双语美文之似水流年 （132）郁金香(2)
Among the pleasant villages and farms
乡间万物孕育着乐趣，
Adjoin’d from each thing met conceived delight
谷物、干草、黄牛、牛乳，
The smell of grain, or tended grass, or kine
每一处农家美景，
Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound
每一处乡间乐赋。
Those who are conversant in the writings of polite authors receive an additional entertainment from the country，as it revives in their memories those charming descriptions, with which such authors do frequently abound.
那些熟悉这些名人佳作的人，在他们的脑海里总能浮现出名人笔下反复出现的娇媚景色，因此他们更能从乡间美景中获得一份意外的乐趣。
I was thinking of the foregoing beautiful simile in Milton, and applying, it to myself，when I observed to the windward of me a black cloud, falling to the earth in long trails of rain, which made me betake myself for shelter to a house saw at a little distance from the place where I was walking.
正当我独自品味着弥尔顿的诗句时，忽然发现迎面飘来一团乌云，刹那间绵长的雨丝急坠而下。我赶忙起身，举目四望，向不远处的一座农合跑去。
As I sat in the porch, I heard the voices of two or three persons, who seemed very earnest in discourse.
当我坐在门廊中时，听到两三个人谈话的声音。他们似乎正在十分认真地争论着什么。
My curiosity was raised when I heard the names of Alexander the Great and Artaxerxes;and as their talk seemed to run on ancient heroes, I concluded there could not be any secret in it;for which reason thought I might very fairly listen to what they said.
听他们提到亚历山大大帝和阿塔克西斯的名字，我的好奇心立即被吸引了出来。因为他们争论的好像是古代英雄和伟人，我想里面应该不会有任何秘密。想到这儿，我想或许可以仔细地听一下他们的谈话。
After several parallels between great men, which appeared to me altogether groundless and chimerical, I was surprised to hear one say, that he valued the Black Prince more than the Duke of Venoms.
他们先是比较了几个伟人。在我看来，这种比较根本毫无根据，纯属虚构。我十分诧异地听到其中一个人说，他认为黑色王子远比旺多姆公爵好得多。
How Duke of Vendos should become a rival of Black Prince, I couldn’t conceive.
旺多姆公爵和黑色王子怎么能作比较呢？我感到非常不解。
约瑟夫艾迪生
英国散文家、诗人、辉格党政治家。曾在牛津大学求学和任教，并去欧洲大陆旅行多年。担任过南部事务部次官、下院议员、爱尔兰总督沃顿伯爵的秘书等职。与斯梯尔合办《闲话报》(1710)和《旁观者》(1711)等刊物。为英国散文大师之一。写有诗篇《远征》、悲剧《卡托》以及文学评论文章等。