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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Man will Prevail
----William Faulkner(1897-1962)
I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication1 for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim2 too, by using this moment as a pinnacle3 from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated4 to the same anguish5 and travail6, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing7.
Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid: and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities8 and truths of the heart, the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed--love and honor and pity and pride and compassion9 and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors10 under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust11, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, and victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands12.
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal13, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props14, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
1 dedication | |
n.奉献,献身,致力,题献,献辞 | |
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2 acclaim | |
v.向…欢呼,公认;n.欢呼,喝彩,称赞 | |
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3 pinnacle | |
n.尖塔,尖顶,山峰;(喻)顶峰 | |
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4 dedicated | |
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的 | |
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5 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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6 travail | |
n.阵痛;努力 | |
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7 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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8 verities | |
n.真实( verity的名词复数 );事实;真理;真实的陈述 | |
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9 compassion | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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10 labors | |
v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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11 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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12 glands | |
n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
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13 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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14 props | |
小道具; 支柱( prop的名词复数 ); 支持者; 道具; (橄榄球中的)支柱前锋 | |
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