[試譯] 文學賞析_Half of a Yellow Sun

本文摘自 Half of a Yellow Sun，背景設於 1960 年代的奈及利亞。小男孩由親戚領著來到城裡，準備在一位留學歸國的教授家幫忙打雜，文中交雜當地方言(Igbo)與英文，翻譯策略經營上需注意一致性。

‘I will learn fast, Aunty,’ Ugwu said. He was staring at the car in the garage; a strip of metal ran around its blue body like a necklace.

    ‘Remember, what you will answer whenever he calls you is Yes, sah!’

    ‘Yes, sah!’ Ugwu repeated.

They were standing before the glass door. Ugwu held back from reaching out to touch the cement wall, to see how different it would feel from the mud walls of his mother’s hut that still bore the faint patterns of molding fingers. For a brief moment, he wished he were back there now, in his mother’s hut, under the dim coolness of the thatch roof; or in his aunty’s hut, the only one in the village with a corrugated-iron roof.

「阿姨，我會勤快點學。」阿谷說話的同時，眼睛直盯著車庫裡那輛車，金屬邊框鑲在藍色車身上，如項鍊一般。

「切記，無論教授有什麼事吩咐你，都要回答是的，先生！」

「是的，先生！」阿谷重複一次。

他們站在玻璃門前。阿谷倚著水泥牆，想起母親那間屋子，帶有不規則紋路、手工砌的土牆。有那麼一剎那，阿谷希望自己還在母親家，茅草屋頂讓室內有些蔭涼；或者在阿姨家也好，阿姨家是附近唯一用鐵皮建的房子。

    His aunty tapped on the glass. Ugwu could see the white curtains behind the door. A voice said, in English, ‘Yes? Come in.’

    They took off their slippers before walking in. Ugwu had never seen a room so wide. Despite the brown sofas arranged in a semicircle, the side tables between them, the shelves crammed with books, and the centre table with a vase of read and white plastic flowers, the room still seemed to have too much space. Master sat in an armchair, wearing a singlet and a pair of shorts. He was not sitting upright but slanted, a book covering his face, as though oblivious that he had just asked people in.

‘Good afternoon, sah!’ This is the child,’ Ugwu’s aunty said.

阿姨輕輕敲門，阿谷望穿玻璃門後的白色窗簾。門內的人以英語回應：「哪位？請進！」

他們進門前先脫掉便鞋。阿谷從未見過如此大的空間，儘管屋內棕色沙發安置成半圓形、邊上放著幾張茶几、還有一整面書櫃的書，客廳主桌上的花瓶，以白色人造花作為點綴，屋內空間依舊綽綽有餘。

身著背心與短褲的教授，正埋首於書本，身體微傾坐在單人沙發上，示意門外二人進屋。

「午安，先生！這就是我提過的那位孩子！」阿姨說道。