雙語詩歌翻譯|列子-《古代寓言·歧路亡羊》

寓言是一種歷史悠久而生命力強(qiáng)大的古老文體，雖多形制短小，卻有豐厚的內(nèi)涵。中國古代寓言大多數(shù)以人物故事為載體，說理深刻透辟，包含許多人生智慧。中國先秦時(shí)期寓言創(chuàng)作最為興盛，不少寓言作者是世界一流的思想家?！肚f子》、《列子》中的寓言，想象飛馳，語言富麗，表現(xiàn)了道家重道、貴虛、齊物、逍遙的思想；《韓非子》中的寓言，文字簡潔準(zhǔn)確，表現(xiàn)了法家因時(shí)變法、嚴(yán)刑峻法的主張；《戰(zhàn)國策》中的寓言，手法鋪張，氣勢宏偉，針對外交、內(nèi)政、軍事方面的大事，隨機(jī)應(yīng)變，往往能夠收到化險(xiǎn)為夷的效果?！洞笾腥A文庫·中國古代寓言選(漢英對照)》從這些先秦著名典籍中編選了許多寓言，同時(shí)還收錄了后世其他寓言佳作，共選取121篇作品。它們流傳廣，飽含智慧，對文學(xué)創(chuàng)作和語言的發(fā)展影響很大。《大中華文庫·中國古代寓言選(漢英對照)》英譯者為著名文學(xué)翻譯家楊憲益、戴乃迭先生。歧路：岔路；亡：丟失，失去。字面意義是因岔路太多無法追尋而丟失了羊，現(xiàn)比喻事物復(fù)雜多變，沒有一個(gè)固定目標(biāo)就會迷失方向，無所適從。

《古代寓言·歧路亡羊》

楊子之鄰人亡羊。既率其黨，又請楊子之豎追之。
楊子曰："咦！亡一羊，何追之者眾？"
鄰人曰："多歧路。"
既反，問："獲羊乎？"曰："亡之矣。"曰："奚亡之？"曰："歧路之中又有歧焉。吾不知所之，所以反也。"
楊子戚然變?nèi)?，不言者移時(shí)，不笑者竟日。
門人怪之，請?jiān)唬?quot;羊賤畜，又非夫子之有， 而損言笑者何哉？"
楊子不答。門人不獲所命。弟子孟孫陽出，以告心都子。
心都子曰："大道以多歧亡羊，學(xué)者以多方喪生。非本不同，非本不一，而末異若是。唯歸同反一，為亡得喪。子長先生之門，習(xí) 先生之道，而不達(dá)先生之況也，哀哉！
——《列子》

Too Many Paths
One of Yang Zi's neighbours, who lost a sheep, sent all his men out to find it, and asked Yang Zi's servant to join in the search.
"What!" exclaimed Yang Zi. "Do you need all those men to find one sheep?"
"There are so many paths it may have taken," the neighbor explained. When his servant returned, Yang Zi asked him: "Well, did you find the sheep?"
He answered that they had not. Then Yang Zi asked how they had failed to find it.
"There are too many paths," replied the servant. "One path leads to another, and we didn't know which to take, so we had had to come back."
At that Yang Zi looked very thoughtful. He was silent for a long time, and did not smile all day.
His pupils were surprised.
"A sheep is a trifle," they said, "and this wasn't even yours. Why should you stop talking and smiling?"
Yang Zi did not answer, and his pupils were puzzled. One of them, Mengsheng Yang, went out to describe what had happened to Xindou Zi.
"When there are too many paths," said Xindou Zi, "a man cannot find his sheep. When a student has too many interests, he fritters away his time. The source of all knowledge is one, but the branches of learning are many. Only by returning to the primal truth can a man avoid losing his way. You are Yang Zi's pupil and study from him, yet you seem to have failed completely to understand him."
Lie Zi