我一向喜歡念英文小詩。可惜從前當學生時念的英文課本中收的詩很少,往往是長篇大論的知識性課文,老師也無法用比較文學性的角度帶領我們領略英文的優美之處,真的是很可惜;那時的我,總愛在床邊放一排自己最愛的書,睡前就抽一本來看(這個習慣到現在還是如此),而英文短篇詩集總是那排愛書中的一本,紀伯倫、葉慈,都是我的最愛。
今天值班看稿子看累了,便上網找英文文章打算唸唸英文當作調劑,沒想到找到兩篇很棒的文章,既短又饒富意義。分享給好久沒讀英文的各位!(好啦!我是在說自己。)
★Henry David Thoreau(亨利.大衛.梭羅)
However mean your life is,meet it and live it ;
do not shun it and call it hard names.
It is not so bad as you are.
It looks poorest when you are richest.
The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.
Love your life,poor as it is.
(不論你的生活如何卑賤,你要面對它生活,不要躲避它,更別用惡言咒駡它。它不像你那樣壞。你最富有的時候,倒是看似最窮。愛找缺點的人就是到天堂裏也能找到缺點。你要愛你的生活,儘管它貧窮。)
Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,
whether clothes or friends,
Turn the old,return to them.
Things do not change;we change.
Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
(不要找新的花樣,無論是新的衣服或新的朋友,來麻煩你自己。找舊的,回到那裏去。萬物不變,是我們在變。你的衣服可以賣掉,但要保留你的思想。
★Think it over(好好想想)
Today we have higher buildings and wider highways,but shorter temperaments and narrower points of view;
(今天我們擁有了更高層的樓宇以及更寬闊的公路,但是我們的性情卻更為急躁,眼光也更加狹隘;)
We spend more,but enjoy less;
(我們消耗的更多,享受到的卻更少;)
We have bigger houses,but smaller famillies;
(我們的住房更大了,但我們的家庭卻更小了;)
We have more compromises,but less time;
(我們妥協更多,時間更少;)
We have more knowledge,but less judgment;
(我們擁有了更多的知識,可是判斷力卻更差了;)
We have more medicines,but less health;
(我們有了更多的藥品,但健康狀況卻更不如意;)
We have multiplied out possessions,but reduced out values;
(我們擁有的財富倍增,但其價值卻減少了;)
We talk much,we love only a little,and we hate too much;
(我們說的多了,愛的卻少了,我們的仇恨也更多了;)
We reached the Moon and came back,but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors;
(我們可以往返月球,但卻難以邁出一步去親近我們的左鄰右舍;)
We have conquered the uter space,but not our inner space;
(我們可以征服外太空,卻征服不了我們的內心;)
We have highter income,but less morals;
(我們的收入增加了,但我們的道德卻少了;)
These are times with more liberty,but less joy;
(我們的時代更加自由了,但我們擁有的快樂時光卻越來越少;)
We have much more food,but less nutrition;
(我們有了更多的食物,但所能得到的營養卻越來越少了;)
These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home,but divorces increase;
(現在每個家庭都可以有雙份收入,但離婚的現象越來越多了;)
These are times of finer houses,but more broken homes;
(現在的住房越來越精緻,但我們也有了更多破碎的家庭;)
That’s why I propose,that as of today;
(這就是我為什麼要說,讓我們從今天開始;)
You do not keep anything for a special occasion.because every day that you live is a SPECIAL OCCASION.
(不要將你的東西為了某一個特別的時刻而預留著,因為你生活的每一天都是那麼特別;)
Search for knowledge,read more ,sit on your porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs;
(尋找更我的知識,多讀一些書,坐在你家的前廊裏,以讚美的眼光去享受眼前的風景,不要帶上任何功利的想法;)
Spend more time with your family and friends,eat your favorite foods,visit the places you love;
(花多點時間和朋友與家人在一起,吃你愛吃的食物,去你想去的地方;)
Life is a chain of moments of enjoyment;not only about survival;
(生活是一串串的快樂時光;我們不僅僅是為了生存而生存;)
Use your crystal goblets.Do not save your best perfume,and use it every time you feel you want it.
(舉起你的水晶酒杯吧。不要吝嗇灑上你最好的香水,你想用的時候就享用吧!)
Remove from your vocabulary phrases like"one of these days"or "someday";
(從你的辭彙庫中移去所謂的“有那麼一天”或者“某一天”;)
Let’s write that letter we thought of writing "one of these days"!
(曾打算“有那麼一天”去寫的信,就在今天吧!)
Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them;
(告訴家人和朋友,我們是多麼地愛他們;)
Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life;
(不要延遲任何可以給你的生活帶來歡笑與快樂的事情;)
Every day,every hour,and every minute is special;
(每一天、每一小時、每一分鐘都是那麼特別;)
And you don’t know if it will be your last.
(你無從知道這是否最後一刻。)
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