Flora之声-英语美文晨读

我不能说

I'm particularly rich by societies standards,

依据现有的社会标准，自己是个很富裕的人

but on the front of wealth

但对于另一种财富

measured by experience and valuable lessons,

经验和宝贵的教训积累的财富上

I would consider myself very wealthy.

我认为自己十分富有

On another hand

又或者

I would rather say "grateful".

我应该说自己很感恩

I have almost completely lost interest

对某些事情，我差不多完全失去了兴趣

in exploring for what I can see,

比如探索自己眼前的小世界

and I have discovered far more beauty

而另一方面，我探索到了更多的美好

lying beneath the surface of the people all around me.

它们就蕴藏在我身边的人心灵深处

Traveling as I am,

我一直在旅行

staying in each place

去每个地方停留

for an average of six months

平均待上6个月

has enabled me

这让我能够

to not only see the beauty of the place lying on the surface,

不仅看到地表上的风光美景

but also the glories and riches

还能看到荣光和富饶

embedded in the cultures

它们蕴藏在风土文化之中

built by the people dwelling in them.

而风土文化则是栖居在这里的人们创造的

The call to travel

旅行和探索的召唤

is definitely one that has addressed my heart unignorably.

无意是一种深达我心，无可忽略的想法

But not just for the sights

但并不仅仅是为了当地风光

and the sounds of what is foreign,

也不是为了陌生的乡音

but for the hearts of the people there

在我的怀里 在你的眼里

In my arms, and in your eyes

那里春风沉醉 那里绿草如茵

spring breezes and green grasses were intoxicating

月光把爱恋 洒满了湖面

The moonlight full of love was spread upon the lake

两个人的篝火 照亮整个夜晚

The campfire that belonged to us illuminated the whole night

多少年以后 如云般游走

Many years later, we roam like clouds floating in the sky

那变换的脚步 让我们难牵手

Different tracks of lives keep us apart

这一生一世 有多少你我

In this lifetime, how many times have we

被吞没在月光如水的夜里

tasted the bitterness of loneliness in the night

多想某一天 往日又重现

I wish good old days could come back once more

我们流连忘返 在贝加尔湖畔

Our memory always lingers on the shore of Lake Baikal

多少年以后 往事随云走

Many years later, the memory of old days fades away

那纷飞的冰雪容不下那温柔

The dancing snow is too cold to come with your warmness

这一生一世 这时间太少

The lifetime is so short that you

不够证明融化冰雪的深情

cannot prove your love deep enough to melt the ice

就在某一天 你忽然出现

Just the other day, you unexpectedly showed up

你清澈又神秘 在贝加尔湖畔

like Lake Baikal, purely and mysteriously

你清澈又神秘 像贝加尔湖畔

by Lake Baikal, purely and mysteriously

Life is so wonderful, never give up.
人生如此精彩，永不轻言放弃。

Not until you realize that life itself is a beautiful thing will you really start to live. Although living combines tragedy with splendor, life is beautiful and even tragedies reflect something engaging. If you were simply to live, do more than that; live beautifully.

只有在你了解了人生的真谛后，才能真正地生活。虽然人生苦忧参半，但依旧美妙，而且即使在悲剧中也藏着迷人之处。如果你只是活着，那就再努力点，试着活得精彩。

Through the sea of darkness, hope is the light that brings us comfort, faith, and reassurance. It guides our way if we are lost and gives us a foothold on our fears. The moment we lose hope is the moment we surrender our will to live.

在潮水般的黑暗之中，希望是光。它带来舒适、信仰和安心。它在我们迷失时给予指引，在我们恐惧时给予支持。而在我们放弃希望的那一刻，也就放弃了生命。

We live in a world that is disintegrating into a vicious hatred, where hope is needed more than ever but cannot be discerned. Finding that is rare while the world lives in fear, but the belief in something better, something bigger than this, is what keeps life worth living.

我们生活的世界正瓦解成一个充满恶意和仇恨的地方，在这里我们就更需要希望，却又难以寻得。在这充满恐惧的世界里，找到希望谈何容易，但是，对更好、更有意义的人生的信仰才会让生命有意义。

Then you hear a baby speaking her first word, you see seniors holding hands, you feel the first spring rain, or smell the pine tree at Christmas, and remember that no matter how awful it is, there is always hope. No matter how weak we are, we will always survive.

