英语散文生日快乐歌的起源 Happy Birthday to You Where

英语散文：生日快乐歌的起源

"Happy Birthday to Y ou" Where did that song come from?

The story of how the song "Happy Birthday to Y ou" came to be, began as a sweet one, that later soured. Two sisters, Mildred Hill, a teacher at the Louisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, and Dr. Patty Hill, the principal of the same school, together wrote a song for the children, entitled "Good Morning to All." When Mildred combined her musical talents, as the resident expert on spiritual songs, and as the organist for her church, with her sister's expertise in the area of Kindergarten Education, "Good Morning to All" was sure to be a success.

关于"祝你生日快乐"一歌是如何产生的故事，一开始是件令人愉快的事，到后来就变了味，令人很扫兴。事情是这样的：有姐妹俩，一个叫玛德里德·希尔，路易思维尔市肯德基实验幼儿园教师，一个叫柏蒂·希尔，该校的校长。姐妹俩一道为儿童们谱写了一首歌，歌名为"大家早上好"。玛德里德是当地赞美歌的专家，再加上她的音乐天分，又是当地教堂的风琴师，而且她姐姐在幼儿教育方面也很有经验，"大家早上好"一歌无疑是个巨大的成功。

The sisters published the song in a collection entitled "Song Stories of the Kindergarten" in 1893. Thirty-one years later, after Dr. Patty Hill became the head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Columbia University's Teacher College, a gentleman by the name of Robert H. Coleman published the song, without the sisters' permission. To add insult to injury, he added a second verse, the familiar "Happy Birthday to Y ou."

1893年，两姐妹发表了一部歌曲集，题名为"幼儿园的故事"。三十一年以后，在柏蒂·希尔出任哥伦比亚大学师范学院幼儿教育系系主任之后，一个名叫罗伯特·H·科尔曼的男士未经姐妹俩的允许，私自出版了这首歌，在这首歌后又加上了一段，即大家熟悉的"祝你生日快乐"，这就构成了对姐妹俩的伤害和侮辱。科尔曼先生增加的第二段歌词使这首歌很快就十分流行。

Mr. Coleman's addition of the second verse popularized the song and, eventually, the sisters' original first verse disappeared. "Happy Birthday to Y ou," the one and only birthday song, had altogether replaced the sisters' original title, "Good Morning to All."

最终，姐妹俩的第一段歌词消失了。"祝你生日快乐"，这首唯一的生日歌完全取代了姐妹俩原来的歌曲"大家早上好！"。

After Mildred died in 1916, Patty, together with a third sister named Jessica, sprang into action and took Mr. Coleman to court. In court, they proved that they, indeed, owned the melody. Because the family legally owns the song, it is entitled to royalt ies from it, whenever it is sung for commercial purposes.

玛德里德于1916年逝世后，柏蒂与其另一个妹妹杰西卡出面将科尔曼先生告上了法庭。在法庭上，她们证明，实际上她们拥有这首歌曲调的版权。由于这首歌曲的法定版权属于希尔姐妹家，它便被赋予了皇权，无论何时这首歌因商用目的而被唱的时候，其皇权总是会受到保护的。

英语散文：雨雪时候的心情

寒暑表降到冰点下十八度的时候，我们也是在廊下睡觉。每夜最熟识的就是天上的星辰了。也不过是点点闪烁的光明，而相看惯了，偶然不见，也有些想望与无聊。

连夜雨雪，一点星光都看不见。荷和我拥衾对坐，在廊子的两角，遥遥谈话。

荷指着说："你看维纳斯（V enus）升起来了！"我抬头望时，却是山路转折处的路灯。我怡然一笑，也指着对山的一星灯火说："那边是丘比特（Jupiter）呢！"

愈指愈多。松林中射来零乱的风灯，都成了满天星宿。真的，雪花隙里，看不出来天空和森林的界限，将繁灯当作繁星，简直是抵得过。

一念至诚的将假作真，灯光似乎都从地上飘起。这幻成的星光，都不移动，不必半夜梦醒时，再去追寻他们的位置。

于是雨雪寂寞之夜，也有了慰安了!

Stars on a Snowy Night

The thermometer had dropped to 18 degrees below zero, but still chose to sleep in the porch as usual. In the evening, the most familiar sight to me would be stars in the sky. Though they were a mere sprinkle of twinkling dots, yet I had become so accustomed to them that their occasional absence would bring me loneliness and ennui.

It had been snowing all night, not a single star in sight. My roommate and I, each wrapped in a quilt, were seated far apart in a different corner of the porch, facing each other and chatting away.

She exclaimed pointing to something afar, "Look, V enus in rising!" I looked up and saw nothing but a lamp round the bend in a mountain path. I beamed and said pointing to a tiny lamplight on the opposite mountain, "It's Jupiter over there!"

More and more lights came into sight as we kept pointing here and there. Lights from hurricane lamps flickering about in the pine forest created the scene of a star-studded sky. With the distinction between sky and forest obscured by snowflakes, the numerous lamp-lights now easily passed for as many stars.

Completely lost in a make-believe world, I seemed to see all the lamplights drifting from the ground. With the illusory stars hanging still overhead, I was spared the effort of tracing their positions when I woke up from my dreams in the dead of night.

Thus I found consolation even on a lonely snowy night !

注释：

《雨雪时候的星辰》是冰心的早期抒情散文。文章赞美自然，想象精细，文笔清新，充满诗情画意。

①题目《雨雪时候的星辰》翻译为Stars on a Snowy Night。"雨雪"作"下雪"解，"雨"在此是动词，读音为yù。

②"无聊" 翻译为ennui,是英语常用文学语言，意即a feeling of boredom caused by a lack of excitement or activity。

③"一点星光都看不见" 译为not a single star in sight,是句中独立主格，和not a single star being in sight同。又译文用s押头韵，night和sight压韵脚，有音韵美。

④"荷和我……" 译为My roommate and I...，其中用My roommate（同寝之友）代替专门名词He（荷），以免外国读者把He读解为男性第三人称的代词。

⑤"荷指着说……" 译为She said pointing her finger at...，因英语to point one's finger at 有"指责"的含义。

⑥"我抬头望时" 不宜逐字死译为I raised my head to take a look 。译为I liked up即可。

⑦"山路转折处" 译为round the bend in a mountain path。注意bend后面跟介词in，属习惯用法。

"将繁灯当作繁星，简直是抵得过" 译为the numerous lamp-lights now easily passed for as