謹將本雜文獻給敬愛的黃雲生老師
對黃雲生老師的印象還在嗎?因為黃老師和 Yvette祖父長得有點像,Yvette上國文課是很認真的!黃老師也是【詩社】的指導老師,所以Yvette和老師見面的機會會多幾次。老師的活動挺多:唐詩賞析每日一詩抽背、每人一詩講解。活潑的同學輒有怨言,可是打小就呆板沒創意的Yvette 卻視之為每日最重要活動:上課前在白沙湖背詩等抽查好有趣!
元宵節時,老師應景寫燈謎讓我們猜。我們還把桌椅疊上來,整間教室都貼滿了謎語,好興奮!Yvette小時候常常蹲在鄉下小書店背這種謎語和答案,所以根本不必動腦費心忖度什麼「徐妃格」、「捲簾格」就知道答案。記得一題是「山在虛無縹緲間:打一字」Yvette 早就知道答案(答案是「四」。作弊嘛!不過那是小 Yvette 在小學六年級的時候自己猜出來的。)還故作沉思狀,然後揭謎回答。(不過我忘了我有沒有揭到這一題,請提醒我。)黃老師對於這個學生的愛現行為好像有點不知如何是好,在 Yvette 答了三題之後就急急拉她去打鼓(還是敲鑼?)唉呀!站在前面看著那麼多的題目都會,真是急死啦!現在回想起來,對於老師不著痕跡阻止Yvette 愛現的做法和寬容都非常佩服!
唐詩講解我已經忘了自己講解哪一首,但是恍惚記得凱凱講的是白居易的〈問劉十九〉。因為我還很同情抽到這首的人:「綠螘新醅酒, 紅泥小火爐。 晚來天欲雪, 能飲一杯無?」好難解說的意境喲!叫保羅或席德尼同學講還差不多,他們會喝酒!
再過十幾天就元宵節了,咱們也來玩一下!猜一猜這首英詩是哪首唐詩的翻譯。不可以偷看答案!
A hundred mountains and no bird,
A thousand paths without a footprint;
A little boat, a bamboo cloak,
An old man fishing in the cold river-snow.
(Five-character-quatrain:Liu Zongyuan’s RIVER-SNOW)
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244:五言絕句 柳宗元 的〈江雪〉
千山鳥飛絕, 萬徑人蹤滅。
孤舟簑笠翁, 獨釣寒江雪。
(不公平!千山明明是 a thousand mountains, 萬徑明明是ten thousand paths!)
猜到了嗎?很容易吧!我每次教Ezra Pound翻譯李白的〈長干行〉都會笑得說不出話來!翻譯實在太難了!妳有興趣考考妳的學生嗎?元宵節樂一樂,保證她們長大後會記得妳!這裡還有兩百九十九首唐詩在網上—
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/chinese/tangeng.html---------------
附: 龐德和葉維廉的李白〈長干行〉英譯
The River-Merchant’s Wife
While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-Sa.
By Rihaku (Li Po in Japanese)
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Wai-Lim Yip (1976)
My hair barely covered my forehead.
I played in front of the gate, plucking flowers.
You came riding on a bamboo-horse.
And around the bed we played with green plums.
We were then living in Ch’ang-kan.
Two small people, no hate nor suspicion.
At fourteen, I became your wife.
I seldom laughed, being bashful.
I lowered my head toward the dark wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen, I began to perk up.
We wished to stay together like dust and ash.
If you have the faith of Wei-sheng.
Why do I have to climb up the waiting tower?
At sixteen, you went on a long journey.
By the Yen-j?rocks at Ch’?t’ang
The unpassable rapids in the fifth month
When monkeys cried against the sky.
Before the door your footprints
Are all moss-grown
Moss too deep to sweep away.
Falling leaves: autumn winds are early.
In the eighth month, butterflies come
In pairs over the grass in the West Garden.
These smite my heart.
I sit down worrying and youth passes away.
When eventually you would come down from the Three Gorges.
Please let me know ahead of time.
I will meet you, no matter how far,
Even all the way to Long Wind Sand.