00600高级英语中英翻译A12_whyiwrite.pdf

我为什么写作 Lesson 12: Why I Write 从很小的时候，大概五、六岁，我知道长大以后将成为一个作家。 From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer . 从 15 到24 岁的这段时间里，我试图打消这个念头，可总觉得这样做是在戕害我的天性，认 为我迟早会坐下来伏案著书。 Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to adandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books. 三个孩子中，我是老二。老大和老三与我相隔五岁。 8 岁以前，我很少见到我爸爸。由于这 个以及其他一些缘故， 我的性格有些孤僻。 我的举止言谈逐渐变得很不讨人喜欢， 这使我在 上学期间几乎没有什么朋友。 I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight- For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. 我像一般孤僻的孩子一样，喜欢凭空编造各种故事，和想像的人谈话。我觉得，从一开始， 我的文学志向就与一种孤独寂寞、 被人冷落的感觉联系在一起。 我知道我有驾驭语言的才能 和直面令人不快的现实的能力。 这一切似乎造就了一个私人的天地， 在此天地中我能挽回我 在日常生活中的不得意。 1 I had the lonely childs habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. 我知道我有驾驭语言的才能和直面令人不快的现实的能力。 这一切似乎造就了一个私人的天 地，在此天地中我能挽回我在日常生活中的不得意。 I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure 还是一个小孩子的时候， 我就总爱把自己想像成惊险传奇中的主人公， 例如罗宾汉。 但不久， 我的故事不再是粗糙简单的自我欣赏了。它开始趋向描写我的行动和我所见所闻的人和事。 . . As a very small child I used to imagine that I was, say, Robin Hood, and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures, but quite soon my story ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and