0949翻譯：夏之絕句（簡 媜）

0949翻譯：夏之絕句（簡 媜）

Translation: Summer Quatrain (Jian Zheng)

(translated by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)

春天，象一篇巨制的駢儷文；而夏天，像一首絕句。

Spring is like an epic production of sestina, while summer is like a quatrain.

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已有許久，未曾去關心蟬聲。

It has been quite a while since I last paid attention to buzzing of cicadas.

耳朵忙著聽車聲，聽綜藝節目的敲打聲，聽售票小姐不耐煩的聲音，聽朋友的附在耳朵旁，低低啞啞的秘密聲……

My ears have been preoccupied with noises of automobiles, drumbeats in variety-shows, voices of impatient ticket-booth ladies, and whispers from friends in low, gruff voices to my ears.

應該找一條清澈潔凈的河水洗洗我的耳朵，因為我聽不見蟬聲。

I should find a clear, clean stream to wash my ears because I could not hear sounds of cicadas.

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於是，夏天什麼時候跨了門檻進來我並不知道。

So I have no idea when summer crossed the doorsill.

直到那天上文學史課的時候，突然四面楚歌、鳴金擊鼓一般，所有的蟬都同時叫了起來，

It was not until one day during history class that suddenly it seemed all hell broke loose and the entire population of cicadas buzzed at the same time.

把我嚇了一跳。

I jumped in surprise.

我提筆的手勢擱淺在空中，無法飄點眼前這看不見、摸不到的一卷聲音！

My hand holding a pen froze in the air and was unable to put a dot on this invisible and nonconcrete track of sounds in front of my eyes.

多驚訝！把我整個心思都吸了過去，就像鐵沙沖向磁鐵那樣。

It was shocking and took over the entire focus of my mind—much like iron sand flying to magnet in attraction.

但當我屏氣凝神正聽得起勁的時候，又突然，不約而同地全都住了嘴，

Just when I was listening attentively in bated breath, then all of a sudden they were in dead silence.

這蟬，又嚇我一跳！

These cicadas gave me another shock.

就像一條繩子，蟬聲把我的心扎捆得緊緊的，突然在毫無警告的情況下鬆了綁。

Their sounds had held my heart in hostage like a rope and then, without warning, they released the bondage.

於是我的一顆心就毫無準備地散了開了來，如奮力躍向天空的浪頭，不小心跌向沙灘！

So my heart was let loose unprepared in resembling a sky-bound leaping wave that fell to the beach haphazardly.

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夏天什麼時候跨了門檻進來我竟不知道！

Surprisingly I do not know when summer crossed the doorsill.

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是一扇有樹葉的窗，

It is a window with tree leaves in the backdrop.

圓圓扁扁的小葉子像門帘上的花鳥畫，當然更活潑些。

The round and wafer-thin leaves resemble a flower-and-bird painting on curtains except, of course, they are livelier.

風一潑過來，它們就"刷"的一聲晃蕩起來，我似乎還聽見嘻嘻哈哈的笑聲，黨像一群小玩童在比賽盪鞦韆！

When wind brushes over, the leaves sway nosily and I seem to hear laughter as if there were children in a swing competition.

風是幕後工作者，負責把它們挑向天空，而蟬是啦啦隊，在枝頭努力叫鬧。

Wind is ground-crew worker responsible for lifting them up to the sky, and cicadas are the cheerleaders screeching enthusiastically on branches.

沒有裁判。

There is no judge.

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我不禁想起童年，我的小童年。

Spontaneously I think about childhood—my early childhood.

因為這些愉快的音符太像一卷錄音帶，讓我把童年的聲音又一一撿回來。

It is because these happy notes seem very much like they have been recorded on tape which allow me to retrieve childhood sounds one by one.

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首先撿的是蟬聲。

The first one to retrieve is cicada sound.

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那時，最興奮的事不是聽蟬而是捉蟬。

At that time, the most exciting thing was not listening to cicadas but catching them.

小孩子總喜歡把令他好奇的東西都一一放在手掌中賞玩一番，

Little children always liked to hold things that aroused curiosity in their palms to marvel at and play around with.

我也不例外。

I was no exception.

念小學的時候，上課分上下午班，

When I went to elementary school, classes were divided into morning and afternoon sessions.

這是一二年級的小朋友才有的優待，可見我那時還小。

Only small children at Grade 1 and 2 ages enjoyed such preferential treatments, and that showed how young I was.

上學時有四條路可以走，其中一條沿著河，

There were four routes going to school, and one of them was along the river.

岸邊高樹濃陰，常常遮掉半個天空。

Tall trees by the shore provided dense shades which often covered half the sky.

雖然附近也有田園農舍，可是人跡罕至，

Even though there were fields and farmhouses in the neighborhood, the place was unfrequented by people.

