风筝

2000多年前，中国人发明了风筝。古时风筝被称为“鹞 （Yao）”，在中国北方也称为“鸢 （Yuan）”。据古书记载：“五代李郑于宫中作纸鸢，引线乘风为戏，后于鸢首以竹为笛，使风入竹，声如筝 （Zheng）鸣，故名风筝。”人们过去把不能发出声音的叫“纸鸢”，能发出声音的叫“风筝”。在风筝的发展变化中，它的工艺融合了多种中国传统文化，并逐渐形成了具有中国特色的风筝文化。例如将神话故事、吉祥 （auspicious）人物等融入风筝的设计。

翻译点拨

1. 鹞：是一种凶猛的鸟，此处语境指的是类似鹞的风筝，在英语语境中缺少对应词，可直接用汉语拼音写做“Yao”。

2. 乘风为戏……使风入竹：这段引文属于古汉语，翻译时只要把意思翻译出来就好。“乘风为戏”即“被放飞上天”；“使风入竹”即“风吹过”，可用pass through表达。

3. 发出声音：可译为give out sound。give out除了有“公布，发表”的意思外，还可以指“发出（光、声音）”。

4. 工艺：可译为design、process、technique和craft等。考虑到风筝的制作多为手工艺，所以选择craft比较精确。

5. 融合：可译为integrate into...，尤其指文化的融合。

参考译文

Kite

Chinese people invented the kite more than 2,000 years ago. In ancient times, kites were called“Yao”and also were known as“Yuan”in northern China. There was a story about the kite in an ancient book: During the Five Dynasties, Li Zheng made a kite in the imperial palace and flew it to the sky with a string. Then he tied a bamboo to the kite's head as a flute, which made a sound like Zheng (a 21-25 string plucked instrument) with wind passing through it. People used to name kites which could not give out sound as“paper glede”and these could give out sound as“Feng Zheng”(Feng means wind, Zheng is the music instrument). In its evolvement, various Chinese traditional cultures have been integrated into the craft of kite-making, and gradually, a unique kite culture with Chinese characteristics has been formed. For example, blending in Chinese mythological stories and auspicious figures the kite designing.

知识小贴士

风筝起源于中国，尔后广传于世界，是一种传统的民间工艺品。中国最早出现的风筝是用木材做的。春秋战国时期，东周哲人墨子在鲁山“斫木为鹞，三年而成，飞一日而败”。这是说墨子研究试制了三年，终于用木板制成了一只木鸟，但只飞了一天就坏了。墨子制造的这只木鹞是最早的风筝，也是世界上最早的风筝，距今已有二千四百年左右。墨子把制作风筝的手艺传给了他的学生鲁班，《墨子•鲁问篇》中说，鲁班根据墨子的理想和设计，用竹子做风筝。鲁班把竹子劈开削光滑，用火烤弯曲，做成了喜鹊的样子，称为木鹊，在空中飞翔达三天之久。书上说：“公输班制木鸢以窥宋城（Lu Ban made a kite to spy neighbor Song's territory for military purpose）”。