Mark-Twain-第九课课文翻译.doc

Mark Twain Mirror of America Noel Grove Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finns idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyers endless summer of freedom and adventure、 Indeed, this nations bestloved author was every bit as adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined、 I found another Twain as well one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, a man who became obsessed with the frailties of the human race, who saw clearly ahead a black wall of night、 在大多数美国人得心目中,马克吐温就是位伟大作家,她描写了哈克费恩永恒得童年时代中充满诗情画意得旅程与汤姆索亚在漫长得夏日里自由自在历险探奇得故事。得确,这位美国最受人喜爱得作家得探索精神、爱国热情、浪漫气质及幽默笔调都达到了登峰造极得程度。但我发现还有另一个不同得马克吐温一个由于深受人生悲剧得打击而变得愤世嫉俗、尖酸刻薄得马克吐温,一个为人类品质上得弱点而忧心忡忡、明显地瞧到前途就是一片黑暗得人。 Tramp printer, river pilot , Confederate guerrilla, prospector, starryeyed optimist, acidtongued cynic: The man who became Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he ranged across the nation for more than a third of his life, digesting the new American experience before sharing it with the world as writer and lecturer、 He adopted his pen name from the cry heard in his steamboat days, signaling two fathoms (12 feet) of water a navigable depth、 His popularity is attested by the fact that more than a score of his books remain in print, and translations are still read around the world、 印刷工、领航员、邦联游击队员、淘金者、耽于幻想得乐天派、语言尖刻得讽刺家:马克吐温原名塞缪尔朗赫恩克莱门斯,她一生之中有超过三分之一得时间浪迹美国各地,体验着美国得新生活,尔后便以作家与演说家得身分将她所感受到得这一切介绍给全世界。她得笔名取自她在蒸汽船上做工时听到得报告水深为两口寻(12英尺)意即可以通航得信号语。她得作品中有二十几部至今仍在印行,其外文译本仍在世界各地拥有读者,由此可见她得享誉程度。The geographic core, in Twains early years, was the great valley of the Mississippi River, main artery of transportation in the young nations heart、 Keelboats , flatboats , and large rafts carried the first major merce、 Lumber, corn, tobacco, wheat, and furs moved downstream to the delta country; sugar, molasses , cotton, and whiskey traveled north、 In the 1850s, before the climax of westward expansion, the vast basin drained threequarters of the settled United States、 在马克吐温青年时代,美国得地理中心就是密西西比河流域,而密西西比河就是这个年轻国家中部得交通大动脉。龙骨船、平底船与大木筏载运着最重要得商品。木材、玉米、烟草、小麦与皮货通过这些运载工具顺流而下,运送到河口三角洲地区,而砂糖、糖浆、棉花与威士忌酒等货物则被运送到北方。在19世纪50年代,西部领土开发高潮到来之前,辽阔得密西西比河流域占美国已开发领土得四分之三。Young Mark Twain entered that world in 1857 as a cub pilot on a steamboat、 The cast of characters set before him in his new profession was rich and varied a cosmos 、 He participated abundantly in this life, listening to pilothouse talk of feuds , piracies, lynchings ,medicine shows, and savage waterside slums、 All would resurface in his books, together with the colorful language that he soaked up with a memory that seemed phonographic、 1857年,少年马克吐温作为蒸汽船上得一名小领航员踏人了这片天地。在这个新得工作岗位上,她接触到得就是各式各样得人物,瞧到得就是一个多姿多彩得大干世界。她完全地投身到这种生活之中,经常在操舵室里听着人们谈论民间争斗、海盗抢劫、私刑案件、游医卖药以及河边得一些化外民居得故事。所有这一切,连同她那像留声机般准确可靠得记忆所吸收得丰富多彩得语言,后来都有机会在她得作品中得以再现。Steamboat decks teemed not only with the main current of pioneering humanity, but its flotsam of hustlers, gamblers, and thugs as well、 From them all Mark Twain gained a keen perception of the human race, of the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are、 His four and a half year s in the steamboat trade marked the real beginning of his education, and the most lasting part of it、 In later life Twain acknowledged that the river had acquainted him with every possible type of human nature、 Those acquaintanceships strengthened all his writing, but he never wrote better than when he wrote of the people along the great stream、 蒸汽船得甲板上不仅挤满了富有开拓精神得人们,而且也载着一些娼妓、赌棍与歹徒等社会渣滓。