这是一篇很著名的演说,尤其在美国。因为作者是美国第26任总统Theodore Roosevelt。
他的生平,请参考:(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt)
此人一生,可谓英雄的一生,是作家,历史学家,探险家,政治家,完成了巴拿马运河的工程,获得过诺贝尔和平奖。就是他,在义和团事件后,接受了国务卿John Hay的建议,把清廷对美国的战争赔款减少了一千多万美元,其条件是,用此款在中国建立大学,这就是以后的清华大学。
这篇演说是1900年的4月做的,当年的六月,义和团开始围攻在北京的外国使馆。
学生不才,斗胆做一尝试,把这篇演说中最著名的段落翻译了一下,供大家批评指正。
奋力的生活(1900)
T 罗斯福(1858-1919)
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
我要宣导的,不是卑贱的贪图安逸之教条,却是奋力生活的准则,苦干和努力生活的准则,劳动和奋斗的生活准则。我所要宣导的是,无尚之成就并非来自等闲之辈,而是来自勇于面对危难困苦并得胜,且因此最终辉煌凯旋者。
A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual.
懒惰安逸之人生,那种仅仅是因为一无渴望二无力量追求伟大事业而苟安之人生,一文不值,之于民族如此,之于个人亦然。
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort.
我辈所敬仰的,非怯懦安分之人。我辈所敬仰的人,是强盛之力的化身; 他从不伤害邻里,乐于助友; 他具有使其在真实生活的严峻奋战中足以致胜的雄健之品质。失败固然痛苦,然而,从未尝试过胜利之苦更甚。在此人生中,非努力无所成就。
A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.
区区安逸之人生最终并非令人满足之人生,更有甚者,此种生活最终使度日如斯者无力在此人世间有任何真实作为。
We of this generation do not have to face a task such as that our fathers faced, but we have our tasks, and woe to us if we fail to perform them! We cannot, if we would, play the part of China, and be content to rot by inches in ignoble ease within our borders, taking no interest in what goes on beyond them, sunk in a scrambling commercialism; heedless of the higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk, busying ourselves only with the wants of our bodies for the day, until suddenly we should find, beyond a shadow of question, what China has already found, that in this world the nation that has trained itself to a career of unwarlike and isolated ease is bound, in the end, to go down before other nations which have not lost the manly and adventurous qualities.
我们这一代人,不必面对父辈曾面对的重任,但我们却有我们的重任,而倘若我们不能完成这些重任,必遭大难。即使我们愿意,也断不能扮演中国的角色,在自己的国界内,在懒惰的安逸中,逐寸烂掉却心平气和,对自己国界之外事务毫无兴趣,却沉溺于营营苟苟,锱铢必较之中; 无视更崇高的人生,无视雄心壮志的人生,无视苦干和冒险,整日只为满足肉身所需而奔忙,直到我们忽然确凿无疑地得知,如同中国已经知道的那样,在这个世界上,一个民族若习于文饰而非尚武以及闭关自守之安逸,到头来必定被仍旧保有男子气概及冒险品质的其他民族击倒。
The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.
二十世纪正日益向我们逼进,无数民族之命运的沉浮蕴含其中。如若我们袖手旁观,如若我们只寻求脑满肠肥,游手好闲的卑劣安逸,如若我们在面对人必须胜于一生危难之际,孤注一掷之时的艰难争战前退缩,那么,更勇者,更强者将超越我们,并赢得主宰世界之地位。因此,让我们勇于面对争战之人生,决意尽职尽力,决意言行一致维护正义,决意为人诚实且勇敢,服务于崇高理想,同时又脚踏实地。最后,让我们在斗争面前不退缩,不论这斗争是道德的,还是真枪实弹的,不论是在国内,还是在国外,只要我们确认这斗争的正义性,因为,只有通过斗争,通过艰难危险的努力,我们将最终达成真正强大民族的目标。
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学生我深深为这篇作品的气概所打动,常常重读这篇演说,以勉力自己。
评论
多谢分享,好奇问一句,先生是做什么的?
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教书,种菜,读书,喝酒,哈哈。
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敬仰楼主这翻译水平。
楼主在哪里教书?
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不敢不敢,相互学习而已。学生也是半桶小醋。
学生现在墨尔本的一家公司培训翻译和英文写作。
一定有些要改进之处,请指教。
评论
我实话实说呀。我觉得先生的翻译很棒。
我也有先生的最后两个爱好。
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收藏,这个需要点时间消化下
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我只有一个,哈哈
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翻译得很好
和肯尼迪那个一样精彩
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您还读书,不喝酒?
我是喝酒和哈哈。
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可以读会书,不喝酒,烟也戒了
没什么生活乐趣呀
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谢谢分享,翻译的真好!
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感谢分享
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