We often hear that studying literature involves finding a deeper meaning to a text.
我们常常听说，研究文学要涉及到找寻一篇文章的更深层的含义。
When writing about literary works, we're expected to mentally dive below the surface in order to come back up with big ideas.
在创作文学作品时，我们希望看穿表面的意思，获得更深的思想。
But you may find yourself looking at the flat page of a book, wondering how deep it can really go?
但你可能会发现，自己只是盯着看一本书中薄薄的一张纸，想着到底能深到哪儿去。
How do we reach those ideas that turn into great essays?
我们如何能够领会那些美文佳作的主旨思想呢？
Well, there are two crucial thinking steps that can lead us in the right direction:
其实有两个引领我们走向正确方向的重要思考步骤：
practicing insight and acknowledging complexity.
磨练洞察力以及认可复杂性。
Insight is the ability to arrive at an intuitive understanding of a big idea using only small clues to get there.
洞察力就是指通过蛛丝马迹，对一个复杂概念具备直观理解的能力。
If you're practicing insight, you'll able to use observations about character behavior to figure out their true emotions and motivations.
如果你在磨练洞察力，那么你就可以通过对人物的行为进行观察，来挖掘他们内心真正的情绪与动机。
Pay attention to little things because they add up to what is really meaningful.
注意细节，因为它们加起来就能有真正的意义。
For example, if you consider a character like Mr. Darcy from 'Pride and Prejudice',
例如，如果你分析《傲慢与偏见》里面的达西先生，
who openly declares his dislike for Miss Lizzy Bennet, you might, at first, assume he's just a mean guy.
他公然表达了对利兹·贝内特的厌恶，一开始你也许会认为他是个很刻薄的家伙。
But, using your powers of insight, you're noticing other smaller things
不过，运用你的洞察力，你会发现到其它细微的事情，
how Darcy's eyes linger on Lizzy's face and how he seems all flustered when she's around.
比如达西的目光是怎样在利兹脸上游走，以及当她在身边时他看起来有多么紧张。
Add to the mix your knowledge that Mr. Darcy is in a much higher social class than Lizzy,
加上你知道达西先生的社会地位远高于利兹，
and your sense of insight should be telling you that there's something more here.
那么，你的洞察得出的直觉会告诉你，当中另有内文。
In this case, it will tell you that Darcy's surface behavior is in conflict with his true feelings of attraction
在这个例子中，你会发现达西先生的表现与内心的爱慕之情自相矛盾，
because the difference in wealth between himself and Lizzy makes him feel that it'll never work.
这是因为他跟利兹在财富上的差距，令他深信不会有事情什么发生的。
Thinking about all those small clues gives us insight about some of the big, abstract ideas within the novel that we can approach in an essay:
仔细思考这些蛛丝马迹，就能洞察出该部小说中一些大的、抽象的思想，这些是可以在文章中用到的：
appearances versus reality, the power of wealth and social stratification, and the unpredictable nature of love and attraction.
表象与现实，财富与社会阶层的影响力，以及爱的不可预测性与吸引力。
Look at that! Deeper meaning.
看看！这就是更深层的意义。

The second step to a sophisticated analysis is acknowledging complexity.
通向复杂分析的第二步是认可复杂性。
Let's face it. In both life and literature,
直认不讳吧。人生也好，文学也好，
situations are complicated due to social forces like relationships, moral codes, personal desires, and power structures.
情况都很复杂，这是由于诸如于人际关系、道德准则、个人追求和权力架构这些社会因素造成的。
This means that there are, at any given time, multiple factors that shape what is true.
这意味着，任何时候，是多重因素决定了什么是正确的。
In order to acknowledge complexity in your writing,
要在你的写作中认可复杂性，
refrain from making broad generalizations about a text or establishing quick, simple judgements about a character.
就要避免对一篇文章泛泛而谈，或是对一个人物角色作出肤浅的判断。
Explore each facet of your subject carefully and make sure to consider multiple influences on events.
仔细研究你的主题的每个方面，并且一定要考虑到对事件的多重影响。
Explain the tension of multiple forces that create the story.
要阐述创作故事的多重因素的张力。
For example, a basic analysis of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved',
以对托妮·莫里森的小说《宠儿》的一个简单分析为例，
where the protagonist has killed her own child rather than allow her to grow up in slavery,
书中的主角杀死了自己的亲生孩子，好让她不必在奴隶制度中长大，
might sound like this, "Sethe murdered her own daughter.
该简单的分析听起来就像这样：塞丝谋杀了亲女。
This act was wrong, and causes the ghost of the child to haunt her throughout the novel."
这种行为是错误的，导致她孩子的冤魂在整部小说中都萦绕着她。
These observations are simplistic.
这些论述太过简单了。
They don't acknowledge all the different forces that contribute to what the character has done.
他们没有考虑到那些导致这个人物这么做的各种因素。
Try something like this instead,
试试下面这个分析吧，
"A culture of slavery disturbs the ability to determine what is morally right.
奴隶制度的文化严重影响了判断道德正确的能力。
Sethe's past experiences with violence reinforce the fear she has for her child's fate, and transform the murder into a protective act.
塞丝过去充满暴力的经历，加深了她对自己孩子命运的担心，并将谋杀转变成为了一种保护性的行为。
As the novel progresses, Sethe is haunted both by the angry spirit of her daughter and by the memories of everything else slavery took from her."
随着小说的发展，塞丝既被她女儿的愤怒、也被她自己过去被奴隶制度所夺走一切的回忆所日夜困扰着。
Here, we see those influential forces at work,
在这里，我们看到了这些有影响力的因素在起作用，
and we've shown off our ability to understand the complicated nature of the human experience,
我们也展示了我们理解复杂多变的人生经历的能力，
which, again, allows us to access those big ideas that reveal the deeper meaning of a story,
这使得我们可以再次接触那些揭露故事更深层次含义的思想。
ideas, in this case, like the parameters of maternal instinct, the consequences of injustice,
在这个例子中，这种思想就像母性本能，不公正的结果，
and the question of whether or not ethics can even exist in a corrupted moral system.
以及是否伦理可以在崩塌的道德系统中存在的质疑。
It's impossible to sit down and write an amazing essay about literature without first thinking about it.
不先好好思考一下文学，直接坐下来写一篇令人称奇的文章，这是不可能的。
Before you hit the keys, go back to the text and fish out the small moments, the complicated moments in the story.
在你正中要点之前，回到文章当中，找到故事中那些细小的、复杂的情节。
Line them up in your mind, practice insight, acknowledge complexity, arrive at some big ideas.
在你的心中给它们串成一条线，磨练洞察力，认可复杂性，领会一些重要的思想。
Before you know it, the deeper meaning will be close at hand.
更深层次的含义触手可及，只是你尚未知晓而已。