如果

江苏张家港市东渡实验学校 钱 丹 译注

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

如果众人思想迷乱而责难你，

而你能保持清醒；

如果众人怀疑你，

而你能坚信自己，那就让他们去怀疑吧；

如果你可以等待却不因等待而厌烦，

抑或为谎言所困却不置理谎言，

抑或为人所恨却不因此生恨，

不要太得意，不要夸夸其谈；

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;

If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools;

如果你有梦想——而不为其左右；

如果你有想法——而不一意孤行；

如果你遇到骄傲和挫折

而淡然以对；

如果你能忍受你讲的真话

被无赖之徒歪曲以蒙骗糊涂虫，

抑或看着你用毕生以致的作品被毁于一旦，

躬下身子，用破旧的工具将其重新收拾；

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

如果在你赢得无数桂冠之后，

孤注一掷再搏一次，

失败过后，东山再起，

不要抱怨你的失败；

如果你能迫使自己，

在别人走后，长久坚守阵地，

在你心中已空荡荡无一物，

只有意志告诉你“坚持”；

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

如果你与人交谈，能保持风度，

伴王同行，能保持距离；

如果仇敌和好友都不害你；

如果所有人都对你寄予希望，却不过分依赖；

如果你花六十秒进行短程跑，

填满那不可饶恕的一分钟——

你就可以拥有一个世界，

这个世界的一切都是你的，

更重要的是，孩子，你会是个顶天立地的人。

Notes:

1.鲁德亚·吉卜林（Rudyard Kipling，1865-1936），英国小说家、诗人，出生于印度孟买。

2.《如果》是一首励志诗，曾被译成27国语言，许多人，特别是青少年常以此勉励自己，激发前进的动力。

blamev.责怪；责难

allowancen.允许

give way to...向……妥协

wiseadj.明智的

thoughtn.想法；思想

aimn.目标；目的

triumphn.骄傲；成功

disastern.挫折；失败

impostern.冒牌货

bearv.忍受

twistv.扭曲

knaven.恶棍；诬赖

trapn.构陷；陷害

worn-outadj.破旧的

heapn.堆

riskv.冒险

pitch-and-tossn.掷币游戏

forcev.强迫；迫使

nerven.神经

sinewn.筋骨

virtuen.美德；德行

foen.仇敌；敌人

count with…对……信任有加

unforgivingadj.不可饶恕的