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Friday, May 15, 2009

To Be or Not to Be

To be or not to be -- that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobeler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep --
No more -- and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.
'Tis a consumation
Devoutly to be wished.
To die, to sleep --
To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?
Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death --
the undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns,
Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

(任性地说:中间有几处断句是我按照自己的喘气空档加上去的。)
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翻译下:如果不是害怕死后的世界比现在更可怕更糟糕,如果不是因为对未知的恐惧,谁还会在世上拖延受苦?

真是太没信仰了,当时的教会也不管管这种危险的思想。

4 comments:

li said...

前两句还是很有英雄气概的,是奋力反抗被命运之箭扎成个刺猬,还是默默的受苦。

王子同志死的时候一定蛮高兴的,终于能得到那啥了。

Little Meatball said...

前两句是说,是被命运之箭扎成刺猬,还是奋起反抗把自己干掉不玩了: "by opposing ... end them."

Unknown said...

再次发现,这诗歌还得朗读起来(如果找得对断句的话)才容易理解意思。嗯,最好是有素养的莎剧演员来读给我听 :-)

BBC马上要推出poetry season,正在做广告,有人在路上走着走着就念起诗来,怪好玩的。

Little Meatball said...

对啊对啊,我就是一边读剧本一边要大声念出来,否则看不下去。

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