Source: "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau
翻譯：Me;Sep. 4, 2008
WHEN I WROTE the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. <1> At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again.
寫以下大部份的章節時，我已離群索居兩年又兩個月了。我獨居在麻州的Concord, 在Walden 湖畔的樹林中我親手蓋的屋子裡，僅靠勞力為生。周圍一哩之內沒有任何鄰居。如今我又回到文明世界寄居。
I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent. Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I was not afraid; and the like. Others have been curious to learn what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purposes; and some, who have large families, how many poor children I maintained. I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these questions in this book. In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.
<2> Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me. Perhaps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits.
要不是鎮裡的人關心我的生活方式並詢問種種問題，我實在不應該將個人的瑣瑣碎碎強加在讀者身上。有人說我的生活方式不得當。我考屢當時的情況，卻覺其自然合宜毫無不當。有些人問我吃什麼，是否寂寞，是否害怕等等；另些人問我奉獻多少錢給慈善事業。更有那些有家累的人問我，有多少可憐的孩子靠我溫飽。因此我決定用這本書來回答這纇的問題。讀者諸君中對我不特別感興趣的就請包涵了。大多數的書常省略「我」這個第一人稱的字。我這本書卻要用第一人稱來寫；以自我為本位是這本書的特點。畢竟，一般說來，說話的人永遠是第一人稱的「我」。倘若我瞭解他人像我瞭解我自己，我當不應喋喋不休的談論自己。可惜我歷練不足，只能局限在這個話題。
此外，最重要的是，每個作家總該把他自己的生活簡單而誠摯的寫下來而不僅是敘述別人的生活；我當然也不例外。他所寫的應是他想要寄給家人描述他的生活中家人所不熟悉的種種。因為每一個誠摯的過日子的人總有某些觀點別人是不得而知的。也許我所寫的比較適合那些窮苦的學生。至於其他的讀者呢？我希望他們能擷取對他們有用的就好。希望沒有人會削足適履的照單全收。
========================================
Translation Notes:
- This is the first two paragraphs of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.
<1> “At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again. “E.B.White "borrowed" this from Thoreau, writing "At present I am a sojourner in the city again," in his “A Report in Spring" essay.
I hope my translation reflects Thoreau’s sentiment that his heart belongs to living in the woods and that his coming back to civilization was temporary.
<2> I have tremendous difficulty understanding this sentence. After much struggle, I paraphrased it into the following:
Every writer should write down his own life, instead of just writing about other people’s lives.
A writer should write his own life in a simple and sincere manner.
I am a writer; I should do the aforementioned as well. The reason of writing my own life is the following:
- The information I have about other people’s lives is second hand information. That person sent letters, from a distance place, to his relatives here. That’s how I got the information about him.
- I have no idea whether that person lives a sincere life or not.
I sent my paraphrasing to a good friend, jeffy, asking for his advice. Here’s jeffy’s paraphrasing and comments:
All writers should write an account of their own lives. They shouldn't just tell us about other people. Their account should be the sort of story you would send home to your family to describe your life in a land unknown to them. Because in a way, each person lives in a land foreign to all the rest of us.
The implication is that with such an account we can better understand the writer's viewpoint and hence understand what their writing means to us.
Does that make sense? Do you see how that is what he was saying? 19th century literature has such a different approach from what we use now!
I actually misunderstood the reason why one should write about one’s own life. I also took the words “distant land” too literally.
I actually did not capture the implication either.
I also do not quite grasp the word “sincere”.
I think I'd better leave the translation of literature to language professors. It's too difficult for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment