一个人的生命究竟有多大意义.doc

一个人的生命究竟有多大意义这有什么标准可以衡量吗提出一个绝对的标准当然很困难但是大体上看一个人对待生命的态度是否严肃认真看他对待劳动、工作等等的态度如何也就不难对这个人的存在意义做出适当的估计了。 古来一切有成就的人都很严肃地对待自己的生命当他活着一天总要尽量多劳动、多工作、多学习不肯虚度年华不让时间白白地浪费掉。我国历代的劳动人民及大政治家、大思想家等等都莫不如此。 How significant is a person s life Is there any standard to measure it It will be very difficult to put forward an absolute standard but in general the significance of one s existence can be estimated by how he treats his life by what attitude he takes to work and what ways he chooses to live. From ancient times up to now all the accomplished people treat their lives very seriously. They work and learn as much as possible. They hate to spend the best of their lives in vain they do not want to let their time slip by. All the laboring people great statesmen and thinkers of our country at all ages treasure their time in this way. 原文 It is simple enough to say that since books have classes fiction biography poetrywe should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds asking of fiction that it shall be true of poetry that it shall be false of biography that it shall be flattering of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconception when we read that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author try to become him. Be his fellowworker and accomplice. If you hang back and reserve and criticize at first you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible then signs and hints of almost imperceptible finess from the twist and turn of the first sentences will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this acquaint yourself with this and soon you will find that your author is giving you or attempting to give you something far more definite. 英译汉 然而几乎没有什么人会从书中提问书能给我们什么。最为普遍的是我们接触书时怀有一种不甚清晰及与其相抵触的想法要求小说必须是真实的要求诗歌必须是虚构的要求传记必须是唱赞歌的要求历史必须能够增强读者原有的认识。我们读书时若能驱逐所有这些先入之见读书就会有一个良好的开端。不要规定作家做什么要设法使自己变成他变成他的合作者他的同伙。如果你读书伊始就犹豫不决持保留态度或者要进行批评你就不能从阅读中得到最大益处。如果你能尽量打开思路那么极细微的美质符号和暗示都会从曲折婉转的语句中显现出来把你引到一个与众不同的人面前。 2 2003 得病以前我受父母宠爱在家中横行霸道一旦隔离拘禁在花园山坡上一幢小房子里我顿感打入冷宫十分郁郁不得志起来。一个春天的傍晚园中百花怒放父母在园中设宴一时宾客云集笑语四溢。我在山坡的小屋里悄悄掀起窗帘窥见园中大千世界一片繁华自己的哥姐堂表弟兄也穿插其间个个喜气洋洋。一霎时一阵被人摒弃为世所遗的悲愤兜上心头禁不住痛哭起来。 Before I fell ill my parents doted on me a lot. I could have my way at home. Once I was isolated and confined in a chamber on the hillside of the garden I suddenly felt I was neglected and became very depressed. One spring evening my parents held a Banquet in the garden where all sorts of flowers were in full bloom. In no time a crowd of their guests collected and laughter was heard all over there. I without being noticed lifted the curtain in my small room only to spy the bustle of a kaleidoscopic world down in the garden and my elder sisters brothers and my cousins each full of the joys of spring were shuttling among the guests. Quickly enough I was thrown into a fist of sorrowful anger at being forgotten and discarded by the rest and could not help crying my heart out. E-C原文 In his classic novel The Pioneers James Feminore Cooper has his hero a land developer take his cousin on a tour of the city he is building. He describes the broad streets rows of houses a teeming metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered. All she sees is a forest Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me she asks. Hes astonished she cant see them. Where Why everywhere he replies. For though they are not yet built on earth he has built them in his mind and they are as concrete to him as if they were already constructed and finished. Cooper was illustrating a distinctly American trait future-mindedness: the ability to see the present from the vantage point of the future the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past and more emotionally attached to things to come. As Albert Einstein once said Life for the American is always becoming never being. 