05第三讲 明末清初的西学翻译 第二部分严复

Lecture 3 (continued)严复（1854—1921）A pioneer in seeking truth from the West and the first Chinese who systematically introduced Western learning to China in modern Chinese history.中国近代史上向西方国家寻找真理的“先进的中国人”之一。

我国近代史上第一个把西方资本主义经典著作系统地介绍到中国来的人。

Eight famous translations by Y an Fu: 言译八大名著：1) Evolution and Ethics by Thomas Henry Huxley （《天演论》赫胥黎原著）, translated in 1895 and published in 1898, which brought him instant success and made his name known all over China. It promulgated the ideology of social evolutio n that “the fittest survives in the natural selection” and that “the superior is selected while the inferior is eliminated.揭示“物竞天择、适者生存，优胜劣汰”的社会进化思想Being first theoretical work on philosophy introduced into China, Tianyan Lun exerted a far and wide influence among Chinese people and became the theoretical foundation for the reformers in search of truth of saving the nation from extinction. 近代引进的第一部哲学理论著作,成为当时维新派救国图存的重要理论基础。

2 ) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (or shortened Wealth of Nations 《原富》亚当·斯密原著），the first translated work on economics in modern-time China;3 ) The Study of Sociology by Herbert Spenser ( 《群学肄言》斯宾塞) , a masterwork on sociology；4) A History of Politics by E. Jenks ( 《社会通诠》甄克斯), a masterwork on sociology;5) System of Logic by John Stuart Mill (《穆勒名学》) , a famous work on logics;6. Logic by William Stanley Jevons (《名学浅说》（后改名《名学》，耶芳斯) ，a masterwork on logics;7) . The Spirit of the Law by Montesquieu (《法意》孟德斯鸠)，a classical work on the science of law;8) On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (《群己权界论》约翰·穆勒)，an important work on bourgeoisie political science;The subject of these translations include politics, economy, philosophy, law, ethics, sociology, etc. involving various fields of social sciences. 内容囊括政治、经济、哲学、法律、伦理、社会学等诸多社科领域。

They were called “Eight famous translated works by Yan Fu” in Chinese translation history. 严译“八大名著”或严译“八经”。

With a clear purpose, Yan Fu was very selective as to what to translate. What he translated and introduced into China was the quintessence of the Western learning, and his translated works put together, constituted a relatively integral ideological system of administering a country. 严复所选择的这些书都是西学的精髓，这些著作合在一起，可以构成一个相对完整的治国的思想体系。

He selected Evolution and Ethics for translation with the purpose of making the Chinese aware of the fact that the biological law of survival of the fittest was applicable to social development as well and warning them of the danger of possible elimination.If China did not fight for its own existence, it would succumb to ineluctable domination or genocide. As can be imagined, the translation of Evolution and Ethics set off a heated debate throughout the country.In schools, excerpts from his translations was chosen and adopted in textbooks for students. And the "survival of the fittest" became a favorite essay topic.In a word, all his translations served the clear political purpose of “saving the nation from elimination” and “enlightening the people”.所以，严复的翻译有着明确的政治目的, 总体服务于“救亡图存、启蒙思想”的大目标。

The significance of Yan Fu’s translations has gone far beyond translation itself. With his translations, western thoughts on human inborn rights, liberty, equality, and universal love were all introduced into China, with the impact of enlightening the benighted. Therefore, he was acclaimed the first Chinese who systematically introduced Western learning in modern Chinese history. 天赋人权和自由、平等、博爱，在中国思想界引起勒振聋发聩的启蒙作用。

使他成为我国近代翻译大家，和系统介绍西方思想、文化、制度的第一人。

Not only was Yan Fu an epoch-making translator who was well versed in both Chinese and western learning, but also he was the first one who set complete translation criteria.严复不仅是中国近代翻译史上学贯中西、划时代意义的翻译家，也是我国首创完整翻译标准的先驱者。

In his Notes on Translation, the preface of Tianyan Lun, he put forward the famous triple translation criteria, which marked an epoch in translation studies in China. 在《天演论译例言》中，提出了中国最近代有名的“信、达、雅”翻译标准：“译事三难信达雅。

求其信已大难矣。

顾信矣不达。

虽译犹不译也。

则达尚焉。

易曰修辞立诚。

子曰辞达而已。

又曰言之无文。

行之不远。

三者乃文章正轨。

亦即为译事楷模。

故信达而外。

求其尔雅。

此不仅期以行远已耳。

实则精理微言。

用汉以前字法句法。

则为达易。

用近世利俗文字。

则求达难。

往往抑义就词。

毫厘千里。

审择于斯两者之间。

夫固有所不得已也。

岂钩奇哉。

新理踵出。

名目纷繁。

索之中文。

渺不可得。

即有牵合。

终嫌参差。

译者遇此。

独有自具衡量。

即义定名。

一名之立，旬月踟蹰。

”Translation has to do three difficult things: to be faithful, expressive, and elegant. It is difficult enough to be faithful to the original, and yet if a translation is not expressive it is tantamount to having no translation. Hence expressiveness should be required too.The Book of changes says that the first requisite of rhetoric is truthfulness. Confucius says that expressiveness is all that matters in language. He adds that if one’s language lacks grace, it won’t go far. These three qualities, then, are the criteria of good writing and, I believe, of good translation too.Hence besides faithfulness and expressiveness, I also aim at elegance. I strive for elegance not just to make my translations travel far, but to express the original writer’s ideas better, for I find that subtle thoughts are better expressed in the vocabulary and syntax of pre-Han prose than those of the vulgar writings of today. Using the latter often leads to distortion of meaning, which, however slight, results in vast misunderstanding. Weighing the pros land cons, I opted for the former, as a matter of necessity, not trying to be different.New ideas come one after another, with a multiplicity of new names. No equivalents can be found for them in Chinese. Straining for resemblances, one gets only contrarieties. The translator is obliged to use his own discretion, doing his best to find a term suited to the sense. A singe term often took weeks and months of deliberation.During the late Qing dynasty, western literature was also translated into China in large scaleto serve the purpose of saving the country and enlightening the people.Among the many literary translators during this period, Lin Shu is the most distinguished because of his unparalleled quantity of translations of western novels.Lin Shu林纾（1852—1924）Lin Shu was very hard-working and read voraciously when he was young, but was depressed by repeated failure in the imperial examination.His first translation was A. Dumas fils’s La Dame aux Camelias （《巴黎茶花女遗事》）in 1899, which won him instant success. Ever since then, he dedicated himself to the translation of western literature into Chinese.As a prolific translator, Lin Shu translated more than 180 literary works by 98 writers from 14 countries into Chinese. On the list of the writers he translated there were French writers like Balzac, Dumas Pere, and Dumas fils, and Hugo, British writers like Shakespeare, Defoe, Fielding, Swift, Scott, Dickens, Charles Lamb, L. Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Henry Rider Haggard, American writers like Washington Irving, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Aesop the semilegendary Greek fabulist, Cervantes the Spanish writer, Leo Tolstoy the Russian writer, and Ibsen the Norwegian dramatist.Lin Shu’s best known translations are:《巴黎茶花女遗事》、《黑奴吁天录》( Uncle Tom’s Cabin) 、《撒克逊劫后英雄略》( Ivanhoe )、《块肉余生述》( David Copperfield )、《吟边燕语》(Tales from Shakespeare)、《拊掌录》(The Sketchy Book)、《迦茵小传》(Joan Haste) 。