I
I
Living is no laughing matter:
生活不是可笑之事：
you must live with great seriousness
你必须极其认真地生活
like a squirrel, for example—
例如，像一只松鼠——
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
我是说，不要追求超乎生活之外的东西，
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
我是说，生活必须是你的全部工作。
Living is no laughing matter:
生活不是可笑之事：
you must take it seriously,
你必须认真对待，
so much so and to such a degree
认真到这等程度，
that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,
例如，你的双手被绑在背后，
your back to the wall,
你的背靠着墙，
or else in a laboratory
或是在一间实验室
in your white coat and safety glasses,
穿白大褂、戴防护镜，
you can die for people—
你可以为人民而死——
even for people whose faces you’ve never seen,
甚至是为那些素未谋面的人，
even though you know living
即便你知道，生活
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.
是最真实、最美好的事。
I mean, you must take living so seriously
我是说，你必须如此认真对待生活
that even at seventy, for example, you’ll plant olive trees—
即便七十岁，例如，你也会种植橄榄树——
and not for your children, either,
而这也并非为了你的子孙，
but because although you fear death you don’t believe it,
仅是因为即便你畏惧死亡，你并不相信它，
because living, I mean, weighs heavier.
因为生活，我是说，更重要。
1947
1947
II
II
Let’s say we’re seriously ill, need surgery—
比如说，我们病重，需要手术——
which is to say we might not get up
这意味着我们可能无法
from the white table.
走下手术台。
Even though it’s impossible not to feel sad
即便这不可能不让人感受悲伤，
about going a little too soon,
走得有些过于匆促，
we’ll still laugh at the jokes being told,
我们仍会被讲出的笑话逗乐，
we’ll look out the window to see if it’s raining,
我们会望向窗外，看有没有下雨，
or still wait anxiously
或者仍会焦急等待
for the latest newscast. . .
最新的新闻广播……
Let’s say we’re at the front—
比如说，我们身在前线——
for something worth fighting for, say.
即，为了那值得斗争的事情。
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
在那里，在首次进攻中，就在那天，
we might fall on our face, dead.
我们可能以面扑地，死去。
We’ll know this with a curious anger,
我们会以不寻常的愤怒知晓这一点，
but we’ll still worry ourselves to death
但我们仍会至死都在担忧
about the outcome of the war, which could last years.
这场可能持续数年的战争的结局。
Let’s say we’re in prison
比如说，我们身陷监牢，
and close to fifty,
年近五十，
and we have eighteen more years, say,
我们还有十八年，即，
before the iron doors will open.
在层层铁门打开之前。
We’ll still live with the outside,
我们仍会和外界共同生活，
with its people and animals, struggle and wind—
和它的人民与动物、斗争与风——
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
我是说，和高墙之外的外界。
I mean, however and wherever we are,
我是说，无论如何、无论身在何处，
we must live as if we will never die.
我们必须生活，就像我们永不死去。
1948
1948
III
III
This earth will grow cold,
这地球将变得冰冷，
a star among stars
群星中的一颗星，
and one of the smallest,
最小的中的一个，
a gilded mote on blue velvet—
蓝色丝绒上的镀金斑点——
I mean this, our great earth.
我是说，这就是我们的广大地球。
This earth will grow cold one day,
有一天这地球将变得冰冷，
not like a block of ice
不像一块冰
or a dead cloud even
甚至也不像一朵垂死的云
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
仅仅像是一颗空核桃，滚动
in pitch-black space . . .
在漆黑的太空之中……
You must grieve for this right now
你现在一定为此悲痛
—you have to feel this sorrow now—
——你现在必须感受这悲痛——
for the world must be loved this much
因为这世界必须被如此热爱，
if you’re going to say “I lived”. . .
你才能说：“我曾活过”……
1948.2
1948.2