文学巨擘张爱玲的英文如何？几篇短文便可见一斑
- 2014年04月08日15:34 来源：小站整理
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张爱玲从小就立志成为一名双语作家，成年后有相当多的作品先用英文发表，再译成中文。散文《更衣记》《洋人看京戏及其他》《中国人的宗教》《重返边城》如是，小说《秧歌》《赤地之恋》亦复如是。其中最早的一篇，写于1938年。据张子静所撰姐姐的传记称，“一九三八年初，将近旧历年的时候”，张爱玲从父亲家逃离。不久，将“被软禁的经过写成英文，投到《大美晚报》(Evening Post)发表”。六年以后，张爱玲成名，又在《私语》(载《天地》1944年10期)里重述一遍。
这种“双语重复书写”的奇特现象，展现出一个自由游弋于英语、汉语世界的，令人略感陌生的张爱玲，曾引发海外的“张学”研究者郑树森、王德威和刘绍铭等人的特别关注。如细究其原因，说穿了也不难理解，因为张爱玲从小就有双语学习的经历。不过在印象中，张爱玲并不愿多谈早年的求学经历。1939年，远在香港大学读书的张爱玲，应《西风》杂志征文，投去短文《天才梦》，自述三岁背唐诗、七岁写小说，九岁决心当钢琴家。这一切，给读者留下强烈的早慧形象，同时似乎刻意隐没去在校期间那份应有的执着与勤奋。至于那隐讳的态度之所以如此强烈，想来大概缘于这段经历是张爱玲记忆中的软肋，其间父母离异，父亲再娶，她又搞僵了与继母的关系。
文学史上，好多作家成名后，常悔其少作。张爱玲不仅并不例外，而且对于少作被挖掘“出土”，深恶痛绝。此前，陈子善先生从1937年《凤藻》年刊中，找到并中译过两篇张爱玲的英文习作，分别是“My Great Expectations”(《心愿》)和“Sketches of Some Shepherds”(《牧羊者素描》)。但据宋以朗先生《张爱玲没有写的文章》(载《南方都市报》2013.7.9)引1990年张爱玲给其父的信，称：“中国时报转载校刊上我最讨厌的一篇英文作文，一看都没看就扔了……”态度之决绝，简直令人瞠目结舌。这也使笔者一开始不无顾虑，但考虑到这些毕竟是“祖师奶奶”文学生涯起步期难得的佳构，虽然会被认作钱锺书所说的发掘文墓的考订家，可我自信它们对热爱张爱玲的读者、研究张爱玲的学者来说，不会没有意义。至少能丰富大家对张爱玲早期阅读史的了解，以及加深对其英文虚构能力的认知。而所有这些新增的样本，如能引发更多热议，则善莫大焉。
此外，笔者起初有意将两篇文章译成中文，但鉴于眼下熟习英文者众多，何况张爱玲文笔高妙，为免弄巧成拙，还是原样奉上为妥。好了，闲话少絮，请品鉴花季年华的张爱玲的英文习作——
The Sun Parlor
My favourite spot in St. Mary's Hall is the Sun Parlor. It gives me the same impression as its name; a warm， bright room constantly filled with sunshine. It is a rectangular room. The walls are painted in white， but the lower half of them is hidden behind a cover of black wood. In the middle of the room there is a long black table， and around it are many chairs. These are prepared for the girls to have a chance for reading newspapers. In one corner of the room there is a wooden box placed on the shelf. This belongs to the Phoenix Broad， and every girl has the privilege of putting her own themes in it. The box is locked， and we always dream of how we would open this mysterious box and see the things within. On the wall there hang many interesting pictures and records that attract girls' attention every time they pass the Sun Parlor. The room is very bright， because one side of it faces the big glass door that leads to the school gate， and one side of it is composed of three glass doors which face the school garden. Sunlight can reach the room in both directions. When we stand before the glass door， we can see the whole view of our lovely school garden. In winter afternoons， when the pale yellow sunlight lies lazily on the stone ground， we sit beside the steam heaters， with newspapers in our hands. We feel nice and warm and pleasant， and thoroughly enjoy the charm of the "Sun Parlor".
TSANG AI-LING， 1937
The School Rats Have a Party
In our school there is a beautiful lady rat named Miss Black. She is very stylish and famous， so that all the rats know her. She married a great gentleman named Mr. Brown on saturday. That night they were very happy， all their friends and relatives came to the party. Miss Black wore a pretty long dress，and a white long veil on her head. It made her black face and body more black. Mr. Brown has two little brown eyes， and little black whiskers. When their wedding was finished， they gave a feast and danced and sang. The guests and ladies danced with their little boots and little high heeled shoes as loudly as they could， but no student heard it， because it was midnight and they were fast asleep.
Next morning， I rose very early and went down the stairs to take a walk. When I passed the doorway， suddenly I heard a noisy voice， then I peeked in at the door. When I saw the happy party， how surprised I was! I cried， "See! See! The rats have a party!" Maybe my voice was too loud for the rats all stood up and took their feast and quickly ran to their home.
TSANG AI-LING， 1937