然后，你听到婴儿说出第一个字、看到老年夫妇挽起对方的手、感受到第一场春雨或是闻到圣诞节松树的味道，你要明白，无论现在多么糟糕，希望永存；无论我们多么脆弱，我们终将是人生的幸存者。

「 项脊轩志 」
作者 | 归有光

翻译 |刘士聪

项脊轩，旧南阁子也。室仅方丈，可容一人居。百年老屋，尘泥渗漉，雨泽下注，每移案，顾视无可置者。又北向，不能得日，日过午已昏。

My study Xiangjixuan used to be called South Chamber. It was only ten feet by ten, large enough for one person to live in. As it was nearly one hundred years old, dust and flakes of plaster fell, and the roof let in rain. When I moved my desk, I could find no place to keep it off the rain. It faced the north and the sun could not get inside.Soon after noon it turned dusky.

余稍为修葺，使不上漏。前辟四窗，垣墙周庭，以当南日，日影反照，室始洞然。又杂植兰桂竹木于庭，旧时栏楯亦遂增胜。积书满架，偃仰啸歌，冥然兀坐，万籁有声。

I did some repairs to the roof to stop it leaking, opened four windows in front and built a wall around. When the sun was reflected from the wall, the room brightened up. I planted orchids, laurels,bamboos and trees about and, therefore, the old railings looked brighter with colors. The bookshelf was filled with books on loan. I read and chanted aloud, beating time by swaying back forth. Sitting in it I could hear various sounds emanating from outside.

而庭阶寂寂，小鸟时来啄食，人至不去。三五之夜，明月半墙，桂影斑驳，风移影动，珊珊可爱。

It was so quiet round the steps that small birds often came looking for food there, not scared of men's presence. On the fifteenthnight of the lunar month the bright moon flooded half of the wall. When a gentle breeze arose, laurel leaves shimmered flecks of moonlight on the walland it was pleasing to see the shadows dancing and hear the leaves rustling in the wind.

然余居于此，多可喜，亦多可悲。先是，庭中通南北为一。迨诸父异爨，内外多置小门，墙往往而是。东犬西吠，客逾庖而宴，鸡栖于厅。庭中始为篱，已为墙，凡再变矣。

I lived in this room, happy in some ways and sad in others.Previously the courtyard was all the way through from south to north. When my uncles began to live separately, they put up low walls here and there with small doors in them. Dogs in the east barked toward the west. Guests had to go through the kitchen to wine and dine. Sometimes chickens roosted in the hall. The courtyard was first partitioned by fences and later by walls. Such changes had taken place several times.

家有老妪，尝居于此。妪，先大母婢也，乳二世，先妣抚之甚厚。室西连于中闺，先妣尝一至。妪每谓余曰：“某所，而母立于兹。”妪又曰：“汝姊在吾怀，呱呱而泣；娘以指叩门扉曰：‘儿寒乎？欲食乎？’吾从板外相为应答。”语未毕，余泣，妪亦泣。

We had an old maid who once lived in this room. She was the maid of my late grandma. She had nursed two generations of my family. My late mother had been very kind to her. The room related to my mother's bedroom on the west and she once came over. "That's where your mum stood when she came," she would tell me. "I was holding your elder sister in my arms when she cried. Your mum tapped on the door with her fingers, asking: 'Is the child cold or is she hungry? "I answered her from this side…" Before she was finished, I wept and so did she.

余自束发读书轩中，一日，大母过余曰：“吾儿，久不见若影，何竟日默默在此，大类女郎也？”比去，以手阖门，自语曰：“吾家读书久不效，儿之成，则可待乎？”顷之，持一象笏至，曰：“此吾祖太常公宣德间执此以朝，他日汝当用之。”

Since I was fifteen, I had been reading inthis study. One day Grandma came and said: “I haven't seen you for ages, my child. Why do you shut yourself up in here like a girl?" When she left, she closed the door behind her, mumbling to herself: “Since long none of my family have got anywhere with their studies. Hopefully, this child will be of some promise. " In a few moments she returned with an ivory tablet in her hand, saying: “This is the tablet with which my grandfather Duke Taichang attended court sessions during the years of Xuande. You may have use for it someday."

瞻顾遗迹，如在昨日，令人长号不自禁。

Looking at it today I felt as if it had occurred just the day before. I couldn't help bursting into tears.

