【给孩子的中英文现代诗】《如果》
今天我们读英国作家诺贝尔文学奖获得者吉卜林(Rudyard Kipling)的诗:《如果》(因为这首诗比较长,所以我们把中英文分段对照。)
If 如果
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
如果你镇定清醒,
当众人恐慌罪咎,
如果你处疑自若,
但却宽大且虚怀,
如果你静候不倦,
或被骗而不自欺,
或被恨而不仇恨,
不矫饰也不妄言:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
有梦想不为所役,
有思考却不执迷,
如果你面对胜、败,
不为二者所蒙蔽:
如能忍受被小人
曲解去欺骗愚者,
或看着至爱破碎,
俯身去勉力重造,
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! '
如果你归拢已得,
奋勇一掷去冒险,
失败后重新开始,
对损失不发一言:
如果你能再鼓起
热情、勇气和力量,
一无所有却坚持,
唯剩意志在内心,
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- -nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And- -which is more- -you'll be a Man, my son!
如果处低仍高尚,
如果显达仍可亲,
如无敌友可伤你,
爱众人不迷一人,
如将一分钟怨恨,
化为六十秒奔跑,
大地万物属于你,
并且,你将成为一个男人,我的儿子!
翻译/ 素玲
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这是英国著名诗人/作家吉卜林写给他当时12岁的儿子约翰的诗,除了励志之外,他还鼓励儿子要独立思考,保持自己的自由,我最喜欢
”If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim“ 这两句。
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吉卜林 (1865-1936)出生在印度孟买,父母是移居到印度的英国人,他5岁时和3岁的妹妹一起被父母送回英国受教育,寄宿家庭在精神和身体上虐待他,12岁时母亲来照顾他,当晚上母亲想给他晚安吻时,他习惯性用手挡住脸,防止被打,后来母亲把他从寄宿家庭接走。他在回忆录中曾说: 在寄宿家庭,他不得不学会撒谎,也许这就是他文艺才能的开始。1882年16岁的他因为父母无钱资助他在英国上大学而回到印度,他说:”从此他内心再也不是一个英国人。“
他热爱印度的生活,他说孟买是“众城之母” (mother of cities), 他在印度报社和出版社工作,开始写作短篇小说和诗歌,因为独特的原创性和出色的描写能力,他在24岁开始出名,1907年41岁时获得诺贝尔文学奖,是第一位获得该奖项的英文作家,他的《丛林之书》是世界经典儿童文学作品。
吉卜林因为童年的不幸经历而渴望爱和温暖,他很爱他的孩子们,但他的女儿6岁时死于肺结核,他这首诗里的儿子18岁时死于第一次世界大战。读今天这首充满爱和对孩子未来的憧憬的诗可以想象诗人后来的痛苦。
这是孟买(Mumbai) 的地图,充满光线和色彩的孟买是对诗人影响至深的城市。
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