A Modest Proposal
一个温和的建议

A Modest Proposal is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. The full title of Swift's pamphlet is A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick . Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as Irish policy in general.
《一个温和的建议》是乔纳森·斯威夫特1729年匿名发表的一篇尤维纳利斯派的讽刺随笔。这本小册子的标题全称为《为防止穷人孩子成为父母和社会负担而使其变得对公众有益的一个温和的建议》。乔纳森建议，贫困潦倒的爱尔兰人应该把孩子作为食物卖给富人，从而减轻经济负担。这种极尽讽刺的夸张手法，实乃嘲讽世人对待穷人的无情冷酷，也鞭笞了爱尔兰政府的总体政策。

The author argues, by hard-edged economic reasoning as well as from a self-righteous moral stance, for a way to turn this problem into its own solution. His proposal, in effect, is to fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners. Swift goes to great lengths to support his argument, including a list of possible preparation styles for the children, and calculations showing the financial benefits of his suggestion. This essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language. In English writing, the phrase “a modest proposal” is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.
作者用犀利的经济理论逻辑和自以为是的道德观点，力图提出解决问题的方案。他建议的大致意思是，喂肥这些食不果腹的儿童，以供富有的地主们飨食。斯威夫特不吝笔墨地用论据支撑这一论断，包括列举了如何准备烹食儿童的可能方式，包括计算这一建议采纳后的经济效益。这篇随笔也成为英语史上最佳反讽作品的典范。时至今日，英文中的短语“一个温和的建议”已被广泛认为是冷面讽刺作品的代称。