阿米尔·汗可以说是中国观众比较熟悉的一个印度演员了，他主演的《三傻大闹宝莱坞》、《我的个神啊》、《摔跤吧爸爸》和《神秘巨星》等电影，在国内都取得了口碑票房双丰收的好成绩。而这些影片也因为真实的表达感动了很多人，让人深受触动。加上阿米尔·汗曾经做过一个非常良心的节目《真相访谈》，通过这个节目推动了印度国会通过儿童保护法案，被称为印度的“良心”。
没想到这样一位看起来与武侠毫不相关的印度演员，居然表示喜欢中国的武侠小说《鹿鼎记》。他可不是说说而已，还是位重度金庸迷，并自曝为了看《鹿鼎记》，晚上竟然只睡了两个小时！
最近，阿米尔·汗亮相北京的”太湖论坛“，和大家一起交流中国文化。在谈话中，他再次向大家介绍他喜欢的中国小说，英文名字叫《The Deer and the Cauldron》。
看过采访视频后，不少网友吐槽：这部小说的书名翻译真的是小学生水平，《The Deer and the Cauldron》直译过来就是《鹿与大锅》，跟《鹿鼎记》想要表达的意思差太远了。
那么，真的是这样吗？
首先要说，《鹿鼎记》的英文版书籍《The Deer and the Cauldron》其实受到很高的评价。
庄绎传教授在《翻译漫谈》中这样介绍《The Deer and the Cauldron》：
最近看到牛津大学出版社1997年出版的一本书，题目是《The Deer And the Cauldron》，作者是Louis Cha，译者是John Minford。
这位译者，虽不认识，却很熟悉，因为读过他和David Hawkes合译的《The Story of the Stone》（《红楼梦》）。我还知道他在香港理工大学（Hong Kong Polytechnic University）任教。
但我没有想到他又将这本书译成了英文，把书打开一看，我立刻被那流畅的译文吸引住了，句子都是地道的英文。
英国汉学家约翰·闵福德（John Minford）
《鹿鼎记》由英国汉学家约翰·闵福德（John Minford）翻译，这位译者有着丰富的中国典籍英译经验，他曾经把中国古典名著，如《红楼梦》（后四十回）、《孙子兵法》等译成英语。
相较于大部分武侠小说英译本所受到的冷落，《鹿鼎记》的英译本一经面世就在中西方读者中获得不错的反响，金庸对这一译本也比较满意。
那为什么把《鹿鼎记》的书名直译为《The Deer and the Cauldron》呢？
原来，“鹿鼎”这两个字，乍看没有什么联系和实质含义，但是细究起来，每个字的意思都很高深，无法略译或者意译。
金庸在本书第一回《人为刀俎》中解释了“鹿”“鼎”两个字的含义，用两个成语概括就是：
“鹿”
“群雄逐鹿”
“鼎”
“问鼎天下”
在本书第一回，金庸借一文人和一孩童之口，解释了“群雄”逐的为什么是“鹿”？
鹿这种野兽，虽是庞然大物，性子却极为和平，只吃青草树叶，从来不伤害别的野兽。凶猛的野兽要伤害它，它只有逃跑，倘若逃不了，那只有给人家吃了。
The deer is a wild animal, but although it is comparatively large, it has a very peaceable nature. It eats only grass and leaves and never harms other animals. So when other animals want to hurt it or to eat it, all it can do is run away. If it can't escape by running away, it gets eaten.
世上的百姓，都是温顺善良，只有给人欺压残害的份儿，鹿的特征都和封建时期的老百姓非常相似，是受欺压、迫害的对象，所以古人就以鹿比喻天下百姓，渐渐就比喻成天下。
汉书上说：“秦失其鹿，天下共逐之。”
In the History of the Han Dynasty it says 'Qin lost the deer and the world went chasing after it'.
那就是说，秦朝失了天下，群雄并起，大家争夺，最後汉高祖打败了楚霸王，就得了只又肥又大的鹿。
That means that when the Qin Emperor lost control of the Empire, ambitious men rose up everywhere and fought each other to possess it. In the end it was the first Han Emperor who got this big, fat deer by defeating the Tyrant King of Chu.
