弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙（Virginia Woolf，1882－1941）英国女作家，批判家，意识流小说的代表人物之一，被誉为“20世纪最佳女作家”和二十世纪女性主义的先锋。她和当时的詹姆斯·乔伊斯，还有法国的普鲁斯特等创作意识流文学作品的作家一起，把意识流小说推向世界，极大地影响了世界范围内传统的写作手法。

弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙的一生都在优雅和疯癫之间游走。有人说：伍尔芙的记忆有着隐秘的两面——一面澄明，一面黑暗；一面寒冷，一面温热；一面是创造，一面是毁灭；一面铺洒着天堂之光，一面燃烧着地狱之火。《飞蛾之死》是作家创作后期的一部散文，伍尔芙在这篇散文里运用了多层次的美学表现手法和修辞手法，全文只有一千一百多字，但却蕴含着深刻的人生哲理和极高的美学价值。文章最早发表于1942年，当时社会正值动乱不安，战争和萧条使人们对死亡这一古老的终极问题有了更深的思考。在《飞蛾之死》中，作者没有提到战争，而是借用小小飞蛾在与死亡的抗争中所表现出的勇敢和无畏，来表现人对于生存和死亡的复杂思考，表现生命的崇高美。全文虽带有悲壮的灰色调描写，但其深层的创作动机是昂扬向上的。阅读这篇散文，作者会感到，杰出的作家不仅拥有崇高的心灵，更有能力把这种意念传达给她的读者，是他们的心灵也得到一次净化和提升，而这大概就是人们常说的审美体验了。同时，文章辞藻丰富，更不乏美国中学入学SSAT考试中的核心词汇，是值得精读的佳作。

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The same energy which inspired the rooks, the ploughmen, the horses, and even, it seemed, the lean bare-backed downs, sent the moth fluttering（鼓翼）from side to side of his square of the window-pane. One could not help watching him.One was, indeed, conscious of a queer（奇怪的）feeling of pity for him. The possibilities of pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that to have only a moth’s part in life, and a day moth’s at that, appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meager（微薄的）opportunities to the full, pathetic.

这同样的勃勃生机，激励着白嘴鸦，农夫，耕马，甚至是远处那片贫瘠的丘陵，也激励这只飞蛾翩翩起舞，在他的这块窗玻璃格的四角之间来回穿行。这时就由不得不去看他，也确实会对他产生古怪的怜悯之情。那天早晨的乐趣如此丰富多彩，可在生命的诸多形式中，只拥有一只飞蛾那样短暂的生命，而且是一只白日里的飞蛾，这命运也太悲惨了。而他居然也兴致勃勃地尽情享受自己那份小小的乐趣，这不由得不让人同情。

He flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment（窗格）, and,after waiting there a second, flew across to the other. What remained for him but to fly to a third corner and then to a fourth? That was all he could do, inspite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea. What he could do he did. Watching him, it seemed as if a fibre, very thin but pure, of the enormous energy of the world had been thrust（推掷） into his frail（脆弱的） and diminutive(微小的) body. As often as he crossed the pane, I could fancy that a thread of vital light became visible. He was little or nothing but life.

他有力地飞向窗玻璃格的一角，停了片刻，又飞向另一角。除了飞向第三个和第四个角，他还能做什么呢？那是他所能做的一切，尽管有广袤的丘陵，有浩瀚的蓝天，有飘向远方的炊烟，有不时地从大海里传来的令人遐想的轮船的汽笛声。他能做的他都做了。看着他，就好像天地间那巨大的能量被变成一根细丝，纤细而又纯净，掷进他那柔弱渺小的身体。就在他不停地在玻璃窗格的四角之间飞舞，我设想着有一束生命之光变得可见了。他渺小，或者算不得什么，但却是生命。

Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors（走廊）in my own brain and in those of other human beings, there was something marvelous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead（珠子）of pure life and decking it as lightly aspossible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zigzagging（弯曲蜿蜒的）to showus the true nature of life.

