Genius Sacrificed for Failure朗读

英文作者：William N. Brown 译者：威廉•N．布朗 西学宗用精品英语出品 During my youth in America’s Appalachian [,æpə'leitʃjən] mountains, I learned that farmers preferred sons over daughters, largely because boys were better at heavy farm labor (though what boys anywhere could best打败,媲美the tireless Hui’an girls in the fields of Fujian!). 我在美国的阿巴拉契亚山区度过青少年时代时，发现那里的农民重男轻女，多半因为男子更能胜任重体力农活——当然，如果要和福建农田里的惠安妇女相比，她们那份不歇不竭的能耐是任何地方的男子都自叹弗如的! With only 3% of Americans in agriculture today brain has supplanted代替brawn[brɔːn]n.肌肉,体力, yet cultural preferences偏爱, like bad habits, are easier to make than break. But history warns repeatedly of the tragic cost of dismissing拒绝接受too casually ['kæʒjʊəlɪ]adv.随便地the gifts天赋 of the so-called weaker sex女性. 今天在美国，脑力已经取代了体力，只有百分之三的美国人在从事农业。但文化上的习俗正如陋规，形成容易冲破难。面对所谓“阴柔”性别，历史再三告诫我们，若对她们的秉赋过于轻率地否认，其代价将会何等惨重! About 150 years ago, a village church vicar ['vɪkə]n.教区牧师in Yorkshire, England, had three lovely, intelligent [ɪn'telɪdʒ(ə)nt]adj.聪明的daughters but his hopes hinged [hɪndʒd]vt.装铰链entirely on the sole male heir [εə]n.继承人, Branwell, a youth with remarkable [rɪ'ma:kəb(ə)l]adj.非凡的talent in both art and literature. 约150年前在英国的约克郡有一个乡村教区的牧师，他有三位聪慧可爱的女儿，但是他的希望却独独钉在唯一的承继者儿子布朗维尔身上。这个年轻人在艺术和文学上都有出众的天赋。 Branwell’s father and sisters hoarded [hɔːd]v.储藏their pennies to pack him off送走 to London’s Royal Academy of Arts, but if art was his calling n.行业(双关语), he dialed a wrong number. Within weeks he hightailed it 迅速逃走(口语用法) home, a penniless failure. 父亲和姐妹都省吃俭用，帮兄弟打点完备，送他上了伦敦皇家艺术学院。可是尽管他要以艺术为业，但拨错了号。不到几个礼拜，就不名一文，弃甲归家。 Hopes still high, the family landed获取 Branwell a job as a private tutor私人教师, hoping this would free him to develop his literary skills and achieve the success and fare境况 that deserved. Failure again. 然而家人并不就此罢休，他们又想方设法帮布朗维尔捞到一份私人教师的活儿，希望这份差事能够使他自由发展文学才能，走上应得的功成名就的大道。这次又失败了。 For years the selfless sisters squelched [skweltʃ]v.压制their own goals, farming themselves out (farm out出租,出佃) as teachers and governesses ['gʌv(ə)nɪs]n.女家庭教师in support of their increasingly indebted [ɪn'detɪd]adj.负债的 brother, convinced [kən'vɪnst]adj.确信的the world must eventually recognize his genius. As failures multiplied成倍增加, Branwell turned to alcohol, then opium, and eventually died as he had lived: a failure. So died hope in the one male—but what of the three anonymous [ə'nɒnɪməs]adj.无名的sisters? 几年来，无私的姐妹们压抑着她们自己的目标和志向，受雇于人做管家或家庭教师以支持她们那日益债台高筑的兄弟，她们深信世界总有一天会认识到他的天才。随着接踵而来的失败，布朗维尔开始酗酒，后来又吸上鸦片，最后死时与生前一样，一无所成，于是寄托在这唯一男性身上的指望也随之死去。但，那三位默默无闻的姐妹们又如何了呢? During Branwell’s last years, the girls published a book of poetry at their own expense (under a pseudonym ['sjuːdənɪm]n.假名,笔名, for fear of reviewers’ bias偏见against females). Even Branwell might have snickered ['snɪkə]v.窃笑: they sold only 2 copies. 在布朗维尔生前最后几年，姑娘们自己出资出版了一本诗集 (用的是假名，以防编辑们对女性的成见)。只卖出两本，就连布朗维尔也哂shěn笑她们。 Undaunted [ʌn'dɔːntɪd]adj.大无畏的,勇敢的, they continued in their spare time, late at night by candlelight, to pour out their pent-up 幽闭的emotion, writing of what they knew best, of women in conflict冲突 with their natural desires and social condition—in reality, less fiction小说(虚构) than autobiography [ɔːtəbaɪ'ɒgrəfɪ]n.自传! And 19th century literature was transformed by Anne’s Agnes ['æɡnis]Grey, Emily’s Wuthering ['wʌðəriŋ]Heights, and Charlotte’s ['ʃɑːlət] Jane Eyre. 然而她们并不气馁。姐妹们继续利用她们的空余时间，夜深人静时秉烛而书，倾吐她们幽禁的情怀，抒写她们最熟悉的一切。她们描写了那种女性自发的意愿与社会环境之间的冲突。实际上她们所写的与其说是小说不如说是自传! 于是，19世纪文学就因安妮的《安格尼斯•格雷》、艾米莉的《呼啸山庄》和夏洛特的《简•爱》而改观了。 