LESSON 14

THE SANDS O’ DEE

迪河沙滩

Charles Kingsley (b.1819, d.1875) was born at Holne, Devonshire, England. He took his bachelor’s degree at Cambridge in 1842, and soon after entered the Church. His writings are quite voluminous, including sermons, lectures, novels, fairy tales, and poems, published in book form, besides numerous miscellaneous sermons and magazine articles. He was an earnest worker for bettering the condition of the working classes, and this object was the basis of most of his writings. As a lyric poet he has gained a high place. The “Saint’s Tragedy” and “Andromeda” are the most pretentious of his poems, and “Alton Locke” and “Hypatia” are his best known novels.

1. “O Mary, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands o’ Dee!”

The western wind was wild and dank with foam,

And all alone went she.

2. The creeping tide came up along the sand,

And o’er and o’er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see;

The blinding mist came down and hid the land—

And never home came she.

3. Oh, is it weed, or fish, or floating hair

A tress o’ golden hair,

O’ drowned maiden’s hair,

Above the nets at sea.

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair

Among the stakes on Dee.

4. They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

The cruel, crawling foam,

The cruel, hungry foam,

To her grave beside the sea;

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,

Across the sands O’ Dee.

【中文阅读】

查尔斯·金斯利（1819～1875）生于英格兰德文郡霍恩。1842年在剑桥大学获学士学位，不久进入教会。他涉猎广泛，著述丰富，大多以书籍形式出版他的作品不仅囊括内容繁杂的大量宗教布道、杂志文章外，还有训诫文、演讲、小说、寓言以及诗歌。他致力献身于工人阶级的劳动条件改善，弱势阶层为他大多文章的关注焦点。作为抒情诗人，他在英国获得极高声誉。《圣徒的悲剧》和《安德洛墨达》不愧为他倾心创造的诗歌，而《奥尔登·洛克》、《希帕蒂娅》是他最为著名的小说。

1．“哦，玛丽，去牛舍看看，

去牛舍，唤唤牛儿，

去那里，看看牛儿可在。”

于是，她穿过迪河沙滩，

寒风肆虐，浪花翻卷，

她竟然，独自前往。

2．潮水蠕动着，漫过沙滩，

哗啦啦，一浪高过一浪，

就那样，周而复始，

远远望去，极目穷尽。

浓密的雾蔼，笼罩大地，

她竟然，再也没有回来。

3．哦，那是野草、鱼儿、丝带？

或者，树的金色枝条？

或者，闪烁迷人的鲑鱼，

盘桓在，险恶的滩涂？

天呀，那是溺水少女的头发，

缠绕在，近海渔网的旁边；

4．越过海浪，渔民的小船划近，

波涛翻涌中，艰难穿行，

嗜血的魔鬼，扑打过来，

残忍地，将她无情吞没，

依然听见，玛丽凄厉地呼喊，

久久回荡，在迪河的沙滩。