高级英语课文翻译

青年人的四种选择

Lesson 2: Four Choices for Young People

在毕业前不久，斯坦福大学四年级主席吉姆?宾司给我写了一封信，信中谈及他的一些不安。

Shortly before his graduation, Jim Binns, president of the senior class at Stanford University, wrote

me about some of his misgivings.

他写道：“与其他任何一代人相比，我们这一代人在看待成人世界时抱有更大的疑虑 ,, 同时越

来越倾向于全盘否定成人世界。”

“More than any other generation, ” he said, “ our generation views the adult world with great

skepticism, there is also an increased tendency to reject completely that world. ”很

明显，他的话代表了许多同龄人的看法。

Apparently he speaks for a lot of his contemporaries.

在过去的几年里，我倾听过许多年轻人的谈话，他们有的还在大学读书，有的已经毕业，他

们对于成人的世界同样感到不安。

During the last few years, I have listened to scores of young people, in college and out, who

were just as nervous about the grown world.

大致来说，他们的态度可归纳如下：“这个世界乱糟糟的，到处充满了不平等、贫困和战争。

对此该负责的大概应是那些管理这个世界的成年人吧。如果他们不能做得比这些更好，他们又能拿

什么来教育我们呢？这样的教导，我们根本不需要。”

Roughly, their attitude might be summed up about like this:“ The world is in pretty much of a

mess, full of injustice, poverty, and war. The people responsible are, presumably, the adults who

have been running thing. If they can’ t do better than that, what have they got to teach our

generation? That kind of lesson we can do without. ”

我觉得这些结论合情合理，至少从他们的角度来看是这样的。

There conclusions strike me as reasonable, at least from their point of view.

对成长中的一代人来说，相关的问题不是我们的社会是否完美（我们可以想当然地认为是这

样），而是应该如何去应付它。

The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imperfect (we

can take that for granted), but how to deal with it.

尽管这个社会严酷而不合情理，但它毕竟是我们惟一拥有的世界。

For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we’ ve got.

因此，选择一个办法去应付这个社会是刚刚步入成年的年轻人必须作出的第一个决定，这通

常是他们一生中最重要的决定。

Choosing a strategy to cope with it, then, is the first decision young adults have to make, and usually the most important decision of their lifetime.

根据我的发现，他们的基本选择只有四种：

So far as I have been able to discover, there are only four basic alternatives:

1）脱离传统社会

这是最古老的方法之一，任何年龄的人无论在任何地方，也无论是否使用迷幻剂都可以采用。This is one of the oldest expedients, and it can be practiced anywhere, at any age, and with or without the use of hallucinogens.

那些认为这个世界残酷、复杂得令人难以忍受的人通常会选择这个办法。

It always has been the strategy of choice for people who find the world too brutal or too

complex to be endured.

实质上，这是一种寄生式的生活方式，采取此策略的人通过这样或那样的方式寄生于这个他

们蔑视的社会，并且拒绝对这个社会承担责任

By definition, this way of life is parasitic. In one way or another, its practitioners batten on the society which they scorn and in which they refuse to take any responsibility.

我们中的一些人对此很厌恶——认为这种生活方式很不光彩。

Some of us find this distasteful–an undignified kind of life.

但对于那些卑微、懒惰又缺乏自尊的人来说，这也许是可行的最可以忍受的选择了。

But for the poor in spirit, with low levels of both energy and pride, it may be the least

intolerable choice available.

2）逃避现实社会

2) Flee

这个策略早在远古就有先例。

This strategy also has ancient antecedents.

自文明诞生以来，就有人企图逃避文明社会，希望寻求一种更为朴素、更富田园风情、更为宁静的生活。

Ever since civilization began, certain individuals have tried to run away from it in hopes of

finding a simpler, more pastoral, and more peaceful life.

与那些脱离传统社会的人不同，这些人不是寄生者。他们愿意自食其力，愿意为社会作出贡献，可是他们就是不喜欢这个文明世界的环境。确地说，不喜欢这充满丑恶和紧张的大都市。Unlike the dropouts, they are not parasites. They are willing to support themselves and to contribute something to the general community, but they simply don ’t like the environment of civilization; that is, the city, with all its ugliness and tension.

这种方法的问题在于无法大规模地进行实践。

The trouble with this solution is that it no longer is practical on a large scale.

不幸的是，在我们的地球上，高尚的野蛮人和未被破坏的自然景色已越来越少；除了两极地区以外已经没有未开发的土地了。

Our planet, unfortunately, is running out of noble savages and unsullied landscaped; except for the polar regions, the frontiers are gone.

少数富有的乡绅还可以逃避现实去过田园生活——但总的说来，迁移的潮流是向相反的方向

流动。

A few gentleman farmers with plenty of money can still escape to the bucolic life – but in general the stream of migration is flowing the other way.

3）策划革命

Plot a Revolution

在对民主进程单调乏味的运作方式毫无耐心或相信只有武力才能改变基本社会制度的那些

人中，这一策略颇受欢迎。

This strategy is always popular among those who have no patience with the tedious working

of the democratic process or who believe that basic institutions can only be changed by force.

它吸引了每一代年轻人中那些更为活跃和更具理想主义的人。

It attracts some of the more active and idealistic young people of every generation.

对他们来说，这种策略具有浪漫的吸引力，通常以某位魅力非凡且令人振奋的人物为其象征。

To them it offers a romantic appeal, usually symbolized by some dashing and charismatic figure.

这一策略简单明了并具有更大的吸引力：“既然这个社会已经无可救药，那就让我们砸碎它，在它的废墟上面建一个更好的社会。”

It has the even greater appeal of simplicity: “ Since this society is hopelessly bad, let ’ s smash it and build something better on the ruins. ”

我最好的朋友中有些是革命者，他们中的一些人过得相当满足。

Some of my best friends have been revolutionists, and a few of them have led reasonably satisfying lives.

这部分人其实是那些革命并未成功的人，他们可以继续兴高采烈地策划大屠杀，直至老态龙钟。

These are the ones whose revolutions did not come off; they have been able to keep on cheerfully plotting their holocausts right into their senescence. 另外一些人年纪轻轻就死了，死在监狱里或街垒旁。

Others died young, in prison or on the barricades.

但最不幸的是那些革命成功的人。

But the most unfortunate are those whose revolutions have succeeded.

他们极度失望，看到他们推翻的权力机构又被新机构所替代，而新机构依旧是那样冷酷，那样毫无生机。

They lived in bitter disillusionment, to see the establishment they had overthrown replaced by

a new one, just as hard-faced and stuffy.

当然，我并不是说革命一无所成。

I am not, of course, suggesting that revolutions accomplish nothing.

一些革命（美国革命，法国革命）确实将事情变得越来越好。

Some (The American Revolution, the French Revolution) clearly do change things for the better.

我只是想说革命无论成败，那些策划革命的革命者们都注定要失望。

My point is merely that the idealists who make the revolution are bound to be disappointed in

either case.

因为胜利的曙光无论如何也不会照耀在他们梦想中的那个摆脱了人类一切卑劣的灿烂的新

世界上。

For at best their victory never dawns on the shining new world they had dreamed of, cleansed of

all human meanness.

