花了两天时间译了下今年韩素英青年翻译竞赛的汉译英部分。
既然稿件的截止时间已过，这里就把它贴出来，给大家看看。
水平有限，时间有限，这篇东西实在译得不怎么样。
就像Paul说的：“It obviously needs polishing”。
总之，希望读者们多多批评指正。
——让板砖来的更猛烈些吧！
Now, here it comes:
译文：
Measure of Paternal Love (Excerpt)
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge of the United States proposed that Father’s Day be observed as a national holiday so as to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.” In 1972, President Nixon signed a bill which established Father’s Day officially. Since then, this holiday has gradually spread all over the world. Today, Chinese urban dwellers, who have always attached great importance to parent-child relationship and to the father’s responsibility in bringing up his child, have imperceptibly accepted this “foreign holiday”.
The Chinese nuclear family which has only one child is like an unlimited liability company, where the parents take unlimited responsibility for the future & destiny of their children. As San Zi Jing, or Three-Character Classic, puts it, “If the child is ill-bred, the father is at fault.” A child’s follies, faults and failures are often associated with the father, that is, the latter shall not only shoulder the responsibilities in terms of finance, morality, etc., but also take the blame from society at large and the family as the “head of the family”. While returns cannot be predicted of the success in the education of the family’s only child, there is a 100% possibility that the father will pay the price for its failure. Therefore, it is the father who measures his child—and the standards are hard to set.
The father is referred to in classical Chinese as Jiayan, or “His Strictness of My Family”. Paternal love has been defined in an accurate, elaborate and reasonable way in traditional Chinese culture, ethical code & customs. “The father should be revered, and the mother affectionate.” In other words, the father must preserve his dignity and make himself venerable; only this way can he win respect from other family members, and then establish himself as the revered first responsible person in executing home education. As laid down in The Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues—a moral code for every Chinese to follow in ancient China, “If the monarch is not just, his subject may defect to other countries; if the father is not just, the child may defect to other places.” In other words, the father must set an example, otherwise he will be in no place to huddle his child around him and carry out his due responsibility in education & discipline; or even worse, his child may fall out with him and dissension & discord may arise among them. “Stern father and compassionate mother”—these are the roles the parents are supposed to play respectively and the father should be strict, stern and serious. However, some fathers have reduced “strictness” to curses and cudgels. As I have learned from the teachings of the Chan sect of Buddhism, banghe—a common practice of giving sharp warnings—is intended to stimulate, to warn, to instruct and to enlighten, rather than to subdue, and to a lesser extent, to demonstrate the patriarchal authority. Therefore, a man’s qualification as a father consists more in his knowledge and insight, than in his temper; it is key for him to be one-notch better, but not superior in air & manner. He should be his child’s first teacher and spiritual guide.
It is, without exception, every parent’s dream that his child will be a success; and to realize this dream, they are willing to go to any length. It is true that many children have, influenced by their families, become what their parents have been or expected them to be and thus brought honor to their ancestors and prosperity to their descendants; there are quite a few others, however, who fail to live up to their parents’ dreams & expectations, or worse still, turn into the opposite. There are Chinese sayings which attribute the child’s success or failure to their parents, for instance, “The son may inherit the father’s heroism, or his profession as a vegetable vendor” and “a soldier’s son knows weapons early”; However, there are other sayings testifying to the reverse--“Good parents do not always have good children.” In the final analysis, in family education, the parents should also set store by teaching children according to their respective aptitude and give them the freedom to choose their own path of self-development befitting their hobbies, interests and strengths. It is advisable not to impose one’s own aspirations on others, even if on his children.
While Western education values love, care and encouragement, traditional Chinese education features love coated with a hard shell of apparent sternness. The Chinese father’s being “strict” with his child is in fact a way for them to interact; he does so out of love and care. “If the father is not affectionate, the child will not be filial”, so goes the saying. An unaffectionate, irresponsible father may bring up a mediocre, commonplace child, which is neither filial nor emotionally attached to the father. On the other hand, “parental love is as ferocious as a tiger, and whoever receives it is sure to suffer”. Indiscriminate praise & encouragement and excessive indulgence from the parents may turn the child into either an ignorant, talentless and stupid idler without any ambition, or an arrogant, disobedient son who cares for nothing. Hence, it is really hard to strike a balance between strictness and affectionateness—strictness in excess leads to inhibited personality and affectionateness in excess nurtures vices.
“How intense it is—parents’ love for their children!” To be a qualified father takes far more than just serious thinking, but also a severe test and an enduring difficult exam.
下面是Paul的，比我的简洁多了。稀饭～～
The Measure of Paternal Love
In 1924, American President Calvin Coolidge proposed that Father’s Day be made a national holiday in order to ‘establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations’. In 1972, President Nixon officially signed the proposal to establish Father’s Day. Since then, the holiday has spread all over the world. Today, rather imperceptibly, those in urban China, who have traditionally valued the parents-and-child relationship and stressed fathers’ role in bringing up children, have also adopted this western holiday.
The Chinese nuclear family with an only child is like a company of unlimited liability, because the parents bear unlimited responsibility for their child's future. As the saying goes, 'The poor upbringing of a child should be blamed on his or her father.' A child's faults and failures implicate his or her father, who, in addition to economic and moral liabilities, is held responsible as a 'leader' by the family and society at large. Unpredictable are the benefits of the successful education of an only child, but one hundred percent sure is the price to pay for a failed one. So father is an example for his child to follow, an example that is difficult to set.
