“缘分”是所谓命中注定的人与人遇合的机缘。英译“缘分”(亦作“天缘”)以及“有缘”、“无缘”常用的英文词有fate, luck, lot, destiny 等。请看几个例子:
1.富贵功名,前缘分定。(《西游记》)
Wealth and honor, glory and fame, are predetermined by fate. (W.J.F. Jenner 译)
2.宝玉问香菱为何薛蟠相亲定下了金桂,香菱笑道:“一则是天缘,二来是‘情人眼里出西施’。”(《红楼梦》)
It’s partly fate, and partly a case of "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."(杨宪益、戴乃迭 译)
3. 王婆为了撮合西门庆和潘金莲,故意问前者是不是妻子死后,没有别的女人他中意的。西门庆争辩说:”做甚么了便没?只恨我夫妻缘分上薄,自不撞着!“(《水浒》)
Who says there isn’t? It’s just that my marriage luck has been bad. I’ve never met the right one. (S. Shapiro 译)
4. 她无缘,小生薄命。 (《西厢记》)
She lacks the karma; I’m out of luck. (S. H. L. Idema 译)
5.[刘备送别徐庶时说]备分浅缘薄,不能与先生相聚。(《三国演义》)
My meager lot, my partly destiny keep us from remaining together.( M. Robers 译)
6.[杜慎卿向季苇萧诉说自己没有知心朋友]只为缘悭分浅,遇不着一个知己,所以对月伤怀,临风洒泪!(《儒林外史》)
But I have not been lucky enough to find a true friend, and that is why I so often give way to melancholy! (杨宪益、戴乃迭 译)
7.[方鸿渐看不中张小姐,心中暗说]“我你他”小姐,咱们没有“举碗[案]齐眉”的缘分,希望另有好运气的人来爱上您。(《围城》)
Miss Wo-Ni-Ta, we just weren’t meant to "raise the bowl to the eyebrows." I hope some other lucky guy falls in love with you. (J. Kelly、 N. K. Mao 译)
可以看出,以上句子里的中心词都含有“命运”的意识,英译亦然。《围城》一例所mean,据New World Dictionary 等词典的解释也有 to destine or seem to destine 的意思,颇为妥帖。
然而,“缘分”等词和命运的关联在有的用法里变得淡化了,甚至完全消失了。它只是泛指一种机遇或者机会。所以M. Roberts翻译《三国演义》的以下两句,用的词语和上边英译句子中的相应部分不同:
8.[刘备二顾草芦时误认诸葛均为为诸葛亮,说]备久慕先生,无缘拜会。
Your talents and your virtue have ever been the objects of my esteem. But I have not had the honour of being presented to you.
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