凡是遇到不顺心的事,或表示厌烦、不满、困惑想发牢骚时,人们动不动就是“shit”。正因为该词可用来表示多种复杂的心态和情绪,在译成汉语时译者就得多一个心眼,不能把目光停留在英汉词典所列举的那么几个有限的选择上,而应根据上下文和其表达的不同含义,在汉语里挑选感情色彩相应或相当的同语加以表达。
请看下面的例句:
1. The telephone rang.
“Shit,”Dale said.
The phone kept running.
“Don't answer it”, she whispered.
“It might be Joanna,”I said.
“No. It's your fucking friend Bloom,”she said. "It was myfucking friendBloom.”
恋人独处时当然希望清静,不愿外界打扰。对话双方正是一对热恋中的情侣。电话铃声大作时两人正在上演作爱前奏,怪不得女方口出租言。“shit”一词的脱口而出恰如其分地表现出了她此时的厌烦、不满之情,译成“讨厌”比较合适。(Joanna是男方与前妻所生的女儿,Bloom则是他同事)。
2. I put the receiver back on the cradle. Frank was stillstaring and scowling at me.
“What'd he want?”he asked.
“They've got George Harper. Morrie asked me to represent himduring the Q and A.”
“Shit,”Frank said.”
与上例一样,“shit”独立成句,但所表达的意义有所不同。Frank对自己的搭档(一民事律师事务所的合作者)要去插手一桩刑事案件大为不悦,指责人家“多管闲事”,在这种背景下,“shit”译为“乱弹琴’比较符合人物的心理。
除了独立成句外,“shit”还可在句子中充当其他成分,例如:
3.“Some pow'ful shit. Cost enough,but,man,it waspow'ful.”
这是一个黑人妇女在注射毒品后所说的,“shit”显然是毒品的代名词。pow'fulshit可译为“挺厉害的玩意儿”。
4.“Susan,”I said, my voice rising,”I called to tellyou that I'm home and Joanria is still in Mexico,She'll be backthis Saturday and that's all I have to say to you.”
“That's not a11 Eliot will have to say to you.” “Iwelcome a call from that mealy-mouthed shit,”I said, and hungup, trembling.
这是一对已离婚的夫妻在电话里的对话。女方责怪前夫不该自己先回国而把女儿留在墨西哥。Eliot是女方“的私人律师中男方对他本来就有反感,听到前妻提到他的名字便气不打一处来,“shit”用来指人,可译为“混蛋”。
5.“Yes. She was a very beautiful woman, Morrie.”
“Yeah,”he said, and shook his head,"That's the shit ofit,ain't it?From what I get from the complaint,she was beaten upreal bad.So now she turns up on the beach,burned to death.Doesit seem like a coincidence toyou?”
这是一个警官与律师在谈论一桩凶杀案。受害老是一个年轻美女,案情扑朔迷离,警方一筹莫展,“shit”出自一个警官之口,正是他无可奈何心境的写照。与例3、例4不同的是,该词在上下文中尽管也用作名词,但没有明确的指代关系R是暗示案情复杂,难以理清头绪,因此翻译时就不一定要译成相应的名词。将“That'sthe shit of it”译作“事情怪就怪在这里”。
下面再看看与“shit”有关的一个复合词。
6.“Susan,cut it out.”
“Cut what out?"
“This bullshit about Dale."
“l certainly hope you don't use that kind of language inJodanna's presence. It's badenough…”
7. She told me a woman out on Fatback Key formed acommittee…" “Oh,yeah,that bullshitcommittee,…
在以上两例中,shit与bull一起构成bullshit,前一个为名词后一个用作形容词,修饰committee。从上下文看,前者指的是说话人前妻Susan对现在的情人Dale所使用的一个很难听的称号,另外考虑到下文里对方的抗议,即“thatkind of language和“bad enough…",认为可将bullshit译作“狗屁”.bullshitcommittee措的是一个群体淫乱团伙,故将其译作“乌七八糟委员会”。
除“shit”外,在此类词中较常见的还有“fuck(fucking,fucker),piss,cunt等,这些词单个地偶尔出现在文章或作品里并不足为怪;但若同时出现在同一句子中,则不得不令人称奇。下面就有这么一个例子:
“And her language…well, she curses a lot, even more thanany of the other girls do-that's normal for Saint Mark’s,cursing a lot,the whole `shit,piss,cunt,fuck'
routine, you know。 But Heather really goes overboard withit,like she’s trying to prove how mature she is,you know what Imean?"
I was still reeling over the string of profanities myfourteen-year-old daughter had casually dropped into theconversation。
双引号中是一位上中学的女儿向父亲介绍班上一位名叫Heather的同学时所说的话,目的是想告诉父亲她这位同学是如何满口脏话,不知羞耻,其中单引号里的四个词是典型的“fourletterwords”。翻开英汉词典,“shit”和“piss”分别是“大便”和“撒尿”,如此这般译成中文,平淡无奇,不足以表现Heather那种缺少教养、俗不可耐的“小痞子”神态。而“cunt"是女性生殖器,“fuck’是指发生性行为,直译过来显然也不妥。遇到这种情况,译者不必拘泥于原文字面意义,应跳出原文局限,在汉语词汇中挑选出几个粗俗、脏鄙的字眼来。将上文拟译如下:
“还有她的言谈……唉,她满口脏话,比别的女孩子脏话都多——在圣"马克中学,满口脏话者大有人在,像`他妈的,日他娘,狗日的,操你奶奶’之类,知道不?但希瑟更是有过之而无不及,像是要证明她是多么成熟似的。懂我的意思么?”
我十四岁的女儿一口气说出了这么一长串粗鲁的语言,一时令我目瞪口呆。
从字面上看,英语里的“四字母词”与汉语中的鄙语似乎想去甚远,但在表达效果上却基本一致,也算得上是一种“貌离神合”吧。