本书简介:
《沉思录》是古罗马皇帝奥勒留写给自己的书,内容大部分是他在鞍马劳顿中写成的。作品来自奥勒留对身羁宫廷的自己和自己所处混乱世界的感受,追求一种冷静而达观的生活。这部著作是斯多葛学派的一个里程碑,亦是温总理放在枕边,读了不下百遍的书。
本书原文由古希腊文而作,英文版选择比较权威的George Long的版本,中文版选择何怀宏的版本作参考。笔记中的英文释义摘自《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》

 作者简介:
马可•奥勒留(Marcus Aurelius,公元121—180年),著名的“帝王哲学家”,古罗马帝国皇帝,在希腊文学和拉丁文学、修辞、哲学、法律、绘画方面受过很好的教育,晚期斯多葛学派代表人物之一。奥勒留也许是西方历史上唯一的一位哲学家皇帝。他是一个比他的帝国更加完美的人,他的勤奋工作最终并没有能够挽救古罗马,但是他的《沉思录》却成为西方历史上的伟大名著。

卷一:品质闪烁在良好的传承中(3)
 小编语:在卷一中,奥勒留回忆自己身边之人所教会自己的东西,George Long的翻译十分精炼,有些看起来也许不成句子,仅仅是一些词组和短语,但就在字里行间,我们可以感受到作者的思考与自省。如果要作为翻译练习的话,需要注意添加动词及调整语序,使你的翻译语句通顺,易于理解。
几期节目做下来,在翻阅字典,输入词条释义的过程中,也窥探出一些George Long的用词习惯,你可以发现,他的用词以“formal”为主,这是与整本书的基调相吻合的。所以,同学们做翻译什么的时候,一定要注意用词,力求还原原文的行文风格,不要把脑子里蹦出来的第一个词不加思考地写下来。

1.11 From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thing itself, not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion.

 Notes:
refrain [v] ~ (from sth/from doing sth) (formal) to stop yourself from doing sth, especially sth that you want to do
          e.g.: They appealed to the protesters to refrain from violence. (他们呼吁抗议者们不要采取暴力行动。)
          [n] a comment or complaint that is often repeated; the part of a song that is repeated after each verse.
chide [v] ~ sb (for sth/for doing sth) (formal) to criticize or blame sb because they have done sth wrong.
          e.g.: She chided herself for being so impatient with the children. (她责怪自己对孩子不够耐心。)
barbarous [adj] extremely cruel and shocking; showing a lack of education and good manners.
solecism [n] a mistake in the use of language in speech or writing; an example of bad manners or unacceptable behavior. solecistic [adj]
dexterous [adj] skilful with your hands; skillfully done. →dexterously [adv]


1.12 From Fronto I learned to observe what envy, and duplicity, and hypocrisy are in a tyrant, and that generally those among us who are called Patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection.
 Notes:
duplicity [un] (formal) dishonest behavior that is intended to make sb believe sth which is not true.
hypocrisy [n] (disapproving) behavior in which sb pretends to have moral standards or opinions that they do not actually have.
              e.g.: He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. (他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。)
tyrant [n] a person who has complete power in a country and uses it in a cruel and unfair way.
patrician [adj] (formal) typical of the highest society class.
             e.g.: She comes from an old patrician family. (她出生名门望族。)
             同样可以作为名词。
             反义词是plebeian,也可以做形容词和名词。
 

 看了笔记注释之后,先尝试自己翻译一下吧,参考译文见下:

中文翻译:
1.11 从文法家亚历山大,我学会了避免挑剔,不去苛责那些表达上有粗俗、欠文理和生造等毛病的人们,而是灵巧地通过回答的方式、证实的方式、探讨事物本身而非词汇的方式,或者别的恰当启示,来引出那应当使用的正确表达。
1.12 从弗朗特,我学会了观察仅仅在一个暴君那里存在的嫉妒、伪善和口是心非,知道我们中间那些被称为上流人的一般是相当缺乏仁慈之情的。 

回顾:《沉思录》读书笔记系列>>