译文 在其经典小说开拓者中詹姆士菲尼摩尔库珀让主人公一个土地开发商带他的表妹参观正在由他承建的一座城市。他描述了宽阔的街道林立的房屋热闹的都市。他的表妹环顾四周大惑不解。她所看见的只是一片树林。你想让我看的那些美景和改造了的地方在哪儿啊她问道。他见表妹看不到那些东西感到很惊讶。哪儿到处都是啊他答道。虽然那些东西还未建成在大地上但他已在心中将它们建好了。对他来说它们都是实实在在的宛如已建成竣工一样。 库珀这里阐明的是一种典型的美国人特性着眼于未来即能够从未来的角度看待现在可以自由地不为过去所羁绊而在情感上更多地依附于未来的事物。正如阿尔伯特爱因斯坦曾经说过的那样对美国人来说生活总是在发展变化中从来不会静止不变。 3 2004 在人际关系问题上我们不要太浪漫主义。人是很有趣的往往在接触一个人时首先看到的都是他或她的优点。这一点颇像是在餐馆里用餐的经验。开始吃头盘或冷碟的时候印象很好。吃头两个主菜时也是赞不绝口。愈吃愈趋于冷静吃完了这顿筵席缺点就都找出来了。于是转喜为怒转赞美为责备挑剔转首肯为摇头。这是因为第一开始吃的时候你正处于饥饿状态而饿了吃糠甜加蜜饱了吃蜜也不甜。第二你初到一个餐馆开始举筷时有新鲜感新盖的茅房三天香这也可以叫做陌生化效应。 We shouldnt be too romantic about human relationships. Human beings are funny. Usually when they meet a person they will first notice his or her merits. Its just like the experience of dinning in a restaurant. The starter or cold dish will leave you a very good impression. You will be full of praise while eating the first two main courses. The more you eat the calmer you will become. At the end of the dinner all the shortcomings come out. Then : first you are hungry when you begin eating. When you are hungry the bran tastes as sweet as honey when you are full even the E-C原文 For me the most interesting thing about a solitary life and mine has been that for the last twenty years is that it becomes increasingly rewarding. When I can wake up and watch the sun rise over the ocean as I do most days and know that I have an entire day ahead uninterrupted in which to write a few pages take a walk with my dog read and listen to music I am flooded with happiness. I am lonely only when I am overtired when I have worked too long without a break when for the time being I feel empty and need filling up. And I am lonely sometimes when I come back home after a lecture trip when I have seen a lot of people and talked a lot and am full to the brim with experience that needs to be sorted out. Then for a little while the house feels huge and empty and I wonder where my self is hiding. It has to be recaptured slowly by watering the plants and perhaps by looking again at each one as though it were a person. It takes a while as I watch the surf blowing up in fountains but the moment comes when the world falls away and the self emerges again from the deep unconscious bring back all I have recently experienced to be explored and slowly understood. 只有在我过于劳累在我长时间无间断地工作在我感到内心空虚需要填补的时候我才寂寞。而有时在我巡回演讲后回家时在我见了许多人讲了许多话且经历多得需要清理时我才寂寞。 于是有那么一小会儿感觉房子又大又空我都不知道我的自我藏在哪儿了。于是我会给植物 浇浇水或者将它们再挨个儿瞅瞅好像它们是人一样。这样我才慢慢地重新找回自我。 好大一会儿我看着水浪从喷泉中喷涌而出但只有当世界在我身边逐渐消逝时那一时刻才会到来自我又从内心深处的无意识中冒出来带来我最近的种种经历让我探究慢慢领会。 4 1995 简.奥斯丁的小说都是三五户人家居家度日婚恋嫁娶的小事。因此不少中国读者不理解她何以在西方享有那么高的声誉。但一部小说开掘得深不深艺术和思想是否有过人之处的确不在题材大小。有人把奥斯丁的作品比作越咀嚼越有味道的橄榄。这不仅因为她的语言精彩并曾对小说艺术的发展有创造性的贡献也因为她的轻快活泼的叙述实际上并不那么浅白那么透明。史密斯夫人说过女作家常常试图修正现存的价值秩序改变人们对重要和不重要的看法。也许奥斯丁的小说能教我们学会转换眼光和角度明察到小事的叙述所涉及的那些不小的问题。 However subject matter is indeed not the decisive factor by which we judge a novel of its depth as well as of its artistic appeal and ideological content or: as to whether a novel digs deep or not or whether it excels in artistic appeal and ideological content. Some people compare Austens works to olives: the more you chew them the more tasty the tastier they become. This comparison is based not only on This is not only because of her expressive language and her creative contribution to the development of novel writing as an art but also on because of the fact that what hides behind her light and lively narrative is something implicit and opaque not so explicit and transparent. Mrs. Smith once observed women writers often sought made attempts to rectify the existing value concepts orders by changing peoples opinions on what is important and what is not. E-C原文 I by comparison living in my overpriced city apartment walking to work past putrid sacks of street garbage paying usurious taxes to local and state governments I generally abhor