英美散文名篇欣赏

A Selection of Excellent English and American

Prose Writings

(English and Chinese Version)

目录

世界医学之父《希波克拉底格言》选译

The Roman Peace by Aelius Aristides

罗马的和平 [古罗马] 阿里斯蒂德斯

To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson

约翰逊致切斯特菲尔德伯爵书（五种译文赏析）

说明

译文一　辜正坤 译　文言体译文

译文二　辜正坤 译　白话体译文

译文三　黄继忠译　文言体译文

译文四　高健 译　常风校　文言体译文

译文五　罗珞珈译　文白体译文

附辜正坤译文说明：

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice (Excerpt) 汉译

傲慢与偏见（节选）

Narcissus; or Self-Love by Francis Bacon

论自恋 弗兰西斯·培根

Of Travel by Francis Bacon

周游

杨自伍：靡不有始，鲜克有终

Of Riches by Francis Bacon

论财富

Of Beauty Francis Bacon

谈美

Of Truth by Francis Bacon

谈真理

Of Great Place by Sir Francis Bacon

论高位

Of Marriage and Single Life by Sir France Bacon

谈结婚与独身

Francis Bacon - Of Negotiating 汉译

说洽谈

Francis Bacon - Of Followers and Friends 汉译

谈门客与朋友

Francis Bacon - Of Deformity 汉译

谈残疾

Francis Bacon - Of Custom and Education 汉译

谈习惯和教育

Francis Bacon - Of Nature in Men 汉译

说人之本性

Francis Bacon - Of Discourse 汉译

谈辞令

Francis Bacon - Of Revenge 汉译

论复仇

Francis Bacon - Of Unity in Religion 汉译

谈宗教之统一

Francis Bacon - Of Death 汉译

论死亡

Francis Bacon - Of Fame 汉译

论谣言

Francis Bacon - Of Dispatch 汉译

谈求速

Francis Bacon - Of Wisdom For a Man's Self 汉译

谈利己之聪明

Of Love

论爱情

Resolutions when I Come to Be Old by Jonathan Swift

预拟老年决心

William Cobbet - A Watering Place

温泉胜地  海顿[著]

Upon Affectation by Lord Chesterfield

论矫情 切斯特菲尔德勋爵

On the Cries of London by Joseph Addison

伦敦的叫卖声

Death by Jeremy Taylor

死亡

The Ephemera: An Emblem of Human Life by Benjamin Franklin

蜉蝣-------人生的一个象征 富兰克林

Dancers by John Galsworthy

观舞 约翰•高尔斯华绥

The Clipper by John Masefield

快帆船 约翰·梅斯菲尔德

Shakespeare's Island by George Gissing

莎士比亚之岛 乔治·吉辛

The Faculty of Delight by Charles Edward Montague

感知快乐的天赋 查尔斯·爱德华·蒙塔格

The Weather in His Soul by George Santayana

英国人灵魂的竟象 乔治·桑塔雅那

How to Grow Old by Bertrand Russell

怎样才能活得老 波特兰·罗素

On Being Modern-minded by Bertrand Russell

论具有现代头脑 伯特兰·罗素

That Lean and Hungry Look by Suzanne Britt Jordan

瘦人瘦相 苏姗娜·希里特·乔丹

General Douglas - MacArthur's Prayer for His Son

麦克阿瑟将军为儿子祈祷

A School Portrait by Robert Bridges

一张肖像   罗伯特·布里吉斯

Salvation by Langston Hughes

救赎  兰斯顿·休斯

Mayhew William by S. Maugham

生活的道路  威廉·S·毛姆

The Song of the River by W. S. Maugham

河之歌 毛姆

Nature and Art by James Whistler

自然和艺术   詹姆斯·惠斯勒

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.

我有一个梦想 马丁·路德·金

Are Books an Endangered Species? By Bob Greene

书籍是即将绝灭的物种吗？鲍勃•格林

MacArthur's Prayer for His Son by General Douglas

麦克阿瑟将军为儿子祈祷

Life Is Not like Merchandise by Sydney J. Harris

爱情不是商品 西德尼•J. 哈里斯

A Boy and His Father Become Partners by Ralph Moody

父子伙伴情 拉尔夫·穆迪

Arthur Clutton Brock - The Cardinal Virtue of Prose

散文最重要的品质 阿瑟·克拉顿-布罗克

On Leadership

论领导

University Days by James Thurber

大学生涯 J. 瑟伯

When the Moon Follows Me by Mary E. Potter

月儿随我同行

A Season for Hymning and Hawing by Frank Trippett

令人赞叹的季节 弗兰克·特瑞普特

Roses, Roses, All the Way by Martha Duffy

一路玫瑰 马落·达菲

Why I Hate Dogs by Joel Stein

我干嘛讨厌狗 乔尔·斯特恩

Alexander Bloch - Life in a Violin Case

琴匣子中的生趣 亚历山大·布洛克

Logan Pearsall Smith—The Rose

A.A.Milne - Golden Fruit

柑橘

A Hard Day in the Kitchen by Shannon Hodge

厨房里的一场闹剧

English Food

英国饮食

A Gift of Dreams (Excerpt) George H. Brooks

梦寐以求的礼物 乔治·H·布鲁克斯

A Bouquet for Miss Benson (Excerpt) by Paul Villard

送给卞老师的一束花 保罗·维拉德

Learned Words and Popular Words

专业学术词汇与一般常用词汇

Another School Year -- What For?

又是一个新学年——上大学到底为了什么

How Dictionaries Are Made

各类词书都是怎样编成的

The Language of Uncertainty

模糊语言

Language

语言

Solving Problems Scientifically

按科学的步骤去解决问题

What Is a Decision?

什么是决策

Window

窗外

Jonathan Swift - Resolutions When I Come to Be Old

预拟老年决心

Henry David Thoreau - Autumn Sunset

秋天的日落

Hilaire Belloc - A Conversation with a Cat

对猫一席话

Francis Bacon - Of Beauty

R. Duncan - Three Peach Stones

三颗核桃

Charles Edward Montague - The Faculty of Delight

感知快乐的天赋

James Baldwin - A Fly in Buttermilk

酸奶里的一只苍蝇

William Henry Hudson – Birds

林鸟

W. Faulkner - Funeral Sermon for Mammy Caroline Barr

在卡洛琳·巴尔大妈葬仪上的演说词

Max Forrester Eastman - On Learning Foreign Languages

谈谈学习外语

William J.Lederer - A Sailor's Christmas Gift

一个海员的圣诞礼物

Glories of the Storm

辉煌壮丽的暴风雨

Lynn Rosellini

杜格·埃厄

Edward Verrall Lucas - The School for Sympathy

毕姆小姐的学校

William Trevor - Felicia's Journey

费利西娅的旅行

William N. Brown - Genius Sacrificed for Failure

为育庸才损英才

世界医学之父《希波克拉底格言》选译

作者: 刘荣跃

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希波克拉底（ Hippocrates,约公元前460-前377），古希腊医生，被誉为医学之父。关于其生平可信的材料甚少，同时代或近乎同时代的柏拉图及米诺的作品中有过一些描述。500年后希腊医生索拉努斯根据传说及想象写过希波克拉底传，但仅知他出身科斯的世医家庭，身材矮小，医术超群。他广泛游历希腊及小亚细亚，行医授徒，长期在科斯的医科学校任教。现存有60篇著作署以希波克拉底之名，总称《希波克拉底文集》。但经研究，这些作品非一人一时之作，创作年代前后相差至少100年，且长短、风格、观点、读者对象各异；但均用爱奥尼亚方言（当时希腊学术界使用的语言）写成，内容涉及解剖、临床、妇儿疾病、预后、饮食、药物疗法、医学道德、哲学等。杰出的有《流行病学》、《圣病》、《预后学》、《格言》等。据说出自其手的《希波克拉底誓言》，是举世闻名的医学道德准则，一直被医务人员视为行为指南，至今仍在许多医学院校的毕业典礼上宣读。

本格言著于公元前400年，共分7个部分，约300条。内容均为有关医学保健的精辟论断，对于医务保健工作进行了高度的概括。如今，人人深知健康身体的重要，全民的保健意识大大提高，而这些格言正好十分有助于大家提高自身的保健知识。本书明年将出版中文本，现选译部分以飨读者。贵刊可根据情况从中选用。

饮食与健康

1．Life is short, and Art long; the crisis fleeting; experience perilous, and decision difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate.

