英语专业八级历年英译汉汇总

【2002年8级测试英译汉】The word “winner” and “loser” have many meanings1. When we refer to a person as a winner, we do not mean one who makes someone else lose. To us, a winner is one who responds authentically by being credible, trustworthy, responsive, and genuine, both as an individual and as a member of a society2.Winners do not dedicate their lives to a concept of what they imagine they should be; rather, they are themselves and as such do not use their energy putting on a performance, maintaining pretence, and manipulating others3. They are aware that there is a difference between being loving and acting loving, between being stupid and acting stupid, between being knowledgeable and acting knowledgeable4. Winners do not need to hide behind a mask.Winners are not afraid to do their own thinking and to use their own knowledge5. They can separate facts from opinions and dont pretend to have all the answers6. They listen to others, evaluate what they say, but come to their own conclusions. Although winners can admire and respect other people, they are not totally defined, demolished, bound, or awed by them7.Winners do not play“helpless”, nor do they play the blaming game8. Instead, they assume responsibility for their own lives.【概述】这是一篇议论文，议题讨论人生的核心问题成功与失败。虽然涉及的题目人人皆知，但对其真实内涵却仁者见仁，智者见智。该文语言精炼，讲究修辞，采用对比、排比等手法加强语气。翻译时应注意上下文的逻辑关系，注意修辞格的翻译技巧。【翻译要点评析】1. “winner”和“loser”这两个词是该文的关键词，一开头能否正确选择好词义将影响到整篇文章的翻译。一般情况下，译为“赢家”和“输家”，或“胜者”和“败者”。但本文第一句就说，这两个词have many meanings。这就意味着本文所讨论的winner并不是传统意义上的“赢家”或“胜者”，下文对winner的定义就说明了本文的winner与传统定义不同。鉴于此，我们可以将winner译为“成功者”或“智者”。2. authentically: 自然地；没有假装地；由衷地。此句的关键是译好4个形容词，这是对成功者品质下的定义。credible: 有诚信的；trustworthy: 可依靠的；可信赖的；responsive: 反应敏捷的；敏感的；genuine: 诚实的；不虚伪的。此句可译为“成功者的一切反应均由衷而发，富有诚信，值得信赖，反应敏捷，从不虚伪”，句子读起来非常有节奏感。3.they imagine 是插入成分。What they imagine they should be 直译过来就是“他们自己认为该成为的样子”，也可以说“他们的自我臆想”。rather: 相反。they are themselves: “他们保持其本色”，用中国的一句古语就是“我仍故我”。as such 的本意是“诸如此类的人或物”，此处可以顺接上句译成“正因如此”。putting on a performance: 做作；作秀；装腔作势。maintaining pretence: 自命不凡。manipulate 原意为“巧妙的操纵别人”，这里可译成“对别人指手画脚”。4.此句中 “being“ 是“真的在做”, “acting”是 “假装在做”，这是译好句中三个排比句式的关键。being loving and acting loving可译为“真爱和装爱”；being stupid and acting stupid可译为 “真傻和装傻”；being knowledgeable and acting knowledgeable可译为“博学和卖弄”。5. “are not afraid to do”: 无畏于; 从不怯于; “to do their own thinking”: 独立思考；用自己的知识独立判断；独当一面。6. 此句中，facts与opinions两者是互为矛盾的，facts指“事实”，opinions不是传统意义上的“意见”或“观点”，而是“议论”或“传闻”，因此才有句子They can separate facts from opinions; “成功者能够区分事实与传闻“。7. 此句中有4个排比式的过去分词，译起来比较困难，因为它们的词义差别很微妙。be defined by them原意是“由他人来界定，来规定”，此句则理解为“受制于他人”。