作者:王曉輝
金庸的武俠小說,多是以連載的形式先在報(bào)刊上發(fā)表,最后才集結(jié)成書,問世以來,長盛不衰。據(jù)說他的小說銷售量達(dá)3億冊,如果算上盜版,可能會(huì)達(dá)到10億冊。就影響力來說,真找不到第二個(gè)作家能與金庸比肩。波士頓大學(xué)教授Peter Liu在就《射雕英雄傳》英譯本出版接受NPR采訪時(shí)這樣評價(jià)金庸:
“It is difficult to overestimate (Jin Yong's) cultural influence. He turns novels into an encyclopedia of Chinese history, medicine, geography, mathematics...”
的確,金庸的作品之所以能引人入勝,吸引幾代讀者, 不僅僅因?yàn)樗南胂罅?、幽默感,還因?yàn)樗淖髌繁旧砭褪且徊恐袊幕陌倏迫珪?。出人意表的情?jié),匪夷所思的武功,無不讓人拍案叫絕,欲罷不能,就連酒菜果品,也被他寫得活色生香,令人食指大動(dòng)。
《射雕英雄傳》第七回,郭靖遇見了扮作小叫化的黃蓉,邀請她一起吃飯。郭靖只道牛肉和羊肝便是天下最好的美味,哪知道眼前這個(gè)小叫化竟然是個(gè)美食家!
那少年道:“……先來四干果、四鮮果、兩咸酸、四蜜餞。這種窮地方的小酒店,好的東西諒你也弄不出,就這樣吧,干果四樣是荔枝、桂圓、蒸棗、銀杏。鮮果你揀時(shí)鮮的。咸酸要砌香櫻桃和姜絲梅兒,不知這兒買不買到?蜜餞嘛?就是玫瑰金橘、香藥葡萄、糖霜桃條、梨肉好郎君?!钡晷《犓f得十分在行,不由得收起小覷之心。那少年又道:“下酒菜這里沒有新鮮魚蝦,就來八個(gè)馬馬虎虎的酒菜吧?!钡晷《柕溃骸盃攤儛鄢允裁??”少年道:“唉,不說清楚定是不成。八個(gè)酒菜是花炊鵪子、炒鴨掌、雞舌羹、鹿肚釀江瑤、鴛鴦煎牛筋、菊花兔絲、爆獐腿、姜醋金銀蹄子……”
Anna Holmwood的譯文:
"First we will eat some fruit and nuts, four dried, four fresh, two sour-salted and four preserved in honey. ...we'll have to make do with dried lychees, longans, steamed jujube and ginkgo nuts. As for the fresh, give us whatever's in season. And we want sliced, perfumed sour cherries and sour plums with ginger. Can you get them here? And the honeyed? Hmm. Rose-scented kumquats, grapes, sugar-coated peach and some pear, done in the style of Lord my Master."
The waiter was impressed and no longer haughty with the boy.
"I take it you don't have any fresh fish or seafood to have with our wine," the young man continued. "So we will have to be content with eight dishes of whatever you've got."
"What do you sirs like in particular?"
"Of course, they need to be explained down to the last detail," the boy sighed. "Petal-dressed quail, fried duck feet, chicken tongue soup, drunk deer tripe, pan-fried beef done in two ways, rabbit slivers in chrysanthemum, flame-cooked venison and ...pig's trotter in ginger vinegar."
這一大串果品菜肴,可真夠譯者受的。英語里菜名,往往只說明原料即可,如Fish & Chips,Tomato Soup,Shrimp Salad……,中國的菜譜則復(fù)雜多了,色、香、味、料、器、型,包括做法和人文掌故,往往都要體現(xiàn)在菜名中。煎炒烹炸煸,煨燉蒸煮涮,能說明白嗎?東坡肘子,聽起來很有文化,其實(shí)就是豬肘子;西施舌讓個(gè)別人浮想聯(lián)翩,不過是海邊生長的一種貝類;豬八戒踢足球更是挑戰(zhàn)食客的想象力,端上來一看才知道,原來是兩瓣豬蹄子夾一個(gè)雞蛋……
Anna Holmwood能夠把這么復(fù)雜的菜名比較清楚地呈現(xiàn)給讀者,實(shí)屬不易。有一個(gè)地方值得我們花點(diǎn)時(shí)間探討一下。四蜜餞里的“梨肉好郎君”到底是什么?史書記載南宋大臣張俊為宋高宗安排了一場豪華宴會(huì),流傳下來的菜譜中就有“荔枝好郎君”和上面提到的“砌香櫻桃”、“蒸棗”和“花炊鵪子”。因?yàn)椤渡涞瘛饭适卤尘笆悄纤?,我猜測金庸先生是為了更貼近真實(shí)而參考了這些史料,借用了菜名。如果真是這樣,說明金庸創(chuàng)作態(tài)度認(rèn)真,譽(yù)滿天下,絕非浪得虛名。不過,金庸是大學(xué)問家兼美食家,這些原本就是他心里的菜,隨手寫出,也未可知,就輪不到我在這里瞎操心了。
“荔枝好郎君”是福建一帶傳統(tǒng)小食品,是女婿看望丈母娘常帶的禮物,故有“好郎君”之說。不論是什么“好郎君”,都是給翻譯出了一個(gè)大難題。英文翻譯成“pear, done in the style of Lord my Master”還是不妥。這樣翻譯,字面的意思就是“按照我老公的風(fēng)味腌制的梨肉果脯”,這老公的口味也太重了吧?
說了半天,“梨肉好郎君”到底應(yīng)該怎么譯呢?說真話,我也不知道。問了幾個(gè)朋友,大家七嘴八舌,莫衷一是。要不然,譯成“preserved pear, gift from ideal son-in-law”,各位看官以為如何?
另外,“炒鴨掌”還是翻譯成“fried duck web”為好,鴨子腳就是蹼。
這一段關(guān)于菜肴的描寫還不是最玄乎的。到了小說的第十二回亢龍有悔,九指神丐洪七公出場。黃蓉為了哄洪七公開心,傳授降龍十八掌給郭靖,給他做了近乎傳說的菜:“好逑湯”、“玉笛誰家聽落梅”、“二十四橋明月夜”。英譯本的第二卷還沒有出,不知Anna Holmwood將如何應(yīng)對。