编者按 ：十五年前，一个二十岁的女孩曾用英文写下了她对生命的感悟，对生活的讴歌，对造物主的赞叹。不久之后，她便由于一次意外而香消玉陨。今天梁辰在她的小说《未名花殇》中用作者的母语全文再现了这篇优美的散文，文笔行云流水，风格古朴典雅，极富有音乐感和节奏感，堪称译作之上上品。现特把这篇译文从小说中提出来，配上英文原文供大家欣赏。也算对文采飞扬，思想灵动，已逝去的原作者的一种缅怀吧。当我们想到这篇散文的作者已在天堂安息，这是她在有生之年对生命最后的咏叹，我们将会有何种的感怀？由于原作者当时只是理科大学二年级学生，英文原文有些语法错误。为了对已逝去的原作者的尊重，原文未做任何更动。
（原作者吴今是北大生物系８７级生物物理及生理学专业的学生,在１９８９年４月和同学去野山坡春游时，由于她想独自去看一处风景，而坠崖身亡。在出事前不久， 她写下了这篇英语作文，当时有 人（好象是她的英语老师）把这篇文章翻译成中文，刊登在北大的校报上。）
To Be or Not to Be
--------The Meaning of Life, the Meaning of Death
By Wu Jing
生，抑或死？
――生命的意义，死亡的意义
梁辰译
Every one who knows Shakespere must know his most well-known tragedy: Hamlet and that famous line: To be or not to be, that's a question. As for Hamlet, to be or not to be is quite a dilemma: he was doomed to be a tragedy, whether to live or to die. Perhaps everyone will confront the similar choice to Hamlet in his life sooner or later. To survive or to die, to fight or to surrender, to win or to lose. He must make the decision himself. Fortunately, I haven't come to that crucial point yet. Up till now, my life is like a smooth sailing. Sometimes I ask myself: do I find the real meaning of life and death? Though I am going to be a biologist, I have no definite answer to that. But still I believe that I did find something in life.
任何熟稔莎士比亚的人都必知晓莎翁最有名的悲剧之作《哈姆雷特》，以及那句名言：“生，抑或死，这是一个问题。”对于哈姆雷特而言，生，抑或死，确然是一个两难的窘境：无论活着还是死去，他都已经被注定了要成为悲剧。或许，任何人都会于其一生之中，或迟或早，遭遇与哈姆雷特相仿佛的选择。生或死，战或降，赢或输，他必须自己定夺。幸运的是，我个人尚未临至那个关键的时刻点。迄今为止我的人生有如一程风平浪静的航行。有时，我会问自己：我是否找到了生与死的真义？虽然我有心成为一名生物学家，我仍对此一问题无法确答。不过，尽管如此，我相信我仍然在生命中发现了某些东西。
When I ramble along in the peaceful field, hearing the twittering of birds, drifting in the fragrance of wild flowers, I will always praise the beauty of life and feel really happy that I'm still alive. When I learned the mysterious nature and the evolution of life, I was filled with admiration by the greatness of nature. Life is a bestowing of nature, we have no right to smother, it's a part of universe. I remember one day, when I felt so frustrated by those misfortunes in life, it seemed that I had done everything wrong and there was no remedy at all. I left home, wandering along the street, feeling sad and hopeless. It was then when I caught sight of the sunset. The sun was like a huge burning ball, flaring and shinning, it was so glorious and so brilliant. Soon the whole sky was flaming, the sun gathered its last energy burning thoroughly, like the solemn end of a tragedy. It sunk slowly under the horizon, soon darkness fell around me. I stood there unawaring of where I was. Tears ran down my face. A voice cried out in my heart: "I will wait, till the sun rises again, till the first sunshine on my shoulder." Perhaps that's the meaning of life. Everyone has his own sun and his own dream, and everyone has own brilliant moment when his sun shines gloriously. We'll struggle and suffer in order to reach that brilliant moment. Nothing can stop us, no matter how hard, no matter how many times we fail. That dream, deeply rooted in our heart, is worthy of devoting our whole life to. All of us want to see the sun shines again and want to catch that glorious moment to appreciate the real beauty of life.
