《Agreement》（我的翻译诗兼拾得诗一首，拾得自我的《译想天开》，欲购请私我）

By Ouyang Yu

《Agreement》

英文最难译的地方，就是一个既无定冠词，也无不定冠词的字，我称为“裸字”。我发现，要想把裸字也赤裸裸地译出，几乎是办不到的。请看下文：

He could invoke, but never convincingly evoke, that great still frame of agreement. (Hughes, pp. 163-164)

这个“He”，指的是德·契里柯，而这个裸字，指的是“agreement”。

你说你怎么译吧？

当然，我没有给你上下文，也就是我说的“空文本”，你有理由拒绝翻或拒绝把它翻好。这个空文本很简单，该文前面的一段文字：“德·契里柯一直都在援引古典模式、寓言和插画。但他做不了的一件事，就是按照合乎古典艺术的方式，画出分寸感和确定感来。”

即便有了这一句交代，要译出“agreement”这一个字来，还是相当困难。且试译如下：

他可以乞灵于那个与古典遥相呼应，伟大而宁静的框架，但他画出的那个框架，却从未达到令人信服的地步。

是的，根据我对“空文本”的理解，我把这一个英文字，译成了“与古典遥相呼应”七个字。

奇怪吗？一点也不奇怪。不就是英一汉七吗？

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