shag研究生英语精读教程(第三版_上)第6单元英文原文及翻译和课后答案

Unit Six

Two Truths to Live By

Hold fast, and let go:understand this paradox*, and you standat the

very gate of wisdom

Alexander M. Schindler

[ 1 ]

The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a

paradox: it enjoins* us to cling to* its many gifts even while it ordains* their eventual

relinquishment*The rabbis* of old put it this way:

his fist clenched*, but when he dies, his hand is open.

[1]

生活的秘诀在于 懂得何时抓紧，

何时放松。

因为人生就是一对矛盾：

生的多种赐与，

同时它又要我们 到头来把这些赐与放弃。

老一辈犹太学者是这样说的：

“ 一< /p>

个人握紧拳头来到这个世界，但他却是松开手掌离开这世界的。”

[ 2 ]

Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wondrous*, and full of a beauty

that breaks through* every pore* of God's own earth. We know that this is so, but all

too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember

what it was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.

[2]

毫无疑问，

我们应该牢牢抓住 生命，

因为它奇妙，

它有一种在上帝创造的世界里无孔不

入、无处不在的美。

我们大家都知道这一点。

可我们却常常是在回首往事想起它时，才能认

识这一真理。此时我们会突然发觉它已不复 存在了。

[

3

]

We

remember

a

beauty

that

faded,

a

love

that

waned*.

But

we

remember

with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed

to respond with love when it was tendered.

[3]

我们能记起已经凋谢的美、

已经消逝的爱。可是，我们更痛苦的回忆是：我们没有看见

顶峰时的 美，没有在别人以爱对我之时也以爱回报。

[ 4 ]

A recent experience re-taught me this truth.. I was hospitalized* following a

severe

heart

attack

and

had

been

in

intensive

care

for

several

days.

It

was

not

a

pleasant place.

[4]

最近一次经历又使我领悟到了这个真理。

一场剧烈的心脏病发作后，

我被送进医院，

接

受了几天精心护理。医院可不是一个使人愉快的地方。

[

5

]

One

morning,

I

had

to

have

some

additional

tests.

The

required

machines

were located in a building at the opposite end of the hospital, so I had to be wheeled

across the courtyard on a gurney*.

[5]

一天上午，

我要用的医疗器械安装在医院另一端的大楼里。

所以我

只有坐轮椅穿过院子才能到达那里。

[ 6 ]

As we emerged from our unit, the sunlight hit me. That's all there was to my

experience.

Just

the

light

of

the

sun.

And

yet

how

beautiful

it

was--how

warming,

how sparkling*, how brilliant!

[6]

当我们走出病房时，阳光正照 在我身上。就我实际的经历而言，当时也没有什么别的。

只不过就是阳光。而这时的阳光 是多么美丽、多么温暖、多么耀眼、多么辉煌

!

[

7

]

I

looked

to

see

whether

anyone

else

relished*

the

sun's

golden

glow,

but

everyone

was

hurrying

to

and

fro,

most

with

eyes

fixed

on

the

I

remembered how often I, too,

had been indifferent to* the grandeur* of each day,

too preoccupied* with petty* and sometimes even mean concerns to respond to the

splendor* of it all

[7]

我打量着别人是否也在欣赏着这太阳的 金色光芒。

可是，

人人都来去匆匆，

大 多数人的

目光只盯在地上。

这时我想到自己过去又何尝不是往往 对每天的壮观景象视而不见，

一头埋

在细小的，有时甚至是卑鄙 、自私的事务中，而对日常的奇观麻木不仁呢

?

[ 8 ]

The insight* gleaned* from that experience is really as commonplace* as was

the experience itself: life's gifts are precious ----but we are too heedless* of them.

[8]

从这次经历所获得的顿悟确如经历本身一样的平凡。< /p>

生命的赐予是宝贵的，

可惜我们对

它们太 掉以轻心了。

[ 9 ]

Here then is the first pole of life's paradoxical demands on us: Never too busy

for the wonder and the awe* of life. Be reverent* before each dawning day. Embrace

each hour. Seize each golden minute.