当我闲步于平静的郊野，听到鸟语之啁啾，随着野花的芬芳流荡布散，我总是不期然地感恩于生命之美好，为自己的存在活着而由衷快乐。当我了解到生命的神秘本质和生命的进化后，我开始对造物的无上伟力满怀崇敬之情。生命是自然的赐予，我们无权将其窒息，生命是宇宙的一部分。我记得有一日，我曾因生活中的若干不幸而深感沮丧，似乎我已经做错了每一件事，而且九州铸铁，悔无可补。我离开了家，徘徊于街市之上，伤心又无助。就在那时，我的视线一下触到了夕照。那太阳如同一只硕大无朋的火球，燃烧着、闪亮着，它如此之雄美，如此之灿烂。不顷刻间，整个天空都燃烧起来，夕阳凝汇了它最后的能量，尽情付之一烧，仿佛一出悲剧的庄严尾声。它缓缓地坠入地平线下，很快，黑暗笼罩住了我。我怔怔站立在原地，不知自我为伊谁。泪水潸然而下。一个声音从我的心中呼之而出：“我要等，等到太阳重新升起，等到第一缕阳光照在我的肩头。”也许，那就是生命的意义。每一个人，都拥有他自己的太阳和自己的梦想，每一个人，都会在他的阳光照耀下拥有他自己的璀璨时光。我们奋斗，我们承受，都是为了抵达那一刻璀璨时光。没有任何事物可以使我们停滞不前，无论过程多么艰难，无论我们败北多少次。那一梦想――那一根植于我们深心的梦想，值得我们为之奉献此生。 我们所有的人都想要看到明日的朝阳，想要把握住那个璀璨时刻，从而铭恩于生命之美。
Life is like a long river, it will end someday and somehow. No one can escape from that eternal end, when that day comes, we'll say goodby to this colored world. A man's life is a man's song. Whether it's sad or happy, fierce or quiet, it's his own song. A song written in his own way with his soul, with his life. A man lived, did what he should do, found what he want, fulfilled his dream. He then died calmly. Because he knew that there was nothing to regret. He had seen evil and good, ugly and beautiful. Now it was all over, it was time for his play to close and gave the stage to newcomer. His song was going to end, but it would never diminish, it would become a tiny part of the chorus of the universe, and that will sing forever. Another man lived, struggled, but never reached his dream, for him, life was a perpetual nightmare, then he saw the twilight, they glimmered far in the distance, though he had no time and he would never got there, his heart was quiet, for he knew he had tried his best. His song might only be a faint cry but he knew it was just the prelude to the grand movement of that chorus. He died happily, hearing the song were sung continue.
生命有如一条长河，有朝一日，它会以某种方式流至它的尽头。无人可以逃逸于那个终极的尽头，当那一天君临的时候，我们将与这个斑斓的世界永诀。一个人的生命，就是他唱出的一首歌。无论悲伤还是欢喜，无论激越还是和缓，终归是他自己的歌，一首以其独特的魂魄和生命写就的歌。一个人生存过，为其所应为，寻其所欲寻，实现了他的梦想。然后他可以平静地死去了。因为他知道，他将无悔于心。他已经历见过恶与善，丑与美。如今一切都已掀过，在他的剧终，就是让出舞台给新来者的时刻。他的歌声行将收尾，但永不湮泯，那歌声将会成为这个宇宙的整个合唱的微小部分，而且将唱至永恒。另外的一个人，也曾生存过，奋斗过，但永未曾抵达他的梦想，对他来说，生命就如一场永远的梦魇，然后他看到曙光在远处闪烁，但他已经没有时间，也永远不能抵达彼处，他的心静下来，因为他知道，他已经竭尽过全力。他的歌声也许不过是一声微弱的叫喊，但他已知道，这声音不过是那大合唱的雄壮时刻的序曲而已。他快乐地死去，听着那歌被继续传唱――
The world is beautiful, because of warm sunshine and also because of its rain and storm. Only a man who has been drenched with tears can understand the real meaning of happy. Once a famous writer said in one of his novel: there is no real happy in life, but just one situation compared with another. The whole meaning of life lies in two words "hope and wait".
这个世界是美丽的，因为它既有煦暖的阳光，也有风雨和冰雪。只有被泪水浸透泡透的人才能了然快乐的真正意义。一位著名作家尝于其小说中有言：生命中并无真正的幸福，不过是一种情形相比照于另一种情形而已。生命的全部意义基于两个词：“希望”和“等待”。
To be or not to be, it's all depends on a man's own attitude to life, on whether he appreciates the morning sunshine, whether he want to explore the beauty of nature. If the thunderstorms come, it all depends on whether he still firmly believes that the sun will rise again. Yes, the sun is going to shine, and it will shine even more brilliant. Do not cry, just wait and hope and fight.
生，抑或死，全然取决于一个人自身对生命的态度，取决于他是否感恩于清晨的朝阳，是否愿去探求自然的美好。当雷电咆哮临至，那就完全取决于他是否相信，明天的太阳将依然升起。是的，太阳将继续闪亮，且将闪亮得更为璀璨。不要哭泣，只需等待，希望，和奋斗。
Life and death and the sunshine make the world. As they go round generation by generation, day by day, the world go round. Let's sing out our own song lauding life, lauding world.
生命，死亡，以及阳光构成了这个世界。当它们世世代代、日复一日地周行不已，世界遂正行于其履。让我们以我们自己的歌来咏赞生命，咏赞世界吧！
