讀點好英文:The Pilgrim's Progress 天路歷程

The Pilgrim's Progress 天路歷程

[英]約翰·班揚（John Bunyan）

《天路歷程》開始是作者的一個夢，夢中有個“基督徒”在誦讀《圣經(jīng)》，當他從書中得知他的城市將要毀于大火時，他將這個災難告知別人，但是人們都不予理睬。最后他和“柔順”先行逃走，在路上，他們跌入“絕望深淵”?！叭犴槨睙o法堅持，打道回府了。后來，“基督徒”被“萬事通”誤導，被“福音傳道”帶回正路。后來他又與“忠誠”一同前行。在經(jīng)歷一番激烈的搏斗后，他們來到了名利場，在這里“忠誠”被判處死刑，“基督徒”想辦法逃了出來，并得到“希望”的幫助，由于厭倦了艱辛的旅途，他們選擇了一條輕松的路，卻不幸落入“絕望”之手。最后他們終于抵達天國，永享長生不老和上帝的福音。

Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity;and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair;it is kept all the year long;it bearth the name of Vanity Fair because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity;and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity. As is the saying of the wise,“All that cometh is vanity”.

This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient?standing;I will show you the original of it.

Almost five thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are;and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived to set up a fair;a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.

And, moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.

And as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets, under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended;so here likewise you have the proper places, rows, streets（viz. countries and kingdoms），where the wares of this fair are soonest to be found.Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of vanities are to be sold.But, as in other fairs, some one?commodity is as the chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair;only our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.

Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town where this lusty fair is kept;and he that will go to the city, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world. The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to his own country, and that upon a fair-day, too, yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebup, the chief lord of this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities;yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went through the town.Yea, because he was such a man of honour, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure the Blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities;but he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying so much as one farthing upon these vanities.This fair, therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.

Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through the fair. Well, so they did;but behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town itself as it were in a hubbub about them;and that for several reasons:for First, The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in the fair.The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them:some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, and some they were outlandish men.

Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at their speech;for few could understand what they said;they naturally spoke the language of Canaan, but they that kept the fair were the men of this world;so that, from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other.

Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares;they cared not so much as to look upon them;and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears, and cry,“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity,”and look upwards, signifying that their trade and traffic was in heaven.

One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriages of the men, to say unto them, What will ye buy?But they, looking gravely upon him, said,“We buy the truth.”At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more;some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them. At last things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded.Now was word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly came down, and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take these men into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned.So the men were brought to examination;and they that sat upon them asked whence they came, whither they went, and what they did there, in such an unusual garb?The men told them that they were pilgrims and strangers in the world, and that they were going to their own country, which was the Heavenly Jerusalem;and that they had given no occasion to the men of the town, nor yet to the merchandisers, thus to abuse them, and to let them in their journey, except it was for that, when one asked them what they would buy, they said they would buy the truth.But they that were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into a confusion?in the fair.Therefore they took them and beat them, and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage, that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair.

接著，我在夢境中看到他們走出荒原。不久，他們就看到了前面的一個小鎮(zhèn)，小鎮(zhèn)的名字叫浮華鎮(zhèn)。在這個小鎮(zhèn)，有個常年不散的集市，名為“浮華集市”。起此名字，是由于這個小鎮(zhèn)比浮華還要輕浮，同時，也是由于集市上所買賣的東西都是奢侈浮華的東西。正如智者所言：“所要來的都是虛空的。”

這個集市并不是剛剛建立的，而是由來已久了；接下來，我就給你講一講它的由來。

大約五千年前，有一批朝圣者，就像這兩個忠實的人一樣，要到天國去朝拜。惡魔亞玻倫、魔鬼別卜西以及眾嘍啰們，對朝覲者去天國的路進行了研究后發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們在朝覲的途中，必然要取道浮華鎮(zhèn)，于是他們謀劃在這里建立一個集市；在這個集市上出賣各種浮華的東西，并常年開放。因此，在這個集市上所經(jīng)營的商品就包括房子、土地、職業(yè)、地盤、榮耀、特權、名位、國家、王國、欲望、幸福以及各種快樂；比如，妓院、老鴇、老婆、丈夫、孩子、主人、奴仆、生命、血液、肉體、靈魂、銀子、金子、珍珠、寶石等。

而且，在這個集市上，你不時地會看到變戲法的人、騙子、比賽者、游戲者、傻子、模仿者及各色人等。在這兒，不用花一個子兒，你就會看到偷盜、謀殺、通奸、虛假的宣誓，每一樣都令人觸目驚心。

有一些不是很重要的集市也有大大小小的各種街道，通過名字就知道他們所經(jīng)營的東西，這個集市和其他集市一樣，也有自己固有的地方、道路和街市（比如，國家街市或王國街市），在這兒，這些東西更容易被找到。這個集市里有英國街、法國街、意大利街、西班牙街，還有德國街，這些街上賣好多種浮華的東西。但是，正如在其他街上看到的一樣，這條街上也有某種商品特別暢銷，比如，羅馬的貨物及其商品在這里就備受推崇，僅有英國人和少數(shù)幾個國家的人不太喜歡它們。