轩东，故尝为厨，人往，从轩前过。余扃牖而居，久之，能以足音辨人。轩凡四遭火，得不焚，殆有神护者。

On the east of my study there used to be the kitchen. To get to the kitchen one had to pass my study. Though I livedin it with the windows closed, gradually I learned to tell by the tread who was passing by. The room got fired for several times, but it didn't break down.Maybe it had been protected by gods.

项脊生曰：蜀清守丹穴，利甲天下，其后秦皇帝筑女怀清台。刘玄德与曹操争天下，诸葛孔明起陇中。方二人之昧昧于一隅也，世何足以知之？

The occupant of Xiangjixuan comments: Widow Qing of Sichuan made so many profits from her mining of cinnabar that she topped the whole country and the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty built a terrace in her honor. When Liu Bei and Caocao were fighting each other for the rule of China, Zhuge Liang emerged from Longzhong. When Widow Qing and Zhuge Liang lived in obscurity in far-off corners, how did they become known to the outside world?

余区区处败屋中，方扬眉瞬目，谓有奇景。人知之者，其谓与坎井之蛙何异！

This humble man is now living in this shabby room, but when I raised my brows and look up, I claim to see magnificent prospects in it. People who get to know about it will think I am no more than a frog at the bottom of the well.

余既为此志，后五年，吾妻来归，时至轩中，从余问古事，或凭几学书。

Five years after I wrote the above article, I got married. My wife often came to my study, asking about things of old or learning calligraphy at my desk.

吾妻归宁，述诸小妹语曰：“闻姊家有阁子，且何谓阁子也？”其后六年，吾妻死，室坏不修。其后二年，余久卧病无聊，乃使人复葺南阁子，其制稍异于前。然自后余多在外，不常居。

When she returned from her visit to herparents, she told m

1/“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

“获得了阅读习惯，那你就为自己在生活的诸多痛苦之外建造了一处避难处。”

2/“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.”

“生命的巨大悲剧不是人终有一死，而是人会停止爱。”

3/“The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.”

“一本书中最重要的东西就是为你准备的那份意义。”

4/“The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned.”

“恒久的爱就是没有回报的那种爱。”

5/“I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.”

“我想，唯一能让我们毫无厌恶地看待我们生活的这个世界的，就是人们时不时从混乱中创造出来的美。他们画的画，他们谱写的音乐，他们写的书，他们过的生活。在所有这些中，最美的是美丽的生活，那是一件完美的艺术品。”

6/“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

“写小说有三大原则。不好意思，没人知道是哪三条。”

7/“As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.”

“恋爱的时候，男女的区别在于，女人是整日爱着，而男人则是偶尔爱着。”

8/"Haven't you been in love since you came to Paris?"

“从你到巴黎以后闹过恋爱吗？”

"I haven't got time for that sort of nonsense. Life isn't long enough for love and art."

“我没有时间干这种无聊的事。生命太短促了，没有时间既闹恋爱又搞艺术。”

The lives of most men are determined by their environment.

对于大多数人来说，生活是由环境决定的。

Theyaccept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with good will.

他们在命运的拨弄面前，不仅逆来顺受，甚至还能随遇而安。

They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flivver that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country.

这些人犹如街上的有轨电车，满足于在自己的轨道上运行；而对于那些不时出没于车水马龙间和欢快地奔驰在旷野上的廉价小汽车却不屑一顾。

I respect them; they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody has to pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting.

我尊重这些人；他们是守法的公民、尽职的丈夫、慈祥的父亲。当然，总得有人缴纳种种税款；可是，我并不觉得他们使人振奋。

I am fascinated by the men, few enough in all conscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mold it to their own liking.

另有些人把生活掌握在自己手里，似乎在按照自己的意愿创造生活，尽管这样的人寥若晨星，他们却深深地吸引了我。

It may be that we have no such thing as free will, but at all events we have the illusion of it.

自由意志这玩意儿对我们来说也许纯属子虚乌有；但不管怎么说，它确实存在于我们的幻想之中。

At a crossroad it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or the left and, the choice once made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the world's history obliged us to take the turning we did.

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

当你辗转难眠的时候，

就该知道自己是陷入热恋了，

因为这一次，现实终于比梦里更美好了。

– Dr. Suess

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

我自私、没有耐心、缺乏安全感、会犯错误，甚至有时情绪失控，难以捉摸。但是如果你不能接受我最糟糕的时候，那么你注定不配拥有我最好的时候。

– Marilyn Monroe

“Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.”

