四十不惑

一段小翻譯，應制之作，但是也花了點時間，請批評：

大凡在四十歲的年齡，中國文化人傳統觀就是寫自傳的年齡了。遠的不說，近百年內的就有好幾本如《四十自述》一類的名著，散文裡邊更有俞平伯《中年》一篇，徑直講了中年是說不清楚的東西，「遙指青山是我們的歸路」，意思就是太陽過了中午就稱斜日西下了，所以趕緊找到歸宿歸去來兮吧。董橋也有一篇名作，叫《中年是下午茶》，意思大致相同。這樣的心情，當然不可能再有青年時代的奮發向上。

It is a tradition among Chinese men of letters to start writing autobiographiesnat forty. Not to mention any ancient ones, the last century alone has seen quite a few masterpiecesnlike 「A Self-portrait at Forty」. Yu Pingbo』s essay 「MiddlenAge」 directly points out that middle age is something indescribable, andnlaments that 「the mountains afar are our eternal home」, warning that we havenpassed our prime time just like the sun in the afternoon and persuading us tonfind a place to settle down. Dong Qiao』s masterpiece 「Middle Age is AfternoonnTea」 preaches a similar attitude. In such a mood, a middle-aged man certainlyncannot be as ambitious as he was young.

按傳統觀念來說，四十歲是多麼可怕的一個門檻啊，金聖嘆名言：「四十未仕不能再仕」。這些雖然都帶有一點黑色幽默或者牢騷在裡面，但至少可以看出國人對上了四十歲是個什麼樣的心理。孔子很早就說：「四十而不惑」，意思是到了四十，就是肥肉一塊吊到你嘴邊，你飢腸轆轆垂涎欲滴，也不應該伸脖去貪嘴了。所以傳統中國是專造冬烘的社會，從前四十歲的人，彼此稱某公或某翁的可說比比皆是了。

In traditional opinion, forty is a horrible threshold, as Jin Shengtannremarked 「One cannot start a career in officialdom after forty.」 This is ofncourse black humor mingled with complaints, but it clearly tells what Chinesenthink of forty as an age. Confucius has long said that 「one begins tonunderstand the world at forty」, expecting a forty-year-old man not to be tempted, not by delicious food scooped over to his mouth even when he isnactually starving. That is why the traditional Chinese society excelled at producingnpedants and why forty-year-olds called each other with senile appellations.

說到底是年輕人的壓力很大，處於創業階段，需要不時地拼搏，而中年人大功告成，可以卸下擔子，逃避風雨，享受一下所謂寧靜淡泊與閑適了。這樣，中年人很快就慵懶起來，包括近一百年，大凡名著都是三十前後作的，四十歲後除了自述、札記之類補白性質的東西外，鮮有創造性發明。

After all, it is young people who have to struggle from time to timenfor their newly-started careers that bear heavy pressure, while middle-agednpeople have achieved their success and are now able to take the load off andnescape into so called peace and leisure. No wonder they soon get lethargic. Innthe past century, masterpieces were often written when the authors were aroundnthirty, and after they turned forty, they added nothing creative butnautobiographies and reading notes that could only supplement their masterpieces.

大約過去中國人因種種原因生命特別短暫，「人生七十古來稀」，所以中年時限大大地提前，文化人的心理很快就見保守老邁，這種傳統之下，即使今天，中年成名者亦數寥寥。其實中年才是人生盛華的開始，不應貪婪，不應享受，不應以躲在家裡喝工夫茶為榮，繼續青年時代的風雨跋涉。那種「遙指青山」尋找歸路的事當然要做，但將它放到八十歲後再去考慮吧。

The reason may lie in the fact that Chinese people in the past couldnnot live long for various reasons, and 「it is rare since ancient times fornpeople to outlive seventy.」 Middle age in this context was brought ahead ofntime, and the intellectuals soon turned conservative and senile. Following thisntradition, people nowadays seldom make a name after reaching their middle age.nIn fact, middle age is when the prime time starts, and middle-aged peoplenshould not greedily seek pleasure in drinking tea at home, but should continuenwith the ambition and hard work they started when they were young. We willncertainly lament about 「mountains afar as our eternal home」, but that』snsomething we might do only after eighty.