潮汐耐心

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信是周一到的，我读了两遍。汉堡的北极光出版社给我提供了一份工作：翻译艾丽丝·温的新小说《盐与时间》，四百页，八周时间。在签名下方还有一行小字，写得又小又客气： 乔纳斯·凯勒先生也在翻译同一本书。我们将采用较好的那个版本。

The letter came on a Monday, and I had to read it twice. Nordlicht, a publisher in Hamburg, was offering me a job: Iris Wynn’s new novel, “Salt and Hours”, four hundred pages, eight weeks. Under the signature there was one more sentence, small and almost friendly: Mr Jonas Keller is translating the same book. We will take the better version.

我认识乔纳斯·凯勒这个名字。我们这个小圈子里的人都认识他。过去三年他拿了两个奖，在每次采访中他都说，翻译“就像在黑暗中跳舞”。我一直觉得这句话有点自负。

I know the name Jonas Keller. Everyone in our small world knows it. He has won two prizes in the last three years, and in every interview he said that translating is “like dancing in the dark”. I always found that line a little vain.

但我还是接下了这份工作。我上一本书几乎没卖出去，夏天的房租又涨了，而且艾丽丝·温是我从大学起就一直喜欢的作家。她的每一本书我都读过三遍：一遍为了故事，一遍为了句子，还有一遍纯粹是为了我自己。谁翻译了她的新小说，就能拿到下一本的合同。大家都知道这一点。

I took the job anyway. My last book barely sold, my rent went up in the summer, and Iris Wynn is the author I have loved since university. I have read each of her books three times: once for the story, once for the sentences and once just for me. Whoever translates her new novel gets the next one too. Everyone knows that.

一周后，我从柏林坐火车去汉堡签合同。布兰特女士，也就是出版人的办公室里，闻起来有咖啡和旧纸张的味道。窗边的沙发上已经坐着一个男人，他正在吃苹果，就好像在自己家一样。

A week later I travelled from Berlin to Hamburg to sign the contract. The office of Ms Brandt, the publisher, smelled of coffee and old paper. And on the sofa by the window a man was already sitting, eating an apple as if he lived there.

“霍夫曼女士，”他站起来说道，“我读过您翻译的《蓝色港口》。”

“Ms Hoffmann,” he said, getting up. “I’ve read your translation of ‘The Blue Harbour’.”

“然后呢？”

“And?”

“然后我在想，为什么您在第三章用了‘渴望’这个词。原文里只是‘wish’。”

“And I wondered why you used the word ‘Sehnsucht’ in chapter three. The original only says ‘wish’.”

我笑了笑，尽管我的脸已经变得滚烫。“因为在德语里，‘愿望’有时候显得太小了，凯勒先生。”

I smiled, although my face went hot. “Because in German a wish is sometimes too small, Mr Keller.”

布兰特女士看着我们俩，就像老师看着操场上的两个孩子。接着她解释了规则：我们拿到的是同一份手稿。四周后，我们各提交前一百页作为试译。而且我们之间不许谈论这本书。“一个字也不许提，”她说，“我想听到两种声音，而不是一种。”

Ms Brandt looked at the two of us like a teacher looking at two children in the schoolyard. Then she explained the rules: we would get the same manuscript. After four weeks we would send her the first hundred pages as a sample. And we would not talk to each other about the book. “Not a word,” she said. “I want to hear two voices, not one.”

在回家的火车上，我打开了手稿。第一句话就立刻击中了我： She is never late. She is only early for the wrong things. 我翻译了二十遍，但每一遍在纸上看起来都毫无生气。

On the train home I opened the manuscript. The first sentence hit me at once: She is never late. She is only early for the wrong things. I translated it twenty times, and twenty times it lay dead on the page.

午夜时分，我的手机亮了。是一条来自陌生号码的消息： 您是怎么翻译第一句话的？——J. K.

At midnight my phone lit up. A message from an unknown number: How are you translating the first sentence? – J. K.