書之趣

The Delights of Books

書之趣

Sir John Lubbock

約翰.盧布克爵士

作者簡介

約翰.盧布克爵士（Sir John Lubbock，1834—1913），英國著名銀行家、政治家、自然主義者。作為政治家，他促成了公共假日（Bank Holiday）的設(shè)立，并為保護國家古跡作出了杰出貢獻。作為自然主義者，他在昆蟲學(xué)和人類學(xué)方面頗有研究，撰寫了大量科普讀物，如《史前時代》（Prehistoric Times）、《螞蟻、蜜蜂和馬蜂》（Ants, Bees, and Wasps）、《昆蟲的起源和變形》（The Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects）等。

本文選自1894年出版的《生活的樂趣》（The Use of Life）。該書為盧布克爵士的休閑之作，成就了這位科學(xué)家在文學(xué)領(lǐng)域的名聲。文中，盧布克爵士以“國王與乞丐的故事”等為喻，展示了閱讀的妙趣，發(fā)人深省。

Books are to mankind what memory is to the individual. They contain the history of our race, the discoveries we have made, the accumulated knowledge and experience of ages; they picture for us the marvels and beauties of Nature; help us in our difficulties, comfort us in sorrow and in suffering, change hours of ennui into moments of delight, store our minds with ideas, fill them with good and happy thoughts, and lift us out of and above ourselves.

There is an Oriental story of two men: one was a king, who every night dreamt he was a beggar; the other was a beggar, who every night dreamt he was a prince and lived in a palace. I am not sure that the king had very much the best of it. Imagination is sometimes more vivid than reality. But, however this may be, when we read, we may not only (if we wish it) be kings and live in palaces, but, what is far better, we may transport ourselves to the mountains or the seashore, and visit the most beautiful parts of the earth, without fatigue, inconvenience, or expense.

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書之于人類，正如記憶之于個人。書記錄著人類的歷史與發(fā)現(xiàn)，記載著人類日積月累的知識與經(jīng)驗，為我們描繪大自然的奇觀美景。書助我們渡過困境，為我們撫慰傷痛，將倦怠時刻變?yōu)闅g樂時光，讓我們的心靈富有創(chuàng)意，頭腦充滿愉悅，同時不斷提升和超越自我。

東方有個關(guān)于國王與乞丐的故事。每天晚上，國王夢見自己是個乞丐，乞丐則夢見自己是位王子，住在宮殿。我不能確定國王比乞丐幸福。想象有時比現(xiàn)實更鮮活。我們只要愿意，閱讀時不僅能化身國王，住進宮殿，還能置身山巒、海濱，訪遍世間至美之景，還毫不疲憊、便利快捷、不花分文。

……

Many of those who have had, as we say, all that this world can give, have yet told us they owed much of their purest happiness to books. Ascham, in The Schoolmaster, tells a touching story of his last visit to Lady Jane Grey. He found her sitting in an oriel window reading Plato’s beautiful account of the death of Socrates. Her father and mother were hunting in the park, the hounds were in full cry and their voices came in through the open window. He expressed his surprise that she had not joined them. But said she, “I wist that all their pleasure in the park is but a shadow to the pleasure I find in Plato.”

Macaulay had wealth and fame, rank and power, and yet he tells us in his biography that he owed the happiest hours of his life to books. In a charming letter to a little girl, he says, “Thank you for your very pretty letter, I am always glad to make my little girl happy, and nothing pleases me so much as to see that she likes books, for when she is as old as I am, she will find that they are better than all the tarts and cakes, toys and plays and sights in the world. If anyone would make me the greatest king that ever lived, with palaces and gardens and fine dinners, and wines and coaches, and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants, on condition that I should not read books, I would not be a king. I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.”

