卡森·麦卡勒斯《伤心咖啡馆之歌》片断

Moderato

《伤心咖啡馆之歌》片断
卡森·麦卡勒斯

原文是我自己输入的，没有对校过……

The Twelve Mortal Men

The Forks Falls highway is three miles from the town, and it is here the chain-gang has been working. The road is of macadam, and the country decided to patch up the rough places and widen it at a certain dangerous place. The gang is made up of twelve men, all wearing black-and-white-striped prison suits, and chained at the ankles. There is a guard with a gun, his eyes drawn to red slits by the glare. The gang works all the day long, arriving huddled in the prison cart soon after daybreak, and being driven off again in the grey August twilight. All day there is the sound of picks striking into the clay earth, hard sunlight, the smell of sweat. And every day there is music. One dark voice will start a phrase, halfsung, and like a question. And after a moment another voice will join in, soon the whole gang will be singing. The voices are dark in the golden glare, the music intricately blended, both sombre and joyful. The music will swell until at last it seems that the sound does not come from the twelve men on the gang, but from the earth itself, or wide sky. It is music that causes the heart to broaden and the listener to grow cold with ecstasy and fright. The slowly the mucic will sink down until at last there remains one lonely voice, then a great hoarse breath, the sun, the sound of the picks in the silence.

And what kinds of gang is this that can make such music? Just twelve mortal men, seven of them black and five of them white boys from this country. Just twelve mortal men who are together.


十二个将死的人

    叉子瀑布公路离小镇有三英里远，囚犯正在这里做苦工。这里的路是碎石铺成的，村里决定把凹凸的部分修平整，并拓宽某些危险的地方。苦工的队伍由十二个男人组成，他们都穿着黑白条纹的囚服，脚踝被锁链锁起来。这里有个带枪的守卫，他的双眼由于过分的瞪视而被拉成两条红色的裂口。队伍从早干到晚，拂晓时挤在一辆大卡车里由监狱里送来，然后在八月昏暗的暮色中再乘车回去。挖凿地面的声音整天响个不停，烈日下弥漫着汗的气味。这儿每天却倒也有歌声。一个阴沉的声音响起，提问似的唱出半句。过了一会儿，又出现另一个声音。不久，整队人都在唱歌。那声音在金光闪耀中显得更加低沉，歌曲也不挺的变化，有沉重的，也欢乐的。歌声慢慢膨胀，最后简直不象是那十二个男人发出的，而象是地球本身、又或是辽阔的天空发出的乐音。这是能够使人心胸开阔的音乐，能让听者入迷、吃惊而浑身颤抖。渐渐，歌声变小，直到最后只剩下一个孤独的声音，然后，安静中只剩下嘶哑的呼吸，阳光和挖凿的声音。
    可是，怎样的苦工队伍能够发出如此的歌声呢？只是十二个将死的人，村里的七个黑人和五个白人。只是在一起的十二个将死的人。

寒一鱼

这是the ballad of the sad cafe 的结尾……具体我也说不出来，只是觉得有些细节翻译得不够流畅……不过比我强……个人意见

Moderato

是啊..我只会直译..由于个人水平问题..有的句子感觉很难用中文表达出来..看了这段原文再回头看看李文俊(是李文俊吧?)的翻译,,感觉他好象译得太轻松了..好象没什么沉重的感觉..