历史英雄名人演讲 第5期:作家的责任(1)

 　　2.Shoulder the Responsibility of Being a Writer

　　2.肩负起作为一名作家的责任

　　Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it.

　　当今人们普遍存在着一种生理上的恐惧，这种恐惧由来已久，以致我们都已经习惯了。

　　There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up?

　　现在不存在精神上的问题，惟一的问题是——我什么时候会爆炸？

　　Because of this, the young man or women 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.

　　正因如此，今天从事写作的男女青年已经忘记了人类内心的冲突，而这种冲突恰恰是创作的源泉，因为这是惟一值得写、值得呕心沥血地去写的题材。

　　He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid;

　　创作者必须重新学会这一切；必须教会自己认识到一切事物的本质是恐惧；

　　and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities¹ and truths of the heart,

　　教会自己学会忘记一切恐惧；在自己的创作空间里不给其他东西留任何空间，惟一拥有的是心灵的真谛。

　　the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion² and sacrifice.

　　世界上放之四海而皆准的真理是：任何创作一旦缺乏爱，荣誉，同情，自豪，怜悯和牺牲都将是短暂的，是注定要失败的。

1 verities   

n.真实( verity的名词复数 )；事实；真理；真实的陈述

参考例句：

• the eternal verities of life 生命永恒的真理

2 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。