原诗:
On a Ruined Farm near the His Master's Voice Gramophone Factory
Author:Eric Blair
As I stand at the lichened gate With warring worlds on either hand —
To left the black and budless trees,The empty sties, the barns that standLike tumbling skeletons — and to rightThe factory-towers, white and clearLike distant, glittering cities seenFrom a ship's rail — as I stand here,I feel, and with a sharper pang,My mortal sickness; how I giveMy heart to weak and stuffless ghosts,And with the living cannot live.The acid smoke has soured the fields,And browned the few and windworn flowers;But there, where steel and concrete soarIn dizzy, geometric towers —There, where the tapering cranes sweep round,And great wheels turn, and trains roar byLike strong, low-headed brutes of steel —There is my world, my home; yet whySo alien still? For I can neitherDwell in that world, nor turn againTo scythe and spade, but only loiterAmong the trees the smoke has slain.Yet when the trees were young, men stillCould choose their path — the winged soul,Not cursed with double doubts, could fly,Arrow-like to a foreseen goal;And they who planned those soaring towers,They too have set their spirit free;To them their glittering world can bringFaith, and accepted destiny;But none to me as I stand hereBetween two countries, both-ways torn,And moveless still, like Buridan's donkeyBetween the water and the corn.1933
蹩脚译法,没有管什么押韵的,只是尽量贴近意思:
在其主人的留声机厂旁的一座破败农场我站在长满地衣的大门前,两边是两个斗争着的世界——左边是黑灰无芽的树木,空旷的猪圈和谷仓像歪斜的骨架般——右边工厂一座座白刷刷的塔仿佛在船的扶手上看到的,远方闪闪的城市——如我所站于此,我感到一股尖锐的痛,那极度的不适,我应如何为这虚弱单薄的灵魂献出真心,那无生命力的生灵。酸性岩层令农田受到污蚀,寥寥无几,饱受风蚀的花儿黯然失色;而彼方,在眼花缭乱,方方正正的石塔间钢筋混凝土一一耸起而彼方,尖耸的吊车连绵,庞大的轮子转动着,火车呼啸而过如同低着头的壮硕畜生,彼方是我的世界,我的家园,但却又为何仍如此陌生?因我既不能融入那世界,又无法回归到镰刀和铲子,只好徘徊于被烟熏死的树木间。但在树还幼小的彼时,人仍能选择他们的道路——插翅的灵魂不为双方犯规而困扰,如箭般,飞翔到那可预见的目的地;而那些规划石塔的人,同样让自己的灵魂自由,对他们而言,那个闪亮的世界也能;带来信念和许诺的命运;对我而言都无意义,我立于此两个国度间,双向撕裂,如布里丹的驴子那样,在水与玉米间木讷地不为所动
左边是农场,右边是工厂,工业化的世界正在吞蚀传统的农业社会。作者在Coming Up For Air这部小说中表达过这种焦虑。在这部小说中,主角从工作的城市回到自己成长起来的小村,所有的一切变得不同。
布里丹的驴子指的是一头纯粹理性的驴子在两堆相同的草料面前会因无法抉择而饿死,工业文明和传统农业社会毕竟不是两堆相同的草料,但又的确令既想享受先进物质文明又想享受鸡犬相闻的人性化的人们感到为难。
Road to Wigan Pier中作者对工业化的不可阻挡表示了赞同,对于那时的英国或者说西方社会,工业化和资本主义的飞跃的确不可避免。作者用Beehive State一词来形容这将导向的未来。"This is not fatalism, it is merely acceptance of facts.",一个内心反感工业化的人在那个时代不可避免地对这个潮流持无能为力的悲观态度。
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