原文

译文

原文

出自《哈姆雷特》第三幕第一场

此段的全文如下：

HAMLET

To be, or not to be: that is the question,

Whether'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them. To die,to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.

To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

译文

生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得思考的问题；蓦然承受命运暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗人世无涯的苦难，这两种行为，哪一种更加高尚？死了，睡了，什么都完了；要是在睡眠中，我们心灵的创痛和身体不能避及的打击都可以消失，那不正是我们求之不得的结局么！死了，睡了，睡着了也许还会有梦，这就是阻碍。因为我们摆脱了这具腐朽的皮囊后，我们将会顾虑在死后的睡眠里，将会有什么样的梦境。人们甘心困于患难，就是因为这个缘故。谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和讥嘲、压迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、承受轻蔑爱情的惨痛、法律的迁延、官吏的横暴和费劲辛勤所换来的小人的鄙视？要是只要用一把小刀就可以了结自己的一生，谁愿意背负着这样的重担在烦劳生命的压迫下呻吟流汗？是因为惧怕死后的未知，是惧怕那从不有旅人回来的神秘国度（天堂），是未知迷惑了我们的意志，使我们宁愿忍受目前的折磨，也不敢向我们所不知道的地方飞去！这使我们变成了懦夫，炽热光彩的决心被审慎的思维盖上了一层灰色，伟大的事业在这种顾虑之下，也逆流而退，失去了行动的意义。

----《哈姆雷特》（英-莎士比亚）中的经典独白