士紳風貌 (翻譯練習)

Maugham, The Portrait of a Gentleman
毛姆, 先生之風

I arrived in Seoul towards evening and after dinner, tired by the long railway journey from Peking, to stretch my cramped legs I went for a walk.

(拙譯) 人到漢城, 天色已經挨晚, 由北京坐長途火車過來, 一路顛簸勞頓, 吃過晚飯遂出外走走, 一舒久跼的雙腿.

(陳以侃譯) 到首爾的時候，天都快暗了， 從北京啟程的火車坐得太累， 為了活動一下發麻的雙腿，出去散了散步。

I wandered at random along a narrow and busy street. The Koreans in their long white gowns and their little white top-hats were amusing to look at and the open shops displayed wares that arrested my foreign eyes.

隨興沿一條狹窄的街道信步而行, 路上人來人往. 韓國人穿一身素白長袍, 頭戴白笠濶邊窄筒, 真箇清奇好看; 店舖門面敞開的, 擺出各色器物, 引得我這個異國人, 件件注目.

(陳以侃譯) 這條窄路是我隨便選的，卻還頗為繁榮， 來來去去的韓國人穿著他們的白色長衫， 帶著他們那種 白色的小帽子，看著有些好玩， 而從店門外就可以看得到很多銷售的貨品，時常能讓我這雙外國眼睛移不開。

Presently I came to a second-hand bookseller's and catching sight of shelves filled with English books went in to have a look at them.

當下來到一間舊書店, 見有好幾架英文書, 便走進去觀瞻.

I glanced at the titles and my heart sank. They were commentaries on the Old Testament, treatises on the Epistles of St. Paul, sermons and lives of divines doubtless eminent, but whose names were unfamiliar to me; I am an ignorant person.

眼瞪瞪望著書名, 心下直沉. 都是些舊約聖經註釋, 聖保羅書信講疏, 還有好幾部聖人講章生平, 那些聖人自然是赫赫有名的大人物無疑, 可是大名我卻一概未聞------恕小子孤漏.

I supposed that this was the library of some missionary whom death had claimed in the midst of his labours and whose books then had been purchased by a Japanese bookseller. The Japanese are astute, but I could not imagine who in Seoul would be found to buy a work in three volumes on the Epistle to the Corinthians.

想來這批書應是某傳教士的藏書, 其人殁於任所, 整批書由日本書商買下. 那日本人眼明手快收得好貨, 只是在漢城, 不曉得何來覓到主顧, 會有人願意買下三大冊哥林多人書專論.

But as I was turning away, between volume two and volume three of this treatise I noticed a little book bound in paper. I do not know what induced me to take it out. It was called the Complete Poker Player and its cover was illustrated with a hand holding four aces. I looked at the title-page. The author was Mr. John Blackbridge, actuary and counseller-at-law, and the preface was dated 1879.

正要轉身離去, 卻瞥見第二第三冊之間, 夾著一本薄薄的小冊子, 不期然抽了出來. 書名撲克玩家一本通 (撲克手法大全), 封面繪的是一隻手拿著四條煙. 作者叫約翰白碧治, 保險精算師兼律師, 序言寫於 1879 年.

I wondered how this work happened to be among the books of a deceased missionary and I looked in one or two of them to see if I could find his name. Perhaps it was there only by accident. It may be that it was the entire library of a stranded gambler and had found its way to those shelves when his effects were sold to pay his hotel bill.

這本小書何以會夾雜於已故傳教士的藏書之中, 惹人遐想. 翻了翻一兩頁, 希圖窺見傳教士的署名. 或者由來不過巧合, 恰好有個賭徒, 全屋之書僅此一本, 偶然手緊要賣掉長物來付客棧的房錢, 書就陰差陽錯流落到架上.

But I preferred to think that it was indeed the property of the missionary and that when he was weary of reading divinity he rested his mind by the perusal of these lively pages. Perhaps somewhere in Korea, at night and alone in his mission-house, he dealt innumerable poker hands in order to see for himself whether you could really only get a straight flush once in sixty-five thousand hands.

可是我寧可認為, 書是傳教士所有; 每當經課倦懷, 他總翻開這本生龍活虎的小書來細細品讀, 養神遣悶. 也許在韓國某處某夜, 他獨坐教士館中, 把手上的撲克牌洗了無數趟, 為的就是要印證, 六萬五千手牌, 方得一副同花順.

But the owner of the shop was looking at me with disfavour so I turned to him and asked the price of the book. He gave it a contemptuous glance and told me I could have it for twenty sen. I put it in my pocket.

店主對我眈眈虎視, 於是我走過去, 問他那本書賣多少錢. 他鄙夷了我一眼, 說賣二十日元. 我就買下來, 放到口袋裡去.