"If" — A Poem by Rudyard Kipling "假如" —吉卜林的一首詩

 "If" — A Poem by Rudyard Kipling

"假如" —魯德亞德·吉卜林的一首詩

 

約瑟夫·魯德亞德·吉卜林（英語：Joseph Rudyard Kipling，

1865年12月30日－1936年1月18日，又譯吉普林或盧亞德·吉卜齡），

生於印度孟買，英國作家及詩人。

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If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

假如在眾人失去理智而毫無理由地向你發難，你依然能鎮定自若；

 

 

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

假如所有人都懷疑你，你仍能堅信自己，

並諒解他人的疑心；

 

 

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

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

假如你能夠耐心等待，不急躁厭煩，

遭人毀謗卻不以牙還牙，

 

 

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

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

或者，在被人厭惡時，不去憎恨別人，

但同時不裝模作樣，不賣弄學問；

 

 

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

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

假如你能有夢想，但不被夢所支配；

假如你能深入思考，卻不鑽牛角尖；

 

 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

假如你能坦然地面對勝利和患難，

並將這兩位欺瞞者等量齊觀；

 

 

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

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

假如你能忍受聽到自己所言過的真相，

被惡人扭曲而用來謀害糊塗無知的人，

 

 

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;

或者看到你投入了畢生心血之作被摧毀，

卻仍能彎下腰撿起破舊的工具來重建修復；

 

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

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

假如你能以你至今所贏得的全部，

冒險孤注一擲，

 

 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

失去所有一切後從頭做起，

而面對這樣的損失緘默不語。

 

 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

假如你能迫使你的心靈、勇氣和力量，

耗盡後仍為你效勞堅持下去，

 

 

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

直到你精疲力竭，

只剩下毅力在吶喊："別放棄!"

 

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

假如你能與群眾交談而不同流合汙，

或是和帝王同行，卻不沾染妄自尊大的色彩；

 

 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

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

假如敵人和摯友一樣都無法傷害你，

假如你能尊重所有人，但不過度依賴任何一位；

 

 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run –

假如你能填滿無情的每分鐘，

善用每六十秒的時間做對自己有意義的事 –

 

 

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

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

那麼，地球和其中的一切都是你的，

而更重要的是，孩子，你將會是個頂天立地的人!

 

何御德  翻譯 © 2022