經(jīng)典雙語(yǔ)美文：無(wú)知也快樂(lè)

由雕龍文庫(kù) 分享時(shí)間：2024-03-27 18:43:41 收藏本文

It is impossible to take a walk in the country with an average townsman—especially, perhaps, in April or May-without being amazed at the vast continent of his ignorance. It is impossible to take a walk in the country oneself without being amazed at the vast continent of one's own ignorance. Thousands of men and women live and die without knowing the difference between a beech and an elm, between the song of a thrush and the song of a blackbird. Probably in a modern city the man who can distinguish between a thrush's and a blackbird's song is the exception. It is not that we have not seen the birds. It is simply that we have not noticed them. We have been surrounded by birds all our lives, yet so feeble is our observation that many of us could not tell whether or not the chaffinch sings, or the colour of the cuckoo.

和一個(gè)普通的城里人在鄉(xiāng)村漫步—特別是，可能在四五月份——你不可能不對(duì)他無(wú)知的領(lǐng)域之廣而感到驚訝。一個(gè)人去鄉(xiāng)間散步，你不可能不對(duì)自己無(wú)知的領(lǐng)域之廣而感到驚訝。成千上萬(wàn)的男男女女活著然后死去，一輩子也不知道山毛櫸和榆樹(shù)之間有什么區(qū)別，不知道畫(huà)眉和黑鸝的啼鳴有什么不同。現(xiàn)代都市中能辨別畫(huà)眉和黑鸝叫聲的人大概是極其罕見(jiàn)的。并非我們沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)這兩種鳥(niǎo)兒，僅僅是因?yàn)槲覀儚牟蝗プ⒁馑鼈儭Ｎ覀円簧卸加续B(niǎo)兒生活在我們周圍，然而我們的觀察力是如此微弱，以致我們中間許多人弄不清楚蒼頭燕雀是否全唱歌，說(shuō)不出布谷鳥(niǎo)是什么顏色。

This ignorance, however, is not altogether miserable. Out of it we get the constant pleasure of discovery. Every fact of nature comes to us each spring, if only we are sufficiently ignorant, with the dew still on it. If we have lived half a lifetime without having ever even seen a cuckoo, and know it only as a wandering voice, we are all the more delighted at the spectacle of its runaway flight as it hurries from wood to wood conscious of its crimes, and at the way in which it halts hawk-like in the wind, its long tail quivering, before it dares descend on a hill-side of fir-trees where avenging presences may lurk.

然而，這種無(wú)知并不完全是不幸的。從無(wú)知中，我們能源源不斷地獲取發(fā)現(xiàn)帶來(lái)的喜悅。但愿我們真的一無(wú)聽(tīng)知，那么每到春天，各種自然現(xiàn)象就會(huì)帶著清新的露珠呈現(xiàn)在我們眼前。如果我們已生活半生，甚至未曾見(jiàn)過(guò)一只布谷鳥(niǎo)，而僅僅把它當(dāng)成一個(gè)四處飄蕩的聲音，那么.當(dāng)我們親眼目睹它因?yàn)樽灾约旱淖飷涸诹帜鹃g匆匆逃離穿梭，看到它如何如鷹般在風(fēng)中驟然停止鳴叫，擺動(dòng)著瑟瑟發(fā)抖的長(zhǎng)尾翼，不敢在小山旁的冷杉上停歇，擔(dān)心那里危機(jī)四伏時(shí)，我們一定會(huì)更加欣喜。

It would be absurd to pretend that the naturalist does not also find pleasure in observing the life of the birds, but his is a steady pleasure, almost a sober and plodding occupation, compared to the morning enthusiasm of the man who sees a cuckoo for the first time. And, as to that, the happiness even of the naturalist depends in some measure upon his ignorance, which still leaves him new worlds of this kind to conquer.He may have reached the very Z of knowledge in the books, but he still feels half ignorant until he has confirmed each bright particular with his eyes. Assuredly the men of science have no reason as yet to weep over their lost ignorance. There will always be a fortune of ignorance waiting for them under every fact they turn up.