be demolished by them 可译为“被他们所摧垮”。be bound by them b可译为“被他们所束缚”。be awed by them 可译为“被他们所吓倒”。8. 此句中，不要将两个play 译成“玩”或“耍”。Play在这里是生动的比喻词。可译为：成功者不故意“示弱”，也从不怨天尤人”。【参考译文】“成功者”和“失败者”这两个词含义很多。当我们将某人称作成功者时，我们并非指他是一个让别人失败的人。对我们来说，成功者乃是这样一个人，无论作为一个个人抑或作为社会的一分子，他的一切反应均由衷而发，富有诚信，值得信赖，反应敏捷，从不虚伪。成功者不会穷其毕生之精力，执着于自我之臆想。相反，他们会保持自己的本色。正因如此，他们不装腔作势，不自命不凡，不对别人指手画脚。他们知道，真爱不同于装爱，真傻有异于装傻、博学有别于卖弄。成功者无需面具来伪装。成功者无畏于独立思考，无畏于独立判断、独当一面。他们能够在事实与传闻之间明辨是非，不会假称自己无所不晓。他们倾听别人意见，择善从之，最终得出自己的结论。成功者敬仰尊重别人，但他不会受制于人、不会被他们所摧垮、不被他们所束缚、不会被他们所吓倒。成功者不故意“示弱”，也从不怨天尤人。他们会毅然肩负起人生的责任。【2003年8级测试英译汉】In his classic novel,“The Pioneers”, James Fenimore Cooper has his hero, a land developer, take his cousin on a tour of the city he is building1. He describes the broad streets, rows of houses, a teeming metropolis2. But his cousin looks around bewildered3. All she ses is a forest.“Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me?”She asks4. Hes astonished she cant see them.“Where! Why everywhere,”he replies5. 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 illustrating6 a distinctly American trait, future-mindedness7; 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 come8. As Albert Einstein once said, “Life for the American is always becoming, never being. ”9 【概述】这是一篇关于美国文学的评论性文章，短文评论美国著名作家詹姆斯费尼莫库珀（James Fenimore Cooper）的小说拓荒者（The Pioneer）。文中主人公是一位土地开发商，带着他的表妹游览一座待开发的城市。从而揭示了美国人特有的一种性格前瞻意识。虽然语言的理解不算难，但涉及到美国人独特的处事视角，对于中国读者来说，接触较少，很难有作者那种深刻的体会。对于我们陌生的主题或文化视角，翻译时应注意尽量用“直译”，少些个人发挥，但其文章的风格，则要通过译文充分地展示出来，特别要注意描写人和物的形容词和副词的翻译。【翻译要点评析】1. 此句中有两个专有名词，涉及美国著名作家James Fenimore Cooper (詹姆斯费尼莫库珀)和他的小说The Pioneers (拓荒者)。库珀（17891851）是生活在美国西部大开发时代的一位作家。以描写西部边疆生活而闻名。hero 在小说中指“主人公”、“正面人物”，正式的用词是protagonist, 反面人物为enemy,正式用词是antagonist。land developer意为“土地开发商”，这种人在美国开发西部边疆时代十分时髦，他们极富挑战性和冒险性。2. a teeming metropolis 中的teeming意为“挤满人”、“人声鼎沸”、“熙熙攘攘”、“生机盎然”。teem，动词，原意为“盛产”、“多产的”，如The Taihu Lake teems with fish and shrimps.(太湖盛产鱼虾。)在本句中，teeming metropolis是比喻，可译为“繁华的大都市”。3. bewildered: 过去分词，原意为“使着慌”、“手足无措”，在句中作状语，表示方式，它跟在looks around 后边，可译作“深表困惑”，“满脸迷茫”，“茫然”等。4. 此句中beauties and improvements是由抽象名词转化来的，可理解为“美景和改观”。有时也可理解为“上位词”，上文提到的streets, houses和metropolis就是beauties and improvements所对应的“下位词”。在具体的翻译过程中，如果发现上位词不好译，可转到与此对应的下位词试试看。比如，觉得beauties and improvements译成“美景和改观”不妥，可尝试译为它们在本文中所对应的下位词“宽广的大道”、“鳞次擳比的高楼”和“生机盎然的大都市”之类的字眼。5. “Where! Why everwhere,”中的Why表达的是略带不耐烦与不快的惊讶。翻译时注意要把说话人的这种心态体现出来，有时标点符号就是一种很好表达语气的工具。译文中的标点符号完全可以和原文不同。这句话可译成“在哪儿？这不到处都是嘛？！”6. 此句中concrete意为“具体的”，“实实在在的”。as if they were already constructed and finished是虚拟语气，可译成“如同造好竣工一样”。7. illustrate: “展现”，“用实例说明”。trait: “特色”，“特性”，“特有的品质”。Future-mindedness: “面向未来的心态”，“以未来为参照点的思维方式”，可译为“前瞻意识”、“超前意识”、“未来观”等。