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愿你在這伴著我 Wish You Were Here (Understanding&Translation) Pic.Can u tell? We are ugly but we have music. - Chelsea Hotel, Leonard Cohen We are not so beautiful but we have poems. -Me -------------------------------- Wish You Were Here 愿你在這伴著我 Pink Floyd So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain. 那麼, 那麼你以為你分得清天堂和地獄,藍天和苦痛 Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? 你分得開綠野和鐵軌冷冰冰? A smile from a veil? 微笑和偽飾? Do you think you can tell? 你以為你都能一一分辨? And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? 還有, 你會被驅使出賣英雄去換取幽靈? Hot ashes for trees? 烫熱的灰燼去換取樹木? Hot air for a cool breeze? 熱氣去換取涼風一縷? Cold comfort for change? 安逸去換取變化? And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? 還有, 你會用你戰場邊上不起眼的步伐 去交換做囚籠裡的主角? How I wish, how I wish you were here. 但願, 但願你在這伴著我 We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, 我們就像是兩副迷失的魂靈, 在魚碗裡游蕩, 年復一年 Running over the same old ground. 輾轉於那一成不變的水域 What have we found? The same old fears. 我們有何收穫? 只有那恒久不變的恐懼. Wish you were here. 愿你在這伴著我 -------------------------------------- How to understand lyrics and translate? I find lyrics fm rock bands, songwriters of past decades contain and convey powerful message so I'm so much in the sphere they created. I invited a friend A who's a professional translator and poem recital champion to join my translating game. But he declined yet elaborated it: "1. I am not skilled at writing poetry, thus my ability to translate poetry is limited; 2. after reading it over and over again, I still can't grasp the whole message the poet attempts to send, he seems to draw parallels between war and peace and one's choice between the two, yet what does this comparison or choice have to do with the fact that the author and the seeming listener's are two lost souls? May be there is a link, yet the link is quite obscured. " I treat it first of all as a love poem, then a poem whipping on wordly contradictions and human nature - courage and fear. What's your understanding and perspectives? And can anyone try to translate into Chinese or other languages? 
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pest, Thanks for your lesson abt PF, syd and all the background knowledge as well as posting of Shine On U Crazy Diamond. I love PF, esp. their guitar notes and the killing pitch... Pls share more w/ me your favorite bands/songwriters and their lyrics. Let's immerse in the lost world.
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it would be just as good to be together with theirs fears, than each alone with them. Fantastic conclusion, i just couldnt get this. Appreciate your elaborate lesson. Poetry cant\ be translated but still they need to b translated, for cultural exchange. I am reading a book by a great Chinese translator who's best in translating Chinese classic poetry into Englsih and French. As u noted, the two H cant find equivilent in Chinese. Same for Chinese poetry, esp. ancient ones, short, precise and musically rymthed, so difficult to find matching counterparts in Eng/Frch. You need to surrender, and accomodate, in the expense of meaning. If you want to convey more meaning, you sacrifice the musical elements. like life, hard to be perfect, hard to satisfy every player.
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