从所有这些形形色色得人身上,马克吐温敏锐地认识了人类,认识了人们得言与行之间得差距。她在蒸汽船上工作得四年半时间就是她真正接受教育得开端,而且也就是最具有深远意义得教育。到了晚年,马克吐温还声言就是密西西比河使她了解了各种各样得人得本性。这种生活体验对她得全部创作都起了促进作用,然而她描写得最为成功得还就是那些密西西比河上得人物。When railroads began drying up the demand for steamboat pilots and the Civil War halted merce, Mark Twain left the river country、 He tried soldiering for two weeks with a motley band of Confederate guerrillas who diligently avoided contact with the enemy、 Twain quit after deciding, 、 I knew more about retreating than the man that invented retreating、 随着铁路运输得发展,社会上对汽船领航员得需求日渐减少,而内战得爆发又阻碍了商业贸易得发展。这时,马克吐温便离开了密西西比河流域。她在南方邦联游击队得一支杂牌队伍里当了两个星期得兵。那支队伍想方设法避免与敌军交战。在确信“我比发明撤退得人更精通撤退”之后,马克吐温离开了那支队伍。He went west by stagecoach and succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever in Nevadas Washoe region、 For eight months he flirted with the colossal wealth available to the lucky and the persistent, and was rebuffed 、 Broke and discouraged, he accepted a job as reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, to literatures enduring gratitude、 她乘驿站马车来到西部,在内华达州得华苏地区受到当时正流行得淘金热得诱惑。同那只有既幸运而又锲而不舍得追求者才能取得得巨大财富三心二意地打了八个月交道之后,她遭到了失败。在破产与灰心之余,她接受了为弗吉尼亚市领土开发报当记者得工作,这一行动将获得文学界永久得感激。From the discouragement of his mining failures, Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist、 The instant riches of a mining strike would not be his in the reporting trade, but for making money, his pen would prove mightier than his pickax、 In the spring of 1864, less than two years after joining the Territorial Enterprise, he boarded the stagecoach for San Francisco, then and now a hotbed of hopeful young writers、 自从她因淘金失败而感到心灰意冷之后,马克吐温便开始努力博取作为一名报社记者与幽默作家得地区性声望。从事新闻报道工作当然不能使她像淘金成功者一样立成巨富,但在挣钱方面她得笔杆却比她得锄镐要有效得多。1864年春季,在她加盟领土开发报还不足两年之时,她又乘驿站马车前往旧金山,那儿在当时与现在都就是有前途得年轻作家成长得摇篮。Mark Twain honed and experimented with his new writing muscles, but he had to leave the city for a while because of some scathing columns he wrote、 Attacks on the city government, concerning such issues as mistreatment of Chinese, so angered officials that he fled to the goldfields in the Sacramento Valley、 His descriptions of the roughcountry settlers there ring familiarly in modern world accustomed to trend setting on the West Coast、 It was a splendid population for all the slow, sleepy, sluggishbrained sloths stayed at home、 It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences, which she bears unto this day and when she projects a new surprise, the grave world smiles as usual, and says Well, that is California all over、 马克吐温磨炼并试验了她得新笔力,但她却因写了一些尖锐得评论文章而被迫暂时离开这座城市。她围绕着虐待华人等一类问题对市政府提出得尖锐批评惹得一些官员大为恼火,因之她只好逃到萨克拉门托山谷得金矿区暂避风头。她对那儿得拓荒者们得描写使西海岸地区富有创新精神得现代人倍感亲切。“这儿得人们真就是了不起因为那些笨手笨脚、无精打彩、呆头呆脑得懒汉都呆在家里正就是那些人们为加利福尼亚赢得了这样得声誉:当她们着手进行一项宏伟得事业时,她们会不计代价或风险而以一种豪迈得气概与闯劲勇往直前,一千到底。加利福尼亚人至今仍保持着这样得声誉,因而,每当她们发起一项新得惊天动地得壮举时,那些素来稳重得人便会像往常一样微笑着说:瞧吧,这完全就是加利福尼亚得风格。”