進階英語一課文翻譯

進階英語是高等教育自學考試英語專業進階階段（本科）的精讀課，屬於必考課程。下面小編收集了進階英語課文翻譯，供大家閱讀。

我爲什麼寫作

Lesson 12： Why I Write

從很小的時候，大概五、六歲，我知道長大以後將成爲一個作家。

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

從15到24歲的這段時間裏，我試圖打消這個念頭，可總覺得這樣做是在戕害我的天性，認爲我遲早會坐下來伏案著書。

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.

三個孩子中，我是老二。老大和老三與我相隔五歲。8歲以前，我很少見到我爸爸。由於這個以及其他一些緣故，我的性格有些孤僻。我的舉止言談逐漸變得很不討人喜歡，這使我在上學期間幾乎沒有什麼朋友。

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樣，喜歡憑空編造各種故事，和想像的人談話。我覺得，從一開始，我的文學志向就與一種孤獨寂寞、被人冷落的感覺聯繫在一起。我知道我有駕馭語言的才能和直面令人不快的現實的能力。這一切似乎造就了一個私人的天地，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.

我知道我有駕馭語言的才能和直面令人不快的現實的能力。這一切似乎造就了一個私人的天地，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

還是一個小孩子的時候，我就總愛把自己想像成驚險傳奇中的主人公，例如羅賓漢。但不久，我的故事不再是粗糙簡單的自我欣賞了。它開始趨向描寫我的行動和我所見所聞的人和事。

。 . 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.

一連幾分鐘，我腦子裏常會有類似這樣的描述：“他推開門，走進屋，一縷黃昏的陽光，透過薄紗窗簾，斜照在桌上。桌上有一個火柴盒，半開着，在墨水瓶旁邊，他右手插在兜裏，朝窗戶走去。街心處一隻龜甲貓正在追逐着一片敗葉。”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歲真正從事文學創作之前，一直保持着這種描述習慣。雖然我必須搜尋，而且也的確在尋覓恰如其分的字眼。可這種描述似乎是不由自主的，是迫於一種外界的壓力。

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.

我在不同時期崇仰風格各異的作家。我想，從這些“故事”一定能看出這些作家的文筆風格的痕跡。但是我記得，這些描述又總是一樣地細緻入微，纖毫畢現。

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歲那年，我突然發現詞語本身即詞的音響和詞的連綴就能給人以愉悅。《失樂園》中有這樣一段詩行：

他負載着困難和辛勞

挺進着：負着困難辛勞的他——

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，“

現在看來這並沒有什麼了不得，可當時卻使我心靈震顫。而用hee的拼寫代替he，更增加了愉悅。

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.

至於寫景物的必要，我那時已深有領悟。如果說當時我有志著書的話，我會寫什麼樣的書是顯而易見的。

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.

我想寫大部頭的自然主義小說，以悲劇結局，充滿細緻的描寫和驚人的比喻，而且不乏文才斐然的段落，字詞的使用部分要求其音響效果。

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.

事實上，我的第一部小說，《緬甸歲月》就屬於這一類書，那是我早已構思但30歲時才寫成的作品。

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.

我介紹這些背景情況是因爲我認爲要判定一個作家的寫作動機，就得對其早年的經歷有所瞭解。

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.

作家的題材總是由他所處的時代決定的，至少在我們這個動盪不安的時代是如此。但他在提筆著文之前，總會養成一種在後來的創作中永遠不能徹底磨滅的情感傾向

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.

毫無疑問，作家有責任控制自己的稟性，使之不至於沉溺於那種幼稚的階段，或陷於違反常理的心境中。但如果他從早年的薰染和志趣中脫胎換骨，他就會虐殺自己的寫作熱情。

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.

