②人自孩提时代起,求学、谋职、恋爱、成家、立业、功名、财富……几乎无时不在追求,而且总也不能满足。
本句的并列结构:求学、谋职、恋爱、成家、立业、功名、财富,翻译为动名词结构, 求学going to school, 谋职looking for a job, 恋爱falling in love, 成家getting married, 立业striving for success in career ;功名、财富可以合为一起翻译为accumulating wealth,但也可以把功名翻译出来,chasing official rank
参考译文:Ever since childhood we have been pursuing, going to school, looking for a job, falling in love, getting married, and striving for success in career and accumulating wealth, but never have we seemed to be contented with ourselves.
注意译文的最后一个分句but never have we倒装结构
③当然事业上的进取与物欲上的贪婪,是两种截然不同的人生观,或可说是两种内涵迥异的苦乐观。
截然不同的:意思就是不一样的,翻译为different即可,当然加上entirely会更好。
人生观:outlooks on life
迥异的intrinsically different如果不知道intrinsic(固有的,本质的,内在的)这个词,可以用totally
参考译文:However, striving for success in career and seeking material profits are two different outlooks on life or, if you will, two intrinsically different views on the definition of hardship and happiness.
④但有一点是共同的,即人生的道路并非平坦的康庄大道,事物的发展往往不以人的意志为转移。
康庄大道:这里以“一帆风顺”的意思来翻译:plain sailing,或者用其他意译方法,表达出“顺利”“没有挫折”之类的意思都可以。
参考译文:But there is one thing that applies in either case, i.e. life is no plain sailing, and things, going and growing, are independent of man’s will.