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這是莎士比亞著名作品《哈姆雷特》中的名句
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
翻譯為
生存或毀滅, 這是個必答之問題:
是否應默默的忍受坎苛命運之無情打擊,
還是應與深如大海之無涯苦難奮然為敵,
并將其克服。
此二抉擇, 就竟是哪個較崇高?
死即睡眠, 它不過如此!
倘若一眠能了結心靈之苦楚與肉體之百患,
那么, 此結局是可盼的!
死去, 睡去...
但在睡眠中可能有夢, 啊, 這就是個阻礙:
當我們擺脫了此垂死之皮囊,
在死之長眠中會有何夢來臨?
它令我們躊躇,
使我們心甘情愿的承受長年之災,
否則誰肯容忍人間之百般折磨,
如暴君之政、驕者之傲、失戀之痛、法章之慢、貪官之侮、或庸民之辱,
假如他能簡單的一刃了之?
還有誰會肯去做牛做馬, 終生疲於操勞,
默默的忍受其苦其難, 而不遠走高飛, 飄於渺茫之境,
倘若他不是因恐懼身后之事而使他猶豫不前?
此境乃無人知曉之邦, 自古無返者。
所以,「理智」能使我們成為懦夫,
而「顧慮」能使我們本來輝煌之心志變得黯然無光, 像個病夫。
再之, 這些更能壞大事, 亂大謀, 使它們失去魄力。
