胡志美
《魯濱遜漂流記》是世界上最著名的探險小說之一。大家對這部小說評價很高,因為它不僅內(nèi)容生動有趣而且主題意義深刻。此外,由于書中的語言通俗易懂,因此自1719年出版以來,這本小說就廣為流傳。人們有時候把《魯濱遜漂流記》當做是英國的第一本小說。目前,它已經(jīng)被翻譯成多種語言。
《魯濱遜漂流記》的作者是丹尼爾·笛福,生于1660年,1731年逝世。他是現(xiàn)實主義文學的先驅(qū)人物,在英國文學史上起到了重要作用。笛福非常有才,培養(yǎng)了諸多興趣愛好,涉獵了包括政治、寫作、新聞等等在內(nèi)的領(lǐng)域。年輕的時候,笛福服過兵役,游歷了西班牙、意大利、法國和德國。這些經(jīng)歷后來成為了他寫作的原型和材料。笛福很關(guān)心窮人,提倡為他們改善社會環(huán)境。當時,英國正處在一個資本主義迅速發(fā)展的時期。笛福對資本主義的缺點深表擔憂,于是他寫了很多反對資本主義的文章,但卻因此而兩度入獄。直到60歲時他才開始撰寫《魯濱遜漂流記》這部名著。該書出版后流傳廣泛,不久之后便家喻戶曉,婦孺皆知。笛福的寫作風格淺顯易懂,這使得他的書受到大眾的喜愛,不管是受過良好教育的人還是受教育程度較低的人都能欣賞他的小說。
Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts. The first part is about Crusoes three voyages; the second part is about his hunting, farming and his hard struggles against nature on a small island; the third part is about the things which happened after his return from the island. Among these three parts, the second part is the body of the novel in which Robinsons character is clearly shown.
《魯濱遜漂流記》大致由三部分組成。第一部分講的是魯濱遜的三次出海經(jīng)歷,第二部分主要記敘了魯濱遜在一個小島上打獵、耕種和與自然作斗爭的過程,而第三部分則是講他從島上回歸人類社會后的事情。在這三部分中,第二部分是該書的主體,該部分清楚地展現(xiàn)了魯濱遜的性格。
Robinson Crusoe left England on a sea voyage in September 1651 against his parentss wishes. Actually, Robinson Crusoe ran away from home because he wanted to become a sailor while his father insisted that he should stay at home and study law. But during that journey, his ship was taken over by some pirates and Crusoe became the slave of a Moor. Before long, he managed to1 escape with a boat and made friends with a captain of a Portuguese ship. The captain carried him to Brazil where he became the owner of a large farmland with the help of the capitan.
1651年9月,魯濱遜不顧父母的反對坐船離開了英格蘭。確切地說,他是離家出走,因為他自己想成為一名水手而他的父親則堅持讓他呆在家里學習法律。但是,在出海途中,他乘坐的輪船被海盜劫持,魯濱遜因此淪為一個莊園里的奴隸。不久之后,魯濱遜搭船成功逃出并且和一個來自葡萄牙的船長成為了朋友。船長把他帶到了巴西并且?guī)椭麚碛辛艘淮笃恋亍?/p>
But he soon missed the excitement of the sea. Then he joined an expedition to bring slaves from Africa. Unfortunately2, his ship was caught in a heavy storm about forty miles out to sea on a remote island. Crusoe was the only one who survived this terrible shipwreck and he found himself deserted on a small island. Luckily, he managed to grab3 a few things from the ship before it sank into the sea. The things he saved included several boxes of matches, some food and a gun that he needed to live. Being far away from human society, he had to find ways to make a living4 all by himself.
但是不久之后,魯濱遜就開始想念海上生活的刺激,于是他加入一個遠征隊去非洲販賣奴隸。不幸的是,他們在離海四十英里的一個小島上遇到了大風暴。魯濱遜是這次事故中的唯一幸存者,他被擱淺在一個小島上。好在他趕在船沉入海底的時候搶出了一些東西,包括幾盒火柴、一些食物和一把槍。遠離人煙的他必須一個人生活下去。
He first built himself a hut5 so that he had a place to live and protect himself from the danger outside. Then he went hunting for food with his gun. He also successfully learned how to grow barley and rice and how to train and raise sheep. Besides, he spent his spare time reading Bible and started believing in God. After many years of living alone, Robinson one day found that the island was visited by someone. He wondered “Was it someone who can come to my rescue6 and get me back to London?” But it turned out that those visitors were local cannibals (野人). They came to the island from time to time and ate prisoners for food. Once the cannibals even attacked Crusoe but he got rid of7 them with his gun.
