走进剑桥大学 第14期:花花公子拜伦

 Byron, the Play Boy

花花公子拜伦

More than any other poet Lord Byron has been identified with his own heroes - with Childe Harold, the romantic traveler; with Manfred, the outcast from society; with Don Juan, the cynical¹ lover. Although Byron did use his own life as the material for much of his poetry, it is by no means purely² autobiographical. It is，however, in his long poems that Byron’s genius most truly resides rather than in the lyrics³ which usually represent him in selections.

人们认为拜伦勋爵比其他任何诗人更像自己创造的英雄人物，富于浪漫色彩的旅游者恰尔德哈罗德、被社会摈弃的曼弗雷德、愤世嫉俗的情人唐璜。虽然拜伦用自己的生活经历作为素材写了很多诗篇，但这些诗篇决不纯粹是自传性质的。最能体现拜伦天赋的还是他的那些长诗，而不是通常在选集里作为他的代表作的抒情诗。

Byron was born into an aristocratic family of doubtful reputation. His father died of drink and debauchery when Byron was 3, and when he was 10 his great-uncle — the ‘wicked’ Lord Byron also died. So Byron inherited the title.

拜伦出生于一个名声不太好的贵族家庭。他3岁时,父亲就死于酗酒和放荡的生活。10岁时，他的叔祖，“邪恶的”拜伦勋爵也去世了。因此拜伦继承了爵位。

He was born with a malformed foot—a disability which tortured him with self-consciousness in his youth. He went to Harrow and to Trinity College, Cambridge, where, amongst other eccentricities，he kept a bear. While an undergraduate be published his first book of poem Hours of Idleness. The criticism it got stung Byron not to despair but to revenge, and he replied with a satire⁴ in the manner of Pope called English Bards⁵ and Scotch⁶ Reviewers. After Cambridge, Byron went on the grand tour of Europe, traditional for men of his education. For nearly 2 years he wandered about Greece and the Aegean Islands. This was the shaping time of his imagination.

拜伦出生时，他的一只脚就带有残疾，敏感的拜伦因此在年少时代备受折磨。拜伦就读于哈罗公学和剑桥大学三一学院。在剑桥念书时，他行为古怪，还养了一只熊。但是在大学期间，拜伦就出版了第一本诗集《闲散的时光》。人们对这本诗集的批评深深刺痛了拜伦的心，但他没有绝望，而是想报复，他以蒲柏的风格写了一篇名为《英格兰诗人和苏格兰评论家》的讽刺诗反驳那些批评。离开剑桥大学以后，拜伦启程前往欧洲开始长途旅行，这是受过像他这种教育的人的惯常做法，在将近两年的时间里，他游历了希腊和爱琴海群岛。这是拜伦想象力形成的时期。

On 20 February 1812，the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage were published. They took the town by storm. Byron became famous overnight. And in the next 4 years he wrote a series of romantic poems; the best among them being The Corsair and The Bride of Abydos. It is said that 14，000 copies of The Corsair were sold in a day.

1812年2月20日《恰尔德哈罗德游记》第一、二章出版了，全城为之轰动，拜伦也一夜成名。在接下来的4年里，他写了一系列浪漫诗篇，其中最好的有《海盗》和《阿比多斯的新娘》。据说，《海盗》一天就销售了14000册。

Byron had always been susceptible⁷ to women and attractive to them. Now that he was successful they threw themselves at his head. For 3 years he lived in the limelight, and then, quite unaccountably, married Ann Milbanke, a frigid⁸ and correct woman, entirely⁹ unsuited to him, but with a lot of money. She bore him a daughter and left him within a year.

拜伦喜好女色，而女子也钟情于他。由于他己飞黄腾达，女人们更愿意投怀送抱，3年里他出够了风头，然后，莫名其妙地和安妮米尔班克结了婚。她是一个冷漠的、严肃的妇女，对拜伦来说根本不合适，只是家境殷实罢了。她为拜伦生下了一个女儿, 不到一年就离开了他。

In 1823 he left Italy for Greece, but the next year, worn out with the ardours of the campaign, he caught rheumatic fever and died at Missolonghi, mourned as a national hero by the Greeks.

1823年，拜伦离开意大利前往希腊，但是第二年，由于热心独立运动而劳累过度, 染上了风湿病，最终在梅索朗吉昂辞世，成为希腊人所缅怀的一位民族英雄。

1 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

2 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

3 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

4 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

5 bards   

n.诗人( bard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were feasts and drinking and singing by the bards. 他们欢宴狂饮，还有吟游诗人的歌唱作伴助兴。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• Round many western islands have I been Which Bards in fealty to Apollo hold. 还有多少西方的海岛，歌都已使它们向阿波罗臣服。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

6 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

7 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

8 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。