幸福是什么?
對于我,幸福是在角落里安靜地閱讀自己喜歡的書;是和弟弟躲在大卡車后面津津有味地吃冰淇淋;是挽著媽媽的手在公園里漫步;是每次考試前聽爸爸說那句老得掉牙的話“祝你考試成功!”;是午后在天臺欣喜若狂地張開手沐浴陽光;是在七樓的房間里任手和心在琴鍵上起舞;是在深夜在自己溺愛的音樂里抒寫我夢著的世界;是倚著深愛的人坐在一趟從南至北的列車上;是每天收到讀者來信,分享他們的生活;是看見世界上所有的孩子都能念書,所有善良的人都健康快樂……
幸福有時候如此簡單,有時候卻又如此艱難。
但我始終相信,我們可以把握自己的大部分幸福。
Ronald Duncan(羅納德·鄧肯),英國劇作家、詩人和文學(xué)家。早年和甘地以及美國詩人龐德交往甚密,著有詩劇《撒旦之死》等。他善于把宗教主題同現(xiàn)實生活結(jié)合起來,從而使作品感人肺腑,其詩劇內(nèi)容多是把傳統(tǒng)的宗教信仰和現(xiàn)代的實利主義與懷疑主義進行對比。
文字難度:★★☆
Observe a child; any one will do. You will see that not a day passes in which he does not find something or other to make him happy, though he may be in tears the next moment. Then look at a man; any one of us will do. You will notice that weeks and months can pass in which every day is greeted with nothing more than 1)resignation, and endure with polite indifference. But it is true that they smile so seldom that when they do, they don’t recognize their face. So distorted it is from the fixed mask they take for granted. And even then, a man can not smile like a child, for a child smiles with his eyes, whereas a man smiles with his lips alone. It is not a smile, but a grin; it has something to do with humor, but little to do with happiness. And then, as anyone can see, there is a point ( and who can define that point? ) when a man becomes an old man, and then he will smile again.
仔細(xì)觀察一個小孩,隨便哪個都行。你會發(fā)現(xiàn),他每天都會發(fā)現(xiàn)一些令他快樂的事情,盡管下一秒他可能會哭哭啼啼。再看一看大人,我們中隨便哪個都行。你會發(fā)現(xiàn),一周復(fù)一周,一月復(fù)一月,他總是以無可奈何的順從心理來迎接新一天的到來,并以禮貌的冷漠來忍受。真的,他們難得一笑,因此即使是偶爾笑了,他們也會認(rèn)不出自己那張臉——相對于他們習(xí)以為常的假面具,一張笑臉顯得多么扭曲啊。而且即使即使是在笑,大人也不會像小孩那樣笑,小孩用眼睛傳達笑意,而大人只用嘴唇。這實際上不是笑,只是咧咧嘴,它和幽默感有點關(guān)系,但跟快樂無關(guān)。然后,正如任何人看到的那樣,人到了一定階段(但又有誰能說明這是什么階段呢?),成了老人,他又會笑了 。
It would seem that happiness has something to do with simplicity, and that it is the ability to extract pleasure from the simplest things—such as a peach stone, for instance.
幸福似乎和單純有些關(guān)系,幸福是一種能從最簡單的事物里——譬如說,從一顆桃核中——汲取快樂的能力。
It is obvious that it has nothing to do with success. For, 2)Sir Henry Stewart was certainly successful. It has been twenty years since he came down to our village from London and bought a couple of old cottages, which he then had knocked into one. He used his house as a weekend refuge. He was a 3)barrister and the village followed his brilliant career with something amounting to almost 4)paternal pride.
幸福顯然同成功毫不相干,因為亨利·斯圖爾特爵士當(dāng)然是個十分成功的人。20年前,他從倫敦來到我們的村子,買了好幾座舊房屋,推倒后建了一所大房子。他把這所房子當(dāng)作度周末的別墅。他是位律師,我們村里的人懷著一種近似父輩的自豪,一直關(guān)注著他那輝煌的事業(yè)。
I remember, some ten years ago, when he was made a 5)King’s Counsel, Amos and I, upon seeing him getting off the London train, went to congratulate him. We grinned with pleasure; he looked merely as miserable as though he’d received a 6)capital sentence. It was the same when he was 7)knighted. He never smiled a bit and didn’t even bother to celebrate with a round of drinks at the “Blue Fox”. He took his success as a child does his medicine. And not one of his achievements brought even a ghost of a smile to his tired eyes.
