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发表于 2012-6-2 19:33:23
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本帖最后由 12345 于 2012-6-3 18:40 编辑
The Beauty of Britain J .B .Priestley
英国之美
[00:12.15]The beauty of our country—or at least all of its south of North Scotland
我美丽的祖国,
[00:21.08] —is as hard to define as it is easy to enjoy.
欣赏容易描绘难
[00:28.73]Remembering other and larger countries,
比起其它一些比我们要大的国家
[00:33.59]we see at once that one of its charmsis
我们立马会感受她的魅力
[00:39.24]that it is immensely varied within a small range.
幅员虽小,但景象万千
[00:47.31]We have here no vast mountain ranges,
[00:54.15]no boundless plains,no miles of forest,
[00:59.61]and are deprived of the grandeur that may accompany these things.
我们这里没有连绵的山脉，没有一望无际的平原，没有延绵数百英里的森林，当然也就没有与之相应的那份宏伟
[01:06.38]But we have superb variety.
但这里的景色变化多端，丰富多彩
[01:12.33]A great deal of everything is packed into little space.
[01:20.09]I suspect that we are always faintly conscious
[01:26.75]of the fact that this is a smallish island,
[01:33.10]with the sea always round the corner.
许多美妙景致浓缩在这个小小的空间。我想，我们总是隐隐约约地意识到，这是个相当小的岛国，无论我们身在何处，大海都近在咫尺。注:round the corner. MAY ＢＥ COMER
[01:38.09]We know that everything has to be neatly packed into a small space.
[01:45.64]Nature, we feel, has carefully adjusted things
[01:52.20]—mountains,plains, rivers,lakes
[01:59.04]— to the scale of the island itself.
我们认识到，每样东西都整齐地布局在一个小小的地方。我们感到大自然,山峦、平原、河流和湖泊,都按照这个小岛的特点曾被上天精心地规划过,
[02:03.79]A mountain 12,000 feet high would be a horrible monster here,
[02:13.04]as wrong as a plain 400 miles long,
[02:19.57]a river as broad as the Mississippi.
一座12，000英尺高的大山，在这里就会成为一个庞然大物，就像连绵400英里的平原，与密西西比一样宽的河流在此不协调一样。
[02:24.93]In America the whole scale is too big, except for aviators.
[02:33.47]There is always too much of everything.
[02:38.22]There you find yourself in a region that is all mountains,
[02:45.49]then in another region that is merely part of one immense plain.
[02:54.03]You can spend a long,hard day in the Rockies
[02:59.10]simply travelling up or down one valley.
[03:05.26]You can wander across prairie country
[03:09.94]that has the desolating immensity of the ocean
[03:15.50]Everything is too big; there is too much of it.
而在美国，整个比例都太大，当然对飞行员来说是个例外。每样东西总显过多。你在一处发现周围到处是高山，在另一处发现那只不过是辽阔平原的一隅之地。你在落基山脉花上长长一天，也不过是爬上或走下一条山谷。你可以在荒无人烟、海洋般辽阔的大草原上漫步。每样东西都太大，每样东西都过多。
[03:22.55]Though the geographical features of this island are comparatively small,
[03:29.50]and there is astonishing variety almost everywhere,
[03:34.86]that does not mean that our mountains are not mountains,our plains not plains.
尽管这座岛屿的地理特征是规模相对较小，并且几乎每处都有惊人的变化，但这并不意味着我们的山不是山，我们的平原不是平原
[03:34.93]Consider that piece of luck of ours, the Lake District.
[03:41.49]You can climb with ease — as I have done many a time
[03:48.04]—several of its mountains in one day.
现在来看看我们的瑰宝——湖泊地区。你可以在一天之内轻松地在该地区爬好几座山，我多次这么干过。
[03:52.90]Nevertheless, you feel that they are mountains and not mere hills
[04:01.05]—as a correspondent pointed out in the Times recently.
[04:07.09]This same correspondent told a story that proves my point.
[04:14.03]A party of climbers imported a Swiss guide into the Lake District,
[04:21.79]and on the first morning,surveying the misty peaks before him.
[04:29.24]he pointed to a ledge about two thirds of the way up one of them
[04:36.50]and suggested that the party should spend the night there.
[04:42.38]He did not know that that ledge was only an hour or two's climb away
[04:51.13]and that before the light went
[04:54.97]they would probably have conquered two or three of these peaks.
不过，正如一位记者最近在《泰晤士报》上所指出的那样，你觉得那都是真正的山，而不是丘陵。还是这位记者讲的一则故事证实了我的观点。一群登山队员邀请了一名瑞士向导来到了湖区。第一天早上，这名向导审视了眼前雾霭迷蒙的山峰后，指着一个山峰的三分之二处的一块平坦的岩石，建议登山队在那里过夜。他并不知道那地方离山脚只有一两个小时的路程，天黑之前，这样的山峰他们可以征服两三个。
[05:01.81]He had not realised the scale of the country.
[05:07.17]He did not know that he was looking at mountains in miniature.
[05:13.65]What he did know was that he was certainly looking at mountains,
[05:20.31]and he was right,for these peaks,some of them less than 3,000 feet high,
[05:29.66]have all the air of great mountains.
