4月26日下午，香港岭南大学博士生导师Douglas Robinson 教授在图书馆学术报告厅作了题为《<孟子>中“仁”的英译》（English Translations of rén 仁 inMencius）的学术讲座。讲座由翻译学院副院长李明教授主持。平洪院长向Robinson教授赠送纪念品。

平洪院长向Robinson教授赠送礼品

Robinson教授研究视野开阔，范围广泛，主要研究领域有文学理论，语言学，美国文学与文化及西方思想史与教育法，翻译理论等。25年来，Robinson教授一直研究《孟子》。他折服于中国古代哲学的博大精深，沉醉于汉语的精炼丰盈。让他惊喜的是，两千年前孟子的所思所想正是他一直以来向往的。

关于一个汉字的翻译批评

Robinson教授认为，“仁”是难以翻译的。因为英语中没有哪个现成的表达，既可以传达出语言本身的意义，又可以涵盖文化、哲学所投射的每一个细微含义。所以翻译只能无限接近原语，而非百分之百的对等。

他回顾了认可度最高的两种翻译：benevolent/benevolence及humanity / humane(ness)。他认为，benevolence不是“仁”的充分翻译，这在David Collie 的译句“He who outrages the benevolence proper to his nature，is called a robber” (“贼人者谓之贼”)便可见一斑。显然把benevolence作为outrage宾语的用法是不恰当的，毕竟benevolence指的是个体的心理状态，一种慈善之心，无法成为愤怒仇恨的对象。而且，这个词的色彩不够强烈。在汉语里，“不仁”对应的翻译是cruelty，ruthlessness以及coercion，而非non-benevolence。不仁者在孟子看来无异于禽兽。可见如果人性中缺少了“仁”，便会导致人的残忍暴戾。但是如果少的是慈善之心，并不一定会造成道德上的沦陷。还有就是，这个词局限于个体，而非集体。至于humanity，它的词义模糊，既可以指人性（the quality of being human），也可以指人道(the quality of being humane)，而且忽略了人与人之间的情感联系。他更认同Jeffrey Ritchie 的 “co-humanity”和James Behuniak, Jr,.的“associated humanity”。

Robinson教授慷慨激昂演讲中

“仁”是什么？

“仁也者，人也。”“仁也者，心也。”“夫人，……人之安室也。”

意义是翻译的核心， 对“仁”的完整理解至关重要。Robison教授的解读是，“仁”是一种集体情感（collective feeling, group feeling or shared feeling）。确切的说是同感同情，推己及人的关切。个体能体会他人的苦乐，将自己与世界联系起来，这样一来人与人也就变得息息相关。

他在反思“仁政”的翻译“benevolent government”时，提出了自己的看法。 “仁政”与其说是道德层面的，不如说是指治国之道。君主实行的仁政体现在体恤民生。人民遭受苦厄，他就会反侧难眠。基于此，R将仁政翻译成“fellow-feeling government”或“‘can’t bear other people’s suffering’ government”。当然，他也表示，具体用哪一种翻译要视具体的语境而定。

最后，Robinson教授认真回答了现场提问。至此，讲座在一片热烈的气氛中结束。

Robinson教授回答提问

附：Douglas Robinson教授简介

Douglas Robinson is a critical theorist interested in human communication as grounded in human social interaction, and specifically as circulated pragmatically through literature, rhetoric, and translation. His “somatic” and “performative” theories of communication have broken new ground in literary studies (Ring Lardner and the Other, Oxford UP, 2002,Estrangement and the Somatics of Literature: Tolstoy, Shklovsky, Brecht, Johns Hopkins UP, 2008), linguistics (Performative Linguistics, Routledge, 2003, andIntroducing Performative Pragmatics, Routledge, 2006), and translation studies (The Translator's Turn, Johns Hopkins UP, 1991,Translation and Taboo, Northern Illinois UP, 1996,What Is Translation?, Kent State UP, 1997,Becoming a Translator, Routledge, 1997,Translation and Empire, St. Jerome, 1997,Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche, St. Jerome, 1997, andWho Translates?, SUNY P, 2001). His most recent work is in the philosophy of mind/body and cognitive science, especially on the extended body-becoming-mind (extended affect>conation>cognition).

A native of the United States, Douglas Robinson has lived in Finland for a total of fourteen years, taking three university degrees there and serving as a lecturer in English at the University of Jyväskylä (1975-1981) and a professor of American language and literature (1983-1987) and of Finnish-English Translation Theory and Practice (1987-1989) at the University of Tampere. During his 21 years (1989-2010) as professor of English at the University of Mississippi, he also spent two years in Voronezh, Russia, and five months in Spain; the last three years at Ole Miss he was Director of First-Year Writing. His 1983 Ph.D. is from the University of Washington, Seattle.