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● symmetrical:对称的。pencilled:并不真是用铅笔画的;线条很细,好像是铅笔画的。spiral:螺旋线。此字乃本句之主语。pinpoint:像针头那样细的。core:核心。此字和center是“同位”。pupil:瞳孔,这个字也是同位语。圆形的螺壳,好像是只眼睛。apex:顶点。
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Now it is the moon, solitary in the sky, full and round, replete with power. Now it is the eye of a cat that brushes noiselessly through long grass at night. Now it is an island, set in ever-widening circles of waves, self-contained, serene.
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● 作者看见这只螺壳,思潮大作,把它比作三件东西。Now连着用,表示“一下子这样,一下子那样”。
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● replete:充满了。power:如把月亮看作是神,它有它的权力,通常以为月亮有一种magical power,中国有僵尸拜月,狐狸拜月的传说,西洋人以为月亮能使人发狂。至少月亮有吸动潮水的力量。
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● a cat that中的that代替cat。brushes through:走过(身体跟外物磨擦的)。
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● set是过去分词:放在。self-contained:自足的。serene:宁静的。这两个形容词,放到句子的结尾来了。形容island。
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How wonderful are islands! Islands in space, like this one I have come to, ringed about by miles of water, linked by no bridges, no cables, no telephones. An island from the world and the world’s life. Islands in time, like this short vacation of mine. The past and the future are cut off: only the present remains. One lives like a child or a saint in the immediacy of here and now. Every day, every act, is an island, washed by time and space, and has an island’s completion. People, too, become like islands in such an atmosphere, self-contained, whole and serene; respecting other people’s solitude, not intruding on their shores, standing back in reverence before the miracle of another individual. “No man is an island,” said John Donne. I feel we are all islands—in a common sea.
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● 说到这个螺壳像一座岛,文章就转到“岛”上去了。岛的特性是隔绝的:在空间上隔绝的,或者是在时间上隔绝的。空间上的岛,像我在这里度假的那座岛。
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● ringed是过去分词:围绕。cables:海底电缆。以前人所想象的岛是没有桥梁和其他陆地相联系的。但是现代人的想法不然,即使没有桥梁,有电报电话,所谓孤岛也者,还可以和外界联络。所以作者于linked by no bridges之后,再说no cables, no telephones,这才表示彻底孤立。
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● Islands in space…是句不完全句子,后面两句也都是不完全句子。
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● An island from中的from有“隔绝”之意。英文的介词,往往有中文的动词之意义。如中文“民有、民治、民享”中间的“有、治、享”是三个动词,在英文里便成了of the people, by the people, for the people了。
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● 另外一种岛屿是时间上的岛屿,如我这短短的假期。它和过去,和未来都是隔绝的。(意思大约是说:我既不想过去,也不想将来。)
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● here and now(成语):此时此地。immediacy是immediate的名词形式:直接领略目前的情形。一个人要心无挂碍,无思无虑,才能做到这一地步。小孩子能,圣人亦能。
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● Every day, every act虽然是两件东西,动词还是用单数形式。washed by time and space:把时间空间比作海水。has an island’s completion=is complete in itself like an island:自身圆满具足。
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● 在这种气氛之下,人也都像了一座一座的岛了。谁也不去管别人的闲事:“尊敬别人的孤独”。
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● 既然把人比作岛,那么管人的闲事,就好像插足到别人的岛上去:闯入了别人的海岸(intruding on their shores)。
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● reverence较之respect更多一层宗教上的“虔诚敬畏”之意。照基督教的看法,上帝创造人是一大奇迹(miracle)。我身之外,另有他人,此他人者,即是奇迹,我观此奇迹,衷心敬之畏之,驻步不敢前(standing back)。人和人之间因此缺乏来往,这样,两个人就成了两座孤岛了。
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● John Donne(1572—1631):英国名诗人,较莎士比亚晚生九年。他也是个有名的布道家,“No man is an island”是他的一篇讲道文中的名句,讲的是人人祸福相关,没有人可以孤立;海明威有一部小说的标题For Whom the Bell Tolls,也出自同一篇文章:丧钟为谁而响呢?为你而响。——别人丧生,你也受到影响。
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● 但是本文作者,从另外一个观点看来,以为人人都是孤岛。人是寂寞的,人和人之间沟通是困难的,所以一个人是一座岛。这和Donne人人祸福相关的看法不同。
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We are all, in the last analysis, alone. And this basic state of solitude is not something we have any choice about. It is, as the poet Rilke says, “not something that one can take or leave. We are solitary. We may delude ourselves and act as though this were not so. That is all. But how much better it is to realize that we are so, yes, even to begin by assuming it. Naturally,” he goes on to say, “we will turn giddy.”
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● in the last analysis:分析到最后;归根结底。
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● basic state of solitude:人类的基本状态——寂寞。we have any choice about:是adjective clause。对于人生之寂寞,我们并无选择之余地。人生而寂寞;如欲不寂寞,为不可能之事。只有寂寞的一条路,没有第二条路。Rilke(1875—1926):奥国诗人。It is…not something:句法是上一句this basic state of solitude is not something的重复。take or leave(成语):接受或不接受。人生有些东西(如非义之财),你可以取(take),也可以不取(leave),这就是所谓choice,但是人生的寂寞,是无法避免的。
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● delude:哄骗。act:如此这般地做人。as though this were not so:好像是人生并不寂寞的。
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● That is all:仅此而已。假如有人以为人生并不寂寞,或者兴高采烈地和别人相聚为乐,这“无非”是自己骗自己,他忘记了这点基本事实而已。
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● how much better it is:it代替to realize体会到,领悟到我们确是寂寞(so代替solitary)。我们尽可自骗自,但是领悟到这一点,对于我们是有好处的。
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