当我们为生活疲于奔命时，

生活已经离我们远去。

– John Lennon

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”

或汲汲于生，或碌碌而死。

-Stephen King

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

迈向成功的第一步，是当你发现自己被环境所困，第一次真正开始思考的时候。

– Mark Caine

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

当幸福之门关上了，另一扇门会同时为你打开；如若我们只盯着那扇已经关上的门，便发现不了那扇早已打开、等待着我们的门。

– Helen Keller

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.”

20年之后，令你遗憾的不是你做过了什么，而是你还没做什么。

– Mark Twain

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow. ”

好朋友就是知道你是谁、了解的过去、接受你的现在，并温柔地给你空间，

让你成为自己的那个人。

– William Shakespeare

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

上智论道，中智论事，下智论人。

– Eleanor Roosevelt

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

于成功者而言，别人向他砸来了石块，

他却把它们垒成了坚固的堡垒。

– David Brinkley

我不知道有多少人问过自己受教育的意义是什么？我们为什么要上学？

I wonder if we have ever asked ourselves what education means. Why do we gotoschool?

为什么要学习各种科目？为什么参加考试，和同学比得分高低？所谓的教育究竟含有什么意义？它涵盖了什么？

Why do we learn varioussubjects, why do we pass examinations and compete with each other for better grades? What does this so-called education mean, and what is it all about?

这实在是一个非常重要的问题。我们不只是为学生质疑这个问题，同时也跟父母、老师以及所有热爱地球的人们，共同来探究这个问题。

This is really a very important question, not only for the students, but also for the parents, for the teachers, and for everyone who loves this earth.

我们为什么要通过竞争来受教育？难道受教育只是为了通过几项考试，得到一份工作？还是为我们在年轻时奠定基础，以便了解人生的整个过程？

Why do we go through the struggle to be educated? Is it merely in order to pass some examinations and get a job? Or is it the function of education to prepare us while we are young to understand the whole process of life?

获得一份工作来维持生计是必要的，然而这就是一切了吗？难道我们受教育就是为了这个目的？

Having a job and earning one's livelihood is necessary - but is that all? Are we being educated only for that?

显然，生命并不只是一份工作和职业而已，生命是极为广阔而深奥的，它是一个伟大的谜，在这个浩瀚的宇宙中，我们有幸生而为人。如果我们活着只是为了谋生，我们就失去了生命的意义。

Surely, life is not merely a job, an occupation; life is something extraordinarily wide and profound, it is a great mystery, a vast realm in which we function as human beings. If we merely prepare ourselves to earn a livelihood, we shall miss the whole point of life;

去了解生命本身，比只是准备考试、精通数学、物理或其他科目要重要多了。

And to understand life is much more important than merely to prepare for examinations and become very proficient in mathematics, physics, or what you will.

所以，不论我们是老师还是学生，我们是否应该扪心自问为何教育他人或受教？

So, whether we are teachers or students, is it not important to ask ourselves why we are educating or being educated?

生命到底是什么？难道生命不绝美吗？飞鸟、花朵、翠木、蓝天、星辰、河流、游鱼......这一切都是生命。

And what does life mean? Is not life an extraordinary thing? The birds, the flowers, the flourishing trees, the heavens, the stars, the rivers and the fish therein - all this is life.

生命是贫穷的、富足的；生命是群体、种族、国家之间永不停歇的战役；生命是静思冥想；生命是所谓的宗教；同时它也是心灵中微妙的、隐藏的东西，包括羡妒、野心、激情、恐惧、成就及忧虑等等。

Life is the poor and the rich; life is the constant battle between groups, races and nations; life is meditation; life is what we call religion, and it is also the subtle, hidden things of the mind - the envies, the ambitions, the passions, the fears, fulfilments and anxieties.

这所有的一切以及更多的事物都是生命，然而我们通常只准备了解生命的一个小角落。我们通过一些考试，找到一份工作，结婚，生子，然后就越活越像一部机器。

All this and much more is life. But we generally prepare ourselves to understand only one small corner of it.We pass certain examinations, find a job, get married, have 5 children, and then become more and more like machines.

我们依然对生命恐惧、焦虑，因此帮助我们了解人生的整个过程，难道不是教育的目的？还是，教育只为我们谋职或找一份最好的工作而奠基?

We remain fearful, anxious, frightened of life. So, is it the function of education to help us understand the whole process of life, or is it merely to prepare usfor a vocation, for the best job we can get?

