“自古漂沉人 岂尽非君子”——白居易诗《初入峡有感》英译赏析
上有万仞山，下有千丈水。
苍苍两岸间，阔狭容一苇。
瞿唐呀直泻，滟滪屹中峙。
未夜黑岩昏，无风白浪起。
大石如刀剑，小石如牙齿。
一步不可行，况千三百里。
苒箬竹蔑稔，欹危楫师趾。
一跌无完舟，吾生系于此。
常闻仗忠信，蛮貊可行矣。
自古漂沉人，岂尽非君子。
况吾时与命，蹇舛不足恃。
常恐不才身，复作无名死。
以下英文译文来自Arthur Waley阿瑟韦利的A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems
ALARM AT FIRST ENTERING THE YANG-TZE GORGES
Written in 818, when he was being towed up the rapids to Chung-chou.
Above, a mountain ten thousand feet high:
Below, a river a thousand fathoms deep.
上有万仞山，下有千丈水。
A strip of green, walled by cliffs of stone:
Wide enough for the passage of a single reed.[82]
苍苍两岸间，阔狭容一苇。
At Chü-t’ang a straight cleft yawns:
At Yen-yü islands block the stream.
瞿唐呀直泻，滟滪屹中峙。
Long before night the walls are black with dusk;
Without wind white waves rise.
未夜黑岩昏，无风白浪起。
The big rocks are like a flat sword:
The little rocks resemble ivory tusks.
大石如刀剑，小石如牙齿。
We are stuck fast and cannot move a step.
How much the less, three hundred miles?[83]
一步不可行，况千三百里。[83] The distance to Chung-chou.
Frail and slender, the twisted-bamboo rope:
Weak, the dangerous hold of the towers’ feet.
苒箬竹蔑稔，欹危楫师趾。
A single slip—the whole convoy lost:
And my life hangs on this thread!
一跌无完舟，吾生系于此。
I have heard a saying “He that has an upright heart
Shall walk scathless through the lands of Man and Mo.”[84]
常闻仗忠信，蛮貊可行矣。[84] Dangerous savages.
How can I believe that since the world began
In every shipwreck none have drowned but rogues?
自古漂沉人，岂尽非君子
And how can I, born in evil days[85]
And fresh from failure,[86] ask a kindness of Fate?
况吾时与命，蹇舛不足恃。[85] Of civil war. [86] Alluding to his renewed banishment
Often I fear that these un-talented limbs
Will be laid at last in an un-named grave!
常恐不才身，复作无名死。