论毛泽东诗词翻译中意象的传达

敌军围困万千重，
我自岿然不动。（《西江月•井冈山》）
Though enemies encircle us in a ring after ring,
Nothing can leave us stirred. （Tr. Gu Zhengkun）
Surrounded ring upon ring by the foe,
Aloft we still stand fast. （Tr. Xu Yuanzhong）[9]
Here, the image of “thousands of rings” is just an abstract concept. The poet used vague numeral to indicate the situation that the Red Army was surrounded by a large number of enemies. Therefore, the two translators translate it into “a ring after ring” and “ring upon ring”, which expresses the heroic spirit of the Red Army for they are not afraid of the strong enemies. Furthermore, it can expand readers’ imaginary space, leave people in infinite association and impress readers a lot.
4. 3 Creativeness
The translation of poetry is not like measuring the area of a house with a compass by someone, yet it is more like reprising a dulcet movement with different music instrument. So translators should understand the superficial meaning of the poetry and comprehend its delicate connotations as well. An excellent translator must be a good creator as well. He is good at grasping the poet’s rich emotion implied in images of the poetry and transmitting the original beauty in images as much as possible by novel and proper creation. Sometimes, beauty in images may come from historical associations, then it will be lost in translation. But the loss can be made up for by poetic diction or other skills, according to the standard of creativeness. For instance, we find in Shakespeare’s Macbeth the following verse:

(1) New sorrows strike heaven on the face.
In translating Against the first Encirclement Campain we may use the verb as follows:
(2) The wrath of godlike warriors strikes the sky overhead.
Not only words but also phrases may be borrowed. For instance, in Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind and To a Skylark we find the following:

(3) O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
(4) In the golden lightning,
Of the sunken sun.
We may use these phrases in translating The Pass of Mount Lou:
(5) What wild west wind!
(6) The mountains are sea–blue,
The sunken sun blood–red.
Read the following couplet in The Long March:

        (7) The five serpentine Ridges outspread like rippling rills;
           The pompous Wumeng peaks tower but like Mole–hills. [4]
After the translator’s novel and proper creation, “serpentine” is not only faithful but also beautiful, as picturesque as the original; “rippling rills” makes us see the shape of the Ridges and hear the ripples by the use of alliteration and assonance. Here, “pompous” resembles the original not only in image but also in sound though it is not used to describe hills; “mole–hills” is not so faithful as “mud pills” but it is far more beautiful in images and better matched with “rills”.转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net