随笔
随笔，聊天
There are a lot of mistakes in the English version of novel "Soul Mountain".
We just list obvious mistakes here. In the following list we use
[CHINESE] standing for: <灵山>， 高行健著，联经出版事业公司，1990，
and
[ENGLISH] standing for: "Soul Mountain", Gao Xingjian, Translated by Mabel
Lee, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York, 2000.
1.
[CHINESE] P. 9, Line 5: 一床灰棉线毯子，不知是洗不干净还就是它本色，你压
在竹席子底下，扔开了油腻的枕头，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 8, Line 16: The cotton blanket is a suspicious grey - either
it hasn't been washed properly or that's the original colour. You throw
aside the greasy pillow from under the bamboo mat and ...
[NOTE]: Should be: The cotton blanket is a suspicious grey - either it hasn't
been washed properly or that's the original colour, which you put under
the bamboo mat and throw the greasy pillow aside ...
2.
[CHINESE] P. 17, Line 13: 你吸著酱菜，猪下水，生皮子，松油柴，稻草和石灰
混杂的气息，两边的小铺面南货，酱园，油坊，米店，中西药铺，绸布庄，鞋摊，
茶馆，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 16, Line 12: You breathe in the smell of soya sauce pickles,
boiled pork, raw hide, pine wood, dried rice stalks and lime as your eyes
busily take in the narrow shopfronts lining the street with products of
the South. There are soya bean shops, oil shops, rice shops, Chinese and
Western medicine shops, silk and cotton shops, shoe shops, tea shops, ...
[NOTE]: 猪下水 is pig's offal, not boiled pork; 酱园 is "sauce and pickle
shop", not soya bean shop; 茶馆 is teahouse, not tea shop.
3.
[CHINESE] P. 19, Line 7: 深秋时分，风吹著枯黄的瓦楞草，阳光十分明朗。
[ENGLISH] P. 18, Line 9: They mid-autumn wind blows through the dry yellow
weeds in the rubble and the sun is very bright.
[NOTE]: "in the rubble" should be "in the roof-tiles".
4.
[CHINESE] P. 26, Line 6: 一手抓过那匪首搁在桌上的快慢机，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 26, Line 4: In one swift action, faster than it takes to tell
this, he snatched the rival bandit chief's machine gun from table and ...
[NOTE]: 快慢机 is 712-type pistol, not machine gun.
5.
[CHINESE] P. 32, Line 16: 还有那青蛙知了高声唱，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 32, Line 27: "And, when the frog heard, it croaked loudly and
the owl waved his conductor's baton."
[NOTE]: 青蛙知了 is "the frog and cicada".
6.
[CHINESE] P. 36, Line 9: 在海拔两千五百公尺观察大熊猫的营地，
[ENGLISH] P. 36, Line 1: In the 2500-metre giant panda observation compound
at Haiba, ...
[NOTE]: 海拔 is "above sea level", not the name of a place; the same mistakes
are in [ENGLISH] P. 36, Line 17 and in [ENGLISH] P. 411, Line 8.
7.
[CHINESE] P. 38, Line 6: 我无意起身，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 37, Last Line: Mindlessly, I get up.
[NOTE]: should be: I don't want to get up.
8.
[CHINESE] P. 80, Line 3: 这小房间里放了一张硬木的雕花架子床，挂著蚊帐，一
个镶著圆镜子的红木衣柜，
[ENGLISH] P. 81，Line 5: The room has a carved timber bed with a mosquito
net and a red wooden wardrobe with a round mirror;
[NOTE]: 红木 is mahogany or padauk, not "red wooden" ; the same mistake
is in
[ENGLISH] P. 203, Line 19.
9.
[CHINESE] P. 92, Line 12: 这就叫踏破铁鞋无处寻，寻来全不费功夫！
[ENGLISH] P. 93, Line 28: This means that if you wear old iron shoes you
won't find it anywhere and to look would be a total waste of time!
[NOTE]:
10.
[CHINESE] P. 138, Line 7: 游人都争先恐后抢著上船，似乎并不曾注意到这阴森
的崖穴旁有一个洞口，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 136, Line 7: The sightseers scrambling onto the boats don't
seem to notice the hole by the crack in the heavily wooded cliff and ...
[NOTE]: 阴森 is gloomy, not "heavily wooded".
11.
[CHINESE] P. 146, Line 10: 五十二岁上终于中了个二名的榜眼，
[ENGLISH] P. 145, Line 23: finally at the age of fifty-two he managed to
get his name on the list of successful candidates, albeit amongst the names
at the bottom of the list.
[NOTE]:二名的榜眼 is "the second place" of the list.
12.
[CHINESE] P. 153, Line 5: 她父亲当时被隔离审查，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 153, Line 7: At the time a neighbour had reported her father
and ...
[NOTE]: should be: At the time her father was singled out and investigated
and ...
13.
[CHINESE] P. 159, Line 12: 说是山里的农民逮到了一头四不像的怪兽，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 159, Line 4: saying the peasants had caught this half-bird-half-
fish creature up in the mountains.
