1808 年，苏州人沈复(1763-1832)有感于 “事如春梦了无痕”，创作了自传体散文集——《浮生六记》，以朴素的语言，记叙了自己大半生的经历，被红学家俞平伯评价为 “虽有雕琢一样的完美，却不见一点斧凿痕。犹之佳山佳水，明明是天开的图画，然仿佛处处吻合人工的意匠”。
林语堂 “素好《浮生六记》，发愿译成英文，使世人略知中国一对夫妇之恬淡可爱生活”。大约 1936 年，林语堂出版了《浮生六记》的英译版，Six Chapters of A Floating Life。
2011年，加拿大人格雷厄姆·桑德斯(Graham Sanders，出生年月不详)也出版了英译本，Six Records of A Life Adrift。
《浮生六记》名为 “六记”，实传世四卷，《闺房记乐》、《闲情记趣》、《坎坷记愁》和《浪游快记》。今天，我们来看看沈复的文章和林语堂、桑德斯的翻译。
闺房记乐
沈复说妻子陈芸，“削肩长项，瘦不露骨，眉弯目秀，顾盼神飞”，可惜呢，有点小龅牙——“唯两齿微露”。沈复外出读书，过了三个月，感觉十年之久。
沈复委屈地说，我给芸写信，她的回信啊，
……中多勉励词，余皆浮套语，心殊怏怏。每当风生竹院，月上蕉窗，对景怀人，梦魂颠倒。
These letters contained only words of exhortation and the rest was filled with airy, conventional nothings, and I felt very unhappy. Whenever the breeze blew past my bamboo courtyard, or the moon shone upon my window behind the green banana leaves, I thought of her and was carried away into a region of dreams.
——林语堂
They were mostly words of encouragement with polite civilities filling out the rest. Every time I heard the breeze in the bamboo outside or saw the moon rising through the plantain leaves in the window, she would be called to my mind until my very dreams and soul were shaken.
——桑德斯
“月上蕉窗” 的 “蕉”，林语堂用的是香蕉banana，桑德斯用的是芭蕉 plantain。
沈复当时在绍兴读书，香蕉在中国主要分布于海南、广东等地，浙江并非产地，所以用banana 不妥。在中国古典文学中，蕉一般指芭蕉，是一个愁苦的意象。李清照有词，“窗前谁种芭蕉树，阴满中庭。阴满中庭。叶叶心心，舒卷有余清”。桑德斯用 plantain 字面意思倒是对了，就是少了个注释，没能将深层文化含义传达出来。
沈复对芸说，可惜啊，你是个女的，苟能化女为男，相与访名山，搜胜迹，遨游天下，不亦快哉。芸说，这辈子是不能了，希望下辈子可以。沈复说，下辈子你做男的，我做女的，咱俩还做夫妻。
远方虽然去不了，家乡的风景也不错。他俩赏太湖，观明月，聊聊天，话题从吃喝拉撒到琴棋书画。
沈复(字三白)：李太白是知己，白乐天是启蒙师，余适字三白，为卿婿，卿与 “白” 字何其有缘耶?
芸笑曰：白字有缘，将来恐白字连篇耳 (吴音呼别字为白字)。
“Li Po is your bosom friend, Po Chuyi is your first tutor and your husband's literary name is Sanpo. It seems that your life is always bound up with the Po's.”
"It is all right," Yun smiled and replied. "To have one's life bound up with the Po's, only I am afraid I shall be writing Po characters all my life." (For in Soochow we call misspelt words "po characters.")
——林语堂
“Li Bai speaks to your heart, Bai Juyi is your first teacher, and I-with the courtesy name of San-bai—am your husband. Are you fated to have some sort of connection with the word bai [white]?”
“If I do have a connection to the word bai, I’m afraid it might mean that I will leave many white spots in my compositions!” In our regional Wu dialect we called incorrectly written characters, “white characters.”
