“比擬”是“擬人”和“擬物”的總稱(chēng)。由于“比”、“喻”、“擬”是同義詞、可以彼此互換，所以，在古今的文談、詩(shī)論中，一直存在“比喻”和 “比擬”混稱(chēng)的情況。事實(shí)上，二者的語(yǔ)言結(jié)構(gòu)是完全不同的：無(wú)論哪種類(lèi)型的比喻，喻體的出現(xiàn)是其根本標(biāo)志；而比擬卻只出現(xiàn)被擬體，不出現(xiàn)擬體?；蛘邠Q言之，比喻是以此喻彼，借代是以此代彼，其中的本體與喻體、本體與借體都還是兩個(gè)分離的個(gè)體；比擬卻是彼此交融，擬體和被擬體合二為一了。

也同樣是從語(yǔ)言結(jié)構(gòu)和表達(dá)特征上分析，與“擬人”相對(duì)應(yīng)的英語(yǔ)辭格是personification；與“擬物”相對(duì)應(yīng)的是verb-metaphor(metaphor的一種）。下面，我們首先從《紅樓夢(mèng)》里最成功最典型的一例擬人用法入手，分析兩個(gè)譯本對(duì)比擬格的翻譯。

鳳姐聽(tīng)說(shuō)，便站起來(lái)，拉著薛姨媽?zhuān)仡^指著賈母素日放錢(qián)的一個(gè)小木匣子笑道：“姨媽瞧瞧，那個(gè)里頭不知頑了我多少去了。這一吊錢(qián)頑不了半個(gè)時(shí)辰，那里頭的錢(qián)就招手兒叫他了。只等把這一吊也叫進(jìn)去了，牌也不用斗了，老祖宗的氣也平了，又有正經(jīng)事差我辦去 了?！痹捳f(shuō)未完，引的賈母眾人笑個(gè)不住。偏有平兒怕錢(qián)不夠，又送了一吊來(lái)。鳳姐兒道：“不用放在我跟前，也放在老太太的那一處罷?！R叫進(jìn)去倒省事，不用做兩次，叫箱子里的錢(qián)費(fèi)事。”（第四十七回）

楊譯：

At this Xifeng left her seat and,taking Aunt Xue by the arm,turned and pointed at the wooden chest in which the Lady Dowager kept her money.

“Look there，aunt，”she said.“Goodness knows how much of my money has been swallowed up by that.It's less than an hour since we began，and already the money in that chest has beckoned to this string of cash. As soon as this string's gone in too we shan't have to play any more，and our Old Ancestress will have got over her temper. Then she'll send me off to attend to my duties again."

The whole company was laughing uproariously when Ping'er arrived with another string of cash，for fear her mistress might not have enough.

“There's no need to put that in front of me，”cried Xifeng.“Just put it on the old lady's pile. That will save the money in her chest the trouble of beckoning twice. ”

霍譯：

Xi-feng stood up and，laying a hand on Aunt Xue's arm，pointed out to her the wooden chest in which Grandmother Jia kept her money.

‘You see that，Aunt? I don't know how much of my money has at one time or another found its way in there. Before I've been playing half an hour, my money in the chest begins calling to my money on the table to come and join it. All I have to do now is wait until it's called it all in, then the game will be over and Grannie will be in a good temper again and I shall be able to go and get on with my work.'

By the time she had finished saying this，Grandmother Jia and all the others present were laughing. They were still laughing when Patience，fearing that her mistress might have insufficient money by her，came in bringing another string of cash.

‘Don't put it down in front of me，’Xi-feng told her.‘Put it down beside Her Old Ladyship，so that all my money can go into the chest together.We don't want the money in the chest to have to go through the business of calling for it all over again.’

在這里，作者借鳳姐的巧嘴，把賈母木箱子里的錢(qián)人格化，使它能“頑”，會(huì)“招手兒”，還會(huì)把鳳姐的錢(qián)“叫進(jìn)去”，并且讓它“一齊叫進(jìn)去倒省事，不用做兩次，叫箱子里的錢(qián)費(fèi)事”。鳳姐的這番話，充分發(fā)揮了比擬的修辭作用，使原本靜止、呆板、無(wú)生息的事物形象地 “活”了起來(lái)，表達(dá)效果倍增，比用直白的語(yǔ)言赤裸裸地恭維賈母如何如何神通廣大更具感染力和表現(xiàn)力，辭趣與情趣帶給了讀者無(wú)窮的閱讀樂(lè)趣。

兩段譯文對(duì)句中的擬人格都是借助動(dòng)詞來(lái)表現(xiàn)的那個(gè)里頭不知頑了我多少去了”用swallowed up(楊譯），found its way(霍譯）；“那里頭的錢(qián)就招手兒叫他了。只等把這一吊也叫進(jìn)去了”用 beckoned to, gone in(楊譯），calling …to come and join it, called it all in(霍譯）；“一齊叫進(jìn)去倒省事，不用做兩次，叫箱子里的錢(qián)費(fèi)事”用 beckoning(楊譯），go through the-business of calling for(霍譯）。這些動(dòng)詞或動(dòng)詞短語(yǔ)通常都用于描述人的行為、動(dòng)作，現(xiàn)在用于 描述無(wú)生命的“錢(qián)”，與原文擬人格的修辭效果取得了一致。

概括地講，兩位譯者在擬人格的翻譯中基本上都采取了像該例這樣的直譯法，使譯文與原文一樣生動(dòng)形象。

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