热闹与孤独
Socializing and Solitude
文、译/林巍1
〔1〕现代社会里，想热闹并不难2，特别是在中国。譬如，朋友聚会、唱K，报团旅游、聚餐，凑伙玩牌、打麻将，外加“中国式过马路”，等等。就是回到家里，在“朋友圈”中，仍可议论纷纷，热闹非凡。
[2] Nowadays, especially in China, everything seems to favor social intercourse, such as gatherings of friends, KTV, group travel, dining together, playing cards and Mahjong, plus the Chinese-style “street-crossing group”. Back home, discussions can still be boisterously carried on within the “circle of friends” of WeChat.
〔2〕但是，热闹并不总能排解孤独。当年朱自清在清华感叹：“越是热闹的地方, 我越能感到孤独3……”如今，当红的一首歌名便是《越热闹越孤单》。参与社交，需要能力；单人独处，更求素质4。
[2] However, boisterous scenes cannot always ease a sense of solitude. Zhu Ziqing, a well-known professor of Tsinghua University, sighed with emotion: “My aloneness increases as the scene becomes more bustling.” One popular song today is also called “A lonely man in crowds”. Actually, engaging in social intercourse requires ability, while being alone involves the whole character.
〔3〕现在，要想完全地静下心来，真正回归自我，并不是一件容易的事——需要更大的毅力、智慧和自制。爱因斯坦说，“一个人的成功与否，不在其工作时间，而在其业余时间”；他指的“业余”可理解为个人的独处。
[3] It is not easy those days to calm down totally and return to one’s true self – tremendous willpower, intellect and discipline are required. Einstein said: “It is not your working time but your spare time that determines the possibility of whether you will be successful or not.” The “spare time” he referred could be taken as “spending time by yourself”.
〔4〕孤独5，可以是单调、无聊、乏味的，也可以是丰富、有趣、精彩的，取决于个人的修养、志向和境界。
[4] Solitary life could be either dull, boring and tasteless, or abundant, interesting and colorful, depending on one’s qualities, ambition and inspiration.
〔5〕正如身体需要不断摄取能量，人的智力、精神领域也需新信息的不断补充；但信息不等于知识、思想和情感，它需要沉淀，慢慢地被转化和整合，而这些不是在乱哄哄的社交，而是在静静的独处中完成的。古今中外，许多成功人士的经历证明：灵魂在孤独中成长，才能在寂寞中升华。
[5] Just as the body constantly requires energy, the mind and soul also demand unceasing inputs. However, for information to be processed and integrated into knowledge, thoughts and feelings, serenity, instead of bustle seems to be the right condition. Successful careers in all walks of life worldwide have proved that “the soul grows in tranquility and talent is nurtured in solitude”.
〔6〕一定意义上，说“浅薄的热闹、深刻的孤独”，不无道理。
[6] In a sense, it may be reasonable to say that “Jollity tends to be shallow while solitude involves profoundity”.
〔7〕其实，人需要热闹，更需要孤独。往往是，有丰富的孤独，才会有高质量的热闹。
[7] Man, in fact, needs solitude more than jollity, and only abundant solitude can produce quality jollification.
注释：
1. 博士，暨南大学翻译学院特聘教授。
2. “不难”不一定是It’s not difficult to…，此处不妨“反说正译”，如用favor 作动词，类似的：Companies now tend to favor someone with an overseas study background.（公司现在更倾向使用那些有海外留学背景的人。）
3. 此处及后面歌名似可译成“The more boisterous the place, the more lonely I feel.”，然译文作了变通，为的是突出个人在热闹人群中的孤独感觉。
4. 个人素质，包括生理和心理两个方面，决定其日后的发展, 似可译成quality、diathesis、personality、making、stuff 等，但此处都不如 characters，其原义为the inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions，更全面、确切。
5. 可以是lonely、lonesome、single、reclusive、loneliness 等，但此处讲的是一种生活境界，故不妨用solitary life。