《埃里汪奇游记》(节选)精彩翻译

生活总是喜欢和很多艺术家们开玩笑，以至他们身前默默无闻，身后却得赞誉。英国作家塞缪尔。巴特勒的情况也正是如此，在世期间，他自费印书，亏损了将近1000磅，销量最多时也仅有五六百册。他去世后，人们惊奇地发现，他的作品原来是这么有趣。连戏剧大师萧伯纳都评价巴特勒，说他是“19世纪后半期英国最伟大的作家”。译言的小伙伴们此番再译巴特勒名作《埃里汪奇游记》，一起来体验他笔下叹为观止的荒诞世界。

精彩片段：

节选自《埃里汪奇游记》第二十四章《机器之书（续）》

"What a new thing it is for a machine to feed at all！ The plough， the spade， and the cart must eat through man's stomach； the fuel that sets them going must bum in the fumace of a man or of horses. Man must consume bread and meat or he can-not dig； the bread and meat are the fuel which drive the spade. If a plough be drawn by horses， the power is supplied by grass or beans or oats， which being bumt in the belly of the cattle give the power of working： without this fuel the work would cease， as an engine would stop if its fumaces were to go out.

"A man of science has demonstrated 'that no animal has the power of orig-mating mechanical energy， but that all the work done in its life by any animal， and all the heat that has been emitted from it， and the heat which would be ob-tained by buming the combustible matter which has been lost from its body during life， and by buming its body after death， make up altogether an exact equivalent to the heat which would be obtained by buming as much food as it has used during its life， and an amount of Nel which would generate as much heat as its body if bumed immediately after death.I do not know how he has found this out， but he is a man of science-how then can it be objected against the future vitality of the machines that they are， in their present infancy， at the beck and call of beings who are themselves incapable of originafng mechanical energy？.

"The main point， however， to be observed as affording cause for alarm is， that whereas animals were formerly the only stomachs of the machines， there are now many which have stomachs of their own， and consume their food themselves. This is a great step towards their becoming， if not animate， yet something so near akin to it， as not to differ more widely from our own life than animals do from vegetables. And though man should remain， in some respects， the higher creature， is not this in accordance with the practice of nature， which allows supenonty in some things to animals which have， on the whole， been long surpassed？ Has she not allowed the ant and the bee to retain supenonty over man in the organisation of their communi-ties and social arrangements， the bird in traversing3 the air， the fish in swimming， the horse in strength and fleetness， and the dog in self-sacrifice？"

译文：

“机器也要吃饭，这是多么新奇的事！耕犁、铁锹、马车都要通过人来吃饭。驱动它们的燃料必须要在人或马的体内燃烧。人必须要吃面包和肉，否则就不能翻土。面包和肉为铁锹提供动力。若是耕犁由马匹拉动，动力就由草、豆子和麦麸提供，这些食物在马肚子里消化，提供工作的力量：没有这些燃料，工作就没法进行，如同炉子熄灭后，引擎就无法工作一样。

“一位科学界人士说过‘动物不能产生机械能量，但任何动物一生做所的功、做功释放的热量、其身体释放出的全部可燃物的热量以及死后燃烧其躯体释放的热量，加起来等于它一生从食物中获得的全部热量加上死后立即燃烧其躯体所产生的热量。’我不知道他是怎么发现这一点的，但他是科学界人士――这样怎么能说明机器将来不会有生命呢？尽管它们现在仍处于初级阶段，听命于不能产生机械能的生命。

“然而，最要提请人注意的一点是，以前只有动物是机器的肚子，现在很多机器有了自己的肚子，可以自己消化食物。对机器来说，这是为变得有生命，或者接近有生命的状态迈出了一大步。这样机器和我们的区别就像动物和植物的区别了。尽管人类在某方面仍是高级生物，难道允许某些东西比动物优越违背了自然法则吗？其实大体上它们早已优于动物。就像难道大自然不承认蚂蚁和蜜蜂在社会结构和社交秩序上优于人类吗？鸟可以翱翔天空，鱼可以畅游水中，马拥有力量和速度，狗有自我牺牲的精神，这些不都优于人类吗？”

分析：

英文原文有两个特点，一是长难句，二是有“no”开头的句子。应对长难句最有效的方法是断句分析，之后调整语序；而在翻译“no”开头的句子时，可以把译文转换为肯定句。

《埃里汪奇游记》简介

作者塞缪尔・巴特勒（Samuel Butler），于1872年在英国出版，描述一个英格兰人的一次奇妙经历，他为发财而远寻一片适合畜牧的荒地。历尽艰辛，主人翁最终到达一个名为埃里汪的国家。这个国家的法规和习俗与其他国家有许多分别，主人翁记下了埃里汪的风土人情和一些主要观点，如他们对机器、未知人生和死亡的看法。作者在书中多用讽刺和颠倒逻辑的手法来反映维多利亚时代的现象，因此这段旅程蕴合作者对当时社会的看法和感受，发人深省，耐人寻味。