我記得,大約10年前他被任命為王室法律顧問,我和阿莫斯看見他走下從倫敦開來的火車,便上前去祝賀他。我們高興地笑著,而他的表情卻像被判了死刑一樣痛苦。他受封為爵士時也是如此。他從來不笑,甚至懶得在“藍狐貍酒館”和我們大家舉杯慶祝。他對待成功就像小孩對待吃藥一樣,他的任何一項成就都未能使他疲憊的眼睛里流露出一絲笑意。
I asked him one day, soon after he’d retired to 8)potter about his garden, what it was like to achieve all of one’s ambitions. He looked down at his roses, and went on watering them. Then he said, “The only value in achieving one’s ambition is that then you realize that they were not worth achieving.” Quickly he moved the conversation on to a more practical level, and within a moment we were back to a safe discussion on the weather. That was two years ago.
他退休后常在花園里閑逛。就在他退休后不久,有一天,我問他,一個人實現(xiàn)了一切抱負(fù)是什么滋味?他低頭看著他的玫瑰花,繼續(xù)給它們澆水。過了一會兒,他說:“實現(xiàn)抱負(fù)的惟一價值是你會意識到它們都不值得追求?!彼芸彀言掝}轉(zhuǎn)向討論更有實際意義的事情。不一會兒,我們又談?wù)撈鹛鞖膺@個安全的話題。那是兩年前的事了。
I recall this incident, for yesterday I was passing his house, and had drawn up my cart just outside his garden wall. I had 9)pulled in from the road for no other reason than to let a bus pass me. As I set there filling my pipe, I suddenly heard a shout of 10)sheer joy come from the other side of the wall.
我想起這件事情,是因為昨天我經(jīng)過他家,并剛好把馬車停在他花園的墻外邊。我從大路上把馬車?yán)揭贿呁V?,是為了給一輛公共汽車讓路。當(dāng)我坐在車上裝煙斗時,忽然聽見墻的另一頭傳來一聲欣喜若狂的歡呼。
I peered over. There stood Sir Henry doing nothing less than a 11)tribal war dance of sheer unashamed 12)ecstasy. Even when he observed my bewildered face staring over the wall he did not seem 13)put out or embarrassed, but shouted for me to climb over.
我向墻內(nèi)張望,亨利爵士正在里面歡蹦亂跳著,像在跳部落出征舞,表現(xiàn)出毫無顧忌的狂喜。即使當(dāng)他注意到我那張在墻外張望的迷惑不解的臉孔時,也似乎毫不生氣或窘迫,而是大聲呼喊我爬過墻去。
“Come and see, Jan. Look! I have done it at last! I have done it at last!”
“快來看,簡,看呀!我終于成功了!我終于成功了!”
There he was, holding a small box of earth in his hand. I observed three tiny 14)shoots out of it.
他站在那里,手里拿著一小盒土。我發(fā)現(xiàn)土里有三棵嫩芽。
“And there were only three!” he said, his eyes laughing to heaven.
“而且正好是三個!”他眉開眼笑地說。
“Three what?” I asked.
“三個什么?”我問。
“Peach stones,” he replied. “I’ve always wanted to make peach stones grow, ever since I was a child, when I used to take them home after a party, or as a man after a banquet. And I used to plant them, and then forgot where I planted them. But now at last I have done it. And, what’s more, I had only three stones, and there you are, one, two, three shoots,” he counted.
“桃核?!彼卮鸬?,“我一直想把桃核種活,從小就想,那時我參加完晚會后老把桃核帶回家,后來長大成人參加宴會后也這樣。我以前常常種桃核,可是過后就忘了我把它們種在什么地方了。但現(xiàn)在,我總算成功了!而且,我只有三顆桃核。你瞧,一、二、三,三棵芽?!彼厰?shù)邊說。
And Sir Henry ran off, calling for his wife to come and see his achievement—his achievement of simplicity.
然后,亨利爵士跑去叫他妻子來欣賞他的成就——單純的成就。