所以“逐鹿中原”（chase the deer on the Central Plain），就是大家争着当皇帝（fight each other to become Emperor）的意思。
乾隆逐鹿
“鹿”是指天下，那么“鼎”又是什么意思呢？
金庸这样写道：
夏禹王收九州之金，铸了九口大鼎，每一口鼎上铸了九州的名字和山川图形，後世为天下之主的，便保有九鼎。
King Yu of the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty that ever was, collected metal from all the nine provinces of the Empire and used it to cast nine great cauldrons with. 'Metal' in those days meant bronze. Each of these bronze cauldrons had the name of one of the nine provinces on it and a map showing the mountains and rivers of that province. In later times whoever became master of the Empire automatically became the guardian of these cauldrons.
夏禹王制九鼎，上铸九州山川，“鼎”就变成了江山和政权的象征，因此后世为天下之主的，才能保有九鼎。如果有人要“问鼎”，便是心存不轨。
左传上有这么一个故事：楚子观兵於周疆。定王使王孙满劳楚子。楚子问鼎之大小轻重焉。
In The Chronicle of Zuo it says that when the Viscount of Chu was reviewing his troops on Zhou territory and the Zhou king sent Prince Man to him with his royal compliments, the Viscount questioned Prince Man about the size and weight of the cauldrons.
只有天下之主，方能保有九鼎。楚子只是楚国的诸侯，他问鼎的轻重大小，便是心存不轨，想取周王之位而代之。
Of course, as ruler of the whole Empire, only the Zhou king had the right to be guardian of the cauldrons. For a mere Viscount like the ruler of Chu to ask questions about them showed that he was planning to seize the Empire for himself.
《晋书·王敦传》因而也云：“有问鼎之心，帝畏而恶之。”“问鼎”成了“篡夺”的替代词。
所以“鼎”是不能随便问的，问了就是居心不良。
因为这几个典故，“逐鹿”、“问鼎”，便指代“想做皇帝”。“未知鹿死谁手”，就是不知哪一个做成了皇帝。
直接看书名，外国读者可能有点懵，但是看完第一回之后，他们一定能和中国读者一样，理解deer和cauldron背后的含义。
不过遗憾的是，西方并没有“鼎”的对应说法，cauldron在英文中指的是 a large metal pot with a lid and handle, used for cooking over an open fire.
就是一口带提手的大锅
Anyway，这可能就是不可译性带来的一点点“翻译中的遗憾”吧。
有意思的是，电影《鹿鼎记》英文片名译为Royal Teamp，也有不少外国友人表示，皇家也有流浪汉？
这一点，你注意到了吗？
说了这么多，不妨一起来看看《鹿鼎记》的开场，细细研读一番。
鹿鼎记
The Deer and the Cauldron
北风如刀，满地冰霜。江南近海滨的一条大路上，一队清兵手执刀枪，押着七辆囚车，冲风冒寒，向北而行。前面三辆囚车中分别监禁的是三个男子，都作书生打扮，一个是白发老者，两个是中年人。后面四辆囚车中坐的是女子，最后一辆囚车中是个少妇，怀中抱着个女婴，女婴啼哭不休。她母亲温言相呵，女婴只是大哭。囚车旁一清兵恼了，伸腿在车上踢了一脚，喝道：“再哭，再哭，老子踢死你！”那女婴一惊，哭得更加响了。
Along a coastal road somewhere south of the Yangtze River, a detachment of soldiers, each of them armed with a halberd, was escorting a line of seven prison carts, trudging northwards in the teeth of a bitter wind. In each of the first three carts a single male prisoner was caged, identifiable by his dress as a member of the scholar class. One was a white-haired old man. The other two were men of middle years. The four rear carts were occupied by women, the last of them by a young mother holding a baby girl at her breast. The little girl was crying in a continuous wail which her mother's gentle words of comfort were powerless to console. One of the soldiers marching alongside, irritated by the baby's crying, aimed a mighty kick at the cart. 'Stop it! Shut up! Or I'll really give you something to cry about!' The baby, startled by this sudden violence, cried even louder.
