有一位路過的博客問，「為付思而讀之人」一句中，「付思」是否「思忖」之誤。栗子妹翻看筆記，證實抄錄無誤。此句抄自《嗜書癮君子》(Biblioholism)，是一部翻譯作品，栗子妹當時便想，會否是譯者弄錯？於是便到圖書館預約原著查看。
文句來自 Charles Caleb Colton 的著作 Lacon, or, Many Things in Few Words; Addressed to Those Who Think，引錄如下：
Some read to think, these are rare;
some to write, these are common;
and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.
看來，「付思」該是「付諸思考」的縮略語。單看二字，確實是怪，但放在文句中，又似乎可以接受 (起碼栗猜得到意思
付思為「付諸思考」之縮語甚妥：
回覆刪除為付思而讀，至為罕見；
為落筆而讀，頗為尋常。
兩句對偶工整，「付」與「落」皆為動詞，「思」與「筆」為名詞，「至為」與「頗為」；「罕見」與「尋常」。讀起上來亦鏗鏘，應是上佳的翻譯。
[版主回覆12/14/2009 20:58:00]謝謝乏言先生的解說 。我不懂詩詞 (從前學的全還了給中文老師 )，只覺得中文翻譯讀起來不錯，意思也好，便抄了在這裡，時刻提醒自己讀書是為何。
不過我得承認，被人質疑有錯時，曾懷疑過「付諸思考」這個詞組是否恰當。但中文不比英文詞組諸多限制，應是可行的吧？但就是找不到引證...
Honestly, I understand those simple English words in the original quote better than the Chinese translation. The Chinese translation seems to purposely try to use the more uncommon Chinese words in order to make it "讀起上來鏗鏘". I actually would think the "lower 文學level HK students" (as you sometime like to suggest) would understand the meaning easier in the original English than in the Chinese translation
回覆刪除[版主回覆12/20/2009 08:42:00]Yes, Kilo Kel. The English version is indeed easier to understand. However, if I were the translator, I would use uncommon words too, as rhythm matters most in poetry translation.