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双语:金钱与爱情 买来爱情的真谛

http://www.sina.com.cn 2007年08月31日 17:30   新浪英语

  Money and Love

  金钱与爱情

  When the Romantic Movement was still in its first fervor,

  在浪漫主义运动仍很高涨之时,

  it was a common matter of debate whether people should marry for love or for money.

  对于应该为金钱还是为爱情而结婚是一个非常普遍的争论话题.

  The young people concerned usually favored love, and their parents usually favored money.

  一些年轻人通常倾向于为了爱情,而他们的父母通常倾向于为了金钱.

  In the novels of the period the dilemma was felicitously solved by the discovery, on the last page,

  在这一时期的小说中,这种困境通常是这样巧妙地解决的:在最后一页中,

  that the apparently penniless heroine was really a great heiress.

  这个身无分文的女主人公原来是一大笔财产的继承者.

  But in real life young men who hoped for this denouement were apt to be disappointed.

  但在现实生活中,那些希望有这样结局的年轻男人们会很失望.

  Prudent parents, while admitting that their daughters should marry for love,

  那些非常谨慎的家长,一方面承认他们的女儿们应该为了爱情而结婚,

  took care that all the young men they met should be rich. This method was sometimes very successful.

  但是也照顾到一点,那就是她们遇到的男人应该是富有的.这种方法非常奏效.

  It was adopted, for example, by my maternal grandfather, who had a large number of romantic daughters,

  比如说,这种方法就被我的外公采纳.他有很多天生浪漫的女儿,

  none of whom married badly.

  没有一个人嫁得不好的.  

  In these days of psychology the matter no longer looks so simple as it did eighty years ago.

  在今天,这种心理状态已不再像80年前看起来那么简单了.

  We realize now that money may be the cause, or part of the cause, of quite genuine love;

  我们现在意识到,钱可能是真正爱情的全部原因或部分原因,

  of this there are notable examples in history.

  历史上就有非常著名的例子.

  Benjamin Disraeli, who became Lord Beaconsfield, was, in his youth, poor and struggling and passionately ambitious.

  成为比肯斯.菲尔德男爵的本杰明.迪斯雷利年轻时很穷,但很能奋斗也很有野心.

  He married a rich widow, much older than himself, and considered by the world to be rather silly.

  他娶了一个非常有钱的寡妇,比他自己大很多,被世人认为是件愚蠢的事.

  Owing to her, he was able to make his career a success.

  但是就因为她,他才能在事业上取得成功.

  A cynical world naturally assumed that he loved her money better than he loved her, but in this the world was mistaken;

  那些愤世嫉俗的世人自然就认为比起爱那个女人,他还是更爱她的钱.但是在这一点上,世人都错了.

  throughout the whole of their married life, he was deeply and genuinely devoted to her.

  在这一生的婚姻生活中,他都全心全意地爱着她.

  I do not suppose he would have loved her if she had been poor when he first knew her,

  我不是说如果他第一次见到她时,即使她很穷他也会爱他,

  but the gratitude which he felt for the help,

  而是说他对这种帮助的感激,

  which he owed to her kindly interest in him easily, developed into a sincere affection.

  使他很容易发展成一种真诚的爱.

  A great deal of affection is based upon the fact

  许多爱都是建立在这样一个基础上的,

  that its object is a help in realizing the purposes of the person who feels it.

  爱的目的是帮助想要实现梦想的人达到他的目的.

  Men in whom ambition is the leading passion are likely to love women who assist them in their career,

  那些把理想抱负放在首位的男人,很可能就会爱那些在事业上能给与自己帮助的女人.

  and it would be very shallow psychology to suppose that the love is not real

  这种心理状态就很难说不是真正的爱情,

  because it has its instinctive root in self-interest.

  因为它的内在的根源是人的个人兴趣.

  An even more notable instance than Disraeli is Mohammed.

  一个比迪斯雷利更著名的例子就是穆罕默德.

  As everyone knows, he was camel-driver to a rich widow whom he loved and ultimately married.

  众所周知,他是一个给非常有钱的寡妇赶骆驼的人,他爱上了她并最终娶了她.

  It was her capital that supported him throughout the early unremunerative years of the prophet business.

  在他早些年以预言为业但没有收益的时候,是依靠她的资产生活的.

  Mohammed was not the man to give an exclusive devotion to any one woman,

  穆罕默德不会把自己全部的爱都投入到一个女人的身上,

  but there is no doubt that, within the limit set by polygamy, he was genuinely fond of his wife and benefactress.

  但毫无疑问地是,在一夫多妻的制度下,他还是真诚地爱他的妻子--这位女捐助人.

  I have taken examples where the man was poor and the woman rich,

  我举的例子都是男的穷而女的富.

  but in a world dominated by men the opposite is the commoner case.

  但在这样一个男人主宰的世界里,相反地情形才是更常见的.

  The psychology, however, is much the same.

  然而,心理状态大都是一样的.

  If a very rich man asks a very poor girl to marry him, she is likely, especially if she has social ambitions,

  如果一个非常有钱的男人让一个很穷的女孩嫁给他,尤其是她有个人理想抱负的时候,

  to feel a kind of gratitude which will lead her to fall in love with him, provided he is not too repulsive;

  如果他不是很令人反感,她很可能会因为一种感激之情而爱上这个男人.

  at any rate, he will need a smaller degree of personal attractiveness than a poor man would need.

  无论怎样这个男人比一个比他穷得人来说需要的个人魅力相对较少一些.

  Wealth can often purchase not only the semblance of love but its reality.

  财富通常不仅能够买来爱情的外表,还能买来爱情的真谛.

  This is unjust and undesirable but nonetheless a fact.

  这是不公平的,也不是人们所期待的,然而却是个不争的事实.

本文选自《移动英语通》的博客,点击查看博客原文

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