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2011/07/28

老外翻譯《三字經》 (轉貼)


中國儒家的蒙學名著《三字經》,作者是誰?眾說紛紜,一般歸之於宋人王應麟。

全書三字一句,言簡意賅,但不加注釋,有的句子今之漢人也未必理解,何況老外。
以下的英譯,顯然是故意誤讀,又不得不讚賞譯者穿鑿附會得有譜:

人之初 ( At the beginning of life),
性本善 ( Sex is good) 。
性相近 ( Basically, all sex are the same),
習相遠 ( But it depends on how you do it) 。
苟不教 ( If you do not practice all the time),
性乃遷 ( Sex will leave you) 。
教之道 ( The way of learning it) ,
貴以專 ( It is very important to be faithful to one partner)。
昔孟母 ( Once the great mother, Mrs. Meng) ,
擇鄰處 ( Choose her neighborhood to avoid bad influence) ,
子不學 ( If her son doesn't learn it hard) ,
斷機杼 ( His organ will be cut off) 。
竇燕山 ( The famous Mr. Dou) ,
有義方 ( Owned a very effective prescription) ,
教五子 ( All his five sons took his exciting medicine) ,
名俱揚 ( And their sexual ability were well known) 。
養不教 ( If your children don't know how to do it) ,
父之過 ( It is the father's fault) ;
教不嚴 ( If they are not teach in a serious manner) ,
師之惰 ( Their teacher must be too lazy to tell them the details) 。
子不學 ( You may refuse to study this) ,
非所宜 ( But that’s a real mistake) 。
幼不學 ( If you don't learn it in childhood) ,
老何為 ( You will lose your ability when you get old) ?
玉不琢 ( If you don't exercise your organ) ,
不成器 ( It won't become hard and strong) ;
人不學 ( If you don't learn sex) ,
不知義 ( You can't enjoy its true meaning) 。

孔夫子若在生,看得懂英文的話,肯定吹鬚睩眼,指譯者讀壞書而删之。

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