How wonderful are islands! Islands in space, like thisone I have come to, ringed about by miles of water,linked by on bridges, no cables, no telephones.
岛屿是多么奇妙啊!它处在一望无际之中,四周海水围绕, 没有桥梁相通,没有电缆相连,更无电话可打。
An lsland from the world and the world's life. Islands istime, like this short vacation of mine.
我来的小岛就是 这样一个地方,它远离尘世,不见喧嚣。小岛是时间的孤岛,就 像我的这次短期假期。
The past and the future are cut off: only the presentremains.
在这里,过去和未来都被隔断,只有现时 依然存在。
One lives like a child or a saint in the immediacy of here and now.
一个人,或是像个孩子:或是像个圣人,现在便实 实在在地在这里活着。
Every day, every act, is an island, washed by time and space, and has an island's completion.
每一天、每一个动作其实都是一个小岛,经受着时间和空间的冲刷,像小岛一样完美。
People, too, become like islands in such an atmosphere, self-contained, whole and serene;respecting other people's solitude, not intruding on their shores, standing back in revernce beforethe miracle of another individual.
"No man is an island," said John Donne. I feel we are all islands--in a common sea.
“没有人 会是小岛。”约翰?多恩说过。我却认为每个人都是公共海域的 小岛。
We are all, in the last analysis, alone.
归根结底,我们都是孤独的。
And this basic state of solitude is not something we have any choice about.
这种孤独的基本状态由不得 我们选择。
It is , as the poet Rilke says, "not something that one can take or leave".
奥地利诗人里尔克曾经说道:“由不得我们带走或是 放弃。”
We are solitary. We may delude ourselves and act as though this were not so, yes, even to beginby assuming it."Naturally," he goes on to say,"we will turn giddy."
虽然身心孤独,但是我们都欺骗自己,假装事实并非如 此。里尔克还说,“我们很自然就会弄得头晕目眩。”
We seem so frightened today of being alone that we never let it happen. Even if family, friends, andmovies should fail, there is still the radio or television to fill up the void.
Women, who used to complain of loneliness, need never be alone any more.
女人们曾经埋怨孤独,现在想孤独也办不 到。
We can do our housework with soap-opera heroes at our side. Even day-dreaming was morecreative than this; it demanded something of oneself and it fed the inner life.
Now instead of planting our solitude with our dream bolssoms, we choke the space withcontinuous music, chatter and companionship to which we do not even listen.