英詩漢譯 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

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Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

多佛海灘  by Matthew Arnold 【1】 翻譯 高興 今夜的海風平浪靜。 一輪明月高懸在滿潮的海峽上空； 法蘭西海岸上空光隱光現； 巨大而模糊的英吉利懸崖，【2】 橫亙在平靜的海灣。 窗前， 夜晚的空氣則沁人心田！ 隻是， 從長長的海岸線， 那裏海與蒼白的陸地接連， 聽！ 你會聽見不和諧的濤聲， 波浪攜著卵石退卻又卷著它們回來， 摔打在崖岸， 周而複始， 以聳然而緩慢的拍節 帶來那永恒的音符，淒涼悲慘。 古希臘的索福克勒斯在愛琴海 【3】 聽到這聲音， 他心中浮現 濁水潮漲潮落 尤如人類的苦難； 我們在遙遠的北海聽到同樣的聲音 心中也同樣泛起波瀾。 信仰之海 就像此刻的海峽，曾經如此充滿， 擁抱著所有的陸地， 就像鑲嵌在衣服四周的花邊。 但現在我所聽見 隻是憂鬱的， 經久不息的， 退潮的囂喧， 在夜風無情地鼓吹下， 退向無窮悲哀的邊緣 留給世界的是裸露， 布滿碎石的海灘。 啊，  愛， 讓我們大家以誠相待！ 這個世界 展現在我們麵前的土地充滿夢幻， 如此華麗，如此新奇，如此多變， 其實這裏並沒有歡樂， 沒有愛， 沒有光明， 沒有篤信， 沒有和平， 沒有對苦難的同情； 我們就如站在一片黑暗的荒原， 這裏激蕩著盲目的掙紮與奔逃的呐喊， 敵我不分的軍隊在暗夜中互相摧殘。【4】

 

【1】Dover is a town and major ferry port in South East England。  It faces France across the narrowest （20.6 mi ）part of the English Channel.

【2】Cliffs of England refers to White cliffs of Dover that are cliffs which form part of the English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France.

【3】Sophocles  (497/6 – winter 406/5 BC) is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived.

【4】Ignorant armies : According to Ian Hamilton, these lines refer to a passage in Thukydides, The Battle of Epipolae, where — in a night encounter — the two sides could not distinguish friend from foe" (144-45).