luck 馬克吐溫 中英文

精品文檔I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated1 English military men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant2 General Lord Arthur Scoresby.我出席了一次在倫敦舉行的為當(dāng)時最著名的英國軍人舉行的宴會。我不想告訴你他真實(shí)的名字和頭銜，我只想叫他阿瑟.斯考茲比爵士。I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people, did not seem to make any difference to him.當(dāng)我見到這位偉大而著名的人物的時候，興奮之情無以言表。他獨(dú)自一人坐在那里，渾身戴滿了勛章。我的注意力無法從他身上挪開，他好象就是真正偉大的標(biāo)志。他的名望對他根本沒什么影響，成百上千雙敬佩的眼睛，那么多人的崇敬似乎對他沒有一絲影響。Next to me sat a clergyman, who was an oldfriend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered “Privately he is a complete fool.” He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.坐在我旁邊的是一位牧師，我的一位老朋友。他并不是一直是個牧師，他的前半生在吾爾維希的軍校當(dāng)一名老師。當(dāng)他向我斜著身子輕聲說話的時候，眼睛里有一種奇怪的表情：“別跟別人說，他是個十足的傻子?！彼?，當(dāng)然指的是宴會上的那位英雄。This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend. I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon.他的話使我感到很震驚。這比他說拿破倫或者蘇格拉底或者所羅門王是傻子更令我吃驚。But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke3 the truth. And, his judgment4 of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me more. These are his exact words:但是，對于這位牧師，我有兩點(diǎn)可以確信：他總是說實(shí)話和他對人的判斷總是對的。因此，我想盡快找出我們那位大英雄的更多的秘密。幾天以后，我找到了一個和這位牧師談話的機(jī)會。下面就是他跟我說的，原文是：About forty years ago, I was an instructor5 in the military academy at Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination. I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he why, dear me he did not know anything, so to speak. He was a nice, pleasant young man. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of stupidity.大約四十年前，我在吾爾維希軍事學(xué)院任教的時候，年輕的斯考茲比參加了他的第一次考試。我感到他那么可憐，每個人都出色機(jī)智地回答了問題，而他-我的天，不知道為什么-也就是說，他什么也不知道。他是個友善的、舉止文雅的年輕人?？粗髩K木頭一樣站在那兒，凈給出一些愚蠢的回答，真是一件痛苦的事。I knew of course that when examined again he would fail and be thrown out. So, I said to myself, it would be a simple, harmless act to help him as much as I could.我當(dāng)然知道，如果再考一次他還失敗的話，他將會被開除了。于是，我對自己說，我盡自己最大所能去幫助他，將是一件簡單而無惡意的善事。I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Caesars history. But, he did not know anything else. So, I went to work and tested him and worked him like a slave. I made him work, over and over again, on a few questions about Caesar, which I knew he would be asked.我把他帶到一邊，發(fā)現(xiàn)他知道有關(guān)凱撒的一點(diǎn)歷史。由于其它的東西他都不知道，我就開始逼著他象做苦工一樣學(xué)習(xí)和檢測。我反復(fù)地讓他學(xué)習(xí)一些我知道會用上的關(guān)于凱撒的問題。If you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the examination. He got high praise too, while others who knew a thousand times more than he were sharply criticized. By some strange, lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years.請相信我，考試那天他出色地通過了，也得到了很高的贊賞。那些知道的比他多一千倍的人也通過了考試。出于奇妙而幸運(yùn)的巧合，除了我教他的那些問題以外，別的什么都沒有問道。象這樣的巧合，一百年也不會發(fā)生一次。Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself by some miracle.不過，雖然他學(xué)習(xí)的時候，我就象一位照顧有殘疾的孩子的母親一樣待在他身邊，他還是通過一些奇跡救了自己。I thought that what in the end would destroy him would be the mathematics examination. I decided6 to make his end as painless as possible. So, I pushed facts into his stupid head for hours. Finally, I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be his dismissal from school. Well, sir, try to imagine the result. I was shocked out of my mind. He took first prize! And he got the highest praise.我想最終會毀掉他的可能是數(shù)學(xué)。我決定盡可能使他的結(jié)局沒有痛苦。我長時間地訓(xùn)練他，把知識硬塞進(jìn)他那遲鈍的腦殼。我只在那些考官們最有可能提出的問題上訓(xùn)練和灌輸他。最后，我又讓他吃了一些補(bǔ)腦藥。呵。先生，你就盡力想象一下吧，我都被自己的智慧給震驚了，他得了一等獎!并且得到了最高獎勵。I felt guilty day and night what I was doing was not right. But I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him. I never dreamed it would lead to such strange, laughable results.I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen: The first real test once he was through school would ruin him.我日夜承受著良心的譴責(zé)-我所做的一切都是錯誤的，但是起初我只是想使他被開除的時候沒那么痛苦。這純粹是處于善意，我做夢也沒想到會產(chǎn)生這樣奇異的令人發(fā)笑的結(jié)果。我想一件事遲早肯定會發(fā)生：第一次真正的考試會毀了他。