《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 夏 09

《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(xué)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(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

以下是由網(wǎng)友分享的《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 夏 09的內(nèi)容，讓我們一起來感受吉辛的四季吧!

I read much less than I used to do; I think much more. Yet what is the use of thought which can no longer serve to direct life? Better, perhaps, to read and read incessantly, losing one's futile self in the activity of other minds.

我書讀得比以前少，想的卻比以前多得多了。然而若不能用來引導(dǎo)生活，那思想有什么用處？也許還不如一直不停地讀啊讀，把庸碌的自己湮沒在他人的思想中。

This summer I have taken up no new book, but have renewed my acquaintance with several old ones which I had not opened for many a year. One or two have been books such as mature men rarely read at all—books which it is one's habit to "take as read"; to presume sufficiently known to speak of, but never to open. Thus, one day my hand fell upon the Anabasis7, the little Oxford edition which I used at school, with its boyish sign-manual on the fly-leaf, its blots and underlinings and marginal scrawls. To my shame I possess no other edition; yet this is a book one would like to have in beautiful form. I opened it, I began to read—a ghost of boyhood stirring in my heart—and from chapter to chapter was led on, until after a few days I had read the whole.

這個夏天，我沒有讀任何新書，只是重溫了幾本許多年不曾翻開的舊書。其中有一兩本是成年人很少讀的—是人們習(xí)慣上“以為讀過”的書，覺得對其熟悉到可以談?wù)摰牡夭?，但其實從未打開過。一天，我的手落在了《遠(yuǎn)征記》上，這本牛津袖珍版的書，我上學(xué)時用過，它的扉頁上還有我孩子氣的簽名，里面有污跡和下劃線，書頁邊緣有潦草的字跡。慚愧的是，這本書我沒有其他版本，而這是一本人們認(rèn)為應(yīng)該精美裝潢的書。我打開它，開始閱讀—童年的一個精靈在心里翻騰—我一章一章地讀下去，幾天后便讀完了整本書。

I am glad this happened in the summer-time, I like to link childhood with these latter days, and no better way could I have found than this return to a school-book, which, even as a school-book, was my great delight.

我很高興讀這本書是在夏天。我喜歡把童年和夏日聯(lián)系起來，而沒有比重溫學(xué)校讀物更好的聯(lián)結(jié)兩者的方式了，是啊，即使只是學(xué)校讀物，也給了我極大的歡樂。

By some trick of memory I always associate school-boy work on the classics with a sense of warm and sunny days; rain and gloom and a chilly atmosphere must have been far the more frequent conditions, but these things are forgotten. My old Liddell and Scott8 still serves me, and if, in opening it, I bend close enough to catch the SCENT of the leaves, I am back again at that day of boyhood (noted on the flyleaf by the hand of one long dead) when the book was new and I used it for the first time. It was a day of summer, and perhaps there fell upon the unfamiliar page, viewed with childish tremor, half apprehension and half delight, a mellow sunshine, which was to linger for ever in my mind.

也許是回憶作祟的緣故，我總是將學(xué)童時閱讀經(jīng)典作品與溫暖清朗日子的感覺聯(lián)系在一起；陰雨冰冷的天氣一定是常有的，但我已經(jīng)遺忘了。我的舊《希英字典》依然可用，打開它，俯身細(xì)嗅書頁的味道，就好像又回到童年第一次用它的那一天（日期由一個已故很久的人寫在了扉頁上），這本字典還是嶄新的。那是一個夏日，帶著孩子氣的激動，我憂喜參半地翻著那陌生的書頁，或許有一縷和煦的陽光落在上面，也永遠(yuǎn)留在我的腦海中。

But I am thinking of the Anabasis. Were this the sole book existing in Greek, it would be abundantly worthwhile to learn the language in order to read it. The Anabasis is an admirable work of art, unique in its combination of concise and rapid narrative with colour and picturesqueness. Herodotus9 wrote a prose epic, in which the author's personality is ever before us. Xenophon, with curiosity and love of adventure which mark him of the same race, but self-forgetful in the pursuit of a new artistic virtue, created the historical romance. What a world of wonders in this little book, all aglow with ambitions and conflicts, with marvels of strange lands; full of perils and rescues, fresh with the air of mountain and of sea! Think of it for a moment by the side of Caesar's Commentaries10; not to compare things incomparable, but in order to appreciate the perfect art which shines through Xenophon's mastery of language, his brevity achieving a result so different from that of the like characteristic in the Roman writer. Caesar's conciseness comes of strength and pride; Xenophon's, of a vivid imagination. Many a single line of the Anabasis presents a picture which deeply stirs the emotions. A good instance occurs in the fourth book, where a delightful passage of unsurpassable narrative tells how the Greeks rewarded and dismissed a guide who had led them through dangerous country. The man himself was in peril of his life; laden with valuable things which the soldiers had given him in their gratitude, he turned to make his way through the hostile region.