8. vantage: 优越，有利的地位；from the vantage point of the future: 站在未来的高度，从未来的高度看。unencumbered: 没有阻碍的；不受妨碍的。the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past可译为“摆脱过去束缚”，“自由地抛开历史羁绊”等。feel attached to : “喜欢；爱慕；依恋”，这里feel attached to things to come可译成“情系未来”，“放眼未来”。9. Albert Einstein: 艾尔伯特 爱因斯坦，相对论的创立者,当代最为大的科学家，德国犹太人，二次大战中移居美国。此句中的难点是becoming 和being,前者指“未来”，后者指“现在”。句中is always becoming 意为“将来会变成什么”，never being 意为“而不是现在是什么”，整个句子可译成“美国人永远生活在将来而不是现在”，也可译成“对美国人来说，生活总是进取，而非守成”。【参考译文】詹姆斯费尼莫库珀在其名著拓荒者一书中写到主人公，一位土地开发商，带着表妹四处参观自己正在规划中的城镇，津津乐道地描述着宽广的大道，鳞次擳比的高楼和生机盎然的大都市。但表妹环顾四周而茫然。他看到的仅仅是一片树林：“你给我指的美景和大厦到底在哪儿呢？”开发商闻言大惊：“在哪儿？这不到处都是嘛？！”尽管大厦还未破土动工，但他们在开发商的脑海里早已成形，而且真切得如同造好竣工一样。库珀在这里揭示了一种美国人特有的品性前瞻意识:站在将来的高度看现在，自由地抛开历史羁绊而放眼将来。正如艾尔伯特爱因斯坦所说：“美国人永远生活在将来而不是现在。”【2004年8级测试英译汉】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 rewarding1. 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 pages2, take a walk with my dog, read and listen to music, I am flooded with happiness3.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 up4. 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 out5.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 person6.It takes a while, as I watch the surf blowing up in fountains7, but the moment comes when the world falls away, and the self emerges again from the deep unconsciousness, bring back all I have recently experienced to be explored and slowly understood8.【概述】这是一篇关于个人生活的散文。作者为女作家梅莎唐（May Sarton）(19121995)。本文选自散文The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life (单独生活的回报)的结尾部分，个别地方有删节。这篇文章在理解方面没有什么障碍，关键是表达时的文采和风格。翻译时应尽量把作者对孤独的感受用较好的文学语言表达出来。【翻译要点评析】1. 此句中，主语部分是the most interesting thing about a solitary life。Mine has been that 是难点，mine 指my life, “that” 指a solitary life。 “is that”引导一个表语从句。 it 指的是a solitary life。 it becomes increasingly rewarding 可译为“单独生活的回报与日俱增”。2. 此句中，在an entire day 后边有两个后置定语ahead和uninterrupted,还有一个in which加三个动词不定式引导的定语。3. be flooded with happiness是比喻，意为be filled with, be full of, “充满了幸福”。4. 此句中三个when 引导的时间状语从句描述的是同一时刻同时存在的三种状况：“当我过度疲劳”、“长时间不间断工作”、“一时间感到空虚而需要充实自己时”。后一句的两个when描述的又是另一种情况，不要把每一个when引导的短句理解成一种独立状态，也就是说原文共描述了两种情况，而不是五种，表达时要把这两种情况区别开。 needing filling up可译为“需要充实自己”。5. a lecture trip意为“外出讲演”或“巡回讲演”。 full to brim是个短语，意为“漫边儿”、“满”，full to brim with experience意为“满脑子的体验”或“满脑子纷乱的头绪”, sort out 意为“拣出”、“梳理”、“整理”。6. 此句中，It has to be recaptured意为“找回自我”。查阅原作，我们发现在it were a person后删去了by feeding the two cats, by cooking a meal。如果按删除后的文章理解by looking again at each one as thyough it were a person, 可将each one视作“一棵一棵花草”, as thgough it were a person是虚拟语气。7. 