華章英韻 | 春日 ║總第1期
書法：蔡鐵勇；篆刻：黃金珠
中國古諺有云：“一年之計在于春”，在這萬物生發(fā)的季節(jié)，我們滿懷欣喜地向各位親愛的讀者推出古詩英譯欄目“華章英韻”第一期，隆重邀請河北師范大學李正栓教授帶領(lǐng)我們一起欣賞《春日》中“萬紫千紅”的春光，并體味作者在字里行間隱含的“求賢慕圣”之情。
As the old Chinese saying goes, "The work for the year is best begun in spring." In this season of new beginnings, we are thrilled to introduce to you, dear readers, a new poetry translation column — Chinese Verse in English Rhyme. We feel greatly honored that Professor Li Zhengshuan accepted our invitation to translate "Spring Day" by Zhu Xi for the first issue. He will guide us to relish the myriad colors of a spring day and perceive between the lines the poet’s thirst for sages.
春日
[宋] 朱熹
勝日尋芳泗水濱，
無邊光景一時新。
等閑識得東風面，
萬紫千紅總是春。
Spring Day
Zhu Xi (The Song Dynasty)
Translated by Li Zhengshuan
Go and seek the sweet ①by Si River on a fine day;
Boundless scenes are in sight, so new and so gay;
Even the commons know the vernal east breeze,
All are dyed into myriad colors on each spring day.
Note: both fragrant grasses, flowers and the sage like Confucius.
The Translator's Remarks
朱熹（1130-1200）乃宋朝著名理學家、思想家、哲學家、教育家和詩人，閩學派代表人物，儒學集大成者，頗受世人尊重。一生著述甚多，如《四書章句集注》《太極圖說解》《通書解說》《周易讀本》《楚辭集注》等。其中《四書章句集注》成為欽定的教科書和科舉考試的標準。其理學思想對元、明、清三朝影響很大，成為三朝的官方哲學，是中國教育史上繼孔子后的又一大家。
《春日》借想象之景，抒求賢之情。表面寫春日郊游所見，實際寫求圣若渴之心情，表達亂世之中求賢慕圣之愿望。此詩巧借雙關(guān)，哲理深刻，值得世代稱頌。
《春日》大意是：春日風光無限，郊游踏青尋歡，泗水之濱晴空萬里，芳草連天，花海迎風，春意盎然。誰人不識春天面？誰人不沐和煦風？春光中，百花盛開，姹紫嫣紅。春天啊，到處是春天。字里行間之意：若得圣賢今在世，無時無處不春天。
其實，當時宋都南遷至臨安，山東泗水已被金人控制。朱熹并未到泗水，泗水為什么會成為核心意象？原來泗水曾是孔子講學之地。此詩難在對雙關(guān)進行翻譯。“芳”暗指圣人之道。詩人首行便指示人們該如何行為。譯文中用了祈使句，沒有任何人稱代詞，不是我你他，而是大家。譯詩押韻aaba,試與原文和韻。
Zhu Xi (1130-1200) was a celebrated and much-respected Neo-Confucianist, thinker, philosopher, educator and poet, representative figure of the Fujian school of thought and synthesizer of Confucianism. He wrote a lot of works such as Commentary on Sentences and Phrases in the Four Books, Illustrations on the Diagram of the Universe, Explanation of Almanacs, Readings in the Book of Changes, Commentary on Songs of Chu, etc. Commentary on Sentences and Phrases in the Four Books had been the authorized textbook and the criterion of imperial examination. His Neo-Confucianist ideas exerted a great influence on the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. It was the official philosophy of the three dynasties and he became another great master after Confucius.
“Spring Day” expresses the wishes to seek the sage by describing imaginary scenes. On the surface, it describes what is seen on a spring excursion, but actually it expresses the poet’s thirst for the sage like Confucius and his fervent wishes to seek sages and worthies in the midst of the troubled world. This profoundly philosophical poem uses a not-easily-noticed pun and is worth extolling generation after generation.
The gist of the poem is as follows. On a spring day, the scenery is spectacular and people go outing merrily. By the Si River, it is a cloudless day full of spring air, the grass stretching far and flowers fluttering in the soft wind. Who can fail to recognize spring? Who can elude the bathing in genial breeze? In this springtide, all flowers bloom, presenting a myriad of colors. Spring, oh, the spring is everywhere. Between the lines one can perceive this idea: If the past sage were alive, it would be spring everywhere in every second.
Actually, at that time, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty had been settled in Lin'an in the south. The Si River in Shandong was occupied by soldiers of the Jin Dynasty. Zhu Xi had not been to the Si River. Then why does the Si River become the core image? It proves that Confucius once taught his disciples there. The difficulty of translating this poem is the pun. The word "芳" means the way that sages guide people. The first line of the poem teaches people how to behave. So in the translation the translator uses an imperative sentence, referring not to him, you or me, but to all people. The rhyme scheme is aaba, with a hope to correspond to the rhyme scheme in the source text.
李正栓，河北師范大學教授、北京大學文學博士、英國斯特靈大學榮譽博士、英國文學教授、博士生導(dǎo)師。校學術(shù)帶頭人、省中青年骨干教師、省高校教學名師、省社會科學優(yōu)秀青年專家、省中青年社科專家五十人工程人員、省有突出貢獻的中青年專家。曾十一次獲省優(yōu)秀科研成果獎、六次獲省優(yōu)秀教學成果獎。
講授英美詩歌欣賞、英國文藝復(fù)興時期詩歌、英詩格律、典籍英譯、歐洲文化、英文歌曲欣賞等課程，主持國家精品課程、國家精品資源共享課程、國家在線開放課程《英美詩歌欣賞》；中國英語詩歌研究會副會長、中國英漢語比較研究會典籍英譯專業(yè)委員會常務(wù)副會長兼秘書長、河北省翻譯學會會長。
Li Zhengshuan, professor of Hebei Normal University, PhD of Peking University, Honorary Doctor of University of Stirling in the UK, is Professor of English literature, PhD supervisor, one of the academic leading scholars in his university, one of the core teachers in his province, one of the top teachers of his province, one of the outstanding young and middle-aged experts in social science in his province, one of the members of the “50 Young and Middle-aged Experts Project” of his province, a young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contribution to his province. He got provincial-level awards for excellent social-science research 11 times and provincial-level awards for excellent teaching 6 times.
He teaches such courses as "Appreciation of English and American Poetry", "British Renaissance Poetry", "English Prosody", "Translation of Chinese Classics into English", "European Culture", and "Appreciation of English Songs". He presides over "Appreciation of English and American Poetry", a national superior course, national quality resource-sharing course and massive online open course. He is vice chair of China English Poetry Research Association, standing Vice Chair and Secretary General of specialized committee in China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese (CACSEC), Chair of Hebei Translation Society.
總策劃：周占林 宛城臥龍