The most striking fact
about human beings is that, in many respects, they are very unlike
one another. Their bodies vary enormously in size and shape. Their
modes of thought and speech and feeling are startlingly different.
Startlingly different, too, are their reactions to even such basic
things as food, sex, money, and power. Between the most highly
gifted and those of least ability, and between persons endowed with
one particular kind of talent or temperament and persons endowed
with another kind, the gulfs are so wide as to be bridgeable only
by the most enlightened charity.
人最突出的特点之一，就是人与人之间在许多方面差异悬殊。人的身体大小和形态千差万别，思维、语言和情感模式上的差异也令人惊讶。同样令人惊讶的是，即便对于食色钱权这样基本的事物，各人的反应也完全不同。在天才和庸人之间，在才能或性情生来不同的人之间，有一条巨大的鸿沟，需要极度的开明和宽宏大量才能跨越。
These are facts which from time memorial hav
认真严谨季羡林
The Conscientious and Rigorous
Ji Xianlin / Ji Xianlin, a Conscientious and Rigorous
Scholar
说起季羡林先生的认真，那是出了名的，有一回我供职的刊物要介绍季老，我打电话询问他的职务，他竟认真地把年龄、籍贯、职务等介绍逐一相告，连挂名的10多种职务亦不例外。
Professor Ji
Xianlin had a reputation for being contentious. Once, for a
story/biographical sketch about him to be published in the magazine
I was working for, I telephoned him to ask him about his current
position. To my surprise, he took the matter so seriously that he
told me his age, birthplace/native place, and all the positions he
held, including the ten-odd titular ones.
中文里说“君子报仇，十年不晚”，英文里有Revenge is a dish best served cold（来自法语La
vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid，出自Pierre de Laclos的
Les Liaisons
Dangereuses），但意思有所不同：前者强调忍耐和等待时机，直译为(For) a
gentleman to take revenge, ten years is not too late (to
wait)，意译为One should bide one's time and wait for the right
opportunity to seek vengeance（据wiktionary）；而后者强调应等待头脑冷静下来之后再实施报复（emotional detachment and planning ('cold
(2010-02-19 13:41)
说到“接触”的英文表达，也许最容易想到contact，但有些时候，如接触有害物质、接触新事物，用expose更恰当：
Will the children ever be exposed to a profound
idea at home?
孩子们在家里能接触到高深的思想吗?
People chronically exposed to chlorine develop
some degree of tolerance.
人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。
We want to expose the kids to as much art
and culture as possible.
我们想让孩子们受到尽可能多的艺术和文化熏陶。
In 1990, [Linus
Torvalds] resumed his university studies, and was exposed to
UNIX
for the first time [
喜欢看美剧的人不难注意到，《越狱》、《反恐24小时》这样的电视剧，有时候开头会有一个很酷的声音念一句Viewer Discretion is
Advised，大概意思就是里面有血腥、暴力镜头，请观众注意。不知道是美国什么法律或规定要求这么做，还是类似“少儿不宜”的噱头。这且不提。问题是，该怎样翻译这句话？网上下载的版本里有多种译法，大多数译文都是“请谨慎观看”之类，比较直白。今天刚下了《越狱》第十九集，其中这句话的翻译颇有创意：观者自酌。
The Literature of
Knowledge and the Literature of Power
What is it that we mean by literature? Popularly, and
amongst the thoughtless, it is
held to include everything that
is printed in a book. Little logic is required to
disturb
that definition. The most
thoughtless person is easily made aware that in the idea
of
literature one essential element
is some relation to a general and common interest of
man—
so that what applies only to a
local, or professional, or merely personal interest,
even
though presenting itself in the
shape of a book, will not belong to Literature. So far
the
definition is easily narrowed;
and it
Sunday Before The
War
By A. Clutton-Brock (1868-1924)
On Sunday, in a remote valley in
the West of England, where the people are few and scattered and
placid, there was no more sign among them than among the quiet
hills of the anxiety that holds the world. They had no news and
seemed to want none. The postmaster had been ordered to stay all
day in his little post-office, and that was something unusual that
interested them, but only because it affected the
postmaster.
It rained in the morning, but
the afternoon was clear and glorious and shining, with all the
distances revealed far into the heart of Wales and to the high
ridges of the Welsh mountains. The cottages of that valley are not
gathered into villages, but two or three together or lonely among
their fruit-trees on the hillside; and the cottagers who are always
courteous and
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