相反，它照在了一个熟悉的平庸的地方，这个地方仍旧需要食品杂货和污水排放。

Instead it dawns on a familiar, workaday place, still in need of groceries and sewage disposal.

无论贴着什么样的政治标签，革命后的国家都不是由激进的浪漫主义者来治理，而是由市场营销、卫生工程和管理官僚机构的专家来治理。

The revolutionary state, under whatever political label, has to be run-not by violent romantics-but by experts in marketing, sanitary engineering, and the management of bureaucracies.

对一些决心改造社会，但同时又希望能找到一种比武装革命更可行的方法的理想主义者来

说，还有另外一种选择。

For the idealists who are determined to remake society, but who seek a more practical

method than armed revolution, there remains one more alternative.

4）循序渐进，逐步改变社会

Try to Change the World Gradually, One Clod at a Time

乍一看，这一途径毫无吸引力。

At first glance, this course is far from inviting.

它缺乏魅力，并且见效很慢。

It lacks glamour. It promises no quick results.

它依靠劝说和民主决策这些令人恼火且不可靠的方法来实现。

It depends on the exasperating and uncertain instruments of persuasion and democratic decision making.

它需要耐心，可我们却总是缺乏耐心。

It demands patience, always in short supply.

它比其他的任何策略都更

它惟一的好处是有时这方法行得通——在这个特定的时间和地点，

有可能制止世界上的某些恶行。

About all that can be said for it is that it sometimes works–that in this particular time and place it offers a better chance for remedying some of the world ’ s outrages than any other available strategy.

至少历史事实似乎证明了这一点。

So at least the historical evidence seems to suggest.

我大学毕业的时候，我们这一代人也发现世界乱得一团糟。

When I was graduating from college, my generation also found the world in a mess.

几乎所有地方的经济机构都已崩溃，在美国几乎四分之一的人口失业。

The economic machinery had broken down almost everywhere: In this country nearly a quarter

of the population was out of work.

一场大战似乎在所难免。

A major was seemed all too likely.

当时作为校报编辑，对这些我曾经猛烈地抗议过，像今天的学生积极分子一样。

As a college newspaper editor at that time, I protested against this just as vehemently as student activists are protesting today.

你刚刚占领一条

与此同时，我们这一代人渐渐发现改造世界有点像在亚平宁山区打仗一样。

山脉，另一条山脉又在前方隐现。

At the same time, my generation was discovering that reforming the world is a little like fighting a military campaign in the Apennines, as soon as you capture one mountain range, another one looms just ahead.

当 20 世纪 30 年代的大问题刚刚勉强得到控制，新的问题又出现了——富足社会中出现的崭新

问题，如种族平等，保证城市环境适于居住，应付各种陌生伪装下的战争等等。

As the big problems of the thirties were brought under some kind of rough control, new problems took their place – the unprecedented problems of an, affluent society, of racial justice, of keeping our cities from becoming uninhabitable, of coping with war in unfamiliar guises.

最令人不安的是我们发现了人口爆炸这一问题。

Most disturbing of all was our discovery of the population explosion.

我们突然意识到我们这艘载人小飞船上的乘客数目大约每40 年翻一倍。

It dawned on us rather suddenly that the number of passengers on the small spaceship we inhabit is doubling about every forty years.

只要地球上的人口持续地按这个可怕的速度增长，其他所有问题都将无法解决。

So long as the earth ’s population keeps growing at this cancerous rate, all of the other problems appear virtually insoluble.

我们的城市会变得越来越拥挤，景色会变得更加杂乱，空气和水也会变得愈发肮脏。

Our cities will continue to become more crowded and noisome. The landscape will get more cluttered, the air and water even dirtier.

所有人的生活质量都会不断恶化。

The quality of life is likely to become steadily worse for everybody.

战争的升级看来是

如果过多的人必须为了争夺日益减少的食物份额和生存空间而争斗的话，

无法避免的。

And warfare on a rising scale seems inevitable if too many bodies have to struggle for ever-dwindling shares of food and living space.

因此吉姆 ?宾司这代人要承担一项艰巨的任务。

So Jim Binns’ generation has a formidable job on its hands.

但我认为这并不是无法克服的困难。

But not, I think, an insuperable one.

过去的事实证明，处理这项艰巨任务完全可采用以前解决困难问外时使用的方法——从实际

效果出发，一点一滴，通过大家不懈的努力来完成。

On the evidence of the past, it can be handled in the same way that hard problems have

been coped with before-piecemeal, pragmatically, by the dogged efforts of many people

Lesson eight

做黑人胜过做女人

成为第一个在国会立足的黑人女性使我变成某种现象人物。国会中还有 9 个黑人和另外 10 位女性。我是第一个同时克服了两种阻碍（黑人，女人）的人。在这两种阻碍下，作为一个黑人的阻碍要大大低于作一个女人。

如果我说作为一个黑人的阻力远远大于作为一个女人，或许没有人会质疑我。为什么？因为“我们都知道” 在美国存在对黑人的偏见。对女性存在偏见这样的想法在大多数男性看来—

—恐怕也包括大部分女性——是非常奇怪的。

许多年来对黑人的偏见对于大多数美国白人是隐形的。当黑人最终开始“关注” 这个问题的时候，（发起了）入座运动、罢乘运动和自由骑车运动。美国人（对此）十分怀疑。“谁？

我们？”白人用受伤的语调问。“我们歧视（黑人呢）？”（于是形成了）一个对美国白人

长时间的、阵痛的再教育。（这个教育）花了白人许多年时间——包括那些自认为是自由主

义者——去探索和根除他们已经作出的种族主义者的态度。

那么根除对女性的偏见有多难呢？我相信这是一个长时间的争斗。部分问题在于美国女性大多数被洗脑和适应了他们和黑人一样作为二等公民的角色。

让我解释一下。我从政超过20载。所有时间但尤其是最后六年，我做了如下工作：能影响

竞选成败的所有的无聊的细节工作，这是大部分从政女性不可避免的命运。男性收获了胜利果实。

还是女性，大约有300 万自愿者，在美国的政治世界中从事这样的工作。其中优秀者有望获得成为地区或者全国（竞选）副主席的荣耀。这个象征性的位置是一个女性多年忠心地（为竞选）做着邮政工作（回信之类）和组织卡牌聚会的奖赏。这样的一份工作，女性免费获得

各州之间的旅行和时而的国家级会议。（会议上）女性也被认为是跟着他的男性上司进行投票。

在 1963 年，我尝试突破女性固有的角色，（于是）代表Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant （贫民窟）参加了纽约州议会竞选，反对声十分强烈。自从竞选开始，因为我的性别，我面对毫

