向死而生
Being Towards Death
文、 译/ 林巍1
〔1〕年轻时，很少愿意把“死”与日常生活联系在一起；后来，知道了，死亡2其实可以与任何年龄、任何时段联系在一起。
[1] When people are young they rarely relate their daily lives to death. But later experiences tell them the angel of death can actually knock on the door at any moment of any age.
〔2〕以前，认为讨论死亡不但是个忌讳，而且是没有多大意义的话题，后来经历的事情多了，认识到这太有必要3。因为，人的一生中绝大多数事情是不确定的，而唯有这件事板上钉钉。从出生那一天起，人便向着这个终极目标走去。对于这个人生的第一大问题，实在值得每个人考虑，而不应专门留给哲学和宗教。
[2] Previously, we may have thought “death” is a taboo subject in which there is little point in discussing. But again, what happens repeatedly shows us its necessity as part of our lives. Just think about this: of the numerous uncertainties in our lives, the only sure thing is death. From the very moment of our conception we move towards this ultimate termination. Such an issue of priority in our lives is worth everyone’s contemplation and shouldn’t be left merely to philosophy or religion.
〔3〕最近读了《精子战争》，从理论上知道了每个人只有百分之零点零零零几的机遇来到这个世界，成为现在的自我，而却有百分之百的可能4奔向死亡; 只有到达了那里，一个人的生命才是完整的——谁不愿意有完整的生命？
[3] I have recently read a book entitled Sperm War, which provides a theoretical insight into what life is about: everyone had a few millionths chance of becoming their current “self” but has one hundred percent certainty of death. Death actually completes a perfect lifecycle, which few people want to reject.
〔4〕中文里的“死亡”是两个概念: “亡”是瞬间的事，而“死”则是一个过程。在这个意义上，我们每一刻都是在“向死而生”。以现在的平均寿命而言，人大约在世三万余天。我们每一天被眼前的事务所占据着，而往往忽视了生命时钟随时的走动5，直到回头一看，才发现已在不知不觉中过去了那么多。其实6，无论多久——十年、五十年、一百年，作为往事回首时，都是一瞬间。
[4] In the Chinese language, the two characters si wang (death) denote two meanings: wang means instant decease and si is the process of death. In this sense, we are all in the process of “being towards death”. Based on an average lifespan, a person exists in this world for around thirty thousand days. The clock is ticking for us, but we busy ourselves with our daily concerns and often ignore that, until at a certain time we pause in the sudden realization of how many days have gone by. Pitifully, everything in the past is but the twinkling of an eye when recollected, be one ten, fifty or a hundred years old.
〔5〕向死而生是一种生活态度和智慧7。没人可以有死亡的经验，因为一旦发生已经不属于自己。但人却可以在活着的时候，借助他人的死亡，站在生命的另一端，审视生命的过程，得到许多不同的人生体验。
[5] “Being towards death” is nothing but an attitude of life’s wisdom. No one can experience and survive one’s own death (so he or she would be senseless to attempt that) but only experience the deaths of others – from an opposite end to examining life and indirectly enriching experiences of one’s own.
〔6〕人们不妨经常去墓地走走。在那里，面对一段段完整的生命——长者、同龄、年轻人，各行各业，有名、没名的——《红楼梦》的那句诗“纵使千年铁门槛，终须一个土馒头”顿时会变得活灵活现。那时，对于名利、地位、成功、失败、烦恼、痛苦、后悔、憎恨等等，会有全新的感受与理解8。
[6] It may be a good idea to visit cemeteries frequently. Confronted with so many “completed lives” – those of elders, contemporaries, younger folk of all walks of life, celebrities and unknowns – one cannot but reconsider one’s values concerning fame, wealth, status, success, failure, anxiety, agony, regret, hatred and so on, since nothing is more real than the scene described by two lines of verse in A Dream of Red Mansions: “For a thousand years you may have an iron threshold to live nobly / But the end must be a mound of earth indiscriminately”.
〔7〕也许有人会感叹，早生不如晚生9，因越往后生活条件越好，科技越发达，从而越可享福。其实，各时代的人都有各自的福与祸、苦与乐，不值得羡慕与后悔，现实人最好的选择是在当下。
[7] Some may sigh and say, “I would prefer to have been born later if possible, to enjoy a better life with more advanced technology”. However, every rose has its thorns, and it is pointless to admire other generations, since the best choice for a contemporary is the present.
〔8〕有人也会羡慕长寿。其实一味地活得久，未必是件好事，因生活不单以数量，而更是以质量来衡量10。如，巴金活了近百岁，临终前反复叨念三个字：“寿则辱”，想尽量缩短这种“屈辱”的过程。
[8] One may also long for longevity, which may be desirable but not necessarily enjoyable: as the wellknown century-old writer Ba Jin said in his dying words, “longevity is shameful”, as he hoped to reduce that painful period. Life is after all measured not only by its length but even more by its quality.
〔9〕看到了这些生命的消极方面，是否要去消极地生活——反正一切终将化为乌有11？不是的。如前所说，非常偶然形成的每个人的生命只有一次，应在这有限的期间内形成其最大的独一无二的价值。能够以积极态度面对消极事实，才是真正地生活着，否则便枉来一遭。
[9] Be fully aware that the negative side of life should not lead us to a passive way of living, in the knowledge that everything will eventually perish. As mentioned above, since every life is uniquely precious with the potential worthy of being fully developed, everyone ought to have a positive attitude towards life and take it seriously if we don’t want to live in vain.
〔10〕孔子说，“不知生，焉知死12”？其实应该颠倒过来，“不知死，焉知生”？因为想通了“死”这回事，的确可以让人更清楚地知道，在这一短暂过程中做什么才更有意义，而且抓紧去做13。
[10] Confucius said, “How can we understand death before understanding life?” In my view, the question should be asked the other way around: “How can we understand life before understanding death?” since it really makes a difference whether or not one has contemplated death in terms of what and how to do things more sensibly during life’s limited journey.
（选自《英语世界》2016年第2期）
注释:
1. 博士，暨南大学翻译学院特聘教授。
2. 此处不妨用委婉语，如还有 to join the majority、pay the debt of nature、to go to one’s own place、return to dust 等。
3. 不仅仅是 it’s very necessary，因该篇探讨的是生死问题，故不妨展开为its necessity as part of our lives 等。
4. 此处的“可能”不是possibility，而是结合前面的“百分之百”为certainty。
5. 不是life clock is moving, 而通常的英文表述为 the clock is ticking。
6. 不一定是 In fact，而根据其语境可为 Pitifully 等。
7. 不一定是the attitude and wisdom of life, 而可根据语境变通为 an attitude of life’s wisdom。
8. 根据此处句式，该句宜提前译出，故加以调整。
9. 为假设，故宜用虚拟语气。
10. 此句的顺序调整到了最后译出。英文里还有一种说法：It is not how long but how well we live.
11. 此句也是前面“看到了”（意识到了）的结果，故用了“in the knowledge that…”。
12. 此句有多种译法，如：Till you know about the living, how are you to know about the dead? / One can’t understand death before he understands life.
13. 这里不妨整合在一句里，以what and how to do things more sensibly方式译出。