逍遥学能 2010-05-07 21:02
To Live is to Function
Oliver Holmes
In this symposium my part is only to sit in silence. To express one's feelings as the end draws near is too intimate a task
But I may mention one thought that comes to me as a listener in. The riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voices of friends and to say to oneself: The work is done.But just as one says that, the answer comes: "The race is over, but the work never is done while the power to work remains. The canter that brings you to a standstill need not be only coming to rest. It cannot be, while you still live. For to live is to function. That is all there is to living."
And so I end with a line from a Latin poet who uttered the message more than fifteen hundred years ago, Death plucks my ear and says: "Live -- I am coming."
function：在这里并不是“功能”、“运转”等意思，而是指更大意义上的“工作”。To live is to function——“活着就要工作”。这就是Oliver Holmes的观点，你是否同意呢？接下来看看他是如何解释的吧。
intimate：“亲密的”、“亲近的”的意思，本文里的意思是“使……动情”。可以看出，这是在电台节目快要结束时Oliver的总结性发言了。作者一生勤奋工作，孜孜不倦，当自己的工作得到肯定时，一定是激动而不能已于言了。
listener in：其复数形式是listeners in，表示“电台等的听众”。虽然这个节目是电台专为他举办的庆祝会，但Oliver还是非常谦虚地把自己当作一名普通的听众。
short： 本义是“短的”的意思，在这里则表示“急速的”、“立即的”等意思。
canter：“骑马慢跑”的意思。在赛马中，当选手们冲到终点后，由于惯性，总是要再慢跑几步才能停下来。比赛本身可以结束，但比赛的动力却永远存。工作也是，一个工作项目可以完成，但工作本身是永无止境的，只要我们还活着，就要工作。
pluck：“拉着”、“扯着”等等，Death plucks my ear的包含着这样的意思：作者已近晚年，生命已近结束。但还是不会停止工作。