Ralph

Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882), known professionally as Waldo

Emerson, was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the

Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion

of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of

society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays

and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

My dear Keats,

 

I hear with great pain the dangerous

accident you have undergone, and Mr. Gisborne, who gives me the account of it,

adds that you continue to wear a consumptive appearance. This consumption is particularly

fond of people who write such good verses as you have done, and with the

assistance of an English winter it can often indulge its selection. I do not

think that young and amiable poets are bound to gratify its taste; they have

entered into no bond with the Muses to that effect.

 

But seriously (for I am joking on what I am

very anxious about) I think you would do well to pass the winter after so

tremendous an accident, in Italy, and if you think it as necessary as I do, so

long as you continue to find Pisa or its neighborhood agreeable to you, Mrs.

Shelley unites with myself in urging the request, that you would take up your

residence with us. You might come by sea to Leghorn (France is not worth

seeing, and the sea is particularly good for weak lungs), which is within a few

miles of us. You ought, at all events, to see Italy, and your health, which I

suggest as a motive, might be an excuse to you. I spare declaration about the

statues, and the paintings, and the ruins, and what is a greater piece of

forbearance, about the mountains streams and fields, the colors of the sky, and

the sky itself.

 

I have lately read your ‘Endymion’ again

and even with a new sense of the treasure of poetry it contains, though

treasures poured forth with indistinct profusion. This, people in general will

not endure, and that is the cause of the comparatively few copies which have

been sold. I feel persuaded that you are capable of the greatest things, so you

but will.

 

I always tell Ollier to send you copies of

my books. – ‘Prometheus Unbound’ I imagine you will receive nearly at the same

time with this letter. ‘The Cenci’ I hope you have already received – it was

studiously composed in a different style.

 

‘Below the good how far! But far above the

great.’

 

In poetry I have sought to avoid system and

mannerism; I wish those who excel me in genius would pursue the same plan.

 

Whether you remain in England, or journey

to Italy, believe that you carry with you my anxious wishes for your health,

happiness and success, wherever you are, or whatever you undertake, and that I

am.

 

Yours Sincerely,

P. B. Shelly

本文是许地山（1892-1941）的一篇久为流传的散文。作者回忆自己童年时代的一个小小片断，以朴实无华、清新自然的笔调，从花生的平凡而有用，谈到做人的道理，富于哲理，反映他身处旧社会的污泥浊流而洁身自好、不慕虚名的思想境界。

 

英译时以保持原作娓娓讲故事的朴素风格为要，译文除符合英语习惯和规范外，遣词宜力求通俗，造句宜力求简洁。

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and

over again, there is no use in reading it at all. (Oscar Wilde)

 

如果一本书无法让你一读再读而感到是种享受，那么这本书根本就不值一读。（奥斯卡·王尔德）

The value of experience is not in seeing

much, but in seeing wisely. (William Osler)

 

人生经历的价值并不在其多少，而在于是否睿智地去感悟。（

威廉·奥斯勒 ）

Bright

Star, Would I Were Stedfast as Thou Art

John Keats

 

Bright

star, would I were stedfast as thou art—

Not in

lone splendor hung aloft the night,

And

watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like

nature's patient, sleepless eremite,

 

The

moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure

ablution round earth's human shores,

Or

gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow

upon the mountains and the moors;

 

No—yet

still stedfast, still unchangeable ,

Pillow'd

upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel

for ever its soft swell and fall,

Awake

for ever in a sweet unrest,

 

Still,

still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And

so live ever—or else swoon to death.

I'm not upset that you lied to me. I'm

upset that from now on I can't believe you. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

 

我不会因为你对我说谎而烦恼，我烦恼的是，从现在起我再也没法相信你了。（弗里德里希·尼采）

费·司各特·菲茨杰拉德（1896-1940），美国小说家。1920年出版了长篇小说《人间天堂》，从此出了名，小说出版后他与吉姗尔达结婚。婚后携妻寄居巴黎，结识了安德逊、海明威等多位美国作家。1925年《了不起的盖茨比》问世，奠定了他在现代美国文学史上的地位，成了20年代“爵士时代”的发言人和“迷惘的一代”的代表作家之一。

The home is not the one tame place in the

world of adventure. It is the one wild place in the world of rules and set

tasks. (G.K. Chesterton)

 

家，不是纷乱历险世界中的安逸所，而是充满规则和任务的世界中的狂野之地。（吉尔伯特·基斯·切斯特顿）

When Should Lovers Breathe Their Vows?

Letitia

Elizabeth Landon

 

When

should lovers breathe their vows?

When

should ladies hear them?

When the

dew is on the boughs,

When

none else are near them;

When the

moon shines cold and pale,

When the

birds are sleeping,

When no

voice is on the gale,

When the

rose is weeping;

When the

stars are bright on high,

Like

hopes in young love's dreaming,

And

glancing round the light clouds fly,

Like

soft fears to shade their beaming.

The

fairest smiles are those that live

On the

brow by starlight wreathing;

And the

lips their richest incense give

When the

sigh is at midnight breathing.

Oh

softest is the cheek's love-ray

When

seen by moonlight hours,

Other

roses seek the day,

But

blushes are night-flowers.

Oh when

the moon and stars are bright,

When the

dew-drops glisten ,

Then

their vows should lovers plight,

Then

should ladies listen!