許多人擁有世間萬物，卻把自己許多最純粹的快樂歸功于書。阿斯克姆[1]在《教師》一書中，講述了最后一次拜訪簡?格雷[2]女士的感人故事。他看見格雷女士坐在凸肚窗[3]前，讀著柏拉圖關(guān)于蘇格拉底之死的精彩篇章。她父母在花園狩獵，敞開的窗戶傳來人喧、犬吠。作者對格雷女士并未參與表示驚訝。但她說：“與我閱讀柏拉圖作品的樂趣相比，他們在園中狩獵的樂趣實為幻影?！?

麥考萊[4]有錢有勢、有聲望、有地位，卻在自傳中表示，自己一生中最快樂的光景是與書籍做伴之時。他曾給一個小女孩寫過一封動人的信。信中寫道：“你的來信內(nèi)容很精彩，謝謝你。能讓我的小姑娘高興，我總是很開心。看到你喜歡書，我更是無比開心。當(dāng)你到了我這個年齡，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)書勝過世間一切糕餅、玩具、游戲、美景。如果有人讓我做有史以來最偉大的國王，坐擁宮殿花園、錦衣玉食、美酒貴輦、數(shù)百仆役，但不許我讀書，那我寧愿不做這個國王。我寧愿做居斗室、擁群書的窮漢，也不做不愛閱讀的君王?！?

Books, indeed, endow us with a whole enchanted palace of thoughts. “There is a wider prospect,” says Jean Paul Richter, “from Parnassus than from the throne.” In one way they give us an even more vivid idea than the actual reality, just as reflections are often more beautiful than real nature. “All mirrors,” says George MacDonald, “are magic mirrors. The commonest room is a room in a poem when I look in the glass.”

Precious and priceless are the blessings which the books scatter around our daily paths. We walk, in imagination, with the sublime and enchanting regions.

Without stirring from our firesides we may roam to the most remote regions of the earth, or soar into realms where Spenser’s shapes of unearthly beauty flock to meet us, where Milton’s angels peal in our ears the choral hymns of Paradise. Science, art, literature, philosophy—all that man has thought, all that man has done—the experience that has been bought with the sufferings of a hundred generations—all are garnered up for us in the world of books.

書確能為我們構(gòu)筑思想的圣殿，魔力非凡。讓?保羅?里赫特曾說：“與國王的御座相比，詩壇視野更加廣闊。”從某個角度看，書賦予我們的思想比現(xiàn)實世界更鮮活，正如映像往往比自然本身更美妙。喬治?麥克唐納也說：“所有鏡子都是魔鏡。向鏡中望去，普通小屋亦會變成詩中之屋?！?

沿著我們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹男剑瑫鵀⑾铝藷o價的珍貴祝福。在想象中，我們走遍高山，訪遍勝景。

無須離家，我們便能漫游至世上最遙遠的地方。我們飛向斯賓塞描繪的國度，美麗仙女成群結(jié)隊，前來迎接賓客；我們暢游在彌爾頓筆下的樂園，天使高唱頌歌，歌聲縈繞耳畔?？茖W(xué)、藝術(shù)、文學(xué)、哲學(xué)——人之所想、人之所為——歷代人民以痛苦換取的經(jīng)驗，一切都藏于書中世界。

書助我們渡過困境，為我們撫慰傷痛，將倦怠時刻變?yōu)闅g樂時光，讓我們的心靈富有創(chuàng)意，頭腦充滿愉悅，同時不斷提升和超越自我。

Sir John Lubbock 約翰?盧布克爵士

[1]羅杰.阿斯克姆（Roger Ascham，1515—1568），英國人文主義者、學(xué)者。

[2]簡.格雷（Lady Jane Grey，1537—1554），英國歷史上的“九日女王”，宮廷權(quán)力斗爭的犧牲品，17歲即被送上斷頭臺。

[3]凸肚窗，突出壁外的窗戶。

[4]托馬斯.巴賓頓.麥考萊（Thomas Babington Macaulay，1800—1859），英國史學(xué)家、政治家，曾任陸軍大臣。