7.

On Work
Kahlil Gibran

论工作
纪伯伦
译:云天

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

你工作, 以求跟得上大地和大地灵魂的脚步.
因为无所事事会使你成为岁月的陌生人,
并与雄壮骄傲的伸向无限的生命之旅脱轨.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

你工作时, 是一管笛子, 透过笛心, 时光的低语鸣奏音乐.
当别人齐声歌唱时, 你们当中有谁愿做一茎芦苇, 哑言沉默呢?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.

你常被告知, 工作是诅咒, 劳动是不幸.
但我告诉你,你的工作乃是实现大地最深邃梦幻的一部分, 那梦幻诞生时, 其中一部分就已指派给你了.
工作不息, 体现你对生命之真爱,

通过劳动而表现对生命之热爱, 这意味亲近生命的至深奥秘.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

然而, 如果痛苦中的你称生命为苦难, 把肉体的维持称为写在眉头的诅咒, 那么我只能回答, 你眉上的汗滴将把它洗涤.

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

你还被告知, 生命是黑暗的, 在疲惫中, 你回应疲倦之语.
我说, 生命确实黑暗, 除非有欲望,
所有的欲望都盲目, 除非有知识,
所有的知识都无用, 除非有工作,
所有的工作都枉然, 除非有爱,
当你怀着爱心工作, 你把自己与自己, 与他人, 与神相连.

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead
are standing about you and watching.

怀着爱工作意味着什么?
是用从你心里抽出的丝线编织衣裳,
就如你的爱人将穿上那件衣裳.
是用挚爱建造一幢房子,
就如你的爱人将住在里面.
是用柔情播种, 用欢乐收获,
就如你的爱人要吃这果子.
是在所有你塑造的事物中, 注入你自己精神的气息,
并且知道所有被祝福的逝者, 正站在你周围守望.

Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."
But I say, not in sleep but in the overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

我常听你说, 仿佛梦语呢喃, “在大理石中埋头工作, 在石中发现他自己灵魂之状的人, 比耕地者更加高贵.
捕捉彩虹, 并把它放在布帛上绘出人形的人, 胜过给我们做鞋的人.”
但是我说, 不是在睡眠里, 而是在正午时分的无比清醒里, 风对高大橡树说话, 不会比对最卑微的草叶更柔和.
只有用他自己的爱, 将风声化做一支更甜美歌曲的人, 才是伟大的.


Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

工作是爱的显现.
假如你不能怀着爱心工作, 而只有厌恶, 那你不如放弃工作, 坐在庙堂门边, 接受那些欢喜工作的人们的施舍吧.
因为, 如果你心不在焉地烤面包, 你烘出的苦面包只能让人半饱.
如果你怨恨榨葡萄, 你的怨恨渗毒汁于酒中.
如果你恍若天使般歌唱, 却并不热爱歌唱, 你便堵住了人们聆听白昼黑夜之声的耳朵.

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