Alfred Tennyson: Ulysses

译文:何功杰/飞白(根据两者译文,略作调整)

It little profits that an idle king, | 这太无谓——当一个闲散的君主

By this still hearth, among these barren crags, | 安居家中,在这个嶙峋的岛国.

Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole | 我与年老的妻子相匹,颁布着

Unequal laws unto a savage race, | 不公的法律,治理野蛮的种族,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. | 他们吃、睡、收藏,而不理解我。

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink | 我不能停歇我的跋涉:我决心

Life to the lees; all times I have enjoy'd | 饮尽生命之杯。我一生都在

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those | 体验巨大的痛苦、巨大的欢乐,

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when | 有时与爱我的狄伴一起,有时却

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades | 独自一个;不论在岸上或海上,

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; | 当带来雨季的毕宿星团催动,我已经变成这样一个名字

For always roaming with a hungry heart | 由于我如饥似渴地漂泊不止,

Much have I seen and known; cities of men | 我已见识了许多民族的城

And manners, climates, councils, governments, | 及其风气、习俗、枢密院、政府,

Myself not least, but honour'd of them all; | 而我在他们之中最负盛名;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers, | 我和同僚们共饮战斗的欢欣,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy, | 在遥远而多风的特洛亚战场,

I am a part of all that I have met; | 我自己是我全部经历的一部分;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' | 而全部经验,也只是一座拱门,

Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades | 尚未游历的世界在门外闪光,

For ever and for ever when I move. | 而随着我一步一步的前进,它的边界也不断向后退让。

How dull it is to pause, to make an end, | 最单调最沉闷的是停留,是终止,

To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! | 是蒙尘生锈而不在使用中发亮!

As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life | 难道说呼吸就能算是生活?

Were all too little, and of one to me | 几次生命堆起来尚嫌太少,

Little remains: but every hour is saved | 何况我唯一的生命已余年无多。

From that eternal silence, something more, | 唯有从永恒的沉寂之中抢救

A bringer of new things; and vile it were | 每个小时,让每个小时带来一些新东西,带来一些新事物;

For some three suns to store and hoard myself, | 三年来我可耻地把自己封存和储藏起来,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire | 可这班白的心灵却迫切地向往

To follow knowledge like a sinking star, | 去追随知识,像那西沉的星星,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. | 到那人类思想极限以外的地方。

This is my son, mine own Telemachus, | 这是我的儿子忒勒玛科斯,

To whom I leave the scepter and the isle— | 我给他留下我的岛国和王杖,

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil | 他是我所爱的,他有胆有识,

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild | 能胜任这一工作;谨慎耐心地

A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees | 教化粗野的民族,用温和的步骤

Subdue them to the useful and the good. | 驯化他们,使他们善良而有用。

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere | 他是无可指责的,

Of common duties, decent not to fail | 在我离去后他会担起重任,

In offices of tenderness, and pay | 处理好那些需要谨慎应付的事务,

Meet adoration to my household gods, | 并对我家的佑护神表示崇敬。

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. | 他和我,将各做各的工作

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: | 海港就在那边,船儿已经扬帆,

There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners, | 大海沉沉,朦胧一片。我的水手们——

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me— | 与我同辛劳、同工作、同思想的人,

That ever with a frolic welcome took | 他们总是高高兴兴去迎接

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed | 雷电和阳光,

Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; | 并用自由的心与头颅来抗争,——

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; | 你们和我都已老了,但老年

Death closes all: but something ere the end, | 仍有老年的荣誉、老年的辛劳;

Some work of noble note, may yet be done, | 死亡终结一切,但在终点前

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. | 我们还能做一番崇高的事业,使我们配称为与神斗争的人。

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: | 礁石上的灯标开始闪光了:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep | 长昼将尽,月亮缓缓攀登,

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, | 大海用无数音响在周围呻唤。来呀,朋友们,探寻更新的世界

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. | 现在尚不是为时过晚。

Push off, and sitting well in order smite | 开船吧!坐成排,划破这喧哗的海浪,

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds | 我决心驶向

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths | 太阳沉没的彼方,超越

Of all the western stars, until I die. | 西方星斗的浴场,至死方止。

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: | 也许深渊会把我们吞噬,

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, | 也许我们将到达琼岛乐土,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. | 与老朋友阿喀琉斯会晤。

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' | 尽管已达到的多,未知的也多啊,

We are not now that strength which in old days | 虽然我们的力量已不如当初,

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; | 已远非昔日移天动地的雄姿,

One equal temper of heroic hearts, | 但我们仍是我们,英雄的心

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will | 尽管被时间消磨,被命运削弱,

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. | 奋斗、探索、寻求,而不屈服

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