或许我最偏爱你

Possibilities

《种种可能》

I prefer movies.

我偏爱电影。

I prefer cats.

我偏爱猫。

I prefer the oaks along the Warta.

我偏爱华尔塔河沿岸的橡树。

I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.

我偏爱狄更斯胜过陀思妥耶夫斯基。

I prefer myself liking people

我偏爱我对人群的喜欢，

to myself loving mankind.

胜过我对人类的爱。

I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.

我偏爱在手边摆放针线，以备不时之需。

I prefer the color green.

我偏爱绿色。

I prefer not to maintain

我偏爱不把一切。

that reason is to blame for everything.

都归咎于理性的想法。

I prefer exceptions.

我偏爱例外。

I prefer to leave early.

我偏爱及早离去。

I prefer talking to doctors about something else.

我偏爱和医生聊些别的话题。

I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.

我偏爱线条细致的老式插画。

I prefer the absurdity of writing poems

我偏爱写诗的荒谬 。

to the absurdity of not writing poems.

胜过不写诗的荒谬。

I prefer, where love's concerned, nonspecific anniversaries

我偏爱，就爱情而言，可以天天庆祝的；

that can be celebrated every day.

不特定纪念日。

I prefer moralists

我偏爱不向我做任何 ，

who promise me nothing.

承诺的道德家。

I prefer cunning kindness to the over-trustful kind.

我偏爱狡猾的仁慈胜过过度可信的那种。

I prefer the earth in civvies.

我偏爱穿便服的地球。

I prefer conquered to conquering countries.

我偏爱被征服的国家胜过征服者。

I prefer having some reservations.

我偏爱有些保留。

I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.

我偏爱混乱的地狱胜过秩序井然的地狱。

I prefer Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.

我偏爱格林童话胜过报纸头版。

I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.

我偏爱不开花的叶子胜过不长叶子的花。

I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.

我偏爱尾巴没被截短的狗。

I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.

我偏爱淡色的眼睛，因为我是黑眼珠。

I prefer desk drawers.

我偏爱书桌的抽屉。

I prefer many things that I haven't mentioned here

我偏爱许多此处未提及的事物 ，

to many things I've also left unsaid.

胜过许多我也没有说到的事物。

I prefer zeroes on the loose

我偏爱自由无拘的零 ，

to those lined up behind a cipher.

胜过排列在阿拉伯数字后面的零。

I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.

我偏爱昆虫的时间胜过星星的时间。

I prefer to knock on wood.

我偏爱敲击木头。

I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.

我偏爱不去问还要多久或什么时候。

I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility

我偏爱牢记此一可能——

that existence has its own reason for being.

存在的理由不假外求。

By Wislawa Szymborska

辛波斯卡