“相思俱老大 浮世如流水”——白居易诗《感逝寄远》英译赏析

昨日闻甲死，今朝闻乙死。

知识三分中，二分化为鬼。

逝者不复见，悲哉长已矣。

存者今如何，去我皆万里。

平生知心者，屈指能有几。

通果澧凤州，眇然四君子。

相思俱老大，浮世如流水。

应叹旧交游，凋零日如此。

何当一杯酒，开眼笑相视。

以下英文译文来自Arthur Waley阿瑟韦利的A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.

SEPARATION

Yesterday I heard that such-a-one was gone;

This morning they tell me that so-and-so is dead.

昨日闻甲死，今朝闻乙死。

Of friends and acquaintances more than two-thirds

Have suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts.

知识三分中，二分化为鬼。

Those that are gone I shall not see again;

They, alas, are for ever finished and done.

逝者不复见，悲哉长已矣。

Those that are left,—where are they now?

They are all scattered,—a thousand miles away.

存者今如何，去我皆万里。

Those I have known and loved through all my life,

On the fingers of my hand—how many do I count?

平生知心者，屈指能有几。

Only the prefects of T’ung, Kuo and Li

And Fēng Province—just those four.[80]

通果澧凤州，眇然四君子。四君子，原题中的有“寄通州元侍御果州崔员外沣州李舍人凤州李郎中”。

Longing for each other we are all grown gray;

Through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream.

相思俱老大，浮世如流水。

Alas that the feasts and frolics of old days

Have withered and vanished, bringing us to this!

应叹旧交游，凋零日如此。

When shall we meet and drink a cup of wine

And laughing gaze into each other’s eyes?

何当一杯酒，开眼笑相视。