无掩饰的敌意。

不过四年后，当我竞选国会，性别成了最主要的问题。我所在的党内，也曾举行过秘密会议商讨如何阻止我。

我的对手，著名的民权领袖James Farmer 试图塑造一个充满男性魅力的黑人形象。他的广

播车在邻里间宣传，车上满是带着非洲式头发、穿着短袖套头衫和带着小胡子的年轻男性。

当电视台那群人无视我的时候，他们也没意识到一个重要的数据，我和我的竞选经理Wesley MacD 知道这个数。在我的选区，注册投票的女性是男性的 2.5倍。而女性多数在学生家长和教师联谊会（ PTAs）、教会、牌友和其他一些社会服务性组织中。我去找她们并且请求她

们的帮助。 Farmer 先生一点都不知道是什么打败了他。

当一个聪明的女大学毕业生开始找工作的时候，为什么第一个问题总是：“你会打字吗？”

藏在这个问题背后的是历史的偏见。为什么女性总被认为是该做秘书而不是领导者？被认为

是图书管理员和老师而不是医生和律师？因为女性被认为是不同的、低等的。快乐的家庭主

妇和（对生活）满足的黑人的形象都是因为偏见。

女性甚至没达到黑人表面上的水平（没黑人好）。最高法院中没有女性一席。内阁中曾有两位女性，但是现在一个没有。大使地位级别的女性有两位。女性“支配” 着低收入（档次），做着无聊的、没有奖金的、没有前途的工作，即使她们升到一个理想的职位，同样的工作，

她们的薪水也常常少于男性。

如果这都不是歧视，那么你们怎么这种现象呢？

几年前，我和一位政治领袖谈论一个充满前途的年轻女候选人，“为什么投入那么时间和精

力来捧起她？”他问我。“你知道，他只能退出竞选然后结婚生子，若我们没让他准备好参

加市长竞选。”

大量的人对我抱有相同的看法。当我试图更进一步时，有许多人建议我回去教书，做回女性的本职工作，把政治留给男人。我热爱教书，并且准备好回去，只要我被说服说是这个国家

不再需要一位女性的贡献。

不过在这种情况发生前——至少我们都知道今明几年是不会的——我们需要的是更多的女

性参政。因为我们能做出十分特别的贡献。我希望我成功的事例能说服其他女性参政——不

仅仅是一些邮政工作，管管办公室。

女性可以给政府带来共鸣，容忍，远见，耐心，坚韧这些天生就有的，也是在男性压迫之下

不得不发展的品质。一国女性的生存状况塑造了这个国家的道德，宗教和政治。目前，我们国家需要女性的理想主义和决心，或者在其他地方更多地参与政治中来。

Lesson nine

要摆脱电视的影响是困难的。It is difficult to escape the influence of television.假如统计的

平均数字适用于你的话，那么你到20 岁的时候就至少看过 2 万个小时的电视了，从那以后

每生活 10 年就会增加 1 万小时。If you fit the statistical averages, by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20,000 hours of television. You can add 10,000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20.比起看电视，美国人只有在工作和睡眠上花时间更

多。 The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep. 稍微计算一下，

使用这些时间的一部分能够做些什么。

Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours.听说一个大学生仅

用5000 小时就可以获得学士学位。Five thousand hours, I am told, are what a typical college

undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. 在 1 万个小时内你能学成一个天文学家或工

程师，流利掌握几门外语。 In 10,000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. 如果你感兴趣的

话，你可能读希腊原文的荷马史诗或俄文版的陀思妥耶夫斯基作品；如果对此不感兴趣，

那你可以徒步周游世界，撰写一本游记。 If it appealed to you, you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't, you could have walked around the world and written a book about it.

电视的毛病在于它分散了人们的注意力。The trouble with television is that it discourages

concentration. 生活中几乎一切有趣的、能给人以满足的事都需要一定的建设性的、持之以恒的努力。Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive, consistently applied effort. 即使是我们中间那些最迟钝、最没有天才的人也能做出一些事

来，而这些事使那些从来不在任何事情上专心致志的人感到像是奇迹一般。The dullest, the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything.但电视鼓励我们不做出任何努力，它向我们兜售即时的满足，它给我们提供娱乐，使我们只想娱乐，让时间在毫无痛苦中消磨掉。But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification. It diverts us only to divert, to make the time pass

without pain. 电视节目的多样化成了一种麻醉剂而不是促进思考的因素。

Television's variety becomes a narcotic, nor a stimulus.它那系列的、多变的画面引着我们跟着

它走。Its serial, kaleidoscopic exposures force us to follow its lead.观众无休无止地跟着导

游游览：参观博物馆30 分钟，看大教堂30 分钟，喝饮料30 分钟，然后上车去下一个参观点，只是电视的特点是时间分配以分秒计算，而所选择的内容却多为车祸和人们的互相残杀。The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour:cathedral, 30 for a drink, then back on the bus to the

next attraction — except on television, typically, the spans allotted are on the order of minutes or seconds, and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another.

总之许多电视节目取代了人类最可贵的一种才能，即主动集中自己的注意力，而不是被动地奉送注意力。In short, a lot of television usurps one of the most precious of all human gifts, the ability to focus your attention yourself, rather than just passively surrender it.吸引并抓住人们的注意力是大多数电视节目安排的主要目的，它加强了电视是有利可图的广告的载体的作

用。

Capturing your attention—and holding it — is the prime motive动机of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle.节目安排使人生活在无

休止的恐惧之中，唯恐抓不住人们的注意力——不管是什么人的注意力都担心。Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention —anyone's. 避免造成这一局面的最有把握的办法就是使一切节目都保持简短，不要使任何人的注意力过于集中而受到损害，

而要通过多样化、新奇性、动作和行动不断地提供刺激。The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief, not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety, novelty, action and movement.很简单，电视的运作原则就是迎

合观众的注意力跨度短这一特点。 Quite simply, television operates on the appeal to the short attention span. 这只是最简单的解决办法，但它逐渐被看作是电视这一宣传媒体特定的，内

在固有的性质，是必须履行的职责，似乎是司令萨尔诺夫或另一个令人敬畏的电视创始人给

我们传下了刻有铭文的石碑，命令电视上出现的一切节目均不得使观众需要片刻以上的注意力。

It is simply the easiest way out. But it has come to be regarded as a given, as inherent in the medium itself; as an imperative, as though General Sarnoff, or one of the other august pioneers of video, had bequeathed to us tablets of stone commanding that nothing in television shall ever

require more than a few moments' concentration.要是运用得恰当，这倒也无可厚非。

In its place that is fine.如此出色地把使人忘却现实的娱乐作为大规模推销工具加以包装，

谁又能反对这样一种宣传媒介呢？Who can quarrel with a medium that so brilliantly packages escapist entertainment as a mass-marketing tool?但是我看到了它的价值现已充斥

于这个国家及其生活之中。Rut I see its values now pervading this nation and its life.认为快速思维和快餐食品一样影响着生活节奏很快、性情急躁的公众，这已成了时髦的看法。It

has become fashionable to think that, like fast food, fast ideas are the way to get to a fast-moving, impatient public. 在新闻方面，我认为这种做法不能进行很好的交流。

In the case of news, this practice, in my view, results in inefficient communication.我怀疑电视每晚的新闻节目真正能够被人吸收和理解的有多少。I question how much of television's

nightly news effort is really absorbable and understandable.

