If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,
Which laboring for invention bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child.
Oh that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done,
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or where better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
Oh sure I am the wits of former days,
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
翻译：
如果学问不再更新，一如从前，
那我们的头脑，定被浆糊灌满；
含辛茹苦地，想要创造点奇迹，
到头来却发现，什么都没改变；
哦！纵使太阳运行了五百万年，
但依然还有，回溯青史的竹简；
自从在古书里看到，你的肖像，
心里就首次有了，文字的概念；
让我通晓，古人曾经怎样评价，
关于组成你那些，诗体的灵感；
是我们高明，还是他们更优秀，
或者二者相同，其实并无绎演；
喔！我敢肯定前代已经有智贤；
对这烂主题，作过颂扬和称赞。
推荐理由：这首十四行情诗精选（五十九）是莎士比亚笔下的Sonnet59《治学》，如果你是莎翁的忠实读者怎能错过呢？
