[转载]杨必《名利场》译文片段欣赏
2011-09-21 22:35阅读：
Before the
Curtain
As the manager of
the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards and looks
into the Fair, a feeling of profound melancholy comes over him in
his survey of the bustling place. There is a great quantity of
eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the
contrary, smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing and fiddling; there
are bullies pushing about, bucks ogling the women, knaves picking
pockets, policemen on the look-out, quacks (OTHER quacks, plague
take them!) bawling in front of their booths, and yokels looking up
at the tinseled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the
light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind. Yes,
this is VANITY FAIR; not a moral place certainly; nor a merry one,
though very noisy. Look at the faces of the actors and buffoons
when they come
off from their business; and Tom Fool washing the paint off his
cheeks before he sits down to dinner with his wife and the little
Jack Puddings behind the canvas. The curtain will be up presently,
and he will be turning over head and heels, and crying, 'How are
you?'
A man with a
reflective turn of mind, walking through an exhibition of this
sort, will not be oppressed, I take it, by his own or other
people's hilarity. An episode of humor or kindness touches and
amuses him here and there—a pretty child looking at a gingerbread
stall; a pretty girl blushing whilst her lover talks to her and
chooses her fairing; poor Tom Fool, yonder behind the wagon,
mumbling his bone with the honest family which lives by his
tumbling; but the general impression is one more melancholy than
mirthful. When you come home you sit down in a sober,
contemplative, not uncharitable frame of mind, and apply yourself
to your books or your business.
I have no other
moral than this to tag to the present story of 'Vanity Fair.' Some
people consider Fairs immoral altogether, and eschew such, with
their servants and families: very likely they are right. But
persons who think otherwise, and are of a lazy, or a benevolent, or
a sarcastic mood, may perhaps like to step in for half an hour, and
look at the performances. There are scenes of all sorts; some
dreadful combats, some grand and lofty horse-riding, some scenes of
high life, and some of very middling indeed; some love-making for
the sentimental, and some light comic business; the whole
accompanied by appropriate scenery and brilliantly illuminated with
the Author's own candles.
What more has the
Manager of the Performance to say?—To acknowledge the kindness with
which it has been received in all the principal towns of England
through which the Show has passed, and where it has been most
favorably noticed by the respected conductors of the public Press,
and by the Nobility and Gentry. He is proud to think that his
Puppets have given satisfaction to the very best company in this
empire. The famous little Becky Puppet has been pronounced to be
uncommonly flexible in the joints, and lively on the wire; the
Amelia Doll, though it has had a smaller circle of admirers, has
yet been carved and dressed with the greatest care by the artist;
the Dobbin Figure, though apparently clumsy, yet dances in a very
amusing and natural manner; the Little Boys' Dance has been liked
by some; and please to remark the richly dressed figure of the
Wicked Nobleman, on which no expense has been spared, and which Old
Nick will fetch away at the end of this singular performance. And
with this, and a profound bow to his patrons, the Manager retires,
and the curtain rises.
