Unit 4 Exploring poetry课文及译文
Reading
How to read a poem
如何阅读诗歌
Poetry is a combination of “sound”and “sense”. More than any other type of literature, it usually implies a deeper meaning beyond the words on the page . So, how to reveal this hidden dimension?
诗歌是“音”与“意”的融合。与其他任何文学类型相比，诗歌通常隐含着超越字面的更深层含义。那么，如何揭示隐藏的这个方面呢？
First, follow your ears. While you may ask “What does it mean?”as you begin reading a poem, it is better to ask “How does it sound?”Even if its true meaning appears to be beyond your grasp,you can always say something about how the poem sounds when you read it aloud. Do you detect a rhythm? Are there any repeated words,rhymes or other special effects? All of these are good qualities to notice, and they may lead you to a better understanding of the poem in the end. Read these lines to feel how they sound.
首先，凭听觉的指引。当你刚开始读一首诗时，你可能会问：“这是什么意思？”但最好问一句：“它听起来怎么样？”即使你也许把握不住这首诗的正在含义，但是当你大声朗读时，你总是可以说说这首诗听上去如何。你能感觉到节奏吗？有没有重复词、押韵或其他特别的效果？所有这些都是值得注意的特质，它们可能最终会帮助你更好地理解这首诗。朗读下面这几句诗，感受它们的音律。
Sweet and low, sweet and low，轻轻地，柔和地；轻轻地，柔和地
Wind of the western sea, 西边的海风
Low, low, breathe and blow, 吹过，拂过，轻轻，轻轻
Wind of the western seal!西边的海风！
Over the rolling waters go,；来自月朦胧，
Come from the dying moon,and below，拂过波涛汹涌，
Blow him again to me；请将他再吹响我；
While my little one, while my pretty one,sleeps.
当我的小宝贝，小可爱，已入梦
(From “Sweet and Low”by Alfred Tennyson)
（摘自Alfred Tennyson 《轻轻地，柔和地》）
Second, approach the poem as if you were an explorer in an unfamiliar landscape. Ask some basic questions about the poem. Who is talking? Who is being talked to? What is being described? Is there a sense of place? Are there other people or objects there? As you explore the poem, you will begin to see images in your mind. What are those images, and what happens when they are put together? This combination is often complex or even contradictory. As you slowly explore your surroundings, you will start to dig up clues that give you a greater understanding of the poem. Read these lines, pay attention to the image of the caged bird and try to find out what it means.
第二，走进诗歌，就像你是一个置身于陌生风景中的探索者。问自己一些关于这首诗的基本问题。说话的是谁？正在和谁说话？描述的是什么？有感觉到某
个地点吗？那里还有其他人或物吗？当你探索这首诗的时候，你的脑海会开始浮现一些画面。这些画面是什么？把它们组合起来会发生什么？这种组合通常是复杂的，甚至是矛盾的。当你慢慢探索周围
环境时，你会开始挖掘线索，这些线索会让你更好地理解这首诗。读下面这几句诗，注意“笼中鸟”的形象，试着弄清它意味着什么.
The caged bird sings 笼中之鸟，
with a fearful trill 撕心裂肺，啼啭啾啾
of things unknown 所唱是未知之物，
but longed for still 却依然渴求
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill 歌声传到了远处的山丘
for the caged bird
sings of freedom. 因为笼中的鸟儿在歌唱自由。
(From “Caged Bird”by Maya Angelou) （摘自玛雅安吉洛《笼中鸟》）Third, if you are still struggling to interpret the meaning of a poem even with much painstaking effort, just have some patience. You
cannot really understand a poem that you have only read once. Sometimes reading a poem can be a lifelong job. So if you do not get it, set the poem aside and come back to it later.As an explorer, you will not reach your goal immediately--- you need to go on a journey to a remote and unknown destination. This may seem difficult at first, but when you finally make your great discovery, your efforts will be rewarded. Poems that are easy to understand are often less interesting than those that constantly reveal deeper and previously unrecognized meanings. Read these lines and try to find out what they mean.
第三，如果你下了很大的功夫可还是纠结于理解一首诗的意思，那就耐心一点吧。你不可能正在理解只读过一遍的诗。有时，读懂一首诗可能是一辈子的事。所以如果你没有读懂某一首诗，那就暂且先放在一边，以后再读。作为一个探索者，你不会立刻抵达你的目标----你需要踏上旅程，去一个遥远未知的目的地。这一开始可能看起来很难，但当你最终有了重大发现时，你的努力将得到回报。有些诗的深层内涵和之前未领会的意义会不断显现，相比之下，那些浅显的诗往往倒没那么有趣了。读下面这几句诗，看看是什么意思吧。
Whose woods these are I think I know.
我想我知道这片林子的主人，
His houses is in the village though;
尽管他住在山村。
He will not see me stopping here
他不会见我驻足于此，
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
凝视着他积满白雪的树林。
(From “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening “by Robert Frost)（摘自Robert Frost 《雪夜林边小驻》）
Finally, remember that you do not have to fully understand a poem to appreciate it. You might need to abandon logical thinking to discover its true inner beauty. As long as the journey of poetry reading makes you feel something or lets you perceive another level of meaning, it will have been worth your effort.