1．生命短暂，医术长久；危象①稍纵即逝；经验危险，诊断不易。医生不仅必须自身处事正确，而且务必让病人及服务人员等外在因素通力合作。

注：①危象，指病情急转点。

2. In disorders of the bowels and vomitings, occurring spontaneously, if the matters purged be such as ought to be purged,

they do good, and are well borne; but if not, the contrary. And so artificial evacuations, if they consist of such matters as should be evacuated, do good, and are well borne; but if not, the contrary. One, then, ought to look to the country, the season, the age, and the diseases in which they are proper or not.

2．当自然出现腹泻和呕吐时，若排除之物应予排除则有益身体，令人好受；反之则不然。①所以人为的排除，若排除之物应予排除则有益身体，令人好受；反之则不然。因此人们应注意其适合或不适合于存在的地区、季节、年龄和疾病。

注：①注意原文非常简洁，这是格言的一大特点。

3. In the athletae, embonpoint, if carried to its utmost limit, is dangerous, for they cannot remain in the same state nor be stationary; and since, then, they can neither remain stationary nor improve, it only remains for them to get worse; for these reasons the embonpoint should be reduced without delay, that the body may again have a commencement of reparation. Neither should the evacuations, in their case, be carried to an extreme, for this also is dangerous, but only to such a point as the person's constitution can endure. In like manner, medicinal evacuations, if carried to an extreme, are

dangerous; and again, a restorative course, if in the extreme, is dangerous.

3．健壮者若变得过于肥胖则危险，因肥胖之躯不会固定不变；既不可能固定不变或有所改善，则只会每况愈下；为此应及时减肥，不可拖延，以便使身体恢复健康。在此种情况下，减肥措施也不应走极端，因这同样危险；而只宜以人的体质能承受为限。同样，药物减肥若走极端亦危险；又同样，恢复的疗程若走极端亦不安全。①

注：①格言体现出把握好“度”的人生哲理——我们在生活的方方面面不也应如此？凡事都应力求“适度”，而要把握好这个度确非易事。

4. A slender restricted diet is always dangerous in chronic diseases, and also in acute diseases, where it is not requisite. And

again, a diet brought to the extreme point of attenuation is dangerous; and repletion, when in the extreme, is also dangerous.

4.无论漫性病还是急性病，过分节食总是危险，实无必要。饮食过分不足危险，而过分饱胀亦同样如此。

5. In a restricted diet, patients who transgress are thereby more hurt (than in any other?); for every such transgression,whatever it may be, is followed by greater consequences than in a diet somewhat more generous. On this account, a very slender, regulated, and restricted diet is dangerous to persons in health, because they bear transgressions of it moredifficultly. For this reason, a slender and restricted diet is generally more dangerous than one a little more

liberal.

5．就限制饮食而言，病人若运用不当则更为有害（比任何他人？）；因所有这类运用不当之行为，造成的后果都比较为随意的饮食带来的影响严重。所以，经常性地过分限制饮食对于健康者危险，因他们更难于承受此种不当之举。因此，过分限制饮食通常比略为随意地限制更加危险。

6. For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.

6.对于重病，就克制治疗而言，最宜采取极端之疗法。

7. When the disease is very acute, it is attended with extremely severe symptoms in its first stage; and therefore an extremely attenuating diet must be used. When this is not the case, but it is allowable to give a more generous diet, we may depart as far from the severity of regimen as the disease, by its mildness, is removed from the extreme.

7．疾病处于剧烈之时，初期则伴随相当严重症状；因此必须尽量减少食物。但若疾病并非如此，饮食则可更加随意，不必受严格的食物疗法限制，直至疾病脱离危险。

8. When the disease is at its height, it will then be necessary to use the most slender diet.

8.当疾病处于最高峰之际，则必须对病人给予最少量之食。

9. We must form a particular judgment of the patient, whether he will support the diet until the acme of the disease, and whether he will sink previously and not support the diet, or the disease will give way previously, and become less acute.

9．对病人必须作出准确判断，看他是否能承受规定饮食直至病情严重，是否过早消瘦难以承受规定饮食，或是否疾病更先退出得以缓解。

10. In those cases, then, which attain their acme speedily, a restricted diet should be enjoined at first; but in those cases

which reach their acme later, we must retrench at that period or a little before it; but previously we must allow a more generous diet to support the patient.

10．若病症很快达到高峰，最初则切忌节食；但若病症以后达到高峰，则必须在此时或再早一点节食；不过必须事先允许病人饮食更加随意使其身体获得供养。

11. We must retrench during paroxysms, for to exhibit food would be injurious. And in all diseases having periodical paroxysms, we must restrict during the paroxysms.

11．疾病发作时必须减少食量，否则有害无益。凡周期发作之疾病，发作时必须节食。

12. The exacerbations and remissions will be indicated by the diseases, the seasons of the year, the reciprocation of the periods, whether they occur every day, every alternate day, or after a longer period, and by the supervening symptoms; as, for example, in pleuritic cases, expectoration, if it occur at the commencement, shortens the attack, but if it appear later, it prolongs the same; and in the same manner the urine, and alvine discharges, and sweats, according as They appear along with favorable or unfavorable symptoms, indicate diseases of a short or long duration.

12．根据疾病本身、季节变化、周期交替——无论是每天、每隔一天或更长时间——以及根据意外出现的症状，即可看出疾病是恶化还是解除。以胸膜炎病症为例，若咯淡出现于初期，则疾病不会长久；但若出现于后期，则疾病将会拖延。同样，根据大小便、出汗的现象及与之相伴的有利或不利症状，即可知患病时间之长短。

13. Old persons endure fasting most easily; next, adults; young persons not nearly so well; and most especially infants, and of them such as are of a particularly lively spirit.

13.老年人最易节食，成年人次之，青年人则相差甚远；而尤其是婴儿——相对于他们而言，婴儿特别富有活力。

14. Growing bodies have the most innate heat; they therefore require the most food, for otherwise their bodies are wasted. In old persons the heat is feeble, and therefore they require little fuel, as it were, to the flame, for it would be extinguished by much. On this account, also, fevers in old persons are not equally acute, because their bodies are cold.

14．成长之躯有其充分的内在热量，因此需充足食物，否则会消瘦。而老人之躯少有热量，所以犹如炉火只需少许“燃料”，因燃料过多会使其熄灭。因而老人发热也不会一样剧烈，因其身躯热量不多。

15. In winter and spring the bowels are naturally the hottest, and the sleep most prolonged; at these seasons, then, the most

sustenance is to be administered; for as the belly has then most innate heat, it stands in need of most food. The well-known facts with regard to young persons and the athletae prove this.

15．冬春两季体内热量自然最多，睡眠时间最长；此时应有充足之食物，因胃部既热量充分，亦最需食物提供养料。年轻人和运动员不乏众所周知的事实，可以证明。

16. A humid regimen is befitting in all febrile diseases, and particularly in children, and others accustomed to live on such a

diet.

