08年全国职称英语英汉对照上百例精选(第五十八篇)

58. Three Days to See .
　　 58、假如给我三天光明、
　　 1. All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
　　 1、我们大家都读过一些惊心动魄的故事，其主人公死期已定，生日无多。有的长达一年，有的短至24小时。但是我们总是有兴趣搞清楚：这个寿数将尽的人究竟愿意怎样度过他的最后的时日。当然，我所指的是能进行选择的自由的人，而不是活动范围受到严格限制的囚犯。
　　 2. Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?
　　 2、这些故事启迪我们思考，诱发我们想象：我们处于这类情况，该做什么呢?作为注定要死的人，我们在最后的时刻会忙不迭地干些什么，体验些什么，联想些什么?在回首往事时，我们又能领略到何种快慰，何种悔恨呢?
　　 3. Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry," but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
　　 3、有时我想，如果我们度过每一天时都假定明天即将去世，这将是个极好的准则。这样的处世态度会明显突出生命的价值。我们就会高雅地、朝气蓬勃地、感受强烈地来度过每一天，而当我们眼前时光悠悠，不绝流逝，岁月昼夜，绵绵无期，我们反而因此做不到上述种种。当然，在前面提到的假定情况下，有些人会奉行享乐主义的“吃喝玩乐”的信条。然而大多数人则会因迫在眉睫的死亡必定来临而感受到鞭策。
　　 4. In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.
　　 4、在故事中，那个命定要死的主人公通常是在最后时刻交上好运气被搭救了。但他的价值观几乎总是发生了变化。他变得更加欣赏生命的意义以及其永恒的神圣价值。人们已常常注意到，那些在死亡的阴影下生活着的人给他所做的每一件事都添上甜美的色彩。
　　 5. Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future, when we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.
　　 5、然而，我们中间大多数，则把生命视作为理所当然的。我们知道，总有一天我们会死去，但通常我们又把那一天想象为遥远的未来。当我们身强力壮欢快活泼时，死亡是件难以想象的事。我们几乎想不到它。来日方长，无边无涯。因此我们忙于种种琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的漠然的态度。
　　 6. The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
　　 6、我们在应用我们的感觉功能时，恐怕也同样持有这种冷漠态度。只有聋者才知道听觉的重要，只有盲人才理解到视觉所包涵的千姿百态的赏心乐事。这一观点特别适用于那些在成年后才丧失视觉和听觉的人。而那些视觉和听觉从未受到损害的人则很少充分利用这些有幸获得的官能。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地、漫不经心地、不加欣赏地容纳入所有的景象和声音。还是那句老话：失后方知难得，病时倍思健康。
　　 7. I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
　　 7、我常常想，如果每个人在刚成年时的某个时候能失明或失聪几天，这或许是件大好事。黑暗将使他更深刻地感受景象，而寂静将教会他领略声音的欢乐。
　　 8. Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. "Nothing in particular," she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.
　　 8、我不时考问我的有视力的朋友，以了解他们所见的情况。最近有一个极好的朋友来看我，她是在林中溜达了好一会才回来的，我问她观察到了些什么。“没有什么特别的东西。”她回答说。要不是我对类似的反应已习以为常的话，我是会感到难以置信的。我之所以不觉为奇，是因为我早已得出结论：有视力者所见甚少。
　　 9. How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently in a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. ! am delighted to have cool waters of a brook rush through my open fingers. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.
　　 9、我问自己，在林中溜达了一个小时而竟没有看到什么值得注意的东西，这怎么可能呢?我这个看不见东西的人，仅凭触摸就发现千百种使我感兴趣的东西。我感觉到叶片的精致的对称。我用手爱抚着光滑的白桦树皮，或是粗糙的松树皮。春天里，我满怀希望地触摸树枝，冀求找着一颗幼芽—大自然经过冬日沉睡重又苏醒的最早的征兆。我摸着花朵的可爱的天鹅绒般的质地，并发现它的花瓣一圈圈叠合得那么巧妙，于是我领略到了某种大自然的神奇。偶尔，如果我十分幸运的话，我把手轻轻搭在一棵小树上，能感到一只小鸟儿尽情歌唱的欢愉的颤动。我非常高兴让清凉的溪水流过我的张开的手指。对我来说，那厚密的松针层或茂盛松软的绿茵地比豪华的波斯地毯更惬意。对我来说，四季的奇瑰变幻犹如一出动人心弦的永不落幕的话剧，它的情节似水般徐徐从我指尖流过。
　　 10. At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action fill the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light and the gift of sight is used only as mere convenience rather that as a means of adding fullness to life.