[NOTE]: 四不像 is the nickname of elk, meaning "nothing on earth".
14.
[CHINESE] P. 161, Line 13: 苦艾的气味和飞鸣的虫子，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 160, Last line: the feeling of sadness and the chirping of
winged insects, ...
[NOTE]: 苦艾 is moxa or Chinese mugwort.
15.
[CHINESE] P. 165, Line 15: 居然！
[ENGLISH] P. 165, Line 16: Of course!
[NOTE]:
16.
[CHINESE] P. 167, Line 6: 所谓强龙压不过地头蛇，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 167, Line 6: "The powerful dragon cannot overcome the snake
on the ground."
[NOTE]: should be: "The powerful dragon cannot overcome the snake in its
old haunts." The same mistakes is in [ENGLISH] P. 216, Line 33.
17.
[CHINESE] P. 169, Line 3: 烧出的炭，都银灰色，
[ENGLISH] P. 169, Line 5: the charcoal burns with a silver flame and ...
[NOTE]: should be: the charcoal is silver grey and ...
18.
[CHINESE] P. 176, Line 1: 没法不，都一个劲回头，连驼子，五十好几的人，也
歪著头直瞅。
[ENGLISH] P. 175, Line 14: It was impossible not to. All of them eagerly
looked back, even the hunchback. There were more than fifty of them, all
staring with their heads turned to one side.
[NOTE]: should be: ..., even the hunchback, who was more than fifty years
old, ...
19.
[CHINESE] P. 220, Line 7: 每秒一百多公尺，
[ENGLISH] P. 222, Line 6: of more than three hundred kilometers per hour.
[NOTE]: should be: of more than one hundred kilometer per second.
20.
[CHINESE] P. 287, Line 2: 那座隋代的舍利塔前，研读 。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 281, Line 1: Later, while reading an inscriptions in the Abandon
Profit Pagoda, ...
[NOTE]: 舍利塔 is "the Pagoda for Buddhist relics".
21.
[CHINESE] P. 316, Line 14: 唐尧时
[ENGLISH] P. 309, Line 13: During the time of Emperor Yao of the Tang Dynasty,
[NOTE]: 唐尧 is not the Tang Dynasty.
22.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 7: 秦国大将白起拔郢，
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 5: When the great generals of Qin left Ying without
any booty, ...
[NOTE] should be: When the great general of Qin, Bai Qi, seized Ying,
23.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 10: 西面八岭山，
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 12: The Baling Mountains on the south ...
[NOTE]: "south" should be "west".
24.
[CHINESE] P. 324, Line 13: 有十多米厚。
[ENGLISH] P. 318, Line 18: there is a build up of at least ten millimetres
of silt.
[NOTE]: "millimetres" should be "metres".
25.
[CHINESE] P. 325, Line 9: 他淹死的那地方据说在长江下游的采石矶，
[ENGLISH] P. 319, Line 12: It is said that the spot where he drowned was
at Coloured Rock Crag in ...
[NOTE]: 采石矶 should be "Quarry Crag".
26.
[CHINESE] P. 326, Line 13: 可他自己却年纪轻轻死于伤寒，
[ENGLISH] P. 320, Line 25: However he died quite young from a chill.
[NOTE]: 伤寒 is typhoid, not "a chill".
27.
[CHINESE] P. 326, Line 16: 我恐怕并非楚人的苗裔，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 320, Line 33: Not being a Miao descendant of the Chu people,
...
[NOTE]: 苗裔 is "descendant", not "a Miao descendant"; the same mistakes
is in [ENGLISH] P. 448, Line 32.
28.
[CHINESE] P. 403, Line 11: 一个金笔盒子，
[ENGLISH] P. 391, Line 15: a gold pen box, ...
[NOTE]: should be: a fountain-pen box, ...
29.
[CHINESE] P. 451, Line 14: 伊格小妮子 。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 433, Line 1: became nuns ...
[NOTE]: 小妮子 is girl.
30.
[CHINESE] P. 464, Line 5: 他的画毋须题款，
[ENGLISH] P. 446, Line 10: His paintings were not for money, ...
[NOTE]: 题款 is inscription, not "for money".
31.
[CHINESE] P. 467, Line 10: 遇到了那位妖娆的女娲，
[ENGLISH] P. 450, Line 3: he encountered the seductive beauty Yaorao.
[NOTE]: should be: he encountered the seductive beauty Nv Wa.
32.
[CHINESE] P. 470, Line 17: 道听途说，。。。
[ENGLISH] P. 453, Line 16: moralistic ramblings, ...
[NOTE]: 道听途说 is hearsay, not "moralistic ramblings".
33.
[CHINESE] P. 515, Line 6: 他们当然会给我一笔奖金，一个零头的零头。
[ENGLISH] P. 495, Line 15: I would only get a certain amount as a reward
for being a leader among leaders.
[NOTE]: 零头 is a small amount, not "leader".