對我們而言，真是又遠又幽深，讓人覺得怕怕的。

From our perspective, the faraway distance and quietness over there were rather scary.

然而，一星期總有好多趟，是從那兒經過的，尤其是夏天。

However, we passed by the area several times a week, particularly during summer.

輪到下午班的時候，我們總會呼朋引伴地一起走那條路，沒有別的目的，只為了蟬。

When it was time to attend afternoon classes, we would organize to go in a group through that path with no purpose other than cicadas.

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你能想像一群小學生，穿卡其短褲，戴著黃色小帽子，或弔帶褶裙，乖乖地把"碗公帽"的鬆緊帶貼在臉沿的一群小男生小女生，

You can imagine it was a group of little boy and girl students in khaki shorts, yellow hats, pleated suspender-skirts, and bowl-shaped protective helmets (which they obediently strapped tightly against their cheeks).

書包擱在路邊，

Their school bags were left on the side of the road.

也不怕掉到河裡，也不怕鉤破衣服，更不怕破皮流血，就一腳上一腳下地直往樹的懷裡鑽的那副猛勁嗎？

Audaciously these children had no fear that they might fall into the river, snag their clothes, or suffer a bloody mishap, and forged ahead one step at a time to the crowns of trees.

只因為樹上有蟬。

It was because there were cicadas up there.

蟬聲是一陣襲人的浪，不小心掉進小孩子的心湖，

The chirping of cicadas was like overwhelming waves that accidentally fell into the hearts of those little children.

於是湖心拋出千萬圈漣漪如千萬條繩子，要逮捕那長陣浪。

As a result, millions of ripples came out from their hearts like millions of ropes, and they all tried to lasso the waves.

"抓到了！抓到了！"有人在樹上喊。

「I got it! I got it!」 someone up the tree shouted.

下面有人趕快打開火柴盒把蟬關了進去。

Another person down on the ground quickly opened a match box and secured the cicada inside.

不敢多看一眼，怕它飛走了！

He didn』t dare to take a second look over concern it might fly away.

那種緊張就像天方夜譚里，那個漁夫用計把巨魔騙進古壇之後，趕忙封好符咒不敢去碰它一般。

The nervousness was like the feeling in the Arabian Nights story where the fisherman would not dare to touch the jar after he had tricked the genie into it and sealed it with a paper-spell.

可是，那輕紗般的薄翼卻已在小孩們的兩顆太陽中，留下了一季的閃耀。

But its gauze-like sheer wings had already left glitters that would last for the entire season in the pair of sun-like beaming eyes of each child.

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到了教室，大家互相炫耀鉛筆盒裡的小動物--蟬、天牛、金龜子。

Once those children arrived at the classroom, they would show off their little creatures, such as cicadas, long-horned beetles, and cockchafers in their pencil boxes to one another.

有的用蟬換天牛，有的用金龜子換蟬。

Some traded cicadas for long-horned beetles and others traded cockchafers for cicadas.

大家互相交換也互相贈送，

Trading and gifting between them were conducted.

有的扦幾片葉子，喂他鉛筆盒或火柴盒裡的小寶貝。

Some inserted several leaves into their pencil or match boxes to feed their little pets.

那時候打開鉛筆盒就像開保險柜一般小心，

At that time, a child opening a pencil box would exercise the same degree of care as opening a safe.

心裡痒痒的時候，也只敢湊一雙眼睛開一個小縫去瞄幾眼。

Despite itching with curiosity, he would only dare to take a few peeks through a small gap with squinted eyes.

上課的時候，老師在前面呱啦呱啦地講，我們兩眼瞪著前面，兩隻手卻在抽屜里翻玩著"聚寶盒"，耳朵專心地聽著金龜子在筆盒裡拍翅的聲音，

During class with the teacher blabbering on at the front, our eyes would be staring straight ahead but our two hands would be fiddling the 「treasure boxes」 in the drawers while our ears were listening attentively at the sounds of cockchafers』 flapping wings.

愈聽愈心花怒放，禁不住開個縫，

We would get more excited as we listened on and couldn』t help but opened up a crack in the box.

把指頭伸進去按一按金龜子，叫它安靜些，或是摸一摸斂著翅膀的蟬，也拉一拉天牛的一對長角，看是不是又多長一節？

Then we would poke a finger inside to press the cockchafer in reminding it to keep quiet, to stroke a cicada with tugged-in wings, or to pull the pair of long-horns of a beetle to see if it had grown another section.

不過，偶爾不小心，會被天牛咬了一口，

But occasionally we could get careless and took a bite from a long-horned beetle.

它大概頗不喜歡那長長扁扁被戳得滿是小洞的鉛筆盒吧！

Likely it didn』t like the long and narrow pencil box perforated with tiny holes it was in.

