第七十四章
民不畏死
原文
英译The People Do not Fear Death
Now that people are not afraid of death,
why scare them with it?
If the people are really afraid of death,
we will catch and kill those who do evil.
Then who dares to do evil?
Killing is the killer’s job.
Killing instead of a killer is like cutting instead of a good carpenter.
But few people can avoid injuring their fingers if they do that.
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说明1、“民不畏死，奈何以死惧之”的英译
对于此句，许渊冲译成“The people do not fear death. Why threaten them with it?”，把一句话翻译成两个并列的简单句，没有连接词，没有揭示出两句间的逻辑关系。Arthur Waley译成“The people are not frightened of death. What then is the use of trying to intimidate（威吓）them with the death-penalty（刑罚）?”，句子稍长，用词稍难。辜正坤译成“When the people are not afraid of death, what is the point of threatening them with death?”，句子也稍长。可以看出，两位译者对“奈何以死惧之”的翻译，用了类似的句子“What then is the use of…?”和“what is the point of…?”,汉语意思是“…用处是什么呢？”。此外，三位译者对于“畏”、“惧”的翻译也不尽相同。我们则集众家之长，译成“Now that people are not afraid of death, why scare them with it? ”，更易于理解。
2、“常有司杀者杀”的英译
三位译者对此句的理解基本一致。Arthur Waley译成“There is the Lord of Slaughter always ready for this task”，把“司杀者”译成“the Lord of Slaughter（屠杀）”；特别注意的是，形容词短语“always ready for this task”作“the Lord of Slaughter”的后置定语，不要误解为错句子。许渊冲译成“It is the executioner’s duty to kill.”；辜正坤译成“It is the duty of a regular executioner to kill ”。二位译者的翻译几乎相同，都把“司杀者”译成“executioner（刽子手）”，此词稍微生僻，其英文释义是“someone whose job is to execute criminals”。因而，我们把“司杀者”直接译成“killer”，把整句译成“It is the killer’s job to kill.”，岂不言简意赅？
3、“夫代大匠斫者，希有不伤其手矣”的英译
许渊冲译成“If you replace him, it's like cutting wood in a carpenter’s place. How can you not wound your hand?”，用了第二人称。“希有不伤其手矣”用了疑问句形式，倒也基本符合原意。Arthur Waley译成“Now he who tries to do the master-carpenter's chipping for him is lucky if he does not cut his hand.”，把“大匠”译成“master-carpenter”，整句用了一个定语从句和一个条件状语从句，意思表达清晰，符合原意。辜正坤译成“There are few who can escape cutting their own hands when they chop wood on behalf of the master carpenter”，把“大匠”也译成“master carpenter”，但把“代”译成“on behalf of（代表）”，似乎不多见。我们译成了“Killing instead of a killer is like cutting instead of a good carpenter. But few people can avoid injuring their fingers if they do that.”，更加通俗易懂。
