《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 秋 11

《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(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。

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Yet that, perhaps, will be the mind of coming man; if not the final attainment of his intellectual progress, at all events a long period of self-satisfaction, assumed as finality. We talk of the "ever aspiring soul"; we take for granted that if one religion passes away, another must arise. But what if man presently finds himself without spiritual needs? Such modification of his being cannot be deemed impossible; many signs of our life to-day seem to point towards it. If the habits of thought favoured by physical science do but sink deep enough, and no vast calamity come to check mankind in its advance to material contentment, the age of true positivism may arise. Then it will be the common privilege, "rerum cognoscere causas"; the word supernatural will have no sense; superstition will be a dimly understood trait of the early race; and where now we perceive an appalling Mystery, everything will be lucid and serene as a geometric demonstration. Such an epoch of Reason might be the happiest the world could know. Indeed, it would either be that, or it would never come about at all. For suffering and sorrow are the great Doctors of Metaphysic; and, remembering this, one cannot count very surely upon the rationalist millennium.

這，也許將是未來之人的心智，若不是智力發(fā)展的最后成就，無論如何也是人類沾沾自喜的很長的一個時期，被假定為終結(jié)。我們談?wù)撝坝肋h(yuǎn)向上的靈魂”；我們想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為，一種宗教消失，另一種宗教必會興起。但是，萬一人們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己沒有精神需求了呢？這種改變不能視為不可能，今天我們生活的許多跡象似乎都表明了這一趨勢。如果自然科學(xué)青睞的思維習(xí)慣影響足夠深遠(yuǎn)，又沒有重大災(zāi)難發(fā)生，來遏制人類追求物質(zhì)滿足的步伐，那么真正的實(shí)證主義時代可能會崛起。接著“追尋事物的原因”將會是公眾享受的特權(quán)，“超自然”一詞將失去意義；迷信則將被懵懂地理解為早期人類的一種特征；一切我們現(xiàn)在視為駭人的“謎團(tuán)”，都將如同幾何證明一樣明白清晰。這種理智的時代可能是世人所知最快樂的時代了。確實(shí)，它要么是這樣，要么將永遠(yuǎn)不會發(fā)生。苦難和悲傷是“形而上學(xué)之大師”；記著這一點(diǎn)，人們便不能非常確信地指望理性主義新千年了。