。她早期信奉“爱的哲学”，泛泛宇宙中的一切，尤其是对母亲、儿童和自然美的爱。《笑》正体现了她的这种思想。她讴歌超现实的“爱”，也就是对当时社会的黑暗和污浊的不满和失望。 
(1)“萤光千点”译为myriads of fireflies，比thousands of fireflies更切近美文（belles letters）。 
(2)“真没想到……！”译为To think that…!是英语惯用语句型，以感叹的语气表达某种想不到的事。 
(3)“安琪儿”即“天使”，是 angel一词的音译。天使为西方教堂所崇奉，其形象常为带翅膀的男性小孩。 
(4)“弓儿似的新月，挂在树梢”译为The crescent new moon looked as if hanging on the tips of the trees，其中looked as if是增加的成分，变隐喻为明喻。 
(5)“我仍是想——默默的想”译为I was still thinking to myself。To think to oneself 是英语习惯用语，作“一个人暗自在想”解。 
(6)“水泡儿”指雨水坑中的水泡儿，故译为bubbles in puddles of rainwater，其中in puddles of rainwater原文中虽无其词，但却有其意 
(7)“仙界”指“极乐世界”，也可译为the land of the divine。现译为heaven，较简洁。 

Smile 
  ——Bing Xin 
    As the rain gradually ceased to patter, a glimmer of light began to filter into the room through the window curtain. I opened the window and looked out. Ah, the rain clouds had vanished and the remaining raindrops on the tree leaves glistened tremulously under the moonlight like myriads of fireflies. To think that there should appear before my eyes such a beautiful sight after the miserable rain on a lonely evening. 
    Standing at the window for a while, I felt a bit chilly. As I turned round, my eyes suddenly dazzled before the bright light and could not see things distinctly. Everything in the room was blurred by a haze of light except the angel in a picture on the wall. The angel in white was smiling on me with a bunch of flowers in his arms, his wings flapping. 
   “I seem to have seen the same smile before. When was that? ...” Before I knew, I had sunk into a chair under the window, lost in meditation. 
    A scene of five years ago slowly unveiled before my mind’s eye. It was a long ancient country road. The ground under my donkey’s feet was slippery with mud. The water in the field ditches was murmuring. The green trees in the neighbouring village were shrouded in a mist. The crescent new moon looked as if hanging on the tips of the trees. As I passed along, I somewhat sensed the presence of a child by the roadside carrying something snow white in his arms. After the donkey had gone by, I happened to look back and saw the child. Who was barefoot, looking at me smilingly with a bunch of flowers in his arms. 
   “I seem to have seen the same smile somewhere before!” I was still thinking to myself. 
    Another scene, a scene of ten years ago, slowly unfolded before my mind’s eyes. Rainwater was falling drop by drop onto my clothes from the eaves of a thatched cottage. Beside the earthen doorstep, bubbles in puddles of rainwater were whirling about like mad. Washed by the rain, the wheat fields and grape trellises in front of the cottage door presented a picturesque scene of vivid yellow and tender green. After a while, it cleared up at long last and I hurried down the slope. Up ahead I saw the moon rising high above the sea. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had left something behind. When I stopped and turned round, my eyes fell on an old woman at her cottage door smiling at me, a bunch of flowers in her arms. 
    The three subtle smiles, drifting in the air towards each other like gossamer, became interwoven. 
At this moment all was bright, clear and clam in my heart. I felt as if I were ascending to heaven or on the way back to my hometown. In my mind’s eye, the three smiling faces now merged into a harmonious whole of love and became indistinguishable.