外交译闻 | 华春莹引用的“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”怎么翻译？

华春莹：看来美方不仅在人权问题上道貌岸然，在疫苗问题上也是如此。美方反复表示致力于增强全球民主价值观，一会儿表示同这个站在一起，一会儿又表示同那个站在一起，但能不能请美方公布一下，美国已经给哪一个国家包括它的哪一个盟友提供了多少疫苗？美国人口3.3亿，占世界总人口的4%，但已抢购约26亿剂疫苗，占全球疫苗总量的四分之一。正当世界各国都在想方设法获得急需疫苗时，上亿剂疫苗正闲置在美国的仓库里。美方官员还不断强调，在疫苗分配问题上应坚持“美国第一”、“美国优先”并限制疫苗原材料出口。这让人想起杜甫的一句诗：“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”。

Hua Chunying: The US diplomacy is quite consistent, with sanctimonious hypocrisy running through issues related to both human rights and vaccines. The US has been repeatedly touting its commitment to strengthening global democratic values, voicing its solidarity with one country today and another tomorrow. But can the US tell us how many doses it has exported to other countries including its allies? The US has 330 million people, only 4% of the world's population. However, it has purchased 2.6 billion vaccine doses, or a quarter of the world's total. While countries are trying every means to get urgently-needed vaccines, hundreds of millions of doses are sitting in US warehouses. US officials keep stressing that the US should stick to the approach of "America First" or domestic priority on vaccine distribution. The US also restricts the export of raw materials of vaccines. Such moves remind me of a line by Chinese poet Du Fu: "while meat and wine go to waste behind the vermilion gates of the rich, the poor is frozen to death on an empty stomach by the roadside."

“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”是唐朝诗人杜甫《自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字》诗中的名句。意思是豪门贵族家里酒肉吃不完都放臭了，而道路上却暴露着冻饿致死的人的白骨。揭示了当时社会贫富悬殊的情况。朱门：红漆大门，指富贵人家。

外交部给出的翻译是"while meat and wine go to waste behind the vermilion gates of the rich, the poor is frozen to death on an empty stomach by the roadside"，采用了直译的手法。

vermilion /vəˈmɪliən/ 鲜红的；朱红的

1. go to waste 指浪费掉、糟蹋掉；付诸东流；白费；未被利用

例句：

So much of his enormous effort and talent will go to waste if we are forced to drop one hour of the film.

如果我们被迫删减一小时的电影，就会浪费掉他的非凡努力和才华。

I can't abide to see good victuals go to waste.

我不能眼睁睁地看着好的食物白白浪费掉。

2. the rich 富人

rich我们知道有形容词富有的意思，加上the可以表示富人这一个群体。英语中有很多这种 the + adj. 表示某一类人的用法，比如the deaf聋人，the strong强者，the jobless失业者，the wounded伤员等，这句译文后面的the poor也是这个用法。

3. on an empty stomach 空腹；饿肚子

empty stomach 直译为“空空的肚子/胃”，on an empty stomach 指的也就是空腹、饥肠辘辘这种状态。平常我们说有些药物不能空腹服用，也可以使用这一表达。

 

例句：

Never take this medicine on an empty stomach.

千万不要空腹服用这个药。

 

4. by the roadside 在路边

 

roadside的意思是“路边”。我们难以割舍的“路边摊”就可以译作roadside booths/ stalls。

 

例句：

The dead body was just dumped by the roadside.

这具死尸就扔在路边。