美文欣賞:一個農民
I ago Prytherch his name, though, be allowed,
Just an ordinary man of the bald Welsh hill
Who pens a few sheep in a gap of cloud.
Docking mangel chipping the green skin
From the yellow bones with a half-witted grin
Of satisfaction, or churning the crude earth
To a stiff sea of clods that glint in the wind-
且說他名叫埃古·普萊瑟奇，儘管他
只是光禿禿的威爾士丘陵中的一個普通人，
他在雲霧瀰漫的山谷裏圈養了幾隻綿羊。
割掉甜菜葉，削去青皮，
露出黃色的甜菜頭，他就傻乎乎地咧開嘴笑，
很滿足，或者把一塊荒地
開鑿成許多硬邦邦的土塊，散落在風中發亮——
So are his days spent, his spittled mirth
Rarer than the sun that cracks the cheeks
Of the gaunt sky perhaps once in a week.
And then at night see him fixed in his chair
Motionless except when he leans to gob in the fire.
There is something frightening in the vacancy of his mind.
His clothe sour with years of sweat
And animal contact, shock the refined,
But affected, sense with their stark naturalness.
他就這樣過着日子，他的放聲大笑
很少見，還不如太陽穿透當地陰沉天空的次數，
一星期太陽或許還能露出一次笑臉。
到了夜晚，你可以看見他坐在自己的椅子上
一動不動，除非要起身朝爐火吐口痰。
他腦子空白，這一點有些令人恐懼。
他的衣服，散發着陳年的汗臭
和牲口的氣味，以赤裸裸的自然面貌，
嚇壞了那些自命高雅而虛僞的人。
Yet this is your prototype, who season by season
Against siege of rain and the wind’s attrition,
Preserves his stock, an impregnable fortress
Not to be stormed even in death’s confusion.
Remember him then, for he, too, is a winner of wars
Enduring like a tree under the curious stars.
然而這就是你的原型，一季復一季
抵抗雨的圍攻，風的銷蝕，
他保衛着他的畜羣，一個堅不可摧的堡壘，
即便在受死亡威脅的慌亂中也不會被突襲。
那麼記住他吧，因爲他也是戰鬥中的一個勝利者，
如好奇的羣星下的一棵樹那樣不朽。
