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Good morning! In today's lecture we shall discuss what meaning is in literary works.
早上好！在今天的课上，我们将讨论文学作品中的意义。
When we read novels, poems, etc. , we invariably ask ourselves a question—that is, what does the writer mean here?
当我们读小说、诗歌等时，我们总是问自己一个问题——作者在这里是什么意思？
In other words, we are interested in finding out the meaning. But meaning is a difficult issue in literature.
换句话说，我们感兴趣的是找出其中的意思。但意义是意思中的一个难题。
How do we know what a work of literature is supposed to mean or what its real meaning is?
我们怎么知道文学作品应该表达什么意思或者说它的真正含义是什么？
I'd like to discuss three ways to explain what meaning is.
我想讨论三种解释意思的方法。
No. 1, meaning is what is intended by the author.
第一，意思是作者的意图。
No. 2, meaning is created by and contained in the text itself.
第二，意思由文本本身产生，并包含在文本中。
And No. 3, meaning is created by the reader.
第三，意思是由读者创造的。
Now, let's take a look at the first approach—that is, meaning is what is intended by the author.
现在，让我们看一看第一种方法，即，意思是作者想要表达的东西。
Does a work of literature mean what the author intended to mean? And if so, how can we tell?
文学作品是否表达了作者想要表达的意思？如果表达出来了，我们怎么分辨出来呢？
If all the evidence we have is the text itself and nothing else, we can only guess what ideas the author had according to our understanding of literature and world.
如果掌握的资料只有文本，没有别的，我们只能根据对文学和世界的理解猜测作者的想法。
In order to have a better idea of what one particular author means in one of his works, I suggest that you do the following:
为了更好地了解某一位作者在其某一部作品中的主要意图，我建议你做以下工作:
First, go to the library and read other works by the same author.
首先，去图书馆阅读同一作者的其他作品。
Second, get to know something about what sort of meanings seem to be common in literary works in that particular tradition and at that time.
第二，了解一下，在当时特定的传统中，文学作品中普遍存在的意义是什么样的。
In other words, we need to find out what the literary trends were in those days.
换句话说，我们需要找出当时的文学趋势。
And last, get to know what were the cultural values and symbols of the time.
最后，了解当时的文化价值观和象征。
I guess you can understand the author's meaning much more clearly after you do the related background research.
我想在你做了相关的背景调查之后，可以更清楚地理解作者的意思。
