“A Psalm of Life” (《翻译论集》第234页或《英美名诗一百首》第256 页)和“The Psalm of Life” ( The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Literature ) p. 339或The New World Encyclopedia，p. 2953)这两个题目虽有一冠词之差，所指的却是美国著名诗人Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ( 1807—1882 ) 的同一首名诗。此诗海内外已有不少人译过。就其汉译来讲，据笔者多年来注意到的材料，就有6种：1. 曾任驻华公使，英人Thomas Francis Wade (威妥玛1818〜1895年）早在1865年（据《翻译论集》第235页）以前就将它译成了汉文，题为《人生颂》; 2. 威译完成后，时任清朝“总理各国事务衙门”（相当于今外交部）主要官员的董恂把它改为七言古诗，仍用题目《人生颂》；3. 1959 年10月人民文学出版社出版的杨德豫译《朗费罗诗选》ー书中，为《人生礼赞》； 4. 1984年12月陕西人民出版社出版的江冰华《英美名诗选译》中，有《生命的赞歌》; 5. 1986年商务印书馆香港分馆版孙梁编选《英美名诗ー百首》ー书中，有苏仲翔译《生之赞歌》; 6. 1987年3月中国友谊出版公司出版的、菲律宾华人施颖洲译《世界名诗选译》ー书中为《生的礼赞》。下面是笔者认为翻译的较佳的供大家欣赏。

原诗：

Tell me not in mourntul numbers, 

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow.

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Finds us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave. 

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life.

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act — act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'er-head!

Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our livejs sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints that perhaps another,

Sailing e'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labour and to wait.