雙語對照 ● The Mirror　鏡子的人生哲理

The Mirror　鏡子的人生哲理

◎ Robert Fulghum

“Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”

“帕帕德羅斯博士，生命的價值是什么？”

The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.

嘲笑者們又像往常一樣笑了起來，人們喧鬧著要走。

Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.

帕帕德羅斯舉起手，示意教室里的人安靜。然后，他久久地凝視著我，似乎在審查我是不是認真的。從我的眼神中，他看出我并不是在開玩笑。

“I will answer your question.”

“我會回答你的問題?！?

Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold[20]and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.

他從褲子后面的口袋里掏出皮夾子，從里面拿出一塊小圓鏡，大小與一個2角5分的硬幣差不多。

And what he said went like this:

而后，他這樣說道：

“When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.

“在戰(zhàn)爭時期，我還是個小男孩，那時家里很窮，我們住在一個偏僻的小村莊里。有一天，我在馬路上發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多鏡子碎片。曾有一輛德國摩托車在那里發(fā)生了事故。

“I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine—in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.

“我試著找到所有的碎片，把它們拼起來，但這是不可能做到的，所以我只留下了那塊最大的碎片。在石頭上打磨成圓形以后就成了這個樣子。我開始拿著它當玩具，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己能用它把光線反射到黑暗的地方：深洞、裂縫、漆黑的壁櫥等太陽無法照亮的地方。所以，我非常喜歡它，把它當成一種游戲——讓光線進入我能找到的最隱蔽的地方。

“I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about nay growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light—truth, understanding, knowledge—is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.

“這塊小鏡子我至今仍保留著，并且，隨著自己慢慢地成長，空閑的時候，我還會把它拿出來，繼續(xù)這種富于挑戰(zhàn)的游戲。等我長大成人后，便逐漸明白了，這不僅是一個孩子的游戲，更暗示著我的人生價值。我開始知道自己不是光芒，也不能發(fā)出光芒。但是真理、理解和知識這些光芒就在那里，它會照亮許多黑暗的地方，只要我去反射的話。

“I am a fragment[21]of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world—into the black places in the hearts of men—and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.”

“我是一面鏡子的一塊碎片，盡管整個鏡子的式樣和形狀我并不知道。但是，我竭盡所能地反射光芒，照亮世界上那些黑暗的地方——照亮人們心靈的黑暗處——讓一些人有所改變。也許有人看到后也會跟我做同樣的事。這就是我，這就是我的人生價值。”

美麗語錄

You’ve got a smile that could light up this whole world.

你有一種笑容，可以照亮整個世界。

超多雙語閱讀，盡在聽力課堂