英汉互译散文108篇:英汉互译散文阅读大全：生命的三分之一

一个人的生命究竟有多大的意义，这有什么标准可以衡量吗？提出一个绝对的标准当然很困难；但是，大体上看一个人对待生命的态度是否严肃认真，看他对待劳动、工作等等的态度如何，也就不难对这个人的存在意义做出适当的估计了。
What is the significance of life? Is there any gauge to measure it? It would be very difficult, of course, trying to advance an absolute standard. However, the significance of one's existence can more or less be rated by examining his attitude toward life and work.
古来一切有成就的人，都很严肃的对待自己的生命，当他活着一天，总要尽量多劳动、多工作、多学习，不肯虚度年华，不让时间白白的浪费掉。我国历代的劳动人民以及大政治家、大思想家等等都莫不如此。
Since ancient times all people of accomplishment are very serious about their lives. While they are alive, even if there is only one day left to live, they try to work as hard as they can and learn as much as possible, never letting a single day slip by without any gain. This is true of the working people as well as of the great statesmen and great thinkers in our history.
班固写的《汉书·食货志》上有下面的记载：“冬，民既人；妇人同巷相从夜绩，女工一月得四十五日。”
In the chapter “Foods and Goods" of The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty, the great historian Ban Gu states:"In winter people stay indoors. Women get together to spin hemp threads at night. They manage to work forty-five days in a month."
这几句读起来很奇怪，怎么一月能有四十五天呢？再看原文底下颜师古做了注解，他说：“一月之中，又得夜半为十五日，共四十五日。
”It sounds strange. How come there are forty-five days in a month? Let us look at its annotations given by Yanshigu:"They gain half a day 's time every night and, they have forty-five days in a month."
这就很清楚了。原来我国的古人不但比西方各国的人更早地懂得科学地、合理地计算劳动日；而且我们的古人老早就知道对于日班和夜班的计算方法。
Now it’s clear. Our ancestors had, earlier than the westerners, learned how to calculate workdays accurately and reasonably. They had also learned how calculate day shift and night shift as well.
一个月本来只有三十天，古人把每个夜晚的时间算作半天，就多了十五天。从这个意义张说来，夜晚的时间实际上不就等于生命的三分之一吗？
It is common knowledge that there are only thirty days in a month. Counting the time of one night for half a day, our forefathers managed to expend the month by fifteen days. In this sense the night time gained amounts

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