实践名称：笔译实践
姓名：李俏妍
班级：英语93
日期：2012年6月余华活着读后感
《活着》中文版自序[1]
余华
    一位真正的作家永远只为内心写作，只有内心才会真实地告诉他，他的自私、他的高尚是多么突出。内心让他真实地了解自己，一旦了解了自己也就了解了世界。很多年前我就明白了这个原则，可是要捍卫这个原则必须付出艰辛的劳动和长时期的痛苦，因为内心并非时时刻刻都是敞开的，它更多的时候倒是封闭起来，于是只有写作、不停地写作才能使内心敞开，才能使自己置身于发现之中，就像日出的光芒照亮了黑暗，灵感这时候才会突然来到。
长期以来，我的作品都是源于和现实的那一层紧张关系。我沉湎于想象之中，又被现实紧紧控
制，我明确感受着自我的分裂，我无法使自己变得纯粹，我曾经希望自己成为一位童话作家，要不就是一位实实在在作品的拥有者，如果我能够成为这两者中的任何一个，我想我内心的痛苦将轻微很多，可是与此同时我的力量也会削弱很多。
    事实上我只能成为现在这样的作家，我始终为内心的需要而写作，理智代替不了我的写作，正因为此，我在很长一段时间里是一个愤怒和冷漠的作家。
    这不只是我个人面临的困难，几乎所有优秀的作家都处于和现实的紧张关系中，在他们笔下，只有当现实处于遥远状态时，他们作品中的现实才会闪闪发亮。应该看到，这过去的现实虽然充满了力，可它已经蒙上了一层虚幻的彩，那里面塞满了个人想象和个人理解。真正的现实，也就是作家生活中的现实，是令人费解和难以相处的。
    作家要表达与之朝夕相处的现实，他常常会感到难以承受，蜂拥而来的真实几乎都在诉说着丑恶和阴险，怪就怪在这里，为什么丑恶的事物总是在身边，而美好的事物却远在海角。换句话说，人的友爱和同情往往只是作为情绪来到，而相反的事实则是伸手便可触及。正像一位诗人所表达的：人类无法忍受太多的真实。
    也有这样的作家，一生都在解决自我和现实的紧张关系，福克纳是一个成功的例子，他到了一条温和的途径，他描写中间状态的事物，同时包容了美好和丑恶，他将美国南方的现
实放到了历史和人文精神之中，这是真正意义上的文学现实，因为它连接了过去和将来。
    一些不成功的作家也在描写现实，可是他们笔下的现实说穿了只是一个环境，是固定的、死去的现实。他们看不到人是怎样走过来的，也看不到怎样走去。当他们在描写斤斤计较的人物时，我们会感到作家本人也在斤斤计较。这样的作家是在写实在的作品，而不是现实的作品。
    前面已经说过，我和现实关系紧张，说得严重一点，我一直是以敌对的态度看待现实。随着时间的推移，我内心的愤怒渐渐平息，我开始意识到一位真正的作家所寻的是真理，是一种排斥道德判断的真理。作家的使命不是发泄，不是控诉或者揭露，他应该向人们展示高尚。这里所说的高尚不是那种单纯的美好，而是对一切事物理解之后的超然，对善和恶一视同仁，用同情的目光看待世界。         
正是在这样的心态下，我听到了一首美国民歌《 老黑奴 》，歌中那位老黑奴经历了一生的苦难，家人都先他而去，而他依然友好地对待这个世界，没有一句抱怨的话。这首歌深深地打动了我，我决定写下一篇这样的小说，就是这篇《 活着 》，写人对苦难的承受能力，对世界乐观的态度。写作过程让我明白，人是为活着本身而活着的，而不是为了活着之外的任何事物所活着。我感到自己写下了高尚的作品。
                                          海盐，一九九三年七月二十
To Live Chinese Preface
By Yu Hua
    A genuine writer would always write for the conscience of his heart, since only this could honestly tell him how prominent his selfishness and nobility is. His heart would let him truly understand himself; once he understands himself he would understand the world. I have known this principle since many years ago, but to defend this principle one shall pay for hard labors and the long time of pains. Because our heart is not widely open all the time, however, it is closed at most of the time. So only the writing, the uninterrupted writing could let the heart open, could set you in the adventure of exploring. Just like the new sun's brightness shall shine up the darkness, and the inspirations would come to you at this very moment.
    Over the years, my works are all derived from the tense relationships with the reality. I lo
st myself in imaginaries, meanwhile, I was also tightly controlled by the reality, so I could clearly feel the self-split. I could hardly make myself pure at sense and I had wished to become a fairy tale writer or just an ordinary owner of my work. If I could be either one of those, I think the pain in my heart would be released at some extent. However, my power would be reduced at the same time.
    In fact I could only be this kind of writer, I always write for the need of my heart. And the senses could not replace my writings; therefore, I have been an angry and apathetic writer.
This is not only the difficulty that I am facing with, but also almost all the writers are in the tense relationships with reality. Under their pen, only when the reality was in the statement of unfamiliar could let their works shine in the reality. This shall be seen as the past reality is full of charms; perhaps it has been covered with a layer of illusory color, in which is filled up with people's imagination and personal understandings. The real reality, so as the reality of a writer's life, is puzzling and difficult to get along with.
    A writer would often feel unbearable when he expressed the reality in which he lives in it.
The overwhelming truths are all almost telling the ugly and the sinister. And the strange things lie in there, why all the ugly and sinister things are around us but the beautiful things are far away at the end of the sea. In other words, people's fraternity and compassion always come as emotions, however, the opposite fact is touchable when you reach out your hands. Just like one poet has expressed: human beings cannot bear too many realities.
There are also these kind of authors who spend their whole lives to solve the tense relationship between themselves and the reality. William Faulkner is a successful examples, he found a mild path: he wrote things and objects in the middle of it, and includes the beautiful and the ugly things at the same time. He puts the reality of southern America into history and humanistic spirit. This is the true essence of literary realism, which combines the past and the future.
Some unsuccessful writers are also describing the reality, but the reality under their pens, to put it bluntly, is just an environment, a rigid and dead one. They could neither see how p
eople come by nor go away. When they are describing someone who is particular about trifle we would also feel that the author himself is someone who would haggle over every ounce. Writers like these are writing the works for truth, but not the works for reality.
I have stated that I am in a tense relationship with reality. To be more seriously, I am always in an hostile attitude against reality. As time passes by, the anger in my heart faded slowly and I have started realizing: what a real writer is looking for is truth, a truth that excludes the moral judgment. The missions for writers are neither giving vent to their emotions nor complaining or exposing. He shall show the noble things to people, which are not only the beautiful things but also a release after understanding everything; a non-discriminatory perspective on the good and evil; and the sympathetic view to look at the world.