《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 14

《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籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實(shí)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(duì)文學(xué)名著的愛好與追求，以及對(duì)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(gè)部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

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If the ingenious foreigner found himself in some village of manufacturing Lancashire, he would be otherwise impressed. Here something of the power of England might be revealed to him, but of England's worth, little enough. Hard ugliness would everywhere assail his eyes; the visages and voices of the people would seem to him thoroughly akin to their surroundings. Scarcely could one find, in any civilized nation, a more notable contrast than that between these two English villages and their inhabitants.

如果一個(gè)聰敏的外國人置身于制造業(yè)重地蘭開夏郡的某個(gè)村莊，他會(huì)形成另一種印象。在這里，他也許會(huì)感受到英格蘭力量的某個(gè)方面，但只能感受到一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)英格蘭的價(jià)值。粗硬的丑陋事物從四面八方襲擊他的眼睛，人們的面孔和聲音在他看來和周圍的環(huán)境十分相配。在任何一個(gè)文明國家，很少能發(fā)現(xiàn)比兩個(gè)英國村莊及其居民之間更顯著的差別了。

Yet Lancashire is English, and there among the mill chimneys, in the hideous little street, folk are living whose domestic thoughts claim undeniable kindred with those of the villagers of the kinder south. But to understand how "comfort," and the virtues it implies, can exist amid such conditions, one must penetrate to the hearthside; the door must be shut, the curtain drawn; here "home" does not extend beyond the threshold. After all, this grimy row of houses, ugliest that man ever conceived, is more representative of England to-day than the lovely village among the trees and meadows. More than a hundred years ago, power passed from the south of England to the north. The vigorous race on the other side of Trent5 only found its opportunity when the age of machinery began; its civilization, long delayed, differs in obvious respects from that of older England. In Sussex or in Somerset, however dull and clownish the typical inhabitant, he plainly belongs to an ancient order of things, represents an immemorial subordination. The rude man of the north is—by comparison—but just emerged from barbarism, and under any circumstances would show less smooth a front. By great misfortune, he has fallen under the harshest lordship the modern world has known—that of scientific industrialism, and all his vigorous qualities are subdued to a scheme of life based upon the harsh, the ugly, the sordid. His racial heritage, of course, marks him to the eye; even as ploughman or shepherd, he differs notably from him of the same calling in the weald or on the downs. But the frank brutality of the man in all externals has been encouraged, rather than mitigated, by the course his civilization has taken, and hence it is that, unless one knows him well enough to respect him, he seems even yet stamped with the half-savagery of his folk as they were a century and a half ago. His fierce shyness, his arrogant self-regard, are notes of a primitive state. Naturally, he never learnt to house himself as did the Southerner, for climate, as well as social circumstance, was unfavourable to all the graces of life. And now one can only watch the encroachment of his rule upon that old, that true England whose strength and virtue were so differently manifested. This fair broad land of the lovely villages signifies little save to the antiquary, the poet, the painter. Vainly, indeed, should I show its beauty and its peace to the observant foreigner; he would but smile, and, with a glance at the traction-engine just coming along the road, indicate the direction of his thoughts.

但蘭開夏郡是英國的，在林立的工廠煙囪之間，在丑陋的狹窄街巷里，這里居民們的家庭觀念卻和更友善的南方村莊居民的不可否認(rèn)地一脈相承。但要理解這種環(huán)境怎會(huì)存在“舒適”和它所隱含的優(yōu)點(diǎn)，你要深入探查到他們的爐火旁；關(guān)上門，拉上窗簾，這里的“家”不會(huì)延伸到門檻之外。畢竟，這一排排骯臟的房子，雖是人們所能想到的最丑陋的，卻比起掩映在樹木和草地間的可愛村莊，它們更能代表今天的英格蘭。一個(gè)多世紀(jì)以前，權(quán)力從英格蘭南部轉(zhuǎn)移到北部。特倫特河另一邊的強(qiáng)壯民族在機(jī)器時(shí)代到來時(shí)才找到自己的機(jī)會(huì)；它的文明延遲了很長時(shí)間才來臨，與早期的英格蘭文明有著明顯區(qū)別。在蘇塞克斯郡或薩默塞特郡，不管那里的典型居民多么無趣和滑稽，都顯然屬于一種古老的秩序，代表著一種久遠(yuǎn)的屈從。北方的粗人——相形之下——不過是剛剛脫離了野蠻時(shí)代，在任何環(huán)境下都會(huì)露出不溫和的面目。非常不幸，他還淪落成為現(xiàn)代世界迄今最嚴(yán)酷的暴君——即科學(xué)工業(yè)主義的屬下——他所有活躍的品質(zhì)都要屈服于一種基于嚴(yán)酷、丑陋和骯臟的生活秩序。當(dāng)然，他的種族遺傳基因給他全身都打上了烙?。痪退闶亲鲛r(nóng)夫或牧羊人，他和在曠野或南部高地上的同行也有顯著區(qū)別。但是這種人外在的赤裸裸的野蠻性，受到他所經(jīng)歷的文明進(jìn)程的鼓勵(lì)而非遏制。因此，除非人們對(duì)他非常了解從而尊重他，他身上似乎還打著一個(gè)半世紀(jì)前他的祖先半開化狀態(tài)的烙印。他的兇殘和膽怯，他的傲慢自大，都是原始狀態(tài)的痕跡，他自然也從未學(xué)會(huì)像南方人那樣建造房屋。那里的氣候和社會(huì)環(huán)境，都不利于培育生活所有的優(yōu)雅?，F(xiàn)在，人們只能看著他的統(tǒng)治蠶食著古老的真正的英格蘭，而它的力量和美德都以如此不同的方式得到體現(xiàn)。除了文物工作者、詩人和畫家，這些可愛村莊的美麗廣闊的土地對(duì)其他人沒多少意義。將它的美麗與和平展示給那個(gè)銳敏的外國人，實(shí)在是徒勞；他只會(huì)微笑，把目光轉(zhuǎn)向路上駛來的一輛牽引機(jī)車，表明了他思想的方向。