英译汉短文
Beyond Life
---Cabell
超越生命
——[美] 卡贝尔 著
Surely it is not asking very much to wish that my personal conduct be intelligible to me! 希望自己之所作为能被自己了解,这肯定不算要求过分。Yet it is forbidden to know for what purpose this universe was intended, to what end it was set a-going, or why I am here, or even what I had preferably do while here. 不过有些奥秘却不容你去了解,诸如宇宙宏旨之所在,乾坤归宿在何方,我为何置身于此间,于此间该做何事等。It vaguely seems to me that I am expected to perform an allotted task, but as to what it is I have no notion. 我隐约觉得此生被指望去履行一项既定使命,但这是项什么使命,我却一无所知。And indeed, what have I done hitherto, in the years behind me? 而且真正说来,我
在过去的岁月里又有过什么作为呢? There are some books to show as increment, as something which was not anywhere before I made it, and which even in bulk will replace my buried body, so that my life will be to mankind no loss materially. 有那么几本书可显示为生命之赢余,可显示为在我创作其之前这世间未曾有过的东西,其体积甚至可置换我入土后的那副躯壳,从而使我生命之结束不致给人类造成物质损失。But the course of my life, when I look back, is as orderless as a trickle of water that is diverted and guided by every pebble and crevice and grass-root it encounters. 但当回首往昔,我发现自己的生命历程就像溪流之蜿蜒漫无定向,触石砄草根则避而改道,遇岩缝土隙则顺而流之。I seem to have done nothing with pre-meditation, but rather, to have had things done to me. And for all the rest of my life, as I know now, I shall have to shave every morning in order to be ready for no more than this! 我似乎做任何事都未经事先考虑,而是任凭事务来摆布自己。且据我眼下所知,在我的整个余生,我每日清晨得剃须也仅仅是为了翌日清晨得剃须。
I want my life, the only life of which I am assured, to have symmetry or, in default of that, at least to acquire some clarity.我愿此生,我唯一确知的此生,能和谐地度过;若
此愿不遂,至少也该活得有几分清醒。希望自己之所作为能被自己了解,这肯定不算要求过分。不过有些奥秘却不容你去了解,诸如宇宙宏旨之所在,乾坤归宿在何方,我为何置身于此间,于此间该做何事等。我隐约觉得此生被指望去履行一项既定使命,但这是项什么使命,我却一无所知。而且真正说来,我在过去的岁月里又有过什么作为呢?有那么几本书可显示为生命之赢余,可显示为在我创作其之前这世间未曾有过的东西,其体积甚至可置换我入土后的那副躯壳,从而使我生命之结束不致给人类造成物质损失。但当回首往昔,我发现自己的生命历程就像溪流之蜿蜒漫无定向,触石砄草根则避而改道,遇岩缝土隙则顺而流之。我似乎做任何事都未经事先考虑,而是任凭事务来摆布自己。且据我眼下所知,在我的整个余生,我每日清晨得剃须也仅仅是为了翌日清晨得剃须。
汉译英短文
读书苦乐
---杨绛
The Bitter-Sweetness of Reading
vaguely
——Yang Jiang
读书钻研学问,当然得下苦功夫。为应考试、为写论文、为求学位,大概都得苦读。Reading and studying regularly calls for a painstaking effort, whether it is meant for passing an exam, writing a thesis or pursuing an academic degree.陶渊明好读书。如果他生于当今之世,要去考大学,或考研究院,或考什么“托福儿”,难免会有些困难吧?我只愁他政治经济学不能及格呢,这还不是因为他“不求甚解”。 T'ao Yuanming, a famous scholar in Jin Dynasty, who doted on reading, might probably feel baffled if he were living today and had to take exams for getting into universities or graduate programs or to score well in such tests as the TOEFL. I'm afraid he might fail the exam in Political Economics, as the result of his motto "staying content with superficial reading".
Reading and studying regularly calls for a painstaking effort, whether it is meant for passing an exam, writing a thesis or pursuing an academic degree. T'ao Yuanming, a famous scholar in Jin Dynasty, who doted on reading, might probably
feel baffled if he were living today and had to take exams for getting into universities or graduate programs or to score well in such tests as the TOEFL. I'm afraid he might fail the exam in Political Economics, as the result of his motto "staying content with superficial reading".
我曾挨过几下“棍子”,说我读书“追求精神享受”。 I was "cudgeled" for a couple of times, being reprimanded for reading "to seek spiritual indulgence."我当时只好低头认罪。我也承认自己确实不是苦读。At the time, I had to bow down my head and confess my sin, and I have to admit as well that I've never made any painstaking effort in reality.不过“乐在其中”并不等于追求享受。这话可为知者言,不足为外人道也。Nevertheless, "enjoying reading" doesn't mean seeking indulgence, whose truth can only be shared with like-minded people, but goes beyond those without similar experiences.
I was "cudgeled" for a couple of times, being reprimanded for reading "to seek spiritual indulgence." At the time, I had to bow down my head and confess my sin,
and I have to admit as well that I've never made any painstaking effort in reality. Nevertheless, "enjoying reading" doesn't mean seeking indulgence, whose truth can only be shared with like-minded people, but goes beyond those without similar experiences.
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