17.关于翻译，关于译者，关于热爱
最近有一档节目很受欢迎，也有很好的口碑－－朗读者。
第一期里有一位嘉宾让我对他充满了敬佩，也感动于他对翻译，对生活的态度。他就是许渊冲老先生。喜欢他如诗如歌一样的译文，喜欢他96岁却依然对做了一辈子的翻译工作的那种热爱，喜欢老先生内心依然年轻的纯真。
看了这期节目，听许老先生朗读徐志摩的诗句，听他念他翻译的“静夜思”。又想起学生时代的自己，曾经有过一段短暂的翻译经历，那时候翻译对于我来说，就是一份兼职。现在想来，汗颜于自己当时的稚嫩。
虽然我现在的翻译水平依然稚嫩，但许老先生的热情也点燃了我心里那簇小小的火苗，很想再试一试翻译，用我的理解翻译我很喜欢的“小王子”，再把这个故事读给我的女儿听。
我想，只要喜爱，任何事情任何时候再开始，就都不晚。
Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
在我六岁的时候，曾经在一本书里看到一副精美的插画，这是一本关于原始森林的书，叫做《真实的故事》。这幅图画的是一条蟒蛇正在吞食一只大野兽。下面是那幅画的副本：
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
书里这样写道：“大蟒蛇会不加咀嚼的整只吞下猎物，然后它就不能动弹了。它会用整整六个月的冬眠时间来消化这只大野兽。
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:
那个时候，我对丛林探险有过很多思考和想象。于是，我用彩色铅笔画出了我的第一副画。我的一号画作长这样：
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.
我给大人们看我的杰作，问他们有没有被这幅画吓到。
But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"
但是，他们回答说：“害怕？为什么要怕一顶帽子？”
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:
我画的不是一顶帽子，是一只大蟒蛇正在消化一只大象。既然大人们都看不懂它，那我再画一副：我画了大蟒蛇的肚子里面，这样大人们就可以看的很清楚了。他们总是需要解释。我的第二号画作是这样的：
The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
这一次，大人们看了画以后建议我把画画放到一边去，无论是画大蟒蛇的肚子里面还是肚子外面，把时间多花在地理、历史、数学和语文这些学科上。于是，我在六岁那年放弃了当画家这个伟大的职业理想。一号和二号这两幅失败的画作让我灰心丧气。大人们靠他们自己什么也弄不懂，总是要小孩来给他们解释，这让孩子们觉得很无聊。
So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.
后来，我选择了另一份职业，我学会了开飞机。我几乎飞遍了全世界；地理知识确实帮了我不少忙，我看一眼，就能分辨出中国和亚利桑那州。如果有人在夜晚迷失航向，这些知识是非常有用的。
In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.
在我的一生中，我接触过很多严肃认真的人。我在大人们中间生活了很长一段时间，我仔细观察过他们，但这并没有改变我对他们的看法。
Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:
无论何时，当我遇到任何一个看上去似乎有清醒头脑的大人，我都给他看我保存的画作一号来测试他。我试图找到一个能真正理解它的人。但是，无论是谁，答案总是：
"That is a hat."
“这是一顶帽子。”
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.
然后我就不再跟这个人谈论大蟒蛇、原始森林或者星星之类的故事。我会迁就他的水平，谈论一些桥牌、高尔夫、政治和领带的话题。于是，大人们就很高兴遇到了这样一个通情达理的人。
谨以此段稚嫩但真诚的翻译，致敬许老先生，致敬翻译工作者！
也以此段“小王子”的故事作为一个重拾翻译乐趣的开始～！
