英语诗歌:Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
Seamus Heaney
"Religion's never mentioned here", of course.
"You know them by their eyes," and hold your tongue.
"One side's as bad as the other," never worse.
Christ, it's near time that some small leak was sprung
In the great dykes 1 the Dutchman made
To dam the dangerous tide that followed Seamus.
Yet for all this art and sedentary trade
Northern reticence 3, the tight gag of place
And times: yes, yes. Of the "wee six" I sing
Where to be saved you only must save face
And whatever you say, you say nothing.
Smoke-signals are loud-mouthed compared with us:
Manoeuvrings to find out name and school,
Subtle discrimination by addresses
With hardly an exception to the rule
That Norman, Ken 4 and Sidney signalled Prod 5
And Seamus (call me Sean) was sure-fire Pape.
O land of password, handgrip, wink 6 and nod,
Of open minds as open as a trap,
Where tongues lie coiled, as under flames lie wicks,
Where half of us, as in a wooden horse
Were cabin'd and confined like wily Greeks,
Besieged 7 within the siege, whispering morse.
- They built dykes and dam to hold back the rising flood waters. 他们修筑了堤坝来阻挡上涨的洪水。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The dykes were built as a protection against the sea. 建筑堤坝是为了防止海水泛滥。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
- Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。
- He breaks out of his normal reticence and tells me the whole story.他打破了平时一贯沈默寡言的习惯，把事情原原本本都告诉了我。
- He always displays a certain reticence in discussing personal matters.他在谈论个人问题时总显得有些保留。
- Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
- Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.
- The crisis will prod them to act.那个危机将刺激他们行动。
- I shall have to prod him to pay me what he owes.我将不得不催促他把欠我的钱还给我。
- He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
- The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。