《负重的牲口》读后感
THE BEAST OF BURDEN
负重的牲口
By W.Somerset Maugham
威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆
节选一
His clothing consists of no more than a short coat and a pair of trousers; and if he had a suit which was at the beginning all of a piece, he never thinks when it comes to patching to choose a bit of stuff of the same color. He takes anything that comes handy. From sun and rain he protects his head with a straw hat shaped like an extinguisher with a preposterously wide, flat brim.
他上身不过一件短外套，下身一条裤子。倘若他有一套起先还是浑然一体的衣服，但后来要打补丁时，他不会想到要选用同一颜色的布块，手头什么方便就拿什么补。为了遮阳避雨，他戴了顶草帽，隆起的部分像个灭火器，帽檐又宽又平，看上去有些怪异。
（罗选民译）
节选二
You see a string of coolies come along, one after the other, each with a pole on his shoulders from the ends of which hang two great bales, and they make an agreeable pattern. It is amusing to watch their hurrying reflections in the padi water. You watch their faces as they pass you. They are good-natured faces and frank, you would have said, if it had not been drilled into you that the oriental is inscrutable.
你看见一长溜苦力走过来，一个接一个，每个人肩上挑一个担子，两头挂着两个大包，构成一幅惬意的图景。从水中的倒影看他们匆匆忙忙的样子十分逗笑。他们路过时你观察他们的脸，要不是东方人神秘莫测的说法已植入人心，你肯定会说他们面容温厚坦诚。
（罗选民译）
节选三
In China it is man that is the beast of burden.“To be harassed by the wear and tear of life, and to pass rapidly through it without the possibility of arresting one's course, —is not this pitiful indeed? To labor without ceasing, and then, without living to enjoy the fruit, worn out, to depart, suddenly, one knows not whither, —is not that a just cause for grief?”
在中国，人就是负重的牲口。“被生活损耗、折磨，然后迅速走完生命历程，根本得不到休息——这不是很可怜吗？苦苦地干，没个完了，然后还没活到享受劳动果实的日子，就疲惫地突然逝去，也不知道会落个什么归宿——这能够不令人悲哀吗？”（罗选民译）
作者简介：威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆（1874—1965），英国戏剧家、小说家。1921年，毛姆游历中国，将他对中国风土人情的见闻记于文字，并出版风格轻快的散文集《在中国的屏风上》。
读后感
1.Maugham described the Chinese people at that time from the perspective of foreigners, reflecting the cruelty of the society and causing people to think about the bottom people.
2.At the beginning of the article, Maugham described a picture of a porter walking with heavy load in the hills with delicate brushwork, which is a pleasant scene for tourists. However, if you look closer, the coolies take off and their coats are bare. When you walk, you will see his poor tired heart beating between his ribs. Despite the bad weather, they always walk on this road, rain or shine.
3.At the end of this chapter, the author says that in China it is man that is the beast of burden. And quoted Chuang Tzu's words: “To be harassed by the wear and tear of life, and to pass rapidly through it without the possibility of arresting one's course, —is not this pitiful indeed?’’ This sentence reminds me that today, one hundred years later, we are shuttling in the office buildings and on the road of entrepreneurship. Are we not the burden animals in the modern society?