Name: 【TED-Ed】關於《坎特伯里故事集》你應該要知曉的事 (Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales" - Iseult Gillespie)
Uploaded: 2018-10-18T03:54:13.000Z
Duration: 4 min 36 s

A portly miller, barely sober enough to sit on his horse,

一個肥胖的磨坊主騎在他的馬上，醉到快要坐不住

rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter

他閒談著一個壞脾氣老木匠的輕浮妻子

the scholar and the wife  play various tricks

But the parish clerk  is also lusting after the wife,

但是教區修道士也對妻子動了慾望

and comes by every night  to sing outside her house.

This becomes so tiresome  that she tries to scare him away

這變得很折騰人，所以她試著把他嚇跑

by hanging her rear end out the window  for him to kiss.

her scholar decides  to try farting in the same position,

but this time, the clerk  is waiting with a red-hot poker.

但這一次，修道士早已準備好一根炙熱的撥火棍

but it's part of one of the most esteemed  works of English literature ever created:

不過它其實來自其中一部最享譽盛名的英國文學著作：

which seamlessly blends the lofty  and the lowly.

它將高貴的和卑下的巧妙融合在一塊

each told by one  of Chaucer's spirited characters.

每一個都由喬叟的其中一個活靈活現的角色述說

Narrators include  familiar Medieval figures

which often looks entirely different  from the language spoken today.

看起來往往和現今英語全然不同

It was used between the 12th  and 15th centuries, and evolved from Old English

它被使用於 12 至 15 世紀，源自於古英語

due to increased contact with European romantic languages after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

起因是諾曼人於 1066 年的入侵，使得古英語與歐洲拉丁語系語言有更多的交流

Most of the Middle English alphabet  is still familiar today,

大多數中世紀英語的字母至今仍能夠被認得

with the inclusion  of a few archaic symbols,

The loquacious cast of the Tales  first meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark.

故事集中多嘴的角色們最一開始在南華克的戰袍客棧會面

a pilgrimage to Canterbury  to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett,

前去坎特伯里探訪聖托馬斯．貝克特聖地的朝聖之旅

a martyred archbishop who was murdered  in his own Cathedral.

他是一位在自己的教堂中遭謀殺殉職的大主教

Eager and nosy for some personal details, the host of the Inn  proposes a competition:

愛管閒事的客棧主人很想知道他們的個人身家背景，於是提議一場比賽：

whoever tells the best tale  will be treated to dinner.

誰講了最棒的故事，就會被招待晚餐

many of these figures would never  have had the chance to interact.

許多這些角色本該不會有機會互相交談

This is because Medieval society followed  a feudal system

這是因為中世紀社會遵循一種封建系統

that divided the clergy and nobility  from the working classes,

將神職人員和貴族與勞動階層分開

到了喬叟的年代 (喬叟生平 1343 - 1400)

a professional class of merchants  and intellectuals had also emerged.

由商人和知識分子組成的專業階級也已經出現了

Chaucer spent most of his life  as a government official during the Hundred Years' War,

喬叟大半輩子都在擔任百年戰爭期間的政府官員

traveling throughout Italy and France, as well as his native England.

他遊走於義大利和法國各地，以及他的家鄉英格蘭

This may have influenced the panoramic vision of his work,

這或許造就了他作品中的全景視野

and in the Tales, no level of society is above mockery.

而在故事集中，任何一個階級都逃不出嘲弄

Chaucer uses the quirks  of the characters' language –

喬叟善用了角色話語中的雙關 —

這些都被用以諷刺他們的世界觀

The varied dialects, genres,  and literary tropes

多變的方言、類型以及文學修辭

also make the work a vivid record of the different ways Medieval audiences  entertained themselves.

也使得該作品成為中世紀聽眾如何娛樂自己的一項生動記錄

For instance, the Knight's tale  of courtly love,

舉例來說，有關宮廷愛情的騎士故事

while the tales of working-class narrators are generally comedies filled with scatological language,

而勞動階層的敘事者多半陳述喜劇故事，其中包含情色言語、

This variation  includes something for everyone,

這些多變涵蓋了每個人的某些面向

and that's one reason why readers continue to delight in the work in both Middle English and translation.

這也是為何無論在中世紀英語或是現今的翻譯中，讀者依然能夠享受閱讀這部作品

While the narrative runs  to over 17,000 lines,

as the prologue ambitiously  introduces 29 pilgrims

因為序幕中模糊地介紹了 29 個朝聖者

而且客棧主人一直沒有選出優勝者

It's possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations

有可能喬叟太過埋頭於他華麗的創作中

or perhaps he was so fond  of each character

this means that every reader is free to judge;

這意味著每個讀者都有得定奪；