清明时节语纷纷——杜牧的原诗：
“清明时节雨纷纷/路上行人欲断魂/借问酒家何处有/牧童遥指杏花村”。
这首诗有多种英译版本，附在后面供各位参考。要想把这首诗翻译给外国人，一定要把这首诗中的几个关键词——时间有限，今天的博文只谈三个词：“清明”、“断魂”、“牧童”——传神地翻译出来。
首先是遇到的问题是什么是“清明”？简便的方法当然是用拼音Qingming，比如徐忠杰先生、陈君朴先生就是这么翻译的。如果不用音译，还有什么好的方法来翻译“清明”呢？吴钧陶先生、唐一鹤先生将“清明”意译为The Pure Brightness Day。许渊冲先生穿越了“清明”字面本身，直接点明其内涵（The Day of Mourning for the Dead）。蔡廷干先生则别具一格地借用了英语“万圣节”（All Saints’ Day）将“清明节”翻译为All Souls’ Day。
接下来要演绎的是“断魂”的境界。陈君朴先生翻译为broken-hearted（心碎）；许渊冲（heart is going to break）、吴君陶先生（heart lost in dismay）也都是用heart来做文章。唐一鹤先生用名词sorrow（悲伤）来代指“断魂”，蔡廷干先生用了一个副词sadly（The men and women sadly move along the way）。杨宪益、戴乃迭先生（古诗苑汉英译丛《唐诗》，外文出版社2001）则用了两个形容词词gloomy （阴郁的）、miserable（悲惨的）来表述。
至于一个“牧童”，各位大师是这样各自表述的：
徐忠杰——peasant lad（农民小伙儿）
陈君朴——A buffalo boy （水牛娃）
吴钧陶——cowboy（牛仔）
蔡廷干 ——herdboy（牧童）
许渊冲——cowherd（放牛娃）
唐一鹤、孙大雨——shepherd（牧羊人）
杨宪益、戴乃迭——shepherd boy（牧羊童）
谷歌——cowboy（牛仔）
附录：《清明》的10个英译版本
1. 徐忠杰（《唐诗二百首英译》北京语言学院出版社，1990）
The Qingming Festival
During the Qing-Ming Festival,
Is daily continual rain.
People going to the country,
Form almost unbroken train.
“Is there is a wine shop hereabouts?”
We enquire of a peasant lad.
“Apricot Flower Village yonder,
Is a shop where the wine can be had”.
2. 陈君朴（《汉英对照唐绝句150首》，上海大学出版社，2005）
The Qingming Festival
On the Qingming Day, rain is falling uninterrupted,
And the wayfarer is more than ever broken-hearted;
“Is there any wine shop hereabouts?” A buffalo boy
Points to a distant village where apricots are spotted.
3. 吴钧陶（《唐诗精品百首英译》，湖北教育出版社，1994）
The Pure Brightness Day
It drizzles thick and fast on the Pure Brightness Day,
I travel with my heart lost in dismay.
"Is there a public house somewhere, cowboy?"
He points at Apricot Village faraway.
4. 蔡廷干 （《唐诗精品百首英译》，湖北教育出版社，1994）
All Souls’ Day
The rain falls thick and fast on All Souls' Day,
The men and women sadly move along the way.
They ask where wineshops can be found or where to rest ----
And there the herdboy's fingers Almond-Town suggest.
5. 许渊冲（《唐诗精品百首英译》，湖北教育出版社，1994）
The Day of Mourning for the Dead
A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;
The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.
Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?
A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apricot flowers.
6. 唐一鹤 （《英译唐诗三百首》，天津人民出版社,2005）
Pure Brightness (Qing Ming) Festival
It’s drizzling thickly and profusely
On the Pure Brightness Day.
A wayfarer is overwhelmed with sorrows
On his way.
“Excuse me, can you tell me
Where to find a wineshop in
the village?”
“Over there,” the shepherd boy pointing to
The distant Apricot Blossoms Village.
7. 孙大雨（1905-1997）（《古诗文英译集》，上海外语教育出版社，1997）
The Clear-and-Bridge Feast
Upon the Clear-and-Bright Feast of spring
The rain drizzleth down in spray.
Pedestrians on country-side ways
In gloom are pining away.
When asked “where a tavern fair for rest
Is hereabouts to be found”,
The shepherd boy the Apricot Bloom Vill
Doth point to afar and say.
8. 万昌盛、王僴中 （《中国古诗一百首》，大象出版社，1999）
The ceaseless drizzle drips all the dismal day,
So broken-hearted fares the traveler on the way.
When asked where could be found a tavern bower,
A cowboy points to yonder village of the apricot flower.
9. 杨宪益、戴乃迭（古诗苑汉英译丛《唐诗》，外文出版社，2001）
Tomb-sweeping Day
It drizzles endless during the rainy season in spring,
Travelers along the road look gloomy and miserable.
When I ask a shepherd boy where I can find a tavern,
He points at a distant hamlet nestling amidst apricot blossoms.
10. 谷歌（http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=zh-CN，April 1, 2011）
Tomb Sweeping Festival
Tomb Sweeping Festival rain have,
pedestrians Deep Sorrow,
by asking restaurants where there,
cowboy Yao Zhi Heng Fa Chuen
青春就应该这样绽放 游戏测试：三国时期谁是你最好的兄弟！！ 你不得不信的星座秘密