ONE-HEARTED-Wangwei
这是王维的诗红豆的英译本,而且有好几个版本的,相思对象可以很广,君的所指也应该很泛,
这大概是这首诗受到广泛喜爱的原因之一吧。所以光从名称上来说就比较多样了。
一、王道余译稿
Lovesickness
Wang Wei (701-761)
Translated by Wang Daoyu
The berries red in the south land grow,
How many shoots in spring it brings?
May you gather as many as you can,
For my lovesickness these things best stand.
二、龚景浩译本
Love’s Yearnings
Wang Wei (701-761)
Translated by Gong Jinghao
The Red Beans grow in the South.
Each spring this tall shrub puts out some new twigs.
I hope you would pick a great deal.
They bring on th’ most exquisite love’s yearnings
One can feel.
三、宾纳译本
ONE-HEARTED
Wang Wei (701-761)
Translated by Witter Bynner
When those red berries come in springtime,
Flushing on your southland branches,
Take home an armful, for my sake,
As a symbol of our love.
四、无名氏译本
REMEMBRANCE
Wang Wei (701-761)
Translator Unknown
A red berry grows in the south country ─
The boughs are full of them when spring arrives.
Gather some, I pray, and fill your packets ─
These are the best forget-me-nots!
五、无名氏译本之二
Languish with Lovesickness
Wang Wei (701-761)
Translator Unknown
The red bean grows in southern lands.
With spring its slender tendrils twine.
Gather for me some more, I pray,
of fond remembrance ‘tis the sign.
In the English culture, red bean reminds one of Esau, a character in the Bible, who sold his primogeniture or birthright only for a bowl of red bean stew. According to the Bible story, when Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob, he forfeited all claim to property of his father Isaac. So the English idiom “sell one’s birthright for some red-bean stew” means something like “forget what is right at the sight of profit”. Thus, 红豆is translated into love bean or red berries instead of red bean in case it triggers mistaken associations on the part of the English speakers.

