'甘道夫'读信让灵魂成长
November 5,2006
2006年11月5日
Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:
亲爱的泽维尔中学，洛克伍德女士，还有佩林、麦克菲利、巴腾、莫勒、孔朱斯塔诸位：
I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years.
很感谢你们的来信。你们一定很懂怎么去让一位迟暮之年（84岁）的老人获得莫大的鼓舞。
I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
我不再出席公众活动，因为我知道我现在老的像一只鬣蜥。
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
然而我要告诉你们的话并不太长，即：进行任何艺术活动吧，音乐、唱歌、舞蹈、绘画、油彩、雕塑、诗歌、小说、散文、报告文学，不论做的好与坏，也不是收获名利，而是为了利用这些经历发现你内心真正的样子，为了让你的灵魂成长。
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.
我是认真的！我是说现在就开始，从事艺术活动，并且在你的一生中坚持下去。
Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her.
画一张滑稽的或者美丽的洛克伍德女士像，然后送给她。
Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on.
放学之后跳着舞回家，洗澡的时候放声歌唱，诸如此类的事情。
Make a face in your mashed potatoes.
在你的土豆泥里画个鬼脸。
Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
假装你是德古拉爵士。
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed.
你们今天晚上有个任务，如果你们不做的话，我希望洛克伍德女士会给你们个不及格：写一首六行的诗，关于什么都行，但一定要押韵。
No fair tennis without a net.
韵脚就像网球的网，没有它可谈不上作诗。
Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing.
尽你所能的让这首诗好一些。但是别告诉任何人你在做什么。
Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
别给其他人看，也别背给别人听，即便是你的女朋友、你的父母、其他什么人、或者是洛克伍德女士。好吗？
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles.
撕成碎纸片，然后扔到远远的垃圾桶里。
You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem.
你会发现你已经为你的诗找到了最好的回报。
You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
你已经体会了这种经历，已经对你的灵魂了解了更多，也使它得到了成长。
God bless you all!
上帝保佑你们所有人！
Kurt Vonnegut
柯尔特·冯内古特