簡碧儀翻譯作品 & Amazon 推薦書 - Getting Closer to God's Voice 1985

簡碧儀最高學歷：清大英文系文學組碩士[1] 研究所考試錄取標準193.00，個人得分241.00。榜首錄取，研究所提早畢業。

Premchand’s The Gift of a Cow英翻中對照：

 ‘why do u go poking your nose into things you don’t understand? Just hand me my stick and get on with your own work. It’s thanks to all these visits of mine that we’re still alive. God knows what would have become of us otherwise. You know how many people here in the village have been thrown off their land or had their property taken away. When someone’s heel is on your neck, it’s best to keep licking his feet’

 

    「為什麼你要干涉你根本不會理解的事?總之把枴杖給我，繼續你手頭的工作。我們之所以還可以活著，都要感謝我不斷去拜訪地主；除非神知道我們將來會如何，你知道村里很多人的土地或財物都已經被沒收，如果某人踩著你的脖子，你最好繼續舔他的腳。我們的命在他的手上，他對我們的生命有決定權，我們就得謹守本分，繼續卑躬屈膝的過日子。」賀禮說。

 

Dhaniya was less sophisticated in these matters. They ploughed the land of the zamindar, so all he should care about was the rent. True. These twenty years of married life had tough her that however much she cut corners, skimped on food and clothes, and clung to every cowrie; it was still hard to pay the rent. But why should they have to flatter the landlord or lick his feet? She argued the question daily with her husband, refusing to admit defeat. Only three of their six children were still alive-Gobar, a boy about sixteen, and two girls- Sona, twelve and Rupa, eight. Three sons had died in fancy…Dhaniya still believed that medicines would –have saved them, but she’d been unable to afford even a pice worth.

 

    達妮雅對於這類的事相對較單純而無知，他們以佃農的身分幫地主耕地，所以賀禮礽在乎的是土地的租金。事實是，過去二十年的婚姻生活教導她，不論她在食物和衣服方面多麼勤儉克難，努力守住每一毛錢，他們仍然無力繳出土地的租金。但為什麼他們必須要卑微地去取悅他們的地主，甚至是舔他的腳? 她不甘於屈服而每日都和丈夫辯駁同樣的話題。

 

他們六個孩子當中，只有一半幸運存活下來。篝貝爾十六歲及兩個女孩，索娜十二歲及鄀芭八歲。他們另外三個兒子都在還是嬰兒的時候就回天乏術。達妮雅始終相信，若當時他們買的起藥，他們的孩子就可以存活下來。但可悲的是，他們當時手裡根本連一個印度銅幣都沒有。

 

 

She was not very old herself- just thirty six- but her hair was completely grey and her face wrinkled. Her body had grown weak, the wheat completion of her youth had turned dark brown, and her eyes had become dim- all because of the struggle for survival.Life had brought no joy- only a constant weariness which had worn away all concern for self-respect. Why bother with all this flattery for land that couldn’t even provide food for their stomachs?

 

    達妮雅的年紀僅僅才三十六歲，還說不上老，但她的髮已灰白，臉上佈滿皺紋，她的身體狀況一日不復一日，她年輕時小麥色的肌膚已經變得暗沉而黝黑，她的雙眼無神失去光澤，這一切都歸咎於生存的煎熬。生命被一連串馬不停蹄的疲憊佔據，沒有歡樂，困乏的生活洗去她原本保有的一絲自尊。為什麼要為了擁有土地而出賣自尊、賣笑奉承，且僅僅是一塊根本無法讓他們的肚子取得溫飽的一塊地?

 

Rebellion kept welling up in her heart-but then a few harsh words from her husband would jolt her back to reality. Defeated again, she brough Hori’s stick, jacket, turba, shoes and tobacco pouch and flung them down in front of him.

 

    反抗地主的想法持續在她的心裡滋長，甚至茁壯，但丈夫幾句嚴苛的話語就可以將她拉回殘酷不堪的現實中低頭。再次臣服，她提了賀禮礽的枴杖、外套、頭巾、鞋和烟草袋，甩到他的面前。

 

‘Not ones like you. Go look at your face in the mirror. Just how are you going to be lusty when you can’t even get enough milk and butter to make a few drops of ointment for your eyes? It scares me to see the condition you are in- makes me wonder how we’ll manage in our old age. Whose door will we beg at? ‘ His momentary mellowness vanished as though consumed in the flames of reality.

 

   「不會有人像你如此好色不羈！看看鏡中的你，看看你那雙乾枯缺乏潤澤的雙眼，你怎麼能夠如此春心蕩漾?看到你現在的處境讓我著實驚心! 不禁擔憂晚年要怎麼和你度過。我們又會向誰家的門口乞討?」賀禮礽剎那間的自在頓時瓦解，如同被現實的的火焰耗盡，瞬間泯沒消逝。」達妮雅說道。

 

‘I will never reach sixty, D’ he said, picking up his stick, I’ll be gone long before that.’ All right now, that’s enough’ D snapped. Don’t say such evil-omened thing. Even when someone speaks nicely to you, you can’t give a civil answer.

 

「我知道我活不過六十歲，我會早在六十歲前就離開這個世界了。」賀禮礽說著，撿起他的拐杖。達妮雅咬著這話題不放。「那倒也不要緊，活到這個歲數也就夠了。」達妮雅氣沖沖地說了。「不要說那麼惡毒的話! 即使別人跟你好言好語，你就是不能給一個禮貌文明一點的回應。」賀禮說。

 

‘His despairing words had shacked her already battered heart. Blessing for Hori welled up within her, inspired by all the devotion and self-sacrifice her womanhood could command. Her marriage was the one straw to which she clung in crossing the bottomless ocean of poverty. Hori’s thoughtless remark, thought close to the truth, had shaken her, threating to tear even that one feeble straw from her grasp. In fact it was the very truthfulness of the statement that made it so disturbing. The taunt’ Hey One-eye!’ hurts a one-eyed man more than it does a two eyed one.

 

賀禮用肩膀頂著他的拐杖，轉身離開了家。達妮雅站在門口看著他的背影好一會兒。他灰心的言語讓她已崩塌的心再次震動。她母性的那一面被激發，迫使她學會貢獻與自我犧牲。她心理不斷為賀禮祈禱，直到禱告溢湧而出。飄浮在深不可測無底貧困的大海裡，婚姻是她唯一可以握住的一根救命稻草。丈夫不經思考的話語，即使接近事實，仍使她心生戰慄，迫使她動念將手裡那根無力搖搖欲墜的稻草撕裂。這坦率而真實的表白卻擾亂了她的內心。話說，當奚落或嘲弄打在一個單眼人的身上，他承受的傷痛遠比一個雙眼人多得多。一個不幸的人對於惡意話語的承受度，遠低於常人。