“不穷视听界 焉识宇宙广”——白居易诗《登香炉峰顶》英译赏析

迢迢香炉峰，心存耳目想。终年牵物役，今日方一往。

攀萝蹋危石，手足劳俯仰。同游三四人，两人不敢上。

上到峰之顶，目眩神怳怳，高低有万寻，阔狭无数丈。

不穷视听界，焉识宇宙广。江水细如绳，湓城小于掌。

纷吾何屑屑，未能脱尘鞅。归去思自嗟，低头入蚁壤。

以下英文译文来自Arthur Waley阿瑟韦利的A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.

HAVING CLIMBED TO THE TOPMOST PEAK OF THE INCENSE-BURNER MOUNTAIN

Up and up, the Incense-burner Peak!

In my heart is stored what my eyes and ears perceived.

迢迢香炉峰，心存耳目想。

All the year—detained by official business;

To-day at last I got a chance to go.

终年牵物役，今日方一往。

Grasping the creepers, I clung to dangerous rocks;

My hands and feet—weary with groping for hold.

攀萝蹋危石，手足劳俯仰。

There came with me three or four friends,

But two friends dared not go further.

同游三四人，两人不敢上。

At last we reached the topmost crest of the Peak;

My eyes were blinded, my soul rocked and reeled.

上到峰之顶，目眩神怳怳，

The chasm beneath me—ten thousand feet;

The ground I stood on, only a foot wide.

高低有万寻，阔狭无数丈。

If you have not exhausted the scope of seeing and hearing,

How can you realize the wideness of the world?

不穷视听界，焉识宇宙广。

The waters of the River looked narrow as a ribbon,

P’ēn Castle smaller than a man’s fist.

江水细如绳，湓城小于掌。

How it clings, the dust of the world’s halter!

It chokes my limbs: I cannot shake it away.

纷吾何屑屑，未能脱尘鞅。

Thinking of retirement,[81] I heaved an envious sigh,

Then, with lowered head, came back to the Ants’ Nest.

归去思自嗟，低头入蚁壤。