作者：王曉輝

圍棋，古稱“弈”，也叫“手談”，是世界上最古老的棋盤游戲。傳說上古時堯帝為了啟發教育兒子丹朱而創制了圍棋，先秦典籍中有“堯造圍棋，丹朱善之”的記載。如果傳說是真的，那么圍棋至少應該有5000年以上的歷史了。圍棋和古琴、書法、繪畫一樣，是中國古代讀書人文化修養的體現，與琴、書、畫相比，圍棋還具有獨特的趣味性和競爭性，所以，很受士大夫階層的青睞，在大家族中也很流行。

賈府里的四位小姐，元春、迎春、探春、惜春，身邊各有一個丫鬟，名字都很文藝，抱琴、司棋、侍書、入畫，分別對應琴棋書畫四藝。迎春雖然給丫鬟取名司棋，但她好像不怎么喜歡下棋，倒是惜春對圍棋很著迷。著迷并不等于是高手，那么，《紅樓夢》中真正的高手是誰呢？答案是：妙玉。

小說中有多處提到下棋，往往只是一帶而過，只有對惜春和妙玉兩人對弈的描寫，著墨頗多。《紅樓夢》第87回，賈寶玉去看惜春，剛到窗下，只聽屋里微微一響，不知何聲。寶玉站住再聽，半日，又“拍”的一響。寶玉還未聽出，只見一個人道：“你在這里下了一個子兒，那里你不應么？”寶玉方知是下棋呢。但只急切聽不出這個人的語音是誰。底下方聽見惜春道：“怕什么？你這么一吃我，我這么一應；你又這么吃，我又這么應：還緩著一著兒呢，終久連得上。”那一個又道：“我要這么一吃呢？”惜春道：“啊嗄，還有一著反撲在里頭呢，我倒沒防備。”寶玉聽了聽那一個聲音很熟，卻不是他們姊妹，料著惜春屋里也沒外人，輕輕的掀簾進去。看時不是別人，卻是那櫳翠庵的檻外人妙玉。這寶玉見是妙玉，不敢驚動。妙玉和惜春正在凝思之際，也沒理會。寶玉卻站在旁邊，看他兩個的手段。只見妙玉低著頭，問惜春道：“你這個畸角兒不要了么？”惜春道：“怎么不要？你那里頭都是死子兒，我怕什么？”妙玉道：“且別說滿話，試試看。”惜春道：“我便打了起來，看你怎么著。”妙玉卻微微笑著，把邊上子一接，卻搭轉一吃，把惜春的一個角兒都打起來了，笑著說道：“這叫做‘倒脫靴勢’。”

這一段描寫中涉及到幾個圍棋的術語：吃、應、連、撲、打、接、倒脫靴，不會下棋的人看不太懂，外國讀者更會摸不著頭腦。

閔福德（John Minford）的譯文：

He stood still and listened again, in the hope of hearing it more clearly. There it was! A distinct tap! He was still trying to think what it could be, when a voice said:

'Why have you made that move, and not countered there?'

It was a game of Go! But Bao-yu did not have time to recognize the voice of the speaker. He heard Xi-chun reply:

'Why should I bother? If you take me there, I simply counter here, and if you take me again. I shall still be one move ahead, and in the end I shall be able to connect.'

'And what if I take you here?'

'Aiyo!' exclaimed Xi-chun. 'You had an inside counter-attack up your sleeve. I'm defenceless.'

...

Bao-yu continued to stand there and watch. Adamantina leant over the board and said to Xi-chun:

'Do you want to lose that whole corner?'

'Of course not! It's perfectly safe. All those pieces of yours are "dead", aren't they?'

'Are you sure? Go ahead and try.' 

'All right. There's my move. Now let's see what you can do.'

A smile crossed Adamantina's face. She placed her next piece to link up with one she already had on the edge of the board, and then pounced on one of Xi-chun's pieces and annihilated her entire corner. She laughed:

'That is called "Pulling Your Boots Off Upside Down"!'

