大约十五年之前,我的一个朋友举办个人画展,展出的全是黑白画。虽然我对绘画浑浑噩噩,但朋友信任,画展的前言托付我译成英语。我依稀还记得里面有这么一句话:黑色为万色之父,白色为万色之母 ( Black is the father of all colors; white is the mother of all colors.)。写完关于头韵的小文之后,我自然而然地想到应该写一篇关于尾韵的小文,又想到了上面提及的那件往事,感到头韵与尾韵也是如黑与白般的一对,若说头韵是美丽的,那么尾韵应该是迷人的。
尾韵的英语是Rhyme, 亦叫Rime, 相当于希腊语 rhuthmos, 或拉丁语rhythus,它是指两个单词从某一音节直至单词结束部分读音相同的现象,比如:fair和chair, 或ending 和bending,若细说,可以将押尾韵进一步细分为单音节押韵、双音节押韵、三音节押韵等。有人非常生动地说 :对一个劣等诗人来说,押尾韵是手铐,而对一个优秀诗人来说,押尾韵是手镯。较之头韵,尾韵或许更容易为中国人所接受,因为中文中的押韵往往就是指押尾韵。
有人问初学英语语音时要读点什么东西,我说练练绕口令(tongue twisters, 一个押头韵的例子)不失为一个好方法,其实绕口令中有不少押尾韵的练习句子:
Ask at the next grass path that you pass.
(你经过下一条草地小径时问一问。)
His fear was clear as they steered near the pier.
(当他们驶近码头时,他的忧虑明显起来。)
Mike likes to write by the nice bright light at night.
(迈克夜里喜欢在很明亮的灯光下写作。)
Do you agree, if you are free, to come to tea with me by the sea?
(如果有空,到海边跟我一起喝茶,你同意吗?)
She sells sea shells on the seashore, and shells she sells on the seashore are sea shells, I am sure.
(她在海边卖海贝,我肯定,她在海边卖的贝壳是海贝壳。)
实际上,这句句子是押头韵(she, shell/ sell, sea, seashore)和押尾韵技巧并用。
A pleasant peasant keeps a pleasant pheasant and both the peasant and the pheasant are having a pleasant time together.
(一个快活的农民养着一只快活的野鸡,这个农民和这只野鸡在一起过着快活的日子。)
练熟了绕口令,你可以继而练练儿童韵文(rhymes):
On a mare goes the mayor,
To the fair at the square,
Prepared to buy a little bear,
That will sit on his fair chair.
(镇长骑着母马,来到集市广场上,准备买头小熊,让它坐在自己的安乐椅上。)
I asked my mother for a few pence,
To watch an elephant to jump over the fence.
It jumped so high,
And it went up into the sky,
It didn't come back until July.
(我向母亲要了几个便士,去看大象表演跨篱笆,大象跳得很高,跳进了天空,直到七月才回地面。)
His horse went dead and his donkey wentt lame,
And he lost six cows in a poker game;
Then a hurricane came on a summer day,
And blew down his house when he was away!
And an earthquake came when that was gone,
And swallowed the land that the house stood on!
(他的马儿死了,驴儿瘸了腿,一局扑克赌输了六头牛;夏季的一天,一场飓风刮来,在他不在家时刮倒了房子,飓风走了又来了地震,连房子所占的地面都给吞没了。)
这家伙霉到根了,真可谓“屋漏偏遭连日雨”,祸不单行啊。英语习语是这么描绘的:It never rains, but pours. (不雨则已,一雨倾盆。)
同样,从英美诗歌里也可以发现许多实例。我们仅举一些名诗选段为例:英国玄学派诗歌(metaphysical poetry)领袖人物约翰·多恩(John Donne 一五七二-一六三一)的名诗The Sun Rising(《太阳升起》)的起首句是:
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?
(多管闲事的老傻瓜,不安分的太阳,你为何要这样做,透过窗户和窗帘叫唤我们?难道情人的季节必须跟着你转吗?)
诗中的主人公是睡在温柔乡里新婚人,他讨厌太阳,嫌它多管闲事,认为太阳在情人的王国里没有权利规定时间和空间的,因为蜜月中的新人是不受时间和空间局限的。
英国新古典主义诗人亚历山大·蒲柏(Alexander Pope 一六八八-一七四四)的代表作An Essay on Criticism(《论批评》)中一段诗文是:
True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed,
Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.
(真正的机智是打扮得体的大自然,过去人们经常想到,却从未如此精妙地表达出来,是我们一看到就确信其真理,它将再现曾留在我们脑海里形象。)
诗人表达了新古典主义的观点:不要追求过于耀眼的机智,机智应该用恰如其分的方法表现出来,真正的机智能使人想到别人感到却没有表达出来的东西。