查阅原文，此句fountains后删除了at the end of the field (在田头，在田边)。fountains可理解为“泉水”、“喷泉”，surf原意为“浪花”，此处可译为“向四处溅出的水花”或“水柱”。8. 查阅原文，在slowly understood后删除了when I can converse again with my hidden powers, and so grow, and so be renewed, till death do us part。此句中，deep unconsciousness意为“潜意识”。to be explored and slowly understood可译为“细思深究”，或“让我探究，让我领悟”。 【参考译文】过去二十年，我一直单独生活。对于我，最为有趣的是，单独生活的回报与日俱增。经常在醒来时能够亲眼看着太阳在海洋上升起，清楚地知道有一个完整的一天供我使用，没有任何间断。我可以写上几页东西，遛遛狗儿，读读书，听听音乐，我充满了幸福。只有当我疲惫不堪，长时间不间断地工作，或者一时间感到空虚而需要充实自己的时候，我就感到孤独。当我刚从外地讲学回到家中，或者当我见过了很多人而且说了许多话，满脑子纷乱的思绪需要梳理时，这时我也会感到孤独。一段时间内，我觉得屋子既空又大，也不知道“我自身”藏在了什么地方。只好通过浇浇花，也许再看看花草，把它们一棵一棵地当人一样地看看，来慢慢地找回自我。这需要一段时间。当我看着喷泉激起的水花时，这个时刻便来到了：周围的世界慢慢地消失，自我再次从潜意识里涌出，带回到我刚才经历过的一切，让我探究、让我领悟。【2005年8级测试英译汉】 It is simple enough to say that since books have classes fiction, biography, poetry we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us1. 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 prejudices2. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author: try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice3. If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read4. But if you open your mind as widely as possible5, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, 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 this6, and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite.【概述】 这是论述怎样读书的散文中的第一段话（全文见Unit 2的范例欣赏How Should One Read A Book?），作者是英国著名现代女作家弗吉尼亚伍尔夫（18821941），她的主要作品有达罗卫夫人、到灯塔去、海浪等长篇小说，以描写意识流见长。该文开宗明义谈如何读书，实际上兼有文学评论的性质。全文用词朴素、行文流畅，而内涵丰富、意味深长。翻译时，需仔细品味原文的含义，明白无误地表达出作者的意思与风格。所采用的翻译方法有：省略法、词类转译法、分译法、增词法等。 【翻译要点评析】1.It is simple enough to sayeach should give us: 该句中It 是指代to say + that 所引导的宾语从句。可采用分译法翻译此句，先将宾语从句译成一个独立句，再将主句译成一个独立句：“这话说来很简单。”2. Most commonlyour own prejudices: come to books 应理解为“着手阅读”或“捧起书本”。Blurred and divided minds 可译为“模糊而又杂乱的想法”。另外，在翻译asking for 后面所跟的从句时，可省略代词it。此句中it 后均用shall, 表示说话人的意图，意为“必须”。3. Do not dictateBe his fellow-worker and accomplice: 这两句的意思层层递进，如果合译成一句，效果更好。第二句中的两个名词转译成动词。而accomplice 本意指“同谋”或“帮凶”，具有贬义，这里应选择褒义词来表达其意，可译为“共同创作”。4. from what you read: 该短句不必按字面意思翻译，可引申为“从书中”。5. open your mind as widely as possible: 此处可在翻译时适当增词，用两个词组来表达其意：“敞开心扉，虚怀若谷”，这样后一个词更进一步说明“敞开心扉”后的境界。6. Steep yourself in thiswith this: 这是两个并列祈使句，表示一种条件。翻译时可采用合句法译为一个单句并省略掉第一部分的指示代词this, “钻进去熟悉它“。【参考译文】既然书有小说、传记、诗歌之分，我们就应把它们分类，从各类书中汲取其应该给予我们的营养。这话说来很简单。然而很少有人要求从书籍中得到它们所能提供的养分。我们总是三心二意地带着模糊的观念去看书，要求小说必须真实，要求诗歌必须虚构，要求传记阿谀逢迎，要求史书能加强自己的偏见。读书时如能抛开这些先入之见，便是极好的开端。不要对作者指手划脚，而要尽力与作者融为一体，共同构思，共同创作。如果你不参与，不投入，而且一开始就百般挑剔，那你就无缘从书中获得最大益处。你若敞开心扉，虚怀若谷，那么书中精细入微的寓意和暗示便会把你从开头那些山回水转般的句子中带出来，走到一个独特的人物面前。钻进去熟悉它，你很快就会发现，作者展示给你的或想要展示给你的是一些比原先要明确得多的东西。