——桑德斯
原文中，李太白、白乐天、三白的 “白”，与白字的 “白”，是一个字，林语堂全部用 po，很好的表达了沈复字同意不同的幽默。桑德斯前面用拼音 bai，括号注释 bai 的意思是white，也并无不妥，只是想请问桑德斯，white spot 是什么意思?我只知道皮肤上长白斑(white spot)。
《浮生六记》中有一些民俗的东西，很难翻译。
吾父稼夫公喜认义子，以故余异姓弟兄有二十六人。吾母亦有义女九人……
My father Chiafu was very fond of adopting children; hence I had 26 adopted brothers. My mother, too, had nine adopted daughters.
——林语堂
My father, Jiafu, was fond of taking on protégés, so I actually have twenty-six older and younger “brothers” with surnames different from my own. My mother also took on nine sworn “daughters”.
——桑德斯
干儿子，英语怎么说?林语堂提供了adopted brothers，这个 “养子” 的含义，好像不大对。桑德斯的 protégé，更多的表示 “门生”，似也不合适，sworn “daughter” 倒是感觉靠谱，而且桑德斯很细心，brothers 和daughters 都打了双引号，表示不是真的兄弟姐妹。“异姓弟兄”，桑德斯译成 older and younger “brothers” with surnames different from my own，完全对照原文。
桑德斯翻译《浮生六记》，目的是让西方读者毫无障碍的读懂这本中国名著，所以他充分尊重原文，完全直译，并提供了大量注释和附录，比如沈复书中提到的历史人物、沈复生平年表、沈复家谱、沈复足迹等。一位外国朋友，如此严谨认真地对待一本中国小书，让人感动。
闲情记趣
《闲情记趣》的开篇，我们都很熟悉。
余忆童稚时，能张目对日，明察秋毫。见藐小微物;必细察其纹理，故时有物外之趣。一日，见二虫斗草间，观之正浓……
长大后，读《浮生六记》原文，发现课本里有删节，白话意思大概是，成人后回想儿时，两个虫子打架，大概是一个想强暴另一个但是遭到抵抗。
还有一段，沈复真是直白又可爱。
贪此生涯，卵为蚯蚓所哈(吴俗称阳曰卵)，肿不能便……
翻译一下，就是沈复小朋友的小鸡鸡被蚯蚓咬了，肿了，不能上厕所。
桑德斯翻译的时候，认真地加了注释，
Earthworms neither bite nor breathe, so it is unclear what actually happened to Shen Fu as he was crouching down in the garden—he may have been bitten by a venomous centipede.
(蚯蚓不咬人，也不能哈气，所以不清楚沈复怎么了。他趴在花园里，有可能被蜈蚣咬了。)
芸虽一介女流，却具男子襟怀。朋友来了，怎能没好酒?芸默默取下发钗，拿去换酒。沈复夫妇曾借宿朋友家的萧爽楼，虽寄人篱下，却豪情不改。
萧爽楼有四忌：谈官宦升迁、公廨时事、八股时文、看牌掷色，有犯必罚酒五斤。有四取：慷慨豪爽、风流蕴藉、落拓不羁、澄静缄默。
Among the friends at Hsiaoshuanglou, four things were tabooed: firstly, talking about people's official promotions; secondly, gossiping about law-suits and current affairs; thirdly, discussing the conventional eight-legged essays for the imperial examinations; and fourthly, playing cards and dice. Whoever broke any of these rules was penalized to provide five catties of wine. On the other hand, there were four things which we call approved: Generosity, romantic charm, free and easy ways, and quietness.
——林语堂
There were four forbidden activities in the Tower of Tranquility: discussing promotions, doing office work, composing examination essays, and gambling with cards or dice. Anyone who broke these rules was fined six pints of wine. We also had four worthy attainments: heroic magnanimity, tasteful refinement, untrammeled freedom, and peaceful tranquility.
——桑德斯
八股文，林语堂翻成 the conventional eight-legged essays for the imperial examinations，意思很全面，也解释了八股是什么，虽然 eight-legged essays，读来好像 “八腿文章”，不过维基百科中，八股文就是 eight-legged essays。“罚酒五斤” 这个 “斤”，林语堂翻成 catty，桑德斯直接西化成 pint。
坎坷记愁
这一卷的开篇，即点名了中心思想。
人生坎坷何为乎来哉?往往皆自作孽耳。
Why is it that there are sorrows and hardships in this life? Usually they are due to one's own fault.
