西洋幽默语录(之一百二十五)
王尔德 (WILDE, Oscar), 1856-1900
英国剧作家和诗人
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is
unreadable and literature is unread.
文学和新闻的不同在於, 新闻不可读, 而文学没人读.
Duty is what one expects from others.
责任是期望他人做的.
The English have a miraculous power of turning wine into water.
英国人有一种神奇的力量, 能够把酒变成水.
The English public takes no interest in a work until it is told that the
work in question is immoral.
英国的公众对作品没有兴趣, 直到被告知有关的作品是不道德的.
Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.
每个人学不成就去教.
Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
经验只不过是我们给予我们的错误的名字吧了.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it
every six months.
时尚是一种丑陋的形式, 因难以忍受而得每六个月换一次.
The fatality of good resolutions is that they are always too late.
好的解决办法之致命伤是它们往往来得太晚.
Few parents nowadays pay any regard to what their children say to them;
the old-fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out.
今日, 很少家长会在意孩子对他们讲的话;
老套的尊重年青人的传统很快就要消失了.
Genius is born, not paid.
天才是天生的, 不是付钱买的.
George Moore wrote brilliant English until he discovered grammar.
乔治摩尔写得一手好英文, 然后他发明了文法.
The good ends happily, the bad unhappily – that is what fiction means.
善有善报,恶有恶报 – 这是虚构的意思.
He doesn’t act on the stage – he behaves.
他并不在戏台上演 – 他扮.
He had the sort of face that, once seen, is never remembered.
他有那么一张脸, 只要见过一次, 就永远记不了.
He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is
the thief of time.
他基於原则往往迟到, 他的原则是准时是时间之贼.
I beg your pardon, I didn’t recognize you – I’ve changed a lot.
对不起, 我不认得你 –
我改变了很多.
I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do the day after.
凡是今天之后可以做的, 我从不推到明天做.
If one tells the truth, one is sure sooner or later to be found out.
一个人若讲真话, 迟早会被发现.