其中许多被形象地描述为“机关枪不连贯地点射”。Much of it is what has been aptly described as "machine-gunning with scraps."我认为这种技术是与连贯性作对的。I think the

technique fights coherence. 我认为它最终会使事情变得枯燥乏味、无足轻重（除非伴以恐怖

的画面），因为任何一件事，如果你对它几乎一无所知，那么它差不多总会是枯燥乏味、

使人觉得无足轻重的。 I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible (unless

they are accompanied by horrifying pictures) because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it. 我认为，电视迎合观众注意力跨度短的做法不仅会造成交流不畅，而且还会降低文化水平。

I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but

decivilizing as well.想一想电视要达到的那些极不慎重的原则吧：必须避免复杂性，用视

觉刺激来代替思考，语言的精确早已是不合时宜的要求。Consider the casual assumptions that television tends to cultivate达到that complexity must be avoided, that visual stimulation is

a substitute for thought, that verbal precision is an anachronism.它可能已过时，但我所受的

教育告诉我思想就是语言，是按准确的语法规则组织起来的。It may be old-fashioned, but I was taught that thought is words, arranged in grammatically precise.在美国存在着读写能力

的危机。

There is a crisis of literacy in this country. 据一项研究估计，约有3000 万美国成年人是“功能性文盲”。他们的读写能力无法回答招聘广告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。

据一项研究估计，约有3000 万美国成年人是“功能性文盲”。他们的读写能力无法回答招

聘广告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。 One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are

"functionally illiterate" and cannot read or write well enough to answer the want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. 能读写可能算不上是一项不可剥夺的人权，

但是我们学识渊博的开国元勋们并不感到它是不合理的或者甚至是达不到的。

Literacy may not be an inalienable human right, but it is one that the highly literate Founding

Fathers might not have found unreasonable or even unattainable.从统计数字上看，我们的国

家不仅未达到人人能读写的程度，而且离这一目标越来越远。We are not only not attaining it as a nation, statistically speaking, but we are falling further and further short of attaining it.

尽管我不会天真到认为电视是造成这一情况的原因，但我却相信它起了一定的作用，是有影

响的。And, while I would not be so simplistic as to suggest that television is the cause, 1 believes it contributes and is an influence.

美国的一切：社会结构、家庭组织形式、经济、在世界上的地位，都变得更为复杂，而不是

相反。

Everything about this nation—the structure of the society, its forms of family organization, its

economy and its place in the world—位的传播媒介，全国联系的主要方式，has become more complex, not less.然而其占主导地却在人类存在的问题上推销简单的解决方式，而这些

问题通常是没有简单的解决方式的。Yet its dominating communications instrument,its principal form of national linkage, is one that sells neat resolutions to human problems that usually have no neat resolutions.

在我的心目中，那 30 秒钟一个的商业广告：一位家庭主妇因选对了牙膏而感到幸福的那小小

的戏剧性场面就是这一切的象征。电视已使这极其成功的艺术形式成为我们文化不可缺少

的一个部分了。 It is all symbolized in my mind by the hugely successful art form that television has made central to the culture, the 30-second commercial: the tiny drama of the earnest housewife who finds happiness in choosing the right toothpaste.

在人类历史上，几时曾有这样多的人共同把自己这样多的业余时间奉送给一件玩具，一项大众娱乐？ When before in human history has so much humanity collectively surrendered so much of its leisure to one toy, one mass diversion? 几时曾有一个国家使自己整个地置于商品

推销媒介的摆布之下？

When before has virtually an entire nation surrendered itself wholesale to a medium for selling?

几年前，耶鲁大学的法学教授小查尔斯? L?布莱克写道：“ ,, 被喂食本身并不是件琐碎小事。”Some years ago Yale University law professor Charles L. Black. Jr. wrote: "... forced feeding on

trivial fare is not itself a trivial matter." 我认为我们这个社会正在强行被喂食。我担心这一做法

对我们的思维习惯，对我们的语言、我们努力的极限度及对复杂情况的兴趣等方面所造成

的影响，这一点我们还只是极模糊地意识到。I think this society is being forced-fed with trivial fare, and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind, our language, our tolerance for effort,

and our appetite for complexity are only dimly perceived. 就算我的看法不对，用怀疑和批判的眼光来分析这个问题，来考虑如何抵制它，也不会有任何害处。我希望你能加入我的行列。

If I am wrong, we will have done no harm to look at the issue skeptically and critically, to consider how we should be resisting it. I hope you will join with me in doing so.

Lesson ten

Lesson Eleven On Getting off to Sleep

人真是充满矛盾啊 ! 毫无疑问，幽默是惟一帮助我们摆脱矛盾的办法，要是没有它，我们就会

死于烦恼。

What a bundle of contradictions is a man! Surety, humour is the saving grace of us, for without it we should die of vexation.

在我看来，没有什么比睡眠更能说明事物间的矛盾。

With me, nothing illustrates the contrariness of things better than the matter of sleep.

比如，我打算写一篇文章，面前放好了笔、墨和几张白纸，准保没写几个字我就会困得要命，

无论当时是几点都会那样。

If, for example, my intention is to write an essay, and I have before me ink and pens and several sheets of virgin paper, you may depend upon it that before I have gone very far I feel an overpowering desire for sleep, no matter what time of the day it is.

我瞪着那似乎在谴责我的白纸，直到眼前一片模糊，声音也难以辨清，只有靠意志力才能勉强

坚持。

I stare at the reproachfully blank paper until sights and sounds become dim and confused, and it

is only by an effort of will that I can continue at all.

即使这时，我也会迷迷糊糊地像在做梦一样继续坚持工作。

Even then, I proceed half-heartedly, in a kind of dream.

但是当深夜躺在床上，我什么事都能干，只有睡觉无法做到。

But let me be between the sheets at a late hour, and I can do any-thing but sleep.

随着时钟一遍一遍的报时，我可以完成大量的文章。

Between chime and chime of the clock I can write essays by the score.

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and

expression.

除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and

paper.

如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。

If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place.

只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。

Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity.

如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。

When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

I am, at once, Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo; yet it gives me no satisfaction; for the one thing I cannot do is to go to sleep.

一旦到了上床睡觉时间， 五个摄取知识的港口就要关闭的时候， 我认识的大多数人似乎都能很容易就忘却了他们在尘世的作用，很快进入梦乡，而我却不能。

Once in bed, when it is time to close the five ports of knowledge, most folks I know seem to find no difficulty in plunging their earthly parts into oblivion.

对我来说， 睡眼就像一个忸怩羞怯的情妇， 喜欢反复无常地挑逗男人， 让男人不停地向她求爱——“惟恐让男人得的太容易而显得自己身价太低。”

It is not so with me, to whom sleep is a coy mistress, much given to a teasing inconsistency

and for ever demanding to be wooed — "lest too light winning make the prize light".

