(雙語)月亮和六便士 第2章(2)

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And if I may judge from the reviews, many of these books are well and carefully written; much thought has gone to their composition; to some even has been given the anxious labour of a lifetime. The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.Now the war has come, bringing with it a new attitude. Youth has turned to gods we of an earlier day knew not, and it is possible to see already the direction in which those who come after us will move. The younger generation, conscious of strength and tumultuous, have done with knocking at the door; they have burst in and seated themselves in our seats. The air is noisy with their shouts. Of their elders some, by imitating the antics of youth, strive to persuade themselves that their day is not yet over; they shout with the lustiest, but the war cry sounds hollow in their mouth; they are like poor wantons attempting with pencil, paint and powder, with shrill gaiety, to recover the illusion of their spring. The wiser go their way with a decent grace. In their chastened smile is an indulgent mockery. They remember that they too trod down a sated generation, with just such clamor and with just such scorn, and they foresee that these brave torch-bearers will presently yield their place also. There is no last word. The new evangel was old when Nineveh reared her greatness to the sky. These gallant words which seem so novel to those that speak them were said in accents scarcely changed a hundred times before. The pendulum swings backwards and forwards. The circle is ever travelled anew.Sometimes a man survives a considerable time from an era in which he had his place into one which is strange to him, and then the curious are offered one of the most singular spectacles in the human comedy.

如果我能根據(jù)書評下斷語的話，很多書是作者嘔心瀝血的結(jié)晶，作者為它絞盡了腦汁，有的甚至是孜孜終生的成果。我從這件事取得的教訓是，作者應(yīng)該從寫作的樂趣中，從郁積在他心頭的思想的發(fā)泄中取得寫書的酬報；對于其他一切都不應(yīng)該介意，作品成功或失敗，受到稱譽或是詆毀，他都應(yīng)該淡然處之。戰(zhàn)爭來了，戰(zhàn)爭也帶來了新的生活態(tài)度。年輕人求助于我們老一代人過去不了解的一些神祇，已經(jīng)看得出繼我們之后而來的人要向哪個方向活動了。年輕的一代意識到自己的力量，吵吵嚷嚷，早已經(jīng)不再叩擊門扉了。他們已經(jīng)闖進房子里來，坐到我們的寶座上，空中早已充滿了他們喧鬧的喊叫聲。老一代的人有的也模仿年輕人的滑稽動作，努力叫自己相信他們的日子還沒有過去；這些人同那些最活躍的年輕人比賽喉嚨，但是他們發(fā)出的吶喊聽起來卻那么空洞，他們有如一些可憐的浪蕩女人，雖然年華已過，卻仍然希望靠涂脂抹粉，靠輕狂浮蕩來恢復(fù)青春的幻影。聰明一點兒的則擺出一副端莊文雅的姿態(tài)。他們的莞爾微笑中流露著一種寬容的譏誚。他們記起了自己當初也曾經(jīng)把一代高踞寶座的人踐踏在腳下，也正是這樣大喊大叫、傲慢不遜；他們預(yù)見到這些高舉火把的勇士們有朝一日同樣也要讓位于他人。誰說的話也不能算最后拍板。當尼尼微城昌盛一時、名震遐邇的時候，新福音書已經(jīng)老舊了。說這些豪言壯語的人可能還覺得他們在說一些前人未曾道過的真理，但是實際上連他們說話的腔調(diào)前人也已經(jīng)用過一百次，而且絲毫也沒有變化。鐘擺擺過來又蕩過去，這一旅程永遠反復(fù)循環(huán)。有時候一個人早已活過了他享有一定地位的時期，進入了一個他感到陌生的新世紀，這時候人們便會看到人間喜劇中一幅最奇特的景象。