除去以寫作爲謀生之計不談，我認爲寫作有四種動機，至少小說和散文寫作是如此。

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

這四種動機或多或少地存在於每個作家身上，在某一個作家身上，它們會因時代的不同和生活環境的不同而變化。它們是：

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、純粹的自我主義。想顯示自己的聰明；想成爲人們的議論中心；想身後留名；想報復那些小時候壓制、指責過自己的成年人等等。不承認這是動機，是一種強烈的動機，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、對美的狂熱。能感覺身外世界的美，或者詞語及其妙語連珠的美。對一個讀音作用於另一個讀音的音響效果，對充實縝密的行文或一篇小說的結構，感到樂趣無窮，賞心悅目。有心與人們分享一種認爲有價值、不應忽略的經歷。

（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 good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed…

三、歷史感。有志按事物的原貌來觀察理解事物；有心尋找確鑿的事實，收集儲存以饗後人。

（3） Historical impulse. Desire to see things， as they are， to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.

四、政治上的目的。這裏指的是最廣泛意義的政治：有志推動世界向某個方向前進；改造人們的觀念，勸勉人們追求某種理想社會。就像美感因素一樣，沒有一本書能真正消除政治傾向。那種認爲藝術與政治不相干的論點本身就是一種政治態度。

（4） Political purpose —using the word “political” in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction， to ater other people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again， no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

可以看出，這些不同的動機會互相牴觸，會因人因時發生變化。

It can be seen how these various impulses must war against one another， and how they must fluctuate from person to person and from time to time.

由於我的天性——“天性”這裏指剛成年時的狀態，在我身上前三種動機遠遠超過第四種。

By nature —taking your “nature” to be the state you have attained when you are first adult—I am a person in whom the first three motives would outweigh the fourth.

在和平年代，我或許會寫些詞藻華美或專寫事物寫景的書，幾乎意識不到我政治上的取捨。

In a peaceful age！ might have written ornate or merely descriptive books， and might have remained almost unaware of my political loyalties.

可結果我卻不得不成了一個寫小冊子的作家。

As it is I have been forced into becoming a sort of pamphleteer.

最初，我在一個很不合適的職業中度過了5年，那是在緬甸的印度帝國警察署。隨後，我經歷了貧困，體會到窮困窘迫是何滋味。這使我對權勢的本能的嫉妒變得更強烈，我開始意識到勞動階級的存在，緬甸的職業使我對帝國主義的本質有所瞭解，但這一切並不足以賦予我明確的政治傾向。

First I spent five years in an unsuitable profession （the Indian Imperial Police， in Burma）， and then I underwent poverty and the sense of failure. This increased my natural hatred of authority and made me for the firs t time fully aware of the existence of the working classes， and the job in Burma had given me some understanding of the nature of imperialism； but these experiences were not enough to give me an accurate political orientation.

接着希特勒出現了，西班牙戰爭爆發了，各種事件頻頻發生。

Then came Hitler， the Spanish Civil War， etc.

到1935年底，我仍沒有能決定何去何從。西班牙內戰以及1936至1937年之間的其他事件扭轉了這種狀況，從此我認準了我的立場。

By the end of 1935 I had still failed to reach a firm decision. The Spanish war and other events in 1936 - 1937 turned the scale and thereafter I know where I stood.

1936年以來，我的嚴肅作品中的每一行都是爲間接或直接地反對極權主義，擁護我所理解的民主社會主義而寫的。

Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written， directly or indirectly， against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism， as I understand it.

認爲在我們這樣的年代，作家可以迴避這種題材，在我看來是無稽之談。

It seems to me nonsense， in a period like our own， to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.

每個人都以這樣那樣的方式寫這個題材。

Everyone writes of them in one guise or another.

這其實就是站在哪一邊，取什麼態度的問題。

It is simply a question of which side one takes and what approach one follows.

一個人越是意識到自己的政治態度，他越是有可能按政治行事而又不犧牲自己在美感和心智方面的`追求。

And the more one is conscious of one's political bias， the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one's aesthetic and intellectual integrity.

在過去的十年中，我最大的願望是把政治色彩的寫作變成藝術創造。

What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art.

我的出發點總是一種黨派意識，一種對非正義的敏感。

My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship， a sense of injustice.

