文学之窗

一、威廉·福克纳：诺贝尔文学奖晚宴演说

威廉·福克纳（William Faulkner，1897–1962），美国小说家，1949 年度诺贝尔文学奖得主，颁奖词称他"对当代美国小说做出了强有力的和艺术上无与伦比的贡献"。由于 1949 年奖项推迟揭晓，他于 1950 年 12 月 10 日在斯德哥尔摩市政厅的诺贝尔晚宴上发表了这篇著名演说。演说不谈个人荣耀，而是向年轻作家发声：在一个被核恐惧笼罩的时代，诗人的职责是书写人类内心冲突中"爱、荣誉、怜悯、自豪、同情与牺牲"这些古老的真理。

"我相信人类不但会延续，更会胜利。他之所以不朽，并非因为唯独他拥有永不枯竭的声音，而是因为他有灵魂，有能够同情、牺牲与忍耐的精神。"——这句"I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail"已成为二十世纪文学最著名的宣言之一。

原声录音与影像

以下为诺贝尔奖官网保存的 1950 年斯德哥尔摩晚宴现场录音录像（福克纳原声，节选约 3 分钟），已下载至本站以便国内访问：

▲ 福克纳晚宴演说原声（1950.12.10 斯德哥尔摩，约 3 分钟，本站托管）

演说全文

William Faulkner's speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1950

Ladies and gentlemen,

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed – love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking.

I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

来源：NobelPrize.org – William Faulkner, Banquet speech（收录于 Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, ed. Horst Frenz, Elsevier, 1969）。录音录像 © Sveriges Radio AB / Nobel Prize Outreach。演说正文版权归诺贝尔基金会所有，此处仅作文学鉴赏转载。

二、If I were a boy again（假如我又回到了童年）

一篇流传极广的英语经典散文（作者佚名，十九世纪末即见于英美读本），以"假如我又回到了童年"起兴，连写数个人生要习得的品质：毅力、专注、记忆、勇气、乐观、拒绝、礼貌与利他。其中"practice perseverance"（磨练毅力）一段最为人熟知。文末附中文对照，便于朗诵与背诵。

朗读音频

本站托管 B 站 UP 主「弹吉他-讲英语的Eddie」的英文朗诵完整版（约 5 分钟），国内访问可直接播放；原视频见 Bilibili（BV1dV4y1N7YL）。

▲ 英文朗诵完整版（弹吉他-讲英语的Eddie，约 5 分钟，本站托管）

中英对照全文

If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance oftener, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness.

假如我又回到了童年，我会更多地磨练自己的毅力：决不因为事情艰难或麻烦就轻易放弃。我们想要光明，就必须征服黑暗。

If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.

假如我又回到了童年，我会养成专心致志的习惯：只要手头有事，决不让任何事使我分心。我要牢记，一个优秀的滑冰运动员从不试图同时滑向两个不同的方向。

If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

假如我能重新活过一次，我会更加注意培养记忆力。我要用一切可能的办法、在一切可能的场合加强这种能力。起初要准确地记住一些东西需要付出一点努力，但记忆力很快就会自我助力，几乎不再带来麻烦。它只需要及早培养，便会成为一种力量。

If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. "Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice," says a wise author. Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.

假如我又回到了童年，我会培养勇气。一位智者说过："没有什么比勇气更温文尔雅，没有什么比怯懦更残酷无情。"任何事业中都会出现危险，但镇定自若往往能战胜最严重的危险。做好迎接任何命运的准备，就没有什么可怕的伤害了。

If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return. Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. "Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love."

假如我又回到了童年，凡事我都会看到乐观的一面。生活很像一面镜子：你对它微笑，它也对你微笑；但如果你皱起眉头、疑惑地打量它，它也会回以同样的神情。内心的阳光不仅温暖拥有者自己的心，也温暖着所有与它接触的人。"谁把爱拒之门外，也必将被爱拒之门外。"

If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say "No" oftener. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.

假如我又回到了童年，我会训练自己更经常地说"不"。这一点的重要性，我可以写上好几页——在生命很早就学会站稳立场，拒绝去做一件不值得做的事，只因为它不值得。

If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

假如我又回到了童年，我会要求自己对同伴和朋友更有礼貌，对陌生人也是如此。在崎岖的人生道路上，最微小的礼貌也像是隆冬里为我们歌唱的小鸟，让冰雪的季节变得容易忍受。

Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy.

最后，假如我又回到了童年，我不会竭力追求自己的幸福，仿佛那就是人生的唯一目的；相反，我会更加努力地去让别人幸福。

说明：英文为流传最广的完整版本（含 practice perseverance 段落，另参知乎专栏《英语美文》所收节选）；中文参考上海市古美学校"阅见古美"阅读推荐（张越凡老师译文）整理。朗读音频来自 B 站 UP 主弹吉他-讲英语的Eddie（已获本站托管以便国内流畅播放）。

延伸阅读：收藏：文史哲类公开课汇总——文字、音韵、训诂、文献、古籍、中国史、历史地理、中国文学、世界史、西方哲学与名著导读等数百门名校公开课清单（转载自微信公众号「第一哲学家」，附 B 站、网易公开课等平台直链）。