离开道路数十丈处有座大屋，屋檐下站着一个中年文士，一个十一二岁的小孩。那文士见到这等情景，不禁长叹一声，眼眶也红了，说道：“可怜，可怜！”
Under the eaves of a large house, some hundred yards from the road, a middle-aged scholar was standing with a ten- or eleven-year-old boy at his side. He was evidently affected by this little scene, for a groan escaped his lips and he appeared to be very close to tears. 'Poor creatures!' he murmured to himself.
那小孩问道：“爹爹，他们犯了什么罪？”那文士道：“又犯了什么罪？昨日和今朝已逮去了三十几人，都是我们浙江有名的读书人，个个都是无辜株连。”他说到“无辜株连”四子，声音压得甚低，生怕给押囚车的官兵听见了。
'Papa,' said the little boy, 'what have they done wrong?' 'What indeed!' said the man, bitterly. 'During these last two days they must have made more than thirty arrests. All our best scholars. And all of them innocents, caught up in the net,' he added in an undertone, for fear that the soldiers might hear him.
那小孩道：“那个小女孩还在吃奶，难道也犯了罪么？真没道理。”那文士道：“你懂得官兵没道理，真是好孩子。咳，人为刀俎，我为鱼肉，人为鼎锅，我为麋鹿！”
That girl's only a baby,' said the boy. 'What can she possibly be guilty of? It's very wrong.' 'So you understand that what the Government soldiers do is wrong,' said the man. 'Good for you, my son!' He sighed. They are the cleaver and we are the meat. They are the cauldron and we are the deer.'
那小孩道：“爹，你前几天教过我。人为刀俎，我为鱼肉，就是给人家斩割屠杀的意思。人家是切菜刀，是铁板，我们就是鱼和肉。“人为鼎锅，我为麋鹿”这两句话，意思也差不多么？”那文士道：“正是！”眼见官兵和囚车已经去远，拉着小孩的手道：“外面风大，我们回屋里去。”当下父子二人走进书房。
'You explained 'they are the cleaver and we are the meat' the other day, papa,' said the boy. 'It's what they say when people are massacred or beheaded. Like meat or fish being sliced up on the chopping-board. Does 'they are the cauldron and we are the deer' mean the same thing?' 'Yes, more or less,' said the man; and since the train of soldiers and prison carts was now fast receding, he took the boy by the hand. 'Let's go indoors now,' he said. 'It's too windy for standing outside.' Indoors the two of them went, and into his study.
那文士提笔醮上了墨，在纸上写了个“鹿”字，说道：“鹿这种野兽，虽是庞然大物，性子却极为平和，只吃青草和树叶，从来不伤害别的野兽。凶猛的野兽要伤它吃它，它只有逃跑。倘若逃不了，那只有给人家吃了。”又写了“逐鹿”两字，说道：“因此古人常常拿鹿来比喻天下。世上百姓都温顺善良，只有给人欺压残害的份儿。《汉书》上说：“秦失其鹿，天下共逐之。”那就是说，秦朝失了天下，群雄并起，大家争夺，最后汉高祖打败了楚霸王，就得了这只又肥又大的鹿。”
The man picked up a writing-brush and moistened it on the ink-slab, then, on a sheet of paper, he wrote the character for a deer. 'The deer is a wild animal, but although it is comparatively large, it has a very peaceable nature. It eats only grass and leaves and never harms other animals. So when other animals want to hurt it or to eat it, all it can do is run away. If it can't escape by running away, it gets eaten.' He wrote the characters for 'chasing the deer' on the sheet of paper. 'That's why in ancient times they often used the deer as a symbol of Empire. The common people, who are the subjects of Empire, are gentle and obedient. Like the deer's, it is their lot to be cruelly treated and oppressed. In the History of the Han Dynasty it says 'Qin lost the deer and the world went chasing after it'. That means that when the Qin Emperor lost control of the Empire, ambitious men rose up everywhere and fought each other to possess it. In the end it was the first Han Emperor who got this big, fat deer by defeating the Tyrant King of Chu.'
