文/王柏華

李爾的“胡話詩(shī)”

文/王柏華1

有一種詩(shī)，既不追求意義或意境，也不試圖抒情言志，一味沉溺于語(yǔ)言文字，在滑稽幽默的文字游戲和韻律中自得其樂。這一類詩(shī)往往通篇胡話，邏輯荒誕，又被稱作“胡話詩(shī)”或“無意義詩(shī)”（Nonsense poems）。nonsense一詞剛好可以一語(yǔ)雙關(guān)地包含“無意義”和“胡話”這兩層意思。

朗朗上口的語(yǔ)言游戲正是童謠或民謠的路數(shù)，因此，胡話詩(shī)的歷史其實(shí)最為悠久，幾乎算得上詩(shī)歌的正統(tǒng)。英語(yǔ)詩(shī)歌中的“胡話詩(shī)”相當(dāng)豐富，喜歡寫“胡話詩(shī)”的作家不勝枚舉，中文讀者最熟悉的是卡羅爾（Lewis Carroll，1832—1898），這位深居簡(jiǎn)出的數(shù)學(xué)家以《愛麗絲漫游奇境記》和《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》二書聞名于世。愛麗絲故事妙語(yǔ)連珠，其中的妙詩(shī)也不少，皆為胡話詩(shī)，比如“矮胖子的朗誦”（Humpty Dumpty’s Recitation）、“白騎士之歌”（The White Knight’s Song）等。

比卡羅爾年代稍早，在十九世紀(jì)的英國(guó)還有一位幽默風(fēng)趣、多才多藝的先生，愛德華·李爾（Edward Lear，1812—1888）。他喜歡旅游，會(huì)玩音樂，還會(huì)畫畫，尤其擅長(zhǎng)畫鳥獸。一天，他閑來無事，寫起了“五行打油詩(shī)”（limerick），還隨手配了插圖。比如這兩首：

There was an Old Man with a beard，

Who said， ‘It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen，

Four Larks and a Wren，

Have all built their nests in my beard!’

There was a Young Lady of Portugal，

Whose ideas were excessively nautical:

She climbed up a tree，

To examine the sea，

But declared she would never leave Portugal.

The Pobble Who Has No Toes

I The Pobble who has no toes

Had once as many as we;

When they said， ‘Some day you may lose

them all;’—

He replied， —‘Fish fi ddle de-dee!’And his Aunt Jobiska made him drink，Lavender water tinged with pink，

For she said， ‘The World in general knows There’s nothing so good for a Pobble’s toes!’

II The Pobble who has no toes，

Swam across the Bristol Channel;

But before he set out he wrapped his nose，

In a piece of scarlet fl annel.

For his Aunt Jobiska said， ‘No harm

‘Can come to his toes if his nose is warm;

‘And it’s perfectly known that a Pobble’s toes‘Are safe， —provided he minds his nose.’

III The Pobble swam fast and well

And when boats or ships came near him

有個(gè)老頭兒胡子一大把，

他說“這件事讓我擔(dān)驚受怕：

一對(duì)貓頭鷹和一只小鷦鷯，

一只大母雞和四只百靈鳥，

在我胡子里搭了鳥窩，哎呀呀！”

一個(gè)葡萄牙女人真稀奇，

滿腦子都是航海主意：

她爬上一棵樹，

觀察大海的遠(yuǎn)處，

卻發(fā)誓絕不離開葡萄牙土地。

這樣的童趣詩(shī)想必寫起來既輕松又快樂（我和女兒美諾在翻譯中也享受了同樣的快樂）。李爾越寫越上癮，從此一發(fā)不可收拾，后來竟合成一部詩(shī)集，名叫《胡話詩(shī)集》或《荒誕書》。沒想到，詩(shī)集1846年正式出版之后，大受歡迎，以至家喻戶曉，老少咸宜，吸引了一代代讀者，甚至被各種文學(xué)批評(píng)大家列入英國(guó)詩(shī)歌經(jīng)典。

“五行打油詩(shī)”采用aabba式韻腳，中間兩行稍短，讀起來節(jié)奏分明，錯(cuò)落有致。詩(shī)中的文字游戲和幽默一讀便知，而且一定要大聲朗讀，因?yàn)橐磺谢奶坪蜔o厘頭的妙趣都在音韻節(jié)奏中，非朗讀不可。

讓我們?cè)僮x一首長(zhǎng)一點(diǎn)的、更好玩的《泡伯沒有腳趾頭》，選自《胡話詩(shī)》第四集（1877年）：

The Pobble Who Has No Toes

I The Pobble who has no toes

Had once as many as we;

When they said， ‘Some day you may lose

them all;’—

He replied， —‘Fish fi ddle de-dee!’And his Aunt Jobiska made him drink，Lavender water tinged with pink，

For she said， ‘The World in general knows There’s nothing so good for a Pobble’s toes!’

II The Pobble who has no toes，

Swam across the Bristol Channel;

But before he set out he wrapped his nose，

In a piece of scarlet fl annel.

For his Aunt Jobiska said， ‘No harm

‘Can come to his toes if his nose is warm;

‘And it’s perfectly known that a Pobble’s toes‘Are safe， —provided he minds his nose.’

III The Pobble swam fast and well

And when boats or ships came near him

So that all the world could hear him.And all the Sailors and Admirals cried，

When they saw him nearing the further side，—

‘He has gone to fi sh， for his Aunt Jobiska’s‘Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers!’

IV But before he touched the shore，

The shore of the Bristol Channel，A sea-green Porpoise carried away

His wrapper of scarlet fl annel.And when he came to observe his feet Formerly garnished with toes so neat His face at once became forlorn

On perceiving that all his toes were gone!

