As I lay Dying《我弥留之际》(六)(翻译系列59)
IT'S BECAUSE he stays out there,right under the window, hammering and sawing on that goddamn box. Where she's got to see him. Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See❶. See what a good one I am making for you.
就因他待在外面，紧挨窗下，既敲又锯，做那口破棺材，老娘肯定能看到。一窗之隔，她呼吸的频率，和他敲锯的声音，几近同步；一窗之隔，她看着他说“瞧”那句话。既是“瞧，我为你做了多好的一副棺材”。
I told him to go somewhere else. I said Good God do you want to see her in it. It's like when he was a little boy and she says if she had some fertilizer she would try to raise some flowers and he taken the bread pan and brought it back from the barn full of dung❷.
我告诉过他，去别处。我曾说：“老天也不愿看她躺在里面”。这就像他儿时一样，那时的她说“要是有肥料，就试着种点花”，于是，卡什就拿了烤面包平底锅，到马棚去装满锅的马粪回来。
And now them others sitting there,like buzzards. Waiting,fanning themselves. Because I said If you wouldn't keep on sawing and nailing at it until a man cant sleep even and her hands laying on the quilt like two of them roots dug up and tried to wash and you couldn't get them clean. I can see the fan and Dewey Dell's arm.
这会儿，其他人都坐在那，像秃鹰，一边等，一边摇扇子。因为我说过，你能否别又锯又钉，搞得别人睡不成，而她那两只手摊在被上，就像两条从土里挖出的树根，想洗，可你们怎么也洗不净。我能看见那扇子，以及杜威胳膊。
I said if you'd just let her alone. Sawing and knocking,and keeping the air always moving so fast on her face that when you're tired you cant breathe it,and that goddamn adze going One lick less. One lick less. One lick less until everybody that passes in the road will have to stop and see it and say what a fine carpenter he is.
我早就说过，你们还是让她安静一下。又锯又敲，让空气在脸上迅速流动；因为倘若你很累，你都不能呼吸。还有那该死的锛子，总差一锤子。总差一锤子。差一锤子，就使得每一个过路人，都必须停下来看看那口棺材，并且，称赞他是一个高明的木匠。
If it had just been me when Cash fell off of that church and if it had just been me when pa laid sick with that load of wood fell on him,it would not be happening with every bastard in the county❸ coming in to stare at her because if there is a God what the hell is He for.
要是从那教堂摔下的，不是卡什，而是我，那该多好；并且，要是让那车木头掉下来，压趴下的不是孩子爹，而是我，那该多好。那样，就不至于让村里的每个浑蛋，都进来瞪着眼看她；因为如果世上有老天，他到底在干嘛。
It would just be me and her on a high hill and me rolling the rocks down the hill faces and teeth and all by God until she was quiet and not that goddamn adze going One lick less❹. One lick less and we could be quiet.
老天若有眼，快把我和她送到一座山坡上，我来推动石块，让它们滚下山去砸那群家伙的脸、牙以及全身。要不是该死的锛子，总差那么一锤子，她就能耳根清净。要不是总差一锤子，我们也能耳根清净。
By William Faulkner威廉福克纳著
黄思明译
参考文献‖如侵立删
福克纳1‖如侵立删
福克纳2‖如侵立删
福克纳3‖如侵立删
按：
❶Where she's got to see him. Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See，译为“一窗之隔，她呼吸的频率，和他敲锯的声音，几近同步；一窗之隔，她看着他说“瞧”那句话。”很显然，我没有直译，原文用两个“where”，我却用了两个“一窗之隔”，当然也可以译作“在那里”，但是我“一窗之隔”来强调老妇人和儿子做棺材特别近，更能体现儿子的那种直率，儿子可不会考虑母亲这种心情，将死之人，外面却是给自己做官差的敲击声，自然就更加增加一种压力。
最近在继续阅读米奇·阿尔博姆的《相约星期二》，同样的面对死亡，《相约星期二》中的莫里教授能够坦然面对死亡，可这里的老妇人不是莫里教授，自然是没有教授的豁达与通透的智慧的。教授可是喊来记者采访，喊来学生上最后一堂课，那种发光发热到最后一刻，哪里是这篇小说中老妇人能够想象的。
是故，这一篇小说，我们就把老妇人当做普通人理解，正常人都害怕死亡，恐惧未知。所以，作者福克纳自然也就是要表现一种儿子直爽到不知道回避母亲此刻的心理恐惧。
❷It's like when he was a little boy and she says if she had some fertilizer she would try to raise some flowers and he taken the bread pan and brought it back from the barn full of dung.我暂时给它译为“这就像他儿时一样，那时的她说“要是有肥料，就试着种点花”，于是，柯什就拿了烤面包平底锅，到马棚去装满锅的马粪回来。”fertilizer是“肥料，化肥”，dung就是“动物粪便，粪肥”，两种都是肥，却被耿直boy的儿子捕捉到了，很有趣。这里描写不正好就是承接上一段，儿子耿直到在老娘床头下敲打制作棺材。
❸If it had just been me when Cash fell off of that church and if it had just been me when pa laid sick with that load of wood fell on him,it would not be happening with every bastard in the county……，翻译为“要是从那教堂摔下的，不是卡什，而偏是我，那该多好；并且，要是让那车木头掉下来，压趴下的不是老爹，而偏是我，那该多好。那样，就不至于让村里的每个浑蛋，都进来瞪着眼看她”。这里的county一般翻译为“县”，但是美国人少，一个县人口也就我们村镇的数量，如果我们中国人同样用县来理解，会让我们觉得很奇怪。所以我把它翻译成了“村”，只有同村的人才会那么八卦。
❹It would just be me and her on a high hill and me rolling the rocks down the hill faces and teeth and all by God until she was quiet and not that goddamn adze going One lick less.我讲它翻译为“老天若有眼，快把我和她送到一座山坡上，我来推动石块，让它们滚下山去砸那群家伙的脸、牙以及全身。要不是该死的锛子，总差那么一锤子，她就能耳根清净。”
这一句话，承接上一句质疑有老天这回事because if there is a God what the hell is He for(因为如果有老天，他到底在干嘛)，但是实际上就是，八卦的村民都来看猴子一样，所以作者才有这么一句“老天无眼”的感慨。中国人若是困难得到帮助，又或者渡过难关，总会说一句“真是苍天有眼啊！”这个欧美人的“God bless me”实在是有着异曲同工之妙。