最后请记住，欣赏一首诗，并非得完全理解它不可。你可能需要抛开逻辑思维以发现诗歌真正的内在美。只要读诗之旅能让你有所感触，或者你领悟到另一层含义，那你的努力就是值得的。
Poetry’s combination of “sound”and “sense”makes you see the world in a new way and allows you to go beyond normal reality for the everlasting beauty.Enjoy your journey in the world of poetry!
诗歌“音”与“意”的结合，让你用一种新的方式看待世界，让你超越普通的现实，追求永恒之美。在诗歌的世界里享受你的旅程吧！
Extended reading
Li Bai and
his romantic poetry
夜宿山寺
A hundred feet the temple towers; 危楼高百丈，
I can reach out for the stars in the sky. 手可摘星辰。
But I dare not speak in a voice loud, 不敢高声语，
For fear of scaring dwellers on high. 恐惊天上人。
(“A Night Stay at a Mountain Temple”)
It is believed that this poem was written by Li Bai in his teenage years. With striking imagination in expressions like “scaring dwellers on high”, this early poem already displayed signs of a romantic style, which was later to characterize Li Bai’s poetry.
相传此诗为李白少年时所作。在这首早期作品中，“恐惊天上人”等诗句想象奇绝，已经展现出一种浪漫主义风格，这一风格后来成为李白诗歌的特。
Li Bai’s love of reading and travelling from an early age contributed to his romantic style. He started studying the classics when he was only o five years old, and was reading ancient philosophers of different schools at the age of ten, including Confucianism and Taoism. By reading books of all kinds, from legends to historical stories, he familiarized himself with classical Chinese culture, and more importantly, he acquired the wisdom of previous generations.
李白的浪漫主义风格与其自幼喜读书、好游历不无关联。他五岁就诵读经典，十岁读儒道等诸子百家
的著作。他博览书，从传奇故事到历史典故无所不窥，从而对古代经典文化谙熟于心，更重要的是，他从中汲取了先贤们的智慧。Driven by a burning desire for adventure and travel, Li Bai left home and started to travel around in his early twenties. His footsteps covered almost the whole country. During his travels,he visited famous mountains and great rivers, encountering different customs and practices. These travelling experiences also nourished his love of nature and inspired him to write numerous poems in the romantic style.
在强烈的探索欲和游历欲的驱使下，他二十几岁便离家周游，足迹几乎遍及海内。他一路寻访名山大川，见识各地文化风俗。这些旅途见闻培养了他对自然的热爱，也让他诗兴大发，写下了无数浪漫主义的作品。
Li Bai’s romantic style was also deeply rooted in the social and historical context in which he lived. Li Bai grew up in the most glorious period of the Tang Dynasty, a time of economic boom and social stability. This open and tolerant atmosphere allowed Li
Bai the liberty to develop a free and unconstrained personality, which, in turn, had a huge impact on his poetic production.
李白的浪漫主义风格亦深植于他所处的社会历史环境中。他长于经济繁荣、国家的盛唐。这种开
放而包容的氛围，使李白得以率性放达，养成了自由不羁的性格，进而极大地影响了他的诗歌创作。
Given his personal experiences and the historical background, it is only natural to see that the majority of Li Bai’s poems are characterized by the romantic style. Even the most uninformed reader would not fail to be impressed by the poet’s rich imagination. The moon and stars in the sky, the natural landscape and the figures in legends all become a vehicle for his imagination.Equally impressive is Li Bai’s free expression of strong feelings, which breathes vitality into the lifeless objects he describes, and which distinguishes him from other landscape poets. These features are inseparable from Li Bai’s wide use of exaggeration, metaphor and other artistic techniques. The poem below, written in his fifties, is representative of him romantic style:
有如此的个人阅历和历史背景，李白多数作品皆富有浪漫主义彩就不足为奇了。哪怕再没有文化的读者，也会为诗人丰富的想象力所折服。天上星月、自然景观、传奇人物，他都可借以发挥想象力。同样令人叹服的是李白对强烈情感的恣意抒发，笔下万物都被赋予灵性，这也让他与其他的山水诗人迥然有别。这些特征也离不开他对夸张、比喻等艺术手法的广泛运用。下面这首诗是他五十多岁时所作，是其浪漫主义风格的集中体现：
My silver hair is three thousand feet long, 白发三千丈，
Because my sorrow is deep and strong. 缘愁似个长。
How can the autumn frost white 不知明镜里，
Be cast into the mirror bright? 何处得秋霜？
(“Autumn Frost”) (秋浦歌）
With his extraordinary imagination, free expression of strong feelings and mastery of language, Li Bai is widely recognized as the greatest romantic poet after Qu Yuan. Generations of poets,both in China and abroad, owe a debt to his inspirational poems. One such poet is Ezra Pound, a 20th-century American poet. He was fascinated by Li Bai’s poems and translated some of them in his 1915 poetry collection entitled Cathay. Today Li Bai’s poetry continues to be enjoyed by countless readers around the world.
高中英语课文
超尘脱俗的想象，强烈情感的自由抒发，以及对语言的精通，使李白被公认为是继屈原之后最伟大的浪漫主义诗人。他的诗篇滋养着中国乃至海外一代又一代诗人。其中一位便是20世纪美国诗人Ezra Pound。他倾慕李白的诗，选择了多首收入他1915年出版的诗歌集《华夏集》中。时至今日，李白的诗歌仍然为世界各地无数读者所喜爱。