草叶（2009）

这是公元前四百年 发生在雅典的一幕
The scene is Athens, 400 BC.
当地的一些智者相聚一堂
A bunch of the local braniacs have gotten together,
酌酒间
the wine is being passed,
火花涌动 思想激烈交锋
and the ideas are flowing fast and furious.
草叶
辩论达到了高♥潮♥
The debate’s in full force,
苏格拉底发表意见 而阿西拜厄狄斯加入了讨论
and Socrates has the floor. Who enters? Alcibiodes,
这位醉醺醺的俊美男人
drunk, a beautiful man,
当时正疯狂爱恋着自己的导师 苏格拉底
hopelessly in love with his mentor, Socrates.
然而 有意思的是 交锋之中
And, uniquely, in all of these dialogues,
苏格拉底没有如阿西拜厄狄斯一般抗辩到底 为什么
Socrates doesn’t get the last word. Alcibiodes does. Why?
因为正如柏拉图曾经说过
Because passion, Plato seems to be saying,
情感就是人类本质上的弱点
is essentially and mercilessly human.
我们所能做的 就是通过持久地自律
And the best that we can hope to do is to quell it,
抑制情感
through relentless discipline.
对苏格拉底来说
To Socrates,
健康的生活
the healthy life is comprised
就是在万众瞩目之下
of constant focus by the individual,
依旧保留自己的一片净土
to excise those forces that weaken or…
不受那些扰乱认知的杂念影响
or confuse his understanding of the world around him.
他乞求我们保持这样的自律
He implores us to devote our lives to this kind of control.
这意味着 每时每刻的自律
Meaning, our every waking moment.
苏格拉底认清了一点
Socrates recognized what every philosopher
而这点为历史上所有哲学家和宗教人士所承认
and religion, for that matter, in the history of the world,
从柏拉图到亚里士多德 从伊壁鸠鲁到斯多葛
from Plato to Aristotle, from Epicurus to the Stoics,
从犹太基♥督♥教众 到佛家教♥徒♥ 无一例外
from the Judeo-Christians to the Buddhists, have all observed,
幸福生活所需的平衡
which is that the balance needed for a happy life
是虚幻的
is illusory.
一旦我们以人类固有的方式
And as soon as in our gorgeously-flawed human way
误以为我们达到了这种平衡
we think that we’ve attained it.
那就是在自比上帝 我们也将因此毁灭
We’re pretending divinity, and we’re gonna crash,
正如卡勒斯 灰飞烟灭于海洋
like Icarus, flaming into the sea.
这周末好好想想这一点
So think about that this weekend,
当你自以为站在世界之巅
when you think you’re on top of the world,
于是几杯啤酒下肚
and then you pour a pitcher of beer
便去追求那位你配不上的男人时
down your throat and chase that upper-classman,
请想想我今天的话
who’s out of your league.
下周我们谈亚里士多德
Aristotle is next week.
不要拘泥于文字 要想象场景
don’t just look at it as words. Imagine the scene.
这些都是人 曾经活生生的人
These were people. They were alive, like you and me.
这些都是他们的思想 请赋予它们生命
They thought these things. Breathe ’em into life.
我想把索福克勒斯作品中
So, I was thinking about doing a sort of contrast
对话和旁白做一个对比
between dialogue and chorus in Sophocles.
你可以参考尼采的《悲剧的诞生》
Now you should check out Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy.
他认为悲剧源于两位神的交锋
He says that tragedy emerges from the clash between Apollo,
理智与和谐之神阿波罗 迷狂之神狄俄尼索斯
God of reason and harmony, and Dionysus, god of intoxication.
在人类身上 这二者的冲突不可避免
And that their struggle within our human condition is inevitable, and
也因此产生了
that is what has produced the most
世间最耀眼的艺术形式
salient form of art the world’s ever known.
-悲剧 -你不这么认为吗
– Tragedy? – What, you don’t think so?
我喜欢喜剧 一起去看电影吗
I like comedies. ‘Ya wanna see a movie?
不 格林斯坦小姐 很抱歉
No, Miss Greenstein, I’m sorry.
-你收到我的字条了吗 -收到了
– Did you get my note? – I did.
怎样
And?
用拉丁文写很聪明
It was very clever of you to write it in Latin.
还有大量使用被动迂回说法呢
With the repeated use of the passive periphrastic?
-很繁琐 -还有我把头韵形容词
– It was quite propagate. – And how I was sending up cicero
插入动词之中
with all those alliterative adjectives
模仿西塞罗风格呢
thrusting themselves into the verbs?
罗马哲学家
-这些我都发现了 -那么
– None of this was lost on me. – So?
格林斯坦小姐
Miss Greenstein,
你很聪明 也很有特点
you are very, very bright and very profession in your way,
但总有规矩 道德观念 或者说
but there are certain rules, mores , if you will,
这条界限不能跨越
lines that we don’t cross.
我没有开玩笑
I’m not joking, actually,
还请你今后自重
and I’m gonna ask you in the future to refrain..
