讀點好英文:The Second Coming 基督再臨

The Second Coming 基督再臨

William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The faIcon cannot hear the falconer；

Things fall apart；the centre cannot hold；

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world，

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned；

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some reveIation is at hand；

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming！Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi

Troubles my sight：somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man，

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun，

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again；but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle，

And what rough beast，

its hour come round at last，

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

基督再臨

威廉·巴特勒·葉芝

獵鷹繞著越來越大的圈子不停地盤旋

再也聽不見放鷹人的呼喚；

萬物分崩離析；中心難以為系；

世上只落下一盤散沙的無政府主義，

血色迷糊的潮流奔騰洶涌，

天真的儀典，亦已為滔天血浪所湮沒；

至善者毫無信心，而至惡者

卻躁動不止。

一準是某種啟示已近在眼前；

一準是基督再臨就在眼前。

基督再臨！話未出口，

一個巨大的形象便出現(xiàn)在人們腦際

令我花了眼：在大漠沙海之中，

一個獅身人面的形體，

目光如烈日般茫然而無情。

正緩慢地挪動腿腳，周圍環(huán)繞著

一群義憤的沙漠鳥的影子。

黑暗再度降臨；不過現(xiàn)在我知道

過去兩千年巖石般的沉睡

都被搖籃搖成了噩夢般的煩惱，

何等粗野的畜牲，

它的時辰已至，

慵懶地朝伯利恒走去投生。

實戰(zhàn)提升

背景知識

威廉·巴特勒·葉芝（William Butler Yeats），曾于1923年獲得諾貝爾文學獎，獲獎的理由是“以其高度藝術化且洋溢著靈感的詩作表達了整個民族的靈魂”。

這首詩作于1921年。根據(jù)基督教傳說，基督將在世界末日重臨人間主持審判。葉芝認為古希臘羅馬傳下來的西方文明今天已接近毀滅時期，兩百年內即將出現(xiàn)一種粗野狂暴的反文明，作為走向另一種貴族文明的過渡。

單詞注解

gyre['d?ai?]旋回

faIcon['f?lk?n]獵鷹

anarchy['?n?ki]無秩序；混亂

reveIation[，revi'lei??n]天啟，神示

vexed[vekst]動蕩的

名句誦讀

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer；Things fall apart；the centre cannot hold；Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned；The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand；Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?