我曾诧异地读过一些大肆吹捧那些好战的超人、 世界和平的巨大威胁者，破仑之类的文章，文章里说他们 “钢铁般的意志” 使他们一躺下就能熟睡，间醒来，精神抖擞。

诸如克伦威尔、 拿

并在某一特定时

I used to read, with wonder, those sycophantic stories of the warlike supermen, the great troublers of the world's peace, Cromwell, Napoleon, and the like, who, thanks to their "iron wills", could lie down and plunge themselves immediately into deep sleep, to wake up, refreshed, at a given time.

这些故事给了我很大的震动，我决心像他们那样做。于是上床后，尽可能显得意志坚定，命令睡眠立刻到来。

我就紧咬牙关， 在黑暗中

Taking these fables to heart, I would resolve to do likewise, and, going to bed, would clench my teeth, look as determined as possible in the darkness, and command the immediate presence of

大学高级英语课文翻译

第一课救赎 ----兰斯顿.休斯 在我快13岁那年，我的灵魂得到了拯救，然而并不是真正意义上的救赎。事情是这样的。那时我的阿姨里德所在的教堂正在举行一场盛大的宗教复兴晚会。数个星期以来每个夜晚，人们在那里讲道，唱诵，祈祷。连一些罪孽深重的人都获得了耶稣的救赎，教堂的成员一下子增多了。就在复兴晚会结束之前，他们为孩子们举行了一次特殊的集会——把小羊羔带回羊圈。里德阿姨数日之前就开始和我提这件事。那天晚上，我和其他还没有得到主宽恕的小忏悔者们被送去坐在教堂前排,那是为祷告的人安排的座椅。 我的阿姨告诉我说：“当你看到耶稣的时候，你看见一道光，然后感觉心里似乎有什么发生。从此以后耶稣就进入了你的生命，他将与你同在。你能够看见、听到、感受到他和你的灵魂融为一体。”我相信里德阿姨说的，许多老人都这么说，似乎她们都应该知道。尽管教堂里面拥挤而闷热，我依然静静地坐在那里，等待耶稣的到来。 布道师祷告，富有节奏，非常精彩。呻吟、喊叫、寂寞的呼喊，还有地狱中令人恐怖的画面。然后他唱了一首赞美诗。诗中描述了99只羊都安逸的待在圈里，唯有一个被冷落在外的情形。唱完后他说道：“难道你不来吗？不来到耶稣身旁吗？小羊羔们，难道你们不来吗？”他向坐在祷告席上的小忏悔者们打开了双臂，小女孩们开始哭了，她们中有一些很快跳了起来，跑了过去。我们大多数仍然坐在那里。 许多长辈过来跪在我们的身边开始祷告。老妇人的脸像煤炭一样黑，头上扎着辫子，老爷爷的手因长年的工作而粗糙皲裂。他们吟唱着“点燃微弱的灯，让可怜的灵魂得到救赎”的诗歌。整个教堂里到处都是祈祷者的歌声。 最后其他所有小忏悔者们都去了圣坛上，得到了救赎，除了一个男孩和依然静静地坐着等侯的我。那个男孩是一个守夜人的儿子，名字叫威斯特里。在我们的周围尽是祈祷的修女执事。教堂里异常闷热，天色也越来越暗了。最后威斯特里小声对我说：“去他妈的上帝。我再也坐不住了，我们站起来吧，就可以得到救赎了。”于是他就站了起来，也因此得到了救赎。 祈祷席上只剩下我一个人孤零零的。里德阿姨走过来，开始跪在我的旁边，小声哭泣。祷告者的诵诗充满了整个教堂。所有人都在为我一个人祈祷，时而呻吟时而呼号。我依然很平静的等待耶稣，等待等待——可是他没有来。我希望可以看见他，可是什么都没有发生。我希望有些事发生，可什么都没有变化。 我听见大主教说：“为什么你不来呢？我亲爱的孩子，为什么你不来到耶稣身边？他正等着你。他需要你。为什么你不来呢？里德修女，这个孩子叫什么名字？” “休斯顿。“我的阿姨啜泣着说。”休斯顿，你为什么不过来，得到救赎呢哦上帝的小羊羔啊，你为什么不过来呢？“现在天真的黑了。我开始惭愧，是自己把他们托得这么晚。我开始想上帝会怎么认为威斯特里。他当然也没有看见主，但现在正骄傲地坐在圣坛上，晃着灯笼裤的褪，露齿嘲笑我。周围围着一群跪着祈祷的老女人。上帝并没有因为他亵渎神灵或在教堂里撒谎而惩罚他。所以我决定也许为了省去更多的麻烦，我最好也撒谎，说耶稣已经来了，然后站起来，得到救赎。 于是我站了起来。 整个屋子突然成了欢呼的海洋，当她们看见我站起来时。欢呼声一阵接着一阵。女人们跳了起来。我的阿姨拥抱了我，大主教拉起我的手，把我牵到了主席台上。 当一切渐渐平息的时候，教堂安静了下来，只听见几声愉悦的阿门。所有的小羊羔们都得到了上帝的祝福。教堂里充满了欢悦的吟唱。 但那天晚上我却哭了。那是我一生倒数第二次哭泣，因为我已经是个12岁的大男孩了。我独自一人躺在床上，哭泣不已。担心里德阿姨会听到，我把头埋在被子下面。她还是醒了，告诉我的叔叔说：“我哭是因为神圣的上帝进入了我的生命，因为我看见了耶稣。但是我哭的真正原因是我羞于告诉她我撒谎了，我骗了教堂里所有人。我没有看见耶稣，我也不再相信有一个耶稣，因为他没有来拯救我。 第二课名字游戏 约翰·史密斯正朝我走过来。虽然他只是我的一个很平常的熟人，但按照美国人的问候习惯，我得说出那么几个字来（如：“你好！”或“早上好！”之类的话。）向他表示我的好意。然而，我该怎么叫他呢？叫他约翰？或是史密斯？或者史密斯医生？像这样的问题在平常，是不用思考的事情。 对于在美国土生土长讲美语的人来说，我们长大后，学会语法规则的同时也学会了称呼别人的规则。乍一想，我们会认为仔细去考察我们称呼的方式是一件不值得做的事情，然而正是这些称呼的方式揭示了我们对同一个语言社区的人们的主观看法。 首先，我们会用讲话者的年龄关系去判断使用的称呼是否合适。如果我们招呼的是个孩子，那么我们就可以毫无顾虑地忽略那些无意之中学来的规则，而简单地直呼其名（FN）。然而，孩子却要用“头衔+姓氏”的方式来招呼大人。