【2006年8级测试英译汉】I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. / You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air. /War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. /You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word, It is victory. Victory at all costs-victory in spite of all terrors-victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. / Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.【参考译文】我所能奉献的唯有热血、辛劳、眼泪和汗水我们所面临的将是一场极其严酷的考验，将是旷日持久的斗争和苦难。/若问我们的政策是什么？我的回答是：在陆上、海上、空中作战。尽我们的全力，尽上帝赋予我们的全部力量去作战，对人类黑暗、可悲的罪恶史上空前凶残的暴政作战。/若问我们的目标是什么？我可以用一个词来回答，那就是胜利。不惜一切代价，去夺取胜利不惧一切恐怖，去夺取胜利不论前路如何漫长、如何艰苦，去夺取胜利。因为没有胜利就不能生存。/我们务必认识到，没有胜利就不复有大英帝国，没有胜利就不复有大英帝国所象征的一切，没有胜利就不复有多少世纪以来的强烈要求和冲动：人类应当向自己的目标迈进。【2007年8级测试英译汉】Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to comprehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the most basic constituents of matter, and the miracle of life. At the same time, today, the actions, and inaction, of human beings imperil not only life on the planet, but the very life of the planet.Globalization is making the world smaller, faster and richer. Still, 9/11, avian flu, and Iran remind us that a smaller, faster world is not necessarily a safer world.Our world is bursting with knowledge - but desperately in need of wisdom. Now, when sound bites are getting shorter, when instant messages crowd out essays, and when individual lives grow more frenzied, college graduates capable of deep reflection are what our world needs. For all these reasons I believed - and I believe even more strongly today - in the unique and irreplaceable mission of universities. 【参考译文】科技进步正在使我们能够探索宇宙的边陲、物质最基本的成分及生命的奇迹.与此同时，今天，人类所做的及没能做到的事情，不仅危害到这个星球上的生命，也危害到该星球的寿命。 全球化正在使地球变得愈来愈小、愈来愈快和愈来愈富有。尽管如此，9/11、禽流感及伊朗提醒我们，更小更快的世界决不意味着其更安全。 我们正处于一个知识爆炸的世界之中，不过，迫切需要智慧。现在，在（新闻采访的）原声摘要播出变得愈来愈短，即时信息淘汰了杂记文，个人生活变得如痴如狂之际，这个世界还是需要能够深思的大学生。考虑到这些理由，我过去信仰，而今天甚至更加强烈地信仰大学独特的、无可取代的使命。【2008年8级测试英译汉】But, as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last married, the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to the most practical. Instead of having shared their original duties, and as school-boys would say, going halves, they discovered that the cares of life had been doubled. This led to some distressing moments for both our friends; they understood suddenly that instead of dwelling in heaven they were still upon earth, and had made themselves slaves to new laws and limitations. Instead of being freer and happier than ever before, they had assumed new responsibilities; they had established a new household, and must fulfill in some way or another the obligations of it. They looked back with affection to their engagement; they had been longing to have each other to themselves, apart from the world, but it seemed they never felt so keenly that they were still units in modern society. 