16．所有热病患者以吃稀食为宜，尤其是孩子和习惯此种饮食者。

7. We must consider, also, in which cases food is to be given once or twice a day, and in greater or smaller quantities, and at intervals. Something must be conceded to habit, to season, to country, and to age.

17.我们还必须针对各种病情，考虑每天给病人的食物是一次还是两次，是多还是少，间隔的时间是长还是短。同时也必须因习惯、季节、国家和年龄的不同而区别对待。

18. Invalids bear food worst during summer and autumn, most easily in winter, and next in spring.

18．夏秋两季病人饮食最差，冬季最好，春季次之。

19. Neither give nor enjoin anything to persons during periodical paroxysms, but abstract from the accustomed allowance before the crisis.

19．当疾病周期性发作时，给病人的食物既不增添也不禁止，而是在危险期前对其平常食物作适当减少。

20. When things are at the crisis, or when they have just passed it, neither move the bowels, nor make any innovation in the treatment, either as regards purgatives or any other such stimulants, but let things alone.

20．当病情处于或刚过危险期时，既不设法让病人排泄又不采取任何创新治疗——无论使用泻药还是任何其它类似刺激药物——而应随其自然。

21. Those things which require to be evacuated should be evacuated, wherever they most tend, by the proper outlets.

21．凡需排泄之物均应通过正当渠道予以排除，无论它们最有何倾向。

22. We must purge and move such humors as are concocted, not such as are unconcocted, unless they are struggling to get out, which is mostly not the case.

22．我们必须排除和去掉已消化而非未消化的体液，除非它们本身正极力脱离躯体——在多数情况下并非如此。

23. The evacuations are to be judged of not by their quantity, but whether they be such as they should be, and how they are borne.

23．鉴定排泄物勿根据其数量，而应看其是否为应排泄之物，以及病人有何感受。

24. Use purgative medicines sparingly in acute diseases, and at the commencement, and not without proper circumspection.

24．对急性病最初宜少用泻药，并且要慎重。

25. If the matters which are purged be such as should be purged, the evacuation is beneficial, and easily borne; but, not withstanding, if otherwise, with difficulty.

25．若排除之物应予排除，则有益健康，令人易受；否则令人难受。

The Roman Peace by Aelius Aristides

罗马的和平 [古罗马] 阿里斯蒂德斯

孙有中 选译

If one considers the vast extent of your empire he must be amazed that so small a fraction of it rules the world, but when he beholds the city and its spaciousness it is not astonishing that all the habitable world is ruled by such a capital . . . . Your possessions equal the sun's course . . . . You do not rule within fixed boundaries, nor can anyone dictate the limits of your sway . . . . Whatever any people produces can be found here, at all times and in abundance . . . . Egypt, Sicily, and the civilized part of Africa are your farms; ships are continually coming and going . . . .

考虑到你的帝国幅员之辽阔，任何人都会惊讶不已：如此弹丸之地居然统治着全世界。然而，只要他目睹这座气势恢弘的城市，世间人迹所至之处之所以受制于此一都城，也就不足为怪了。……普天之下，莫非王土。……你的统治并不囿于固定的疆域，也没有任何人能够约束你的权力。……在这里，一年四季，世间物产应有尽有，源源不竭。……埃及、西西里以及非洲的开化地带都是你的农场；船舶往来，川流不息……

Vast as it is, your empire is more remarkable for its thoroughness than its scope: there are no dissident or rebellious enclaves . . . . The whole world prays in unison that your empire may endure forever.

你的帝国固然广袤无边，而更值得称道的不是它的疆域，而是它的稳固：这里没有任何叛逆的飞地。……全世界同声祈祷：愿你的帝国万古长存。

Governors sent out to cities and peoples each rule their charges, but in their relations to each other they are equally subjects. The principal difference between governors and their charges is this—they demonstrate the proper way to be a subject. So great is their reverence for the great Ruler [the emperor], who administers all things. Him they believe to know their business better than they themselves do, and hence they respect and heed him more than one would a master overseeing a task and giving orders. No one is so self-assured that he can remain unmoved upon hearing the emperor's name; he rises in prayer and adoration and utters a twofold prayer—to the gods for the Ruler, and to the Ruler for himself. And if the governors are in the least doubt concerning the justice of claims or suits of the governed, public or private, they send to the Ruler for instructions at once and await his reply, as a chorus awaits its trainer's directions. Hence the Ruler need not exhaust himself by traveling to various parts to settle matters in person. It is easy for him to abide in his place and manage the world through letters; these arrive almost as soon as written, as if borne on wings.

派往各城市和民族区域的总督们治理着各自辖区的人民，但就其相互关系而言，他们不过是平等的臣民。总督与其辖区人民之间的首要区别在于：前者模范地履行臣民的职责。他们对统率天下的伟大君主[即罗马皇帝]无限崇拜，相信他比他们自己更了解他们的事务，因而他们对他的景仰之情决非人们对一个发号施令的主人的尊崇可以比拟。没有人会如此自命不凡，听到皇帝的名字居然能无动于衷；他定会肃然起敬，连声祈祷，一面祈求神灵保佑君主，一面祈求君主保佑自己。假如总督对其辖区官民申诉的合理性有任何的疑虑，他们便立刻向君主请示，然后像合唱团等待教练的指令一样等待他的批复。这样，君主便无须因事必躬亲而疲于四处奔波。通过信函，他足不出宫便可轻易治理天下；这些信函几乎朝发夕至，仿佛插上了飞翔的翅膀。

But the most notable and praiseworthy feature of all, a thing unparalleled, is your magnanimous conception of citizenship. All of your subjects (and this implies the whole world) you have divided into two parts: the better endowed and more virile, wherever they may be, you have granted citizenship and even kinship; the rest you govern as obedient subjects. Neither the seas nor expanse of land bars citizenship; Asia and Europe are not differentiated. Careers are open to talent . . . . Rich and poor find contentment and profit in your system; there is no other way of life. Your polity is a single and all-embracing harmony . . . .

但是，最引人注目、最可颂扬且举世无双的特性还要数你宽宏大量的公民观。你将所有的臣民（也就是全世界）分成两类：对于那些更有天资、更强健的，无论他们身在何处，你都授予公民身份，甚至视为同胞；其余的你便作为顺从的臣民加以统治。无论是海洋还是广袤的陆地，都不能构成公民身份的障碍；亚细亚与欧罗巴平等相待。英才俊士均可脱颖而出。……在你的制度里，无论贫富，人人各安其分，各谋其利；舍此别无他途。你的国度政通人和，欣欣向荣。……

You alone are, so to speak, natural rulers. Your predecessors were masters and slaves in turn; as rulers they were counterfeits, and reversed their positions like players in a ball game. . . . You have measured out the world, bridged rivers, cut roads through mountains, filled the wastes with posting stations, introduced orderly and refined modes of life . . . .

可以说，你是天生的统治者。从前的帝王们不过是轮流交换着主仆的角色；作为统治者，他们徒有虚名，好似一场球赛中的选手更换着彼此的位置。……你指点江山，架设桥梁，开山凿路，在荒野设立驿站，将安宁、优雅的生活方式传播四方。……

Be all gods and their offspring invoked to grant that this empire and this city flourish forever and never cease until stones float upon the sea and trees forbear to sprout in the springtide. May the great Ruler and his sons be preserved to administer all things well.

愿天地间所有神灵保佑帝国和都城繁荣昌盛，万古长春，直到海枯石烂。愿吾皇子孙万代，永享国泰民安。

To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson

约翰逊致切斯特菲尔德伯爵书（五种译文赏析）

To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield

7th February, 1755.

My Lord,

I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of The World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;—that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favor. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before.

The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.

Is not a patrons my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it: till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which providence has enabled me to do for myself.

Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, My Lord,

Your lordship's most humble,

Most obedient servant,

SAM. JOHNSON.

说明

有比较才鉴别，对比下面五种译文，我相信读者会对翻译的处理手法有更深刻的感受。从整体来说，因原文所处的时代及作者的写作身份和对象，译文的选择应当对应文言体是最合适的，这一点从下面的译文里大家可以很明显得看出。就译文质量，在下以黄最高，辜（文言）和高次之，罗最末。

Background Notes

1.Samuel Johnson 约翰逊出生在Staffordshire的里奇菲尔德，是一个穷书商的儿子。他先在里奇菲尔德文法学校就读，而在1728年至1731年在牛津大学读书，但是穷困却迫使他没有拿到学位就离开了牛津。他试图成为一名教师和校长，但并不成功。在25岁时，他与伊丽莎白“泰蒂”波特，一个比他大21岁的寡妇结了婚。这段时间，他的生活依旧很贫困，其间他写出了诗歌《伦敦》（1738年）和《沙维奇的生活》（1745年），他的同事和朋友也是作家，于1744年去世的理查-沙维奇的传记。

约翰逊于1747年开始了他最重要的一项工作——《英文字典》（A Dictionary of the English Language）的编撰。这一工作直到1755年才完成。虽然它被广泛的赞誉并且有着巨大的影响，约翰逊并未从中获得很多经济利益。在编撰它的同时，他还写了一系列的双周刊散文称之为《漫步者》。这些散文，大多涉及道德和宗教主题。它一直写到了1752年。虽然当时并不流行，结集出版后却获得了广泛的欢迎。

2. 《致切斯特菲尔德大人函》是约翰逊于1755年2月7日写给切斯特菲尔德伯爵菲力浦•多墨•斯坦厚甫(Philip Dormer Stanhope) 的一封信。切斯特菲尔德伯爵开始对约翰逊编辞典一事冷眼相看。约翰逊艰辛奋斗7年，终于独立完成辞典编写，出版在即。这时，切斯特菲尔德伯爵在当时的《世界报》上连写两篇文章，对约翰逊的辞典大加吹捧，希望约翰逊将来能把英国的第一部英语辞典献给他。约翰逊得知此事后，义愤填膺，挥笔写下了这篇名传千秋的著名信函。信中数落了伯爵对他的冷淡，嘲讽了伯爵的傲慢与专横，对比了约翰逊自己对伯爵的热情与诚恳，从而宣布了约翰逊的辞典与伯爵无关，是他独立完成的，对伯爵无恩可感，无情可载。约翰逊的信是一个穷作家对大人物的控诉状，表现了作家对权贵的蔑视，有着我国著名诗人李白一样的“安能摧眉折腰事权贵”的反叛精神。在实质上，约翰逊的这种精神代表了英国新兴的资产阶级对封建权势的反抗。人们将约翰逊的这封信比做是“作家的独立宣言”。事实上，此后，英国文坛上的保护人制度（Patronage）在英国，在欧洲大陆逐渐消失了。

约翰逊的信不仅思想性深刻，而且文笔优美、语句典雅，不长的信中，三联排比的结构被两次运用。文中的反语、讽刺、幽默含义加强了语句的感染力，而且约翰逊所用的比喻含有高深的典故性和哲理性。为了表达自己对伯爵“一往情深”的仰慕，约翰逊引用了古罗马诗人维吉尔诗中的牧童“发现爱神只不过是荒山野岭中的野蛮人”的故事，用以喻指伯爵的铁石心肠，是不通情理的人。

这封信中的句子结构上，约翰逊还显示了他高超的安排技巧，信正文的最后一段是一个句子，在末尾的一个定语从句中，作者把书信中的客套结尾语和签名巧妙地变成了这个句子的组成部分。

译文一　辜正坤 译　文言体译文

致切斯菲尔德伯爵书

大人阁下：

顷得《世界报》馆主告知，该报近日揭载二文，对拙编词典，颇有扬善褒荐之词，闻皆出阁下手笔。厚爱如此，理当引为大幸。奈何在下不惯贵人垂青，茫然不知何以领受、何辞逊谢。忆当年，在下小蒙鼓励，竟斗胆初谒公门。大人之言谈丰采，语惊四座，令人绝倒，使在下不禁谬生宏愿：他日或能自诩当世：“吾乃天下征服者之征服者也。”——举世学人欲夺之殊荣，或竟鹿死我手!孰料余之趋走逢迎，未蒙丝毫宠幸。尔后余自度不复干谒此途，自尊与自卑，皆勿与论也。余本一介书生，不善谄辞，不尚交际，而曾一度当众致语阁下，可谓罄尽取悦文饰之辞。仆思已尽犬马之劳，虽功效绵薄，又何甘辛劳遭逢白眼之遇也。

回想当初侍立君堂，甚或见逐门首，忽焉七载飞去。斯年以来，吾力排艰辛，独撑大业，无援手相助，无片言相许，无一笑相期。幸得终竟全功，付梓在即。当此时，发怨尤之词，恐无益也。然余实从未曾知遇提携之人，自曾指望过蒙受惠顾。

维吉尔笔下牧童终与爱神相识，方知爱神原只是草野之夫。

设有人于溺水者奋命中流之际，漠然相对，视若无睹，伺其安全抵岸，方忽急伸援手，反增累赘，所谓赞助人也者，莫非即此辈耶?

大人而今忽有雅兴垂顾拙编，倘恩泽当初，犹可称善；奈何此惠顾珊珊来迟，我已心灰意冷，受之谅无深趣；我已鸳鸯失伴，有乐无人与共；我已名播天下，再不需阁下扬誉之辞!在下当初既不曾蒙恩．今朝亦无须感德；天帝既助我独成大业，今何敢欺世惑众，默认身后有所谓莫须有之赞助者?在下言辞或有苛刻不敬，还望海涵。

余自承担此编撰业以来，从未获所谓赞助者分毫，亦使大业行将告竣，纵或杀青之际倍感艰难无助，余亦绝无失望之心。奢望赞助之美梦，梦破多年；堪笑曾几何时余亦曾梦中顾盼自雄、自诩为

大人您门下最卑微

最驯顺之奴仆

塞缪尔•约翰逊

一千七百五十五年二月初七日

译文二　辜正坤 译　白话体译文

伯爵大人：

近日从《世界报》馆主得知，该报刊载了两篇文章，对拙编词典颇多举荐滥美之词，这些文章据悉均出自阁下您的手笔。承蒙您如此的推崇，本应是一种荣耀，只可惜在下自来无缘得到王公大人的青睐，所以真不知道该如何来领受这份荣耀，也不知道该用些什么言辞来聊表谢意。

回想当年，也不知哪来的勇气，我竟第一次拜访了大人阁下。我像所有的人一样，深为大人的言谈丰采所倾倒，不禁玄想他年能口出大言“吾乃天下征服者之征服者也。”——虽知此殊荣是举世学人所欲得，仍希望有朝一日能侥幸获取。然而我很快发现自己的趋走逢迎根本没有得到鼓励。不管是出于自尊也好，自矜也好，我反正无法再周旋下去。我本是一个与世无争、不善逢迎的书生，但那时我也曾用尽平生所学的阿谀奉承的言辞，当众赞美过阁下。能做的一切我都做了。如果一个人在这方面付出的一切努力（不管是多么微不足道）受到完全的忽视，他是绝不会感到舒服的。

大人阁下，从我第一次候立于贵府门下，或者说被您拒于门外时算起，已经7年过去。7年多来，我一直苦苦地撑持着我的编撰工作。这些苦楚，现在再来倾诉，已经没有用处。所幸我的劳作而今终于快要出版，在这之前我没有获得过一个赞助的行为，一句鼓励的话语，一抹称许的微笑。我固然不曾指望这样的礼遇，因为我从未有过一位赞助人。