高级英语下lesson13课文翻译

Lesson Thirteen Work 工作 究竟工作是幸福还是痛苦的源泉，这可能是一个难以回答的问题。 Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. 毫无疑问有许多工作是非常令人厌烦的，而且过多的工作总是十分痛苦的事。 There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful. 然而我认为，只要不过量，对多数人来说即使是最枯燥的工作也比终日无所事事要好些。 I think, however, that, provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. 工作给人的愉快的程度多种多样，从仅仅是消烦解闷到产生巨大的快乐，这会随工作的性质和工 作者的能力而异。 There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. 大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但即使是这样的工作也有一些很大的好处。Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. 首先，工作可将一天的许多时间占满，人们不必再费神来决定应干些什么，大多数人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打发时间时，常常会不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。 To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. 而他们的决定又总是受到干扰，觉得干别的什么事也许会更令人愉快。 And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. 能够有意义地利用闲暇时间是文明发展到最高阶段的结果，而目前很少有人能达到这一层次。To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. 何况作出选择本身就是件令人厌烦的事。 Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. 除了那些具有非凡主动性的人，其他的人肯定有人乐于被告诉一天中的每时每刻该做什么， 当然命令他们做的事不能太令人厌烦。 Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant. 多数无所事事的阔佬免遭从事单调乏味工作之苦，但代价是莫名其妙的无聊。 Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery. 有时他们去非洲猎取巨兽或环绕世界飞行来解闷，但这类刺激的数量有限，尤其到了中年以后更 是如此。 At times they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa, or by flying round the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after youth is past. 因此较为明智的阔佬们工作起来几乎像穷人一样卖力，而有钱的女人则大多忙于她们自以为

高级英语上册第五课翻译范文

关于希特勒入侵苏联的讲话 二十二日星期天早晨，我一醒来便接到了希特勒入侵苏联的消息。这就使原先意料中的事变成了无可怀疑的事实。我完全清楚我们对此应该承担何种义务，采取何种政策。我也完全清楚该如何就此事发表声明。尚待完成的只不过是将这一切形成文字而已。于是，我吩咐有关部门立即发表通告，我将于当晚九点钟发表广播讲话。不一会儿，匆匆从伦敦赶到的迪尔将军走进我的卧室，为我带来了详细情报。德国人已大规模入侵苏联，苏联空军部队有很大一部分飞机都没来得及起飞便遭到德军的突袭。德军目前似乎正以凌厉的攻势极为迅猛地向前推进。这位皇家军队总参谋长报告完毕后又补了一句，“我估计他们将会大批地被包围。” 一整天我都在写讲稿，根本没有时间去找战时内阁进行磋商，也没有必要这样做。我知道我们大家在这个问题上的立场是完全一致的。艾登先生、比弗布鲁克勋爵，还有斯塔福德?克里普斯爵士——他是十号离开莫斯科回国的——那天也同我在一 起。 那个周末值班的是我的私人秘书科维尔先生。由他执笔记述的下面这段关于那个星期天里切克 尔斯首相官邸发生的情况的文字，也许值得一提： “六月二十一日，星期六。晚饭前我来到切克尔斯首相官邸。怀南特夫妇、艾登夫妇和爱德华?布里奇斯等几位均在那儿。晚饭席上，邱吉尔先生说，德国人人侵苏联已是必然无疑的了。他认为希特勒是想指望博取英美两国的资本家和右冀势力的同情和支持。不过，希特勒的如意算盘打错了。 我们英国将会全力以赴援助苏联。维南特表示美国也会采取同样的态度。 晚饭后，当我同邱吉尔先生在槌球场上散步时，他又一次谈到了这一话题。我当时问他，对于他这个头号反共大将来说，这种态度是否意味着改变自己的政治立场。‘绝非如此。我现在的目标只有一个，即消灭希特勒。这使我的生活单纯多了。假使希特勒入侵地狱，我至少会在下议院替魔 鬼说几句好话的。’ 次日清晨四点钟，我被电话铃惊醒，原来是外交部来的电话，内容是报告德国已开始进攻俄国的消息。首相一向吩咐，只有当英国遭到入侵时才可以叫醒他。因此，我等到八点钟才向他报告这一消息。他听完消息后只说了一句话：‘通知英国广播电台，我今晚九点要发表广播讲话。’他从上午十一点开始撰写讲稿，中间除与斯塔福德．克里普斯爵士、克兰伯恩勋爵和比弗布鲁克勋爵共进午餐外，这一天的全部时间都花在写讲稿上了……讲稿直到九点差二十分才写好。” 在这次广播讲话中，我说道： “纳粹政体与共产主义的最糟糕之处毫无两样。除了贪欲和种族统治外，它没有任何指导思想和行动准则。它在残酷压迫和疯狂侵略过程中所犯下的滔天罪行在人类历史上可谓空前绝后。在过去的二十五年中，我比任何人都更坚定而始终如一地反对共产主义。过去对共产主义所作的批评我仍然一句也不想收回。但现在展现在我们面前的景象已经将那一切冲得烟消云散了。过去的一切，连同它的种种罪恶、蠢行和悲剧全都从眼前乍然消失。此刻我眼前看到的是俄国的士兵昂然挺立于自己的国土，英勇地捍卫着他们祖祖辈辈自古以来一直辛勤耕耘着的土地。我看到他们正在守卫着自己的家园，在那里母亲和妻子正在向上帝祈祷——是啊，任何人都总有祈祷的时候——祈求上帝保佑她们的亲人的平安，并保佑她们的壮劳力、她们的勇士和保护者凯旋归来。我看见成千上万的俄国村庄，那儿的人们虽然要靠在土地上辛勤耕作才能勉强维持生计，却依然能够享受到天伦之乐，那儿的姑娘在欢笑，儿童在嬉戏。我看到这一切正面临着凶暴的袭击，正杀气腾腾地扑向他们的是纳粹的战争机器同它的那些全副武装、刀剑当当有声、皮靴咚咚作响的普鲁士军官以及它的那些奸诈无比、刚刚帮它征服并奴役了十多个国家的帮凶爪牙。我还看到那些呆头呆脑、训练有素、既驯服听话又凶残野蛮的德国士兵像一群蝗虫般地向前蠕动着。我看见天空中那些屡遭英军痛击、余悸未消的德国轰炸机和战斗机此时正庆幸终于找到他们以为是无力反抗、可手到即擒的猎物。“在

自考高级英语上册11课课文翻译

Lesson Eleven On Getting off to Sleep谈睡眠 人真是充满矛盾啊! 毫无疑问，幽默是惟一帮助我们摆脱矛盾的办法，要是没有它，我们就会死于烦恼。 What a bundle of contradictions is a man! Surety, humour is the saving grace of us, for without it we should die of vexation. 在我看来，没有什么比睡眠更能说明事物间的矛盾。 With me, nothing illustrates the contrariness of things better than the matter of sleep. 比如，我打算写一篇文章，面前放好了笔、墨和几张白纸，准保没写几个字我就会困得要命，无论当时是几点都会那样。 If, for example, my intention is to write an essay, and 1 have before me ink and pens and several sheets of virgin paper, you may depend upon it that before I have gone very far I feel an overpowering desire for sleep, no matter what time of the day it is. 我瞪着那似乎在谴责我的白纸，直到眼前一片模糊，声音也难以辨清，只有靠意志力才能勉强坚持。 I stare at the reproachfully blank paper until sights and sounds become dim and confused, and it is only by an effort of will that I can continue at all. 即使这时，我也会迷迷糊糊地像在做梦一样继续坚持工作。 Even then, I proceed half-heartedly, in a kind of dream. 但是当深夜躺在床上，我什么事都能干，只有睡觉无法做到。 But let me be between the sheets at a late hour, and I can do any-thing but sleep. 随着时钟一遍一遍的报时，我可以完成大量的文章。 Between chime and chime of the clock I can write essays by the score. 极有吸引力的主题和崇高的思想纷纷出现在脑海，随之而来的还有恰如其分的意象和措辞。Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and expression. 除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and paper. 如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。 If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place. 只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。 Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity. 如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。 When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。