他还没有意识到这个国家的规模有多大。他没有意识到他看的是微型山川，他只知道他是在看山，这点他是对的，因为这些山峰，虽然有的还不到3，000英尺高，却有大山的气派。
[05:35.22]With variety goes surprise.
[05:39.98]Ours is the country of happy surprises.
[05:44.65]You have never to travel long without being pleasantly astonished.
与气象万千的地貌并存的是奇异的景物。我们国家的奇观巧妙而自然。你根本用不着走很远，就会觉得精神愉悦，万分惊讶
.61]It would not be difficult to compile a list of such surprises
[05:56.36]that would fill the next fifty pages,
[06:00.93]but I will content myself with suggesting the first few that occur to me.
[06:08.09]If you go down into the West Country,
[06:12.63]among rounded hills and soft pastures,
[06:17.67]you suddenly arrive at the bleak tablelands
[06:23.71]as if the North had left a piece of itself down there.
[06:29.87]But before you have reached them you have already been surprised
[06:36.22]by the queer bit of marshland,
[06:40.89]as if a former inhabitant had been sent to Cambridge
[06:47.14]and had brought his favourite marshland walk
back from college with him into the West。列出50页的奇观并不困难，然而仅举最先出现在我脑海里的几例就足以说明问题。如果进入西部地区，你会发现自己身处坡度不大的丘陵和平缓的草地，并突然会碰到荒凉萧瑟的高地，好像北部高原将自己的一部分留在了此地。可是还没等你真正到达高地，你又会发现一处不该出现的小片沼泽地令你惊诧不已，好像从这里去剑桥的一位学子在学成回乡时，把自己心爱的沼泽小路从大学带了回来。
[06:57.77]The Weald is another of them.
[07:01.90]East Anglia has a kind of rough heath country of its own
[07:08.53]that I for one never expect to find there and I'm always delighted to see.
[07:17.07]Then,after the easy rolling Midlands,the dramatic Peak District,
[07:25.62]with its genuine steep slopes,never fails to astonish me,
[07:31.36]for I feel that it has no business to be there.
威尔德地区又是一个奇观。东英格兰自身竟有这么一片崎岖不平的荒野之地。以我为例，看到它我既感到惊诧不已，又感到欣喜万分。看过平缓起伏的米德兰之后，突然映入眼帘的是那引人注目的、山坡陡峭的皮克区，它总是让我惊诧不已，因为我真不知道它在此处有何贵干。
[07:37.01]A car will take you all round the Peak District in a morning.
[07:42.36]It is nothing but a crumpled green pocket handkerchief.
乘车一个上午就能让你逛完皮克区，它只不过是一块皱皱巴巴的绿手帕
[07:48.42]Again,there has always been something surprising to me
这总含有一种令人惊奇的东西
[07:54.17]about those cone-shaped hills that suddenly pop up
[08:00.05]in Shropshire and along the Welsh border
惊叹那些圆锥形的小山岭，突然出现在什罗普郡，又沿着威尔士边境绵延下去，
[08:05.19]I have never explored this region properly,
[08:10.55]and so it remains to me a country of mystery,
[08:17.91]with a delightful fairy-tale quality about its cone-shaped hills.
在我看来，我从未认真探察过这个地区，因此它对我来说，依然是一处神秘之境，它那圆锥形的小山岭，透露出一种令人愉快的童话般的韵味。
[08:25.67]Nevertheless,we hear of search parties going out there to find lost travellers
[08:35.65]I could go on with this list of surprises
[08:41.40]but perhaps you had better make your own.
可是，听说还是有搜索队到那里去寻找迷路的旅游者，我可以继续列举别的奇观，不过最好你自己去列举。
[08:47.17]Another characteristic of our landscape is its exquisite moderation.
[08:55.53]It looks like the result of one of those happy compromises
[09:01.88]that make our social and political plans so irrational and yet so successful.
[09:11.26]It has been born of a compromise
[09:15.70]between wildness and tameness,between Nature and Man.
我们的自然风光的另一个特点是极为适度。自然风光的适度看起来就好像是恰到好处的折衷的结果，正是这种折衷，使得我们的社会和政治问题的规划决策似乎不尽合理，却又十分成功。这种折衷源于野性与驯化、自然与人工的协调。
[09:24.34]In many countries you pass straight from regions
[09:30.12]where men have left their mark in every inch of ground
[09:36.46]to other regions that are desolate wilderness.
[09:42.73]Abroad, we have all noticed how abruptly most of the cities seem to begin;
[09:51.67]here,no city; there, the city.
[09:58.12]With us the cities pretend they are not really there
[10:04.78]until we are well inside them.
在许多国家，你从在每一寸土地上都留下了人类痕迹的地区，直接来到没有人烟的荒原。在国外，我们都注意到了多数城市突然出现在眼前，这儿没有一点儿城市的迹象，那儿一下子就是城市了。在这里，我们是不知不觉地踏入城市，蓦然回首，发现早已在其中。
[10:09.22]They almost insinuate themselves into the countryside.
