那天开会，随便从桌上拿了一本小书，却是Grahame的The Wind in the Willows，胡乱看几行，发现一个问题，琢磨了好久，还没“通解”，于是写来下，存疑。

第三章说，鼹鼠想结识著名的獾大侠，河鼠说，他总会来的，来了就给你引介。“But you must not only take him AS you find him, but WHEN you find him.”我的疑问就在这一句。这是第一段的末句，与下文关系不大——原文是

 

The Mole had long wanted to make the acquaintance of the Badger. He seemed, by all accounts, to be such an important personage and, though rarely visible, to make his unseen influence felt by everybody about the place. But whenever the Mole mentioned his wish to the Water Rat he always found himself put off. “It's all right,” the Rat would say, “Badger'll turn up some day or other--he's always turning up--and then I'll introduce you. The best of fellows! But you must not only take him AS you find him, but WHEN you find him.”

 

疑惑为什么要突出AS和WHEN？有的翻译是，“可你决不能以为他是你所想象的样子，那得等见了面才知道。”是把take …as…作为搭配了，意思好像过得去，句子也顺溜，但这样一来，as和when在句中的角色就不“对等”了，而我想它们应该是并列的。

何况，若是翻译的意思，似乎应该说You must not just take him as WHAT you find him…

    又找到几个翻译，竟然五花八门——看来这确实是一个“普遍”问题：

 

        “不过你不能去找他，而是要在适当的时候遇上他。”

“也许一开始，你并不这样认为，等真正了解他的时候，你就明白了。”

“但是你不仅要接受你心目中的獾，而且见到他时也要接受他。”

“但是你千万别以貌取人，认识獾是一个发现的过程。”

 

还见过一个译本，那两句竟然“漏译”了，这或许是一种更好的译法——柏拉图《理想国》里有一段“不通”的文字，即使译出来了也看不懂，所以有个著名的英译本就真的选择了“不译”。

 

原来，take him AS you find him是一句俗语，经常能见到的。英译《基督山伯爵》就接着两次用这句话（第53章）：

……One must take the world as one finds it.

意思是，对社会上的事情，只能“随俗”。接着一句见下面的对话：

 

“But I don't know him," said the countess; "I have a great mind to return it.”

“Do no such thing, I beg of you; he would only send you another, formed of a magnificent sapphire, or hollowed out of a gigantic ruby. It is his way, and you must take him as you find him.”

有人送伯爵夫人礼物，夫人说，可我并不认识他呀，还是退回去吧。“我求您别那么干，那样的话，他只会再送您一只用翡翠或极大的红宝石雕成的杯子。这是他的一贯作风，您只能迁就他一下了。”

 

You are to believe on the Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures. You are to take him as you find him here; not as Renan, not as Strauss, or anybody else, pictures of him; but as you find him here.

 

 

话说回来，动物的智慧和语言，岂是我等凡人所能解的——改天去请教Dolittle医生……

 

 

 

 

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