CATTI+MTI高斋翻译TransElegant读书苦乐
杨绛
The Bitter-Sweetness of Reading
Yang Jiang
尽管古人把书说成“浩如烟海”，书的世界却真正的“天涯若比邻”，这话绝不是唯心的比拟。世界再大也没有阻隔。佛说“三千大千世界”，可算大极了。书的境地呢，“现在界”还加上“过去界”，也带上“未来界”，实在是包罗万象，贯穿三界。而我们却可以足不出户，在这里随意阅历，随时拜师求教。谁说读书人目光短浅，不通人情，不关心世事呢！这里可得到丰富的经历，可认识各时各地、多种多样的人。经常在书里“串门儿”，至少也可以脱去几分愚昧，多长几个心眼儿吧？
Despite the ancient saying about books being like a vast ocean, the distant world of books could be actually deemed as close as a next-door neighbour, which is not merely an idealistic metaphorical assertion. For in the world of books there are no longer any barriers. The Buddhist notion of “One Buddha- world” is extremely enormous. But what about the extremities of the world of books? It consists of “the present realm”, “the past realm”, and “the future realm”, encompassing everything in each of the three great realms, across whose borders we can go back and forth with great ease. We can read and experience all we care to read and experience, and learn from masters any time we want, without venturing outdoors at all. Who says that book-lovers are near-sighted, inflexible and indifferent to worldly affairs! In the world of books, we can enrich our experience and get to know all kinds of people from different times and places. Those who visit the world of books frequently can at least rid themselves of some ignorance and gain a certain degree of wisdom.
可惜我们“串门”时“隐”而犹存“身”，毕竟只是凡胎俗骨。我们没有如来佛的慧眼，把人世间几千年积累的智慧一览无余，只好时刻记住庄子“生也有涯而知也无涯”的名言。我们只是朝生暮死的虫豸（还不是孙大圣毫毛变成的虫儿），钻入书中世界，这边爬爬，那边停停，有时遇到心仪的人，听到惬意的话，或者心上悬挂的问题偶有所得，就好比开了心窍，乐以忘言。这“乐”和“追求享受”该不是一回事吧？
It is a pity that our physical body, invisible as we visit the world of books, is after all confined to this mundane world. Without the insight of Buddha, who takes in all the human wisdom accumulated over thousands of years at one glance, we have to comfort ourselves by what Zhuang Zi has said: “Human life-span is finite whereas knowledge is infinite.” We are but insects with a fleeting lifetime (not even the insects the Monkey King turned into with his hairs), crawling our way into the world of books, pausing hither and thither, becoming speechless with exultation when we accidentally bump into a much-admired person or hear a few soothing words or occasionally find an answer to a pending question. I wonder if this sense of “joy” can be called “seeking indulgence in pleasure”.
（集体讨论，史志康 执笔）
杨绛
The Bitter-Sweetness of Reading
Yang Jiang
尽管古人把书说成“浩如烟海”，书的世界却真正的“天涯若比邻”，这话绝不是唯心的比拟。世界再大也没有阻隔。佛说“三千大千世界”，可算大极了。书的境地呢，“现在界”还加上“过去界”，也带上“未来界”，实在是包罗万象，贯穿三界。而我们却可以足不出户，在这里随意阅历，随时拜师求教。谁说读书人目光短浅，不通人情，不关心世事呢！这里可得到丰富的经历，可认识各时各地、多种多样的人。经常在书里“串门儿”，至少也可以脱去几分愚昧，多长几个心眼儿吧？
Despite the ancient saying about books being like a vast ocean, the distant world of books could be actually deemed as close as a next-door neighbour, which is not merely an idealistic metaphorical assertion. For in the world of books there are no longer any barriers. The Buddhist notion of “One Buddha- world” is extremely enormous. But what about the extremities of the world of books? It consists of “the present realm”, “the past realm”, and “the future realm”, encompassing everything in each of the three great realms, across whose borders we can go back and forth with great ease. We can read and experience all we care to read and experience, and learn from masters any time we want, without venturing outdoors at all. Who says that book-lovers are near-sighted, inflexible and indifferent to worldly affairs! In the world of books, we can enrich our experience and get to know all kinds of people from different times and places. Those who visit the world of books frequently can at least rid themselves of some ignorance and gain a certain degree of wisdom.
可惜我们“串门”时“隐”而犹存“身”，毕竟只是凡胎俗骨。我们没有如来佛的慧眼，把人世间几千年积累的智慧一览无余，只好时刻记住庄子“生也有涯而知也无涯”的名言。我们只是朝生暮死的虫豸（还不是孙大圣毫毛变成的虫儿），钻入书中世界，这边爬爬，那边停停，有时遇到心仪的人，听到惬意的话，或者心上悬挂的问题偶有所得，就好比开了心窍，乐以忘言。这“乐”和“追求享受”该不是一回事吧？
It is a pity that our physical body, invisible as we visit the world of books, is after all confined to this mundane world. Without the insight of Buddha, who takes in all the human wisdom accumulated over thousands of years at one glance, we have to comfort ourselves by what Zhuang Zi has said: “Human life-span is finite whereas knowledge is infinite.” We are but insects with a fleeting lifetime (not even the insects the Monkey King turned into with his hairs), crawling our way into the world of books, pausing hither and thither, becoming speechless with exultation when we accidentally bump into a much-admired person or hear a few soothing words or occasionally find an answer to a pending question. I wonder if this sense of “joy” can be called “seeking indulgence in pleasure”.
（集体讨论，史志康 执笔）
