月亮和六便士 第2章(2)

 　　And if I may judge from the reviews, many of these books are well and carefully written; much thought has gone to their composition;  如果我能根据书评下断语的话，很多书是作者呕心沥血的结晶，作者为它绞尽了脑汁，

　　to some even has been given the anxious labour of a lifetime.  有的甚至是孜孜终生的成果。
　　The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought;  我从这件事取得的教训是，作者应该从写作的乐趣中，从郁积在他心头的思想的发泄中取得写书的酬报；
　　and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure 1, failure or success.  对于其他一切都不应该介意，作品成功或失败，受到称誉或是诋毁，他都应该淡然处之。
　　Now the war has come, bringing with it a new attitude.  战争来了，战争也带来了新的生活态度。
　　Youth has turned to gods we of an earlier day knew not,  年轻人求助于我们老一代人过去不了解的一些神祇，
　　and it is possible to see already the direction in which those who come after us will move.  已经看得出继我们之后而来的人要向哪个方向活动了。
　　The younger generation, conscious of strength and tumultuous, have done with knocking at the door;  年轻的一代意识到自己的力量，吵吵嚷嚷，早已经不再叩击门扉了。
　　they have burst in and seated themselves in our seats.  他们已经闯进房子里来，坐到我们的宝座上，
　　The air is noisy with their shouts.   空中早已充满了他们喧闹的喊叫声。
　　Of their elders some, by imitating the antics of youth, strive to persuade themselves that their day is not yet over;  老一代的人有的也模仿年轻人的滑稽动作，努力叫自己相信他们的日子还没有过去；
　　they shout with the lustiest, but the war cry sounds hollow in their mouth;  这些人同那些最活跃的年轻人比赛喉咙，但是他们发出的呐喊听起来却那么空洞，
　　they are like poor wantons attempting with pencil, paint and powder, with shrill 2 gaiety, to recover the illusion of their spring.  他们有如一些可怜的浪荡女人，虽然年华已过，却仍然希望靠涂脂抹粉，靠轻狂浮荡来恢复青春的幻影。
　　The wiser go their way with a decent grace.  聪明一点儿的则摆出一副端庄文雅的姿态。
　　In their chastened smile is an indulgent mockery.  他们的莞尔微笑中流露着一种宽容的讥诮。
　　They remember that they too trod down a sated generation, with just such clamor and with just such scorn,  他们记起了自己当初也曾经把一代高踞宝座的人践踏在脚下，也正是这样大喊大叫、傲慢不逊；
　　and they foresee that these brave torch-bearers will presently yield their place also.  他们预见到这些高举火把的勇士们有朝一日同样也要让位于他人。
　　There is no last word.  谁说的话也不能算最后拍板。
　　The new evangel was old when Nineveh reared her greatness to the sky.  当尼尼微城昌盛一时、名震遐迩的时候，新福音书已经老旧了。
　　These gallant 3 words which seem so novel to those that speak them were said in accents scarcely changed a hundred times before.  说这些豪言壮语的人可能还觉得他们在说一些前人未曾道过的真理，但是实际上连他们说话的腔调前人也已经用过一百次，而且丝毫也没有变化。
　　The pendulum 4 swings backwards 5 and forwards.  钟摆摆过来又荡过去，
　　The circle is ever travelled anew.  这一旅程永远反复循环。
　　Sometimes a man survives a considerable time from an era in which he had his place into one which is strange to him,  有时候一个人早已活过了他享有一定地位的时期，进入了一个他感到陌生的新世纪，
　　and then the curious are offered one of the most singular spectacles in the human comedy. 这时候人们便会看到人间喜剧中一幅最奇特的景象。