听歌学英语: Aaron Neville - Don't Know Much 知道的不多

Look at this face
看着这张脸
I know the years are showing
我很清楚上面满是岁月的痕迹
Look at this life
瞅一眼我这一生
I still don't know where it's going
依然不知道将何去何从
I don't know much
我知道的不多
But I know I love you
但我知道我爱你
And that may be all I need to know
那也许就是我所需要了解的事

Look at these eyes
看着这双眼睛
They've never seen what mattered
它们从未见过大风大浪
Look at this dream
看看这些梦想
So beaten and so battered²
历经太多的波折
I don't know much
我知道的不多
But I know I love you
但我知道我爱你
And that may be all I need to know
那也许就是我所需要了解的事

So many questions
太多的疑问，
Still left unanswered
仍然没有得到答案
So much I've never broken through
太多事情我未能克服
And when I feel you near me
当我感觉到你靠近我
Sometimes I see so clearly
有时能看清一切
The only truth I've ever known
也许我唯一真正了解的是
Is me and you
你和我

Look at this man
看看这个男人
So blessed with inspiration
被灵感庇佑着
Look at this soul
看看他的灵魂
Still searching for salvation³
依然在寻求救赎
I don't know much
我知道的不多
But I know I love you
但我知道我爱你
And that may be all I need to know
那也许就是我所要知道的事情

I don't know much
我知道的不多
But I know I love you
但我知道我爱你
And that may be all I need to know
也许我这个就够了
I don't know much
我知道得不多
But I know I love you
但是我知道我爱你
And that may be all there is to know
也许我所需要了解这个就够了

歌曲赏析:

Look at this face .I know the years are showing.看着这张脸,上面满是岁月的痕迹。

我们都知道以动词开头的句子是祈使句。就像这里的Look at this face,以动词短语look at开头。后面的‘I know the years are showing’,year,有‘年，年头，岁数, 年华’，在这句歌词里，是‘岁月’的意思。来看几个例句:
Time and weather had long ago effaced⁴ the inscription⁵ on the monument.岁月和风雨早已磨掉纪念碑上的铭文。(efface是‘抹掉’的意思，inscription是‘碑文’的意思)
I loitered away the time in looking through the shop windows. 我以观看商店橱窗来消磨时光。（loiter，虚度；闲荡；徘徊）
Look at this face. I know the years are showing.听起来有点像是作者在看着镜子里的自己自言自语‘看看这张脸，上面满是岁月的痕迹了’。

Look at this life, I still don't know where it's going.审视这一生,我依然不知道何去何从。
这句话里面大家注意一下where it's going的用法。口语中打招呼常用的一句话是，Hey, where are you going?哎，您这是去哪儿呀？在‘Where is this going’这句话里面根据语境却可以是‘事情将进展到何种程度’或者‘接下来即将讲到的事情’。例如，
By now, you can probably guess where this is going.听到这里为止，你大概已经能猜到接下来要讲的事情了吧。
I am worried about where this is going.我很担心这件事情的发展走向。
有going肯定就有coming。关于coming，大家知道这句话是什么意思吗？‘I didn't see this one coming’‘我可怎么也没想到竟然会发生这样的事情’。‘What, your wife left you? I didn't see that coming.’啥，你老婆离开你了？没想过会发生这样的事情呢。

Look at this dream, so beaten and so battered.梦想，历经太多的波折，已经支离破碎。
这句话，主句是祈使句‘Look at this dream’,后面的so beaten and so battered是过去分词做伴随状语，修饰前面的dream。 beaten的原型是动词beat，在这里是‘打’的意思，而它的过去分词则有着形容词‘(经打击)精神上被压垮的，(精神)沮丧的’的意思。来看一个跟beat有关的例句:
When I was your age my father died and I was sold to Tongs⁶ as maid. There I ate the cold leftovers⁷ every day and I was often scolded and beaten. 我像你这么大的时候，我爹死了，我被卖到了童家，吃的是残羹冷炙，还经常受骂挨打。
再来看下batter¹这个词。batter[常用被动语态] (尤指因不加爱惜而)损坏，磨损，磨破，把…用旧，把…用坏，把…穿破。例如:
Rough roads had battered our cars. 崎岖不平的道路磨损了我们的汽车。
Look at this dream, so beaten and so battered.这句话，有点人生不得志的意味在里面。人到了一定年龄如果还是一无所成肯定会有种挫败和沮丧感的。大家记住了beaten和battered的用法了没有呢？这两个词是可以用来形容‘梦想受挫’或者‘精神疲惫’的哟。

So many questions still left unanswered.太多的疑问，仍然没有得到答案。
这里要重点讲解下unanswered这个词。unanswered是个adj. 表示‘未答复的；无反应的’。例如，Unanswered calls 指的是‘未接来电’跟missed calls是一个意思。跟unanswered意思相反的当然是answered啦。意为‘得到答复的’。那answered prayers是什么意思呢？prayer是祷告的意思，answered是‘得到答复的’，所以answered prayers就是‘对上帝的祈求应验了’或者‘如愿以偿’的意思。人生有太多的事情不是一下子就能想明白或者找到解决方法的。所以，我们时常面对的总是So many questions left unanswered.

Look at this man，so blessed with inspiration.看着这个男人，充满灵性。
be blessed with something表示的是‘赋有...天赋’或者‘享有...的福气’。大家注意下哦，这里的blessed是bless的被动形式，跟形容词blessed是有区别的。首先是读音不一样，动词bless的被动形式读的是/blest/，动词bless是‘保佑；祝福’的意思的，而形容词blessed的读音是/blesid/,意思是‘神圣的；愉快安宁的’。来看下例句，区分一下吧:
She's blessed with excellent health.她身体很好，这是一种福气。
I finally had a moment of blessed calm.我终于得到了片刻让人愉快的宁静。

Look at this soul still searching for salvation.灵魂，依然在寻求救赎。
跟上句联系起来的话就是，是个那么有灵性的人，但是灵魂却依然在寻找救赎。来看下salvation这个词，意思是‘拯救；救助’。那‘ 救世主；救星；救助者’怎么说呢，恩，救星的英语是‘savior’。来看这个例句:If she needs salvation, she will have to find a savior. 如果她需要救赎，她就不得不找到一个属于自己的救赎者。

1 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

4 effaced   

v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色

参考例句：

• Someone has effaced part of the address on his letter. 有人把他信上的一部分地址擦掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The name of the ship had been effaced from the menus. 那艘船的名字已经从菜单中删除了。 来自辞典例句

5 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

6 tongs   

n.钳；夹子

参考例句：

• She used tongs to put some more coal on the fire.她用火钳再夹一些煤放进炉子里。
• He picked up the hot metal with a pair of tongs.他用一把钳子夹起这块热金属。

7 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。