摘 要：《红楼梦》被认为是中国文学史上的最重要的鸿篇巨制之一。《葬花吟》是《红楼梦》中林黛玉的诗歌代表，浸透着黛玉式的特有的凄婉哀伤，为其他诗定下了基调。该诗体现了曹雪芹高超的语言技巧，其精湛的艺术价值值得挖掘和探讨。本文对杨宪益与戴乃迭夫妇、许渊冲的两个英译文进行对比赏析。
Abstract： The Story of the Stone is regarded as one of the most significant novel in the Chinese literature， and Lin Daiyu’s Elegy on Flower is believed to have best mirrored the outstanding language skills and the deep emotions of Cao Xueqin， the author of the Story of the Stone. This paper is a comparative research of two famous English versions of this poem， Yang Xianyi’s version and Xu Yuanchong’s version.
关键词：《红楼梦》；《葬花吟》；对比赏析
Keywords： The Story of the Stone ； Elegy on Flowers；comparative research
[中图分类号]：H059 [文献标识码]：A
[文章编号]：1002-2139（2012）-21--01
1、Introduction
Lin Daiyu’s Elegy on Flowers appears in the Chapter 27. In the late Spring， Daiyu collected the fallen petals in a silk pocket and buried it. This poem is full of her sorrow and melancholy. The comparison of the two versions is focused on rhyme and rhythm， person.
2、Analyse
花谢花飞花满天，红消香断有谁怜？
游丝软系飘春榭，落絮轻沾扑绣帘。
Yang
As blossoms?fade?and?fly?the?sky，
Who?pities the?fade?red， the?scent?that?has?been？
Softly the?gossamer?floats?over?Spring?pavilions，
Gently the willow fluff?wafts?to?the?embroidered?screen.
Xu
As flowers fall and fly across the skies， Who rues the red that fades， the scent that dies？Softly the gossamer floats over bowers green， Gently the willow fluff wafts to broidered screen.
Yang’s rhyme is different from Xu’s. Yang， the same as the source poem， used rhyme in every even line， while Xu used aabb rhyme. Yang’s “Who?pities the?fade?red， the?scent?that?has?been？” is less balanced than Xu’s “Who rues the red that fades， the scent that dies？”， and thus the former one is less rhythmical than the latter one.
花开易见落难寻，阶前闷杀葬花人。
Yang
Fallen， brightest blooms are hard to find
With aching heart their?grave-digger comes now
Xu
Their gravedigger， I find no flowers in bloom；
My aching heart is further filled with gloom.
Both of them translated “葬花人” into “grave-digger”. But “葬花人” still refers to Daiyu herself. According to English grammar， when “grave-digger” appears for the first time， it means a new character in the story. So it is inaccurate to use this “grave-digger”. “葬花人” should be put into the first person to make the whole poem fluent.
杜鹃无语正黄昏，荷锄归去掩重门。
Yang
Dark falls and the cuckoo is silent
Her hoe?brought back the lodge is locked and still Xu
As twilight falls， the cuckoos sing no more；
I come back with my hoe and close the double door.
“杜鹃” is a very popular metaphor in Chinese classic literature. It is said that the Emperor Shu passed away and his spirit turned into a cuckoo. His blood dropped down on branches and turned into flowers. So “杜鹃” is supposed to be put into a singular form because there is only one Emperor Shu， and it’s also because that singular cuckoo better insinuates Daiyu’s loneliness and deep sorrow. But Xu did it into plural form， which is unreasonable.
尔今死去侬收葬，未卜侬身何日丧？
侬今葬花人笑痴，他年葬侬知是谁？
Yang
Now you are dead I?come to bury you；
None?has divined the day when I shall die；
Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers
But who will bury me when I lie？
Xu
Now they are dead， I come to bury them today.
Who can divine the date when I shall pass away？
Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers.
But who will bury me when come my last hours？
Daiyu eventually established direct and clear connection between the fallen petals and herself by asking two questions. She didn’t expect any answers. But these two questions show her helplessness and hopelessness. The questions should be translated into the target language. However， Yang only used one question sentence， which， to some extent， greatly declined Daiyu’s emotion.
3.Conclusion
The translation strategy of Chinese literature should keep up with the increasing growth of China’s economy and international reputation. Instead of simply receiving and considering for the western culture， translators should put forward Chinese culture and ideology as well.
Bibliography：
[1]、 许渊冲. 元明清诗一百五十首[Z]. 北京：北京大学出版社，1997.
[2]、曹雪芹，高鹗. 红楼梦[M]. 沈阳：沈阳出版社， 1998.
[3]、 蔡义江. 《红楼梦》诗词曲赋评注（修订本）[M]. 北京：团结出版社，1995
[4]、 温绍贤. 评红楼梦的诗词英译[A]. 胡文彬，周雷. 香港红学论文选[C]. [5]、天津：百花文艺出版社，1982.
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