甘道夫——恩·麥克萊恩：如何讓靈魂成長

November 5,2006

2006年11月5日 

Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

親愛的澤維爾中學(xué)，洛克伍德女士，還有佩林、麥克菲利、巴騰、莫勒、孔朱斯塔諸位：

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer eighty-four in his sunset years.

很感謝你們的來信。你們一定很懂怎么去讓一位84歲的老人獲得莫大的鼓舞。

I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

我不再出席公眾活動，因為我知道我現(xiàn)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.

然而我要告訴你們的話并不太長，即：進行任何藝術(shù)活動吧，音樂、唱歌、舞蹈、繪畫、油彩、雕塑、詩歌、小說、散文、報告文學(xué)，不論做的好與壞，也不是收獲名利，而是為了利用這些經(jīng)歷發(fā)現(xiàn)你內(nèi)心真正的樣子，為了讓你的靈魂成長。

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her.Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on.Make a face in your mashed potatoes.Pretend you're Count Dracula.

我是認真的！我是說現(xiàn)在就開始，從事藝術(shù)活動，并且在你的一生中堅持下去。畫一張滑稽的或者美麗的洛克伍德女士像，然后送給她。放學(xué)之后跳著舞回家，洗澡的時候放聲歌唱，諸如此類的事情。在你的土豆泥里畫個鬼臉。假裝你是德古拉爵士。

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.

你們今天晚上有個任務(wù)，如果你們不做的話，我希望洛克伍德女士會給你們個不及格：寫一首六行的詩，關(guān)于什么都行，但一定要押韻。

No fair tennis without a net.Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing.

韻腳就像網(wǎng)球的網(wǎng)，沒有它可談不上作詩。盡你所能的讓這首詩好一些。但是別告訴任何人你在做什么。

Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

別給其他人看，也別背給別人聽，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。好嗎？

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles.

撕成碎紙片，然后扔到遠遠的垃圾桶里。

You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem.

你會發(fā)現(xiàn)你已經(jīng)為你的詩找到了最好的回報。

You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

你已經(jīng)體會了這種經(jīng)歷，已經(jīng)對你的靈魂了解了更多，也使它得到了成長。

God bless you all!Kurt Vonnegut

上帝保佑你們所有人！柯爾特·馮內(nèi)古特