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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
For the Union Dead
为联邦军阵亡将士而作
Relinquunt Ommia Servare Rem Publicam.
为共和国效力,他们奉献了一切
The old South Boston Aquarium1 stands
此刻,古老的南波士顿水族馆站立在
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.
雪的撒哈拉沙漠之中。它破败的窗子被木板封住。
The bronze weathervane cod2 has lost half its scales.
青铜风标上鳕鱼的鳞片已经剥落一半。
The airy tanks are dry.
空洞的鱼箱那么干燥。
Once my nose crawled like a snail3 on the glass;
我的鼻子曾经像蜗牛在玻璃上爬行;
my hand tingled4 to burst the bubbles
手颤抖着刺破泡沫,
drifting from the noses of the crowded, compliant5 fish.
那些泡沫在拥挤而顺从的鱼鼻子上漂浮。
My hand draws back. I often sign still
我缩回手。我依然常常为鱼和爬行动物的
for the dark downward and vegetating6 kingdom
漆黑、没落而单调的王国
of the fish and reptile7. One morning last March,
叹息。去年三月的一个清晨,
I pressed against the new barbed and galvanized
我靠着波士顿公园带刺、
fence on the Boston Common. Behind their cage,
镀锌的新栅栏。在围栏后面,
yellow dinosaur8 steamshovels were grunting9
黄色恐龙般的蒸汽铲咕噜作响
as they cropped up tons of mush and grass
同时抛出成吨的烂泥和青草
to gouge10 their underworld garage.
开凿它们的地下车库。
Parking spaces luxuriate like civic11
在波士顿市中心,停车场像民用
sandpiles in the heart of Boston.
沙堆一般滋长。
a girdle of orange, Puritan-pumpkin colored girders
一条橙色的、清教徒南瓜色的桁梁
braces12 the tingling13 Statehouse,
支撑着颤动的议会大厦,
shaking over the excavations14, as it faces Colonel Shaw
议会大厦因开凿而摇摆,它面对着
and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry15
圣·戈登斯摇晃的内战浮雕上
on St. Gaudens' shaking Civil War relief,
肖上校和他的铜钟脸颊的黑人团,
propped16 by a plank17 splint against the garage's earthquake.
浮雕被一块木夹板撑着以顶住来自车库的地震。
Two months after marching through Boston,
通过波士顿后两个月,
half of the regiment18 was dead;
黑人团员阵亡一半;
at the dedication19,
在致词仪式上,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.
威廉·詹姆斯几乎能听见青铜黑人在呼吸。
Their monument sticks like a fishbone
纪念碑如一根鱼刺
in the city's throat.
扎在城市的喉咙。
Its Colonel is a lean
上校那么瘦削
as a compass-needle.
犹如一枚指南针。
He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,
他具有发怒鹪鹩般的警觉,
a greyhound's gentle tautness20;
以及灰狗般温顺的紧张;
he seems to wince21 at pleasure,
他似乎要随时退缩,
因自私而窒息。
He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man's lovely,
如今他已越出边界。他欣喜于人在选择生死时
peculiar23 power to choose life and die—
美好而奇特的力量——
when he leads his black soldiers to death,
当他把黑人士兵领向死亡,
he cannot bend his back.
他不能弯曲背脊。
On a thousand small town New England greens
在新英格兰一千座小镇的绿地上
the old white churches hold their air
古老的白色教堂保存着
of sparse24, sincere rebellion; frayed25 flags
微薄而真诚的叛乱气氛;破损的旗帜
quilt the graveyards26 of the Grand Army of the Republic
犹如被子盖住共和国陆海军军人会墓地。
The stone statutes27 of the abstract Union Soldier
抽象的联邦军战士石雕
grow slimmer and younger each year—
逐年变得瘦削而年轻——
wasp-waisted, they doze28 over muskets29
他们细腰如蜂,倚着步枪瞌睡,
and muse30 through their sideburns...
透过落腮胡子沉思。
Shaw's father wanted no monument
肖的父亲需要的不是什么纪念碑
except the ditch,
而是那条战壕,
where his son's body was thrown
他儿子的尸体被扔在那里
and lost with his "niggers."
消失在“黑鬼们”中间。
The ditch is nearer.
战壕在靠近。
There are no statutes for the last war here;
此处没有上次大战的纪念碑;
on Boylston Street, a commercial photograph
在波尔斯顿大街上,一副商业照片
shows Hiroshima boiling
展示着广岛的烟云
over a Mosler Safe, the "Rock of Ages"
下面是一只莫斯勒保险柜,“时代之磐石”
that survived the blast. Space is nearer.
于爆炸中幸存。
when I crouch31 to my television set,
当我俯身打开电视,
the drained faces of Negro school-children rise like balloons.
黑人学生干枯的脸如气球飞升。
Colonel Shaw
肖上校
is riding on his bubble,
正骑着他的泡沫,
he waits
等待着
for the blessed break.
幸福的休息。
The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
水族馆已经逝去。无论何处,
giant finned32 cars nose forward like fish;
巨大的带鳍的车辆像鱼一样鼻子前伸;
一种野蛮的奴性
slides by on grease.
在油脂上滑过。
1 aquarium | |
n.水族馆,养鱼池,玻璃缸 | |
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2 cod | |
n.鳕鱼;v.愚弄;哄骗 | |
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3 snail | |
n.蜗牛 | |
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4 tingled | |
v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 compliant | |
adj.服从的,顺从的 | |
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6 vegetating | |
v.过单调呆板的生活( vegetate的现在分词 );植物似地生长;(瘤、疣等)长大 | |
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7 reptile | |
n.爬行动物;两栖动物 | |
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8 dinosaur | |
n.恐龙 | |
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9 grunting | |
咕哝的,呼噜的 | |
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10 gouge | |
v.凿;挖出;n.半圆凿;凿孔;欺诈 | |
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11 civic | |
adj.城市的,都市的,市民的,公民的 | |
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12 braces | |
n.吊带,背带;托架( brace的名词复数 );箍子;括弧;(儿童)牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 );撑牢;使自己站稳;振作起来 | |
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13 tingling | |
v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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14 excavations | |
n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 );开凿;开凿的洞穴(或山路等);(发掘出来的)古迹 | |
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15 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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16 propped | |
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 plank | |
n.板条,木板,政策要点,政纲条目 | |
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18 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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19 dedication | |
n.奉献,献身,致力,题献,献辞 | |
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20 tautness | |
拉紧,紧固度 | |
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21 wince | |
n.畏缩,退避,(因痛苦,苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动;v.畏缩,退缩,退避 | |
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22 suffocate | |
vt.使窒息,使缺氧,阻碍;vi.窒息,窒息而亡,阻碍发展 | |
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23 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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24 sparse | |
adj.稀疏的,稀稀落落的,薄的 | |
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25 frayed | |
adj.磨损的v.(使布、绳等)磨损,磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26 graveyards | |
墓地( graveyard的名词复数 ); 垃圾场; 废物堆积处; 收容所 | |
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27 statutes | |
成文法( statute的名词复数 ); 法令; 法规; 章程 | |
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28 doze | |
v.打瞌睡;n.打盹,假寐 | |
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29 muskets | |
n.火枪,(尤指)滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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30 muse | |
n.缪斯(希腊神话中的女神),创作灵感 | |
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31 crouch | |
v.蹲伏,蜷缩,低头弯腰;n.蹲伏 | |
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32 finned | |
adj.有鳍的,有鳍状物的 | |
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33 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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