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整個夏季，我們都興高采烈地強迫蟬從枝頭搬家到鉛筆盒來，但是鉛筆盒卻從來不會變成音樂盒，

For the entire summer we enthusiastically coerced cicadas to relocate from branches into pencil boxes, but then pencil boxes could never become music boxes.

蟬依舊在河邊高高的樹上叫。整個夏季，蟬聲又沒少了中音或低音，依舊是完美無缺的和音。

Cicadas continued to chirp high up in the trees on riverside as usual, and their singing remained perfectly harmonized the whole summertime without missing the medium or low pitch.

捉得住蟬,卻捉不住蟬聲。

You can catch cicadas, but you are not able to catch their voices.

夏乃聲音的季節，有雨打，有雷聲，蛙聲，鳥鳴及蟬唱。

Summer is the season for sounds including rainfall splattering, thunder rumbling, frog croaking, bird chirping, and cicada singing.

蟬聲足以代表夏，故夏天像一首絕句。

Cicada sounds should be sufficient to represent summer, and so summertime would be like a quatrain.

絕句該吟該誦，或添幾個襯字歌唱一番。

Quatrain could be chanted, recited, or sung (i.e., with addition of a few complementary words).

蟬是大自然的一隊合唱團；以優美的音色，明朗的節律，吟誦著一首絕句。

Cicadas are like a chorus of Mother Nature reciting a quatrain with exquisite tones and lucid rhythms.

這絕句不在唐詩選，不在宋詞集，

This quatrain does not come from Tang Poetry Anthology or Song Literature Set.

不是王維的也不是李白的，

Wang Wei or Li Bai did not compose it.

是蟬對季節的感觸，是它們對仲夏有共同的情感，而寫成的一首抒情詩。

It is a sentimental poem which reflects how cicadas feel about the season and what their shared affection is about midsummer.

詩中自有其生命情調，有點近乎自然詩派的樸質，又有些曠遠飄逸，

Included in the poem are moods in life with simplicity (approximating Natural Poetry School style), remoteness, and gracefulness.

更多的時候，尤其當它們胸臆之中，似乎有許多豪情悲壯的故事要講。

Quite often it seems there are many blithe-spirited, teary and courageous stories in cicadas』 minds that couldn』t wait to be told.

也許，是一首抒情的邊塞詩。

But then perhaps it is only be a sentimental poem in the country』s border area.

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晨間聽蟬，想其高潔。

In listening to sounds of cicadas in the morning, they convey a noble and immaculate image of themselves.

蟬該是有翅族中的隱士吧！

Cicadas should be the recluses among winged creatures.

高據樹梢，餐風飲露，不食人間煙火。

They position themselves high up on tree-tops and feed on winds and dews without touching mundane diet of humans.

那蟬聲在晨光朦朧之中分外輕逸，似遠似近，又似有似無。

In the haziness of morning glow, sounds of cicadas seem to be exceptionally drifty in that it would be impossible to nail down their whereabouts or if they are for real.

一段蟬唱之後，自己的心靈也跟著透明澄凈起來，有一種"何處惹塵埃"的了悟。

After listening to a bout of cicada singing, my mind becomes cleared up by a sort of Buddhism-like revelation in wondering 「(for my innate innocent mind) where has it gotten contaminated?」

蟬亦是禪。

Cicada is Buddhism.

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午後也有蟬，但喧囂了點。

Cicadas hang around in the afternoon as well, but they turn a bit boisterous.

像一群吟遊詩人，不期然地相遇在樹陰下，閑散地歇它們的腳。拉拉雜雜地，他們談天探詢、問候季節，

Like a group of medieval minstrels, they stumble upon one another under tree shades in taking leisurely break and start to shoot the breeze.

倒沒有人想作詩，

None of them has any intention to compose poetry.

於是聲浪陣陣，缺乏韻律也沒有押韻，他們也交換流浪的方向，

They generate waves of noises with neither rhythms nor rhymes to exchange information on the direction where they intend to rove to next.

但並不熱心，因為"流浪"其實並沒有方向。

However, their conversations are conducted in a half-hearted manner, because in truth, the term 「roving」 has no element of direction literally.

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我喜歡在黃昏一面聽蟬一面散步。

In the evening, I enjoy strolling around while listening to the chirping of cicadas.

走進蟬聲的世界裡，正如欣賞一場音樂演唱會一般，如果懂得去聽的話。

Entering the world of cicadas would be like going to revel in a music concert, provided the individual knows how to listen.

有時候我們抱怨世界愈來愈丑了，現代文明的噪音太多了；

Sometimes we grumble the world is getting uglier by the day, and there are excessive unwelcomed noises in modern civilization.

