e flowing sea tide at the Qiantangjiang River, the mist-shrouded Putuo
Mountain and lotuses at the Lizhiwan Bay. But they all lack strong colour and lingering
flavour. Southern autumn is to Northern autumn what yellow rice wine is to kaoliang wine,
congee to steamed buns, perches to crabs, yellow dogs to camels.
Autumn, I mean Northern autumn, if only it could be made to last forever! I would be
more than willing to keep but one-third of my life-span and have two-thirds of it bartered
for the prolonged stay of the season!
注释
《故都的秋》是郁达夫（1896-1945）的名篇，1934年8月写于北平。文章通过对北国特有
风物的细腻描绘，抒发作者对故都之秋的无比眷恋之情。
(1)“总是好的”不宜按字面直译。现译为always has something to recommend itself，其中to
have…to recommend…作“有……可取之处”解。
(2)“不远千里，要从杭州赶上青岛……”译为have made light of travelling a long distance from
Hangzhou to Qingdao…，其中to make light of是成语，作“对……不在乎”解。
(3)“总看不饱，尝不透，赏玩不到十足”不宜逐字直译。译文without ever relishing to my heart’s content…中用relishing to my heart’s content概括原文中的“看……饱”、“尝……透”、“赏玩……”等。
(4)“每年到了秋天，总要想起陶然亭的芦花……”译为the arrival of each autumn will put me in mind of Peiping’s Tao Ran Ting with its reed catkins…，其中to put one in mind of…是成语，作“使人想起……”解。译文中的Peiping’s是添加成分，以便国外读者理解句中所列各景点的所在地是北平。
(5)“既觉得细腻，又觉得清闲”中的“清闲”意同“幽静”，故译为quiet。
(6)“可和蟋蟀耗子一样，简直像是家家户户都养在家里的家虫”译为seem to be living off every
household like crickets or mice，其中to live off (= to live on)中成语，作“靠……生活”解，用以表达“养在……的家虫”。
(7)“更像样”意即“更有节制”，故译为more temperate 。
(8)根据上下文，“微叹“是为”感怀时光的消逝“，故以释义法译为with a slight touch of reget
at the passing of time。
(9)“西北风就要起来了”译为the northwesterly wind will begin to reign supreme，其中to reign
supreme强调“占优势”之意。
(10)“感到不能自已的深情”译为have deep sentiments…in spite of themselves，其中in spite of
oneself是成语，作“不由自主地”解。
(11)“秋士”是古汉语，指“士之暮年不遇者”，现译为qiushi (autumn scholar, meaning an aged
scholar grieving over frustrations in his life)。
(12)“欧阳子的秋声”即“欧阳修所作的《秋声赋》”，现译为Ouyang Xiu’s On the Autumn
Sough。
(13)〈赤壁赋〉为苏东坡所作，借秋游赤壁，抒发自己的人生感慨。可译为On the Red Cliff
或Fu on the Red Cliff。
谈结婚
郁达夫
前些日子，林语堂先生似乎曾说过(1)女子的唯一事业，是在结婚，现在一位法国
大文豪来沪，对去访问他的新闻记者的谈话之中，又似乎说，男子欲成事业，应该不
要结婚。
华盛顿?欧文(2)是一个独身的男子，但《见闻短记》里的一篇歌颂妻子的文章(3)，
却写的那么优美可爱。同样查而斯?兰姆(4)也是独身的男子，而爱丽亚的《独身者的
不平》(5)一篇，又冷嘲热讽，将结婚的男女和婚后必然的果子——小孩们——等，俏
皮到了那一步田地。
究竟是结婚的好呢，还是不结婚的好？这问题似乎同先有鸡还是先有鸡蛋一样
(6)，常常有人提起，而也常常没有人解决过的问题(7)。照大体看来，想租房子的时候，
是无眷莫问的，想做官的时候，又是朝里无裙(8)莫做官的，想写文章的时候，是独身
者(9)不能写我的妻的，凡此种种似乎都是结婚的好。可是要想结婚，第一要有钱，第
二要有闲，第三要有职，这潘驴(10)……的五个条件，却也不容易办到(11)。更何况结
婚之后，“儿子自己要来(12)”，在这世界人口过剩，经济恐慌，教育破产，世风不
古的时候，万一不慎，同兰姆所说的一样，儿子们去上了断头台(13)，那真是连祖宗
三代的楣都要倒尽，那里还有什么“官人请！娘子请！”的唱随之乐(14)可说呢？ ②②
左思右想，总觉得结婚也不好的，不结婚也是不好的。
A Chat about Marriage
Yu Dafu
The other day, Mr. Lin Yutang said something to the effect that women’s only career
lies in matrimony. Now, an eminent French writer declared at a press interview after
arriving in Shanghai that men should stay bachelors if they want to achieve success in life.
Washington Irving was a confirmed bachelor, but in his Sketch Book there is an article
extolling the wife as a graceful and lovely life-long partner. Charles Lamb, also a single
man, in A Bachelor’s Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People, one of his essays
signed “Elia”, speaks mockingly of married people with their inevitable postnuptial
fruits—the children.
Marriage or no marriage, which is more desirable? That sounds like the chicken-and-
egg question, which, though often discussed, remains a perpetual puzzle. Generally
speaking, one who has no family dependants is not supposed to rent a house, one who has
no petticoat influence in the government should refrain from becoming an official, an
unmarried male writer is in no position to writer about “my wife”. All these seem to hint at
the advantage of marriage. But, to get married, you need to have five perquisites, namely,
money, leisure, employment, good looks and potentness, of which all are not always
available. What is more, after your marriage, your offspring will come to this world of
themselves. And in a world with