2010翻译真题

The Essay and the Essayist

散文和散文 匠

(

上外真题，

2010

）

2011-10-18 22:44:01

The Essay and the Essayist

散文和散文匠

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that

everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general

interest. He is a fellow who thoroughly enjoys his work, just as people who take

bird walks enjoy theirs. Each new excursion of the essayist, each new

him. Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the

stamina to write essays.

散文创作之人乃自我解束之人，

通常 怀揣孩童般天真的念想，

认为其所想所遇之

事皆情趣盎然。

如遛鸟之人自娱自乐，

其工作之时乐在其中。

每一次崭新的创作

之旅，

皆为有别于前一次的全新的

“

尝试

”

，

令其心花怒放。

唯有天生孤 芳自赏之人，才能拥有果敢与耐性，撰写散文。

There are as many kinds of essays as there are human attitudes or poses, as

many essay flavors as there are Howard Johnson ice creams. The essayist

arises in the morning and, if he has work to do, selects his garb from an

unusually extensive wardrobe: he can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of

person, according to his mood or his subject matter----philosopher scold, jester,

raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil's advocate, enthusiast. I like the essay, have

always liked it, and even as a child was at work, attempting to inflict my young

thoughts and experiences on others by putting them on paper. I early broke

into print in the pages of St. Nicholas.

但凡人类，

遇 事态度不一，

姿态不同；

霍华德

?

约翰逊牌冰淇林口味也多种多样；

散文创作亦是如此，一千位作者会 产生一千部迥异之作。散文家清晨起床之后，

如若当日有创作未竟，其通常会从巨大无比 的衣柜中挑选衣服开始一天的工作：

他会依照彼此的心情和任务，

身着相应服装，

装扮为相应的人物

—

可以是哲学家、

满口谩骂之人、满腹笑话的小丑、讲故事的高手、读者的知心朋友、权威 专家、

恶魔的帮手抑或激情昂扬之人。

我喜欢散文，

过

去的我创作之时 ，

有时甚至变身孩童，

讲我年轻时代的经验思想付诸笔头，

无理

取闹式地将其灌输到他人身上。我早些时候偶然间创作过圣尼古 拉篇章。

I tend still to fall back on the essay form (or lack of form) when an idea strikes

me, but I am not fooled about the place of the essay in twentieth-century

American letters----it stands a short distance down the line. The essayist,

unlike the novelist, the poet, and the playwright, must be content in his

self-imposed role of second-class citizen. A writer who has his sights trained

on the Nobel Prize or other earthly triumphs had best write a novel, a poem, or

a play, and leave the essayist to ramble about, content with living a free life

and enjoying the satisfactions of a somewhat undisciplined existence. (Dr.

Johnson called the essay

practitioner has no wish to quarrel with the good doctor's characterization.)

< br>如今，

当某一思想袭上心头之时，

我仍更乐于使用散文的 套路

（或者说是没有套

路的散文），但对于

20

世纪美国文坛，我深知散文所占的地位。散文家们，不

像小说家、诗人、剧作家，需对自己强加给自己的二等公民的身份知足。一位作

家，

如若其创作视角受到诺贝尔文学家抑或其他世俗奖项的驯服，

那么就 大有可

能创造出最好的小说、诗歌、剧作，而任由散文家肆意摸索前行。散文家们满足< /p>

无忧无虑的生活，

享受着不受羁绊的生存的满足感。

（约翰逊博士曾将散文称之

为

“

毫无规律、无法下咽、支离破碎的片段

”

；而乐在其中的散 文家却无意就这位

好好博士的论断加以反驳。）

There is one thing the essayist cannot do, though----he cannot indulge himself

in deceit or in concealment, for he will be found out in no time. Desmond

MacCarthy, in his introductory remarks to the 1928 E. P. Dutton & Company