小孩点头道：“我明白了。小说书上说“逐鹿中原”，就是大家争着要作皇帝的意思。”那文士甚是喜欢，点了点头，在纸上画了一只鼎的图形，道：“古人煮食，不用灶头锅子，用这样三只脚的鼎，下面烧柴，捉到了鹿，就在鼎里煮来吃。皇帝和大官都很残忍，心里不喜欢谁，就说他犯了罪，把他放在鼎里活活煮熟。《史记》记载蔺相如对秦王说：‘臣知欺大王之罪当诛也，臣请就鼎锅。’就是说：‘我该死，将我在鼎里烧死了罢！’”
'I know,' said the boy. 'In my story-books it says 'they chased the deer on the Central Plain'. That means they were all fighting each other to become Emperor.' The scholar nodded, pleased with his young son's astuteness. He drew a picture of a cauldron on the sheet of paper. 'In olden times they didn't use a cooking-pot on the stove to cook their food in, they used a three-legged cauldron like this and lit a fire underneath it. When they caught a deer they put it in a cauldron to seethe it. Those ancient Emperors and great ministers were very cruel. If they didn't like somebody, they would pretend that they had committed some crime or other, and then they would put them in a cauldron and boil them. In the Records of an Historian Lin Xiangru says to the King of Qin, 'Deceiving Your Majesty was a capital offence. I beg to approach the cauldron.' What he meant was, 'I deserve to die. Put me in the cauldron and boil me.''
那小孩道：“小说书上又常说‘问鼎中原’，这跟‘逐鹿中原’好象意思差不多。”
'Often in my story-books I've seen the words 'asking about the cauldrons in the Central Plain',' said the boy. 'It seems to mean the same thing as 'chasing the deer in the Central Plain'.'
那文士道：“不错。夏禹王收九州之金，铸了九大鼎。当时所谓的“金”其实是铜。每一口鼎上铸了九州的名字和山川图形，后世为天下之主的，便保有九鼎。《左传》上说：“楚子观兵于周疆。定王使王孙满劳楚子。楚子只是楚国的诸侯，他问鼎的轻重大小，便是心存不轨，想取周王之位而代之。”
'It does,' said the man. 'King Yu of the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty that ever was, collected metal from all the nine provinces of the Empire and used it to cast nine great cauldrons with. 'Metal' in those days meant bronze. Each of these bronze cauldrons had the name of one of the nine provinces on it and a map showing the mountains and rivers of that province. In later times whoever became master of the Empire automatically became the guardian of these cauldrons. In The Chronicle of Zuo it says that when the Viscount of Chu was reviewing his troops on Zhou territory and the Zhou king sent Prince Man to him with his royal compliments, the Viscount questioned Prince Man about the size and weight of the cauldrons. Of course, as ruler of the whole Empire, only the Zhou king had the right to be guardian of the cauldrons. For a mere Viscount like the ruler of Chu to ask questions about them showed that he was planning to seize the Empire for himself.'
那小孩道：“所以‘问鼎’、‘逐鹿’便是想做皇帝。‘未知鹿死谁手’，就是不知哪一个做成了皇帝。”
'So 'asking about the cauldrons' and 'chasing the deer' both mean wanting to be Emperor, ' said the boy. 'And 'not knowing who will kill the deer' means not knowing who is going to be Emperor.'
那文士道：“正是。到得后来，问鼎逐鹿，这四个字，也可借用于别处，但原来的出典，是专指做皇帝而言。”说到这里，叹了口气，道：“咱们做百姓的，总是死路一条。‘未知鹿死谁手’，只不过未知是谁来杀了这头鹿，这头鹿，却是死定了的。”
'That's right,' said the man. 'As time went by these expressions came to be applied to other situations as well, but originally they were only used in the sense of wanting to be Emperor.' He sighed. 'For the common people though, the subjects of Empire, our role is to be the deer. It may be uncertain who will kill the deer, but the deer gets killed all right. There's no uncertainty about that.'
他说着走到窗边，向窗外望去。只见天色沉沉的，似要下雪，叹道：“老天爷何其不仁，数百个无辜之人，在这冰霜遍地的道上行走，下起雪来，可又多受一番折磨了。”
He walked over to the window and gazed outside. The sky had now turned a leaden hue showing that snow was on its way. He sighed again, 'He must be a cruel God up there. Those hundreds of poor, innocent souls on the roads in this freezing weather. The snow will only add to their sufferings.'
内容及图片来源：中译公司、阡陌兴致、金庸著闵福德编译。
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