V And nobody ever knew

From that dark day to the present，Whoso had taken the Pobble’s toes，

In a manner so far from pleasant.Whether the shrimps or craw fi sh gray，Or crafty Mermaids stole them away—Nobody knew; and nobody knows

How the Pebble was robbed of his twice fi ve

toes!

VI The Pobble who has no toes

Was placed in a friendly Bark，

And she made him a feast at his earnest wish

Of eggs and buttercups fried with fi sh;—

And she said，—‘It’s a fact the whole world knows，

‘That Pebbles are happier without their toes.’

泡伯沒有腳趾頭

（一）

泡伯沒有腳趾頭

可從前跟我們的一樣多；

有人說：“它們會(huì)丟得一個(gè)不留；”他回答說：“無厘頭無厘頭，胡說！”

他的阿姨喬布斯卡給他喝

薰衣草花水配上石竹花朵；她說：“全世界誰(shuí)不知道

這對(duì)泡伯的腳趾頭再好不過！”

（二）

從前泡伯長(zhǎng)著腳趾頭，他游過海峽布里斯托；

出發(fā)前先把鼻子包起來，用深紅色法蘭絨小布兜。

因?yàn)樗陌⒁虇滩妓箍ㄕf：“沒有什么

能傷害他的腳趾頭，只要他鼻子暖暖和和；

眾所周知，泡伯的腳趾頭當(dāng)然不會(huì)丟，只要他照顧好他的小鼻頭?！?/p>

（三）

泡伯游得漂亮又起勁，遇到任何船只太靠近，He tinkedly-binkledy-winkled a bell

他就搖起他的鈴鐺叮鈴鈴

保證全世界誰(shuí)也不會(huì)聽不清。水手和軍官個(gè)個(gè)都掉眼淚，

望著他快游到對(duì)岸的小后背——

“他去捕魚，為阿姨喬布斯卡那只深紅胡須的貓，長(zhǎng)著三叉嘴！”（四）

可就在他馬上游到頭，

布里斯托海峽藍(lán)幽幽，

一只海綠色的鼠海豚拿走了他鼻子上的法蘭絨小布兜。他低頭朝自己的腳上瞧，

滿面愁容傷心得不得了，

從前漂亮整齊的腳指頭，

突然間，全都不見了?。ㄎ澹?/p>

沒有誰(shuí)能說出來，

從那黑暗的一天到現(xiàn)在，

到底是誰(shuí)偷走了泡伯的腳趾頭，

那偷竊的手法令人郁悶又奇怪。

是小蝦米還是灰色的小龍蝦，或是那美人魚神秘又狡猾，

當(dāng)時(shí)無人知，現(xiàn)在也無人曉

那十個(gè)腳趾頭如何被搶走了！（六）

泡伯的腳趾頭沒有了，

快把他放進(jìn)舒服的樹皮筏；And they rowed him back， and carried him up，To his Aunt Jobiska’s Park.

樹皮筏劃啊劃，送泡伯回家，交給阿姨喬布斯卡。

阿姨為他做大餐，全依他心愿，

毛茛花和小魚跟雞蛋來煎一煎；

她說：“普天之下誰(shuí)不知道，沒有腳趾頭，泡伯快樂無邊?！?/p>

不過，至于詩(shī)歌的意義是什么，奉勸一頭霧水的讀者千萬不要細(xì)想：腳趾頭和小鼻頭有什么關(guān)系呢？泡伯的阿姨喬布斯卡憑什么說：“泡伯的腳趾頭當(dāng)然不會(huì)丟，只要他照顧好他的小鼻頭?！彼龖{什么說這是“眾所周知”的呢？我怎么就不知道呢？還有，到底是誰(shuí)偷走了泡伯的腳趾頭呢？而且，泡伯究竟是誰(shuí)呢？是人還是小妖怪？或許答案就在聲音里，聲音就是邏輯，聲音就是意義！所以，不妨請(qǐng)你把詩(shī)中的幾個(gè)關(guān)鍵詞——Pobble、toe、nose，再大聲讀一讀，連起來讀，就全明白了。

為了在譯文中復(fù)制原詩(shī)的音樂效果，譯者嘗試動(dòng)用各種諧音字，“泡伯”“腳趾頭”“小鼻頭”“小布兜”，等等。為了傳達(dá)原詩(shī)的節(jié)奏感和幽默感，在無法對(duì)譯的情況下，譯者也適當(dāng)調(diào)整了句式和字詞，比如Fish fi ddle de-dee譯作“無厘頭”，在不得已時(shí)，還添加了個(gè)別詞語(yǔ)，比如“藍(lán)幽幽”?？傊?，希望讀者無論讀英文還是中文，即使不是笑出聲來，至少也要會(huì)心微笑。畢竟，胡話詩(shī)就是為了引人發(fā)笑的。

不過呢，“胡話詩(shī)”把玩文字和聲音，一任天真，且音樂感極強(qiáng)，容易記誦，倒不失為學(xué)習(xí)和親近語(yǔ)言的最佳途徑，為日后成為一個(gè)敏感的讀者和作家打下良好基礎(chǔ)?；蛟S不經(jīng)意之間，你已然經(jīng)由“胡話”進(jìn)入語(yǔ)詞的密林深處，有時(shí)跌跌撞撞，有時(shí)曲徑通幽，有時(shí)騰空飛躍。 □

1“復(fù)旦大學(xué)文學(xué)翻譯工作坊·奇境譯坊”主持人。發(fā)表譯著多部。近年來主攻英美詩(shī)歌，主編“北極光詩(shī)歌譯叢”“童詩(shī)金庫(kù)”“世界詩(shī)歌批評(píng)本”等。本文中的詩(shī)歌均由王柏華及其女兒周天美諾（11歲，就讀復(fù)旦附屬小學(xué)五年級(jí)）共同翻譯。