我坐下來寫書時，不會自語道：“現在我要創造一個藝術作品了。”

When I sit down to write a book I do not say to myself， “I am going to produce a work of art. ”

寫作是爲了揭發某種謊言，爲了讓人們重視某些事實。我的初衷總是向讀者披露心聲，贏得聽衆。

I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose， some fact to which I want to draw attention， and my initial concern is to get a hearing.

然而，寫作必須同時又是一種美感經驗。否則，我就無法完成著書的工作，甚至連一篇長篇的報刊文章都寫不成。

But I could not do the work of writing a book， or even a long magazine article， if it were not also an aesthetic experience.

任何一位有心細讀我的作品的讀者都會發現，即使作品是直截了當的宣傳鼓勵，也包含着許多職業政客視爲節外生枝的點綴。

Anyone who cares to examine my work will see that even when it is downright propaganda it contains much that a full-time politician would consider irrelevant.

我不能，也不願意完全放棄我在童年時養成的世界觀。

I am not able， and I do not want， completely to abandon the world-view that I acquired in childhood.

只要我還活着，我仍會繼續講究文筆風格，熱愛大地的山川勝景，對瑣細的物品和無用的傳聞感到欣悅。

So long as I remain alive and well I shall continue to feel strongly about prose style， to love the surface of the earth， and to take a pleasure in solid objects and scraps of useless information.

要抑制我這方面的本能是無濟於事的。我的任務是把個人根深蒂固的好惡與時代強加於我們大家的政治活動協調起來。

It is no use trying to suppress that side of myself. The job is to reconcile my ingrained likes and dislikes with the essentially public， non-individual activities that this age forces on all of us.

這並不容易。這會產生構思及語言的問題。而真實性也以新的方式出現了疑問。

It is not easy. It raises problems of construction and of language， and it raises in a new way the problem of truthfulness. . .

這個問題以各種各樣的形態出現。

In one form or another this problem comes up again.

語言則是個更微妙的問題，得花費很大的工夫討論。

The problem of language is subtler and would take too long to discuss.

這裏我只能說，近幾年來，我竭力減少生動形象的描寫，儘量寫得更謹嚴簡練。

I will only say that of late years I have tried to write less picturesquely and more exactly.

我發現一位作家一旦使某種文筆風格臻於完善，他也就已經超越了這種風格。

In any case I find that by the time you have perfected any style of writing， you have always outgrown it.

《動物莊園》一書便是我在有意識有計劃地把政治目的和藝術追求結合爲一體的嘗試。

Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried， with full consciousness of what I was doing， to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole.

我已經7年沒寫小說了，但我希望不久能寫一部。

I have not written a novel for seven years， but I hope to write another fairly soon.

這部小說註定會成敗筆，每次完成的作品都覺得處處是敗筆，但我清楚地知道我要寫什麼樣的書。

It is bound to be a failure， every book is a failure， but I do know with some clarity what kind of book I want to write.

寫作是一場可怕的勞心傷神的鬥爭，猶如一場惡病長時間發作。

…Writing a book is a horrible， exhausting struggle， like a long bout of some painful illness.

要不是被一種既不可抗拒又不可理喻的鬼怪驅使，沒人願意從事寫作。

One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

這種魔怪不外乎是嬰兒嚎啕以引起人注意的本能。

For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention.

但話又說回來，作家若不能努力隱去自己的個性，他便寫不出什麼值得一讀的東西。

And yet it is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality.

好文章是一塊透亮的窗玻璃。

Good prose is like a window pane.

我不能肯定地說我的哪一種動機最強，但我知道哪一個目標我必須遵循。

I cannot say with certainty which of my motives are the strongest， but I know which of them deserve to be followed.

回顧我的創作，我發現，什麼時候缺乏政治目的，什麼時候我就會寫出毫無生氣的書，就會墜入華而不實的篇章，寫出毫無意義的句子，賣弄矯飾的形容詞和堆砌一大堆空話廢話。

And looking back through my work， I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages， sentences without meaninmeaning， decorative adjectives and humbug generally.