莎士比亚-仲夏夜之梦（英文）

查看原文请关注微信公众号“英音朗读者”（TheEnglishReader）。

《仲夏夜之梦》是莎士比亚著名的一部喜剧，写于1594-1595年间。

原著本是剧本，兰姆姐弟为了向青少年普及莎翁著作，将很多原剧本改写成了故事，包括《仲夏夜之梦》，最初于200多年后的1807年出版。

这些故事广为流传，直到又过了200多年，Stan介绍给了你。

合适的两个人走到一起有多难？

Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,

Could ever hear by tale or history,

The course of true love never did run smooth.

But either it was different in blood,

Or else misgraffèd in respect of years,

Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,

Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,

War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,

Making it momentary as a sound,

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,

Brief as the lightning in the collied night;

That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and Earth,

And ere a man hath power to say “Behold!”

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.

(I.i.132–134)

原文难度是很大的，很多用词、有写句法，和今天的英语也有很大差别。所以好心的英国人民把它翻译成了现代英语：

Oh, honey! Listen, in books they say that true love always faces obstacles. Either the lovers have different social standings, or else they were very different ages, or else their guardians and advisors said no, or, even if the lovers are a good match, their love might be ruined by war, death, or sickness, so that the affair only lasts an instant. Their time together might be as fleeting as a shadow or as short as a dream, lasting only as long as it takes a lightning bolt to flash across the sky. Before you can say “look,” it’s gone.

这段话是Lysander对Hermia说的。Hermia拒绝父亲把她嫁给Demetrius的安排后，父亲要把她送去处死。她匆匆找到心爱的Lysander述衷肠。于是Lysander说了这番话。

他说：书里都说，真正的爱情不会一路坦荡。要么出身背景不同，要么年龄差异太大，要么亲友姑姨们坚决反对，要么，即便百般般配，那还有战争、死亡、疾病的侵扰，所以爱情总是短暂。瞬息而逝如影，短暂停留如梦。就像闪电划过天空，还没来得及说“快看”，黑夜的魔爪就将它吞没。

“The course of true love never did run smooth.” 你是否也在这句话中，找到共鸣？

400多年前莎士比亚随手写下的一句台词，像是有恒久的魔力，跨越时空，让你我代入其中。

如果你还在苦苦追寻爱情，那么也许那个TA也在排除万难找寻你。如果你和TA刚好相爱，那么在这个没有战争的国度，在没有死亡、疾病侵扰的年纪，真的值得不顾一切。

……

查看文本或Stan的更多推荐，请关注微信公众号“英音朗读者” (TheEnglishReader).