大学高级英语下册翻译.pdf

Lesson One 1.This picture brings back many pleasant memories of her Spanish holiday. 2.News and weather forecasts reports are staples of radio programmes. 3.By mere accident Tom met in a bar his long-lost brother who was thought to have been killed in action during the war. 4.Bill intuited something criminal in their plan. 5.They think that obsessive tidiness in factory is a bad sign . 6.Yesterday his mother sold several years’ worth of paper and magazines. 7.His heartening speech impelled us to (work with) greater efforts. 8.Those who enjoy pulling off a miracle often fail. 9.As language students we should have a sense of nuances of plain words and expressions. 10.The rude behavior of Mrs. Taylor’s ado pted son is driving her into a nervous breakdown. 11.I like to see films in general, and American Western and horrors in particular. 12.In some sense Mary saw in her aunt a surrogate of her mother. 13.My father never equivocated, and he always gave some brief but poignant opinions. 14.Though he disabled, he never tries of helping people. 15.In any country, those who are remiss in their duty must be severely punished. 16.Awareness of the fact that the child was in danger impelled the policeman to action. Lesson 2 1. A. The chances are that they will be held up by traffic on their way to the airport. B. the plane takes off at 6:35. It would be a pity if they couldn’t make it. 2.Another popular notion which is in fact a misconception is that expensive clothes invariably raise one’s status. 3.Can you imagine what kind of life a man has lived who aspires to excellence and abhors mediocrity? 4. A copy of our latest product catalogue will be sent free of charge if you will fill up the form on the reverse of this card and post it. 5.It will be an absurdity, if not a catastrophe. If half of the population of this city abandons their posts and goes in for business. 6.Because they want their kids to be somebodies, some well-intentioned parents exercise enormous pressures on their children and the results all too often prove the reverse. 7.The revered professor predicted that these brilliant young people would surely make their way in the scientific-technical realm in a few years. 8.Many writers have quitted writing stories because, as they say there is no market for them. Yet Lessing sticks and she would go on even if there really wasn’t any home for them but a private drawer. 9.Satire under his pen is only a means to an end, a form to expose social evils. 10.It seemed no body at the party, not even the reporters, made special note of the general’s absence which might have aroused the suspicion of his rivals.

自考英语本科高级英语上下册课后短文翻译

1 Rock music began in America in the late 1950’s . It was not only a new musical form , but a forum for the American youth to express their ideas of the world and life . In this forum , the stars sang out the attitudes of the youth towards civil rights , war and peace ,the disaffection of their society , and a range of emotions between love and hate . Allin all , in this forum , the American youth redefined the beliefs and feelings of their society . The typical representatives of the early rock music were Elvis Presley , singer and poet Bob Dylan , the Bealtles , the rolling Stones and so on . They were the culture heroes whom the young people worshipped . 2 The American young people in 1960’s were a generation of rebellion . They found that the affluent American society was filled with poverty , injustice and gypocrisy . They didn’t trust the adult world that didn’t belong to them and refused to take their beliefs and values . Many young people took active part in the struggle which protested against poverty , racial discrimination and Vietnam War . Some young people even tried to overthrow this world by armed revolution. Many other young took passive ways to show their disaffections . They took drugs , refused to take any responsibilities and lived a parasitic way of life . Or they escaped to the frontiers and lived a primitive way of life . 3 Mathilda had been ill for three days . Her mother had given her some medicine, but it did n’t do any good . So they had to ask the doctor to come . There had been a number of cases of diphtheria in Mathilda’s school and two of them had been dead . When the doctor arrived at Olson’s home , he wanted to examine Mthilda’s throat first . But no mat ter how he coaxed ,,She wouldn’t open her mouth . So the doctor had to get the tongue depressor into her mouth . But Mathilda reduced it to splinters . In order to protect Mathilda herself and other children , the doctor had to make sure

高级英语下lesson 13课文翻译

Lesson Thirteen Work工作 究竟工作是幸福还是痛苦的源泉，这可能是一个难以回答的问题。 Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. 毫无疑问有许多工作是非常令人厌烦的，而且过多的工作总是十分痛苦的事。 There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful. 然而我认为，只要不过量，对多数人来说即使是最枯燥的工作也比终日无所事事要好些。 I think, however, that, provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. 工作给人的愉快的程度多种多样，从仅仅是消烦解闷到产生巨大的快乐，这会随工作的性质和工作者的能力而异。 There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. 大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但即使是这样的工作也有一些很大的好处。 Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. 首先，工作可将一天的许多时间占满，人们不必再费神来决定应干些什么，大多数人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打发时间时，常常会不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. 而他们的决定又总是受到干扰，觉得干别的什么事也许会更令人愉快。

