Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God's great, unflattering laureate, Nature.
這可不是柯勒律治(塞繆爾。泰勒??吕章芍问紫仁褂檬裁茨Я?而是上帝的偉大的。
I remember the first albatross I ever saw.
我記起我生平第一次看到信天翁的情況。
From my forenoon watch below, I ascended to the overclouded deck;
我午前在艙里休息過后,登上那灰蒙蒙的甲板;
and there, dashed upon the main hatches, I saw a regal, feathery thing of unspotted whiteness, and with a hooked, Roman bill sublime. At intervals, it arched forth its vast archangel wings, as if to embrace some holy ark.
想沖上大艙口去,我突然看到了一只帝王也似的鳥類,全身雪白,一無斑駁,一只羅馬式的大鉤嘴。
Wondrous flutterings and throbbings shook it.
這是一種壯大的,乳白色的戰(zhàn)馬,大眼小頭,胸部扁平,在它那高傲的儀表中,
Though bodily unharmed, it uttered CRIes, as some king's ghost in supernatural distress.
雖然它身體并未受傷,卻發(fā)出哭聲來,就象什么帝王的鬼魂在不可思議的災(zāi)難里哭。
Through its inexpressible, strange eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God.
從它那難以描摹的奇異的眼色中,我認(rèn)為我已窺探到它掌握有上帝的秘密。
As Abraham before the angels, I bowed myself;
我象亞伯拉罕對著天使一樣,連忙打躬。
the white thing was so white, its wings so wide, and in those for ever exiled waters, I had lost the miserable warping memories of traditions and of towns.
那只白色的東西顏色這么白,翅膀又這么闊大,使得我在那永遭放逐的海洋里,頓時(shí)把那些傳統(tǒng)的和城市的可憐的七顛八倒的記憶都忘得一干二凈。
Long I gazed at that prodigy of plumage.
我長久地凝視著那只奇異的禽鳥。
I cannot tell, can only hint, the things that darted through me then.
我對那只當(dāng)時(shí)直穿透了我的心靈的東西,真說不出個(gè)所以然來,只能隱約有個(gè)印象。
But at last I awoke; and turning, asked a sailor what bird was this.
最后我終于蘇醒過來;轉(zhuǎn)過頭去問一個(gè)水手,那是什么鳥。
A goney, he replied. Goney! never had heard that name before; is it conceivable that this glorious thing is utterly unknown to men ashore! never!
信天翁,他答道。信天翁。我從來沒有聽到過這名字;這是可以想象的么,這樣壯麗的東西,陸地人竟全然無知!從來沒有聽到過!
But some time after, I learned that goney was some seaman's name for albatross.
不過,過了一些時(shí),我才知道這是水手們對這種鳥的一種叫法。
So that by no possibility could Coleridge's wild Rhyme have had aught to do with those mystical impressions which were mine, when I saw that bird upon our deck.
因此,柯勒律治的狂熱的詩句,跟我當(dāng)時(shí)在甲板上看到那只鳥時(shí)的神秘的印象,絲毫沒有關(guān)連的可能。
For neither had I then read the Rhyme, nor knew the bird to be an albatross. Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet.
因?yàn)?當(dāng)時(shí)我既沒有念過那些詩句,也不知道那只鳥就叫信天翁。然而,話雖如此,我卻也間接地為這詩歌和這詩人的高貴的價(jià)值略為增添一點(diǎn)光彩了。