Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
我能否將妳比作夏天？
妳比夏天更美麗溫婉。
狂風將五月的蓓蕾雕殘，
夏日的勾留何其短暫。
休戀那麗日當空，
轉眼會雲霧迷蒙。
休嘆那百花飄零，
催折於無常的天命。
唯有妳永恒的夏日常新，
妳的美貌亦毫發無損。
死神也無緣將妳幽禁，
妳在我永恒的詩中長存。
只要世間尚有人吟誦我的詩篇，
這詩就將不朽，永葆妳的芳顏。
正如同壹個人可以有不止壹張照片或者畫像那樣，壹首詩歌也可以有不止壹個翻譯。這照片、畫像、翻譯自然不會完全相同，會有優劣好壞的差別。但是，由於欣賞者的口味不壹，在不同的欣賞者眼裏，不同的作品會有不同的得分。
這首詩的藝術特點首先是在於它有著雙重主題：壹是贊美詩人愛友的美貌，二是歌頌了詩歌藝術的不朽力量。其次就是詩人在詩中運用了新穎的比喻，但又自然而生動。
莎士比亞十四行詩第十八首
SONNET18
Shall I compare thee to a Summer’sday?
我能把妳比諸壹個溫和的夏日嗎？
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
可是妳更加可愛迷人；
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
狂風定會摧殘美妙柔嫩的花蕾，
And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
夏季應允的承諾總是太短的時辰。
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
驕陽的光芒有時太灼熱光亮,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d,
金燦燦的外表卻常常暗淡無光，
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
壹切源自於美的美好事物漸漸隱去，
By chance,or nature's changing course,untrimm’d.
這是命運，是自然規律，明明白白。
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade,
但無窮的夏天不會消失，
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
妳的天生麗質永不衰退，
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
哪怕死神的陰影也不敢將妳迷失，
When ineternal lines to time thou grow’st;
妳已在永恒的詩行裏與時間相會；
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
. 只要塵世間還有人呼吸，有人看見，
So long lives this,and this gives life to thee.
這詩歌就存在，妳就活在其間。