精美英文欣赏:探寻内心

Part1 Questing Inward

第一部分 探寻内心

"On my head pour only the sweet waters of serenity¹. Give me the gift of the Untroubled Mind."

"只在我头上灌注宁静的蜜露，赐予我一份不受干扰的心境。"

Once, as a young man full of exuberant² fancy, I undertook to draw up a catalogue of the acknowledged "goods" of life. As other men sometimes tabulate³ lists of properties they own or would like to own, I set down my inventory⁴ of earthly desirables: health, love, beauty, talent, power, riches, and fame.

曾经，当我还是个充满丰富幻想的年轻人时，我着手起草了一份被公认为人生"幸福"的目录。就像别人有时会将他们所拥有或想要拥有的财产列成表，我将世人皆求之物列成表：健康、爱情、美丽、权利、才智、财富和名誉。

When my inventory was completed I proudly showed it to a wise elder who had been the mentor⁵ and spiritual model of my youth. Perhaps I was trying to impress him with my precocious⁶ wisdom. Anyway, I handed him the list. "This", I told him confidently, "is the sum of mortal goods. Could a man possess them all, he would be as a god."

当我完成清单后，我自豪地将它交给一个睿智的长者，他曾是我少年时代的良师和精神楷模。或许我是想尽力地在他面前展现我早熟的睿智。无论如何，我把单子递给了他，我充满自信地对他说："这是人类幸福的总和。一个人若能拥有这些，就和神差不多了。"

At the corners of my friend's old eyes, I saw wrinkles of amusement gathering⁷ in a patien net. An excellent list," he said, pondering it thoughtfully. "well digested in content and set down in not-unreasonable order. But it appears, my young friend, that you have omitted the most important element of all. You have forgotten the one ingredient, lacking which each possession becomes a hideous⁸ torment⁹."

在我朋友沉淀着岁月印记的眼角处，我看到愉悦的皱纹汇聚成一张耐心的网。"是一张出色的表单，"他深思熟虑后说。"内容分类清晰，顺序排列合理。但是，我的年轻朋友，好像你忽略了最重要的一个要素。你忘记了那个要素，如果缺少了它，每一次拥有都变成可怕的折磨。"

"And what,"I asked, peppering my voice with truculence,"is that missing ingredient?

我问道，言语间充满着急躁和不满："那么，我遗漏的要素是什么？"

" With a pencil stub he crossed out my entire schedule. Then, having demolished¹⁰ my adolescent dream structure at a single stroke, he wrote down three syllables¹¹: peace of mind. "This is the gift that God reserves for His special Proteges," he said.

他用一小节铅笔划掉了我的整张表格，一拳击碎了我的少年美梦。紧接着写下了三个字：心之静。"这是上帝为他特别的子民保留的礼物。"他说道。

Talent and beauty He gives to many. Wealth is commonplace, fame not rare. But peace of mind-that is His final guerdon of approval, the fondest insignia of His love. He bestows¹² it charily¹³. Most men are never blessed with it: others wait all their lives-yes, far into advanced age-for this gift to descend¹⁴ upon them."

"上帝赋子许多人才能和美丽。财富司空见惯，名望并非稀有。但心灵的宁静才是他允诺最终赏赐，是他爱的最佳象征。他施予它的时候很谨慎，多数人从未享受过，有些人则等待了一生--是的，一直到暮年，才等到赏赐降临他们身上。"

1 serenity   

n.宁静，沉着，晴朗

参考例句：

• Her face,though sad,still evoked a feeling of serenity.她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。
• She escaped to the comparative serenity of the kitchen.她逃到相对安静的厨房里。

2 exuberant   

adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的

参考例句：

• Hothouse plants do not possess exuberant vitality.在温室里培养出来的东西，不会有强大的生命力。
• All those mother trees in the garden are exuberant.果园里的那些母树都长得十分茂盛。

3 tabulate   

v.列表，排成表格式

参考例句：

• It took me ten hours to tabulate the results.我花了十个小时把结果制成表格。
• Let me tabulate the results as follows.让我将结果列表如下。

4 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

5 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

6 precocious   

adj.早熟的；较早显出的

参考例句：

• They become precocious experts in tragedy.他们成了一批思想早熟、善写悲剧的能手。
• Margaret was always a precocious child.玛格丽特一直是个早熟的孩子。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

9 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

10 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

11 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

12 bestows   

赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Second, Xie Lingyun bestows on basic subject and emotion connotation. 谢灵运赋的基本主题及情感内涵。
• And the frigid climate bestows Heilongjiang rich resources of ice and snow. 寒冷的气候赋予了其得天独厚的冰雪资源。

13 charily   

小心谨慎地，节俭地，俭省地

参考例句：

14 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。