Katherine's Wonderland 8 --- Life Worth Living

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Life Worth Living

生活值得过下去

作者：杰克·伦敦

I was born in the working-class. Early I discovered enthusiasm, ambition, and ideals; and to satisfy these became the problem of my child-life.

我出生于工人阶级。早年我的生活就有了热忱、抱负和理想，而满足这一切变成了我童年生活的问题。

My environment was crude and rough and raw. I had no outlook, but an uplook rather. 

我生活的环境粗俗简陋而有野蛮。我没有眼界，有的只是向上看。

My place in society was at the bottom. Here life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness, both of the flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and tormented.

我处在社会的底层。底层的生活一无所有，有的只是乌烟瘴气，灵魂与肉体两方面都是如此，因为在底层灵魂与肉体同样备受煎熬。

Above me towered the colossal edifice of society, and to my mind the only way out was up. Into this edifice I early resolved to climb. 

在我之上巍峨的社会大厦耸然屹立，在我看来，我人生唯一的出路就是向上。我很早就下定决心一定要向上爬。

Up above, men wore black clothes and boiled shirts, and women dressed in beautiful gowns. Also, there were good things to eat, and there was plenty to eat. This is much for the flesh.

在上面，先生们穿的是黑制服白衬衫，而女士们穿着漂亮的晚礼服。而且，有美食可吃，有足够的美食可吃。对肉体而言，这已经足够了。

Then there were the things of the spirit. Up above me, I knew, were unselfishness of the spirit, clean and noble thinking, keen intellectual living.

然后，这里还有着灵魂需要的东西。我明白，在这个世界，有着无私的灵魂，纯洁高尚的思想，和敏锐的精神生活。

I knew all this because I read "Seaside Library" novels, in which, with the exception of the villains and adventuresses, all men and women thought beautiful thoughts, spoke a beautiful tongue, and performed glorious deeds.

我之所以知道这一切，是因为我读过“海滨书社”的小说，除了流氓和女投机者外，其中描写的所有男女想的都是美好的思想，说的都是优美的语言，完成的都是辉煌的业绩。

In short, as I accepted the rising of the sun, I accepted that up above me was all that was fine and noble and gracious, all that gave decency and dignity to life, all that made life worth living and that remunerated one for his travail and misery.

简而言之，我承认太阳升起，同样我也承认在我之上的一切都是美好高尚优雅的，一切都是生活带来体面和尊严，一切都是使得生活值得活下去的，都是对人的辛劳和不幸予以报酬。

Uplook: an upward look

Boiled shirts:礼服衬衫