世界上最美丽的英文（六）

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世界上最美丽的英文（六） 21 The Flight of youth 青春的飞逝 Richard Henry Stoddard/理查德.亨利.斯托达德 There are gains for all our losses. 我们失去的一切都能得到补偿， There are balms for all our pain; 我们所有的痛苦都能得到安慰； But when youth,the dream,departs 可是梦境似的青春一旦消逝， It takes something from our hearts, 它带走了我们心中的某种美好， And it never comes again. 　从此一去不复返。 We are stronger, and are better, 我们变得日益刚强、更臻完美， Under manhood’s sterner reign; 在严峻的成年生活驱使下； Still we feel that something sweet 可是依然感到甜美的情感， Following youth, with flying feet, 已随着青春飞逝， And will never come again. 不再返回。 Something beautiful is vanished, 美好已经消逝， And we sigh for it in vain; 我们枉自为此叹息； We behold it everywhere, 尽管在天地之间， On the earth, and in the air, 我们处处能见青春的魅力， But it never comes again! 可是它不再返回！ 22 Discovery 发现 Diane Ackerman/迪安.阿克曼 The word “discovery” literally means, uncovering something that’s hidden from view. But what really happens is a change in the viewer. The familiar offers comfort few can resist, and fewer still want to disturb. But as relatively recent inventions such as the telescope and microscope have taught us, the unknown has many layers. Every truth has geological strata, and you can’t have an orthodoxy without a heresy. The moment a newborn opens its eyes, discovery begins. I learned this with a laugh one morning after delivering a calf. When it lifted up its fluffy head and looked at me, its eyes held the absolute bewilderment of the newly born. A moment before it had the even black nowhere of the womb, and suddenly its world was full of colour, movement and noise. I’ve never seen anything so shocked to be alive. “发现”一词，字面上是指揭开某种视线以外的隐藏的事物。不过其实是观察者自身发生了变化。很少人能抗拒熟悉事物带来的舒适，愿意扰乱这种舒适的人更少。然而，正如望远镜、显微镜这些较为近期的发明所揭示给我们的，求知事物具有多种层次。每个事实都有地质层次，没有异端也就无所谓正统。 新生儿睁开双眼的那一刻起，发现也就开始了。我是在一天清晨给一头小牛犊接生的时候突然意识到这一点的，不禁大笑。小牛仰起毛茸茸的脑袋看着我，目光中透出这个新生命对世界的一无所知。片刻这前，它还呆在母体里某个黑暗而平静的地方，突然，它的世界变得五光十色，变得活泼而喧闹。我从未见过任何东西在获得生命时是如些的惊异。 23. If the world were a Village of 100 People 如果世界是个一百人的村落 David J.Smith/大卫.史密斯 Shelath Armstrory／谢拉.阿姆斯壮 If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the exsting human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following: 如果我们把全世界的人口按照现有压缩为一个１００人的村子，情况就会如同以下： There would be: 57 Asians 21 Europeans 10 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south 8 Africans 这个村子里有： 57人是亚洲人 21人是欧洲人 14人来自西半球的南、北美洲 8人是非洲人 52 would be female 48 would be male 52人是女性 48人是男性 70 would be non-while 30 would be white 70人是有色人种 30人是白人 70 would be non-christian 30 would be Christian 70人是非基督教徒 30人是基督徒 89 would be heterosexual 11 would be homosexual 89人是异性恋者 11人是同性恋者 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States. 6人拥有全世界59％的财富 而且这6人全是美国人 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth 80人的居住环境不达标准 70人是文盲 50人苦于营养不良 1人濒临死亡边缘；1人正要出生 1(yes, only 1) would have a college education 1 would own a computer 1人（是的，只有１人)会接受大学教育 1人拥有电脑 When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent. 透过这个压缩图来放眼我们的世界，就会明晓接纳他人、谅解以及教育是何等重要。 The following is also something to ponder…… 再从以下角度来想想看…… If you woke pup this morning with more health than illness……you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. 如果你早上醒来的时候健康无恙……那么，比起活不过这一周的百万人来说，你真是幸运多了。 If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. 如果你未曾经历过战争的危险、入狱的孤独、严刑的苦楚、饥饿的痛苦……那么，比起世界上５亿人来，你真是幸运多了。 If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep… you are richer than 75% of this world. 