On Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot
visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends
you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow
that is stable.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
这两句里,用的同一个词“thoughts”,尹翻成了两个词
You may house their bodies but not their souls, ——身体与灵魂的对立,尹没有表现
You may strive to be like them,——尹把“may"翻错了。原文意为大人可以模仿孩子,但是不要追求让孩子像自己。尹翻成了“让”大人变成孩子
这句最莫名其妙,既然不让孩子变成大人,那为啥要大人变成孩子?
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.——后半句,尹把对生命的描述,变成了要求
You are the bows——尹加多了自然之神
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,——尹漏翻全局
He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. ——尹漏翻might和swift
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. ——飞翔的自由与父母的支持之间的对比,尹没有体现
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;——纪伯伦诗中唯一的LET,尹给去掉了
简单对比,就这么多问题
翻译“信、达、雅”的基础要求都没达到
冰心的译文就算与今天的阅读有距离,也是“雅”的问题
尹同学,还没做到信和达
懂英文的童鞋,自己可以比对一下
对于“the mark upon the path of the infinite”的含义,我和冰心的理解不同。冰心认为射手看见的是目标,我则认为是看见了起点。我的理由是:既然路途没有穷尽,那就只有起点没有终点。另外,下一句里的让箭飞得又快又远也能佐证我的理解。如果是照着目标射箭,就没有必要让箭飞得远了。