（辑自我12月的微博 http://www.weibo.com/2138515221）

 

关于Eric Clapton，最有名的可能是他21岁时，伦敦街头出现了一幅著名涂鸦“克莱普顿是上帝”。他的自传《天堂十字路口》中提到他上中学最早开始学弹吉他时：“我弄了一支比罗笔，在琴面上写上了‘埃里克是上帝’这几个大大的字母——我觉得行吟歌手就应该这样干……”

 

不过我还是能够指出我经历困境而绝对领教了的一两件事：我再也不会认为流浪汉全是喝醉酒的无赖，给乞丐一个便士时，不会指望他感恩，不会在看到失业者无精打采时感到吃惊，不会再给救世军捐钱捐物，不去当掉我的衣服，不会拒绝接过一份广告单，也不会在高级餐馆开心享用一餐饭。这是个开始。—奥威尔

 

我至少可以说，一旦你哪一天身无分文，等待你的就是这个世界。早晚我还想更深入地探索那个世界，想去认识像马里奥、帕迪和乞丐比尔这种人，不是泛泛之交，而是深交。我想弄清楚洗碗工、流浪汉和河堤路上的露宿者心灵深处的真正所思所想。目前，我觉得自己只不过对贫困有了些皮毛认识而已。— 奥威尔

 

在两便士挂宿处，挂宿者在长椅上坐成一排，面前拉条绳子，他们就像趴在栏杆上一样趴在这条绳子上。有个人——他被幽默地称为“仆人”，早上五点钟割断绳子。我自己从未去过这种地方，不过博佐常去。我问过以这种姿势究竟有没有人睡得着，他说听着好像不舒服，实际上还行。—奥威尔，《巴黎伦敦落魄记》

 

有趣的是看到在他说话里，微妙地把自己跟“咱们这儿的流浪汉”区分开。他已经流浪了半年，可是他似乎暗示在上帝眼里，他并不是个流浪汉。我想象有很多流浪汉感谢上帝自己不是流浪汉，他们就像某一类远足者，这种人会对远足者说些很难听的话。— 奥威尔，《巴黎伦敦落魄记》

 

最近读了篇译过来的某作家访谈，挺长，读得有点别扭。为什么？就是翻译过来的作者说话太文绉绉了，而这篇并不是书面访谈，而是访者与作家当面谈，作者谈得多，里面太多书面语（包括成语），甚至有“当我马齿渐长”这样的话，给人一种很是矫揉造作的印象。虽然看不到原文，但我还是想说这样译，没劲。

 

事实上，当时的我太较劲了，如果别人演奏的不是纯正的布鲁斯，我就会横挑鼻子竖挑眼，这种态度可能和我的知识分子情结有关。我那会儿读波德莱尔的译本，看凯鲁亚克和金斯堡等美国作家的书，对法国和日本电影趋之如鹜。我开始越来越看不起流行音乐，与此同时，身在“新兵”乐队也让我感到了不自在。—克莱普顿

 

A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them, for they are legitimately what direct his conduct in the world.-Sigmund Freud

 

I'm an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat.-Harold Wilson

 

A divorce is like an amputation: you survive it, but there's less of you.--Margaret Atwood

 

Being divorced is like being hit by a Mack truck. If you live through it, you start looking very carefully to the right and to the left.-Jean Kerr

 

#2012私人书单#《江城》（何伟）、 《人与土地》（阮义忠）、《Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar》（Richard Ford 编选）、 《甲骨文》（何伟）、 《放任自流的时光》（苏西·罗托洛） @绿茶书情

 

宇宙只是上帝的一闪念——这是个叫人很不舒服的想法，特别是如果你刚刚付了买房子的首期。— 伍迪·艾伦

 

有意思的是，在我得到这把吉他的同时，我就忽然不想要它了。这个奇怪的现象就这么开了坏头，在以后的生活中，无论是对物，还是对人，我都在不断重复这个现象。这给我带来了很多麻烦。—克莱普顿，《天堂十字路口》

