Early this morning came the news that Bob Dylan, one of the best among us, a glory of the country and of the language, had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
今早(美国时间)消息传来，鲍勃·迪伦，这位美国的骄傲、语言的宠儿，获得了今年的诺贝尔文学奖!
The 75-year-old rock legend received the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
这位75岁的摇滚传奇歌手因“在伟大的美国歌曲传统中开创了新的诗性表达。”而获奖。
And please: let’s not torture ourselves with any gyrations about genre and the holy notion of literature to justify the choice of Dylan; there’s no need to remind anyone that, oh, yes, he has also written books, proper ones (the wild and elusive “Tarantula,”the superb memoir “Chronicles: Volume One”).
请不要因为体裁或者关于文学的神圣概念过分纠结这个结果。不用说大家也知道，迪伦确实也出过书，真正的书(狂野晦涩的《狼蛛》，超凡的回忆录《像一块滚石：鲍勃·迪伦回忆录》)。
The songs—an immense and still-evolving collected work—are the thing, and Dylan’s lexicon, his primary influence, is the history of song, from the Greeks to the psalmists, from the Elizabethans to the varied traditions of the United States and beyond: the blues; hillbilly music; the American Songbook of Berlin, Gershwin, and Porter; folk songs; early rock and roll.
他数量宏大且仍在不断扩展的歌单也很符合要求。他最主要的影响在于，他用自己的方式向我们展示了诗歌的历史，从希腊人到赞美诗的作者，从莎士比亚时代的文豪到形式多样的美国传统等等：蓝调、乡村音乐、柏林，格什温和波特的美国歌集、民歌、早期摇滚乐。
Over time, Dylan has been a spiritual seeker—and his well-known excursions into various religious traditions, from evangelical Christianity to Chabad, are in his work as well—but his foundation is song, lyric combined with music, and the Nobel committee was right to discount the objections to that tradition as literature. Sappho and Homer would approve.
一直以来，迪伦都是精神的探求者，但他是用歌词结合音乐的形式表现出来的，他的作品当中包含了他从福音派基督教到哈巴德(犹太教极端正统派的最大支派)的探索历程。诺贝尔奖委员会力排众议，不以传统惯例定义文学的选择是正确的。莎孚(古代希腊的女诗人)和荷马(公元前9世纪前后的希腊诗人)也会为这一决定投赞成票。
去年，迪伦在MusiCares(一个帮助音乐家的慈善团体)领奖时曾说：
These songs of mine, they’re like mystery stories, the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do back that far. They were on the fringes then, and I think they’re on the fringes now. And they sound like they’ve been on the hard ground.
我的这些歌就像神秘故事，就是莎士比亚成长过程中会读的那种。你们可以跟着我的歌追溯到那个遥远的时代。无论那时还是现在，它们都不是主流作品，但却掷地有声。
让我们一起欣赏一下迪伦歌曲的歌词，朗读出来就是一首首诗：
Blowin'in the Wind
How many roads must a man walk down
一个人要经历多长的旅途
Beforethey call him a man?
才能成为真正的人
How many seas must a white dove sail
鸽子要飞跃几重大海
Before she sleeps in the sand?
才能在沙滩上安眠
How many times must the cannon balls fly
要多少炮火
Before they're forever banned?
才能换来和平
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
那答案，我的朋友，飘零在风中
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
答案随风飘逝
To Make You Feel My Love
When the rain's blowing in your face
当雨水在你的脸上恣睢
And the whole world is on your case
你将整个世界背负在自己的行囊里
I would offer you a warm embrace
我会给你一个温暖的拥抱
To make you feel my love
让你感受我的爱
When the evening shadows
当夜幕降临
And the stars appear
天上的繁星闪现
And there is no one to dry your tears
没有人拭去你眼角的泪水
I would hold you for a million years
我会紧紧的抱着你 直到海枯石烂
To make you feel my love
让你感受我的爱