见信如晤Letters Live 第11期:'卷福'读信:你痛苦中的

 　　My dear Norman, I don't think I really do know much about jobs, except the one I had during the war, and that certainly did not involve any traveling.

　　亲爱的诺曼，我想除了在战争中的那份工作外，我对工作知之甚少，而那份工作并不需要出差。

　　I think they do take on conscripts.

　　我想他们现在还在招人。

　　It certainly involved a good deal of hard thinking, but whether you'd be interested I don't know.

　　这份工作肯定包含大量的脑力劳动，但我不知道你是否对此感兴趣。

　　Philip Hall was in the same racket and on the whole, I should say, he didn't care for it.

　　菲利普·霍尔曾经做过这份工作，但总体来说，我得说他并不喜欢。

　　However I am not at present in a state in which I am able to concentrate well, for reasons explained in the next paragraph.

　　但我现在的状态并不能让我全神贯注，原因在下一段中解释。

　　I've now got myself into the kind of trouble that I have always considered to be quite a possibility for me, though I have usually rated it at about 10:1 against.

　　最近我惹上了个麻烦，我一直认为这事很有可能发生，尽管发生的概率很低。

　　I shall shortly be pleading¹ guilty to a charge of sexual² offences with a young man.

　　不久后我将认罪，罪名为性侵犯一名年轻男子。

　　The story of how it all came to be found out is a long and fascinating one, which I shall have to make into a short story one day, but haven't the time to tell you now.

　　至于我是如何被定罪，这个故事既漫长又有趣，将来的某天我应该把这个故事缩短些，但现在没有时间讲给你听了。

　　No doubt I shall emerge³ from it all a different man, but quite who I've not found out.

　　毫无疑问，这件事以后我会变成一个不一样的人，但变成什么样我现在不得而知。

　　Glad you enjoyed broadcast.

　　很高兴你喜欢广播。

　　Jefferson certainly was rather disappointing though.

　　虽然杰斐逊确实很让人沮丧。

　　I'm afraid that the following syllogism⁴ may be used by some in the future.

　　恐怕如下的推论在以后会被某些人所用。

　　Turing believes machines can think.

　　图灵相信机器能够思考。

　　Turing lies with men.

　　图灵和男人睡在一起。（图灵对人们撒谎。）

　　Therefore machines do not think.

　　所以，机器不会思考。

　　Yours in distress⁵, Alan

　　你处于痛苦中的，阿兰。

1 pleading   

n.恳求

参考例句：

• She went down on her knees, pleading for mercy. 她双膝跪下，乞求谅解。
• His pleading melted her. 他的乞求软化了她。

2 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

3 emerge   

vi.（从水中等）出来，出现，浮现，形成

参考例句：

• The baby's head was starting to emerge from the womb.婴儿的头开始从母亲的子宮中露出来。
• It's still hard to tell who will emerge victorious.鹿死谁手尚难逆料。

4 syllogism   

n.演绎法，三段论法

参考例句：

• The ramifications or the mystery of a syllogism can become a weariness and a bore.三段论证法的分歧或者神秘会变成一种无聊、一种麻烦。
• The unexpected bursts forth from the syllogism.三段论里常出岔子。

5 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。