The Road Not Taken (未选择的路)
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
未选择的路
The Road Not Taken
罗伯特.弗罗斯特(1874一1963)是在马萨诸塞州劳伦斯上的中学,也在达特第斯学院和哈佛大学读过一段时间。获得诗名之前,弗罗斯特时而务农,时而到中学教希腊语和拉丁语。他的第一部诗集出版于1913年。1916年后,他一直在著名学府任职,通常的身份是"住校诗人"。弗罗斯特的诗歌备受喜爱,原因之一是未受过多少学校教育的人都看得懂。当许多诗人热衷于搞诗歌试验时,他却坚持使用日常语言,描写自己观察入微的日常事件。弗罗斯特的许多诗歌反映了他与大自然的贴近。他通过自然来表达一种象征意义,而不是什么田园式的思乡情调。《未选择的路》是弗罗斯特的一首名诗,作于1915年。
黄叶林中出条岔路,
无奈一人难于兼顾,
顺着一条婉蜒小路,
久久伫立极目远眺,
只见小径拐进灌木。
接着选择了另一条,
同样清楚似乎更好,
引人踩踏铺满茂草,
踏在其间难分彼此,
尽管真有两条道。
清晨里躺着两条路,
一样叶被无人踏脏,
愿将第一条来日补,
但知条条相连远途,
怀疑日后怎能回返。
在很久以后某一地,
我将叹息诉说于人,
两路岔开在树林里,
我选的那条足迹稀,
而一切差别由此起