LESSON 94

HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY

哈姆雷特的独白

To be, or not to be; that is the question:—

Whether ’t is nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die,—to sleep,—

No more: and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to,—’t is a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die,—to sleep:—

To sleep! perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,—

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns,—puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

Shakespeare.—Hamlet, Act iii, Scene i.

【中文阅读】

生存还是毁灭，这是一个问题；

默默忍受命运的暴虐的毒箭，

还是挺身反抗无涯的苦难，哪一个更显高贵

通过抗争使其结束？死了——睡着了，——

没有更煎熬人心的了；要是通过一场睡眠，

我们心头的创痛，以及无数血肉之躯不能承受的打击，

就此可以结束，那正是我们求之不得的圆满结局。

死了；睡着了；

睡着了！也许还会做梦——哎，堪堪恼人：

在那死的睡眠里，究竟将要做些什么梦，

因为当我们脱掉了这凡人的衣钵后，

我们必定踌躇犹疑。人们甘愿在如此长久的灾难中苦捱，

正是基于这个缘故；

因为谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和世人的讥笑，

压迫者的凌辱，傲慢者的冷眼，

被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛，法律的迁延，

官吏的无理以及费尽辛勤所换来的

毫不值得的藐视，

要是只消一把小刀，就可以偿清他自己的一生？

谁会背负这样的重担，

在疲困的生命重压下呻吟流汗，

可是由于惧怕不可知的来世，

那从来不曾有一个旅人回来过的未发现的国度，

正是它迷惑了意志，使我们宁愿忍受那些不幸，

也不愿飞向我们未知的未来？

于是，良心使我们全变成了懦夫，

决心本来的光彩，

被深思熟虑覆上了一层灰白之色，

带着这样的牵挂，伟大的事业也会在激流中后退而迷失，

丧失了行动的意义。

（莎士比亚《哈姆雷特》第三幕第一场）