维吉尔笔下的牧童最后终于和爱神相识，这才发现所谓爱神只不过是岩穴土人而已。

大人阁下，有的人眼见落水者在水中拼命挣扎而无动于衷，等他安全抵岸之后，却才多余地伸出所谓援手，莫非这就叫赞助人么?大人而今忽有雅兴来关照在下的劳作，这原本是一桩美意，只可惜太迟了一点。迟到我已经意懒心灰，再无法快乐地消受；迟到我已经是孤身一人，无从与家人分享；迟到我已经名闻海内，再不需阁下附丽张扬。我既然本来就没有得到过实惠，自然母需怀感恩之心；既然是上帝助我独立完成这桩大业，我自然不愿让公众产生错觉，似乎我曾受惠于某一赞助人。但愿上面这番话不致被认为太苛刻、太不近人情。

我已经在根本没有所谓学术赞助人赞助的情况下使自己的工作完成到目前这个地步，那么，尽管我将要在更艰难无助的情况下——假如还有可能更艰难无助的话——完成全稿，我也绝不会感到沮丧。因为我已经早就从那个赞助的美梦里幡然猛醒；曾几何时，我还在那梦中得意非凡地自诩是

大人您门下最卑微

最驯顺的仆人

塞缪尔•约翰逊

1755年2月7日

译文三　黄继忠译　文言体译文

约翰逊致切斯特菲尔德伯爵书

1755年2月7日

伯爵大人阁下：

近闻“人世间”主人言：阁下曾二度撰文，将仆之辞典推荐于世，曷胜荣幸。然仆生平鲜蒙贵人恩典，是以受宠若惊，不知何以答谢。

昔者偶为人言所动，初度造府晋谒；于君之谈吐，一似世人之倾慕不已。实望一登龙门，身价十倍；并冀能博得阁下之青睐，此天下人争相罗致者也。然仆之趋候，颇遭冷遇；其后遂裹足不前，半以孤芳自赏，半以自渐形秽也。仆本一介寒士，不求闻达于世，不善逢迎之术。前者于大庭广众之间得与阁下共语，曲尽所能，以期取悦于君，终不可得。人之竭尽绵薄，辱遭鄙夷而复能怡然自得者，鲜矣哉！

忆昔伫候于外室，见拒于侯门，岁月荏苒，春秋七易。七岁之间，仆厉志孟晋，披荆斩棘，致力于辞书之编著；个中艰辛，今日言之何益？所幸功垂于成，刊行在即，期间未尝获君一臂之助，一言之勖，一笑之惠。惟此等殊遇，原非所期，盖仆生平所迄未受恩主之惠。

弗吉尔诗中之牧者，其后终得稔悉“爱童”之为人，方知其为铁石心肠之辈也。

伯爵阁下：见人挣扎于水中则漠漠然袖手旁观，见其安然登岸则遽遽乎殷勤相助，此非恩主之为人乎？阁下于拙著之锦注，若在昔年，诚不失为美意；惜于姗姗其来迟，今仆已兴味索然，难以欣赏；仆已孓然一身，无人分享；仆已薄有声名，不劳垂颐矣。且仆既未受惠于人，自不欲对其感恩戴德；仆借天助独立完竣之功业，自不欲天下人误以为恩主所赐；此言谅不致失之于尖酸刻薄耳。

仆自编纂辞书以还，既未受惠于任何学术赞助人于前，则于今大功垂成之日，即无丝毫恩赐于后，亦当不以为憾耳。盖仆昔时固尝陶醉于希望之美梦，今则梦醒久矣。

仆山缪尔•约翰逊顿首再拜

译文四　高健 译　常风校　文言体译文

致柴斯特菲尔德勋爵书

勋爵阁下；

顷据《世界报》主人通知，该报近所裁有关拙著词典之推荐文章二篇，均系出自勋爵阁下手笔。承蒙如此重视，自是荣耀非常，但以平日末习惯于贵人之垂青，故余真不知将以何心情领受，并不知以何言辞鸣谢也。

犹忆当年小蒙鼓励，固有幸初次踵门拜谒之际，余之为阁下之辞令心醉，亦犹人也；因不禁私心庆幸，自谓将能以“世上征服者之征服者”而自豪，即世人所求而弗得之眷顾，余能得也，然继而发现，余之一番追随趋奉既悉数落空，乃至无论出于自尊自卑，似已皆不许可此种往来之继续。再如某次当众向大人致词之时，则于取悦一端，实已罄尽一介寒士之能事，固可谓已尽其在我；即或犹右未足，似亦未容如此忽视。

自曩昔候教于大人正厅外室，乃至见逐门外，于今已七年矣；在此七年间，余已将拙作之编著，于种种困难之中，向前多所推进，时至于今，业已出版有日。然于此期间，固绝不闻有一事之援助，一言之鼓励，一笑之赞许。此种厚待固亦不曾指望，余实不曾有过赞助之人。

魏吉尔诗中之牧童据云亦曾求爱而得爱，然殊不料爱竟与石同宗。

然则所谓赞助者即彼见人溺水呼救而无动于衷及其抵岸又重以援助相絮聒之人乎？阁下于我辛劳之枉顾，如其到来稍早，亦必曾令人感戴，然而延稽至今，我已麻木不仁，而不知感受矣；我已孑然一身，而无人得与分班矣；我已功成名就，而无此必要矣，然不得恩遇则难言领情。命运既以此书期委我于独成，我亦不应使世人误认我尚有赞助之人，此话谅亦不致视为苛刻。

既然此书之编纂迄今从未得彼学术赞助者之一顾，故值其告竣之际，实亦无虑其廑注之更少(如其尚可云少)，如今大梦既醒，余已不复为昔日颇曾以此为得意之

阁下之

至谦卑至恭顺之

牛马走

塞•约翰逊

1755卑2月7日

译文五　罗珞珈译　文白体译文

致齐斯特菲伯爵书

伯爵大人钧鉴：

日前，乘世界日报业主告知，该报所刊对拙著《字典》赞誉交加之两篇文章，实出于阁下之手笔。阁下对本人如此揄扬，诚三生有幸。本人素乏伟人提携奖励，骤得恩宠，惶恐万分，不知该如何承受，如何致谢，始得其当也。

昔日，本人尝稍受鼓励，即趋阶请益。阁下言辞华美迷人，一介凡夫如我，何能免俗，禁不住陶醉神驰而沾沾自喜，大兴非独霸文坛而不罢休之豪情——曾几何时，阁下之言，虽犹在耳，阁下对我之垂顾，却已烟消云散，使我无论如何自欺，亦无法开释于怀。自问当初本人对阁下之尊敬忠诚，殷勤取悦，比诸任何煮字疗饥的文人，绝不逊色，我已竭其所能，使尽浑身解数，仍然无法获得阁下垂青，是可忍，孰不可忍也。

忆及当初本人或枯候阁下于玄关，或见摈于大门之外，时光无情，忽焉巳七载有余；当是时也，本人无一日不孜孜矻矻，夙夜匪懈，努力工作而无一字一句埋怨；如今大功告成，《字典》行将出版，亦无人助一臂之力，致一安慰之词，或对我微笑示惠，以资鼓励。世所谓“恩主”者，与本人一向无缘，今后亦不敢有此奢望。

