双语散文：与死神和解

时间：2016-02-24 14:27:57 焯杰674由分享

　　英语散文的发展历程十分曲折,散文大家风格多变,兼之中英语言个性殊异,若要成功地把英语散文大家的作品翻译到中文,既须了解英语散文发展的概况,又须注意保证气韵逻辑通畅,文气沛然,才能传神译出,曲尽其妙,令汉语读者获得相同或相近的审美感受。下面学习啦小编为大家带来双语散文，希望大家喜欢!

　　双语散文：与死神和解

　　Vertamae Grosvenor searched for answers to heryoung grandson‘s questions of "why?" when hisfather died. Grosvenor took her grandson, Oscar, toOaxaca, Mexico, where death, in its celebratorysymbols and rituals, is 1)inescapable. He found2)solace in performing caretaking rituals in acemetery and building an altar to his father, and inseeing others grieving for their ancestors alongsidehim. Oscar found comfort in everyone being "even."

　　You can read the transcript:

　　ALEX CHADWICK, HOST: In the summer of last year, the son-in-law of NPR‘s VertamaeGrosvenor was killed in a 3)head-on car crash with a drunken driver. It happened before dawnon the day that Vertamae was to have put her then-8-year-old grandson on a flight to Chicagowhere his father would have been waiting.

　　She struggled with how to help the child bear the loss of his father. And she decided to turnto a culture different from her own.

　　VERTAMAE GROSVENOR, NPR REPORTER: My son-in-law Beau, as he was called, was amusician, a bass player. When his son and namesake Oscar asked why, why did this happen tomy dad, I choked, remembering as a child how my elders were able to utter words of solacewith ease and certainly, but I couldn‘t. I felt that meaningful answers to Oscar‘s "why?"required a faith deeper than I had at the time.

　　One night, weeks after Beau‘s memorial service, I woke from the deepest part of sleepwith Oaxaca on my mind. Shortly after my mother passed in 1993, I went to Oaxaca, Mexico onassignment during the Days of the Dead celebration. Death was everywhere in Oaxaca. It wasimpossible to avoid a direct confrontation. And yet, I came away comforted.

　　So, hoping to make it better, I decided to take my grandson Oscar to Oaxaca.

　　Death was everywhere in Oaxaca. In the markets, vendors sell 4)crystallized sugar skullswith 5)sequined eyes, chocolate coffins, 6)clay 7)skeletons. Death designs cut out of flowingcolored tissue paper dance around the city. 8)Murals and paintings display death with athousand different faces. There are altars and offerings for the dead in restaurants, churches,homes and hotels.

　　In our hotel room, we built an alter for Beau, made of bought things from the market inOaxaca and treasured things that we‘d carried with us from home. It was Oscar‘s first altar.

　　OSCAR, GRANDSON OF VERTAMAE GROSVENOR: I kind of like it that—about the altar,because I, I put a lot of nice things, like my necklace that has Jesus being born, on it. And Iwas gonna put my watch, but since I put my necklace there it won‘t fit. I hope that my dadwill come to eat some candy or stuff, and he could probably smell all these flowers from upwhere he is. So, I hope my dad could find the altar, wherever he is.

　　GROSVENOR: The ancients believed life is the dream from which death awakens us. When Iread they buried food, drink, and personal belongings with their dead, I recalled a similarcustom among my people, the Gullahs, who call a funeral service a "home going."

　　PABLO, CEMETERY VIGIL GUIDE: We‘re in hoho. Hoho in Oaxaca. These mystical peoplewho come to welcome the souls of the relatives. And then to—so, when they arrive, they, they,they have to feel the grace beautifully decorated, and of course candles, flowers. And the wholefamily is waiting for them.

　　GROSVENOR: Pablo is our guide at the cemetery 9)vigil for the dead.

　　PABLO: To get to the cemetery, we must go this route.

　　GROSVENOR: This way, OK.

　　The sweet scent of the flowers and the sharp smell of the 10)incense and wood smoke fillthe air. Lamp and candle flames turn the dark night orange red. The graves are 11)adornedwith the favorite things of the departed. And flowers, flowers, and flowers. Oscar discovers someplaced too close to the candles.

　　OSCAR: Yeah, this one‘s burning those top leaves down. See, this one‘s burning them. Thisone‘s burning those.

　　PABLO: OK, so I‘ll fix this one and you go around and fix the other one.

　　GROSVENOR: No one seems to mind Oscar and Pablo moving among the graves, puttingout flower fires.

　　PABLO: OK, yes. That‘s better now. Can you move the—can you move the candle a little bittoward me?

　　OSCAR: No.

　　PABLO: No. It‘s…

　　GROSVENOR: Move the candle a little bit, Oscar.

　　OSCAR: Perfect. I saved it.

　　PABLO: OK.

　　GROSVENOR: You saved it.

　　PABLO: Yes. Great.

