莎士比亚十四行诗第8首 - 劝君缔结连理枝
Sonnet 8
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly,
Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,
Resembling sire and child and happy mother
Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: 'thou single wilt prove none.'
音乐萦绕耳畔，你为何会忧戚？
甜蜜不克甜蜜，欢笑感染欢笑。
为何你爱上不乐意接受的东西？
或者为何你乐意接受你的烦恼？
犹如伴侣的交融发出悦耳天籁，
完美和谐的声音令你感觉烦心，
它们只不过委婉地责备你不该
沉迷独奏而厌恶你应担的本分。
看这一根弦是那一根弦的良人，
它们是怎样融洽地振荡与呼应；
宛如父亲、儿子和幸福的母亲，
齐声合唱的歌声令人愉悦尽兴。
它们的无词之歌似乎众口同声，
对你唱着：你独身将一无所成。
译于2007年2月14日。
You're like music to listen to, so why does listening to music make you sad? Delightful and joyful things should complement one another. So why do you love things that make you unhappy and enjoy things that are bad for you? If music played well and in tune sounds bad to you, it's because that music is rebuking you for not playing your own part—not making your own harmony—by getting married and having children. Notice how the sound of two strings vibrating together in harmony is like a father and child and happy mother, who all sing one pleasing note together. Though their music has no words, the unity of their voices sings this warning to you: If you stay single, you'll be a childless nobody.
诗人简介：威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakespeare，1564－1616），欧洲文艺复兴时期最重要的作家，英国杰出的戏剧家和诗人，全世界最卓越的文学家之一；他在欧洲文学史上占有特殊的地位，被喻为“人类文学奥林匹克山上的宙斯”。 他亦与古希腊三大悲剧家埃斯库罗斯(Aeschylus)、索福克里斯(Sophocles)及欧里庇得斯(Euripides)合称戏剧史上四大悲剧家。 浪漫主义时期赞颂莎士比亚的才华，维多利亚时期像英雄一样尊敬他，时至今日，莎士比亚戏剧的表演次数与研究次数仍远超其他任何戏剧家。前英国首相丘吉尔曾说：“我宁愿失去一个印度，也不愿失去一个莎士比亚。”