[10:15.39]This comes from another compromise of ours,the suburb.
[10:22.05]There is a great deal to be said for the suburb.
它们又好像是悄悄地、不动声色地溜进了乡村。这种情况起因于我们的另一种折衷现象——郊区.郊区实在值得大书特书。
[10:27.01]To people of moderate means,
[10:31.09]compelled to live fairly near their work in a city,
[10:37.02]the suburb offers the most civilised way of life.
[10:42.87]Nearly all Englishmen are at heart country gentlemen.
[10:49.03]The suburban villa enables the salesman or the clerk,
[10:55.80] out of hours,to be a country gentleman.
[11:01.73](Let us admit that it offers his wife and children more solid advantages. )
对于中等收入水平，不得不住在离市区工作单位相当近的人来说，住在郊区使他们能过上最文明的生活。几乎每个英国人实质上都是乡村绅士。郊区的别墅式的住房，使一个推销员或是职员在不上班的时候就是个乡村绅士。（我们得承认，这为他的妻小提供了更为可靠的有利因素。）
[11:07.68]A man in a newish suburb
[11:11.84]feels that he has one foot in the city and one in the country.
[11:19.60]As this is the kind of compromise he likes,he is happy.一个住在相当新的郊区的人，感到他一只脚站在城市，另一只脚站在乡村。因为这是他喜欢的一种折衷，所以他很高兴。
[11:27.14]We must return,however, to the landscape,
[11:31.82]which I suggest is the result of a compromise
[11:38.17]between wilderness and cultivation,Nature and Man.
我们现在回头谈谈自然风光。依我看，郊区的风光是野性与文明、自然与人工协调的结果，
[11:46.50]One reason for this
[11:50.26]is that it contains that exquisite balance between Nature and Man.
形成这种风光的一个因素就是，郊区包纳了自然与人工之间巧妙的平衡。
[11:57.92]We see a cornfield and a cottage,both solid evidences of man's presence.
我们看到一片麦田和一座乡间农舍，两者都充分表明了人的存在。
[12:06.69]But notice how these things, in the middle of the scene,
[12:12.44]are surrounded by witnesses to that ancient England
[12:19.52]that was nearly all forest and heath.
不过请注意，这两种东西处在景物的中心，环绕它们的几乎都是证实了古时英格兰古代原始风貌的森林和原野
[12:24.48]The fence and the gate are man-made,
[12:29.05]but are not severely regular and trim
[12:34.31]—as they would be in some other countries.
那篱笆和门是人造的，但不像有些其他国家的那样规律和整齐。
[12:38.77]The trees and hedges,the grass and wild flowers in the foreground,
[12:46.03]all suggest that Nature has not been forced into obedience.
画面前部的景物——树木、树篱、草地和野花都在告诉人们，大自然没有被迫就范，屈从于人工景物
[12:53.77]Even the cottage,which has an irregularity and colouring
[13:01.50]that make it fit snugly into the landscape
[13:06.67](as all good cottages should do) ,
[13:10.82]looks nearly as much a piece of natural history as the trees:
[13:17.36]you feel it might have grown there.
就连那农舍本身，也因它不规则的造型和它独特的色调，很和谐地融入了整个画面（好的农舍都应如此），它看起来和那些树木一样，是大自然的产物，你会觉得它也许是从地里长出来的。
[13:23.00]In some countries,that cottage would have been an uncompromising cube
[13:31.64]of brick,which would have declared,
[13:36.92]"No nonsense now Man,the drainer,the tiller,the builder, has settled here.
[13:44.68]"In this English scene there is no such direct opposition.
在某些国家，那座农舍就会被建成一个死板的、火柴盒似的砖房立在那里，好像对周围的环境宣告说，“别胡闹了！人，这个消耗者、耕耘者、建设者已经在此定居了。”而在英格兰这样的环境中，没有这样的直观与自然对立。
[13:51.45]Men and trees and flowers,we feel,have all settled down comfortably together
The motto is, "Live and let live.
"我们感到，人、树、花共同舒舒服服地在此安了家，他们的格言是：“共同生存”。
(Think of the words: Go by myself and let others no way to go!)
[14:06.26]This exquisite harmony between Nature and Man
[14:12.19]explains in part the enchantment of the older Britain,
自然与人工这种巧妙的平衡，部分说明英国以往的几分魅力
[14:17.75]in which whole towns fitted snugly into the landscape,
那时城镇与其周围环境十分和谐，
[14:24.10]as if they were no more than bits of woodland;
好像它们本身就是这块林地里其中星星点点的树木
[14:29.98]and roads went winding the easiest way as naturally as rivers;
[14:38.31]and it was impossible to say where cultivation ended and wild life began.
[14:46.04]It was a country rich in trees,birds,and wild flowers,
[14:54.01]as we can see to this day.
那时的道路就像河流一样自然、从容、蜿蜒向前伸延；那时你说不清何处文明被终止，何处原生态开始。那时的英国，正如我们今天看到的那样，是个树木丰富、鸟类繁多、野花盛开的国家.
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楼主: 12345
狗仔卡
发表于 2012-6-5 00:26:45