[9]

这就是人生向我们提出的矛盾要求的第一个方面：

不要因为太忙就忽视了生活中令人惊

奇、令人敬畏的东西。每天黎明 开始就要恭谨从事。抓紧每个小时，捉住宝贵的每一分钟。

[ 10 ]

Hold fast to life ... but not so fast that you cannot let go. This is the second

side of life's coin, the opposite pole of its paradox: we must accept our losses, and

learn how to let go.

[10]

紧紧抓住生活——可不要紧得使你不能松手。

这就是生活的另一面——矛盾的另一方：

我们必须接受损失，学会放松 。

[ 11 ]

This is not an easy lesson to learn, especially when we are young and think

that the world is ours to command, that whatever we desire with the full force of our

passionate* being can, nay, will, be ours. But then life moves along to confront* us

with realities, and slowly but surely this second truth dawns upon* us.

[11]

这并不是容易学到手的一课。特别是当我们年轻时，认为世界是由我们掌握的。只要

我们自己满腔热情、

全力以赴地去渴求，

不 管什么东西都能够——不，

一定会——得到。但

是，

我们不断地面临各种现实，

慢 慢地但也是肯定地使我们明白了第二

条真理。

[ 12 ]

At every stage of life we sustain losses -- and grow in the process. We begin

our independent lives only when we emerge from the womb* and lose its protective

shelter. We enter a progression* of schools, then we leave our mothers and fathers

and our childhood homes. We get married and have children and then have to let

them

confront

the

death

of

our

parents

and

our

spouses*.

We

face

the

gradual

or

not

so

gradual

waning

of

our

own

strength.

And

ultimately,

as

the

parable* of the open and closed hand suggests, we must confront the inevitability of

our own demise*, losing ourselves, as it were, all that we were or dreamed to be.

[12]

在生命的每个阶段上，我们都要蒙受损失——但也是 在这个过程中得到成长。我们只

有在脱离娘胎、失去它的庇护时，才能开始独立生活。我 们要进各级学校，继而告别父母，

告别童年的家。我们要结婚生育，继而送走子女。我们 要经受父母、配偶丧亡的痛苦。我们

要面临体力或快或慢的逐渐消退。

< br>最终正如松手与握拳的比喻那样：

我们自己也得走向不可

抗拒的死亡，可以说失去原有的自身，失去我们拥有的或梦想过的一切。

[

13

]

But

why

should

we

be

reconciled*

to

life's

contradictory*

demands?

Why

fashion

things

of

beauty

when

beauty

is

evanescent*?

Why

give

our

heart

in

love

when those we love will ultimately be torn from our grasp?

[13]

但是，为什么我们甘愿顺从于这些生活的矛盾需求呢

?

既然美转眼就会消逝，那为什

么我们还要去创造那些美的东西呢

?

既然我们所爱的终归要被夺走，

为什么我 们还要倾心相

爱呢

?

[ 14 ]

In order to resolve this paradox, we must seek a wider perspective, viewing

our

lives

as

through

windows

that open

on

eternity*.

Once

we

do

that,

we

realize

that though our lives are finite, our deeds on earth weave a timeless pattern.

[14]

为了要解决这个矛盾，我们必须寻找一个较为广阔的视角，透过通向永恒的窗口来观

看 我们的生命。

做到了这一点，

我们会发觉，

虽然我们的生命是有限的，但是我们在地球上

的行为却在编织着一个没有时间限制的 图案。

[ 15 ]

Life is never just being. It is a becoming, a relentless* flowing parents

live

on

through

us,

and

we

will

live

on

through

our

children.

The

institutions

we

build endure, and we will endure through them. The beauty we fashion cannot be

dimmed by death. Our flesh may perish*, our hands will wither*, but that which they

create in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come.

[15]

生命绝不只是存在。它是变动不止的，无情地流逝不息的。父母的生命在我们身上延