维吉尔诗中之牧羊童子，最后虽有幸结识爱神，但早已奄奄一息，僵卧于野，为时已晚矣！

阁下，世之所谓恩主者，岂见溺不救，任其浮沉，不加理睬，及其登岸，又伸以援手，示以关切者之流耶？阁下对本人挖空心思之捧场文章，如果早来一步，不知使我将物和感激涕零；然而，时过境迁，一切均成明日黄花，本人现已无心强颜欢笑，自我陶醉；当我孤独一人，呼天既不应，呼地亦无闻，现我功成名就，又何劳他人锦上添花，代为吹嘘。此乃出自肺腑之言，并非一时意气之争，尚希仁人君子不至于误解本人乃忘恩负义之徒，因我既无恩可忘，更无义可负也。

本人工作已近完成阶段。以往既未蒙任何文坛先进，衮衮诸公，提携奖掖，如今亦不会因此而伤心欲绝，肝肠寸断。对于一切事后溢美之词，最好能省即省，能免则免。对于曩昔信以为真，全心以赴的千秋大梦，本人已梦醒多时！

此颂

约翰逊再拜

附辜正坤译文说明：

翻译此文的理论准备：

根据翻译标准多元互补论，翻译本身具有多种功能（或曰目的性）：如模拟信息功能，揭示思维模式功能，审美娱乐功能或丰富译入语功能等。其次，具体翻译标准之所以是多元的，还在于人类审美趣味的多样化以及读者和译者的多层次等。

我们先从模拟信息来看。要模拟信息，先要弄清原作的信息存在原型。信息存在原型与信息存在的时空关系紧密相联。从时空关系来看，原作（源语作品）写于1755年的英国，正值英国古典主义文风盛行的时候。作者约翰逊即当时有代表性的古典主义作家，其散文正如李赋宁先生所言“既具有拉丁散文的典雅、气势和音调的铿锵，又兼备英文散文的雄健、朴素和简练。”再从当时中英对应时空关系来看，1755年前后的中国正值清朝乾隆年间，当时正是桐城派散文相当流行的时候。同期文学大师有郑板桥、吴敬梓、全祖望、曹雪芹、袁枚、纪昀、蒋士铨、赵翼、钱大昕、王文治、姚鼐、翁方纲、李调元、高鹗等。假如由上述中的任何一位大师来翻译约翰逊的文章，我们自然会期望他们把这位同时代人的大作译成颇为高雅的文言文（即使不是地道的桐城派文风），而绝不是白话文，这是毫无疑义的。因此，为了能最大程度地近似中英时空对应关系，较为理想的处理手段就是把它译成比较雅致的文言文。这就等于在风格方面定了一个翻译标准。

然而，站在读者的角度来看，我们现在的翻译主要是为当代人服务。不用说，当代人在时空关系上已经和约翰逊所处时代有了255年的时空错位，因而不能指望当代人能比较充分地体会理解当时的文风，至少对一部分读者来说要做到这一点已经颇不容易。因此，译成白话文，也是符合多数读者层的需要的。更何况今天大陆上的翻译出版物差不多一律是白话文，绝少看到有新的文言文翻译出版物，所以，译成白话文已经是大势所趋。这就等于在风格上定了第二个翻译标准。再从译者的角度来看。译者抱定的宗旨，往往是声称要“忠实”于原作。如果要真正“忠实”于原作，那么就不能译成白话，因为我们期望古人写的就是古文。如果把王勃的《藤王阁序》译成白话文，那么，无论译者的手段有多么高明，原有的那种文采必然是所剩无几了。（当然，现代人也尝试把它们译成白话，但主要是为了帮助不大懂古文的读者理解文意，而非主要为了传辅原作的文采。此当别论。）这样看来，若能将约翰逊的原作译成雅致的文言文，看来也是需要的。怎么办呢?若译文以达意为主，译成白话就可以了（何况白话文也有一定的文采）；若译文以模仿表现原作的古雅风味，则宜译成文言文。若想二者兼得，那就两种译文并存，或者再来一种文白兼具的译文（虽难以讨好，但也不妨一试）。那么，就等于认定了双标准并存或三标准并存了。

姑不论其他的许多条件，单就上述三个角度，在风格上就产生了三个标准。如果面面俱到地加以理论分析（尚包括其他微观处理手段），则必定要建立一个标准系统才能济事。此文主要是为了用作翻译练习，篇幅有限，不能展开阐述，亦不可能将原作按各类标准译成若干种风格。为简便计，此处只提供较普通的文言文和白话文译例各一，聊供参考。

文本理解与翻译策略注释：

(1) My Lord，文言表现不宜过实，故译成“大人阁下”，稍见婉致；白话宜更实在些，不妨译作“伯爵大人”或“爵爷”之类。

(2) The World，可译《世界》或《世界报》，1753-1756在伦敦发行，颇有影响。由爱德华•莫尔（Edward Moore）主编。

(3) is recommended to the Public，已向公众推荐。由于“扬善举荐”或“举荐溢美”之类的用语，已经暗示是向公众推荐的，加之前面已知文章是登在报纸上，当然是给公众看的，所以to the Public就略去不译了。注意：文中一些字母故意大写（例如Papers，Public），以示作者对某种含义的强调，这是当时的写作文风。

(4) To be so distinguished, is an honour，亦可译作：“推重如此，可谓荣耀有加。”或“受到如此的赏识，深感荣幸。”

(5) very little accustomed，很不习惯。其真意是：很少得到过此类荣耀。

(6) favours from the Great，王公大人的青睐（惠顾）。

(7) 此句中的which是动词to receive和to acknowledge的宾语，在文言中可省；在白话中则宜加以重复，例如译作“这份荣耀”，使得有较完整的动宾结构。

(8) When及upon短语搭配极妙。When后逗号，使人产生停顿感，与回忆的情状相类。故译作“忆当年”。同时，upon短语的插入，给人一种小心翼翼的不安感。描摹了当年约翰逊想要得到王公大人青睐的微妙心理。那个some一词也用得很令人回味。此句的白话译文采用意译法“也不知哪来的勇气”，正是为了表达此种心理。

(9) Mankind，此词系夸张语。实指那些奔走于公卿门下希图获得杯羹的文坛寒士，即“语惊四座”中的“四座”。也只有这些人才会听到伯爵的只言片语便故作惊惶叹服之色，以博得伯爵大人先生的宠爱。

(10) could not bear，不禁，禁不住。

(11)Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre法语，意为“conqueror of the conqueror of the earth．”此句来自法国古典派文艺理论家布瓦洛的作品L’Art Poetique (《诗艺》)。引用外文虽是那时候英国文人的嗜好，但此处采用引用法实可窥见约翰逊踌躇满志又欲盖弥彰的心态。故翻译时宜以洋味或古味出之。此句在白话文中仍用文言译法“吾乃征服天下者之征服者也”，其意在此。

(12) the world，提喻，意为“世人”，或更准确点，指那些试图收名定价于切斯菲尔德大人的文人学者。

(13) attendance，暗指“侍立、逢迎”。

(14) suffer，容许。

(15) 此句语序有所更动。continue据上下文活译为“周旋”。

(16) a retired and uncourtly scholar，不尚交际、逢迎的书生。

(17) all，意为all that he did。

(18) was repulsed from your Door，见拒门外。

(19) Of which it is useless to complain，抱怨曾遭受的这些困难是没有什么用了。此句插在这里，在英文中像是随手着一笔，没有什么牵强处。但译成汉语，则会觉得突兀、牵强，文气蹇涩。处理的办法是将它挪到全句后面，起补充文意的作用。

(20) without one Act Of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour,这三个短语的排比用法甚有威力。译文通过重复“无……相”这种句法，造成一种回环往复的效果，以传达原作的气势。三个短语相连，前二个短语尾字皆用仄声，最后一个短语尾字宜用平声压住。

