静心的妙招The Secret of Inner Peace

高冬梅

几个朋友1钻进我的书房，看到墙上高高悬挂着“静心巢2”三个字，或不解，或抨击，说人家舞文弄墨之人3，给自己书房起的名字都是阁、轩、榭、斋、辕、室之类4，你怎么用了个巢啊？

巢，在字典里的意思是：一是“鸟在木上曰巢”，二是比喻盗匪盘踞的地方。我没干过偷盗打劫之事5，盗匪自然跟我不搭边;“鸟在木上”，一只在树上筑巢栖息的小鸟，倒是跟我有关。

在寸土寸金的都市里，我很多年都没找到栖身的地方。有时，我甚至想：就不该把自己塞进都市里来。便时常想念起自己的乡村之巢。6那巢是父亲用粗糙的双手一砖一瓦地筑起来的。当初，他没有想过这巢里的雏燕7将来要飞向哪里，他只是想，他是父亲，是父亲就要为孩子筑巢。

现在，那巢已经有些破旧了，尽管这样，它仍旧在抗击着风霜雨雪的袭击。守卫者不是长大的小燕，仍是老燕。老燕曾对小燕说，既然长大8了，就要飞得高些、遠些。于是，小燕想筑新的巢。

心诚所至。9经过几年的打拼，在这钢筋水泥的丛林里，终于有了一个属于我自己的巢，却不甚满意，因为巢并非净土10。书房的窗外便是喧闹的农贸市场，吆喝声此起彼伏，更有远处汽车的噪音充斥于耳。老公说，嫌吵，就把窗帘拉上。我苦笑不已，窗帘可以挡住视线，却挡不住不安的心啊。这次，老公没有揶揄我，也没让我拿棉花塞住耳朵，出人意料地说了句很“文学”的话：“你关上心门，心就静了。”

“关上心门，心就静了！”心静一样可以免受闹市的干扰，于是，兴冲冲地跑进书房，在一张宣纸上写下“静心巢”三个字。静心巢，我默默重复着这个名字，心，燕雀般地飞扬起来……11

Some visiting friends were puzzled by and even found fault with the name I gave to my study： Jing Xin Chao （Nest of Inner Peace）， which was written on a piece of rice paper hung high on the wall. They argued that a real man of letters should have a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation rather than calling it a nest.

Chao is defined as follows in the dictionary： first， a place where a bird perches in a tree; and second， a metaphor for a bandit hideout. I was born a law-abiding person who， absolutely， has nothing to do with a bandit hideout. But the first definition indeed appertains to me.

In this city where every inch is gold， I couldn’t settle down until after many years. Sometimes， the more I regretted to have forced myself into the city， the more I would miss my humble home in the countryside. For me， that was a nest my father built with his two calloused hands， brick by brick and tile by tile. At that time， he never gave a thought to where his child might one day settle down; his only idea was that as a father， he ought to build a nest for his child.

Although that weather-beaten nest has already got a bit rundown， it still stands firm. Its caretaker is not the grown-up child but her father who once said to her， “Since you’re fully-fledged， the sky is the limit.” So the child began to dream of building a new nest of her own.

Just as the old saying goes， “Hard work always pays off.” After many years of struggle， in the midst of this dense forest of scaffolding， I finally had a nest of my own. However， I wasn’t completely satisfied with my nest for it couldn’t be called a real place of inner peace： outside the window of my study was a noisy market， and the shouts of stall keepers and even the noises of distant cars almost pierced through my ears. My husband told me to close the curtains when I felt disturbed. I made a helpless smile， “The curtains can block my sight， but they cannot shut off a restless heart！” At this point， my husband didn’t mock at me or tell me to get earplugs， but came up with a very profound remark： “Close the door of your mind， and you will reach the inner peace”， which was rather unexpected to me.

“Close the door of your mind， and you will have the inner peace！” If your mind is at peace， then you can avoid being disturbed by the noisy fair. I ran into the study in delight， and inscribed Jing Xin Chao， three Chinese characters on a piece of xuan paper. I repeated this name for my study in a low voice over and over when my heart， like a merry swallow， felt like soaring…

1“幾个朋友”在此处译为some visiting friends，visiting一词的增译既是对原文深刻理解后的再还原，亦简洁凝练地反映出朋友来访作者书房的事实。  2“静心巢”在此处采用了拼音加括号内解释的译法，作为首次出现在文中的核心专有名词，此译法兼顾音与义，使译文更为准确。  3“舞文弄墨之人”一般可译成a man who shows off / plays with literary skill，但这里不妨译为a real man of letters，以对应下文作者给书房定名时选择“静”“心”“巢”三字的由来和寓意。  4在译文中，“阁、轩、榭、斋、辕、室之类” 笼统地译为了a study with a tasteful and graceful appellation，原因在于这几个字在此处的字典意并无太大分别，而是为了突出一种文雅感，译者抽取这些词的共通点进行适当的意译、整合，也不失为一种选择。  5若将“我没干过偷盗打劫之事”简单地译为I haven’t done any robbery一类的动宾结构，只是做到了词语层面的对应，却忽略了原文的艺术和文体色彩。反话正说，be born一词的运用将作者的情感色彩传递得贴切又传神。

6“就不该”一词隐藏着一种懊悔的情绪和一个已经完成的动作，故在此译为regret to have forced。而对于“有时，我甚至想：就不该把自己塞进都市里来。便时常想念起自己的乡村之巢。”这两句话的翻译，译者选择使用the more... the more...结构来处理这两个互为因果影响的句子，符合原文的逻辑关系。  7“这巢里的雏燕”显然是一种比喻，“巢”实际指的是家，“雏燕”指的是孩子，故不妨译为his child。  8“长大”一般译为grow up，但此处鉴于上文提及的“老燕”“小燕”和下文提及的“飞得高些、远些”，不妨将该词理解为“羽翼丰满”之意，故译为fully-fledged。  9“心诚所至”可以联想到成语“精诚所至，金石为开”，二者原意都强调人的专心诚意。联系下文可以发现，该词语在此处实际上指的是“不懈的打拼和奋斗”，而不仅仅是“专心诚意”，故译成：Hard work always pays off.  10“净土”一词是佛教术语，一般专指阿弥陀佛国土，此处的“净土”指的是能让人达到心静的外在环境，通“静”之意。联系通篇文章以及作者为其书房所起的名字，所以译者将其处理为a real place of inner peace。

11“心，燕雀般地飞扬起来……”所暗含的是一种雀跃的心情和感觉，feel like一词恰有“感觉像是……”之意，正好贴合此处。另，对于“飞扬”一词的译法，译者并没有选择rise、fly upward等常见词，而是选用了soar，一是该词具有suddenly feel very happy and hopeful之意，二是它含有“翱翔;高飞”之意，契合本文的意象。