這一段翻譯，除了“撲”和“倒脫靴”，外國讀者是很容易看懂的：吃=take，應=counter，連=connect，撲=inside counter-attack，打（叫吃）=pounce on，接=link，倒脫靴=pull your boots off upside down。“撲”又稱“倒撲”，是對局中常用的吃子手段，先將一子撲入對方口中，迫使對方吃子而導致“氣”少，然后再反吃對方，是典型的置之死地而后生。閔福德將“撲”譯為inside counter-attack，意思是從對手的勢力范圍內部進行反擊，十分貼切。“倒脫靴”也是圍棋死活問題中的一個獨特棋形，是在對方吃掉自己數子之后，反吃對方，只不過比“撲”要復雜，業余棋手往往看不出已經出現的“倒脫靴”的棋形，錯失良機。“倒脫靴”一般有“方四”和“曲四”兩種棋形，“曲四”的情況較多。大概是因為“曲四”形狀類似靴子，一旦提子形成“曲四”，就有可能被對手倒提回去，所以才有“倒脫靴”這個形象的稱謂。閔福德的譯法是pull your boots off upside down，保留了原文的趣味性。

妙玉走了之后，惜春還自己研究了一番棋譜：

“（惜春）靜坐了一回，又翻開那棋譜來，把孔融、王積薪等所著看了幾篇。內中‘茂葉包蟹勢’、‘黃鶯搏兔勢’，都不出奇；‘三十六局殺角勢’，一時也難會難記；獨看到‘十龍走馬’，覺得甚有意思。”

閔福德英譯：

She told a maid to light some incense, and meditated for a while. Then she took down to her Go handbook and began looking through it, studying the tactics of such famous Go Masters of old as Kong Rong and Wang Ji-xin. There was 'Crab Wrapped in Lotus Leaves', and 'Golden Oriole Strikes Hare'; but she found neither of these impressive, and 'Corner Kill in Thirty Six Moves' she found too hard to understand and harder to remember. It was 'Dragon-chain of Ten Galloping Horses' that really caught her fancy.

孔融是東漢末年人，著名的“建安七子”之一，后被曹操所殺；王積薪是唐朝人，玄宗時的翰林院棋待詔，屬于掛靠在翰林院專門負責陪皇帝下棋的官員。兩人都有圍棋專著，但可惜未能傳世，只留下一些零散的招法。圍棋招法變化多端，棋譜往往會給這些招式起一些生動形象的名字。外國讀者讀的是小說，不是棋譜，所以，把名字譯得生動有趣就可以了，不必過于糾結。

無論惜春怎么打譜，仍然不是妙玉的對手，而且差距還不是一點半點。第111回，又是二人對弈：

“惜春親自烹茶。兩人言語投機，說了半天。那時天有初更時候，彩屏放下棋枰，兩人對弈。惜春連輸兩盤，妙玉又讓了四個子兒，惜春方贏了半子。不覺已到四更，正是天空地闊，萬籟無聲。”

這是一段非常有意境的描寫，夜深人靜，紋枰對坐，萬籟俱寂，只有棋子落在棋盤上發出清脆的響聲。

閔福德譯文：

Xi-chun made the tea, and the two of them were soon carried away in a spirited conversation that lasted until eight o'clock in the evening, when Landscape laid out the Go-board, and they settled down to play. Xi-chun lost the first two games, but then Adamantina gave her a handicap of four and she managed to win the next by half a point.

Before she knew, it was two o'clock in the morning. Outside, the night was breathlessly still.

讓子棋是對弈雙方棋力相差懸殊的情況下采取的對局方式，高手讓下手執黑，并在棋盤上先放上約定棋子，如果是讓四子，就是讓黑棋先在四個星位上擺上黑子，然后白棋先行。妙玉能讓惜春四子，說明她的棋力高出惜春甚多。“讓子棋”英文是handicap game，放在其它體育比賽中叫“讓步賽”，牛津字典的解釋是a race or competition in which the most skillful must run further, carry extra weight, etc. in order to give all those taking part an equal chance of winning。所以，閔福德將“讓了四個子”譯為gave her a handicap of four (pieces)，十分妥帖。

圍棋歷史悠久，文化底蘊深厚，隋唐時期傳入日本和朝鮮半島，開枝散葉，形成了眾多的流派、定式和招法，因此，有關圍棋的術語也就格外復雜，有些還釆用了日語的表達方式。飛（knight's move）、頂（bump）、曲（bend）、尖（diagonal）、托（attach underneath）、沖（push through）、壓（push down）、碰（attach to the side）、鎮（capping）、挖（wedge）、斷（cut）、拆（extension）、搭（attach）、渡（bridge underneath）等，基本上每走一步都有一個說法，至于中國流、大雪崩、相思斷、村正妖刀、烏龜不出頭等定式和招法，就更不是一兩句話能說清楚的了。

閔福德是英國人，不會下圍棋，但他是一位嚴肅的譯者，不放過任何細節，虛心向京都大學松平千秋（Matsudaira Chiaki）教授和京都立命館大學筧文生（Kakei Fumio）教授請教，將惜春和妙玉對弈的描寫翻譯得活靈活現。這種一絲不茍的態度，著實令人欽佩。