开幕以前的几句话
领班的坐在戏台上幔子前面，对着底下闹哄哄的市场，瞧了半晌，心里不觉悲惨起来。市场上的人有的在吃喝，有的在调情，有的得了新宠就丢了旧爱；有在笑的，也有在哭的，还有在抽烟的，打架的，跳舞的，拉提琴的，诓骗哄人的。有些是到处横行的强梁汉子；有些是对女人飞眼儿的花花公子，也有扒儿手和到处巡逻的警察，还有走江湖吃十方的，在自己摊子前面扯起嗓子嚷嚷（这些人偏和我同行，真该死！），跳舞的穿着浑身发亮的衣服，可怜的翻斤斗老头儿涂着两腮帮子胭脂，引得那些乡下佬睁着眼瞧，不提防后面就有三只手的家伙在掏他们的口袋。是了，这就是我们的名利场。这里虽然是个热闹去处，却是道德沦亡，说不上有什么快活。你瞧瞧戏子们丑角们下场以后的脸色——譬如那逗人发笑的傻小子汤姆回到后台洗净了脸上的油彩，准备和老婆儿子（一群小傻小子）坐下吃饭时候的形景，你就明白了。不久开场做戏，汤姆又会出来连连翻斤斗，嘴里叫唤着说：“您好哇？”
我想，凡是有思想的人在这种市场上观光，不但不怪人家兴致好，自己也会跟着乐。他不时的会碰上一两件事，或是幽默得逗人发笑，或是显得出人心忠厚的一面，使人感动。这儿有一个漂亮的孩子，眼巴巴的瞧着卖姜汁面包的摊儿；那儿有一个漂亮的姑娘，脸红红的听她的爱人说话，瞧他给自己挑礼物；再过去是可怜的小丑汤姆躲在货车后头带着一家老小啃骨头，这些老实人就靠他翻斤斗赚来的钱过活。可是话又说回来，大致的印象还是使人愁而不是逗人乐的。等你回到家里坐下来读书做事的时候，玩味着刚才所见的一切，就会冷静下来，对于别人的短处也不太苛责了。
我这本小说《名利场》就只有这么一点儿教训。有人认为市场上人口混杂，是个下流的地方，不但自己不去，连家眷和佣人也不准去。大概他们的看法是不错的。不过也有人生就懒散的脾气，或是仁慈的心肠，或是爱取笑讽刺的性格，他们看法不同一些，倒愿意在市场里消磨半个钟头，看看各种表演，像激烈的格斗，精采的骑术，上流社会的形形色色，普通人家生活的情形，专为多情的看客预备的恋爱场面，轻松滑稽的穿插等等。这场表演每一幕都有相称的布景，四面点着作者自己的蜡烛，满台照得雪亮。
领班的还有什么可说的呢？他带着戏班子在英国各大城市上演，多承各界惠顾，各报的编辑先生们也都有好评，又蒙各位大人先生提拔，真是不胜感激。他的傀儡戏被英国最高尚的人士所赏识，使他觉得面上很有光彩。那个叫蓓基的木偶人儿非常有名，大家一致称赞她的骨节特别的灵活，线一牵就活泼泼的手舞足蹈。那个叫爱米丽亚的洋娃娃虽然没有这么叫座，卖艺的倒也费了好些心血刻画她的面貌，设计她的服装。还有一个叫都宾的傀儡，看着笨手笨脚的，跳起舞来却很有趣，很自然。也有人爱看男孩子们跳的一场舞。请各位观众注意那“黑心的贵人”，他的眼饰非常华丽，我们筹备的时候真是不惜工本；这次表演完毕以后，它马上会给“魔鬼老爹”请去。领班的说到这儿，向各位主顾深深的打了一躬退到后台，接下去就开幕了。
'MISS JEMIMA!'
exclaimed Miss Pinkerton, in the largest capitals.
'Are you in your senses?
Replace the Dixonary in the closet, and never venture to take such a liberty in
future.'
平克顿小姐一字一顿的大声嚷道：“吉米玛小姐，你疯了吗？把字典仍旧搁在柜子里，以后不准这么自作主张！”
Although
schoolmistresses' letters are to be trusted no more nor less than
churchyard epitaphs; yet, as it sometimes happens that a person
departs this life who is really deserving of all the praises the
stone cutter carves over his bones; who IS a good Christian, a good
parent, child, wife, or husband; who actually DOES leave a
disconsolate family to mourn his loss; so in academies of the male
and female sex it occurs every now and then that the pupil is fully
worthy of the praises bestowed by the disinterested instructor.
Now, Miss Amelia Sedley was a young lady of this singular species;
and deserved not only all that Miss Pinkerton said in her praise,
but had many charming qualities which that pompous old Minerva of a
woman could not see, from the differences of rank and age between
her pupil and herself.
