Thief and Enemy

2015年3月17日

張華先生談「翻譯說明體的風險」，以《譯藝譚》中一例說明：

In places like Madumbi, time seems more of a thief and enemy than in crowded cities or even in circles where the months are frittered away in useless leisure.

該書作者黃邦傑先生這麼譯：

在馬都比這種地方，時間就像一個小偷或是一個偷襲的敵人，悄悄地來，又悄悄地走了；像這種情景，就連那些徒然浪費大好時光的大城市甚或社交小圈子，似乎都不如馬都比嚴重。

張先生找到原文接下來一句：

At Madumbi life was a packed routine; work began at half-past five or six in the morning; fatigue often precluded thought; and the tired eyes, turning towards clock or calendar, would close in sleep.

他合併改譯為：

類似馬都比這種地方，時間就像強行入侵的小偷或敵兵；在大城市甚或某些社會階層，時間卻是任人隨意排遣，大把消耗在無用的休閒上。在馬都比，生活就是沒片刻間斷的刻板工作，從早上五點半或六點開始。頭腦經常疲憊得無法思考，眼睛看著日曆或時鐘，卻往往勞累得一闔上就睡著了。

此例甚有意思，我以前未譯過「thief and enemy」這個詞組，查字典未發現有收錄，但Google發現是英文常用的詞組，例如：

Selina Kyle is Catwoman, a costumed adventurer who's been both super-hero and super-villain. Beginning her career as a thief and enemy to Batman, she later turned to crime-fighting and became part of the Batman Family.（此例很難將 thief 的含義譯出來）

... he was considered not only a rascal, [but] a thief and enemy of society and good government, an abettor of crime, and an undesirable citizen on general principles.（此例要譯出 thief 的含義也不容易）

To her, death had been a minor delay between phases of life, but its random cruelty had changed her perspective. Her fascination and courtship with death ended when it had stolen the most precious thing in the world from her. Death was a thief and enemy. Now she was determined to fool the reaper

（此例中 thief 的意思很明確）

我查到最有趣的資料是這一段，對 thief and enemy 均有解說：

A thief can come as an armed robber: He does not want to listen to your opinion. He just wants to get what he wants by pressure, fear, torment and violence. The enemy has put so many people under pressure (mental pressure, financial pressure, family pressure, sexual pressure, etc.) in order to steal things from them. Some people are forced to eat terrible things in their dreams against their wish. The great thief and enemy of our soul can sometimes be very violent.

因此，Madumbi這個例子，如果放得開，不介意譯得像說明體，可以考慮這麼譯（借張華先生的版本改譯）：

In places like Madumbi, time seems more of a thief and enemy than in crowded cities or even in circles where the months are frittered away in useless leisure. At Madumbi life was a packed routine; work began at half-past five or six in the morning; fatigue often precluded thought; and the tired eyes, turning towards clock or calendar, would close in sleep.

在大城市以至某些圈子中，人們可以將大把時間耗費在無益的休閒上；在馬都比這種地方，時間卻有如生命的盜賊和敵人：生活是密集的刻板工作，早上五點半或六點便開始；人常累得無法思考，疲憊的眼睛看著日曆或時鐘，一合上便能睡著。

後記：張華先生回應本文，指出 thief and enemy 無論是字面還是意思，均與中文「寇讎」很像。這是我沒想到的，受教了。