 

我第一次挨揍就是在“吉尔与金布尔”门外，一伙新兵蛋子把我骗了出来，不由分说地暴踢了我一顿。在我看来，他们只不过是想找个人出出气。这是一次非常令我不快的经历，但是逆向思维一下——也许我的筋骨变得更加坚硬，我的又一个成人仪式完成了。—克莱普顿，《天堂十字路口》

 

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.-Dorothy Nevill

 

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.-Richard Steele

 

It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.-S. I. Hayakawa

 

The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.-Lady Bird Johnson

 

记忆是最后的武器。我们要记住自己是从哪里来的。记忆最重要。—新井一二三，《没有了鲔鱼，没有了黄油》

 

In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. - E.B. White

 

这种老太太也会警句迭出，例如：“二十岁时，爱的是爱；三十岁时，爱的是一个人；四十岁时，爱的是两个人；五十岁时，不在乎两个人爱着一个人；六十岁时……”等等，等等。不一定要说得有多大意义；观众中间久经世故的人总是会笑起来，其中有一两位博得过不少掌声。—詹姆斯·瑟伯

 

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable. -Paul Tillich

 

The loneliest woman in the world is the woman without a close woman friend.-Toni Morrison

 

Don't ever slam a door; you might want to go back.-Don Herold

 

Think twice before you speak - and you'll find everyone talking about something else."-Francis Rodman

 

Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.-Katherine Mansfield

 

很喜欢卡佛这篇《距离》http://www.douban.com/note/216855327/ 极简的用笔下面内涵很足，关于年轻的父母、成长、责任等……但是谁又能想到，多年后关于他的一子一女，他这样写道：“自始至终，在我的生活中，他们强烈而且经常是负面的影响无处不在。”

 

pansy, 三色堇

 

plush, 长毛绒

 

Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep.-Dr. Samuel Johnson

 

Up to a certain point every man is what he thinks he is.-F. H. Bradley

 

The past is finished. There is nothing to be gained by going over it.-Rebecca Beard

 

Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got. -Art Buchwald

 

往高了说，我是吉他大师克莱普顿，往低了说，抛开吉他和音乐，我什么都不是。身份的丧失让我有巨大的失落感，这可能是“克莱普顿是上帝”这类玩意儿引起的——这句话赋予了我过多的自我价值感，让我变得骄傲自大。可当焦点指向健康状况时，我不过就是个酒鬼，承受着和大家一样的痛苦。这真让我崩溃。— 克莱普顿

 

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.-Samuel Johnson

 

Our entire life-consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.-Jean Anouilh

 

Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest. -Christian Dior

 

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will-power.-Balzac

 

All serious daring starts from within.-Eudora Welty

 

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.-Charles Colton

 

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.-Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

It is enough that I am of value to somebody today.--Hugh Prather

 

Literature is mostly about sex and not much about having children and life is the other way round.- David Lodge

 

这方面真的很让人烦恼。你以为作为译者，只需要把书译好就行了，就有钱拿了，实际上只有书出版后才能拿到钱。所以除了译书，还要去谈合同、催出版，见识各种各样不靠谱的人和事。好多时候，真让人心灰意冷。

 

New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience. If they did, they would live elsewhere. - E.B. White

 

“语言比文字更厉害。文字才存在三千多年，但语言已经几万年了。文字是死的，但语言除了声音大小、轻重缓急之外，感情、眼神、表情，有时候还加上动作，你还得看情境和情况。”黄春明最爱举的例子就是“讨厌”，字典上的解释就是“招惹，不喜欢”，但只要你模拟各种情境说一下这个词，就会明白语言的奥妙和缤纷。（摘自《两岸书香》）

 

Total absence of humor renders life impossible.-Colette

 

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and go to bed at night. In between I occupy myself as best I can.-Cary Grant

 

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.-Nadine Stair

 

