第17届韩素音青年翻译比赛汉译英原文及参考译文
原文

老来乐

金克木

六十整岁望七十岁如攀高山。不料七十岁居然过了。又想八十岁是难于上青天，可望不可及了。岂知八十岁又过了。老汉今年八十二矣。这是照传统算法，务虚不务实。现在不是提倡尊重传统吗?

老年多半能悟道。孔子说 “天下有道”。老子说 “道可道”。《圣经》说“太初有道”。佛教说“邪魔外道”。我老了，不免胡思乱想，胡说八道，自觉悟出一条真理: 老年是广阔天地， 是可以大有作为的。

七十岁开始可以诸事不做而拿退休金，不愁没有一碗饭吃，自由自在，自得其乐。要看书可以随便乱翻。金庸、梁羽生、克里斯蒂、松本清张，从前哪能拜读？现在可以了。随看随忘，便扔在一边。无忧无虑，无人打扰，不必出门而自有天地。真是无限风光在老年。

偶尔有人来，不论男女老少认识不认识，天南地北，天上地下，天文地理，谈天说地，百无禁忌。我的话匣子一开，激光磁盘便响个不停，滔滔不绝。无奈我闲人忙，听众逐渐稀少，终于门庭冷落，只剩一屋子广阔天地，任我独往独来，随意挥洒。

打开电视，又是一番新气象。古今中外，赤道南极，变幻莫测。真能坐地日行八万里。忽而庄严说教，忽而插科打诨，忽而高歌一曲，忽而舞步翩翩。帝王将相，牛鬼蛇神，无不具备，应有尽有，场面各有不同。主持人个个精神焕发。服装表演件件花样翻新。足球射门中的。篮球投篮不空。马家军飒爽英姿。大歌星真人假唱。忽然出现红顶花翎，拖着辫子，仿佛我的一百四十岁的父亲复活。他不辞辛苦跑到北京来对宣统皇帝磕头。我却曾在大庭广众中对溥仪先生点头问好。真是一代不如一代，一代胜过一代。正在得意之间，不料长袍马褂已变成西装革履。长发长袜，飘来跳去，三点泳装耀眼生辉。眼睛耳朵实在招架不住，那就下令暂停，闭目养神去也。

这正是：

小屋之中天地阔，老年无事是忙人。

译文

Delights in Growing Old by Jin Kemu

At the age of sixty I longed for a life span of seventy, a goal as difficult as a summit to be reached. Who would expect that I had reached it? Then I dreamed of living to be eighty, a target in sight but as inaccessible as Heaven. Out of my anticipation, I had hit it. As a matter of fact, I am now an old man of eighty-two. Such longevity is a grant bestowed by Nature; though nominal and not real, yet it conforms to our tradition. Is it not advocated to pay respect to nowadays?

An old man is said to understand the Way most probably: the Way of good administration as put forth by Confucius, the Way that can be explained as suggested by Laotzu, the Word (Way) in the very beginning as written in the Bible and the Way of pagans as denounced by the Buddhists. As I am growing old, I can't help being given to flights of fancy and having my own Way of creating stories. However I have come to realize the truth: my old age serves as a vast world in which I can still have my talents employed fully and developed completely.

At the age of seventy I began my retirement, in which I can rely on my old-age pension for a living, free from my burden of the boring routines I used to bear, and lead a life carefree and contended. As for reading I can, now, choose at my own will to thumb through anything to while away the time. I can find time to read anything that I didn't used to, for instance, such time- killers as those created by Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, Christie and Seicho Matsummoto. I don't have to keep them in mind and quit them as I see fit. There being no worry and disturbance, I need not travel far in my own world so vast. True it is that the most splendid view may be found in old age!

Occasionally I had some visitors, male or female, old or young, acquainted and unacquainted. We could chat about everything in the north or in the south, in the space or at the core, related to astronomy or geography, in the Heaven or in the Hell and there were no taboos for us at all. Whenever I broke the ice I began to pour my words, in a flow of eloquence, as continuously as a laser disc. Unfortunately, I was jobless while they were so busy that they almost melted away until few knocks came at the door and the world became vacant again. Now I alone can occupy it and go my own way.

When I turn on the TV set, some other new scenes come into my sight, for example, the changeable events in history or in current affairs, on the equator or at the poles. It might be said that while sitting in my room I can cover eighty thousand miles a day since our planet spins. Come upon the screen, now serious preaches, now comic gestures and remarks, now resounding songs, now twists and dances. The cast may be emperors, generals, monsters or demons, of all kinds and of all sorts, but in different situations. Every host beams with vigor and energy, as a model girl shows a brand new costume, as a goal is made in a football game, as each shot scores the basket, as a distance- race runner on the team coached by Mr. Ma makes a good performance or as a famous star comes on the stage in person but his /her song comes from the cassette. Suddenly the picture changes as an official in a red-topped hat and with a pigtail behind the back comes upon the scene, as if my 140-year-old father had come to life again. He made light of a tiring travel from my hometown to the capital in order to kowtow to the emperor Xuantong. In contrast, I did once meet with and greet Mr. Pu Yi, the same person, in public. Really, a new generation may be inferior to the old and in turn an old generation may be outshone by the new. As I am beside myself in high glee, the traditional costume gives way to a western suit. Then the long-haired and the long-stocked shake their legs as if adrift, sandwiched by the radiating bikinied. My eyes and ears can hardly stand those things and I order the set to be turned off for I am going to close my eyes for a rest.

So it is well said:

The world is vast though in the house very small;

The old become jobless, yet now most active of all.