英语名篇诵读菁华 1-12 On Love 论爱情
On Love
论爱情
Is it better to be the lover or the loved one? Neither, if your cholesterol is over six hundred. By love, of course, I refer to romantic love--the love between man and woman, rather than between mother and child, or a boy and his dog, or two headwaiters.
爱别人和被人爱哪一样更好？都不好，如果你的胆固醇值超过六百的话。所谓爱，我当然指的是浪漫之爱——男女之间的爱，而非母亲和孩子，或者一个男孩和他的狗，或者两个领班侍者之间的爱。
The marvelous thing is that when one is in love there is an impulse to sing. This must be resisted at all costs, and care must also be taken to see that the ardent male doesn't "talk" the lyrics of songs. To be loved, certainly, is different from being admired, as one can be admired from afar but to really love someone it is essential to be in the same room with the person, crouching behind the drapes.
不可思议之处在于一个人恋爱时，会有种想唱歌的冲动。一定要不惜任何代价抑制这种冲动，而且一定注意，不要让热情洋溢的男士把歌词“说”出来。当 然，被爱跟被爱慕不同，因为一个人可以远远地被爱慕，然而要真正爱一个人，最根本的，是要蹲在窗帘后面，和那人待在同一间屋子里。
To be a really good lover, then, one must be strong and yet tender. How strong? I suppose being able to lift fifty pounds should do it. Bear in mind also that to the lover the loved one is always the most beautiful thing imaginable, even though to a stranger she may be indistinguishable from an order of smelts. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Should the beholder have poor eyesight, he can ask the nearest person which girls look good. (Actually, the prettiest ones are almost always the most boring, and that is why some people feel there is no God.)
要想当一位很出色的爱人，必须强壮而且温柔。多强壮？我想能搬起五十磅的东西就算。要记住在爱人的眼里，被爱者总是能想象出的最漂亮的人儿，尽管 在陌生人看来，她可能跟一份胡瓜鱼无甚区别。情人眼里出西施。眼睛近视的话，可以向离得最近的人询问哪个女孩长得漂亮。（事实上，最漂亮的几乎总是最乏味 的，这就是为何有人觉得上帝并不存在。）
"The joys of love are but a moment long," sang the troubadour, "but the pain of love endures forever." This was almost a hit song, but the melody was too close to "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy."
“爱之欢乐仅为短短一瞬，”诗人唱道，“爱之痛苦却绵绵无期。”这几乎成了热门歌曲，不过旋律跟《我是个扬基·杜德尔花花公子》过于接近。