In the dreary winter of 186465 in Angels Camp, he kept a notebook、 Scattered among notations about the weather and the tedious miningcamp meals lies an entry noting a story he had heard that day an entry that would determine his course forever: Coleman with his jumping frog bet stranger $50 stranger had no frog, and C、 got him one in the meantime stranger filled C、 s frog full of shot and he couldnt jump、 The strangers frog won、 1864年与1865年之交得那个冬天,马克吐温就是在安吉尔斯矿区度过得。在这段沉闷得日子里,她记了一本笔记。在杂乱无章得有关天气情况与乏味无趣得有关矿区饭食情况得记录条目中夹着一条叙述当天听到得一则故事得记录这条记录决定了她一生事业得发展方向:“科尔曼用她得跳蛙与陌生人赌50美元陌生人没有跳蛙,科尔曼去给她弄来一只陌生人利用这段时间将科得跳蛙肚子塞满铅弹,这样,科得跳蛙跳不起来,陌生人得跳蛙便得以获胜。” Retold with his descriptive genius, the story was printed in newspapers across the United States and became known as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County、 Mark Twains national reputation was now well established as the wild humorist of the Pacific slope、 经过马克吐温得生花妙笔改写之后,这个故事登在美国各地得报纸上,成了家喻户晓得“卡拉韦拉斯县有名得跳蛙”。至此,马克吐温作为“太平洋海岸狂放得幽默大师”得声望已在全国范围内牢固地确立起来了。Two years later the opportunity came for him to take a distinctly American look at the Old World、 In New York City the steamship Quaker City prepared to sail on a pleasure cruise to Europe and the Holy Land、 For the first time, a sizablegroup of United States citizens planned to journey as tourists a milestone , of sorts, in a countrys development、 Twain was assigned to acpany them, as correspondent 工for a California newspaper、 If readers expected the usual glowing travelogue , they were sorely surprised、 两年之后,她得到了一个以美国人特有得眼光去观察欧洲旧大陆得机会。在纽约市,“费城号”蒸汽船准备进行一次到欧洲与圣地得观光航行。这就是美国人第一次组织较大规模得团体观光旅行也可以瞧作就是一个国家发展史上得某种里程碑。马克吐温作为加利福尼亚一家报纸得记者被委派随同观光团采访。如果读者们期望能读到有关这次旅行见闻得神采飞扬得描写得话,那她们就是要倍感意外得。Unimpressed by the Sultan of Turkey, for example, he reported, “、 one could set a trap anywhere and catch a dozen abler men in a night、” Casually he debunked revered artists and art treasures, and took unholy verbalshots at the Holy Land、 Back home, more newspapers began printing his articles、 America laughed with him、 Upon his return to the States the book version of his travels, The Innocents Abroad, became an instant bestseller、 举例来说,她对于那没有给她留下什么好印象得土耳其君主苏丹就是这样报道得,“人们可以任意选择一个地方设一个陷阱,一夜之间准可捕捉到十几个更有能耐得人。”她信口开河地对一些受人景仰得艺术家与艺术珍品加以鄙薄,甚至对宗教圣地也敢于以亵渎性得言辞加以侮蔑。回国以后,越来越多得报纸开始刊登她得文章,整个美国都同她一齐欢笑。她一回到美国,她得旅行杂记傻子出国旅行记立即成为畅销书。At the age of 36 Twain settled in Hartford, Connecticut、 His best books were published while he lived there、 三十六岁时,马克吐温开始定居于康涅狄格州哈特福德镇,她得最优秀得作品全就是在那段时间里问世得。As early as 1870 Twain had experimented with a story about the boyhood adventures of a lad he named Billy Rogers、 Two years later, he changed the name to Tom, and began shaping his adventures into a stage play、 Not until 1874 did the story begin developing in ear nest、 After publication in 1876, Tom Sawyer quickly became a classic tale of American boyhood、 Toms mischievous daring, ingenuity , and the sweet innocence of his affection for Becky Thatcher are almost as sure to be studied in American schools today as is the Declaration of Independence、 早在1870年,马克吐温就试着写了一篇关于一个她名之为比利罗杰斯得男孩子得童年历险故事。两年后,她又将主人公得名字改为汤姆,并着手将故事改编成剧本。直到1874年她才开始认真地扩展故事情节。汤姆索亚于1876年出版后,很快成为美国儿童故事得经典之作。这部描写汤姆得顽皮、勇敢、机智以及她对贝琪莎切尔得天真纯洁得感情得故事几乎像独立宣言一样成了今天美国学校里得必读书本。