他首先建造了一座小木屋使他不受外面的事物威脅。接著,他扛著槍去打獵找食物并成功地學會了如何種植大麥和水稻,還學會了如何馴化和飼養(yǎng)山羊。此外,他還在空余時間閱讀《圣經(jīng)》,并開始相信上帝。一個人生活了許多年以后,有一天,魯濱遜發(fā)現(xiàn)小島上有人來過,“這會是誰呢?他能把我?guī)Щ厝祟惿鐣幔俊濒敒I遜這樣想到。但是魯濱遜后來發(fā)現(xiàn),來者是一些當?shù)氐囊叭?,他們時不時地到島上來,并且把一些囚犯殺了當食物。他們有一次還襲擊了魯濱遜,但是魯濱遜用槍保護了自己。
Robinson dreamed of owning some servants to keep him company and also work for him. Therefore, when he later came across a prisoner who just escaped from the cannibals, he helped him and saved him from death. Then Robinson took the prisoner back to his hut and named him “Friday” because it was on Friday when they first met. From then on, Robinson and Friday lived together. Robinson taught Friday how to speak English, guided him to read Bible and led him to have faith in God. Many years passed and once Robinson and Friday found that more local Cannibals arrived. They killed most of the cannibals and saved two prisoners, one is Fridays father and the other is a Spanish. They planned that they would all go back to the human society. Some time later, an English vessel8 appeared. Robinson made a deal with the captain who agreed to take Robinson and Friday back. After he returned to his home, he learned that his family believed him dead. As a result, he was left nothing in his fathers will. He then left England for Brazil and was told that he became rich. Friday was together with him all the time. Later in his life, Robinson married and had three children. After his wife died, Friday and he went back to the island for a last time.
魯濱遜一直想要為自己找一個奴仆,所以當他后來碰到一個從野人那里逃出來的囚犯時,魯濱遜幫助他逃跑并且成功地使他免于一死。魯濱遜把這個囚犯帶回住的地方并給他取名叫“星期五”,因為魯濱遜是在星期五碰到他的。從那以后,魯濱遜和“星期五”一直生活在一起,并教他說英語,引導他相信上帝。很多年以后,有一次魯濱遜和“星期五”發(fā)現(xiàn)島上又多了很多野人,他們殺了大部分的野人,并且營救了兩個俘虜,一個是“星期五”的爸爸,一個是西班牙人。他們計劃著一起回到人類社會。過了一段時間,一艘英國輪船經(jīng)過,魯濱遜和船長達成協(xié)議,船長同意帶他們回英國。回去之后,魯濱遜發(fā)現(xiàn)家人都認為他已經(jīng)死了,因此他父親在遺囑里沒有留給他任何東西。于是他離開英國前往巴西并被告知他變得有錢了。“星期五”從始至終都陪伴著他。魯濱遜后來結(jié)了婚,生了三個孩子。妻子死后,他和“星期五”又再去了小島上一次。
After reading Robinson Crusoe, we can draw a conclusion that the author tried to convey9 several messages. First, we should have the courage to stick to10 our dreams and live the kind of life we really want. Without dream, life is like a desert, dry and meaningless. As readers, we should learn from Robinson that it is important to have dreams and more importantly to have the determination11 to achieve our dreams. We may meet some hardships12 but as long as we never give up and truly believe in ourselves, our dreams will eventually come true. Secondly, hard-working is necessary if we ever want to get rid of difficulties and live a better life. If Robinson were lazy, he would have been dead. We may not face the same hardship as he did, but we do have a lot of things to do both in our study and daily life. So we cant afford to be lazy and aimless. To sum up, we should learn a valuable lesson from Robinsons hard-working, courage and creativity in this novel.
讀完這部小說,我們可以從中總結(jié)出作者想要傳達的幾點寓意。首先,我們要有勇氣堅持自己的夢想,去過我們自己真正想過的生活。沒有夢想,生活就像一片沙漠,了無生氣,毫無意義。作為讀者,我們都應該學習魯濱遜,敢于堅持自己夢想,更重要的是為實現(xiàn)夢想而努力奮斗。我們也許會碰到很多困難,但是只要我們不言放棄,并且真正地相信自己,我們的夢想就一定能實現(xiàn)。其次,我們還學到,如果我們想要擺脫困難過上更好的生活,我們就需要非常勤奮。如果魯濱遜很懶的話他可能早就死了。我們也許不會碰到像他那樣的困難,但在我們的學習和生活中同樣有很多事情要做。所以我們不能懶惰,不能漫無目的??偟膩碚f,我們需要學習魯濱遜在這部小說中展現(xiàn)出來的努力、勇敢和創(chuàng)新思維。
[1] manage to 設法做到;達成 [2] unfortunately adv. 不幸地
[3] grab vt. 奪?。蛔プ?[4] make a living 謀生,維持生活
[5] hut n. 小屋 [6] come to ones rescue 解救某人
[7] get rid of 擺脫,除去 [8] vessel n. 船,艦
[9] convey vt. 傳達 [10] stick to v. 堅持;忠于
[11] determination n. 決心;果斷 [12] hardship n. 困苦;苦難;艱難險阻