美国语文第六册 第257期:印第安耍把戏者(4)（在线收听）

The hearing a speech in Parliament drawled or stammered out by the honorable member or the noble lord,

在国会听尊敬的议员或高贵的大人故意拖长腔调的演讲，

the ringing the changes on their commonplaces, which anyone could repeat after them as well as they, stirs me not a jot,

他们企图让陈词滥调听上去富有变化，其实任何人都可以像他们一样重复这些老生常谈，没有任何东西能让我为之动容，

shakes not my good opinion of myself. I ask what there is that I can do as well as this. Nothing.

根本不会动摇我自认为正当的意见。我不禁会问，我能做什么。什么也做不了。

What have I been doing all my life? Have I been idle, or have I nothing to show for all my labor and pains?

我终其一生一直致力的到底是什么呢？我一直在虚度光阴，或者对我所有的辛劳和苦恼我就没一点想要阐明的吗？

Or have I passed my time in pouring words like water into empty sieves, rolling a stone up a hill and then down again,

抑或，我把时间都打发在像水一样往空空的漏勺里倾倒词语，不停地朝山上推石头，石头又不停地滚下来，

trying to prove an argument in the teeth of facts, and looking for causes in the dark, and not finding them?

企图证明显而易见的事实中的论点，指望在黑暗中寻找原因，而不是发现真理上了吗？

Is there no one thing in which I can challenge competition, that I can bring as an instance of exact perfection, in which others can not find a flaw?

就没有一件我能向竞争发起挑战，以此作为完美的例子，而其他人无从置喙的事情吗？

The utmost I can pretend to is to write a description of what this fellow can do.

我最觊觎的就是详细描绘一下这种人到底能做什么事情。

I can write a book, so can many others who have not even learned to spell.

我可以写一本书，那些甚至连拼写都没学会的人也能看明白。

What abortions are these essays! What errors, what ill-pieced transitions, what crooked reasons, what lame conclusions!

多少这样的文章都胎死腹中了啊！多么愚蠢的错误，拼凑得何其拙劣的过渡，多么荒谬的理由，多么蹩脚的结论！

How little is made out, and that little how ill!

让人如堕云雾，而流弊何其多也！