中译英｜《乡土中国》之“男女有别”

2024-04-23 00:04

【原文】

乡土社会不需要创造新的社会关系，社会关系是生下来就决定的。它更害怕社会关系的破坏，因为乡土社会所求的是稳定。它是阿波罗式的。男女间的关系必须有一种安排，使他们之间不发生激动性的感情。那就是男女有别的原则。“男女有别”是认定男女间不必求同，在生活上加以隔离。这隔离非但是有形的，所谓男女授受不亲，而且还是在心理上的，男女只在行为上按着一定的规则经营分工合作的经济和生育的事业，他们不向对方希望心理上的契洽。

【翻译版】

Rural society needs no creation of new social relations, which have been fixed on birth. Rural society seeks stability and fears the destruction of relationships. It is Apollonian. The relationship between men and women must be arranged so that their emotions are not passionate. That is the principle of being only differences between men and women. “Only differences between men and women” believes that the common ground is not necessary and there should be a distance between them. Not only in physical isolation, which means body contact is not allowed, but in mental separation, men and women should cooperate in economics and family business according to a special set of rules but not communicate between minds.

【校对版】

In rural society, social relationships are not created by people, but predetermined from birth. Rural society fears the disruption of primal social relations as it seeks stability. It is Apollonian. Some arrangement must be set between men and women, preventing them to have passionate feelings of each other. The arrangement is based on the policy ‘men and women are different’, which determines it’s not necessary for men and women to seek common ground. On the contrary, there should be a separation in their life. The separation is not only physical, as seen in the Chinese saying ‘men and women should not get too close’, but also psychological. Men and women only engage in economic and reproductive cooperation according to certain rules, without seeking psychological intimacy with each other.

【官方译文】

Rural society does not allow the Faustian spirit. Rural society does not need to create new social relationships. Social relationships are fixed from the time of birth. Rural society seeks stability, so it fears the destruction of social relationships. It is Apollonian. The relationship between men and women must be arranged so that their emotional states are not erratic. That is what the principle "Between men and women, there are only differences" actually means. One need not seek an underlying commonality between men and women; between them, there should be some distance. This distancing is clearly present in the prescription "There should be no intimacy in the interaction between men and women." This distancing is not just physical but also psychological. Although they act in concert, men and women should manage their respective economic and reproductive activities by strictly following assigned rules of behavior. They should not hope to achieve mental or emotional harmony with each other.

翻译组：

VeRy，男，电气民工，经济学人资浅爱好者

校对组：

Xiao，富春江小翻译

Lora，一只庸俗的骡，一只脱离了高级趣味的骡

解析组：

Lora，一只庸俗的骡，一只脱离了高级趣味的骡

【翻译解析】

1，乡土社会不需要创造新的社会关系，社会关系是生下来就决定的。个人认为两种译法都可以，翻译版顺理成章用了定语从句。校对版用乡土社会做状语，将意思显化了，降低了理解难度。

2，使他们之间不发生激动性的感情。preventing them to have passionate feelings of each other.现在分词做目的状语。

3，男女有别 Men and women are different.翻译简单明了

4，这隔离非但是有形的，所谓男女授受不亲，而且还是在心理上的（此处断句）。有形的隔离指不能发生肢体接触，无形的隔离则是心理上的。

5，心理上的隔离就是只分工合作，不在精神上寻求和谐融洽。契洽相关的词有Harmony, Intimacy, Amity等。

6，本文的翻译难处在于对原文的理解。

注释：

1，本章节前文对“阿波罗式”vs“浮士德式”及对应的“乡土社会”vs“现代社会”的介绍：

Oswald Spengler在“西方陆沈论”里曾说西洋曾有两种文化模式：一种他称作阿波罗式的Apollonian；一种他称作浮士德式的Faustian。阿波罗式的文化认定宇宙的安排有一个完善的秩序，这个秩序超于人力的创造，人不过是去接受它，安于其位，维持它；但是人连维持它的力量都没有，天堂遗失了，黄金时代过去了。这是西方古典的精神。现代的文化却是浮士德式的。他们把冲突看成存在的基础，生命是阻碍的克服；没有了阻碍，生命也就失去了意义。他们把前途看成无尽的创造过程，不断改变。

这两种文化观很可以用来了解乡土社会和现代社会在感情定向上的差别。乡土社会是阿波罗式的，而现代社会是浮士德式的。这两套精神的差别也表现在两种社会最基本的社会生活里。

2，奥斯瓦德·斯宾格勒(Oswald Spengler,1880—1936)，德国著名历史学家、历史哲学家，其主要著作有《西方的没落》、《普鲁士的精神与社会主义》、《人与技术》等。

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