《紅樓夢》是中國的曠世巨著，大陸、香港、臺灣都曾改編拍成電影，家喻戶曉。五六十年代多位中外學者就曾經把《紅樓夢》英譯，介紹到西方國家去，但由于種種問題，都只是節譯而已。直至70年代有一位牛津大學的講座教授霍克思(David Hawks)，竟然不惜辭去職務，專心埋首于全部《紅樓夢》的英譯。他的譯筆功力深邃，英文寫得非常流暢。請先欣賞霍克斯在《紅樓夢》英譯本自序中的最后一段感人的話：
"My one abiding principle has been to translate everything-even puns. For although this is ,in the sense I have already indicated, an 'unfinished' novel, it was written (and written) by a great artist with his very life blood. I have therefore assumed that whatever I find in it is there for a purpose and must be dealt with somehow or other, I cannot pretend always to have done so successfully, but if I can convey to the reader even a fraction of the pleasure this Chinese novel given me , I shall not have lived in vain."
霍克思譯紅樓夢，是希望大學翻譯系的同學能觀摩漢英翻譯的極品，同時更為望各位忠實讀者能欣賞地道中文與地道英語的講寫之法，從而提高研習中英文的興趣。請大家欣賞曹雪芹的生花妙筆，然后研習霍克斯的精彩妙譯：
“從頭看去，越看越愛，不頓飯時，已看了好幾出了。但覺詞句警入，余香滿口。一面看了，只管出神，心內還默默記誦。”
"The more she read, the more she liked it, and before very long she had read several acts, She felt the power of the words and their lingering fragrance. Long after she had finished reading. When she had laid down the book and was sitting there rapt and silent, the lines continued to ring on in her head."
原文通暢易曉，雅麗芊綿，是地地道道的好文字；譯文亦步亦趨，簡潔流暢，從平凡中見功力，更覺難能可貴。希望大家把原文譯文反復熟誦，探究中英文的地道寫法。下面請看《紅樓夢》的對白英譯，希望能協助大家提高英語會話的能力。
“鳳姐聽了，眼圈兒紅了一會子，方說道：'天有不測風云，人有旦夕禍福，這點年紀，倘或因這病上有個長短，人生在世，還有什么趣兒呢！”
教授David Hawks 運用靈心妙手，妥貼譯成合乎慣用法的地道英文：
"Xi feng's eyes became moist and for a moment she was too overcome to speak. ' I know "the weather and human life are both unpredictable,"' she said at last,'but she's only a child still. If anything should happen to her as a result of this illness, I think all the fun would go out of life!'"
再來欣賞霍克思翻譯的賈寶玉與襲人的一段對話：
“寶玉聽了這話，見她臉上氣色非往日可比，便笑道：‘怎么又動了氣呢？’襲人冷笑道：‘我那里敢動氣呢？只是你從今別進這屋子了。橫豎有人服待你，再不必支使我，我仍舊服侍老太太去。’”
"The expression on her face as she uttered these words was angrier than he had ever seen her look before. “He laughed. "'Oh dear! Are you in a rage again?" "Aroma laughed mirthlessly. "'It's not for the likes of me to get into rages, But I wish that from now on you would stop coming into this room, After all, you have got people to wait on you elsewhere . You don't really need my services. I shall back to serving Her Old Ladyship, like I used before.'
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