西洋幽默语录(之八十)
孟肯 (MENCKEN, H.L.), 1880-1956
美国编辑,评论家,自传作者,辞书编者,和讽喻诗作者
Adultery: democracy applied to love.
通奸: 民主应用於爱.
Archbishop: a Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ.
大主教: 一个基督教的传道师, 他的位阶较基督所达到的更高.
Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn’t, they’d be married too.
单身汉懂得女人较己婚者多; 假如不是这样, 他们也已结婚了.
The chief knowledge that a man gets from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading.
一个人从读书中所得到的最主要的知识是, 它们之中没有几本是值得读的.
A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.
教堂这个地方是, 不曾到过天堂的人, 向不可能到那里的人, 夸说天堂.
Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
良心: 发诸内在的声音, 警告我们可能有人在看着我们.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
愤世嫉俗者当他嗅到花香, 却去寻找棺材.
Democracy is also a form of religion; it is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
民主也是一种宗教形式; 它是愚人对小人的崇拜.
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
信心或可简单的定义为, 对不可能发生的事的一种不合逻辑的信念.
Honeymoon: the time during which the bride believes the bridegroom’s word of honour.
蜜月: 新娘相信新郎讲话算数的时候.
I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.
我继续工作, 理由就和母鸡继续生蛋一样.
In the main, there are two sorts of books: those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read.
概言之, 书有两类: 那些没人读的, 和那些不应该读的.
In war the heroes always outnumber the soldiers ten to one.
在战争里, 英雄常多过军人, 十对一之比.
Injustice is relatively easy to bear: what stings is justice.
正义不张相对而言还容易忍受: 最令人疼心疾首的是正义.
It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
相信别人心怀不轨是一种罪, 但它却很少是错误的.
It is hard to believe a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
你难以相信一个人讲实话, 当你知道, 如果你在他的处境, 你会讲谎话.
It was as necessary to me as honey to the bee or hell to the Christian.
这对我是需要的, 如蜂蜜之於蜜蜂, 地狱之於基督徒.
