Things go from Bard to verse
我与莎士比亚
3:37 Things go from Bard to verse 来自中国日报网双语新闻 
Like most people my age, I did Shakespeare at school. I know, 'did' sounds awful here, but that's how we phrased it at my school. We didn't read or perform his work; we did it, because we were told to.
和大多数人同龄人一样，我在学生时代上过关于莎士比亚的课。我知道，“上过”不怎么好听。但这就是我们在学校时的说法。我们没有精读过他的作品，也没有排过他的戏，我们只是上了相关的课程，只因我们被安排这么做。
Frankly, I hated it. I remember dragging my feet on the way to English class, the thought of reading yet another chapter of Julius Caesar draining me of all enthusiasm.
说实话，我并不喜欢这些课。我记得我每次去上英语课的路上，我的脚就像注了铅似的沉重，一想到上课又要读一章《凯撒大帝》我就变得无精打采。
I went to a standard secondary school in Northeast England. The teachers were OK, but we didn't have a drama department and the English teacher was not, shall we say, the most animated. He'd occasionally show us a video of a for-TV version of a Shakespeare play, which many of us just saw as an opportunity to draw rude things in each other's the textbooks.
我就读的是英国东北部的一所常规中学。老师们都还不错，但我们没有戏剧课。可以说，英语老师上课也不是十分生动。他偶尔给我们看一些电视剧版的莎士比亚戏剧，而我们也只是把这看作一个在开小差的机会——在同学的书上涂涂画画。
To be honest, it's no wonder that a recent survey by the British Council found that the works of William Shakespeare are more popular and better understood in places like Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Turkey than in Britain. This, experts surmise, is probably to do with the fact the translations are easier to grasp than the original English text.
英国文化协会最近的一项调查显示，莎士比亚的作品在巴西、中国、印度、墨西哥和土耳其更受欢迎，同时也被理解得更为透彻。对此，专家推测，可能是由于莎翁作品的译本比英文原著更容易理解和领悟。
Such was my total lack of interest in the Bard back then that, when in my 20s I was offered a job at a newspaper in Stratford-upon-Avon, I was completely thrown when my mother exclaimed, 'Oh, Shakespeare country!'
在当时，我对这位诗圣确实缺少兴趣。我二十几岁的时候在埃文河畔的斯特拉特福德镇（莎翁的故乡）的报社找到一份工作。当我母亲惊叹道，“哦！莎士比亚的故乡！”，我真的很震惊。
Of course, it took only minutes for the playwright to come up in a pub conversation with my new colleagues. 'You don't like Shakespeare?' cried one with enough gusto to cause definite spillage among the people stood around us. 'Well, er, no,' I replied. 'I just don't get it.'
另外，在一次与我的新同事在酒吧聊天时，只过了几分钟就又谈及了这位大剧作家。一位对莎翁热情洋溢的同事尖叫道：“难道你不喜欢莎士比亚？”。“哦，不，”我回答道，“我只是不那么理解他的作品。”
Within days I was sat in the stalls at the famous Royal Shakespeare Theatre waiting for the opening scene of Henry IV Part I.
那几天，我都坐在著名的莎士比亚皇家剧院的正厅前排座位等着《亨利四世》第一部的开幕场景。
I didn't exactly argue when the art editor thrust the tickets into my hand. I'd always liked the theater; I often went with my mother as a child, but usually to lighter fare like Guys and Dolls, not political dramas in ye olde English. Still, I didn't really want to be there.
当我们报社的文艺版编辑把戏剧票塞到我手里时，我没有拒绝。我曾经很喜欢剧院，当我还小的时候我经常和我的母亲一起去，但通常是看一些像《青年男女》这样票价便宜的戏剧，而不是说古英语的政治戏剧。不过，我真的不是很想去那家剧院。
Then, the curtain went up – and my life changed forever.
然而，当幕布拉开的那一刹那——我的人生从此改变了。
Suddenly, it all made sense. The words, movement, facial expressions, the emphasis the actors put on certain words, I was following it all. I even found myself laughing out loud at Falstaff.
突然间，这一切都有了意义。这些台词、动作、面部表情，以及演员着重强调的那些字眼，我全都领会到了！我甚至发现自己看到福斯塔夫（Falstaff）时能开怀大笑了。
I returned to the office the next day ready to take any press tickets going.
第二天我回到办公室，希望可以再拿到所有的媒体票。
However, my newfound enthusiasm took a bit of a dent a couple of weeks later after I was asked to review a student production of Henry V.
此后，我还应邀去观看学生演出的《亨利五世 》。不过，我的三分钟热度早在此后几周渐渐削减。
'What did you think of the big battle scene, then?' my editor asked the next day, naturally keen to hear what treatment had been given to one of the most bloody scenes in British literature.
“你认为那场大战役怎么样？”我的编辑第二天问我，显然他希望听到的是在英国文学里最血腥的场面给我带来了怎样的思考。
I looked at him blankly for a second or two and then replied, 'What battle scene?'
我一脸茫然地看了他一两秒，然后答道：“什么大战役？”
Apparently I'd mistakenly left at half time.
显然，我在中场休息的时候误以为演出已经结束而离场了。
译者：FNU梁茜
编辑：齐磊
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