女性的职业 Professions for Women ⑹ (中英对照)

Those are the questions that I should like, had I time, to ask you. And indeed, if I have laid stress upon these professional experiences of mine, it is because I believe that they are, though in different forms, yours also. Even when the path is nominally open—when there is nothing to prevent a woman from being a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant—there are many phantoms and obstacles, as I believe, looming in her way. To discuss and define them is I think of great value and importance; for thus only can the labour be shared, the difficulties be solved.
这些问题，如果我有时间，是想要问你们的。诚然，我之所以强调自己的职业经历，是因为我想你们的职业经历也会如此，只是形式不同罢了。即使名义上道路是开放的——没有什么妨碍一名女性当医生、律师、公务员——但我认为，前路会有许多幽灵和障碍若隐若现。探讨和认清这些，我认为十分重要，颇有价值；只有这样，艰辛才能共担，困难才能解决。

But besides this, it is necessary also to discuss the ends and the aims for which we are fighting, for which we are doing battle with these formidable obstacles. Those aims cannot be taken for granted; they must be perpetually questioned and examined. The whole position, as I see it—here in this hall surrounded by women practising for the first time in history I know not how many different professions—is one of extraordinary interest and importance. You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men. You are able, though not without great labour and effort, to pay the rent. You are earning your five hundred pounds a year. But this freedom is only a beginning—the room is your own, but it is still bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared. How are you going to furnish it, how are you going to decorate it? With whom are you going to share it, and upon what terms?These, I think are questions of the utmost importance and interest. For the first time in history you are able to ask them; for the first time you are able to decide for yourselves what the answers should be. Willingly would I stay and discuss those questions and answers—but not tonight. My time is up; and I must cease.
但除此之外，还有必要探讨我们为之奋斗的目标，即我们为什么与这些艰巨难平的障碍作斗争。对那些目标不能想当然，须对它们不断提出质疑，加以检验。在我看来，这整个情况兴味非凡、意义重大——在这个大厅，身边围绕着很多女性，有史以来第一次我不知她们从事着多少种不同的职业。你们在以前男性专有的房子中赢得了自己的居室。你们能支付房租，不过需要付出巨大的辛劳和努力。你们每年能挣 500 英镑。但这种自由只是开始；你们拥有了自己的房间，但里面仍空空如也。房间得布置，得装饰，得分享。你们打算怎么布置、怎么装饰？你们打算和谁分享，需要什么条件？我想，这些是最重要也最关乎利害的问题。有史以来第一次你们能问这些问题；第一次你们能自行决定该如何回答。我很愿意留下来跟你们探讨这些问题和答案——但今晚不行了。时间到了，我必须打住了。