我们长大成人以后会怎么样？你是否问过自己长大以后想做什么？最大的可能是你会结婚，在你还没有搞清楚自己的定位时，可能你已经是父亲或母亲了，然而你会被一份工作绑住，或是被厨房绑住，你就在这其中渐渐衰萎。

What is going to happen to all of us when we grow to be men and women? Have you ever asked yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you will get married, and before you know where you are you will be mothers and fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in which you will gradually wither away.

这难道就是你所有的生命了吗？你有没有问过自己？你应不应该问自己？如果你有一个富裕的家庭，那么你已经确定自己将来会有一份不错的工作，因为你的父亲也许会提供你一份舒适的工作，或者你可能在婚姻中获得很多财富，但是你仍然会腐败、枯竭。你看见这点了吗？

Is that all that your life is going to be? Have you ever asked yourselves this question? Should you not ask it? If your family is wealthy you may have a fairly good position already assured,your father may give you a comfortable job, or you may get richly married; but there also you will decay, deteriorate. Do you see?

显然，除非教育能帮助你了解广大生命的所有精微面——它惊人的美、它的哀愁及欢乐，否则教育是没有什么意义的。

I wonder if you have ever stopped to observe the marvellous glow in the west as the sun sets, with the shy young moon just over the trees?

我不知道你有没有停下来观赏过落日的彩霞，或是斜挂树梢害羞的新月。

Often at that hour the river is very calm, and then everything isreflected on its surface: the bridge, the train that goes over it, the tender moon, and presently, as it growsdark, the stars. It is all very beautiful.

在那种时刻，河水通常是很平静的，每个景物都倒映在水面上；小桥、火车、温柔的月光以及天色昏暗时挂在天上的星星。这一切都非常的美。

And to observe, to watch, to give your wholeattention to something beautiful, your mind must be free of preoccupations, must it not?

当你观察、注视、全神贯注于美好的事物时，你的心一定得远离先入为主的偏见；

It must not be occupied with problems, with worries, with speculations.

你的心一定不能被问题、烦恼及臆测所占据。

It is only when the mind is very quiet that you can really observe, for then the mind is sensitive to extraordinary beauty; and perhaps here is a clue to our problem of freedom.

只有在你的心非常安静时，你才能真正地观察，然后你的心才能对美好的事物敏感，或许这样就能找出和自由相关的线索了。

Now, what does it mean to be free?Is freedom a matter of doingwhat happens to suit you, going where you like, thinking what you will?

什么是自由？自由是不是去做你想做的事，去你想去的地方，想你爱想的事？

This you do anyhow. Merely to have independence, does that mean freedom?

这些事横竖早已做了，然而独立自主就是自由吗？

Many people in the world are independent, but very few are free.

许多人在世界上是独立的，但很少人是自由的。

Freedom impliesgreat intelligence, does itnot?

自由包藏着极大的智慧。

Tobe free is to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by justwishing to be free;

得到自由就是得到智慧，不过只是希望自由并不能带来智慧。

It comes into being only when you begin to understand yourwhole environment, the social,religious, parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you.

你必须了解你的整个环境，也就是社会、宗教、父母及传统不断加给你的影响，你才开始有智慧。

陋室铭

An Epigraph in Praise of My Humble Home

山不在高，有仙则名。

Amountain needn’t be high;

It is famous so long as there is a deity on it.

水不在深，有龙则灵。

Alake needn’t be deep;

It has supernatural power so long as there is a dragon in it.

斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。

My home is humble,

But it enjoys the fame of virtue so long as I am living in it.

苔痕上阶绿，草色入帘青。

The moss creeping onto the doorsteps turns them green,

The hue of the grass reflected through the bamboo curtains turns the room blue.

谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁。

Erudite scholars come in good spirits to talk with me,

And among my guests there is no unlearned common man.

可以调素琴，阅金经。

In this humble room, I can enjoy playing my plainly decorated qin,

or read the Buddhist scriptures quietly.

无丝竹之乱耳，无案牍之劳形。

Without the disturbance of the noisy tunes that jar on the ears,

or the solemn burden of reading official documents.

南阳诸葛庐，西蜀子云亭。

My humble home is like the thatched hut of Zhuge Liang of Nanyang,

or the Pavilion Ziyun of Xishu.

孔子云：“何陋之有？”

Confucius once said, “How could we call a room humble as long as there is a virtuous man in it.”