1891年,處在寫作生涯巔峰期的王爾德遇見了阿爾弗雷德·“波西”·道格拉斯(Alfred "Bosie" Douglas),兩人很快成為了同性戀人。四年后,因?yàn)檫@段“不敢說出名字的愛”,王爾德被判“有傷 風(fēng)化”罪而入獄。在獄中,王爾德開始反思從前的生活,思索痛苦和人生的意義,藝術(shù)和愛的真諦,最終將那些痛苦的淚水都化作優(yōu) 美而深沉的文字,寫成了這封名為"de profundis"(從深處)的長(zhǎng)信。

作者簡(jiǎn)介:奧斯卡·王爾德(Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900),英國(guó)維多利亞時(shí)代著名作家,“唯美主義 運(yùn)動(dòng)”的領(lǐng)軍人物,倡導(dǎo)“為藝術(shù)而藝術(shù)”(Art for art's sake)。他的代表作有戲劇《莎樂美》(Salome)《認(rèn)真的 重要性》(The Importance of Being Earnest),童話《快樂王子》(The Happy Prince) 《夜鶯與玫瑰》(The Nightingale and the Rose) ,小說《道連·格雷的畫像》(The Picture of Dorian Gray),以及書信《自深深處》(De Profundis)等。

【原著選段】

You must remember that, if when matched with one mere moment of my imprisonment the balance?in which you lie kicks the beam, Vanity made you?choose the balance, and Vanity made you cling to it.?There was the one great psychological error of our?friendship, its entire want of proportion. You forced?your way into a life too large for you, one whose?orbit transcended your power of vision no less?than your power of cyclic motion, one whose?thoughts, passions and actions were of intense importance, of wide interest, and fraught, too heavily indeed,?with wonderful or awful consequence. Your?little life of little whims and moods was admirable?in its own little sphere.?In yourself, you were?all right. You were a very complete specimen of a very modern type. It was simply in reference to me that?you were wrong.

【朱純深譯本】

你應(yīng)該記住,只需同我在牢獄中的一個(gè)片刻相比,你那一頭的天平就要翹到天上去。虛榮心使你選了那一頭,虛榮心使你緊抱著那一頭。你我的友誼存在著這么一個(gè)心理上的大錯(cuò),即完全不成比例。你硬闖進(jìn)了一個(gè)對(duì)你來說是太大了的生活,其軌道之高遠(yuǎn),為你的圓周運(yùn)動(dòng)能力所不逮,也非你的目力所能及,其思想、激情和行動(dòng)舉足輕重,備受關(guān)注,動(dòng)輒充滿了——的確是充得太滿了——令人驚嘆或令人敬畏的影響。你那小小的生活, 那些小小的異想天開、喜怒無常,在它自己小小的范圍內(nèi)值得欽佩。就你本人, 沒什么可說的。你是一種非常現(xiàn)代的類型的一個(gè)非常完整的標(biāo)本。只是在同我參照時(shí)才顯得你錯(cuò)了。

【讀書筆記】

1、kick the beam?(因重量過輕)秤桿翹起,引申為“重量極輕;價(jià)值極小”。

2、proportion n.比例;均衡;相稱
【舉例】What's the proportion of boys to girls in the class??班上男女學(xué)生的比例如何?
The painting lacks proportion. 這幅畫比例失調(diào)。
His susccess bore no proportion to his abilities.?他的成就與他的才能不相稱。

3、transcend?v.超出;超越;優(yōu)于
【舉例】The story transcends belief.?這故事讓人難以置信。
These questions transcend the limits of language study.?這些問題超出了語言研究的范圍。
The latest book of the writer transcends anything else he has produced. 這位作家的新書超越了他以前所有的作品。

4、whim?n.突然產(chǎn)生的念頭;異想天開;心血來潮
【舉例】have a whim for doing sth.?突然想做某事
do sth. on a whim 心血來潮地做了某事
be governed by whim 受沖動(dòng)支配

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