文/英文老師貝兒(Belle)特稿

大家都曉得歲月不饒人，一眨眼工夫五年，十年甚至二十年就這麼無聲無息而逝。再回想自己的畢業典禮，或是初踏入社會時的掙扎等等，彷彿都只是一瞬間的事。「一瞬間」英文可以解釋為 in a twinkle(n.)，名詞。不過老外講話總是喜歡添油加醋，所以想和他們打成一片，貝兒建議大家用：in a twinkling of an eye會比較流利又受歡迎喲！

例如：蓮生活佛在他的文集「月光流域」書內一篇文章「一瞬間的事」裡面提到：

「年輕、健康都不會很久，老病很快就會到來，一瞬間而已。」英譯如下：

「Youth and health will not last forever, old age and sickness is approaching. It is only in a twinkling of an eye.」

在文中還提到：

「很多很多的世人，都知道時光很短暫，生命不是很長，歲月如飛梭，一瞬間而已，但是，要他好好的修行學佛，他會偷懶，而且感到氣餒。時間是用來賺錢做事業的，時間是用來養家活口的，這還好，有些人是用來閒聊的，用來玩樂休閒的，更糟的是，時間是用來無休止的攀緣，用來浪費的。時間是被攪拌而激盪著，根本無法煞車，堆積了無數悲哀而逝去的回憶！」茲英譯內容如下：

「In the samasaric world, laymen are aware of the short life span and transient nature of time. Time flies like a rocket, like a twinkling of an eye. Yet, when you urge them to practice Buddhism, they will become lazy and frustrated. Time to them is used for earning money, building up their careers, and supporting their families. This is fine but some people use their time to chat and to play around. What is worse is when time is used for endless socializing and for wasting. Time is constantly moving and stirred, and you can never stop the motion. At the end, they are only left with countless sorrow and passed memories.」

英語詞彙 (English Vocabulary)

samasaric (samsaric) world: 娑婆世界

life span: 壽命