I
I
生活不是可笑之事：
Living is no laughing matter:
你必须极其认真地生活
you must live with great seriousness
例如，像一只松鼠——
like a squirrel, for example—
我是说，不要追求超乎生活之外的东西，
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
我是说，生活必须是你的全部工作。
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
生活不是可笑之事：
Living is no laughing matter:
你必须认真对待，
you must take it seriously,
认真到这等程度，
so much so and to such a degree
例如，你的双手被绑在背后，
that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,
你的背靠着墙，
your back to the wall,
或是在一间实验室
or else in a laboratory
穿白大褂、戴防护镜，
in your white coat and safety glasses,
你可以为人民而死——
you can die for people—
甚至是为那些素未谋面的人，
even for people whose faces you’ve never seen,
即便你知道，生活
even though you know living
是最真实、最美好的事。
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.
我是说，你必须如此认真对待生活
I mean, you must take living so seriously
即便七十岁，例如，你也会种植橄榄树——
that even at seventy, for example, you’ll plant olive trees—
而这也并非为了你的子孙，
and not for your children, either,
仅是因为即便你畏惧死亡，你并不相信它，
but because although you fear death you don’t believe it,
因为生活，我是说，更重要。
because living, I mean, weighs heavier.
1947
1947
II
II
比如说，我们病重，需要手术——
Let’s say we’re seriously ill, need surgery—
这意味着我们可能无法
which is to say we might not get up
走下手术台。
from the white table.
即便这不可能不让人感受悲伤，
Even though it’s impossible not to feel sad
走得有些过于匆促，
about going a little too soon,
我们仍会被讲出的笑话逗乐，
we’ll still laugh at the jokes being told,
我们会望向窗外，看有没有下雨，
we’ll look out the window to see if it’s raining,
或者仍会焦急等待
or still wait anxiously
最新的新闻广播……
for the latest newscast. . .
比如说，我们身在前线——
Let’s say we’re at the front—
即，为了那值得斗争的事情。
for something worth fighting for, say.
在那里，在首次进攻中，就在那天，
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
我们可能以面扑地，死去。
we might fall on our face, dead.
我们会以不寻常的愤怒知晓这一点，
We’ll know this with a curious anger,
但我们仍会至死都在担忧
but we’ll still worry ourselves to death
这场可能持续数年的战争的结局。
about the outcome of the war, which could last years.
比如说，我们身陷监牢，
Let’s say we’re in prison
年近五十，
and close to fifty,
我们还有十八年，即，
and we have eighteen more years, say,
在层层铁门打开之前。
before the iron doors will open.
我们仍会和外界共同生活，
We’ll still live with the outside,
和它的人民与动物、斗争与风——
with its people and animals, struggle and wind—
我是说，和高墙之外的外界。
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
我是说，无论如何、无论身在何处，
I mean, however and wherever we are,
我们必须生活，就像我们永不死去。
we must live as if we will never die.
1948
1948
III
III
这地球将变得冰冷，
This earth will grow cold,
群星中的一颗星，
a star among stars
最小的中的一个，
and one of the smallest,
蓝色丝绒上的镀金斑点——
a gilded mote on blue velvet—
我是说，这就是我们的广大地球。
I mean this, our great earth.
有一天这地球将变得冰冷，
This earth will grow cold one day,
不像一块冰
not like a block of ice
甚至也不像一朵垂死的云
or a dead cloud even
仅仅像是一颗空核桃，滚动
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
在漆黑的太空之中……
in pitch-black space . . .
你现在一定为此悲痛
You must grieve for this right now
——你现在必须感受这悲痛——
—you have to feel this sorrow now—
因为这世界必须被如此热爱，
for the world must be loved this much
你才能说：“我曾活过”……
if you’re going to say “I lived”. . .
1948.2
1948.2