《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 13

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

吉辛窮困的一生，對(duì)文學(xué)名著的愛(ài)好與追求，以及對(duì)大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書(shū)中均有充分的反映。本書(shū)分為春、夏、秋、冬四個(gè)部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國(guó)文學(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

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If some stranger from abroad asked me to point out to him the most noteworthy things in England, I should first of all consider his intellect. Were he a man of everyday level, I might indicate for his wonder and admiration Greater London2, the Black Country3, South Lancashire, and other features of our civilization which, despite eager rivalry, still maintain our modern pre-eminence in the creation of ugliness. If, on the other hand, he seemed a man of brains, it would be my pleasure to take him to one of those old villages, in the midlands or the west, which lie at some distance from a railway station, and in aspect are still untouched by the baser tendencies of the time. Here, I would tell my traveller, he saw something which England alone can show. The simple beauty of the architecture, its perfect adaptation to the natural surroundings, the neatness of everything though without formality, the general cleanness and good repair, the grace of cottage gardens, that tranquillity and security which make a music in the mind of him who gazes—these are what a man must see and feel if he would appreciate the worth and the power of England. The people which has made for itself such homes as these is distinguished, above all things, by its love of order; it has understood, as no other people, the truth that "order is heaven's first law." With order it is natural to find stability, and the combination of these qualities, as seen in domestic life, results in that peculiarly English product, our name for which—though but a pale shadow of the thing itself—has been borrowed by other countries: comfort.

如果國(guó)外的某個(gè)陌生人央我為他指出英國(guó)最有特色的事物，我會(huì)首先考慮他的智慧。如果他只是個(gè)普通人，為博得他的驚異和欽羨，我可能會(huì)舉出大倫敦、黑鄉(xiāng)、南蘭開(kāi)夏郡和我們文明的其他特色，雖然面臨激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，這些地方在制造丑陋上還保持著現(xiàn)代的領(lǐng)先地位。而如果他是一個(gè)有智慧的人，那我會(huì)很樂(lè)意把他帶到中部或西部的一座古老村莊，這些村莊遠(yuǎn)離火車(chē)站，還未受到時(shí)代卑劣趨勢(shì)的影響。我會(huì)告訴這位旅行者，他在這里看到的是英格蘭獨(dú)有的東西。這里的建筑有一種與自然環(huán)境渾然天成的簡(jiǎn)約美，整齊而不拘謹(jǐn)，處處干凈完好。村舍花園雅致秀麗，那種平靜和安全感會(huì)讓人腦海中浮現(xiàn)一曲音樂(lè)——這些是一個(gè)想要體會(huì)英格蘭價(jià)值和力量的人必須看見(jiàn)和感受的事物。一個(gè)為自己建造出這樣家園的民族是卓越不群的，首先因?yàn)樗鼘?duì)秩序的熱愛(ài)；它比其他任何民族都懂得“秩序是上天的第一法則”這一真理。有了秩序，自然可以找到穩(wěn)定，這些特點(diǎn)的結(jié)合，就像在家庭生活中看到的那樣，造就了一件獨(dú)特的英國(guó)產(chǎn)品，它的名字——盡管不過(guò)是事物本身一個(gè)蒼白的影子——被許多國(guó)家借用，那就是“舒適”。

Then Englishman's need of "comfort" is one of his best characteristics; the possibility that he may change in this respect, and become indifferent to his old ideal of physical and mental ease, is the gravest danger manifest in our day. For "comfort," mind you, does not concern the body alone; the beauty and orderliness of an Englishman's home derive their value, nay, their very existence, from the spirit which directs his whole life. Walk from the village to the noble's mansion. It, too, is perfect of its kind; it has the dignity of age, its walls are beautiful, the gardens, the park about are such as can be found only in England, lovely beyond compare; and all this represents the same moral characteristics as the English cottage, but with greater activities and responsibilities. If the noble grows tired of his mansion, and, letting it to some rude owner of millions, goes to live in hotels and hired villas; if the cottager sickens of his village roof, and transports himself to the sixth floor of a "block" in Shoreditch4; one sees but too well that the one and the other have lost the old English sense of comfort, and, in losing it, have suffered degradation alike as men and as citizens. It is not a question of exchanging one form of comfort for another; the instinct which made an Englishman has in these cases perished. Perhaps it is perishing from among us altogether, killed by new social and political conditions; one who looks at villages of the new type, at the workingclass quarters of towns, at the rising of "flats" among the dwellings of the wealthy, has little choice but to think so. There may soon come a day when, though the word "comfort" continues to be used in many languages, the thing it signifies will be discoverable nowhere at all.

英國(guó)人對(duì)“舒適”的需求是他最好的品質(zhì)之一；而他有可能在這方面發(fā)生改變，也許會(huì)淡漠了那種身心舒適的舊時(shí)理想，這種可能性是我們這個(gè)時(shí)代最嚴(yán)重的威脅。注意了，“舒適”并不只針對(duì)身體而言；英國(guó)人家的美麗和秩序獲得其價(jià)值，不，獲得其本身存在的來(lái)源，就是引導(dǎo)他整個(gè)生活的這種精神。從村莊步行到貴族的府邸，那兒也是舒適的完美典型：紅墻綠瓦，古樸莊嚴(yán)，周?chē)幕▓@無(wú)比可愛(ài)，只有在英格蘭才能看到。所有這些和英國(guó)的村舍一樣，代表了同樣的精神品質(zhì)，只不過(guò)這里容納著更多社會(huì)活動(dòng)和更重要的責(zé)任。如果貴族厭倦了他的府邸，將它租給某個(gè)粗俗的百萬(wàn)富翁，自己住到旅館和租來(lái)的別墅里；如果村民厭倦了村莊的房舍，住到肖爾迪奇一個(gè)“街區(qū)”公寓的第六層；人們可以清楚地看到，這兩者都丟失了英國(guó)舊時(shí)意義上的“舒適”，因此，他們?cè)谧鳛槿撕凸竦碾p重身份上都遭到了降格。這并非兩種舒適的居住方式之間互換的問(wèn)題；使英國(guó)人成之為英國(guó)人的本能在這兩種情形下都消滅了。也許它正在我們之中逐漸消亡，被新的社會(huì)和政治條件扼殺；看到新型的村莊、城里工人們聚集的社區(qū)、富人區(qū)拔地而起的“公寓”，人們只能這么想?？赡芎芸鞎?huì)有一天，雖然“舒適”一詞仍然在很多語(yǔ)言中使用，但它指代的事物將徹底無(wú)處可覓了。