nding there proudly like
sentries. For my part, I cannot keep from uttering an exclamation of surprise!
They are white poplars. Though very common in Northwest China, they are no
ordinary trees!
With straight trunks and branches, white poplars aim high. Their trunks are usually
over ten feet tall and, as if wrought by human effort, utterly bare of branches below ten feet.
Their twigs, also like things artificially shaped, all reach out towards the sky and grow
close together in a cluster without any sideway growth. Their leaves are broad and point
upwards with very few slanting sideways, much less upside down. Their glossy barks are a
faint light green with hazy silver spots. They stand erect and unbending in face of North
China’s violent wind and snow. Though they may be only as big as the mouth of bowl,
they strive to grow upwards until they reach the towering height of some twenty feet and
stand indomitable against the northwest wind.
They are white poplar. Though very common in Northwest China, they are no
ordinary tree! You may call them unattractive because they have neither the graceful
carriage of a dancer, nor such branches as can twine and climb. But nevertheless they are
big and tall, honest and upright, simple and plain, earnest and unyielding—and not without
gentleness and warmth though. They are giants among trees! When you trudge through the
melting snow of the highland and see one or a row of white poplars standing proudly on
the vast plains, how could you look upon them as nothing but mere trees? How could you
forget that with all their simplicity, earnestness and unyieldingness, they are symbolic of
our peasants in the North? How could you fail to associate them with our dauntless soldiers
guarding our homeland all over the vast rear? How could you fail to see that these trees,
ever striving to put out their closely knit branches and leaves in an upward direction, are
symbolic of the spirit and will of our men who, fighting heroically all over the northern
plains, are writing the history of New China with their own blood?
White poplars are no ordinary trees. But these common trees in Northwest China are
as much ignored as our peasants in the North. However, like our peasants in the North,
they are bursting with vitality and capable of surviving any hardship or oppression. I pay
tribute to them because they symbolize our peasants in the North and, in particular, the
spirit of honesty, tenacity and forging ahead—a spirit central to our struggle for national
liberation.
The reactionary diehards, who despise and snub the common people, can do whatever
they like to eulogize the elite nanmu (which is also tall, straight and good-looking) and
look down upon the common, fast-growing white poplar. I, for my part, will be loud in
my praise of the latter!
注释：
《白杨礼赞》是茅盾在抗日战争期间1941年3月写的一篇著名散文。
(1)“是黄绿错综的一条大毡子”译为something like a huge yellow-and-green felt blanket，其中something like是为适应英语上下文而增添的成分，变隐喻为明喻，使译文读来更顺当。又yellow-and-green（或yellow and green）和yellow green不同，前者为黄绿杂处，构成一种花色，后者为黄绿混合，即绿中带黄。
(2)“坦荡如砥”意即平坦得像一块磨刀石，现直译为flat like a whetstone，保留原文的比喻。
(3)“你对当前的‘雄壮’或‘伟大’闭了眼”意即你对眼前的景色不再感到“雄壮”或“伟
大”，现译为you are oblivious of its being spectacular or grand，其中oblivious of作“忘却”或“不觉得”解。
(4)“潜滋暗长”意即“逐渐开始”，现译为coming on。英语短语to come on作to begin by degree②②網②文②檔②下②載②與②在②線②閱②讀②
解。
(5)“恹恹欲睡”作“困倦”解，故译为weariness。
(6)“横斜逸出”指树枝从树干的旁边斜伸出来，现译为sideway growth。
(7)“屈曲盘旋”意即弯弯曲曲地向上爬，现译为twine and climb。
(8)“伟岸”意即“高大”，现译为big and tall。
(9)“守卫他们的家乡的哨兵”中的“哨兵”实际上指“士兵”或“战士”，不宜译为sentries。
全部短语应译为soldiers guarding our homeland。
(10)“纵横激荡”意即到处同敌人英勇战斗，现译为fighting heroically。
(11)“有极强的生命力”译为are bursting with vitality，其中burst with意同full of。
(12)“我们民族解放斗争中所不可缺的……”译为…central to our struggle for national
liberation，其中central to意同essential to。
(13)“楠木”是一种常绿乔木，质地坚硬，为贵重木材，现译为namu。
(14)“秀颀”意即美丽而高大。现译为good-looking and tall。
故都的秋
郁达夫
秋天，无论在什么地方的秋天，总是好的(1)；可是啊，北国的秋，却特别地来得
清，来得静，来得悲凉。我的不远