英语散文佳作
旅行的意义 The Meaning Of Traveling
The past ages of man have all been carefully labelled by anthropologists(人类学家). Descriptions like "Palaeolithic Man". "Neolithic Man", etc., neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label "Legless Man". Histories of the time will go something like this:" In the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large building to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth-dwellers of that time because of their extraordinary way of life. In those days,people thought nothing of travelling hundreds of miles each day.But the surprising thing is that they didn't use their legs even when they went on holiday.They built cable railways, ski-lifts(滑雪索道) and roads to the top of every huge mountain.All the beauty spots on earth were marred by the presence of large car parks."
人类学家小心翼翼地将人类以往的每一个时代都贴上标签。 例如：“旧石器时代人”、“新石器时代人”等说法就简洁地概括了 一个个完整的时代。当人类学家把他们的目光投向20世纪的时 候，他们肯定会选择“无腿人”这个标签。这段时期的历史大致会 这样记载：“在20世纪，人类忘记怎样忘记一个人了如何使用他们的腿。男子和女子从很小的时候起就坐在小汽车、公共汽车和火车里来来去 去。所有的高层建筑里都装有电梯和自动扶梯，以避免人们步行。 这种状况强加在这个时期地球居民的身上，是由于他们非同寻常 的生活方式。那时，人们没有想到每天旅行几百英里这类事情。 但是，令人惊奇的是，他们即使去度假也不用他们的腿。他们建造缆索铁路，滑雪索道和道路通向每座大山的顶峰。地球上所有的风景区都被大型停车场糟蹋了。”
The future history books might also record that we were deprived of the use of our eyes.In our hurry to get from one place to another,we failed to see anything on the way.Air travel gives you a bird's-eye view of the world-or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way.When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows.Car drivers,in particular,are forever obsessed with the urge to go on and on:they never want to stop.Is it the lure of the great motorways,or what?And as for sea travel,it hardly deserves mention.It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song:"I joined the navy to see the world,and what did I see?I saw the sea."The typical twentieth-century traveller is the man who always says "I've been there."You mention the remotest,most evocative place-names in the world like El Dorado,Kabul,Irkutsk and someone is bound to say "I've been there"-meaning,"I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else."
未来的历史书还会记载说，我们的眼睛也弃置不用了。在急急忙忙从一个地方赶往另一个地方的路上，我们什么都没看到。 航空旅行可以使你鸟瞰世界——要是机翼恰好挡住了你的视线， 你就看得更少了。当你乘汽车或火车旅行的时候，模糊不清的乡村景象不停地映在车窗玻璃上。尤其是汽车司机，他们的头脑永远都被“向前，向前”的冲动占据着：他们从来都不要停下来。到 底是由于漂亮夸人漂亮的句子车道的诱惑，还是别的什么?至于海上旅行，简直 不值一提。有一首老歌的歌词对海上旅行是一个完美的概括：‘哦 加入海军去看世界，我看到了什么?我看见了大海。”最典型的四世纪旅行者总是说“我已经去过那儿了”。你提到世界上最遥远、最引人遇思的地名，比如埃尔多拉多、喀布尔、伊尔库茨克， 准有人说“我去过那儿”—意思是：“我在去另外一个地方的路 上，以100英里的时速路过那儿。”
When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time lookiong forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival,when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By travelling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceased to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveller on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him travelling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound, satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers.
当你以很高的速度旅行时，“现在”就什么都不是：你主要生活在未来，因为你多半时间在盼望赶到别的一个地方去。但是当你真的到达了目的地，你的到达也没有什么意义。你还要继续前行。像这样子旅行旅行游记散文，你什么也没有经历;你的现在并不是现实：跟死亡没有什么两样。另一方面，徒步旅行者却总是生活在现在。 对他来说，旅行和到达是同一件事情：他是一步一步走着来到某 地的。他在用自己的眼睛、耳朵和整个身体体验现在。在他旅途的终点，他感到一种愉悦的生理疲惫。他知道他会享受深沉而甜蜜的睡眠：这是对一切真正旅行者的酬报。
美丽心灵 A Beautiful Heart
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
一个年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。围观的群众很多，他们都称赞他的心的确是最完美的，没有一点伤痕或者瑕疵。真的，他们一致认为这实在是他们见过的最美丽的心。这个年轻人非常自豪，更加起劲地大声吹捧自己那颗美丽的心。
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
突然，一位老人出现在人群面前，他说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”围观群众和年轻人都朝老人的心看去，它有力地跳动着，却布满了伤疤，有的地方被挖走了，虽然重新补上了，但修补得不甚完整，留下参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方还露出很深的豁口。
The people stared — how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
人们睁大了眼睛——他们想：他怎能说自己的心更美丽呢?年轻人看了看老人的心，见是这种情形，不禁笑了起来：“你不是在开玩笑吧?”他说。“把你的心和我的比一下，我的心是那么完美，而你的心却布满了伤疤和裂痕。”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love — I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space in my heart. So now do you see what true beauty is? ”
“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们常常会掏出自己的一块回赠给我，但由于这两块不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们能使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。有时我送出了心，其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些深孔——献出爱只是创造机会。尽管这些伤口疼痛，并且整日敞开着，却能使我想起我给予他们的爱。我希望有一天，他们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你们现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.
年轻人默默无语地站着，泪水顺着脸颊流下。他走到这位老人身边，把手伸进自己完美而年轻美丽的心里，撕下一块来。他用颤抖的双手把它献给这位老人。
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his.
正好放进去，但不是特别吻合，因为有一些疤痕。年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。
They embraced and walked away side by side.
他们互相拥抱，然后肩并肩离开了。