《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 夏 22

《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 22的內(nèi)容，讓我們一起來感受吉辛的四季吧!

For a nation of this temper, the movement towards democracy is fraught with peculiar dangers. Profoundly aristocratic in his sympathies, the Englishman has always seen in the patrician class not merely a social, but a moral, superiority; the man of blue blood was to him a living representative of those potencies and virtues which made his ideal of the worthy life. Very significant is the cordial alliance from old time between nobles and people; free, proud homage on one side answering to gallant championship on the other; both classes working together in the cause of liberty. However great the sacrifices of the common folk for the maintenance of aristocratic power and splendour, they were gladly made; this was the Englishman's religion, his inborn pietas; in the depths of the dullest soul moved a perception of the ethic meaning attached to lordship. Your Lord was the privileged being endowed by descent with generous instincts, and possessed of means to show them forth in act. A poor noble was a contradiction in terms; if such a person existed, he could only be spoken of with wondering sadness, as though he were the victim of some freak of nature. The Lord was Honourable, Right Honourable; his acts, his words virtually constituted the code of honour whereby the nation lived.

對于這種性情的國家來說，通往民主的道路上潛藏著各種特別的危險。英國人具有很深厚的貴族情結(jié)，在他們眼里，貴族階層不僅在社會地位上，也在道德上高人一等；擁有高貴血統(tǒng)的人士是能力和美德活生生的代表，而獲得能力和美德則是他有價值的人生理想。自古以來貴族和平民之間和諧的關(guān)系具有重要意義：一方自由驕傲地致敬，另一方慷慨地提供支持；兩個階層為自由的事業(yè)共同奮斗。不管平民為貴族的權(quán)力和榮耀作出了多少犧牲，他們都是心甘情愿的，這就是英國人的宗教，這就是他內(nèi)心的虔誠。在他們最單調(diào)的靈魂深處，涌動著一種與貴族相關(guān)的倫理意識。貴族的特權(quán)是生來就有的，并天賦慷慨的本能，并有財力才能付諸行動。貧窮的貴族是一個自相矛盾的詞；如果存在這種人，人們談起他時，不免要帶著疑惑和悲傷的口吻，似乎他是自然無常的受害者。貴族是光榮的，本身就是榮譽；他的行為，他的言語，構(gòu)成了國民遵守的光榮的行為準則。

In a new world, beyond the ocean, there grew up a new race, a scion of England, which shaped its life without regard to the principle of hereditary lordship; and in course of time this triumphant Republic began to shake the ideals of the Motherland. Its civilization, spite of superficial resemblances, is not English; let him who will think it superior; all one cares to say is that it has already shown in a broad picture the natural tendencies of English blood when emancipated from the old cult. Easy to understand that some there are who see nothing but evil in the influence of that vast commonwealth. If it has done us good, assuredly the fact is not yet demonstrable. In old England, democracy is a thing so alien to our traditions and rooted sentiment that the line of its progress seems hitherto a mere track of ruin. In the very word is something from which we shrink; it seems to signify nothing less than a national apostasy, a denial of the faith in which we won our glory. The democratic Englishman is, by the laws of his own nature, in parlous case; he has lost the ideal by which he guided his rude, prodigal, domineering instincts; in place of the Right Honourable, born to noble things, he has set up the mere Plebs, born, more likely than not, for all manner of baseness. And, amid all his show of loud self-confidence, the man is haunted with misgiving.

在一個新世界，在大洋彼岸，一個新民族成長起來，那是英格蘭的子孫，他們的生活不遵守世代相傳的貴族傳統(tǒng)；時間流逝，這個勝利的共和國開始動搖祖國的理想。它的文明，雖然有表面的相似，卻不是英國的，那些認為它更高級的人們,由他們?nèi)グ?。我們要說的只有一句，這種文明以大廣角鏡顯示了英國人從古老貴族崇拜中解放后的自然發(fā)展傾向。有些人在這個大聯(lián)邦共和國的影響中看到的只有罪惡，這容易理解。就算它確實對我們有好處，也肯定還沒有得到證實。在古老的英格蘭，民主與我們的傳統(tǒng)和根深蒂固的民族情感是那么格格不入，它的發(fā)展道路迄今似乎只有一處處失敗的遺跡。這個詞所蘊含的就是我們本能躲避的東西，它代表的似乎比一種民族的變節(jié)更壞，一種對我們藉以贏得榮耀的信仰的否決。民主的英國人依本性來講是處于危險境地的，他喪失了那種用以引導(dǎo)他粗野無度和跋扈本能的理想；為取代生來要從事高尚事業(yè)的榮耀貴族階級，他建立了很可能生來就是做各種卑下事情的無產(chǎn)階級。在他自信的華麗外表下，其實常常受著疑懼的困擾。

The task before us is no light one. Can we, whilst losing the class, retain the idea it embodied? Can we English, ever so subject to the material, liberate ourselves from that old association, yet guard its meaning in the sphere of spiritual life? Can we, with eyes which have ceased to look reverently on worn-out symbols, learn to select from among the grey-coated multitude, and place in reverence even higher him who "holds his patent of nobility straight from Almighty God"? Upon that depends the future of England. In days gone by, our very Snob bore testimony after his fashion to our scorn of meanness; he at all events imagined himself to be imitating those who were incapable of a sordid transaction, of a plebeian compliance. But the Snob, one notes, is in the way of degeneracy; he has new exemplars; he speaks a ruder language. Him, be sure, in one form or another, we shall have always with us, and to observe his habits is to note the tenor of the time. If he has at the back of his dim mind no living ideal which lends his foolishness a generous significance, then indeed—videant consules18.

擺在我們面前的任務(wù)并不輕松。在階級喪失的情況下我們還能夠維持它蘊含的理想嗎？我們這些利欲熏心的英國人能夠?qū)⒆约簭呐f日對財富與榮譽的聯(lián)想中解放出來，同時在精神領(lǐng)域保住財富的本義嗎？當(dāng)我們已不再用尊崇的眼神看著破舊的榮譽徽章時，我們還能從灰撲撲的民眾中挑選出那些“萬能上帝賦予高貴品質(zhì)”的人，并將他置于尊崇的地位嗎？英格蘭的未來系于此。在過去，我們民族特有的“勢利者”，用自己的方式表明了對我們對吝嗇的蔑視，他們總是想象自己的行為是模仿了那些不屑卑鄙交易也不帶有賤民卑謙的貴族。但是人們注意到“勢利者”也正走向退化，他們有了新的榜樣，他的語言變得粗野。可以肯定的是，他會以這樣那樣的方式永遠活在我們之中，觀察他的習(xí)慣便可以看出時代的趨勢。如果在他混沌的頭腦中沒有一個活生生的理想，能夠賦予他的愚蠢言行以慷慨的意義，那么真是要—“請執(zhí)政官留意了”。