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1、a modest proposal 中英对照中英对照A MODEST PROPOSALFOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLICBy Jonathan Swift, 1729一个温和的建议为了防止体弱的孩子在爱尔兰的人摆脱精神负担他们的父母或国家,并且让他们 有利于公众1729 由乔纳森。斯威夫特It is a melancholy object
2、 to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able
3、to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.对于
4、走过这座大城市，或在乡间旅行的人，他们看到的这些景象真是悲凉：街 上、马路上、茅屋内挤满了女乞丐，后面跟着三个、四个或六个衣衫褴褛的孩 子，向每个路人强要施舍。.这些母亲无法靠诚实劳动谋生，被迫终日游荡去养 活那些无助的孩子，这些孩子长大后要么因找不到工作而沦为小偷，要么背井 离乡去为西班牙那个觊觎王位者卖命，也许还会卖身到巴巴多斯。I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their m
5、others, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public
6、as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.我想所有的党派 人士 （各方面）都会同意，这些母亲（有时常常是父亲）怀 中抱着、背上背着以及身后跟着的数量如此多的孩子 ，在王国可悲的现状下， 将是一个平添民怨的灾难。.如果谁能想出一个简单易行的办法让这些孩子成为 国家的健全有用之才，他将值得公众为他树立雕像，尊他为保国英雄。But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars
7、; it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets.然而我的目的远不止限于救治那些公开宣称的乞丐的孩子，我所说的范围要大 得多，包括所有那些在某个年代出生，其父母与那些在街上要求我们大发慈悲 的乞丐一样，无力养活他们的幼儿。As to
8、 my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year,
9、 with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of 2s., which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents o
10、r the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.至于我自己，我酝酿这个想法已有多年，也曾和其他提出计划的人充分地权衡 过几个方案，但总是发现他们在计算时犯了极大的错误。确实，一个初生的婴 儿在第一年里也许只需母乳而不用其他营养品，费用顶多不超过两先令，或不 超过乞讨所得的残羹剩饭的价值。这两先令他们的母亲
11、通过合法的乞讨肯定能 挣到的。为了使他们不再成为父母或其所在教区的负担，也无需在余生要吃要 穿，我提议，在正好一岁的时候，他们反而应该为成千上万的人的食物，部分 也可以作为衣物。There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! too frequent among us! sacrificin
12、g the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.我的方案也有另外一个很大的好处,它能使妇女自愿堕胎和可怕的杀婴行为就此 绝迹。唉，这种现象在我们之中太普遍了，我怀疑（她们）牺牲那些无辜的婴 儿与其说是为了逃避耻辱，不如说是为了逃避抚养的代价。即使是最无情最没 人性的人，对此也将一洒同情之泪。The number of souls in this king
13、dom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children, although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the p
14、resent distresses of the kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remains one hundred and twenty thousand childre
15、n of poor parents annually born. The question therefore is, how this number shall be reared and provided for, which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. Forwe can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture;
16、 we neither build houses (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing, till they arrive at six years old, except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier, during which time, they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers, as I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me that he never knew abo
