Alfred Tennyson: Ulysses

转载一首我很喜欢的英文诗，丁尼生的《尤利西斯》。

It little profits that an idle king, | 这太无谓——当一个闲散的君主
By this still hearth, among these barren crags, | 安居家中，在这个嶙峋的岛国．
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole | 我与年老的妻子相匹，颁布着
Unequal laws unto a savage race, | 不公的法律，治理野蛮的种族，
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. | 他们吃、睡、收藏，而不理解我。

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink | 我不能停歇我的跋涉：我决心
Life to the lees; all times I have enjoy'd | 饮尽生命之杯。我一生都在
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those | 体验巨大的痛苦、巨大的欢乐，
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when | 有时与爱我的狄伴一起，有时却
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades | 独自一个；不论在岸上或海上，
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; | 当带来雨季的毕宿星团催动，我已经变成这样一个名字
For always roaming with a hungry heart | 由于我如饥似渴地漂泊不止，
Much have I seen and known; cities of men | 我已见识了许多民族的城
And manners, climates, councils, governments, | 及其风气、习俗、枢密院、政府，
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all; | 而我在他们之中最负盛名；
And drunk delight of battle with my peers, | 我和同僚们共饮战斗的欢欣，
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy, | 在遥远而多风的特洛亚战场，
I am a part of all that I have met; | 我自己是我全部经历的一部分；
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' | 而全部经验，也只是一座拱门，
Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades | 尚未游历的世界在门外闪光，
For ever and for ever when I move. | 而随着我一步一步的前进，它的边界也不断向后退让。
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, | 最单调最沉闷的是停留，是终止，
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! | 是蒙尘生锈而不在使用中发亮！
As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life | 难道说呼吸就能算是生活？
Were all too little, and of one to me | 几次生命堆起来尚嫌太少，
Little remains: but every hour is saved | 何况我唯一的生命已余年无多。
From that eternal silence, something more, | 唯有从永恒的沉寂之中抢救
A bringer of new things; and vile it were | 每个小时，让每个小时带来一些新东西，带来一些新事物；
For some three suns to store and hoard myself, | 三年来我可耻地把自己封存和储藏起来，
And this gray spirit yearning in desire | 可这班白的心灵却迫切地向往
To follow knowledge like a sinking star, | 去追随知识，像那西沉的星星，
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. | 到那人类思想极限以外的地方。

This is my son, mine own Telemachus, | 这是我的儿子忒勒玛科斯，
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle— | 我给他留下我的岛国和王杖，
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil | 他是我所爱的，他有胆有识，
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild | 能胜任这一工作；谨慎耐心地
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees | 教化粗野的民族，用温和的步骤
Subdue them to the useful and the good. | 驯化他们，使他们善良而有用。
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere | 他是无可指责的，
Of common duties, decent not to fail | 在我离去后他会担起重任，
In offices of tenderness, and pay | 处理好那些需要谨慎应付的事务，
Meet adoration to my household gods, | 并对我家的佑护神表示崇敬。
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. | 他和我，将各做各的工作

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: | 海港就在那边，船儿已经扬帆，
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners, | 大海沉沉，朦胧一片。我的水手们——
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me— | 与我同辛劳、同工作、同思想的人，
That ever with a frolic welcome took | 他们总是高高兴兴去迎接
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed | 雷电和阳光，
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; | 并用自由的心与头颅来抗争，——
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; | 你们和我都已老了，但老年
Death closes all: but something ere the end, | 仍有老年的荣誉、老年的辛劳；
Some work of noble note, may yet be done, | 死亡终结一切，但在终点前
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. | 我们还能做一番崇高的事业，使我们配称为与神斗争的人。
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: | 礁石上的灯标开始闪光了：
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep | 长昼将尽，月亮缓缓攀登，
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, | 大海用无数音响在周围呻唤。来呀，朋友们，探寻更新的世界
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. | 现在尚不是为时过晚。
Push off, and sitting well in order smite | 开船吧！坐成排，划破这喧哗的海浪，
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds | 我决心驶向
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths | 太阳沉没的彼方，超越
Of all the western stars, until I die. | 西方星斗的浴场，至死方止。
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: | 也许深渊会把我们吞噬，
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, | 也许我们将到达琼岛乐土，
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. | 与老朋友阿喀琉斯会晤。
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' | 尽管已达到的多，未知的也多啊，
We are not now that strength which in old days | 虽然我们的力量已不如当初，
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; | 已远非昔日移天动地的雄姿，
One equal temper of heroic hearts, | 但我们仍是我们，英雄的心
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will | 尽管被时间消磨，被命运削弱，
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. | 奋斗、探索、寻求，而不屈服。