纪英语翻译论文

2021年1月24日发(作者：wisdom)
The Swing
秋千


As she grew old, she began to dream again. She had not dreamed much in her middle years; or,
if she had, the busyness of her days, converging on her the moment she awoke, had pushed
her dreams right out of her head, and any fragments that remained were as busy and prosaic as
the day itself. She had only the one son, James, but she had also mothered her younger sister
after
their
parents
died,
and
she
had
done
all
of
the
office
work
during
the
years
when
her
husband’s small engineering firm was

getting on its feet. And Julius’s health had not been too
good, even then; it was she who had mowed the lawn and had helped Jamie to learn to ride his
bicycle and pitched balls to him in the backyard until he learned to hit them.
当她老了之后， 她又开始做梦了。中年时她不怎么做梦，或者，如果做，也都是她一天的忙
碌和白天的一切。
这 使她的梦变得更真实，
任何碎片都像白天一样忙碌和平凡。
她只有一个儿子，
杰姆斯， 但从她父母去世以后她一直像母亲一样照顾着妹妹。在丈夫的小型建筑公司建立期间她
还做了所有的办公 室工作。尤里乌斯的健康状况一直不太好，即使这样，她还是修剪草坪；帮助
杰姆学骑自行车；在后院给 他扔球直到他学会。


But she was dreaming again now, as she had when she was a child. Oh, not the lovely, foolish
dreams
of
finding
oneself
alone
in
a
candy
store,
or
the
horrible
dreams
of
being
pursued
through endless corridors without doors by nameless terrors. But as her days grew in quietness
and
solitude
—
for
James
was
grown
and
gone,
and
Julius
was
drawing
in
upon
himself,
becoming every day more small and chill and dim
—
color and life and drama were returning to
her dreams.
然而她现在又做梦了，就像小时候一样 。哦，不是什么可爱的，发现自己独自在糖果店里的愚蠢
的梦，
也不是被无名恐惧在没尽头的封 闭走廊里追逐的可怕梦。
但是，
随着杰姆斯的长大和离开，
她的日子变得安静和孤独。 尤里乌斯把这些都反射在自己身上，使每天变得越来越渺小，寒冷和
暗淡。这时色彩，生命和戏剧出现在 她的梦里。

But on that first night when she heard the creak of the swing, she did not think that she was
dreaming at all. She had been lying in bed quite awake, she thought, in the little room that used
to
be
Jamie’s—
for
nowadays
her
reading
in
bed,
and
afterward
her
tossing
and
turning,
disturbed Julius. The swing
was
not
an
ordinary one. Julius had
put
it
up, in one of
the few
flashes
of
poetry
in
all
his
worrisome,
hardworking
life,
when
Jamie
was
only
a
baby
and
nowhere near old enough to swing in it. The ladder Julius had was not tall enough, and he had
to buy a new one, for the tree was tremendous and the branch on which he proposed to hang
the swing arched a full forty feet from the ground, and much thought and consideration and care
were given to the chain, and the hooks, and the seat. The swing was suspended from so high,
and its arc was so wide, that riding in it was like sailing through the air with the leisurely swoop
of a wheeling bird. One seemed to travel from one horizon to the other. And how proud Julius
had been of it when Jamie was old enough to swing in it, and the neighborhood children had
stood around to admire and be given a turn, for there was no other swing like it.
但是第一天晚上，当她听到秋千摇动的嘎吱声时，她不认为她是在做梦。她虽已经躺在床上却完
全清醒。她想，那间小屋曾经是杰姆斯的，而现在是她躺着看书的地方。然后她辗转反侧内心很
不安。这个秋千不是一个普通的秋千。当杰姆还是个婴儿，还不够高到玩它的时候，尤里乌斯已
经把它当 成她担忧，勤劳一生的光辉诗歌。尤里乌斯的梯子不够高，所以他不得不买个新的。因
为树很庞大并且她 选做秋千的支拱树枝距地面四十英尺。所以在做链子，钩子和座椅时是深思熟
虑并特别注意的。秋千悬吊 的那么高，其弧度那么宽，荡在上面就感觉像是在天空中与悠闲地小
鸟一起飞翔一样。似乎从一个地平线 到另一个地平线。当杰姆长大并能荡这秋千时尤里乌斯很是
骄傲。邻居家的孩子们都很羡慕病都排着队去 玩。因为在没有其他像这种的秋千。