我又想起了《遠(yuǎn)征記》。如果它是唯一幸存的希臘文書籍，那也有充足的理由來學(xué)習(xí)希臘語以便閱讀原著。《遠(yuǎn)征記》是一本令人欽佩的藝術(shù)品，它的獨特之處在于敘事之簡練迅疾，并且有豐富的色彩和畫面感。希羅多德創(chuàng)作了一部抒情史詩，作者的人格鐫刻在作品中，永遠(yuǎn)呈現(xiàn)在我們面前。與他同屬一類人物，色諾芬對冒險有同樣的好奇和熱愛，但在追求新的藝術(shù)價值上卻是忘我的，他創(chuàng)作了一部歷史傳奇。這本小書中蘊(yùn)藏了一個奇妙的世界，其中有熠熠生輝的雄心、沖突和異域風(fēng)物；充滿了危險和拯救的故事，散發(fā)出大山和海洋的清新氣息！把它和愷撒的《內(nèi)戰(zhàn)記》放到一起來思量，并非要試圖比較無相比基礎(chǔ)的事物，而是為了欣賞色諾芬在文字駕馭上表現(xiàn)出來的完美藝術(shù)。和那位與他風(fēng)格相似的羅馬作家相比，他的簡潔達(dá)到的效果截然不同。愷撒的簡練是源自一種力量和驕傲，而色諾芬則是源自他鮮活的想象力。《遠(yuǎn)征記》里的許多單句描繪了一幅感人至深的圖畫。第四本書中有一個很好的例子：這是一段讓人愉悅的文字，用無與倫比的敘事手法，講述了希臘人犒賞并送別一個將他們帶出危險地域的引路人。這個引路人自己也是命懸一線，他帶著士兵們出于感激贈予他的貴重物品，轉(zhuǎn)身橫穿敵占區(qū)而去。

[Greek text which cannot be reproduced].

[原為希臘文，恕難提供。]

When evening came he took leave of us, and went his way by night.

“當(dāng)夜晚來臨，他與我們告別，消失在茫茫夜色中”。

To my mind, words of wonderful suggestiveness. You see the wild, eastern landscape, upon which the sun has set. There are the Hellenes, safe for the moment on their long march, and there the mountain tribesman, the serviceable barbarian, going away, alone, with his tempting guerdon, into the hazards of the darkness.

在我的腦海中，這是饒有意味的妙句。你似乎看到血色夕陽落入東方的荒野。有一些在長途跋涉中暫時安全了的希臘人，還有一個山地部落族人，也就是那個引路的沒有開化的人，他帶著令人垂涎的酬勞獨自離開，消失在險象環(huán)生的黑暗中。

Also in the fourth book, another picture moves one in another way. Among the Carduchian Hills two men were seized, and information was sought from them about the track to be followed. "One of them would say nothing, and kept silence in spite of every threat; so, in the presence of his companion, he was slain. Thereupon that other made known the man's reason for refusing to point out the way; in the direction the Greeks must take there dwelt a daughter of his, who was married."

也是在第四本書里，有一幅畫面讓人生出另一種感動。在卡迪克亞山里，他們抓住兩個人盤問方向。“其中一個在百般威脅下，始終不發(fā)一言，結(jié)果他在同伴面前被殺死。后來他的同伴道出了他拒絕指路的原因，原來在希臘人的必經(jīng)之路上，住著他已經(jīng)出嫁的女兒?！?/p>

It would not be easy to express more pathos than is conveyed in these few words. Xenophon himself, one may be sure, did not feel it quite as we do, but he preserved the incident for its own sake, and there, in a line or two, shines something of human love and sacrifice, significant for all time.

以寥寥數(shù)語傳達(dá)出這樣深沉的悲傷，是不易超越的。也許可以肯定，連色諾芬自己都沒有我們感受得深刻，但是他把事件的原貌描摹了下來，在這幾行文字間，閃耀著的人類愛和犧牲的光芒，這在所有時代都是有意義的。