这是哈姆雷特的一段有名的独白，是哈姆雷特关于生存与死亡辩证关系的思考——生存是艰难的，当选择死亡更容易时，我们为什么非要继续下去？我们看看哈姆雷特是怎么想的:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings¹ and arrows of outrageous² fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them ?To die:to sleep
No more; and by a sleep to say we end,
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, it is a consummation
Devoutly³ to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled⁴ off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity⁵ of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs⁶ of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence⁷ of office and the spurns⁸
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a dagger⁹? who would fardels bear,
To grunt¹⁰ and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread¹¹ of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns,puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue¹² of resolution
Is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry¹³,
And lose the name of action.-- Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in your orisons
Be all my sins remembered. 

重点讲解：
1.slings 此处的意思是弹弓之类，与"arrows"（弓箭）相呼应，都能引起人体伤害。
2.outrageous fortune 可耻的财富，说财富是可耻的，表现了哈姆雷特对Claudius之流的赤裸裸的蔑视。
3.And by opposing end them 如果你禁不起可耻财富的糖衣炮弹，那就只好靠自杀来了结所有的麻烦。
4.consummation 圆满，结束。永远的宁静就是圆满因为符合了别人的意愿。
5.rub 难题. 这个词来源于一种草地滚球的游戏，相当于现在的保龄球。  "rub" 为障碍物，尤其在不平的场地上,球会离目标越来越远。
6.shuffled off this mortal coil 身心分离。 “mortal coil”是身体的意思。
7.respect 考虑，顾虑。在我们如同死亡的无意识熟睡之中，会发生什么是我们应该考虑的事情。
8.calamity of so long life想到死了之后会发生的恐怖的事情便是我们强撑着挣扎地生活地原因。
9.time  短暂的生命
10.native hue of resolution 据说，“勇气”天然的颜色是红色的。哈姆雷特相信过分的思考便是空想家，只会是行动的矮子，会让勇敢的人变成胆小鬼。胆小鬼的脸色是苍白色。
11.great pitch and moment 正当老鹰捕猎物的关键时刻。
12.With this regard their currents turn awry 正因为他有这样的想法，他的内心才会波澜起伏。
13.Soft you now 哈姆雷特听见 Ophelia 开始祈祷，他必须中断他自己的思忱。

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