Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience — Page 4
赫拉克勒斯的十二项功绩，与我邻居们所承担的相比，简直微不足道；因为那些功绩只有十二项，而且有始有终；但我从未见过这些人杀死或捕获任何怪物，或完成任何劳役。
The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.
他们没有像伊俄拉斯那样的朋友，可以用烙铁烧断九头蛇的根；每当一个头被压碎，便有两个头冒出来。
They have no friend Iolas to burn with a hot iron the root of the hydra's head, but as soon as one head is crushed, two spring up.
我看到那些年轻人，我的同乡们，他们的不幸在于继承了农场、房屋、谷仓、牲畜和农具；因为这些东西得来容易，甩掉却难。
I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of.
若他们生在开阔的牧场上，由狼哺乳长大，或许能以更清醒的眼光看清自己被召唤去耕耘的是哪片田地，那倒更好。
Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in.
是谁让他们成了土地的农奴？既然人注定只需吃一小撮泥土，他们又何必去啃那六十英亩的地？
Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt?
他们为何一出生就开始挖掘自己的坟墓？他们不得不过一种男子汉的生活，推着这一切向前，尽力前行。
Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to live a man's life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can.
我曾遇见多少可怜的不朽灵魂，几乎被压垮、被窒息于重负之下，沿着人生之路蹒跚而行——
How many a poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life,
推着一座七十五英尺长、四十英尺宽的谷仓，那永远清扫不净的奥吉亚斯牛厩，还有一百英亩土地——耕地、草场、牧场和林地！
pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and wood-lot!
Vocabulary
- twelve
- 数字十二
- labors
- 艰苦的工作或任务
- Hercules
- 古希腊神话中的大力神赫拉克勒斯
- trifling
- 微不足道的，不重要的
- comparison
- 比较，对比
- neighbors
- 邻居，住在附近的人
- undertaken
- 承担，着手从事某任务
- end
- 结束，终点
- slew
- 杀死，slay的过去式
- captured
- 捕获，抓住
- monster
- 怪物，可怕的生物
- finished
- 完成，结束某项工作
- labor
- 劳动，艰苦的工作
- Iolas
- 希腊神话中赫拉克勒斯的侄子伊奥拉斯
- burn
- 燃烧，用火灼烧
- iron
- 铁，烙铁
- root
- 根部，事物的根源
- hydra
- 九头蛇，希腊神话中的多头怪物
- crushed
- 被压碎，被摧毁
- spring
- 涌现，突然出现
- townsmen
- 同镇居民，镇上的人
- misfortune
- 不幸，厄运
- inherited
- 继承，从祖先处获得
- farms
- 农场，用于耕种的土地
- barns
- 谷仓，储存粮食或牲畜的建筑
- cattle
- 牛，牲畜
- farming
- 农业，耕种活动
- tools
- 工具，用于劳作的器具
- easily
- 容易地，轻松地
- acquired
- 获得，得到某物
- rid
- 摆脱，get rid of表示除去
- open
- 开阔的，不封闭的
- pasture
- 牧场，供牲畜吃草的草地
- suckled
- 哺乳，用乳汁喂养
- wolf
- 狼，野生肉食动物
- clearer
- 更清晰的，clear的比较级
- field
- 田地，开阔的土地
- serfs
- 农奴，被束缚于土地的农民
- soil
- 土壤，大地
- acres
- 英亩，土地面积单位
- condemned
- 注定，被判定遭受某事
- peck
- 配克，旧式容量单位，此处比喻大量
- dirt
- 泥土，污垢
- digging
- 挖掘，向下挖土
- graves
- 坟墓，埋葬死者的地方
- pushing
- 推动，推进
- poor
- 可怜的，贫穷的
- immortal
- 不朽的，永生的
- soul
- 灵魂，精神
- nigh
- 几乎，接近（古英语用法）
- smothered
- 被压制，被窒息
- load
- 负担，重载
- creeping
- 爬行，缓慢移动
- barn
- 谷仓，农场储物建筑
- feet
- 英尺，长度单位，foot的复数
- Augean
- 奥吉亚斯的，指极度肮脏的（出自神话）
- stables
- 马厩，饲养马匹的建筑
- cleansed
- 清洁，彻底打扫干净
- land
- 土地，陆地
- tillage
- 耕地，经过翻耕的农田
- mowing
- 割草，用机器或镰刀割草
- wood-lot
- 小片林地，农场附属的树林
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