(21) a Native of the Rocks，岩穴土人，草野之夫。典出古罗马诗人维吉尔（Virgil, 70-19 B.C.）的《牧歌》（Eclogue, 第VIII章，第43行）：“我现在终于知道爱神这男孩是什么样的人，"知道他出生在特迈罗斯或罗多彼山脉的岩穴蛮荒之地，"或大地的边沿地带加拉曼特斯——"他和我们非故非亲，血统上毫无联系。”约翰逊显然将切斯菲尔德比作是出生在岩穴蛮荒之地的爱神，认为他徒具虚名，实际上既无文明血统，也像岩石一样冰冷无情。他根本无法赏识约翰逊的才学。

(22) encumbers，妨碍；以……增加累赘。此句较长，是反义疑问句。翻译时，采用分句法，将全句意思解透，从定语从句who looks…开始译（“设有人……”），意思表达清楚之后，再回过头翻译最前边的疑问部分。这样做，在语序上做了很大的改变，但符合汉语措辞习惯。意思也就显豁了。如直译，必定佶屈聱牙。

(23) Labours，劳动成果、作品。

(24) had it been early，假如再早一点的话。虚拟句子。此句可正译，亦可反译，视译文上下文而定。译文采用反译法的好处在于译“早”（early）为“迟”，以便与后文中连用三次的“迟到”（delay）相呼应，造成文气上的贯通。

(25) till l am solitary，直到我孑然一身。约翰逊的妻子逝世于1752年。词典编成后，约翰逊已经丧偶三年。此句感人至深，读之令人动容。文言译文沿用“头白鸳鸯失伴飞”的旧体诗词意象，比原句意味稍更浓郁。

(26) do not want it,不再需要这种延誉之词了。翻译it时，蒙前而增词，使文意更清楚。注意句子中的两个cannot表示了某种客观性，而do not则传达了较强的主观情绪。约翰逊一不做，二不休，宣布和权贵们彻底决裂了。

(27) cynical asperity刻薄、严厉、不信人间有真情善意。

(28) to confess obligations，领情。

(29) 此句又是长句。除采用分句法之外，也采用了前面用过的翻译反意疑问句的技巧，即将最前边的主句移到最后，贯通全句文气。此类句子最容易显示出操印欧语系语言者的逻辑思维模式，同时也可以看出中西民族思维习惯的典型区别。

(30) Favourer of Learning，学术赞助人、庇护人。

(31) conclude it，完成全稿；杀青。

(32) in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation，我曾在梦中得意非凡地自诩是……。“曾几何时”是以once为依据、同时根据全文的表意趋势做了增强语势的处理后译出的。文言译法更加了“堪笑”一词，实由体味全文所漾溢着的一种大功告成后、睥睨王侯的气概而增。注意此种增词译法不可滥用，只有在最紧要处不损文意的前提下才可以偶尔使用。

(33)注意约翰逊这里把信尾的客套话和签名等和信的内容从语法上连缀成一个完整的句子。在突出两个“最”的同时，让人感到一种嬉笑调侃的反讽效果。又，根据中国人的书信格式，日期多半署在后边。这里也移到后边。但是，如果为了强调西洋书信的洋味道，亦可仍将日期书写在信纸的右上方。

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice (Excerpt) 汉译

傲慢与偏见（节选）

简·奥斯丁

凡是有钱的单身汉，总想娶位太太，这已经成了一条举世公认的真理。这样的单身汉，每逢新搬到一个地方，四邻八舍虽然完全不了解他的性情如何，见解如何，可是，既然这样的一条真理早已在人们心目中根深蒂固，因此人们总是把他看作自己某一个女儿理所应得的一笔财产。

有一天班纳特太太对她的丈夫说：“我的好老爷，尼日斐花园终于租出去了，你听说过没有？”

班纳特先生回答道，他没有听说过。

“的确租出去了，”她说，“朗格太太刚刚上这儿来过，她把这件事的底细，一五一十地告诉了我。”

班纳特先生没有理睬她。

“你难道不想知道是谁租去的吗？”太太不耐烦地嚷起来了。

“既是你要说给我听，我听听也无妨。”

这句话足够鼓励她讲下去了。

“哦！亲爱的，你得知道，郎格太太说，租尼日斐花园的是个阔少爷，他是英格兰北部的人；听说他星期一那天，乘着一辆驷马大轿车来看房子，看得非常中意，当场就和莫理斯先生谈妥了；他要在‘米迦勒节’以前搬进来，打算下个周末先叫几个佣人来住。”

“这个人叫什么名字？”

“彬格莱。”

“有太太的呢，还是单身汉？”

“噢！是个单身汉，亲爱的，确确实实是个单身汉！一个有钱的单身汉；每年有四五千磅的收入。真是女儿们的福气！”

“这怎么说？关女儿女儿们什么事？”

“我的好老爷，”太太回答道，“你怎么这样叫人讨厌！告诉你吧，我正在盘算，他要是挑中我们一个女儿做老婆，可多好！”

“他住到这儿来，就是为了这个打算吗？”

“打算！胡扯，这是哪儿的话！不过，他倒作兴看中我们的某一个女儿呢。他一搬来，你就得去拜访拜访他。”

“我不用去。你带着女儿们去就得啦，要不你干脆打发她们自己去，那或许倒更好些，因为你跟女儿们比起来，她们哪一个都不能胜过你的美貌,你去了，彬格莱先生倒可能挑中你呢？”

“我的好老爷，你太捧我啦。从前也的确有人赞赏过我的美貌，现在我可有敢说有什么出众的地方了。一个女人家有了五个成年的女儿，就不该对自己的美貌再转什么念头。”

“这样看来，一个女人家对自己的美貌也转不了多少念头喽。”

“不过，我的好老爷，彬格莱一搬到我们的邻近来，你的确应该去看看他。”

“老实跟你说吧，这不是我份内的事。”

“看女儿的份上吧。只请你想一想，她们不论哪一个，要是攀上了这样一个人家，够多么好。威廉爵士夫妇已经决定去拜望他，他们也无非是这个用意。你知道，他们通常是不会拜望新搬来的邻居的。你的确应该去一次，要是你不去，叫我们怎么去。”

“你实在过分心思啦。彬格莱先生一定高兴看到你的；我可以写封信给你带去，就说随便他挑中我哪一个女儿，我都心甘情愿地答应他把她娶过去；不过，我在信上得特别替小丽萃吹嘘几句。”

“我希望你别这么做。丽萃没有一点儿地方胜过别的几个女儿；我敢说，论漂亮，她抵不上吉英一半；论性子，好抵不上丽迪雅一半。你可老是偏爱她。”“她们没有哪一个值得夸奖的，”他回答道；“他们跟人家的姑娘一样，又傻，又无知；倒是丽萃要比她的几个姐妹伶俐些。”

“我的好老爷，你怎么舍得这样糟蹋自己的新生亲生女儿？你是在故意叫我气恼，好让你自己得意吧。你半点儿也不体谅我的神经衰弱。”

“你真错怪了我，我的好太太。我非常尊重你的神经。它们是我的老朋友。至少在最近二十年以来，我一直听道你慎重其事地提到它们。”

“啊！你不知道我怎样受苦呢！”

“不过我希望你这毛病会好起来，那么，象这种每年有四千镑收入的阔少爷，你就可以眼看着他们一个个搬来做你的邻居了。”

“你既然不愿意去拜访他们，即使有二十个搬了来，对我们又有什么好处！”

“放心吧，我的好太太，等到有了二十个，我一定去一个个拜望到。”

班纳特先生真是个古怪人，他一方面喜欢插科打浑，爱挖苦人，同时又不拘言笑，变幻莫测，真使他那位太太积二十三年之经验，还摸不透他的性格。太太的脑子是很容易加以分析的。她是个智力贫乏、不学无术、喜怒无常的女人，只要碰到不称心的事，她就以为神经衰弱。她生平的大事就是嫁女儿；她生平的安慰就是访友拜客和打听新闻。

Narcissus; or Self-Love by Francis Bacon

Narcissus is said to have been a young man of wonderful beauty, but intolerably proud, fastidious, and disdainful. Pleased with himself and despising all others, he led a solitary life in the woods and hunting grounds; with a few companions to whom he was all in all; followed also wherever he went by a nymph called Echo. Living thus, he came by chance one day to a clear fountain, and (being in the heart of noon) lay down by it; when beholding in the water his own image, he fell into such a study and then into such a rapturous admiration of himself, that he could not be drawn away from gazing at the shadowy picture, but remained rooted to the spot till sense left him; and at last he was changed into the flower that bears his name; and a flower which appears in the early spring; and is sacred to the infernal deities, --Pluto, Proserpine, and the Furies.