其實在一灘濁流之中，何嘗沒有一潭清泉？

Certainly among a beach of muddled brooks, wouldn』t there be a pool of unsullied water?

在機器聲交織的音圖裡，也有所謂的"天籟"。

So in a hodgepodge of machine noises, there has to be the so-called 「heavenly sounds of nature」.

我們只是太忙罷了，忙得與美的事物擦身而過都不知不覺。

We could have been too busy—so busy that we are unaware when wonderful things brush by our sides.

也太專註於自己，生活的鏡頭只攝取自我喜怒哀樂的大特寫，

Also we could have been too self-absorbed, and life』s candid camera only shoots close-ups on our own emotions such as joy, anger, and sadness.

其他種種，都是一派模糊的背景。

All others are only backdrop in a blur.

如果能退後一步看看四周，也許我們會發覺整個圖案都變了。

If we could step back a little and look around, maybe we would find the entire picture has changed.

變的不是圖案本身，而是我們的視野。

What has changed is not the picture itself but our visibility.

所以，偶爾放慢腳步，讓眼眸以最大的可能性把天地隨意瀏覽一番，

Therefore occasionally we should slow down and browse around with our visions stretched to the greatest extent possible.

我們將恍然大悟；

Then the truth would dawn on us.

世界還是時時在裝扮著自己的，而有什麼比一面散步一面聽蟬更讓人心曠神怡？

The world continuously adorns itself for our pleasure and what could be more gratifying than strolling while listening to singing of cicadas?

聽聽親朋好友的傾訴，這是我們常有的經驗。

Opening your ears to your relatives/friends in pouring their hearts out is regularly experienced by us.

聆聽萬物的傾訴，對我們而言，亦非難事，不是嗎？ .

Paying attention to all things under the sun in confiding to us should not be a difficult thing to do from our perspective, wouldn』t it?

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聆聽，也是藝術。

Listening is an art.

大自然的寬闊是最佳的設備。

Nature, with its spaciousness, is the best setup for shows.

想像那一隊一隊的雄蟬斂翅據在不同的樹梢端，像交響樂團的團員各自站在舞台上一般。

Imagine teams and teams of male cicadas with folded wings are occupying different tips of tree top branches as if they were performing members of orchestras standing on stages individually.

只要有隻蟬起個音，接著聲音就紛紛出了籠它們各以最美的音色獻給你，

All it takes is one cicada to start a musical note and other sounds will follow suit in presenting to you the most beautiful tones.

字字都是真心話，句句來自丹團。

Every single word is message from a heart, and each line comes from a diaphragm.

它們有鮮明的節奏感，不同的韻律表示不同的心情。

Cicadas have distinctive senses of rhythms and different tempos represent different moods.

它們有時合唱有時齊唱，

Sometimes they sing in chorus and other times they sing in unison.

也有獨唱，包括和音，

There are solos with backup singing in harmony.

高低分明。

High notes and low notes are clearly distinguishable.

它們不需要指揮也無需歌譜，它們是天生的歌者。

They don』t need conductors or music scores, because they are naturals in singing.

歌聲如行雲如流水，

Like clouds and streams, the singing flows effortlessly and smoothly.

讓人了卻憂慮，悠遊其中。

In listening to the singing, people forget their worries and become relaxed.

又如澎濤又如駭浪，拍打著你心底沉澱的情緒，

The singing also strikes emotions precipitated in your heart like raging waves.

頃刻間，你便覺得那蟬聲宛如狂浪淘沙般地攫走了你緊緊扯在手裡的輕愁。

In a flash, you could feel sounds of cicadas have snatched away small sorrows tightly tugged in your hands like rampant tidal waves sweeping away sand.

蟬聲亦有甜美溫柔如夜的語言的時候，那該是情歌吧！

At times cicadas speak sweet and gentle words of the night, and those ought to be love songs.

總是一句三疊，像那傾吐不盡的纏綿。

There are always three repeats in each verse like a never-ending tale that lingers on.

而蟬聲的急促，在關注的音符處突地戛然而止，

Then the key music notes of rapid cicada singing stop abruptly.

更像一篇錦繡文章被猛然撕裂，散落一地的鏗鏘字句，擲地如金石聲，

Like a splendid article that is suddenly ripped apart, ringing words and sentences drop all over the ground and make metal/rock impact sounds as they hit the ground.

而後寂寂寥寥成了斷簡殘編，齠留給人一些悵惘，一些感傷。

Then they become broken sentences and torn pages scattered around quietly which leave people with a sense of void and sorrow.

何嘗不是生命之歌？

Wouldn』t that be song of life?

蟬聲。

Those are sounds of cicadas.

而每年每年，蟬聲依舊，依舊像一首絕句，平平仄仄平。

Every year cicada chirping remains the same like a quatrain in its poetry tonal pattern.

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