四个四重奏:第13期 东科克(5)
That was a way of putting it – not very satisfactory:
这不失为一种表达方式——但不太令人满意：
A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,
用一种陈旧的诗歌形式进行一次转弯抹角的研究，
Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle with words and meanings. The poetry does not matter.
而把人们始终留在一场跟语言和涵义，作无法容忍的扭打中。诗歌无关宗旨。
It was not (to start again) what one had expected.
这并不是（重新开始）人们过去所期待的。
What was to be the value of the long looked forward to,
人们多年期待的东西，它的价值将是什么，
Long hoped for calm, the autumnal serenity and the wisdom of age?
多年企望的平静，秋天般的平静和老年的睿智，这一切又将有什么价值？
Had they deceived us or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,
音容消寂的前辈他们遗赠给我们的只是欺骗的诀窍，
Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?
他们是骗了我们还是骗了他们自己？
The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,
平静不过是一种有意的愚騃,
The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets
睿智不过是懂得一些已经失效的秘诀，
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
对他们在黑暗中窥视黑暗
Or from which they turned their eyes. There is, it seems to us,
或置黑暗于不顾都没有什么用处。
At best, only a limited value in the knowledge derived from experience.
在我们看来，来自经验的知识似乎只有一种有限的价值。