高級英語是高等教育自學(xué)考試英語專業(yè)高級階段（本科）的精讀課，屬于必考課程。下面小編收集了高級英語課文翻譯，供大家閱讀。

我為什么寫作

　　Lesson 12： Why I Write

　　從很小的時候，大概五、六歲，我知道長大以后將成為一個作家。

　　From a very early age， perhaps the age of five or six， I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer.

　　從15到24歲的這段時間里，我試圖打消這個念頭，可總覺得這樣做是在戕害我的天性，認(rèn)為我遲早會坐下來伏案著書。

　　Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to adandon this idea， but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

　　三個孩子中，我是老二。老大和老三與我相隔五歲。8歲以前，我很少見到我爸爸。由于這個以及其他一些緣故，我的性格有些孤僻。我的舉止言談逐漸變得很不討人喜歡，這使我在上學(xué)期間幾乎沒有什么朋友。

　　I was the middle child of three， but there was a gap of five years on either side， and I barely saw my father before I was eight- For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely， and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays.

　　我像一般孤僻的孩子一樣，喜歡憑空編造各種故事，和想像的人談話。我覺得，從一開始，我的文學(xué)志向就與一種孤獨寂寞、被人冷落的感覺聯(lián)系在一起。我知道我有駕馭語言的才能和直面令人不快的現(xiàn)實的能力。這一切似乎造就了一個私人的天地，在此天地中我能挽回我在日常生活中的不得意。

　　I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons， and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued.

　　我知道我有駕馭語言的才能和直面令人不快的現(xiàn)實的能力。這一切似乎造就了一個私人的天地，在此天地中我能挽回我在日常生活中的不得意。

　　I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts， and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure

　　還是一個小孩子的時候，我就總愛把自己想像成驚險傳奇中的主人公，例如羅賓漢。但不久，我的故事不再是粗糙簡單的自我欣賞了。它開始趨向描寫我的行動和我所見所聞的人和事。

　　。 . As a very small child I used to imagine that I was， say， Robin Hood， and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures， but quite soon my “story” ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw.

　　一連幾分鐘，我腦子里常會有類似這樣的描述：“他推開門，走進(jìn)屋，一縷黃昏的陽光，透過薄紗窗簾，斜照在桌上。桌上有一個火柴盒，半開著，在墨水瓶旁邊，他右手插在兜里，朝窗戶走去。街心處一只龜甲貓正在追逐著一片敗葉。”等等，等等。

　　For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head： “He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight， filtering through the muslin curtains， slanted on to the table， where a matchbox， half open， lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf，” etc.， etc.

　　我在差不多25歲真正從事文學(xué)創(chuàng)作之前，一直保持著這種描述習(xí)慣。雖然我必須搜尋，而且也的確在尋覓恰如其分的字眼。可這種描述似乎是不由自主的，是迫于一種外界的壓力。

　　This habit continued till I was about twenty-five， right through my non-literary years. Although I had to search， and did search， for the right words， I seemed to be making this descriptive effort almost against my will， under a kind of compulsion from outside.

　　我在不同時期崇仰風(fēng)格各異的作家。我想，從這些“故事”一定能看出這些作家的文筆風(fēng)格的痕跡。但是我記得，這些描述又總是一樣地細(xì)致入微，纖毫畢現(xiàn)。

　　The “story” must， I suppose， have reflected the styles of the various writers I admired at different ages， but so far as I remember it always had the same meticulous descriptive quality.

　　16歲那年，我突然發(fā)現(xiàn)詞語本身即詞的音響和詞的連綴就能給人以愉悅。《失樂園》中有這樣一段詩行：

　　他負(fù)載著困難和辛勞

　　挺進(jìn)著：負(fù)著困難辛勞的他——

　　When I was about sixteen I suddenly discovered the joy of mere words， i， e. the sounds and associations of words. The lines from Paradise Lost —

　　“So hee with difficulty and labour hard

　　Moved on： with difficulty and labour hee，“

　　現(xiàn)在看來這并沒有什么了不得，可當(dāng)時卻使我心靈震顫。而用hee的拼寫代替he，更增加了愉悅。

　　which do not now seem to me so very wonderful， sent shivers down my backbone； and the spelling “hee” for “he” was an added pleasure.

　　至于寫景物的必要，我那時已深有領(lǐng)悟。如果說當(dāng)時我有志著書的話，我會寫什么樣的書是顯而易見的。

　　As for the need to describe things， I knew all about it already. So it is clear what kind of books I wanted to write， in so far as I could be said to want to write books at that time.

　　我想寫大部頭的自然主義小說，以悲劇結(jié)局，充滿細(xì)致的描寫和驚人的比喻，而且不乏文才斐然的段落，字詞的使用部分要求其音響效果。

　　I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings， full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes， and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound.

　　事實上，我的第一部小說，《緬甸歲月》就屬于這一類書，那是我早已構(gòu)思但30歲時才寫成的作品。

　　And in fact my first completed novel， Burmese Days， which I wrote when I was thirty but projected much earlier， is rather that kind of book.