双语美文：幸福的形状

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有些人毕生追求幸福，苦心经营却惨淡收局。

幸福是种感受，也许很短暂，回忆的时候嘴角也能上扬。幸福的衡量没有绝对的标准，幸福有时候简单的让人难以置信。

作者：Ronald Duncan（罗纳德•邓肯），英国剧作家、诗人和文学家。早年和甘地以及美国诗人庞德交往甚密，著有诗剧《撒旦之死》等。他善于把宗教主题同现实生活结合起来，从而使作品感人肺腑，其诗剧内容多是把传统的宗教信仰和现代的实利主义与怀疑主义进行对比。

Observe a child; any one will do. You will see that not a day passes in which he does not find something or other to make him happy, though he may be in tears the next moment. Then look at a man; any one of us will do. You will notice that weeks and months can pass in which every day is greeted with nothing more than resignation, and endure with polite indifference.

仔细观察一个小孩，随便哪个都行。你会发现，他每天都会发现一些令他快乐的事情，尽管下一秒他可能会哭哭啼啼。再看一看大人，我们中随便哪个都行。你会发现，一周复一周，一月复一月，他总是以无可奈何的顺从心理来迎接新一天的到来，并以礼貌的冷漠来忍受。

But it is true that they smile so seldom that when they do, they don't recognize their face. So distorted it is from the fixed mask they take for granted. And even then, a man can not smile like a child, for a child smiles with his eyes, whereas a man smiles with his lips alone. It is not a smile, but a grin; it has something to do with humor, but little to do with happiness. And then, as anyone can see, there is a point ( and who can define that point ) when a man becomes an old man, and then he will smile again.

真的，他们难得一笑，因此即使是偶尔笑了，他们也会认不出自己那张脸——相对于他们习以为常的假面具，一张笑脸显得多么扭曲啊。而且即使即使是在笑，大人也不会像小孩那样笑，小孩用眼睛传达笑意，而大人只用嘴唇。这实际上不是笑，只是咧咧嘴，它和幽默感有点关系，但跟快乐无关。然后，正如任何人看到的那样，人到了一定阶段（但又有谁能说明这是什么阶段呢？），成了老人，他又会笑了 。

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It would seem that happiness has something to do with simplicity, and that it is the ability to extract pleasure from the simplest things—such as a peach stone, for instance.

幸福似乎和单纯有些关系，幸福是一种能从最简单的事物里——譬如说，从一颗桃核中——汲取快乐的能力。

It is obvious that it has nothing to do with success. For, Sir Henry Stewart was certainly successful. It has been twenty years since he came down to our village from London and bought a couple of old cottages, which he then had knocked into one. He used his house as a weekend refuge. He was a barrister and the village followed his brilliant career with something amounting to almost paternal pride.

幸福显然同成功毫不相干，因为亨利•斯图尔特爵士当然是个十分成功的人。20年前，他从伦敦来到我们的村子，买了好几座旧房屋，推倒后建了一所大房子。他把这所房子当作度周末的别墅。他是位律师，我们村里的人怀着一种近似父辈的自豪，一直关注着他那辉煌的事业。

I remember, some ten years ago, when he was made a King's Counsel, Amos and I, upon seeing him getting off the London train, went to congratulate him. We grinned with pleasure; he looked merely as miserable as though he'd received a capital sentence. It was the same when he was knighted. He never smiled a bit and didn't even bother to celebrate with a round of drinks at the “Blue Fox”. He took his success as a child does his medicine. And not one of his achievements brought even a ghost of a smile to his tired eyes.

我记得，大约10年前他被任命为王室法律顾问，我和阿莫斯看见他走下从伦敦开来的火车，便上前去祝贺他。我们高兴地笑着，而他的表情却像被判了死刑一样痛苦。他受封为爵士时也是如此。他从来不笑，甚至懒得在“蓝狐狸酒馆”和我们大家举杯庆祝。他对待成功就像小孩对待吃药一样，他的任何一项成就都未能使他疲惫的眼睛里流露出一丝笑意。

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I asked him one day, soon after he'd retired to potter about his garden, what it was like to achieve all of one's ambitions. He looked down at his roses, and went on watering them. Then he said, “The only value in achieving one's ambition is that then you realize that they were not worth achieving.” Quickly he moved the conversation on to a more practical level, and within a moment we were back to a safe discussion on the weather. That was two years ago.

他退休后常在花园里闲逛。就在他退休后不久，有一天，我问他，一个人实现了一切抱负是什么滋味？他低头看着他的玫瑰花，继续给它们浇水。过了一会儿，他说：“实现抱负的惟一价值是你会意识到它们都不值得追求。”他很快把话题转向讨论更有实际意义的事情。不一会儿，我们又谈论起天气这个安全的话题。那是两年前的事了。

I recall this incident, for yesterday I was passing his house, and had drawn up my cart just outside his garden wall. I had pulled in from the road for no other reason than to let a bus pass me. As I set there filling my pipe, I suddenly heard a shout of sheer joy come from the other side of the wall.

我想起这件事情，是因为昨天我经过他家，并刚好把马车停在他花园的墙外边。我从大路上把马车拉到一边停着，是为了给一辆公共汽车让路。当我坐在车上装烟斗时，忽然听见墙的另一头传来一声欣喜若狂的欢呼。

I peered over. There stood Sir Henry doing nothing less than a tribal war dance of sheer unashamed ecstasy. Even when he observed my bewildered face staring over the wall he did not seem put out or embarrassed, but shouted for me to climb over.

我向墙内张望，亨利爵士正在里面欢蹦乱跳着，像在跳部落出征舞，表现出毫无顾忌的狂喜。即使当他注意到我那张在墙外张望的迷惑不解的脸孔时，也似乎毫不生气或窘迫，而是大声呼喊我爬过墙去。

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“Come and see, Jan. Look! I have done it at last! I have done it at last!”

“快来看，简，看呀！我终于成功了！我终于成功了！”

There he was, holding a small box of earth in his hand. I observed three tiny shoots out of it.

他站在那里，手里拿着一小盒土。我发现土里有三棵嫩芽。

“And there were only three!” he said, his eyes laughing to heaven.

“而且正好是三个！”他眉开眼笑地说。

“Three what?” I asked.

“三个什么？”我问。

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“Peach stones,” he replied. “I've always wanted to make peach stones grow, ever since I was a child, when I used to take them home after a party, or as a man after a banquet. And I used to plant them, and then forgot where I planted them. But now at last I have done it. And, what's more, I had only three stones, and there you are, one, two, three shoots,”he counted.

“桃核。”他回答道，“我一直想把桃核种活，从小就想，那时我参加完晚会后老把桃核带回家，后来长大成人参加宴会后也这样。我以前常常种桃核，可是过后就忘了我把它们种在什么地方了。但现在，我总算成功了！而且，我只有三颗桃核。你瞧，一、二、三，三棵芽。”他边数边说。

And Sir Henry ran off, calling for his wife to come and see his achievement—his achievement of simplicity.

然后，亨利爵士跑去叫他妻子来欣赏他的成就——单纯的成就。

Notes:

King's Counsel:王室法律顾问

capital sentence：死刑

pull out:激怒，困扰

shoot：发芽

pull in：进站，靠站