　　OSCAR: But now…

　　GROSVENOR: Family reunions are going on all over the cemetery. People are talking,eating, and communing with their relatives, living and dead.

　　OSCAR: They‘re feeling what I‘m feeling, but in a different way, because somebody elsedied in their family. And I think they‘re under a lot of stress, too. So, everybody here is even.

　　GROSVENOR: Back at the hotel, I ask Oscar what he meant by being "even."

　　OSCAR: Everybody lost a mother or father or aunt when they get real, real old. Or theycould die in a car accident like my dad, or they could die from breast cancer like my auntie, orthey could just die normally like my great,great grandmother. It‘s kind of hard to go throughwith whoever died and can do it, you gotta—you just gotta go on and go on and go on. You cannever give up on your ancestors.

　　GROSVENOR: I came to Oaxaca hoping to make it better, hoping to help Oscar find ananswer to why death came for his dad. We left Oaxaca without answers, but we came awaycomforted.

　　Did you feel his presence any time you were here?

　　OSCAR: Yeah.

　　GROSVENOR: When?

　　OSCAR: When I was sleeping, I felt something scratching me, and I wasn‘t.

　　GROSVENOR: What do you mean?

　　OSCAR: When I was asleep, I, like, felt some—a wet, some wet things, like on my cheekright here and—and I felt something wrap around me like this. And that‘s, I think it was mydad giving me a hug and a kiss good night.

　　散文翻译：

　　当小孙子奥斯卡问到他的父亲为什么会死去的时候，维塔美·格罗夫纳无言以对。于是她把奥斯卡带到墨西哥的奥萨卡小镇——在那里死亡无处不在，人们反而以各种仪式来庆祝死亡。在那里，奥斯卡参加了祭奠仪式，并为父亲设置了一个祭坛，也看到了其他同样因为失去亲人而悲伤的人。因为意识到生死对每个人都是公平的，奥斯卡因此感到了安慰。

　　你可以阅读下面的录音资料。

　　主持人，亚历克斯·查德威克：去年夏天，国家广播电台维塔美·格罗夫纳的女婿在与一位醉酒驾车的司机发生相撞事故中死亡。意外发生在黎明时分，那天维塔美本来正准备把8岁大的奥斯卡送上前往芝加哥的飞机，他父亲本来是要去接机的。

　　她一直在设法帮助孩子接受父亲去世的事实，最后她决定向一种截然不同的文化求助。

　　维塔美·格罗夫纳，国家广播电台记者：我的女婿比奥是音乐家，一名贝司手。当奥斯卡问我为什么灾难会发生在他父亲身上时，我哑口无言。我还是小孩子的时候，我的长辈们可以很自如地安慰我，跟我解释生与死的奥秘。可我却无法做到，我觉得要更有说服力地回答奥斯卡的“为什么”，需要一种更深的信念。

　　在比奥举殡几个星期后的一天晚上，我从熟睡中惊醒，脑海里一直浮想着奥萨卡鬼节的情景。在1993年母亲刚去世的时候，我碰巧出差到奥萨卡，恰逢当地人在庆祝鬼节。死亡在奥萨卡无所不在，让人根本无法回避。但是，在那里我却得到安慰，并轻松愉快地离开。

　　于是，我决定带奥斯卡去奥萨卡，希望他也可以觉得好过一些。

　　奥萨卡到处是与死亡相关的东西。在集市里，小贩售卖砂糖制成的带着金属眼睛的头骨，巧克力棺材和黏土骷髅，连纸巾也印着死亡图案，壁画和绘画作品更展现着死神千变万化的面貌。无论是餐馆，教堂，酒店还是平常人的家里，都有纪念逝者的祭坛和祭品。

　　在酒店的房间里，我们用从集市上买回来的物品为比奥做了一个祭坛，用来安放我们从家乡带来的珍贵纪念品。这是奥斯卡的第一个祭坛。

　　奥斯卡，维塔美·格罗夫纳的孙子：我挺喜欢那个祭坛的，因为我在上面放了许多宝贝，像我的项链，上面画了基督出生的情景。本来还想放上我的手表的，但是放了项链就不够位置了。我希望我的爸爸能享用一些糖果或是其他的祭品，他或许可以闻到那些鲜花的香味。总之，不管我爸爸在哪里，我希望他可以找到我的祭坛。

　　格罗夫纳：古人相信人生是一场梦，直至死亡把我们唤醒。当我从书上看到他们把食物，饮料和个人物品与死者一起埋葬的时候，我不由想起我的族人，我们嘎勒黑人把葬礼称作“回家”。

　　帕布罗，守墓人：我们在霍荷卡姆，在奥萨卡的霍荷卡姆。这些神秘的人在这里欢迎我们亲友的亡灵。当他们来到时，必须能感受到优雅的装饰，当然还要有蜡烛和鲜花，以及一家人正在等待着他们。

　　格罗夫纳：帕布罗是我们的守墓人。