以下是英语共学社译友Feature的来稿。译文选自罗经国译《古文观止》。Feature 是自由译员，之前托付过她几个翻译项目，都能出色地完成。感谢Feature的投稿。欢迎移步文末扫描二维码直接给她打赏。

桃花源记

A Tale of the Fountain of the Peach Blossom Spring

《桃花源记》借武陵渔人行踪这一线索，把现实和理想境界联系起来，通过对桃花源的安宁和乐、自由平等生活的描绘，表现了作者追求美好生活的理想和对当时的现实生活不满，是中国文学史上一部早期的乌托邦式作品。译文中使用了tale：a narrative that relates the details of some real or imaginary event, incident, or case;

没有用record等只表示记录的词，不仅传达了含义，也体现了原文的体裁。

晋太元中，武陵人捕鱼为业[1]。缘溪行[2]，忘路之远近[3]。忽逢桃花林，夹岸数百步，中无杂树，芳草鲜美，落英缤纷[4]，渔人甚异之。复前行，欲穷其林[5]。

In the year of Taiyuan of the Jin Dynasty, there lived a man in Wuling Prefecture who earned his living by fishing. One day, he rowed his boat along a stream, unaware of how far he had gone when all of a sudden, he found himself in the midst of a wood full of peach trees in blossom. The wood extended several hundred footsteps along both banks of the stream. There were no trees of other kinds. The fragrant grass was fresh and beautiful and peach petals fell in riotous profusion. The fisherman was so curious that he rowed on, in hope of discovering where the trees ended.

【1】武陵人捕鱼为业，there lived a man in Wuling Prefecture who earned his living by fishing；prefecture:辖区，an area of local government in some countries.

【2】缘溪行；缘，顺着，沿着。此处译文并没有直接处理为he walked along the stream，而是根据上下文在翻译中把‘行’做了具体的解释，译为he rowed his boat along a stream.关于row，除了常见的名词含义行、排之外，还有两个动词用法可以留意一下；

①划船;划船运送When you row, you sit in a boat and make it move through the water by using oars. If you row someone somewhere, you take them there in a boat, using oars; He rowed as quickly as he could to the shore.

②争吵;争执;争论If two people row or if one person rows with another, they have a noisy argument. He had earlier rowed with his girlfriend.

【3】远近：偏义复词，仅指远；忘路之远近，忘记自己走了多远，译文对译为unaware of how far he had gone。

【4】落英：落花；缤纷: 繁多而纷乱的样子；peach petals fell in riotous profusion，riotous此处意为色彩丰富的;五颜六色的。You can describe things as riotous when they are very colorful or decorative rather than plain or simple。Profusion：the property of being extremely abundant, 该词比abundance的程度更重一些，在汉译英中涉及到大量、众多的描述时可以做替换。

【5】欲穷其林。穷：尽，形容词用做动词，这里是“走到······的尽头”。这里译文没有完全按字面直译，用in hope of discovering where the trees ended做状语，既体现出了原文的字面含义，也表达出了渔人的好奇心。

林尽水源，便得一山[6]，山有小口，仿佛若有光[7]。便舍船，从口入[8]。初极狭，才通人[9]。复行数十步，豁然开朗。土地平旷，屋舍俨然，有良田美池桑竹之属。阡陌交通，鸡犬相闻[10]。其中往来种作，男女衣着，悉如外人。黄发垂髫[11]，并怡然自乐。

At the end of the wood was the fountainhead of the stream. The fisherman beheld a hill, with a small opening from which issued a glimmer of light. He stopped ashore to explore the crevice. His first steps took him into a passage that accommodated only the width of one person. After he progressed about scores of paces, it suddenly widened into an open field. The land was flat and spacious. There were houses arranged in good order with fertile fields, beautiful ponds, bamboo groves, mulberry trees and paths crisscrossing the fields in all directions. The crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs were within hearing of each other. In the fields the villagers were busy with farm work. Men and women were dressed like people outside. They all, old and young, appeared happy.

【6】便得一山；得：看到。The fisherman beheld a hill，behold, see with attention看见、看到；该词常见于文学作品。

【7】山有小口， 仿佛若有光；仿佛：隐隐约约，形容看得不真切的样子。译文中用with a small opening from which issued a glimmer of light这样一个with结构来对山进行描述解释，主句+with结构经常用于对主句或者主语的补充说明。另外，issue from, 就是to come out of something ,从…中出来，例如，A weak trembling sound issued from his lips. 而且是正式的表达。

【8】从口入，explore the crevice；crevice，(尤指岩石中的)裂缝，裂隙 a crevice is a narrow crack or gap, especially in a rock。上一句的‘口’，译者用的是a small opening,这里用的是crevice,体现了用词的多样化。另外，从口入，没有逐字翻译为enter from the opening , 而是颇具匠心地选用explore，体现出了渔人想要一探究竟的欲望，可见，在翻译时，还是要充分理解原文的意义，摆脱原文的定式，跳脱出来，站在一个更高的角度来看，而不是局限于字里行间。

【9】初极狭， 才通人。初：起初，刚开始；才通人：仅容一人通过。才，副词，只。His first steps took him into a passage that accommodated only the width of one person.此处可以留意一下accommodate,这里意为容纳，eg,The school in Poldown was not big enough to accommodate all the children.

