Exercises 2-Translation from Chinese to English

目前美国的所谓“人文教育”(liberal arts education) 的理念，在中国颇有些鼓吹者，但“人文教育”后面还有体育这一层。

体育是学习人生的最好手段。

体育和人生的关系，如同数学和科学的关系一样，因为体育能够把人生中千变万化的现象，抽象为几个最简单的规则。

不管你干什么专业，你总得和人相处、竞争，总会有成有败，有领先或落后的时刻，总有如何对待对手和“裁判”的问题。

在这些境遇中如何自处，体育都会教给你。

选自《南方周末》（2004年4月22日），作者薛勇参考译文：Today, quite some Chinese are beginning to trumpet the American idea of liberal arts education. However, few of them remember that behind liberal education lies physical, which is the best way of learning about life. The relationship between physical education and life can be likened to that between mathematics and science, for physical education is nonetheless capable of reducing life’s various phenomena to a few hare and fast rules. No matter what you specialize in, you’ll have to get along and compete with people. Where there is competition, there are winners and losers and losers, and the moments of running ahead of or lagging behind your opponent will surely occur. Besides, there will be the issue of how to behave towards your opponent and the “umpire”. On how to cope in circumstances like these, sports will teach you most specifically.四月里，南方的天气很好，用了半个小时的时间，我分别写了五件事情，我希望它们五个慢慢悠悠地向北走，用老年人喝下一杯浓茶的那种速度，类似坐着40年代的有轨电车，在黄昏里环绕城市。

古人还有紧急到火烧眉毛的事情，用快马轮换送信，沿途的驿站散发着马鼻子里的气息。

今天也有缓慢优雅的事情，比如，和五个人分别说几句不重要的话，然后让它们散淡地跟着帆布口袋走在漫漫路上。

我看见一个人同时接听两部电话，那种左右都在的忙，让人感觉夸张。

再忙的人也不可能同时看两封信，一行字将固定地占有人的最短离时间。

人在看一封信的时候必须专一，这是信的高贵之优。

选自散文《我有五封信都在路上》，作者王小妮参考译文：People in ancient times had to send extremely urgent letters by way of riding horses and changing them at courier stations which were filled with the horses' winded breath. Nowadays some things do not need to be rushed — for instance, an inconsequential message to five people that can be enclosed in envelopes, put in canvas bags and released slowly.Sometimes I see a person receiving two calls at the same time. Such overstated business overwhelms me. The busiest person cannot read two letters at once. Just one line in a letter will consume the reader's attention. When one reads a letter, he or she must concentrate. This is where the nobility of letters lies.对于心的境界，我所能够给出的最高赞语就是：丰富的单纯。

我所知道的一切精神上的伟人，他们的心灵世界无不具有这个特征，其核心始终是单纯的，却又能够包容丰富的情感、体验和思想。

我相信，每一个精神上的伟人在本质上都是直接面对宇宙的人。

一方面，他知道自己是宇宙的儿童，这种认识深藏于他的心灵的核心之中，从根本上使他的心灵永葆儿童的单纯。

另一方面，他对宇宙的永恒本质充满精神渴望，在这种渴望的支配下，他本能地为一切精神事物所吸引，使她的心灵变得越来越丰富。

与此相反的境界是贫乏的复杂。

这是那些平庸的心灵，它们被各种人际关系和利害算计占据着，所以复杂；可是完全缺乏精神内含，所以又是一种贫乏的复杂。

选自散文《丰富的单纯》，作者周国平参考译文：The minds of all great men of spirit I know are characterized by this feature. Their heats are simple all the time, which nevertheless have room for the richness of various emotions, experiences and thoughts.I believe that every great man of spirit is in essence communicating directly with the universe. On the one hand, he knows that he is just a little child in front of the universe. This knowledge remains deep at the core of his heart and fundamentally renders his mind as simple as those of children forever. On the other hand, his spiritual longing for the everlasting nature of the universe is so keen that he is fascinated instinctively by all spiritual matters. Therefore, his mind becomes richer and richer.乡下老家前面的空地，租给人家种桃花心木的树苗。

树苗种下来后，植树人总是隔几天才来浇水，奇怪的是，他来的天数并没有规则，有时三天，有时五天，有时十几天来一次。

浇水的量也不一定，有时浇得多，有时浇得少。

桃花心木有时就莫名地枯萎了，所以，他来的时候总会带几株树苗补种。

我起先以为他太懒，隔那么久才为树浇水。

但是，懒的人怎么会知道有几棵树枯萎了呢？他说：“种树不是种菜或种稻子，种树是百年基业，不像青菜几个星期就可以保收。

所以树木自己要学会在土地里找水源，我浇水只是模仿老天下雨，老天下雨算不准的，它几天下一次？上午或下午？一次下多少？如果无法在这种不确定中汲水生长，树苗很自然就枯萎了。

但是，只要在不确定中找到水源、拼命扎根的树，长成百年的大树就不成问题了。

”选自散文《桃花心木》，作者林清玄参考译文：In front of my old country house, a piece of uncultivated land was rented to others to plant mahogany trees. After the tree saplings were planted, the planter would come over to water them once every few days. His visits were on an irregular basis, an interval of three, sometimes five, or even a dozen of days. The amount of water he used for watering also varied from time to time, sometimes more, sometimes less. Some mahogany saplings would then be found withered. Hence, whenever he came by, he would bring a few young plants to replace the withered ones. At first, I took him for a lazy man, someone who’s too casual to take to hear the time to attend to his seedlings. However, how could someone like that know exactly how many plants were there withering?选自散文《养成好习惯》，作者梁实秋参考译文：For example, the good habit of early rising also starts from one’s early life. Many people, however, have been in the habit of sleeping late ever since they were kids. They won’t get up till late morning on holidays and even oversleep on work days. Children are often late for school though they make a rush even without washing up. Such children, when they grow up, will often lack drive and most probably get nowhere. The story of Zu Di rising at cockcrow to practice swordplay should be a good example for all men of resolve to learn from.We Chinese set great store by propriety because it is the accepted rules of social behavior. Propriety begins from the family. For example, children should keep their parents informal of their whereabouts. That is the ABC of good manners on the part of children. Yet some children just ignore their parents when they get up in the morning or come back from school. They often pull a long face and refuse to converse when they meet their elders.春意甚浓了，但在北方还是五风十雨，春寒料峭，一阵暖人心意的春风刚刚吹过，又来了一阵冷雨。