I am rated middle class. This causes me to wonder do the measurement make sense Are we measuring only that which is easily measured- the numbers on the money chart - and ignoring values more central to the good life For my sons there is of course the rural bounty of fresh-grown vegetables line-caught fish and the shared riches of neighbours orchards and gardens. There is the unpaid baby-sitter for whose children my daughter-in-law baby-sits in return and neighbours who barter their skills and labour. But more than that how do you measure serenity Sense if self I dont want to idealize life in small places. There are times when the outside world intrudes brutally as when the cost of gasoline goes up or developers cast their eyes on untouched farmland. There are cruelties there is intolerance there are all the many vices and meannesses in small places that exist in large cities. Furthermore it is harder to ignore them when they cannot be banished psychologically to another part of town or excused as the whims of alien groups - when they have to be acknowledged as part of us. Nor do I want to belittle the opportunities for small decencies in cities - the eruptions of one-stranger-to-another caring that always surprise and delight. But these aresadlymore exceptions than rules and are often overwhelmed by the awful corruptions and dangers that surround us. 答案 对我的几个儿子来说乡村当然有充足的新鲜蔬菜垂钓来的鱼邻里菜园和果园里可供分享的丰盛瓜果。乡下有不用付报酬便可请来照看孩子的邻居作为回报我儿媳也帮着照看其孩子。乡邻之间互相交换技能和劳动。但比之更重要的是你如何来衡量那静谧与安详如何来衡量自我价值呢 我无意将小地方的生活理想化。因为有时外面的世界会无情地侵入比如汽油价格上涨开发商把眼睛盯住尚未开发的农田那里充斥着凶残和偏狭大城市的种种卑劣行径小地方也一应俱全。不仅如此当人们无法自欺欺人地硬把那些丑恶现象想象成只是小地方的一小部分或将它们解释为异乡人的为所欲为而又不得不承认这一切是我们的一部分时就更难以忽视它们。 5 1996 近读报纸对国内名片和请柬的议论颇多 于是想起客居巴黎时经常见到的法国人手中的名片和请柬随笔记下来似乎不无借鉴之处。 在巴黎名目繁多的酒会冷餐会是广交朋友的好机会。在这种场合陌生人相识如果是亚洲人他们往往开口之前先毕恭毕敬地用双手把自己的名片呈递给对方这好像是不可缺少的礼节。然而法国人一般却都不大主动递送名片双方见面寒暄几句甚至海阔天空地聊一番也就各自走开只有当双方谈话投机希望继续交往时才会主动掏出名片。二话不说先递名片反倒显得有些勉强。 参考译文 In Paris cocktail parties and buffet receptions of different kinds offer great opportunities for making friends. On such occasions strangers may get to know each other. If they are Asians they will very respectfully and with both hands present their calling cards to their interlocutors before any conversation starts. This seems to be the required courtesy on their part. The French however usually are not so ready with such a formality. Both sides will greet each other and even chat casually about any topic and then excuse themselves. Only when they find they like each other and hope to further the relationship will they exchange cards. It will seem very unnatural to do so before any real conversation gets under way. E-C原文 It should have been easy. They were battle-tested veterans with long ties to Reagan and even longer ties to the Republican party men who understood presidential politics as well as any in the country. The backdrop of the campaign was hospitable with lots of good news to work with: America was at peace and the nations economy a key factor in any election was rebounding vigorously after recession. Furthermore the campaign itself was lavishly financed with plenty of money for a top-flight staff travel and television commercials. And most important their candidate was Ronald Reagan a president of tremendous personal popularity and dazzling communication skills. Reagan has succeed more than any president since John F. Kennedy in projecting a broad vision of America a nation of renewed military strength individual initiative and smaller federal government. 参考译文 这应该不是件难事。这都是些跟着里根多年、久经沙场的老将他们跟共和党则有更深厚的渊源是这个国家里最熟悉总统政治的人。竞选的背景也很有利也很多好消息可供炒作。例如美国上下一片和平美国经济这一竞选要素也在经过一段时间的衰退之后开始强劲反弹。此外这次竞选本身得到了慷慨资助因此有充裕的资用于组织一流的竞选班子、支付巡回演讲和电视广告的费用。而最重要的一点是他们的候选人是罗纳德里根他可是位极具个人魅力和沟通技巧的总统。自约翰F肯尼迪总统以来里根是最成功地勾勒出美国蓝图的总统一个军事力量复兴、富有个人进取心、联邦政府得以精简的国家。 6 1997 C-E原文 来美国求学的中国学生与其他亚裔学生一样大多非常刻苦勤奋周末也往往会抽出一天甚至两天的时间去实验室