好些朋友问我要A Cup of Life的双语对照歌词。
受朋友之托，帮个忙而已, and I had a bit of fun along the way. 这种东西不好翻，勉强为之，难出得意之作(as if I had any)，自己越看越心虚，没打算示众。但现在这首歌面世了，那就献个丑吧。
上个月中，主创人员找到我哥们，说要请人把一首新歌的歌词翻成英文。
哥们转给我，让我试试。
我就“试试”呗。
她们拿到英译，很喜欢，说：就按英文歌词唱出来，同时把它译回中文，再译成日文。（我心想：早知如此就原创了，译文前后两部分的气质，从林黛玉到知心大姐的跳跃也就不会这么突兀了。晚矣。）
策划的是一首中文歌，现在发行的是英文歌，原因在此。
英译一气呵成，未经雕琢，that much is true. Also true is the fact that 下面贴出来的是原始完整版，一字未动。
据我所知，当时还没给中文歌词谱曲，所以译者不必考虑英译版是否能唱，把意思(and 意境, if possible)翻出来就行。That amount of wiggle room gave me the licence not to worry about the metre. （我的一些朋友就没这样的发挥空间，ta们把已流行的华语歌曲翻成外文，还能唱出来，那才是烧脑的真功夫呢！）
后来主创人员作了大幅删节，调整了个别字词，就进入谱曲、演唱、制作、发行程序了。
因此现在听到的歌词，比下面这个原版要短。
又是一个秋天
风轻云淡如往年
还是那张笑脸
平平常常的寒暄
Autumn is back:
A gentle breeze
Scatters
Clouds sheer,
A déjà vu
of yesteryear.
And the same face
Beams an everyday greeting
To a yearly meeting.
月亮躲在云间
星光落入你的眼
你悄悄把叹息
又藏得更深一点
The moon, veiled, dims the sky dark;
Starlight, twinkling, does your eyes spark.
Silence is the keeper
Of your sighs buried deeper.
露下 一壶两杯三口清茶
风起 思绪飘零雨打残花
点点滴滴也拼凑不齐
人生过往该如何回答
Under the dewy leaves
The tea set is ready:
One pot, two cups and three sips
Of a taste airy, nothing heady.
As the wind rises, thoughts strew
The rain-battered petals -
The broken pieces asunder,
Like the past that still puzzles.
又是一个秋天
风轻云淡如往年
还是那张笑脸
平平常常的寒暄
Autumn is back:
A gentle breeze
Scatters
Clouds sheer,
A déjà vu
of yesteryear.
And the same face
Beams an everyday greeting
To a yearly meeting.
夜雨敲打窗檐
凉意探入你心间
你慢慢把思念
又裹得更紧一点
A night rain falls,
Pit-a-pat on the window,
As the chill crawls
Into your heart’s shadow.
Longings, cowering from the blight,
Are now swaddled, only too tight.
来啊 一起饮下这杯暖茶
说说 那些遗憾或者心酸
有什么错又有什么难
那些不再来的往日时光
Let’s share a cosy cuppa,
A pick-me-upper.
Unbosom your good self;
Take your tuck-aways off the shelf:
Tell me what makes you blue
And the what-if’s and if-only’s
from the days that away flew.
来啊 一起饮下这杯暖茶
说说 那些遗憾或者心酸
没什么错也没什么难
都只不过年少往日时光
Let’s share a cosy cuppa,
A pick-me-upper.
Unbosom your good self;
Take your tuck-aways off the shelf:
Tell me what makes you blue -
What-if’s and if-only’s are a nag from your past
That dissolves over a hearty brew.