胡適之先生日記：1956年6月17日 O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!

胡適之先生的日記：1956年6月17日，基本上錄底下的黑體字，可是安徽教育出版社的，有兩英文字打錯，中文翻譯也錯了。



現在拜Wikipedia之賜，我們的功力大增：
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_Louse

"To A Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church" is a 1786 Scots language poem by Robert Burns in his favourite meter, standard Habbie. The poem's theme is contained in the final verse:

Burns original O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!

Standard English translation Oh, would some Power give us the gift To see ourselves as others see us! It would from many a blunder free us, And foolish notion: What airs in dress and gait would leave us, And even devotion!

To a Louse

Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie? 
Your impudence protects you sairly; 
I canna say but ye strunt rarely, 
Owre gauze and lace; 
Tho', faith! I fear ye dine but sparely 
On sic a place. 

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner, 
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner, 
How daur ye set your fit upon her - 
Sae fine a lady? 
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner 
On some poor body. 

Swith! in some beggar's haffet squattle; 
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle, 
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle, 
In shoals and nations; 
Whaur horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle 
Your thick plantations. 

Now haud you there, ye're out o' sight, 
Below the fatt'rels, snug and tight; 
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right, 
Till ye've got on it - 
The verra tapmost, tow'rin height 
O' Miss' bonnet. 



My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, 
As plump an' grey as ony groset: 
O for some rank, mercurial rozet, 
Or fell, red smeddum, 
I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't, 
Wad dress your droddum. 

I wad na been surpris'd to spy 
You on an auld wife's flainen toy; 
Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy, 
On's wyliecoat; 
But Miss' fine Lunardi! fye! 
How daur ye do't? 

O Jenny, dinna toss your head, 
An' set your beauties a' abread! 
Ye little ken what cursed speed 
The blastie's makin: 
Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread, 
Are notice takin. 

O wad some Power the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as ithers see us! 
It wad frae mony a blunder free us, 
An' foolish notion: 
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, 
An' ev'n devotion!

 

More about this poem

Probably composed in 1785, around the same time as To a Mouse, 'To a Louse' also addresses lower creation in order to wean a moral lesson for mankind.

A particularly audacious louse has made its way onto the bonnet of a local beauty, Jenny, while she sits in church. The language Burns uses in addressing the louse is reminiscent of William Dunbar's flytings and is highly effective in rendering the unhygienic vermin as an unwelcome guest on so fine a lady.

Jenny incorrectly believes that the winks and stares of the church congregation are in approbation of her 'gawze and lace' bonnet and vainly tosses her head.

The poet humorously laments that if we had the power to see ourselves as others see us, such ridiculous displays could be prevented. The poem's linking of an observed experience, or exemplum, to a final maxim, or sententia, is typical of a Horatian satire.

Megan Coyer王佐良先生有Robert Burns的詩專書《彭斯詩選》北京：人民文學，1998，頁104~106 有此詩的翻譯。末段翻譯如下，還是有版本、標點等差異問題(比較上引的)：

啊，但願上天給我們一種本領，

能像別人那樣把自己看清！

那就會免去許多蠢事情，

                也部會胡思亂猜，

什麼裝飾和姿勢會抬高身分，

                甚至受到膜拜！

Quotable Quote

“O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.”