The swing was hardly ever used now; it was only a treat, once in a while, for a visiting child, and
occasionally when she was outside working in her flower border she would sit and rest in it for a
moment or two, idling, pushing herself a little with a toe. But the rhythmic creak of the chains
was so familiar that she could not mistake it, she thought. Could the wind be strong enough to
move it, if it came from the right angle? She finally gave up thinking about it and went to sleep.
如今很少使用这秋千了。它现在只是招待偶尔来访的孩子。当她在外面田间工作时，偶尔 坐在上
面休息片刻，用脚趾轻轻地推自己然后空转几下。但这链子的节凑声是如此的熟悉，她绝对不会< br>弄错。会不会风足够大到能吹动它？如果风向正确的话呢？最终她放弃了想这些然后睡觉了。

Nor did she think of it the next day, for they were due for Sunday dinner at James’s house. He
lived in a suburb on the opposite side of the city
—
just the right distance away, she often thought,
far
enough
so
that
aging
parents
could
not
meddle
and
embarrass
and
interfere,
but
near
enough so that she could see him fairly often. She loved him with all her heart, her dear, her
only
son.
She
was
enormously
proud
of
him,
too;
he
was
a
highly
paid
mathematician
in
a
research foundation, an expert in a field so esoteric that she had given up trying to grasp its
point. But secretly she took some credit, for it was she
—
who had kept the engine
ering firm’s
books balanced and done the income tax
—
who had played little mathematical games with him
before he had ever gone to school and had sat cross-legged with him on the floor tossing coins
to test the law of probability. Oh, they had had fun together in all sorts of ways; they had done
crossword puzzles together, and studied the stars together, and read books together that were
over his head and sometimes over hers too. And he had turned out well; he was a scholar, and
a success, and a worthy citizen, and he had a pretty wife, a charming home, and two handsome
children. She could not have asked for more. He was the light and the warmth of her life, and
her heart beat fast on the way to his house.
第二天醒来，她也没发现，由于星期 日的晚餐，
她在杰姆斯的家。杰姆住在城市的另一边的郊区，
恰到好处的距离，她常常想，是够 远，让年迈的父母不会干涉和尴尬；也足够近，以便她能经常
见到他。他真心实意的爱他，她亲爱的，唯 一的儿子。她也为她骄傲。他是研究基金会的一个高
薪数学家，是如此神秘领域的专家，神秘到她都放弃 了试图抓住它的点。但她还是偷偷买了一些
信用，为了工程公司的收支平衡兵进行了所得税。她也在杰姆 上学之前与他玩小小的数学游戏；
也曾盘腿坐在地板上扔硬币来检测概率法。哦，他们用各种方式一起玩 乐。例如，他们一起做过
填字游戏；也一起研究过星星；也会一起读书，读他喜欢的或有时候她喜欢的。 因而他很成功，
他是一位学者，也是一位成功的有价值的公民；她有一个漂亮的妻子，一个温馨的家和俩 个可爱
的孩子。她不能要求更多了。他是她生活的温暖和阳光，再去他家的路上她会心跳加速。

She drove. She had always enjoyed driving, and nowadays Julius, who used to insist on doing it
himself, let her do it without a word. They drove in silence mostly, but her heart was as light as
the wind that blew on her face, and she hummed under her breath, for she was on her way to
see James. Julius said querulously, “I could have told you you’d get into a lot of traffic this way
and
you’d do better
to go
by the river
road, but I knew
you
wouldn’t listen,”
but she
was so
happy
that
she
forbore
to
mention
that
whenever
she
took
the
river
road
he
remarked
how
much longer it was, and only answered, “I expect you’re quite right, Julius. We’ll come back that
way.”

她开车。她总是很喜欢驾驶。尤里乌斯曾经坚持做 他自己但现在都不用说一句就让他做。他们大
多时候都静静地开车。然而她的心像微风轻吹她的脸一样， 从她的呼吸中都能听到嗡嗡声。因为