(完整版)高级英语2第三版_张汉熙_课文翻译

Unit 1 Pub Talk and the King’s English 人类的一切活动中，只有闲谈最宜于增进友谊，而且是人类特有的一种活动。动物之间的信息交流，不论其方式何等复杂，也是称不上交谈的。 闲谈的引人人胜之处就在于它没有一个事先定好的话题。它时而迂回流淌，时而奔腾起伏，时而火花四射，时而热情洋溢，话题最终会扯到什么地方去谁也拿不准。要是有人觉得“有些话要说”，那定会大煞风景，使闲聊无趣。闲聊不是为了进行争论。闲聊中常常会有争论，不过其目的并不是为了说服对方。闲聊之中是不存在什么输赢胜负的。事实上，真正善于闲聊的人往往是随时准备让步的。也许他们偶然间会觉得该把自己最得意的奇闻轶事选出一件插进来讲一讲，但一转眼大家已谈到别处去了，插话的机会随之而失，他们也就听之任之。 或许是由于我从小混迹于英国小酒馆的缘故吧，我觉得酒瞎里的闲聊别有韵味。酒馆里的朋友对别人的生活毫无了解，他们只是临时凑到一起来的，彼此并无深交。他们之中也许有人面临婚因破裂，或恋爱失败，或碰到别的什么不顺心的事儿，但别人根本不管这些。他们就像大仲马笔下的三个火枪手一样，虽然日夕相处，却从不过问彼此的私事，也不去揣摸别人内心的秘密。 有一天晚上的情形正是这样。人们正漫无边际地东扯西拉，从最普通的凡人俗事谈到有关木星的科学趣闻。谈了半天也没有一个中心话题，事实上也不需要有一个中心话题。可突然间大伙儿的话题都集中到了一处，中心话题奇迹般地出现了。我记不起她那句话是在什么情况下说出来的——她显然不是预先想好把那句话带到酒馆里来说的，那也不是什么非说不可的要紧话——我只知道她那句话是随着大伙儿的话题十分自然地脱口而出的。 “几天前，我听到一个人说‘标准英语’这个词语是带贬义的批评用语，指的是人们应该尽量避免使用的英语。” 此语一出，谈话立即热烈起来。有人赞成，也有人怒斥，还有人则不以为然。最后，当然少不了要像处理所有这种场合下的意见分歧一样，由大家说定次日一早去查证一下。于是，问题便解决了。不过，酒馆闲聊并不需要解决什么问题，大伙儿仍旧可以糊里糊涂地继续闲扯下去。 告诉她“标准英语”应作那种解释的原来是个澳大利亚人。得悉此情，有些人便说起刻薄话来了，说什么囚犯的子孙这样说倒也不足为怪。这样，在五分钟内，大家便像到澳大利亚游览了一趟。在那样的社会里，“标准英语”自然是不受欢迎的。每当上流社会想给“规范英语”制订一些条条框框时，总会遭到下层人民的抵制。 看看撒克逊农民与征服他们的诺曼底统治者之间的语言隔阂吧。于是话题又从19世纪的澳大利亚囚犯转到12世纪的英国农民。谁对谁错，并没有关系。闲聊依旧热火朝天。 有人举出了一个人所共知，但仍值得提出来发人深思的例子。我们谈到饭桌上的肉食时用法语词，而谈到提供这些肉食的牲畜时则用盎格鲁一撒克逊词。猪圈里的活猪叫pig，饭桌上吃的猪肉便成了pork(来自法语pore)；地里放牧着的牛叫cattle，席上吃的牛肉则叫beef(来自法语boeuf)；Chicken用作肉食时变成poultry(来自法语poulet)；calf加工成肉则变成veal(来自法语vcau)。即便我们的菜单没有为了装洋耍派头而写成法语，我们所用的英语仍然是诺曼底式的英语。这一切向我们昭示了诺曼底人征服之后英国文化上所存在的深刻的阶级裂痕。 撒克逊农民种地养畜，自己出产的肉自己却吃不起，全都送上了诺曼底人的餐桌。农民们只能吃到在地里乱窜的兔子。兔子肉因为便宜，诺曼底贵族自然不屑去吃它。因此，活兔子和吃的兔子肉共用rabbit 这个词表示，而没有换成由法语lapin转化而来的某个词。 当我们今天听着有关双语教育问题的争论时，我们应该设身处地替当时的撒克逊农民想一想，新的统治阶级把法语用来对抗撒克逊农民自己的语言，从而在农民周围筑起一道文化障碍。当英国人在像觉醒者赫里沃德这样的撒克逊领袖领导下起来造反时，他们一定深深地感受到了文化上的屈辱。“标准英语”——如果那时候有这个名词的话——已经变成法语。而九百年后我们在美国这儿仍然继承了这种影响。 那晚闲聊过后，第二天一早便有人去查阅了资料。这个名词在16世纪已有人使用过。纳什作于1593年的《截获信函奇闻》中就有过“标准英语”(Queen’s English)的提法。1602年德克写到某人时有句话说：

大学高级英语下册翻译

Lesson One 1. This picture brings back many pleasant memories of her Spanish holiday. 2. News and weather forecasts reports are staples of radio programmes. 3. By mere accident Tom met in a bar his long-lost brother who was thought to have been killed in action during the war. 4. Bill intuited something criminal in their plan. 5. They think that obsessive tidiness in factory is a bad sign . 6. Yesterday his mother sold several years’ worth of paper and magazines. 7. His heartening speech impelled us to (work with) greater efforts. 8. Those who enjoy pulling off a miracle often fail. 9. As language students we should have a sense of nuances of plain words and expressions. 10. The rude behavior of Mrs. Taylor’s adopted son is driving her into a nervous breakdown. 11. I like to see films in general, and American Western and horrors in particular. 12. In some sense Mary saw in her aunt a surrogate of her mother. 13. My father never equivocated, and he always gave some brief but poignant opinions. 14. Though he disabled, he never tries of helping people. 15. In any country, those who are remiss in their duty must be severely punished. 16. Awareness of the fact that the child was in danger impelled the policeman to action. Lesson 2 1. A. The chances are that they will be held up by traffic on their way to the airport. B. the plane takes off at 6:35. It would be a pity if they couldn’t make it. 2. Another popular notion which is in fact a misconception is that expensive clothes invariably raise one’s status. 3. Can you imagine what kind of life a man has lived who aspires to excellence and abhors mediocrity 4. A copy of our latest product catalogue will be sent free of charge if you will fill up the form on the reverse of this card and post it. 5. It will be an absurdity, if not a catastrophe. If half of the population of this city abandons their posts and goes in for business. 6. Because they want their kids to be somebodies, some well-intentioned parents exercise enormous pressures on their children and the results all too often prove the reverse. 7. The revered professor predicted that these brilliant young people would surely make their way in the scientific-technical realm in a few years.

高级英语课文翻译

青年人的四种选择 Lesson 2: Four Choices for Young People 在毕业前不久，斯坦福大学四年级主席吉姆?宾司给我写了一封信，信中谈及他的一些不安。 Shortly before his graduation, Jim Binns, president of the senior class at Stanford University, wrote me about some of his misgivings. 他写道：“与其他任何一代人相比，我们这一代人在看待成人世界时抱有更大的疑虑 ,, 同时越 来越倾向于全盘否定成人世界。” “More than any other generation, ” he said, “ our generation views the adult world with great skepticism, there is also an increased tendency to reject completely that world. ”很 明显，他的话代表了许多同龄人的看法。 Apparently he speaks for a lot of his contemporaries. 在过去的几年里，我倾听过许多年轻人的谈话，他们有的还在大学读书，有的已经毕业，他 们对于成人的世界同样感到不安。 During the last few years, I have listened to scores of young people, in college and out, who were just as nervous about the grown world. 大致来说，他们的态度可归纳如下：“这个世界乱糟糟的，到处充满了不平等、贫困和战争。 对此该负责的大概应是那些管理这个世界的成年人吧。如果他们不能做得比这些更好，他们又能拿 什么来教育我们呢？这样的教导，我们根本不需要。” Roughly, their attitude might be summed up about like this:“ The world is in pretty much of a mess, full of injustice, poverty, and war. The people responsible are, presumably, the adults who have been running thing. If they can’ t do better than that, what have they got to teach our generation? That kind of lesson we can do without. ” 我觉得这些结论合情合理，至少从他们的角度来看是这样的。 There conclusions strike me as reasonable, at least from their point of view. 对成长中的一代人来说，相关的问题不是我们的社会是否完美（我们可以想当然地认为是这 样），而是应该如何去应付它。 The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imperfect (we can take that for granted), but how to deal with it. 尽管这个社会严酷而不合情理，但它毕竟是我们惟一拥有的世界。 For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we’ ve got. 因此，选择一个办法去应付这个社会是刚刚步入成年的年轻人必须作出的第一个决定，这通 常是他们一生中最重要的决定。 Choosing a strategy to cope with it, then, is the first decision young adults have to make, and usually the most important decision of their lifetime. 根据我的发现，他们的基本选择只有四种： So far as I have been able to discover, there are only four basic alternatives: 1）脱离传统社会