"_Unser Vater Rhine_" (our father Rhine)

"儘管貝多芬的童年十分悲慘，可是每當他回憶起童年以及童年住過的地方時，那份悲涼的情感中仍有一份溫馨。後來，他被迫離開波恩，來到維也納度過餘生。雖然身處大都市，他卻從未忘卻萊茵河谷。在那裡，有他稱之為「我們的父親河」的萊茵河，它那麼活躍，幾乎帶有人性。它像一個巨大的靈魂，使無數的思想和力量都匯入其中。"

Thomas H. C. Lee 很有趣，是父親河，不像其他語言是用“母親”。


Hanching Chung 查英譯本"_Unser Vater
Rhine_" (our father Rhine) ：
Sad as was the childhood of Beethoven, he always treasured a tender
and melancholy memory of the places where it was spent. Though
compelled to leave Bonn, and destined to spend nearly the whole of his
life in the frivolous city of Vienna with its dull environs, he never
forgot the beautiful Rhine valley and the majestic river. "_Unser Vater
Rhine_" (our father Rhine) as he called it, was to him almost human in
its sympathy, being like some gigantic soul whose deep thoughts are
beyond all human reckoning.

傅雷？上述引文末句的翻譯與英譯不同。
"到維也納度過餘生"也省略一些。


Thomas H. C. Lee 是的，很謝謝。德國人很有意思，描述對故國/故鄉/故居的時候，常常用“Vater”,大部分其他的國家都會用母親。聽説希特勒更特別下令，祖國必須用“Vaterland”。你這裡提到的貝多芬典故印證了這個説法。

----

He was short and thick set, broad shouldered and of athletic build. A
big face, ruddy in complexion--except towards the end of his life, when
his colour became sickly and yellow, especially in the winter after he
had been remaining indoors far from the fields. He had a massive and
rugged forehead, extremely black and extraordinarily thick hair through
which it seemed the comb had never passed, for it was always very
rumpled, veritable bristling "serpents of Medusa."[1]

  他的身材矮小強壯，有著一副像運動員似的結實骨架，這就是他給人的第一印象。年輕的時候，他有一張土紅色的寬大臉龐。可是到了老年，他的皮膚漸漸變得蠟黃，而且呈現一種病態。特別是在冬季。這是因為他長時間困在屋內，遠離田野。

    他的前額隆起且寬廣，烏黑濃密的頭髮經常戧立著，似乎從未用梳子梳理過，就像「墨杜薩頭上的蛇髮」[墨杜薩，也譯作美杜莎，希臘神話中的一個蛇發女妖，她的目光可以使人瞬間變化為石頭。