如果假設(shè)博物學(xué)家在觀察鳥(niǎo)類的生活時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)不到樂(lè)趣，那是荒謬可笑的。和清晨有人第一次看到布谷鳥(niǎo)的興奮相比，博物學(xué)家的快樂(lè)是穩(wěn)固的，他們的工作是嚴(yán)肅和漫長(zhǎng)的。為此，甚至是博物學(xué)家的幸福在某種程度上也取決他的無(wú)知，無(wú)知給他留下這類新天地讓他去征服。他的書(shū)本知識(shí)可能已經(jīng)達(dá)到了頂峰，但是，在他親眼證實(shí)每一個(gè)光輝的細(xì)節(jié)之前，他仍然感到自己是半無(wú)知的，無(wú)疑，科學(xué)家們迄今沒(méi)有理由為他們錯(cuò)過(guò)的無(wú)知而哭泣。在他們發(fā)掘出的每一個(gè)事實(shí)下面總將會(huì)有一筆無(wú)知的財(cái)富在等待著他們。

But your and my ignorance is not confined to cuckoos. It dabbles in all created things, from the sun and moon down to the names of the flowers, including nearly everything you and I have taken for granted. One of the greatest joys known to man is to take such a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge. The great pleasure of ignorance is, after all, the pleasure of asking questions. The man who has lost this pleasure or exchanged it for the pleasure of dogma, which is the pleasure of answering, is already beginning to stiffen. Do not forget that Socrates. was famed for wisdom not because he was omniscient but because he realised at the age of seventy that he still knew nothing. Once more I shall see the world as a garden through the eyes of a stranger, my breath taken away with surprise by the painted fields.

但是，你我的無(wú)知絕不僅僅局限于布谷鳥(niǎo)，它涉及所有的創(chuàng)造物，上到太陽(yáng)和月亮，下到百花的名稱，幾乎包括所有你我認(rèn)為是理所當(dāng)然的事物。人類感受過(guò)的最大快樂(lè)之一就是迅速逃到無(wú)知中去追求知識(shí)。無(wú)知的巨大樂(lè)趣，歸根結(jié)底，是提問(wèn)的樂(lè)趣。已經(jīng)失去了這種快樂(lè)的人，或已經(jīng)用這種快樂(lè)去換取教條的樂(lè)趣(即回答問(wèn)題的樂(lè)趣)的人，已經(jīng)開(kāi)始僵化。不要忘記蘇格拉底之所以以智慧聞名于世，并不是因?yàn)樗麩o(wú)所不知而是因?yàn)樗?0歲的時(shí)候認(rèn)識(shí)到他還什么都不知道.而我將再一次用陌生人的眼光來(lái)審視這個(gè)花園一樣的世界，每當(dāng)我看到那如畫(huà)的田野，我都將驚嘆不已。

課堂筆記：

1.此句是一個(gè)雙重否定句，表示肯定并強(qiáng)調(diào)。“It is + adj. + to do sth.”是極為常見(jiàn)的英語(yǔ)句式，其中“it”作形式主語(yǔ)，不定式為真正的主語(yǔ)“continent”表示“大陸，陸地”之意，"the vase continent of his ignorance”使用了暗喻的修辭手法，把無(wú)形的"ignorance"(無(wú)知)比喻為有形的陸地，說(shuō)明無(wú)知的程度。

2.英語(yǔ)句式“It is not that...It is that.../It is not that ...but that...”意思為“這不是說(shuō)……而是說(shuō)...”

3.此句表語(yǔ)前置，表示強(qiáng)調(diào)，正常語(yǔ)序應(yīng)為“our observation is so feeble ..."。

4."if only"用于表示希望境遇有所變化，意思是“但愿，真希望”。

5.此句的句子主干為“we are delighted at the spectacle...and at the way..."。句中連詞"as”引導(dǎo)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句，表“當(dāng)……時(shí)候”。關(guān)系代詞“which”引導(dǎo)定語(yǔ)從句修飾“way”，定語(yǔ)從句中連詞“before”引導(dǎo)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句，其中“where”引導(dǎo)定語(yǔ)從句修飾“fir-trees"。

6.此句中的“it"為形式主語(yǔ)，不定式“to pretend that..”為真正的主語(yǔ)。

7.情態(tài)動(dòng)詞“may+have done”表示對(duì)過(guò)去的猜測(cè)。許多英語(yǔ)書(shū)籍都按照字母順序進(jìn)行編排，所以如果某人的知識(shí)已經(jīng)達(dá)到了書(shū)籍中“z"字母的位置，即指此人知識(shí)非常淵博，學(xué)識(shí)達(dá)到了頂峰