《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 12

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學中小品文的珍品之一。

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The good S- writes me a kindly letter. He is troubled by the thought of my loneliness. That I should choose to live in such a place as this through the summer, he can understand; but surely I should do better to come to town for the winter? How on earth do I spend the dark days and the long evenings?

善良的S先生給我寫來一封親切的信，想到我孤身一人，讓他很是憂慮。他能理解我選擇這樣一個地方度夏，但是冬天到城里住不是更好一些嗎？我究竟要怎樣捱過那些陰郁的白天和漫長的夜晚呢？

I chuckle over the good S-'s sympathy. Dark days are few in happy Devon, and such as befall have never brought me a moment's tedium. The long, wild winter of the north would try my spirits; but here, the season that follows autumn is merely one of rest, Nature's annual slumber. And I share in the restful influence. Often enough I pass an hour in mere drowsing by the fireside; frequently I let my book drop, satisfied to muse. But more often than not the winter day is blest with sunshine—the soft beam which is Nature's smile in dreaming. I go forth, and wander far. It pleases me to note changes of landscape when the leaves have fallen; I see streams and ponds which during summer were hidden; my favourite lanes have an unfamiliar aspect, and I become better acquainted with them. Then, there is a rare beauty in the structure of trees ungarmented; and if perchance snow or frost have silvered their tracery against the sober sky, it becomes a marvel which never tires.

善良的S先生的同情讓我輕聲笑了。在快樂的德文郡，陰郁的白天幾乎是沒有的，就算有那么幾天，我也沒感到一刻的乏味。在北方，漫長嚴酷的冬天會摧殘我的精神；但在這里，跟隨秋天到來的只是一個休憩的季節(jié)，是大自然每年一度的睡眠期。這種安歇的氣氛也影響到我，我經(jīng)常會在壁爐旁打瞌睡，不知不覺一小時就過去了。我常常任由手中的書掉在地上，在冥思中感到滿足。很多時候，這里的冬日都是陽光普照的——那溫和的陽光是大自然在睡夢中的微笑。我走出門去，漫步到很遠的地方。在樹葉紛紛落下時，我欣賞著景色的變化，很開心。我看到了夏天隱蔽起來的河流和池塘，我最喜歡的小路也呈現(xiàn)出新奇的景致，讓我對它更加熟悉了。還有，那些褪去衣裝的樹木也有了一種少見的美麗，如果雪或霜給它披上一層銀裝，在清涼的天空下，那真是百看不厭的奇景。

Day by day I look at the coral buds on the lime-tree. Something of regret will mingle with my joy when they begin to break.

我每天都會觀察酸橙樹上的珊瑚狀花蕾，在它們開始綻開時，我會感到一種悵惘和快樂摻雜的情緒。

In the middle years of my life—those years that were the worst of all—I used to dread the sound of a winter storm which woke me in the night. Wind and rain lashing the house filled me with miserable memories and apprehensions; I lay thinking of the savage struggle of man with man, and often saw before me no better fate than to be trampled down into the mud of life. The wind's wail seemed to me the voice of a world in anguish; rain was the weeping of the feeble and the oppressed. But nowadays I can lie and listen to a night-storm with no intolerable thoughts; at worst, I fall into a compassionate sadness as I remember those I loved and whom I shall see no more. For myself, there is even comfort in the roaring dark; for I feel the strength of the good walls about me, and my safety from squalid peril such as pursued me through all my labouring life. "Blow, blow, thou winter wind!" Thou canst not blow away the modest wealth which makes my security. Nor can any "rain upon the roof" put my soul to question; for life has given me all I ever asked—infinitely more than I ever hoped—and in no corner of my mind does there lurk a coward fear of death.

在中年時候——那是最糟糕的歲月——我常常會憎惡在冬夜把我驚醒的暴風雨聲。狂風暴雨搖撼著屋子，讓我的腦海忽然涌上很多痛苦的回憶和憂懼的情緒；我躺在床上，想到人與人之間野蠻的爭斗，看到擺在我面前的只有被踐踏到生活的泥濘中的命運。風的哀號在我聽來就像世界痛苦的聲音，雨就像是脆弱和受壓迫的人的哭泣。但現(xiàn)在，我躺著聽暴風雨的聲音時，心里已經(jīng)沒有那些無法忍受的想法了；最壞的情況，想起那些我愛的但再也看不到的人，我會感到一種同情和悲傷。就我自己來說，聽著黑暗中的呼嘯聲，我甚至會感到一種安慰；并且我感覺到周圍堅實的墻壁的力量，獲得一種安全感，因為我不必再受多年來如影隨形的困窘的威脅了?！按蛋?，吹吧，你這冬日的風！”你不能吹走帶給我安全感的少量財富。任何“打在屋頂上的雨”也不會讓我質(zhì)疑自己的靈魂；因為生活已經(jīng)賜予了我所有我要求的——比我希望的要多得多——在我腦海的任何一個角落也不會藏著一個害怕死亡的膽小鬼。