——林语堂
Why must hardship come to us in life? Often we are the authors of our own misfortunes.
——桑德斯
如果让我翻，no zuo no die。
这一卷还晓谕读者，
处家人情，非钱不可。
To run a family and mix socially, money is the first essential.
——林语堂
Without cash one soon ends both house and home in decline.
——桑德斯
1803 年，芸缠绵病榻之际，对沈复说，
知己如君，得婿如此，妾已此生无憾!
I am happy to die with a husband and understanding friend like you and I have no regrets.
——林语堂
The way you truly understand me-to have had someone like this for a husband means that I can leave this life without regrets!
——桑德斯
芸死后，沈复感叹，“孤灯一盏，举目无亲，两手空拳，寸心欲碎。绵绵此恨，曷其有极!” 没过多久，沈复的朋友，送给沈复一妾，“……重入春梦。从此扰扰攘攘，又不知梦醒何时耳”。
浪游记快
有一次，朋友请客喝花酒，让沈复挑姑娘。沈复挑了个年纪小的，叫喜儿，身材样貌像老婆芸娘。夜深了，沈复怕不能控制自己，坚持要回去，因为城门已锁，没回得成，于是就和喜儿去看月亮。
一轮明月，水阔天空
A full moon was shining from a clear sky on the wide expanse of water.
——林语堂
Beneath the glowing wheel of a full moon the broad waters stretched to open skies.
——桑德斯
The glowing wheel of a full moon，桑德斯一定很喜欢 “小时不识月，呼作白玉盘”。
月色撩人，美人相伴，沈复心想，可惜啊，老婆芸娘不能同游，于是沈复回顾喜儿，月下依稀相似，因挽之下台，息烛而卧。
沈复还讲述了 “跳槽” 一词的含义。
一夕之欢，番银四圆而已。秀峰今翠明红，俗谓之跳槽……
This cost us only four dollars a night. Hsiufeng used to go from one girl to another, or "jump the trough," in the sing-song slang.
——林语堂
One night of bliss would only cost us four coins of foreign silver. Xiufeng would be with one girl one night and a different one the next, which was known as “jumping troughs”.
——桑德斯
番银，外国流入中国的钱。林语堂翻译成dollars，桑德斯则忠实地译成 “外国银子的硬币”。
沈复看到表妹婿徐秀峰，朝三暮四，不以为然，他颇为骄傲地说，自己都是只找喜儿这个姑娘，“不令唱歌，不强多饮，温存体恤……邻妓皆羡之”，而且没有一个姑娘不认识沈复，大家都争先恐后跟沈复打招呼，沈复左顾右盼，应接不暇，这可是万金买不来的无上荣光。
林语堂说，在沈复夫妻面前，我们的心气也谦和了，不是对伟大者，是对卑弱者，起谦恭畏敬，因为我相信淳朴恬淡自甘的生活，如芸所说，布衣菜饭，可乐终身，是宇宙间最美丽的东西。
读者诸君，不妨读读《浮生六记》，虽然沈复一边和陈芸伉俪情深，一边找花姑娘。
参考资料
Six Chapters of a Life Adrift，Graham Sanders, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2011;
《浮生六记》汉英对照绘图本，林语堂译，外语教学与研究出版社，1999;
《大中华文库：汉英对照浮生六记》，白伦、江素惠译，依琳出版社，2006;
《浮生六记》百年研究述评;
人生态度取向与翻译的选择及策略——谈林语堂 《浮生六记》 的翻译;
写实、 传奇与雅致——论《浮生六记》的个性化抒写与文体交融;
国内《浮生六记》英译研究：评述与建议;
想象可以休矣：论《浮生六记·童趣》文化关键词的英译;
顺应论视域下《浮生六记》英译本的对比研究等
—End—
天道教育，学到的不仅仅是考试!
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