I feel there are two people inside me - me and my intuition. If I go against her, she'll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely.-Kim Basinger

 

Learn to use ten minutes intelligently. It will pay you huge dividends.-William A. Irwin

 

Genius is eternal patience.-Michelangelo

 

The distance doesn't matter, only the first step is difficult.-Madame Marquise du Deffand

 

It's weak and despicable to go on wanting things and not trying to get them.-Joanna Field

 

Better by far you should forget and smile, than that you should remember and be sad. - Christina Rossetti

 

When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.--Katherine Mansfield

 

They say a reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog-keeps him from brooding over being a dog, maybe. –Edward Noyes Westcott

 

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion...-Albert Camus

 

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.-Ella Fitzgerald

 

读到这样一个句子:“When he is through he gives Florida a shake, then zips up and heads back across the driveway.” 原来佛州指的是“那话儿”，不知道这算不算是美国的“地域贴”。

 

The fresh snow on the road and the trees sparkled under the beam of the headlight. Squares of light from farmhouse windows fell onto the blue snow in the fields. - Tobias Wolff

 

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.-Czech proverb

 

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.-Saint Thomas Aquinas

 

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.-Louis L'Amour

 

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.-H. G. Wells

 

Sadness flies away on the wings of time.-Jean de La Fontaine

 

There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well- dressed fools.-Nicolas Chamfort

 

When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.-Isak Dinesen

 

周老太看着仍在搅动稀饭，已近乎九年不见的儿子侧影。双眼迅即濡湿了。她走过去，儿子回过身来，接触到瘦小母亲的眼光、伤感、委屈……一并涌了上来，他只喊了声“妈……”，妈妈点点头，一对母子间不需用任何的语言，他们内心又交流着，共享着人类间最可歌可泣的亲情。—唐茵，《留学生：你？我？他？》

 

我根本不想费力站起来，只是在那儿躺了一阵子，然后又不停地叫他是蠢蛋加狗娘养的。我气极了，几乎在咆哮。 “听着，去洗洗脸，”斯特拉雷德说，“听到没？” 我叫他去洗洗他自己的破脸——这话很孩子气，但我当时气极败坏。— J.D.塞林格，《麦田里的守望者》

 

我在地铁上也遇到过一件很奇怪的事儿。我把带着的一本新井一二三看完了，扫了一眼已经乘客稀疏的车厢，多数人在看手机、打瞌睡，只有一个小伙子在看书。我到他跟前说我这本书看完了，送给你吧。他有点诧异，但还是接下了。后来我看到他在看三毛。我不是怪蜀黍。

 

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.

-Lord Chesterfield

 

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

Sweet are the uses of adversity.-William Shakespeare

 

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. - E.B. White

 

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.-Reba McEntire

 

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.-Vince Lombardi

 

读到自己眼里的绝佳作品被感动时，会有种绝望的感觉，想哭，明知不可能别人会有共鸣却还是想找人谈谈……栏杆拍遍，巴掌拍烂，无人会，登临意……妙处难与君说……how deep is your love?……一樽还酹江月——我还是找酒瓶子去吧。

 

隔壁租出去开了补习班，经常人来人往，因为担心我们投诉，补习班老师特意给同层的几家都送了一盒猕猴桃。昨天晚上下楼，正好漂亮的女老师也下去，她很热情地跟我聊了起来，问这问那。而我呢，刚好晚饭吃面条时吃了大蒜，生怕开口说话，躲到电梯一角不张口，只是嗯嗯嗯回应，一路如此。我想她再也不会理我了。

 

在我看来，他并不是真的很喜欢抽——雪茄不时会让他咳上一阵子——可是那似乎是他为进入愚钝而未老先衰的中年生活的准备工作的一部分，他在二十五岁时，就让自己进入那种生活。……有天晚上我跟艾琳说：“那个画画的？丹·罗森塔尔？我想他开始在练习怎样当一个老年人。”— 耶茨，《问家人好》http://www.douban.com/note/156617373/