Father used to be respectfully called jiayan, or 'the stern member of my family' in China, where the traditional culture, ethical code and customs have designated a precise, rational, minutely defined role for fathers. 'The Way of the father consists in dignity, and the Way of the mother, affection.' A father must have due self-respect in order to be respected by his family and to maintain and execute his authority as the primary bearer of the responsibility for home education. 'If a monarch deviates from the Way, his subjects will go and serve other states; if a father does so, his children will leave for other places.' That is to say, a father must set a good example for his children, for otherwise it would be impossible to unify, instruct and bring them up, or, worse still, they might turn against him. Just as the mother should be affectionate, so the father should be strict, stern and serious. But some fathers interpret the three Ss as corporal punishment with the rod. Yet the rod, as a Zen master showed us, is not to be used for suppression or display of authority, but as an incentive, a reminder, or a source of enlightenment. A father's competence lies not in hot temper that intimidates his children, but in good judgment that qualifies him to be their first teacher and mentor.
All parents hold high expectations for their children, and will pay any price to make them come true. While this has indeed led many children to achieve as much as their parents did or live up to their expectations, many have let their parents down or even become exactly the opposite of what their parents wanted them to be. Sayings go that 'the son of a hero cannot be a coward, and the son of a scallion seller will sell garlic' and that 'the son of a soldier learns to use sword and spear early'. But another saying goes that 'parents cannot ensure their children's goodness'. In the final analysis, parents should also teach their children according to their aptitude, giving them the freedom to choose and allowing them to fulfill their potential by developing their talents and interests. No one should impose his will on others, including his children.
Western education underlines love, care, and encouragement, whereas traditional Chinese education is stern in appearance and affectionate in nature. Chinese fathers' sternness with their children is based on love as the essence and care as the purpose. A saying goes that 'an unloving father has no devoted child'. That is to say, a father devoid of love or sense of responsibility will have a child who is neither an excellent person nor a loving son or daughter. However, another saying goes that 'parents' love can be a curse'. Indiscriminate praise and encouragement plus excessive doting and indulgence may produce an ignorant, insensible loiterer, or an arrogant, unscrupulous ruffian. Thus it is hard to apply a proper measure of sternness and affection. Too much of the former stifles personality, and too much of the latter breeds vice.
'All parents are willing to do anything for their children.' To be a good father is more than something to learn; it is an ordeal, or a long, difficult and comprehensive test.
原文：
父爱的尺度（节选）
1924年，美国总统卡尔文•柯立芝建议把父亲节作为一个全国性的节日，以便“在父亲和子女间建立更亲密的关系，并且使父亲铭记自己应尽的全部责任”。1972年，尼克松总统正式签署了建立父亲节的议案。后来，这一节日逐渐流传到世界各地。如今，历来重视亲子关系、强调父亲教养责任的中国城市人群，也潜移默化地接受了这个“洋节”。
以独生子女为养育对象的中国式核心家庭类似无限责任公司，父母对子女的前途命运负无限责任。“子不教，父之过”，子女的贤愚、得失、功过牵连其父。父亲不但要负经济、道德等方面的连带责任，而且要被社会和家庭全方位地追究“领导责任”。对独生子女教育成功的收益不可预期，但教育失败的机会成本却是百分之百。因此，父亲是儿女的标杆——尺度，这个“尺度”的分寸很难把握。
父亲雅称“家严”，中国传统文化、礼教、风俗已经对父爱角色作了准确、详尽、合理的定位。“父道尊，母道亲”。父亲必须保持应有的尊严，必须自尊，才能获得家庭的尊重，然后才能保持并实施家庭教育第一责任人的尊严。“君不正，臣投外国，父不正，子奔他乡”。就是说，父亲必须以身作则，否则，无法团结教育子女，履行父亲的管教责任，甚至可能导致父子反目、离心离德。严父慈母是父母亲分别担当的固有角色，严格、严厉、严肃是父亲的应有风格。但有的父亲把一个“严”字衍化为棍棒教育、打骂教育。我从禅宗教育中得到一些启示，“棒喝”的宗旨是刺激、提醒、指点、点化，目的是开悟增慧，而不是压服，更不是展示家长威风。所以，一个称职的父亲重在见识高低，不在脾气大小，不要高人一等，关键是要高人一筹，做孩子的启蒙老师，做孩子的精神向导。
父母无不望子成龙、成凤，并为此不惜一切代价。的确，许多子女受家庭影响，子承父业、光前裕后，成为父母一样的人或父母期望的人，而也有相当多的子女没有实现父母的梦想，没有到达父母的期望值，甚至走向父母愿望的反面。俗话说：“老子英雄儿好汉，老子卖葱儿卖蒜”；“兵家儿早识刀枪”。但俗话也说：“父母难保子孙贤”。说到底，家庭教育也有一个因材施教的问题，给孩子以选择发展道路的自由，让他们根据自己兴趣爱好特长做好他自己。人各有志，不必强求，对儿女也是如此。
西方教育理念强调亲情、呵护、鼓励。中国传统教育理念是“严”在其表，爱在其里。中国式“家严”是父子互动的一种外在动作，慈爱是核心，爱护是目的。俗话说：“父不慈，子不孝”。父亲不慈爱，不负责，所以孩子不出色、不优秀，也不孝敬、依恋父亲。但是，“父母爱如虎，爱谁谁受苦”，对孩子无原则的表扬、鼓励，过度的溺爱、放纵，有可能培养一个无知无能、无所事事、愚钝麻木、胸无大志的庸子，也有可能培养一个目中无人、狂妄自大、无法无天的逆子。所以，严与慈的尺度很难把握，过严压抑个性，过慈助长恶习。
“可怜天下父母心”。做一个合格的父亲岂止是一门学问，实在是一场严峻的考验，是一场漫长的高难度综合考试。
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