[成历|西玉] 棋手 英文版 译前记

       自入坑以来，我拜读过不少精彩的西玉小说，《棋手》便是其中的代表。这是一篇以成历原有情节为大纲，以西木的献祭计划为主线，以西玉CP的发展为看点，纳社会万象，论善恶之辨，寓情怀于字里，隐主旨于行间的优秀作品。它不仅是一部同人小说，更是一部小说。

       作者江水西流去自2020年4月开始连载该作品，至今年5月27日已完成189章，22万字。作为读者，我既希望看到它的完结，也希望自己能为其做些什么。今年9月，我写了《西玉小说<棋手>鉴赏与分析》，以作交流及帮助新人了解《棋手》之用。

       与此同时，我入坑的过程也和英语密不可分。寒假时，B站只有成历英文版资源，故当时凭儿时记忆和蹩脚的听力水平看完了96集全集。后来，我也为自己的中篇小说《天行不息》翻译了英文版。我做梦也不会想到，我会以这难以置信的途径对英语兴趣大涨。我的英语若比以往强些，很大程度上要归功于西玉。

       我于今年10月萌生了翻译《棋手》的想法，并得到了作者许可。我将从2023年1月1日起，在B站和Lofter更新，平均频率3天一章，计划于2024年夏季更完目前的189章。

       我并非英专，也不是出国党，英语水平并不好，译文也未免是汉式英语。那缘何还要翻译《棋手》呢？答案是，只因热爱。

2022年11月3日

    Ever since I became obsessed with this topic, I have read quite a few brilliant fictions on Hsi & Jade, of which The Go Player is a representative. It’s an excellent work based on the plots of JCA, following the main line of Hsi Wu’s sacrificial plan, with the highlight of the development of the couple of Hsi & Jade. It involves all sorts of social phenomena, discusses good and evil, expresses implicitly the writer’s views, and hides the theme between the lines. It’s not only a fanfiction but also a fiction.

    The writer Jiangshui Xi Liuqu began to serialize this work on Apr. 2020 and 189 chapters with 220,000 Chinese characters had been finished by May 27 this year. As a reader, I not only want to see its ending but also want to do something for it. This September, I wrote The Appreciation and Analysis of the Go Player for sake of communication and a help for newcomers to read this fiction.

    At the same time, my process of being sucked into this topic is closely related to English. Only JCA’s English version was available last winter, so I had to watch the 96-episode cartoon with my childhood memory and poor listening skills. Afterward, I also got my medium-length Flying Forever translated into the English version. I couldn’t have thought even in dreams that my interest in the English language would boost in such an incredible way. It will largely be attributed to Hsi & Jade if my English is a little better than before.

    The idea of translating The Go Player hit me this October and I got the writer’s permission then. From Jan. 1, 2023 on, I will update on Lofter and Bilibili with the average frequency of one chapter every 3 days and plan to finish the current 189 chapters by summer 2024.

    I’m not majoring in English and have no plan for studying abroad. My English is not so good and what I write may be nothing but Chinglish. Then why would I like to translate The Go Player? The answer is, just obsession.

November 3, 2022

       如何暗里觅真容？得幸入明中。机关算尽一场空，留得后来嗤笑。冬青枝下旗不定，难辨当日因果，黄粱一梦证如今。玉碎身残，斜月三星定。猿马定，东风休。

How in darkness to find it out

Luckily being in light

All the schemes had been tried

Only to reset and be laughed at

Under the holly know not whither

Hard to trace the causer

Looking back on the proven present

The dream came to an end

The jade broke, the body injured

Finally hear the end of it

Ceased, the wind of east

Settled, the heart of the bat