07年“高级英语”课文逐句翻译（11）

　　我为什么写作

　　Lesson 12： Why I Write

　　从很小的时候，大概五、六岁，我知道长大以后将成为一个作家。

　　From a very early age， perhaps the age of five or six， I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer.

　　从15到24岁的这段时间里，我试图打消这个念头，可总觉得这样做是在戕害我的天性，认为我迟早会坐下来伏案著书。

　　Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to adandon this idea， but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

　　三个孩子中，我是老二。老大和老三与我相隔五岁。8岁以前，我很少见到我爸爸。由于这个以及其他一些缘故，我的性格有些孤僻。我的举止言谈逐渐变得很不讨人喜欢，这使我在上学期间几乎没有什么朋友。

　　I was the middle child of three， but there was a gap of five years on either side， and I barely saw my father before I was eight- For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely， and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays.

　　我像一般孤僻的孩子一样，喜欢凭空编造各种故事，和想像的人谈话。我觉得，从一开始，我的文学志向就与一种孤独寂寞、被人冷落的感觉联系在一起。我知道我有驾驭语言的才能和直面令人不快的现实的能力。这一切似乎造就了一个私人的天地，在此天地中我能挽回我在日常生活中的不得意。

　　I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons， and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued.

　　我知道我有驾驭语言的才能和直面令人不快的现实的能力。这一切似乎造就了一个私人的天地，在此天地中我能挽回我在日常生活中的不得意。

　　I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts， and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure

　　还是一个小孩子的时候，我就总爱把自己想像成惊险传奇中的主人公，例如罗宾汉。但不久，我的故事不再是粗糙简单的自我欣赏了。它开始趋向描写我的行动和我所见所闻的人和事。

　　。 . As a very small child I used to imagine that I was， say， Robin Hood， and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures， but quite soon my “story” ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw.

　　一连几分钟，我脑子里常会有类似这样的描述：“他推开门，走进屋，一缕黄昏的阳光，透过薄纱窗帘，斜照在桌上。桌上有一个火柴盒，半开着，在墨水瓶旁边，他右手插在兜里，朝窗户走去。街心处一只龟甲猫正在追逐着一片败叶。”等等，等等。

　　For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head： “He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight， filtering through the muslin curtains， slanted on to the table， where a matchbox， half open， lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf，” etc.， etc.

　　我在差不多25岁真正从事文学创作之前，一直保持着这种描述习惯。虽然我必须搜寻，而且也的确在寻觅恰如其分的字眼。可这种描述似乎是不由自主的，是迫于一种外界的压力。

　　This habit continued till I was about twenty-five， right through my non-literary years. Although I had to search， and did search， for the right words， I seemed to be making this descriptive effort almost against my will， under a kind of compulsion from outside.

　　我在不同时期崇仰风格各异的作家。我想，从这些“故事”一定能看出这些作家的文笔风格的痕迹。但是我记得，这些描述又总是一样地细致入微，纤毫毕现。

　　The “story” must， I suppose， have reflected the styles of the various writers I admired at different ages， but so far as I remember it always had the same meticulous descriptive quality.

　　16岁那年，我突然发现词语本身即词的音响和词的连缀就能给人以愉悦。《失乐园》中有这样一段诗行：

　　他负载着困难和辛劳

　　挺进着：负着困难辛劳的他——

　　When I was about sixteen I suddenly discovered the joy of mere words， i， e. the sounds and associations of words. The lines from Paradise Lost —

　　“So hee with difficulty and labour hard

　　Moved on： with difficulty and labour hee，“

　　现在看来这并没有什么了不得，可当时却使我心灵震颤。而用hee的拼写代替he，更增加了愉悦。

　　which do not now seem to me so very wonderful， sent shivers down my backbone； and the spelling “hee” for “he” was an added pleasure.

　　至于写景物的必要，我那时已深有领悟。如果说当时我有志著书的话，我会写什么样的书是显而易见的。

　　As for the need to describe things， I knew all about it already. So it is clear what kind of books I wanted to write， in so far as I could be said to want to write books at that time.

　　我想写大部头的自然主义小说，以悲剧结局，充满细致的描写和惊人的比喻，而且不乏文才斐然的段落，字词的使用部分要求其音响效果。

　　I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings， full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes， and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound.

　　事实上，我的第一部小说，《缅甸岁月》就属于这一类书，那是我早已构思但30岁时才写成的作品。

　　And in fact my first completed novel， Burmese Days， which I wrote when I was thirty but projected much earlier， is rather that kind of book.

　　我介绍这些背景情况是因为我认为要判定一个作家的写作动机，就得对其早年的经历有所了解。

　　I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer's motives without knowing something of his early development.

　　作家的题材总是由他所处的时代决定的，至少在我们这个动荡不安的时代是如此。但他在提笔著文之前，总会养成一种在后来的创作中永远不能彻底磨灭的情感倾向

　　His subject matter will be determined by the age he lives in —at least this is true in tumultuous， revolutionary ages like our own—but before he ever begins to write he will have acquired an emotional attitude from which he will never completely escape.

　　毫无疑问，作家有责任控制自己的禀性，使之不至于沉溺于那种幼稚的阶段，或陷于违反常理的心境中。但如果他从早年的熏染和志趣中脱胎换骨，他就会虐杀自己的写作热情。

　　It is his job， no doubt， to discipline his temperament and avoid getting stuck at some immature stage， or in some perverse mood： but if he escapes from his early influences altogether， he will have killed his impulse to write.

　　除去以写作为谋生之计不谈，我认为写作有四种动机，至少小说和散文写作是如此。

　　Putting aside the need to earn a living， I think there are four great motives for writing， at any rate for writing prose.

　　这四种动机或多或少地存在于每个作家身上，在某一个作家身上，它们会因时代的不同和生活环境的不同而变化。它们是：

　　They exist in different degrees in every writer， and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time， according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are：

　　一、纯粹的自我主义。想显示自己的聪明；想成为人们的议论中心；想身后留名；想报复那些小时候压制、指责过自己的成年人等等。不承认这是动机，是一种强烈的动机，完全是自欺欺人。

　　（1） Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever， to be talked about， to be remembered after death， to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood， etc. ， etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive， and a strong one. . .

　　二、对美的狂热。能感觉身外世界的美，或者词语及其妙语连珠的美。对一个读音作用于另一个读音的音响效果，对充实缜密的行文或一篇小说的结构，感到乐趣无穷，赏心悦目。有心与人们分享一种认为有价值、不应忽略的经历。

　　（2） Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world， or， on the other hand， in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another， in the firmness of go