【10】鸡犬相闻，（村落间）能相互听见鸡鸣狗叫的声音。相闻，可以互相听到。The crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs were within hearing of each other。“within hearing of each other”，用来表述相隔的距离很近，这个用法可以记住，另外相似的还有，“within earshot of one another”。一些动物的叫声，有专门的动词，比如此处鸡鸣用的crow还有狗吠的bark。

【11】黄发垂髫：老人和小孩。黄发，旧说是长寿的象征，用以指老人。垂髫，垂下来的头发，用来指小孩子。原文使用了借代的手法，译文直接表达出所指代的含义，They all, old and young…。

见渔人，乃大惊，问所从来。具答之。便要还家，设酒杀鸡作食。村中闻有此人，咸来问讯[12]。自云先世避秦时乱，率妻子邑人来此绝境[13]，不复出焉，遂与外人间隔[14]。问今是何世，乃不知有汉，无论魏晋[15]。此人一一为具言所闻，皆叹惋。余人各复延至其家，皆出酒食。停数日，辞去。此中人语云：“不足为外人道也。”

They were surprised at seeing the fisherman, who, being asked where he came from, answered their every question. Then they invited him to visit their homes, killed chickens and served wine to entertain him. As the words of his arrival spread, the entire village turned out to greet him. They told them that their ancestors had come to this isolated haven, bringing their families and the village people, to escape from the turmoil during the Qin Dynasty and that from then onwards, they had been cut off from the outside world. They were curious to know what dynasty it was now. They did not know the Han Dynasty, not to mention the Wei and the Jin Dynasties. The fisherman told them all the things they wanted to know. They sighed. The villagers offered him one hospitality after another. They entertained him with wine and delicious food. After several days, the fisherman took his leave. The village people entreated him not to let others know of their existence.

【12】村中闻有此人，咸来问讯。本句的译文为As the words of his arrival spread, the entire village turned out to greet him. as+句子，引出事实背景，后面跟主句的结构值得借鉴。另外as结构中，将渔人到来的消息作为主语，没有局限于原文的主语‘村中’，这种思维转化模式也值得学习。

【13】自云先世避秦时乱，率妻子邑人来此绝境。妻子：指妻室子女，“妻”“子”是两个词；邑人：同乡（县）的人；绝境：与人世隔绝的地方。绝，绝处。

They told them that their ancestors had come tothisisolated haven, bringing their families and the village people, to escape from the turmoil during the Qin Dynasty…中文的逻辑关系是隐藏在字里行间的，本句中虽然‘自云先世避秦时乱’在前，‘率妻子邑人来此绝境’在后，但是实质上，率妻子邑人来此绝境的目的是为了避秦时乱。也就是译文中把to escape from the turmoil during the Qin Dynasty作为目的状语，而没有亦步亦趋地对着原文翻译。另外，译文中把bringing their families and the village people，作为状语，来对主语进行补充说明，这种主句+ing和主句+with的结构功能相似，均起到对主句进行补充说明的作用。

【14】不复出焉，遂与外人间隔。间隔：隔断，隔绝。这句意为，他们没有再出去，与外面的世界隔绝了。其实就是他们一直待在此地。译文并没有按照原文分译两句，而提取核心涵义，译为from then onwards, they had been cut off from the outside world。

【15】无论魏晋。无论：不要说，（更）不必说。“无”“论”是两个词，不同于现代汉语里的“无论”。更不用提魏朝和晋朝了，not to mention the Wei and the Jin Dynasties，not to mention是一个固定用法，更不用说;不消说。

既出，得其船，便扶向路，处处志之。及郡下，诣太守，说如此。太守即遣人随其往，寻向所志，遂迷，不复得路。

Once out, the fisherman found his boat and rowed homeward, leaving marks all the way. When he came back to the prefecture, he reported his adventure to the prefect, who immediately sent people to find the place, with the fisherman as guide. However, the marks he had left could no longer be found. They got lost and could not find the way.

南阳刘子骥，高尚士也，闻之，欣然规往。未果，寻病终，后遂无问津者。

Liu Ziji of Nanyang Prefecture, a learned scholar of high repute, was excited when hearing the fisherman’s story. He devised a plan to find the village, but it was notcarriedout. Liu died soon afterwards, and after his death, no one else made any attempt to findit.