But years of sacrifice for Branwell had taken their toll代价 (take its toll造成损失, 如伤亡等). Emily took ill at her brother’s funeral and died within 3 months, aged 29; Anne died 5 months later, aged 30; Charlotte lived only to age 39. If only they had been nurtured ['nə:tʃə]vt.养育,教养instead of sacrificed. 然而，三姐妹为了布朗维尔的多年牺牲，付出了沉重的代价。艾米莉在她兄弟葬礼的那—天便得了病，三个月之后便离世了，年方29岁；五个月后安妮也以30芳龄长逝；夏洛特则只活到39岁。假若她们能早日得到培养而不作牺牲，那该多好啊! No one remembers Branwell’s name, much less his art or literature, but the Bronte ['brɔnti] sister’s tragically short lives teach us even more of life than of literature. Their sacrificed genius ['dʒiːnɪəs]n.天才 cries out to大声呼喊,大声抱怨us that in modern society we must value评价children not by their physical strength or sexual gender性别, as we would any mere beast of burden驮兽(驴马), but by their integrity [ɪn'tegrɪtɪ]n.正直,诚实, strength, commitment [kə'mɪtm(ə)nt]n.责任心, courage—spiritual qualities abundant [ə'bʌndənt]adj.丰富的 in both boys and girls. China, a nation blessed by more boys and girls than any nation, ignores at her own peril ['perɪl]n.危险the lesson of the Bronte tragedy. 无人再记得布朗维尔的名字，更不用说他的艺术或文学。然而从勃朗特三姐妹悲剧性的夭折中我们学到的不仅是文学，更重要的是生命之谛，她们牺牲了的天分向我们大声疾呼：现代社会再不能以体力或性别，把子女当牛马来评估了。它必须就忠诚、能力、责任心、勇敢等等男女孩子都富有的精神品质来对他们评价。中国，这个有幸拥有世界上最多的男孩女孩的国家应从勃朗特悲剧中获得认识，免蹈覆辙。 Patrick Bronte fathered培养Branwell, but more importantly, he fathered Anne, Emily and Charlotte. Were he alive today he would surely urge us to put away our passe [pæ'se] (法语passer的过去分词,过时的) prejudices and avoid his own tragic and irrevocable [ɪ'revəkəb(ə)l]adj.不能取消的,不能撤回的error of putting all of his eggs in one male basket! 帕特利克•勃朗特养育了布朗维尔，但更重要的，他是安妮、艾米莉和夏洛特的父亲。倘若此人今日仍活着的话，他一定会迫切敦促我们放下我们的古旧偏见，避免他自己的悲剧和抱憾终身的过失：将—切都押在一个男性后裔身上。 About the author William N. Brown：美籍专家，多年在中国福建省高校执教。 英译汉练习 He was an undersized [ʌndə'saɪzd]adj.较一般为小的little man, with a head too big for his body—a sickly病态的 little man. His nerves were bad. He had skin trouble. It was agony ['ægənɪ]n. 苦恼for him to wear anything next to his skin coarser than silk. And he had delusions [dɪ'ljuʒən] of grandeur ['grændʒə]夸大妄想. He was a monster of conceit [kən'siːt]n.自负;狂妄. Never for one minute did he look at the world or at people, except in relation to himself. He was not only the most important person in the world, to himself; in his own eyes he was the only person who existed. He believed himself to be one of the greatest dramatists ['dræmətɪst]n.剧作家in the world, one of the greatest thinkers, and one of the greatest composers. To hear his talk, he was Shakespeare and Beethoven ['bei,təuvən], and Plato ['pleitəu], rolled into one合为一体. And you would have had no difficulty in hearing his talk. He was one of the most exhausting [ɪg'zɔːstɪŋ]adj.使筋疲力尽的conversationalists [,kɒnvə'seɪʃənəlɪst]n.健谈的人that ever lived. An evening with him was an evening spent in listening to monologue ['mɒn(ə)lɒg]n.独白. Sometimes he was brilliant; sometimes he was maddeningly ['mædniŋli]adv.令人发狂地tiresome ['taɪəs(ə)m] adj.烦人的,无聊的. But whether he was being brilliant or dull, he had one sole topic of conversation: himself. What he thought and what he did. 他身材极矮小，脑袋却大得出奇，一个病歪歪的小男人。他得了神经衰弱症，还患有皮肤病，除了丝绸衣服，都嫌粗糙，贴身穿苦不堪言。在其幻想中，他伟岸挺拔，乃是个自命不凡的怪物。除非和自己有关，他对世态炎凉、芸芸众生不屑一顾。对他而言，茫茫人世，唯我独尊；在他眼中，万物渺小，唯我独生。环宇之内，他的剧作崇高恢宏，他的思想博大深邃，他的作曲气势磅礴。听他侃侃而谈，他能集莎士比亚、贝多芬、柏拉图的理论于一身。听他夸夸其谈想必不会费劲。他是有生以来谈锋最健的人，可令听者筋疲力尽。与他共度一晚，就听他一个人滔滔不绝。有时候他显得才华横溢，有时候却烦不胜烦。不过，不管他是才华横溢也好，无聊乏味也罢，他的话题不外乎他自己，他的所思所想，他的所作所为。 (Bob Zong 译)