 

Envy is an insult to oneself.-Yevgeny Yevtushenko

 

Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.-Condorcet

 

Never have children, only grandchildren.-Gore Vidal

 

东圃的这间炖品店里原只椰子炖鹌鹑只要14元。我要了一份，热腾腾的。吃完肉，我捧着半盅汤去办事情了。

 

我也经常这样做。但问题是结账查房时经常让勤勉的服务员看到，于是听到：“先生，你忘了一本书。”我只好冷冷地说：“不是我的。”

 

每年，美国黑社会犯罪的进项超过400亿美元，这根本不是秘密。这个数字很大程度上是净赚，特别是考虑到黑手党花在办公用品上的钱很少。据可靠消息表明，“我们的事业”去年花在个人文具上的钱不超过6000美元，购买订书针的钱更少。—伍迪·艾伦，《黑社会犯罪初探》

 

假如有人来问我，今天你都干了啥？我就骄傲地告诉他，我写完了两根笔芯！（*墨水较少的那种。）

 

为他起一念，十年终不改。—胡适

 

Sometimes I find that in my happy moments I could not believe that I had ever been miserable.-Joanna Field

 

A hundred load of worry will not pay an ounce of debt.-George Herbert

 

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word: excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.-Pearl Buck

 

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.-Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

想到一个英语短语shoot at the hip，可以想像一下场景：枪刚举到屁股位置就开火了，虽然也许够快够猛，但是精度肯定不高。所以用其引申义，这个短语是指在未能弄清状况时就急于发言（信口开河）。这种错误，好像我们都犯过吧。特与诸君共勉。

 

To safeguard one's health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness, indeed.- La Rochefoucauld

 

Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.-Joan Lunden

 

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.  -Edmond de Goncourt

 

It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of Art.  -Oscar Wilde

 

Many people avoid confronting others because they fear that others won't like them. Being liked by others is important, but being able to confront and still be liked is a more effective formula for success.-Brian Koslow

 

We are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and most of us remain greedy.-Mignon McLaughlin

 

Anybody who goes to see a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.-attributed to Samuel Goldwyn

 

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to lead the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.-Henry David Thoreau

 

How can they say my life isn't a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten.-Logan Pearsall Smith

 

One way to evaluate your own reputation is to think about what would be said of you at your eulogy.-Brian Koslow

 

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.-Henry David Thoreau

 

What a commentary on civilization, when being alone is being suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it like a secret vice.-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

We all find time to do what we really want to do.--William Feather

 

Perfection does not exist. To understand this is the triumph of human intelligence; to expect to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness.-Alfred de Musset

 

Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as for the body.-Aldous Huxley

 

Fools look to tomorrow; wise men use tonight.-Scottish proverb

 

He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity.-Samuel Johnson

 

Desire and hope will push us on toward the future.-Michel de Montaigne

 

胡庆在蒙古军中，多次担任使节，他的一大嗜好，就是在蒙古兵屠城之前先去那里转一转，看那里生活的百姓，如待宰的羔羊，对即将到来的屠杀无知无觉，这种主宰他人命运的感觉太美妙了，比自己动手吹掉一个人的脑袋要好得多。— 苗炜，《寡人有疾》

 

你若抓狂，便是晴天。

 

我开始像个瞎子似的拿手在面前摸索，也没站起来还是怎么样。我一直在说：“亲爱的妈妈，你怎么不伸手过来？”当然只是逗乐而已，有时候干这种事让我其乐无穷，我也知道能把阿克利这厮气得要命。他老是能激发出我的虐待狂一面，我经常这样折磨他。 —塞林格，《麦田里的守望者》

 

2012总结：读书94本，看电影91部，翻译约20万字，出译作3种（2种为新译作，1种为再版）。2013年计划：读书120本，看电影80部，翻译25万字。

 

Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.-Tennessee Williams

 

Don't tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work.-Artur Rubenstein