然而，正因为他弱小，以如此简单的形式呈现的能量，从那敞开的窗户涌进来，进入我的和芸芸众生那纷繁曲折的大脑神经，故而，他就越发有些既可怜又神奇了。就好像有人手捧一粒小小的纯净的生命之珠，用细绒和羽毛将它装点，命它翩翩起舞，蜿蜒而行，以向我们显示生命的真谛。

Thus displayed one could not get over the strangeness of it. One is apt to（倾向于）forget all about life, seeing it humped and bossed and garnished and cumbered so that it has to move with the greatest circumspection（慎重小心）and dignity. Again, the thought of all that life might have been had he been bornin any other shape caused one to view his simple activities with a kind of pity.

如此的演示，就更使人难解生命之奥妙。看着它弓着背，突着腹，身披羽翼，行动笨拙，飞舞时小心谨慎，仪态端庄，关于生命的一切的一切都被我们置于脑后了。我不禁想到，倘使他并非生来就是只蛾子，生命的形式又会是怎样的呢？这再一次让人带着恻隐之心去观看他那简朴的行动。

The legs agitated（摇动）themselves once more. I looked as if forthe enemy against which he struggled. I looked out of doors. What had happened there? Presumably it was midday, and work in the fields had stopped. Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous animation. The birds had taken themselves off to feed in the brooks. The horses stood still. Yet the power was there all the same, massed outside indifferent, impersonal, not attending to anything in particular. Somehow it was opposed to the little hay-coloured moth. It was useless to try to do anything. One could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen,have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human beings;nothing, I knew, had any chance against death.

他的腿做了再一次的挣扎。我似乎在寻找他与之斗争的敌人。我朝门外望去。那里发生了什么呢？显然已经到了中午时分，田里的农活已经停了下来，先前的喧嚣声被静止与无声所取代。白嘴鸦们已经飞到小溪边觅食。耕马静静地站立着。然而那股力仍然在外面聚集着，冷漠而又无情，不在意任何特别的事物。不知为什么，它居然与这只干草色的蛾子作对。什么样的努力都无济于事了，只能眼看着那细小的腿做出巨大的努力与即将到来的厄运抗争。而这厄运如果愿意，可以吞没整个城池；不仅是一座城池，也可以是无数的芸芸众生。我知道，在死神面前，一切都无能为力。

Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion the legs fluttered again. It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at last in righting（复原）himself.One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life. Also, when there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude（量级）, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely. Again,somehow, one saw life, a pure bead. I lifted the pencil again, useless though I knew it to be. But even as I did so, the unmistakable tokens of death showed themselves. The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over.The insignificant little creature now knew death.

不过，一阵疲惫过后，飞蛾的腿在空中再一次地挣扎。这最后一次抗争极为壮观，极为疯狂，他终于成功地使自己翻过身来。人的同情心自然全倒向了生命这一边了。再者，尽管没有人会在乎，也没有人知道，这只微不足道的小飞蛾，与这般巨大的能量做殊死的抗争，以保全除自己以外谁也不会珍惜和看重的东西所做出的非凡的努力，着实叫人感动。不知怎的，人们又一次看到了生命，一粒纯净的生命之珠。我再次举起铅笔，尽管我知道这样做是徒劳的。即使我这么做了，死神还是毫不含糊地降临了。他的身体松软下来，又立即变得僵硬。这场抗争收场了。这个卑微的小蛾子现在经历了死亡。

As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist（对手）filled me with wonder. Just as life had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as strange. The moth having righted himself now lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed. O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am.

我看着他，那股无比强大的力征服了这个无比卑微的对手所获得的意外的胜利，让我惊异。就像几分钟前生命如此奇特一样，眼下死亡也一样奇特。翻过身来的蛾子体面安详，毫无怨言地躺在那。哦，是啊，他似乎在说，死亡比我强大。

http://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz/Oicum8vrnd7e49PzUkKcOD9Agia5pAEmQwVntVblXlbGG34J1EHPDxDd0icsq99fMfxgkDb6MljzbIeladuBf4XHA/0Virginia Woolf" TITLE="名作赏析——弗吉尼亚•伍尔芙 Virginia Woolf" />