正如剛才我所提到的，通往天國的道路恰恰要穿過這個擁有浮華集市的小鎮(zhèn)。那些想要到天國朝覲卻又不經(jīng)過這個小鎮(zhèn)的人是必須“離開這個世界的”。當初，耶穌本人也是取道此鎮(zhèn)而回到自己的國家。耶穌到的那一天，正是趕集的日子。是的，我想，是這個集市的主要創(chuàng)辦人，魔鬼別卜西，邀請耶穌去購買他的浮華商品；他還許諾，只要耶穌在路過集市的時候，向他表示敬意，他就會讓耶穌成為集市的主人。當時，魔鬼帶他走遍了集市所有的街道，不一會兒的工夫，就向他展示了世界各國的領土。是的，耶穌是一個如此榮耀的人，倘若可能的話，魔鬼就會引誘他同自己討價還價，并買走他的某些浮華商品；但是耶穌并沒有把這些放在心上，一分錢沒花便離開了那個小鎮(zhèn)。由此可見，這個古老的集市，可謂由來已久，規(guī)模龐大。

正如剛才我說的，現(xiàn)在，這兩個朝覲者必須要穿過這個集市。而且，他們也這樣做了。但是，當他們走進集市的時候，集市上所有人都騷動了起來，整個小鎮(zhèn)也好像因他們的到來而開始了一片喧嘩！這是為什么呢？

第一，兩位朝圣者身上穿的衣物和集市上所賣的任何一件都不同。因而，集市上的人便盯著他們看，有人說他們是傻子，有人說他們是瘋子，也有人說他們簡直就是外地來的怪人。

第二，當他們在大街上閑逛的時候，他們不僅服飾奇異，而且他們的語言也與集市上的人不同；因為幾乎沒人能夠聽懂他們的話。他們很自然地操著應許之地的迦南語，但是，集市上的經(jīng)營者，他們卻是生活在這個凡俗的世界，根本聽不懂這兩個人的話。因而，當這兩個人從這個集市走向另一個集市時，他們在這些經(jīng)營者眼里，仿佛都是蠻荒之人。

第三，不過，令那些商人所不高興的是，這兩位朝覲者對他們所賣的物品并不感興趣；這兩人在看那些商人的時候，也是不屑一顧的樣子。假若商人要招呼他們買東西，他們便用手指堵住自己的耳朵，喊道：“我們不看虛假的東西?！比缓?，便抬頭看天，好像他們的生意是在天上。

一個商人看著朝覲者手里的煙卷，想碰碰運氣，便操著愚弄的口氣對他們說：“你們想要買什么？”他們卻表情嚴肅地看著他說：“我們要買真理。”這好像又給了商人們嘲笑他們的機會，有人譏諷他們，有人奚落他們，有人責備他們，甚至有人招呼別人來揍他們一頓。終于，集市上突然一陣喧嘩，因為他們想要的東西實在是令人迷惑不解。很快這些話就傳到了集市首領的耳朵里了，他立刻趕了過來，并委托他最信任的幾個朋友對這兩人進行了審問。因為正是他們使整個集市幾乎鬧翻了天。于是，這兩人就被帶去接受審問。審問他們的人問他們從哪里來，要到哪里去，穿著這種奇怪的服飾在那里做什么。他們回答，他們是朝覲者，是寄居在這俗世上的，他們要回自己的國家去，他們的國家是天上的耶路撒冷；他們還說，鎮(zhèn)上的人和集市上的人沒有理由這么羞辱他們，還妨礙他們的旅程。在有人問他們想買什么的時候，他們說要買真理。但是，審問他們的人根本就不相信這些，認為他們不是瘋子就是傻子，抑或，他們根本就是存心來搗亂的。于是，他們逮捕了這兩個朝覲者，還毆打了他們，給他們身上涂滿臟兮兮的泥土，還把他們關進籠子里，讓集市上所有人都來羞辱他們。

Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.

——Euripides

上帝要誰滅亡，必先讓他瘋狂。

——歐里庇得斯

實戰(zhàn)提升

作者介紹

約翰·班揚（1628—1688），他于1647年加入了不奉國教的新教，開始傳教生涯，因在傳教時沒有獲得國教教會的批準，先后兩次入獄。他的代表作、英文作品中最成功的宗教寓言《天路歷程》就是在獄中完成的。班揚的語言具體生動，情節(jié)鮮明真實，簡單易懂。

單詞注解

ancient[5einFEnt]adj.古代的

perceive[pE5si:v]v.察覺；感知

commodity[kE5mCditi]n.商品；日用品

gravely[5greivli]adv.嚴肅地，莊重地

confusion[kEn5fju:VEn]n.混亂；騷動

名句大搜索

通往天國的道路恰恰要穿過這個擁有浮華集市的小鎮(zhèn)。

我們要買真理。

于是，這兩人就被帶去接受審問。