All is vanity. 凡事都是虚空。
“All is vanity.”(凡事都是虚空)是《圣经·旧约·传道书》(Bible, Old Testament, Ecclesiastes)第1章第2节中一位传道者(preacher)所说的话。传道者说,虚空的虚空,虚空的虚空,凡事都是虚空。(Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.)他说,人们拼命工作,一代代过去,世界并未变化,太阳照样升起落下,风照样吹送,河流归向大海,又循环回来,……没有新奇,一切归旧,……《传道书》上说,这位传道者只所以如此悲观,是因为他不懂上帝的道,不懂上帝主宰人类的命运,只有归附上帝,生活才会变得有意义。虽然如此,由于《圣经》的道义在西方人心中根深蒂固,“All is vanity.”倒成了某些悲观的西方人的一句口头禅,一句牢骚话,虽然他们在说“All is vanity.”时并不真地认为“一切都没了意义”。
《圣经》曾经影响了几代文人墨客,深受《圣经》影响的英国17世纪典型的清教徒作家班扬(John Bunyan,1628-1688)写了寓言小说《天路历程》(The Pilgrim's Progress),叙述了主人公基督徒(Christian)自毁灭城(the city of Destruction)出走,经过绝望的深渊(the slough of Despond)、名利场(vanity Fair)、怀疑堡(Doubting Castle),途中历尽艰辛,战胜了妖魔,终于到达欢乐山(Delectable Mountain),抵达天国(the Celestial City)。作家班扬把自己所处的社会比作“名利场”:“…they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair,…”班扬还引用了《圣经》上的话:“All that cometh is vanity.”此后英国19世纪作家萨克雷(William Thackeray,1811-1863)也曾写了一部长篇小说《名利场》(Vanity Fair),他也把整个社会比作名利场,到头来,追求的一切都成了“虚空的虚空”。在英语中,人们用“名利场”(Vanity Fair)表示虚荣无聊的社会、浮华世界。
请看例句:
She suffered a lot from her son's death, and thought that all was vanity, and committed suicide.
(她儿子的死对她打击很大,她觉得一切都没意思,就自杀了。)
It's usually the case; we feel good when life is easy, otherwise we feel all is vanity.
(事情往往是这样的:当生活顺利时,我们感觉良好,否则,就觉得一切虚空。)
天天励志正能量