The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

罗伯特．弗罗斯特(1874一1963)是在马萨诸塞州劳伦斯上的中学，也在达特第斯学院和哈佛大学读过一段时间。获得诗名之前，弗罗斯特时而务农，时而到中学教希腊语和拉丁语。他的第一部诗集出版于1913年。1916年后，他一直在著名学府任职，通常的身份是“住校诗人”。弗罗斯特的诗歌备受喜爱，原因之一是未受过多少学校教育的人都看得懂。当许多诗人热衷于搞诗歌试验时，他却坚持使用日常语言，描写自己观察入微的日常事件。弗罗斯特的许多诗歌反映了他与大自然的贴近。他通过自然来表达一种象征意义，而不是什么田园式的思乡情调。《未选择的路》是弗罗斯特的一首名诗，作于1915年。

黄叶林中出条岔路，

无奈一人难于兼顾，

顺着一条婉蜒小路，

久久伫立极目远眺，

只见小径拐进灌木。

接着选择了另一条，

同样清楚似乎更好，

引人踩踏铺满茂草，

踏在其间难分彼此，

尽管真有两条道。

清晨里躺着两条路，

一样叶被无人踏脏，

愿将第一条来日补，

但知条条相连远途，

怀疑日后怎能回返。

在很久以后某一地，

我将叹息诉说于人，

两路岔开在树林里，

我选的那条足迹稀，

而一切差别由此起