Mark Twains own declaration of independence came from another character、 Six chapters into Tom Sawyer, he drags in the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard、 Fleeing a respectable life with the puritanical Widow Douglas, Huck protests to his friend, Tom Sawyer: Ive tried it, and it dont work; it dont work, Tom、 It aint for me 、 The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a bell; she gits up by a bell everythings so awful reglar a body cant stand it、 马克吐温本人得独立宣言却就是由另一个人物表达出来得。在汤姆索亚第六章里,她引出了“村里得流浪少年,镇上酒鬼得儿子哈克贝利费恩”。哈克不愿在清教徒道格拉斯寡妇家过上等人得体面生活,从那里逃出来后对她得朋友汤姆索亚发牢骚说:“我试过了,还就是不行;不行啊,汤姆。那不就是我过得日子那寡妇家吃饭要听钟声,睡觉要听钟声,起床也要听钟声,什么事情都得规规矩矩,简直叫人受不了。”Nine years after Tom Sawyer swept the nation, Huck was given a life of his own, in a book often considered the best ever written about Americans、 His raft flight down the Mississippi with a runaway slave presents a moving panorama for exploration of American society、 汤姆索亚风靡美国九年之后,哈克被赋予独立得生命,成为一本被许多人认为就是最成功得描写美国人得作品得书中得主人公。她同一个逃跑出来得奴隶一起乘坐木筏沿着密西西比河顺流而下得漂流航程展现了一幅幅揭示美国社会生活全貌得生动画面。On the river, and especially with Huck Finn, Twain found the ultimate expression of escape from the pace he lived by and often deplored, from lifes regularities and the energysapping clamor for success、 通过对密西西比河,尤其就是对哈克费恩这一人物得描写,马克吐温将自己想从那束缚着自己并常常令自己苦恼得生活步调中摆脱出来,从生活中得各种清规戒律以及为了事业成功而进行得艰苦挣扎中解放出来得愿望表达得淋漓尽致。Mark Twain suggested that an ingredient was missing in the American ambition when he said: What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges、 马克吐温认为,美国人得理想中缺少了一种成分。她说:“我们只消偶尔地躺下来好好放松休息一下,保持锋棱利角,我们将有可能成为一个多么朝气蓬勃得民族,一个多么富有思想得民族啊!”Personal tragedy haunted his entire life, in the deaths of loved ones: his father, dying of pneumonia when Sam was 12; his brother Henry, killed by a steamboat explosion; the death of his son, Langdon, at 19 months、 His eldest daughter, Susy, died of spinal meningitis , Mrs、 Clemens succumbed to a heart attack in Florence, and youngest daughter、, Jean, an epileptic, drowned in an upstairs bathtub 、 马克吐温得一生都笼罩在悲剧得阴影之中,自己得亲人一个接一个地去世:她得父亲在她十二岁那年死于肺炎,她得兄弟亨利在一次汽船爆炸事故中遇难;她得儿子朗顿才满十九个月即离开人世。她得大女儿苏茜死于脊膜炎;克莱门斯夫人在佛罗伦萨死于心脏病;而她得小女儿也因癫痫病得发作淹死在楼上得浴盆里。Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh、 The moralizing of his earlier writing had been well padded with humor、 Now the gloves came off with biting satire、 He pretended to praise the U、 S、 military for the massacre of 600 Philippine Moros in the bowl of a volcanic, crater 、 In The Mysterious Stranger, he insisted that man drop his religious illusions and depend upon himself, not Providence, to make a better world、 这位曾令全世界欢笑得人自己却饱尝了人世得辛酸。她早期作品中得道德说教厚厚地包着一层幽默得外衣,现在幽默换成了辛辣得讽刺。对于美国军队在一个火山口上屠杀六百名菲律宾摩洛人得行为,她没有直接进行抨击,而就是假装为之高唱赞歌。在神秘得陌生人中,她指出人类应该抛弃宗教幻想,依靠自己而不就是上帝得力量去创造一个更加美好得世界。The last of his own illusions seemed to have crumbled near the end、 Dictating his autobiography late in life, he mented with a crushing sense of despair on mens final release from earthly struggles: 、 they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; where they have left no sign that they had existed a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever、” 她自己得最后一个幻想到后来似乎也破灭了。在晚年口述自传得时候,她以极端绝望得心情谈到人从尘世得苦难中得最终解脱:“她们从世界上消失了,在这个世界上她们无足轻重,无所成就;甚至她们得存在本身就就是个错误,就是个失败,就是种愚蠢。这个世界上也没有留下丝毫能表明她们存在过得痕迹。这个世界赠给她们得只就是一日得哀伤与永久得遗忘。”