Then, the Crimean War broke out. I felt that sad for him that there had to be a war. Peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found out as being so stupid. Nervously7, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer. A captain, of all things! Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his.后來，克里米亞戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)了，我覺得對他來講，戰(zhàn)爭是一件悲哀的事。和平的時候，可以給這頭蠢驢一次機(jī)會，免得他被別人發(fā)現(xiàn)是個白癡。我神經(jīng)緊張地等著最糟糕的事情發(fā)生。它的確發(fā)生了，它發(fā)生的時候，恐懼在我的大腦里縈繞不停。他被任命成了隊長，負(fù)責(zé)全部事物的隊長!誰能想到他們會把如此重任放在象他那樣柔弱的肩膀上呢!隊長!我覺得我的頭發(fā)會愁白的。I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this. I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So, I joined up with him. And away we went to the field.你想想我做了些什么?我跟自己說，我要為此事對國家負(fù)責(zé)：我必須和他一塊去盡力保衛(wèi)這個國家。于是我和他一塊加入了部隊，我們開到了戰(zhàn)場。And there oh dear, it was terrible. Mistakes, fearful mistakes why, he never did anything that was right nothing but mistakes. But, you see, nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was. Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as works of great intelligence. They did, honestly! His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry, and shout and scream too to himself, of course. And what kept me in a continual fear was the fact that every mistake he made increased his glory and fame.在那-哦，老天，太可怕了。愚蠢的錯誤，可怕的錯誤-為什么，他從來沒做過對的事情-除了愚蠢的錯誤。但是，你知道，沒人知道他有多么愚蠢這個秘密。大家都在執(zhí)行他的錯誤指示，當(dāng)然都誤解了他的戰(zhàn)斗部署。他們把他白癡式的錯誤看成了天才的指揮，并且，一絲不扣地執(zhí)行了。他犯的一個最小的錯誤使一個想法正確的人痛苦了起來，怒氣沖沖地朝著他大嚷大叫，而且使我一直害怕的是，他犯的每一個錯誤都為他的愚蠢贏得了更多的榮譽(yù)和更高的名聲?！盜 kept saying to myself that when at last they find out about him, it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.我一直在對自己說，當(dāng)他們最終看清了他時，那就會象太陽從天空墜落一樣。He continued to climb up, over the dead bodies of his superiors. Then, in the hottest moment of one battle down went our colonel. My heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was the next in line to take his place. Now, we are in for it, I said他踩著上級的尸體不斷地往上爬。后來，在戰(zhàn)斗最激烈的時候，我們的上校陣亡了。我的心一下子跳到了嗓子眼，對于斯考茲比，下一個要取代的就是他的位置?，F(xiàn)在，我們要吃苦頭了，我想。The battle grew hotter. The English and their allies were steadily8 retreating all over the field. Our regiment9 occupied a position that was extremely important. One mistake now would bring total disaster.戰(zhàn)斗越來越激烈，英國人和他們的盟友持續(xù)地全線潰退。我們團(tuán)占領(lǐng)了一處極其重要的位置?，F(xiàn)在一個愚蠢的錯誤就會帶來致命的災(zāi)難。And what did Scoresby do this time he just mistook his left hand for his right handthat was all. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left. We were over the hill before this insane movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find? A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting!這次斯考茲比會做什么呢?-他能做的，只會把左右手給搞錯。上級下達(dá)了命令，讓他后退來支持其他部隊的右翼，可是，他卻往前進(jìn)發(fā)，爬上了左面的山頭。這次瘋狂的行動還沒來得及發(fā)覺和阻止，我們已經(jīng)爬上了左面的山頭。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么呢?一整支毫無戒備的俄過部隊正在那里待命。And what happened were we all killed? That is exactly what would have happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself would come around there at such a time.It must be the whole British army, they thought. They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder10, and we after them. In no time, there was the greatest turn around you ever saw. The allies turned defeat into a sweeping11 and shining victory.接下來發(fā)生什么了，我們被吃掉了嗎?-但是并沒有發(fā)生-那些被嚇壞了的俄國兵爭吵了起來，他們認(rèn)為，在那樣緊張的時刻，不可能只有一個團(tuán)在那里游蕩。他們認(rèn)為那肯定是整個英國軍隊。他們掉轉(zhuǎn)方向倉促地跑到了另一座山上，又下了山，陷入了血腥混亂的戰(zhàn)場。我們就跟在他們后面，接著他們就開始了從未見過的大潰敗。盟軍們轉(zhuǎn)敗為勝，取得了輝煌的勝利。The allied12 commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise and joy. He sent right off for Scoresby, and put his arms around him and hugged him on the field in front of all the armies.堪勞波特元帥在旁觀戰(zhàn)，驚奇而高興地左右看著。他把右線讓出來給斯考茲比，讓自己的軍隊配合他，把他放在了所有軍隊的最前沿。Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader honored throughout the world. That honor will never disappear while