你改变了一种生活
You change a life
因为吃洋蓟会改变味道
as eating an artichoke changes the taste
那么之后吃什么。
of whatever is eaten after.
然而你不是洋蓟，也不是钢琴或猫——
Yet you are not an artichoke, not a piano or cat—
根本不客观存在——
not objectively present at all—
你的猫所拥有的东西必不可少，但很狭隘：
and what of you a cat possesses is essential but narrow:
在意两件事之间的距离是否可以跨越。
to know if the distance between two things can be leapt.
钢琴，那个好仆人，
The piano, that good servant,
她根本不需要你，她对你
has none of you in her at all, she lends herself
视若无睹，这也是我的理想。
to what asks; this has been my ambition as well.
然而你身边的人就像水龙头
Yet a person who has you is like an iron spigot
水来自遥远的山泉
whose water comes from far-off mountain springs.
用之不竭，你自信的声称
Inexhaustible, your confident pronouncements flow,
凉凉的口感很好。
coldly delicious.
因为如果判断伤害了牙齿，并不介意，
For if judgment hurts the teeth, it doesn’t mind,
那绝非判断造成的。牙齿经受。疼痛经受。
not judgment. Teeth pass. Pain passes.
判决决定了剩余——
Judgment decrees what remains—
进化的平静判断或断定
the serene judgments of evolution or the judgment
一个男孩，当国王进入波斯：“烧掉它，”他说，
of a boy-king entering Persia: “Burn it,” he says,
它会燃烧。如果一滴小小的眼泪在角落里膨胀
and it burns. And if a small tear swells the corner
泛起烟雾，对他来说，只不过是一只甲虫
of one eye, it is only the smoke, it is no more to him than a beetle
带着她的六足孩子逃离村庄的大火。
fleeing the flames of the village with her six-legged children.
生物学家霍尔丹——在他最温柔的时刻——
The biologist Haldane—in one of his tenderer moments—
被上帝特别喜爱，审判甲虫，
judged beetles especially loved by God,
“因为他造了这么多。”判断可以是温柔的：
“because He had made so many.” For judgment can be tender:
我见过你像猎犬一样轻柔地背负着命运
I have seen you carry a fate to its end as softly as a retriever
带着鹌鹑。然而无论怎样
carries the quail. Yet however much
在这样的时刻我很佩服你，我不能爱你：
I admire you at such moments, I cannot love you:
你在我身上太多，无怨无悔地衡量着你自己的价值。
you are too much in me, weighing without pity your own worth.
当我把你从身上彻底抹去，
When I have erased you from me entirely,
脱去你权衡的形容词，
disrobed of your measuring adjectives,
从我的肩膀和臀部剥去你的每一个名词，
stripped from my shoulders and hips each of your nouns,
当世界是马蝇，煤驳船，黎明时分冬天黄油的颜色——
when the world is horsefly, coal barge, and dawn the color of winter butter—
不美丽，不冷，只有黄油的颜色——
not beautiful, not cold, only the color of butter—
那么也许我会爱你。无可奈何。
then perhaps I will love you. Helpless to not.
像一头刚出生的狼无助：别无选择，只好猎杀狼奶，
As a newborn wolf is helpless: no choice but hunt the wolf milk,
感觉很甜。
find it sweet.