The Myth of Sisyphus西西弗斯神话故事The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.众神判决，西西弗斯要把一块巨石推到山顶上，然而巨石却会因为自身太重滚回原位，于是西西弗斯只得永无止境地做这件事。
因为出于某种理由，祂们认为，徒劳无望的劳动是最可怕的惩罚。
If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld.如果我们采信荷马的故事，那么西西弗斯无疑就是最聪明、最谨慎的凡人了。
然而，从另一个传说来看，他更像是拦路抢劫的强盗。
我认为这并不矛盾。
而至于他被囚于冥界、徒劳无益地推着巨石的原因，却是众说纷纭。
To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Aegina, the daughter of Aesopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Aesopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth.首先，西西弗斯被指控对众神不恭敬。
他窃取了众神的秘密。
朱庇特拐走了阿索普斯的女儿艾吉娜。
对于女儿的失踪，阿索普斯既吃惊又愤怒，于是找西西弗斯来诉苦。
西西弗斯知道了这起诱拐案后，承诺只要阿索普斯向科林斯的城堡供水，就把这件神的丑闻宣扬出去。
To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.他不在乎神王的雷电之罚，只要能弄到水源就可以了。
他因此在冥界受到了惩罚。
荷马还告诉我们，西西弗斯曾用锁链把死神锁起来。
冥王布鲁托无法忍受自己的帝国荒凉寂静的景象。
他派遣战神将死神从西西弗斯那里救了回来。
It is said also that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife.还有传说称，西西弗斯在临死前，有失考虑地想试探妻子对自己的感情。
他命令妻子不要把他下葬，而要把他的尸体扔到公共广场中央。
西西弗斯在阴间醒来后，发现妻子真的把他的尸体扔在了广场上。
虽然妻子是在遵从他的遗命，但是他仍然很恼怒，认为妻子并不爱他，于是他请求冥王让他返回人间，惩罚妻子。
冥王同意了。
But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more, he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, led him forcibly back to the underworld where his rock was ready for him.但当他再次看到人间，畅饮着甘甜的清水，沐浴着明媚的阳光，触摸着温暖的石头，泛舟于辽阔的大海时，他再也不想回到地狱的无尽黑暗里去了。
对于冥神的召唤、愤怒征兆和警告，他都置之不理。
他在人间又生活了好多年，而且他居住的地方面朝着蜿蜒的海湾、波光粼粼的大海还有丰饶的大地。
但诸神的旨意是逃不过的。
墨丘利来了，抓住这个无耻之徒的衣领，把他从安乐窝中揪了出来，然后打入冥界，在那里已经为他准备好了一块石头。
You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable that cannot be described in words, usually because it is so bad penalty in which the whole being is exerted towards accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.现在你已经明白了，西西弗斯就是个荒诞的英雄。
他做事的时候有多冲动，所受的折磨就有多严酷。
他蔑视诸神，憎恨死亡，对生命充满激情，于是就要承受那种难以言喻（无法用语言描述）的惩罚。
因为这是一种非常恶毒的惩罚，受到惩罚的西西弗斯将会一事无成。
这就是他要为留在人间的冲动所必须付出的代价。
Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands.故事中没有告诉我们任何西西弗斯在地狱里的情况。
神话故事的生命源于想象。
在这个神话里，人们看到的只是西西弗斯拼尽全身力气举起巨石，无数次地把它滚上山坡；人们看到他面容扭曲，脸颊紧贴着满是泥土的石头，肩扛、脚挤，终于把石头滚上山顶，但只要胳膊一松，巨石就会滚落，一切又要从头开始。
他能依靠的只有一双沾满泥土的手。
At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments towards that lower world whence he will have to push it up again towards the summit. He goes back down to the plain.西西弗斯的苦役称得上无穷无尽，不知过了多久之后，他总算到了山顶，几乎触摸到了天空，才终于实现了自己的目标。
然后他只能眼睁睁地看着石头往下滚，很快就滚到了山脚下，于是他不得不再次回到山脚平原，重新把巨石推向山顶。