辛波斯卡《种种可能》
I prefer the oaks along the Warta.
I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.
I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.
that reason is to blame for everything.
I prefer talking to doctors about something else.
I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems.
I prefer, where love's concerned, nonspecific anniversaries
that can be celebrated every day.
I prefer cunning kindness to the over-trustful kind.
I prefer the earth in civvies.
I prefer conquered to conquering countries.
I prefer having some reservations.
I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
I prefer Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.
I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.
I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.
I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.
I prefer many things that I haven't mentioned here
to many things I've also left unsaid.
to those lined up behind a cipher.
I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.
I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.
I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility
that existence has its own reason for being.
辛波斯卡的诗，已经有几个中译本，其中有两三个还是直接从波兰语译出，但读来常令人感到差强人意。诗歌作为一种独特的文体，除了“诗关别才”外，还要求译者跟诗人能够“心有灵犀一点通”，因此对译者提出了更高的要求。所有翻译中，诗歌是最难译的，因为诗歌本身就是“语言的艺术”，一种语言的丰采和微妙，有时就体现在那么短短的几行诗中。世上已无戴望舒，世上亦少梁宗岱，现在我们要求于诗歌翻译者的，就是尽量准确、忠实地传达出原作的意思，对于“神采”的一面，能有当然好，不能有也不奢求。在物价、房价飞涨的时代，诗歌翻译是绝对“愚人”的行为，非真心爱诗者不会为之。在这时读到台湾诗人和翻译家陈黎、张芬龄翻译的《万物静默如谜：辛波斯卡诗选》（湖南文艺出版社，2012），真是如饮甘露。尽管有些许台式的文言句式显得滞重，而与辛波斯卡轻灵跳脱、举重若轻的风格略有不同，这个版本却是我所见中译本里最忠实于诗人自己的。辛波斯卡诗的几个英译本，都经过诗人自己和译者的商量和校对，可说是非常精湛。而且辛波斯卡的诗，是真正的“世界诗”——她的诗更重“洞见”的理性传达，而不是跟波兰语纠缠在一起的感性抒情——因而更带有普遍性，也更具有可译性。因此，尽管陈、张是从英文译出，我却觉得它超过了从波兰文译出的版本。译者的英语教授和诗人的双重身份，使他们有了跟辛波斯卡“通灵”的条件。就此而论，真是“诗无达译”啊。
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