如果你冰箱里有食物，身上有衣服可穿，有屋篷遮蔽，有地方睡觉……那么，比起世界上７５％的人来，你真是富足多了。 If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealth. 如果你银行中有存款，钱包中也有钱，还能到某处消费习菜……你便跻身在世界上最富有的８％人口当中了。 If your parents are still alive and still married…you are very rare, even in the United Stated and Canada. 如果你的父母依然健在，而且还在一起生活的话……这可是非常难得的事，即使是在美国与加拿大。 Someone once said: What goes around comes around. 有人说过：我所付出的终将会回归。 So… Work live you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching. Sing like nobody’s listening. Live like it’s Heaven on Earth. 所以…… 去工作时，犹如你不执迷于金钱。 去爱他人，犹如你从未曾被伤害。 去舞蹈吧，犹如无人在一旁观看。 去歌唱吧，犹如无人在一边谛听。 好好地生活，犹如这里是人间乐土。 24 Three Days to See 　　假如拥有三天光明 Helen Keller/海伦.凯勒 All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited. Such stories set up thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets? Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry,” most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death. 我们都读过这样一些动人的故事，故事里主人公将不久于人世。长则一年，短则24小时。但是我们总是很想知道这个即将离开人世的人是决定怎样度过他最后的日子的。当然，我所指的是有权作出选择的自由人，不是那些活动范围受到严格限制的死囚。 这一类故事会使我们思考在类似的处境下，我们自己该做些什么？在那临终前的几个小时里我们会产生哪些联想？会有多少欣慰和遗憾呢？ 有时我想，把每天都当作生命的最后一天来度过也不失为一个很好的生命法则。这种人生态度使人非常重视人生的价值。每一天我们都应该以和善的态度、充沛的精力和热情的欣赏来度过，而这些恰恰是在来日方长时往往被我们忽视的东西。当然，有这样一些人奉行享乐主义的座右铭――吃喝玩乐，但是大多数人却不能摆脱死亡来临的恐惧。 Most of us take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future, when we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life. The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we conscious of health until we are ill. I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound. Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. “Nothing in particular,” she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little. 我们大多数人认为生命理所当然，我们明白总有一天我们会死去，但是我们常常把这一天看得非常遥远。当我们身体强壮时，死亡便成了难以相象的事情了。我们很少会考虑它，日子一天天过去，好像没有尽头。所以我们为琐事奔波，并没有意识到我们对待生活的态度是冷漠的。 我想我们在运用我们所有五官时恐怕也同样是冷漠的。只有聋子才珍惜听力，只有盲人才能认识到能见光明的幸运。对于那些成年致盲或失陪的人来说尤其如此。但是那些听力或视力从未遭受损失的人却很少充分利用这些幸运的能力，他们对所见所闻不关注、不欣赏。这与常说的不失去不懂得珍贵，不生病不知道健康可贵的道理是一样的。 我常想如果每一个人在他成年的早些时候，有几天成为了聋子或瞎子也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更珍惜光明；沉寂将教他知道声音的乐趣。 有时我会试探我的非盲的朋友们，想知道他们看见了什么。最近我的一位非常要好的朋友来看我，她刚刚在树林里走了很长时间，我问她看见了什么。“没什么特别的，”她回答说。如不是我早已习惯了这样的回答，我也许不会轻易相信，因为很久以前我就相信了有眼人看不见什么。 How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter’s sleep I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently in a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have cool waters of a brook rush through my open fingers. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips. At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action fill the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light and the gift of sight is used only as mere convenience rather that as a means of adding fullness to life. Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for three days! 我问自己在树林中走了一小时，怎么可能什么值得注意的东西都没有看到呢？而我一个盲人仅仅通过触摸就发现了数以百计的有趣的东西。我感到树叶的对称美，用手摸着白桦树光滑的树皮或是松树那粗糙的厚厚的树皮。春天里我满怀着希望触摸着树枝寻找新芽，那是大自然冬眼后醒来的第一个征象。我感到了花朵的可爱和茸茸的感觉，发现它层层叠叠地绽开着，大自然的神奇展现在我的面前。当我把手轻轻地放在一棵小树上，如果幸运的话，偶尔会感到歌唱的小鸟欢快的颤动。我会愉快地让清凉的溪水从手之间流过。对我来说，满地厚厚的松针和松软的草坪比奢华的波斯地毯更惹人喜爱。对我来说四季变换的景色如同一场动人心魄的不会完结的戏剧，剧中的人物动作从我的指尖流过。我的心不时在呐喊，带着对光明的渴望。既然仅仅通过触摸就能使我获得如此多的喜悦，那么光明定会展示更多美好的事物啊。可惜的是那些有眼睛的人分明看到很少，整个世界缤纷的色彩和万物的活动都被认为是理所当然。也许不珍惜已经拥有的，想得到还没有得到的是人的特点，但是在光明的世界里只把视觉用做一种方便的工具，而不是丰富生活的工具，这是令人多么遗憾的事情啊。 噢，假如我拥有三天光明，我将会看见多少事物啊！ shannon 发表于 03:12:29 | 引用Trackback(0) | 编辑