【参考译文】但是正如其他许多已经发生过的事情一样，当他们最终结婚后，发现最憧憬的生活变得再实际不过了。他们非但没有分担各自原先的责任-正如那些学生们所说“一半一半”，相反却发现生活的重担加倍了。这使得我们那两个结婚的朋友时常觉得沮丧；他们突然发现自己并没有过着天堂般的生活而是仍实实在在地生活在地球上，而且成为了新规则和新约束的奴隶。生活并没有比以前更自由、更幸福，因为他们要去承担新的责任。既然成立了一个新的家庭，那就无论如何也要尽一点家庭的义务。他们深情地回想起订婚的那段时光，曾经如此地渴望拥有彼此而忘掉这个世界，然而现在最深切的感受却是自己仍是这个世界的一份子。【2009年8级测试英译汉】We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst - though not all - of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly. However, too many of the worlds leaders are still best described in the words of Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitlers threat: They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, all powerful to be impotent. So today, we dumped another 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow, we will dump a slightly larger amount, with the cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat from the sun.【参考译文】我们人类，正面临全球性的危机，我们的生存和文明受到威胁。尽管我们聚在一起共商对策，而灾难却在扩大，形式不容乐观。但也有令人欣喜的消息：如果行动大胆果断，反应迅速，我们有能力解决这场危机，避免其向最坏的方向发展。但是，时下世界上的许多国家领导人可以用当年温斯顿丘吉尔批评欧洲诸政要忽视阿道夫希特勒的名言来形容，它们在奇怪的悖论中前行，仅仅为一个决定而犹豫不决，有了决心却拖泥带水，信心犹疑不定，见解随波逐流，掌权者虚弱无力。而如今我们向这个星球脆弱的大气层倾倒超过七千万吨温室气体，把其当作天然排污口。明天我们还会变本加厉，堆积的温室气体吸纳了越来越多的太阳热度。【2010年8级测试英译汉】If people mean anything at all by the expression untimely death, they must believe that some deaths run on a better schedule than others. Death in old age is rarely called untimely-a long life is thought to be a full one. But with the passing of a young person, one assumes that the best years lay ahead and the measure of that life was still to be taken.History denies this, of course. Among prominent summer deaths, one recalls those of Marilyn Monroe and James Deans, whose lives seemed equally brief and complete. Writers cannot bear the fact that poet John Keats died at 26, and only half playfully judge their own lives as failures when they pass that year. The idea that the life cut short is unfilled is illogical because lives are measured by the impressions they leave on the world and by their intensity and virtue.【参考译文】如果人们藉英年早逝这一字眼真的意欲表达什么含义的话，他们必然相信某些人的辞世可以算是寿终正寝，而另一些人则死不逢时 。死于年迈很少被冠以死不逢时之名，因为能度过漫长的一生被认为是甚为圆满的。反之，如果所碰到的是一位年轻人之死，人们会以为这位年轻人风华正茂，前途无可限量，生命的倒计时尚未真正开始。当然，历史否定这一切。在诸多较为著名的英年早逝的情形中，我们会忆起玛丽莲.梦露与詹姆斯.迪恩斯之死，其生命并不因其短暂而有损其圆满。对于约翰.济慈年方26便溘然长逝这一事实，文人墨客们皆痛不欲生，但他们中仅有半数人诙谐地认为，设若他们也死于这一年龄，其一生可视为失败。视英年早逝为不圆满，这一观念有悖于逻辑，因为衡量生命的尺度乃是留给世界的印记，是生