一般说来，校长的信和墓志铭一样靠不住。不过偶然也有几个死人当得起石匠刻在他们朽骨上的好话，真的是虔诚的教徒，慈爱的父母，孝顺的儿女，尽职的丈夫，贤良的妻子，他们家里的人也真的哀思绵绵的追悼他们。同样的，不论在男学校女学校，偶然也会有一两个学生当得起老师毫无私心的称赞。爱米丽亚·赛特笠小姐就是这种难能可贵的好人。平克顿小姐夸奖她的话，句句是真的。不但如此，她还有许多可爱的品质，不过这个自以为了不起的、像智慧女神一样的老婆子因为地位不同，年龄悬殊，看不出来罢了。
She was small and
slight in person; pale, sandy-haired, and with eyes
habitually cast down: when they
looked up they were very large, odd, and attractive; so attractive that the Reverend
Mr. Crisp, fresh from Oxford, and curate to the Vicar of Chiswick,
the Reverend Mr. Flowerdew, fell in love with Miss Sharp; being
shot dead by a glance of her eyes which was fired all the way across Chiswick Church
from the school-pew to
the reading-desk. This infatuated young man used sometimes
to take tea with Miss
Pinkerton, to whom he had been presented by his mamma, and actually proposed something
like marriage in an intercepted note, which the one-eyed apple-woman was charged to
deliver. Mrs. Crisp was
summoned from Buxton, and abruptly carried off her darling
boy; but the idea, even, of
such an eagle in the Chiswick dovecot caused a great flutter in the breast of Miss
Pinkerton, who would have sent away Miss Sharp but that she was bound to her under a
forfeit, and who never
could thoroughly believe the young lady's protestations that
she had never exchanged
a single word with Mr. Crisp, except under her own eyes on the two occasions when she had
met him at tea.
By the side of many
tall and bouncing young ladies in the establishment, Rebecca Sharp
looked like a child. But she had the dismal precocity of poverty.
Many a dun had she talked to, and turned away from her father's
door; many a tradesman had she coaxed and wheedled into good-humor,
and into the granting of one meal more. She sate commonly with her
father, who was very proud of her wit, and heard the talk of many
of his wild companions—often but ill-suited for a girl to hear. But
she never had been a girl, she said; she had been a woman since she
was eight years old. Oh, why did Miss Pinkerton let such a
dangerous bird into her cage?
她身量瘦小，脸色苍白，头发是淡黄色的。她惯常低眉垂目，抬起眼来看人的时候，眼睛显得很特别，不但大，而且动人。契息克的弗拉活丢牧师手下有一个副牧师，名叫克里斯泼，刚从牛津大学毕业，竟因此爱上了她。夏泼小姐的眼风穿过契息克教堂，从学校的包座直射到牧师的讲台上，一下子就把克里斯泼牧师结果了。这昏了头的小伙子曾经由他妈妈介绍给平克顿小姐，偶然也到她学校里去喝喝茶。他托那个独眼的卖苹果女人给他传递情书，被人发现，信里面的话简直等于向夏泼小姐求婚。克里斯泼太太得到消息，连忙从勃克里登赶来，立刻把她的宝贝儿子带走。平克顿小姐想到自己的鸽笼里藏了一只老鹰，不由得心慌意乱，若不是有约在先，真想把她赶走。那女孩子竭力辩白，说她只在平克顿小姐监视之下和克里泼斯先生在茶会上见过两面，从来没有跟他说过话。她虽然这么说，平克顿小姐仍旧将信将疑。
利蓓加·夏泼在学校里许多又高又大、跳跳蹦蹦的同学旁边，好像还没有长大成人。其实贫穷的生活已经使她养成阴沉沉的脾气，比同年的孩子懂事得多。她常常和逼债的人打交道，想法子打发他们回去。她有本领甜言蜜语的哄得那些做买卖的回心转意，再让她赊一顿饭吃。她爸爸见她机灵，十分得意，时常让她和自己一起坐着听他那些粗野的朋友聊天，可惜他们说的多半是姑娘们不该听的野话。她说自己从来没有做过孩子，从八岁起就是成年妇人了。唉！平克顿小姐为什么让这么凶恶的鸟儿住在她的笼子里呢？