不 不 不 请别这样
No! no, no, no… no! Please, don’t do that!
请你把门打开 格林斯坦小姐
I’m gonna ask you to open that door, Miss Greenstein.
我张口结舌 发不出一丝声音
Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
拉丁语
一股纤细的热流传遍全身
Flamma demanat, sonitu suopte
拉丁语
卡图卢斯诗集 第五十一章 勒斯比亚循环诗
Catullus 51, the lesbia cycle, yes. however,
不 不 不 不要这样
Oh, no, no, no! abs… absolutely not!
格林斯坦小姐
Miss Greenstein!
这对我们俩都不好
This is not good for either of us!
格林斯坦小姐 不 请自重
No, Miss Greenstein! No! Restrain yourself!
抱歉 我 我
Oh! Oh! Excuse me! um… I… I… I…
玛姬
Maggie! Mag… Maggie!
别走 格林斯坦马上就离开
Please don’t go. Miss Greenstein was just leaving.
-玛姬 别误会 -您不用说了
– Maggie. Absolutely nothing. – You don’t have to say anything.
我绝不会 她 她自己就扑上来
I would never… she… she… she went and just puh!
他们都爱你 哈佛也是
They’re all in love with you. Just like Harvard.
谁告诉你的
Who told you that?
这可是古典学系
This is the classics department.
所有人都飞短流长
No one is more gossipy than you people.
我明天一早去剑桥 只是吃个饭而已
Ok, I am going to Cambridge in the morning. It’s just a lunch.
与我无关
I don’t wanna know.
我们不玩儿冰♥毒♥ 可♥卡♥因♥也是
We don’t deal in crystal meth. We don’t deal in cocaine.
摇♥头♥丸♥或是白粉我们也不做
Not your rock stuff or your powder.
凡是要搁勺子里煮的
We don’t do nothing ya gotta cook up in a spoon
要注射的我们都不做
and shoot into your arm.
药丸 合成药片儿 都不是我的菜
Pills? Pharmaceuticals? Hell, no, by and large.
或许
Maybe, well,
我曾经经手过一些黑茉莉
maybe the black molly’s gonna pass through these hands
大♥麻♥与蜂蜜混合物
但我之所以会这么做
on his way to somewheres else,
仅仅是因为我上高中那会儿
just on account of the fact I used to like
嗑过一阵子 不然怎么把作业写完呢
pop in high school, ‘cuz I had to get my homework done.
但我们的底线就在这里
But that’s generally where we draw the line.
不 先生 我们只做百分百俄州自产货
No, sir. we deal in 100% pure Oklahoma grown,
独家的 为什么
exclusive. why?
因为我可不想因为把抗组胺剂
Because I ain’t gonna blow my house up
混进甘油而把自家房♥子炸飞
mixing up antihistamines into dynamite.
还有 说真的 那种要用针注射的东西
And, spiritually, I don’t cotton to somethin’
我可没有好感
that’s gotta pass through a needle.
化学品嘛 就是不喜欢而已
Chemicals, well, I just don’t like ’em.
我的马仔们原来都是走私犯
My people was bootleggers before all this.
原来是作坊产业 纯天然
It was a backyard operation. They did it natural.
如今技术含量提高了 这点我可以保证
Little bit more of a science nowadays. I will grant ya that.
你说你改主意了 要北上扩张了
You say you changed your mind, getcha up north.
-他想去德州 -不可能
– He mentioned Texas. – Texas ain’t gonna happen.
混球 我们不去德州做
Dick, we don’t wanna sell in Texas.
堪萨斯 内布拉斯加 密苏里都行
Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri.
没兴趣
I ain’t interested.
他说你最好把兴趣培养出来
He say you’d better get your mind around being interested.
什么意思
Meaning what?
就是说 要么你扩张生意
Meaning your choice is to expand your business,
要么我们就让你关门大吉
or we shut you down entire.
看你到时候怎么还债
Then how you gonna pay your debt?
-肥猫出什么事了 -上周被抓了
– Well, what happened to fat back? – Arrested last week.
-那个迈阿密来的菜鸟呢 -把自己房♥子炸了
– And the rawls feller up in liberty mans? – Blowed his house up.
看见没 所以我不干这种事
Oh, see, that’s.. that what I’m talkin’ about.
时下风头很紧
Well, it’s tough times.
可不是嘛
Well, ain’t it the truth.
过去 你只要拉上几根绊线
Used to be, you could get a couple of trip wires,
设上几个陷阱
a couple of booby traps,
养上几条好狗 收买♥♥好条子
a good set of dogs, you pay off your local constable,
你就可以逍遥地做你的生意
and you just live out on the property.
施点复合肥 那玩意跟夏天的豆子一样疯长
Feed her a little 13-13-13 fertilizer, like growing summer beans.
就连打击毒品的行动也没殃及我们
Even the war on drugs passed us by.
当然了 他们现在更喜欢反恐