激情晨讀英語美文 第四章 充實你的思想:散文的本質特征

[ti:] [ar:] [al:] [by:]聽力課堂 m.42bites.com [00:05.57]The Cardinal Virtue of Prose [00:07.43]By Arthur Clutton-Brock [00:09.30]Prose of its very nature is longer than verse, [00:12.62]and the virtues peculiar to it [00:14.80]manifest themselves gradually. [00:16.23]If the cardinal virtue of poetry is love, [00:19.07]the cardinal virtue of prose is justice; [00:22.24]and, whereas love makes you act and speak [00:25.85]on the spur of the moment, justice needs inquiry, [00:29.02]patience, and a control even of the noblest passions. [00:33.18]By justice here I do not mean justice only to [00:36.57]particular people or ideas, [00:38.53]but a habit of justice in all the processes of thought, [00:41.71]a style tranquillized and a form moulded by that habit. [00:45.86]The master of prose is not cold, [00:48.60]but he will not let any word or image inflame him [00:51.55]with a heat irrelevant to his purpose. [00:53.52]Unhasting, unresting, he pursues it, [00:57.02]subduing all the riches of his mind to it, [01:00.30]rejecting all beauties that are not germane to it; [01:03.47]making his own beauty out of the very accomplishment of it, [01:07.19]out of the whole work and its proportions, [01:09.93]so that you must read to the end [01:12.11]before you know that it is beautiful. [01:14.19]But he has his reward, for he is trusted and convinces, [01:18.46]as those who are at the mercy of their own eloquence do not; [01:22.40]and he gives a pleasure all the greater [01:24.69]for being hardly noticed. [01:26.34]In the best prose, whether narrative or argument, [01:29.84]we are so led on as we read, [01:31.80]that we do not stop to applaud the writer, [01:34.21]nor do we stop to question him.

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The Cardinal Virtue of Prose

Prose of its very nature is longer than verse, and the virtues peculiar to it manifest themselves gradually. If the cardinal virtue of poetry is love, the cardinal virtue of prose is justice; and, whereas love makes you act and speak on the spur of the moment, justice needs inquiry, patience, and a control even of the noblest passions. By justice here I do not mean justice only to particular people or ideas, but a habit of justice in all the processes of thought, a style tranquillized and a form moulded by that habit.

The master of prose is not cold, but he will not let any word or image inflame him with a heat irrelevant to his purpose. Unhasting, unresting, he pursues it, subduing all the riches of his mind to it, rejecting all beauties that are not germane to it; making his own beauty out of the very accomplishment of it, out of the whole work and its proportions, so that you must read to the end before you know that it is beautiful. But he has his reward, for he is trusted and convinces, as those who are at the mercy of their own eloquence do not; and he gives a pleasure all the greater for being hardly noticed.

In the best prose, whether narrative or argument, we are so led on as we read, that we do not stop to applaud the writer, nor do we stop to question him.

散文的篇幅較詩歌長，它自身所蘊涵的特有品質，總是逐漸得向人們展示出來。如果說詩歌的主要品質是愛，那么散文的主要品質則為其合理公正性。愛使人熱情奔放，瞬間爆發(fā)，而合理公正，則需要質疑，需要耐心，需要控制情感，即便是那最高尚的激情。我這里說的合理公正，并非指代某個特殊的人或是特殊的想法，而是指一種習性。它體現(xiàn)在一切思想的過程中，是一種文靜的風格，一種由此習性塑成的形式。

散文的創(chuàng)作者并非冷酷無情，然而任何與其寫作意圖無關的詞語，亦或是圖象都休想熱昏他的頭腦。他從容不迫，反復推敲，腦海中那豐富的想象，華麗的辭藻，但凡與其文章主旨無關的，一概竭力抑制，不予理睬。一旦完成，它的整體以及枝節(jié)都完成了，那么他追求的，文章的那種獨立的美也就出來了。所以你只有通篇全讀后，才能真正領略到它的美。然而，對于這樣的創(chuàng)作者，是有回報的。他讓人充滿信任，使人信服。而絕不像那些夸夸其談者；他向我們展示的，是生活中那些不輕易為人察覺的美好事物。

一篇散文佳作，無論其是敘述型還是辯論型的，我們一旦開始閱讀，就被其引領上路，無須停下為作者鼓掌喝彩亦或是唏噓質疑。