序一
Preface One

By Gerard Carruthers
杰勒德·卡拉瑟斯

Professor Gerard Carruthers

Francis Hutcheson Professor of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow;

General Editor of the new Oxford University Press Edition of the Works of Robert Burns

杰勒德·卡拉瑟斯教授

格拉斯哥大學(xué)蘇格蘭文學(xué)“法蘭西斯·哈奇森”教授，牛津大學(xué)出版社新版彭斯作品總主編

It is a huge pleasure to see this most modern and scholarly Chinese edition of selected works by Robert Burns. The translator, Professor Zhengshuan Li, has been an assiduous scholar not only of Burns the poet and the song-writer, but also of previous Chinese translators of the Scottish “bard”. In a lecture to a rapt audience at the University of Glasgow in the spring of 2015, Professor Li provided a masterclass of the high-points (and a few low ones) in the previous Chinese rendering and reception of Burns. This forensic knowledge of the field makes him the ideal Burns translator into Chinese for the twenty-first century.

The generously ample selection compiled by Professor Li, over a hundred poems and songs or around a sixth of Burns' output, makes it a commendably wide introduction to a writer of world stature. The thematic divisions of this edition run the range of Burns' emotional gamut from great tenderness towards the human and natural world, to biting satire in the face of folly and political and cultural oppression. It captures Burns as a great teller of tales and also as a writer of fine philosophic sensibility.

The best new translations set up fresh encounters between writers and their readers. The best translators enable this process. Professor Li has set the stage for a thrilling new chapter in Robert Burns' relationship to China. This edition is a treat in store for the fine people of that great nation.

見(jiàn)到彭斯作品選集的最現(xiàn)代、最學(xué)術(shù)的中文版本，是一種無(wú)限的樂(lè)趣。這本選集的譯者李正栓教授不僅一直是研究詩(shī)人和歌曲作者彭斯的勤奮學(xué)者，還對(duì)以前翻譯過(guò)蘇格蘭民族詩(shī)人彭斯作品的翻譯家們進(jìn)行了潛心的研究。2015年春天，李教授在格拉斯哥大學(xué)給一些入迷的聽(tīng)眾做了一場(chǎng)講座，就中國(guó)以前對(duì)彭斯的譯本和接受過(guò)程中的優(yōu)秀翻譯和一般性翻譯做了大師級(jí)評(píng)論。李教授在本領(lǐng)域擁有如此的博學(xué)與明鑒，這使他成為21世紀(jì)理想的彭斯詩(shī)歌翻譯家。

李教授選本豐厚，有100首之多，是彭斯詩(shī)歌總量的六分之一，這使本書(shū)成為廣泛介紹一位世界偉人之作。本書(shū)按主題劃分，涵蓋了彭斯的所有情感范圍，有對(duì)人類和自然界的無(wú)限柔情，有對(duì)愚蠢的人和事以及政治和文化壓迫的辛辣諷刺。本書(shū)所呈現(xiàn)的彭斯是一個(gè)故事大師，也是上乘的賢明情感作家。

最好的新譯往往會(huì)在作家和讀者之間產(chǎn)生新的碰撞。最好的譯者能促成這個(gè)過(guò)程。李教授已經(jīng)搭建了一個(gè)舞臺(tái)，開(kāi)辟了彭斯與中國(guó)關(guān)系的一個(gè)令人激動(dòng)的新篇章。本書(shū)為中國(guó)這個(gè)偉大民族的優(yōu)秀人民儲(chǔ)備了一場(chǎng)盛宴。