段落功能與意義的再現(xiàn)（8）

　　(19)且說黛玉那日棄舟等岸時(shí)，便有榮府打發(fā)轎子并拉行李車輛伺候。這黛玉常聽得母親說，他外祖母家與別人家不同，他近日聽見這兒三等的仆婦，吃穿用度，已是不凡，何況今至其家，都要步步留心，時(shí)時(shí)在意，不要多說一句話，不可多行一步路，恐被人恥笑了去。自上了轎，進(jìn)了城，從紗窗中瞧了一瞧，其街市之繁華，人煙之阜盛，自非別處可比。又行了半日，忽見街北蹲著兩個(gè)大石獅子，三間獸頭大門，門前列坐著十來個(gè)華冠麗服之人;正門不開，只東西兩角門有人出入，正門之上有一匾，匾上大書“敕造寧國府”五個(gè)大字。

　　On the day of her arrival in the capital, Daiyu stepped ashore to find covered chairs from the Rong mansion for her and her women and a cart for the luggage ready waiting on the quay.

　　She had often heard her mother say that her Grandmother Jia's home was not like other people's houses. The servants she had been in contact with during the past few days were comparatively low-ranking ones in the domestic hierarchy, yet the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and everything about them was quite out of ordinary. Daiyu tried to imagine what the people who employed these superior beings must be like. When she arrived at their house she would have to watch every step she took and weigh every word she said, for if she put a foot wrong they would surely laugh her to scorn.

　　Daiyu got into her chair and was soon carried through the city walls. Peeping through the gauze panel which served as a window, she could see streets and buildings more rich and elegant and throngs of people more lively and numerous than she had ever seen in her life before. After being carried for what seemed a very great length of time, she saw, on the north front of the east-west street through which they were passing, two great stone lions crouched one on each side of the triple gateway whose doors were embellished with animal heads. In front of the gateway ten or so splendidly dressed flunkies sat in a row. The center of the three gates were closed, but people were going in and out of the two side ones. There was a board above the center gate on which were written in large characters the words:

　　NING-GUO HOUSE

　　Founded and Constructed by

　　Imperial Command

　　(曹雪芹《紅樓夢(mèng)》，David Hawkes譯)

　　原文描寫林黛玉初到寧國府的經(jīng)過，大體上按自然的時(shí)空順序發(fā)展，但中間插入了黛玉的心理活動(dòng)。由于漢語讀者可以借助意念主軸理解原文，段落通?？梢园粋€(gè)以上的主題。而英語段落一般只有一個(gè)主題，語篇發(fā)展大多呈直線性。若直譯成英語，按照英文讀者的閱讀認(rèn)知心理，會(huì)顯得結(jié)構(gòu)混亂，造成理解上的困難。因此，譯文作了調(diào)整，按照英語行文習(xí)慣，把原文部分譯成英文三個(gè)段落，黛玉“常聽得母親……”的心理活動(dòng)單獨(dú)成段，突出原文中人物細(xì)膩的心理活動(dòng)的描寫。這樣，譯文讀者不但能迅速領(lǐng)悟該部分為“插入內(nèi)容”，更好地理解女主人公多愁善感的性格特征，同時(shí)由于行文符合英文段落結(jié)構(gòu)，讀者也能對(duì)整個(gè)事件的來龍去脈有清晰的了解。