“区区尺素上 焉用写真为”——白居易诗《赠写真者》英译赏析
子骋丹青日,予当丑老时。
无劳役神思,更画病容仪。
迢递麒麟阁,图功未有期。
区区尺素上,焉用写真为。
以下英文译文来自Arthur Waley阿瑟韦利的A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.
TO A PORTRAIT PAINTER WHO DESIRED HIM TO SIT
You, so bravely splashing reds and blues!
Just when I am getting wrinkled and old.
子骋丹青日,予当丑老时。
Why should you waste the moments of inspiration
Tracing the withered limbs of a sick man?
无劳役神思,更画病容仪。
Tall, tall is the Palace of Ch’i-lin;[79]
But my deeds have not been frescoed on its walls.
迢递麒麟阁,图功未有期。“麒麟阁”,译者注:One of the “Record Offices” of the T’ang dynasty, where meritorious deeds were illustrated on the walls.
Minutely limned on a foot of painting silk—
What can I do with a portrait such as that?
区区尺素上,焉用写真为。