In this fable are represented the disposition, and the fortunes too, of those persons who from consciousness either of beauty or some other gift with which unaided by any industry of their own has graced them, fall in love as it were with themselves. For with this state of mind there is commonly joined an indisposition to appear much in public or engaged in business; because business would expose them to many neglects and scorns, by which their minds would be dejected and troubled. Therefore they commonly live a solitary, private, and shadowed life; with a small circle of chosen companions, all devoted admirers, who assent like an echo to everything they say, and entertain them with mouth-homage; till being by such habits gradually depraved and puffed up, and besotted at last with self-admiration, they fall into such a sloth and listlessness that they grow utterly stupid, and lose all vigor and alacrity.

And it was a beautiful thought to choose the flower of spring as an emblem of characters like this: characters which in the opening of their career flourish and are talked of, but disappoint in maturity the promise of their youth. The fact too that this flower is sacred to the infernal deities contains an allusion to the same thing. For men of this disposition turn out utterly useless and good for nothing whatever; and anything that yields no fruit, but like the way of a ship in the sea passes and leaves no trace, was by the ancients held sacred to the shades and infernal gods

论自恋 弗兰西斯·培根

杨自伍译

那喀索斯，人称风度翩翩美少年，惟心性高傲锱铢必较蔑视一切，令人不堪。自我陶醉，目无余子，常年出没于林泉猎场，优游岁月，与世人不相往来；有铸侣二三，如鱼得水；行踪所至，仙女跬步不离，芳名厄科。朝夕如此，一日偶至清泉一泓，时值晌午，天气炎热，遂卧躺泉边；俯观水中倒影，始而不觉凝神观照，继而自我恋慕，如痴如狂，谛视自家面貌若隐若现，良久不去；出神入定，有如树木扎根，直至感觉消失；终于变作水仙，名曰那喀索斯；水仙早春开花；遂为冥府诸神之祭品---普路托，普罗塞耳皮娜，复仇三女神。

尔辈自觉造化赋予美貌，或别具天赋，故不假自身勤奋，煞有介事自恋自爱，此辈中人性情命运，寓言之中暴露无疑。如此心境者，每每无意出现于大庭广众，或以营生为务；因营生未免多受冷落鄙夷，怀抱如此心境则沮丧烦恼。故尔辈一生独来独往，与世睽离，黯然无光；交游挑剔，门户狭隘，彼此五体投地，一呼众和，同声相应，口角春风应酬同好；习性相染，久而久之，品性沦丧，趾高气扬，最终沉迷于自我崇拜，坠入懒散萎靡之境地，从而变得绝顶愚蠢，活力锐气丧失殆尽。以春天水仙为同类性格之标志，堪称妙想，事业开创之际一帆风顺，为人称道，风华正茂时豪情满怀，盛年时则俱为泡影。水仙成为冥府诸神之祭品，寓意亦在于斯。如此性情者，终于毫无用处，一无所能；凡事无所结果，犹如沧海行舟，飘然而过，不留痕迹，古人遂奉为阴魂与地狱神明。

杨自伍译《周游》

Of Travel by Francis Bacon

TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well; so that he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been in the country before; whereby he may be able to tell them what things are worthy to be seen, in the country where they go; what acquaintances they are to seek; what exercises, or discipline, the place yieldeth. For else, young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen, but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered, than observation. Let diaries, therefore, be brought in use. The things to be seen and observed are: the courts of princes, especially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so of consistories ecclesiastic; the churches and monasteries, with the monuments which are therein extant; the walls and fortifications of cities, and towns, and so the heavens and harbors; antiquities and ruins; libraries; colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities; armories; arsenals; magazines; exchanges; burses; warehouses; exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like; comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort; treasuries of jewels and robes; cabinets and rarities; and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable, in the places where they go. After all which, the tutors, or servants, ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows, men need not to be put in mind of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do. First, as was said, he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth. Then he must have such a servant, or tutor, as knoweth the country, as was likewise said. Let him carry with him also, some card or book, describing the country where he travelleth; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keep also a diary. Let him not stay long, in one city or town; more or less as the place deserveth, but not long; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town, to another; which is a great adamant of acquaintance. Let him sequester himself, from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places, where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality, residing in the place whither he removeth; that he may use his favor, in those things he desireth to see or know. Thus he may abridge his travel, with much profit. As for the acquaintance, which is to be sought in travel; that which is most of all profitable, is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors: for so in travelling in one country, he shall suck the experience of many. Let him also see, and visit, eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad; that he may be able to tell, how the life agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. They are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words. And let a man beware, how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries, where he hath travelled, altogether behind him; but maintain a correspondence by letters, with those of his acquaintance, which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse, than his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse, let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners, for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers, of that he hath learned abroad, into the customs of his own country.

周游

杨自伍 译

周游之于后生，为教育之一端，之于长者，为经验之一端。语言未入门，而周游异国，可谓求学，而非周游。后生周游，有塾师或品行端方之家仆跟随左右，予以为然哉。同行者理应通晓言语，且前此旅次彼国；故可晓示所到之国值得观光之面貌，值得探访之相识，值得见识特有之礼数风教。其余种种，行踪所至，后生宜戴面罩，宜少游目。海路行程，天水相接，别无所见，当记日记；然陆地周游，风土人情目不暇接，多半略而不记；仿佛缘分而非观感更宜记载；咄咄怪事也。故日记应蔚成风气。需要目睹观察者如次：王公贵族之宫廷，召见使节之际尤为重要；公审法庭，坐堂问案；乃至教会议会；教堂寺院，残墓碎碑；城镇之墙垣要塞，港口码头；古迹遗址；藏书楼；学府，论辩，讲学，不可疏漏；海运船队；都市附近楼宇庭院，游乐场所；军械武库；交易场所；仓库；马术操练，击剑，兵操；上流人士观赏之喜剧；珠宝器服之珍藏；稀有珍品之陈列；总之，所到之处凡值得纪念者，理应见识。凡此种种，塾师家仆务必勤力访求。而盛典，假面舞会，筵席，婚宴，丧葬，刑场一类场面则无需提醒，然亦不可忽视。倘要后生记述周游见闻，时光短促而广采博收，必须有所造诣。起程之前，语言需入门。携带谙于国情之家仆或塾师。令其随带导游地图或观光指南；此乃探胜之诀要。令其日有所记。令其勿滞留一城一镇；各地俱有可观之处，然勿盘桓不去。所至城镇，令其旅次异地而居，交游广泛。令其谋求当地显贵为之先容，凡所下榻之处，以此为要；可利用显贵之影响，所要见识了解之风物民情遂易于采访。故行程可缩短且获益良多。旅途中应该结交何人，莫大受益者为结识使节秘书和雇员；在一国旅行时，可以吸收众人之经验。令其拜访各类人中之杰，惟其在海外享有盛名，由此便能够断定诸位名实相副与否。理应小心谨慎，避免争吵：通常因情人、祝寿、名次、言语而引起争吵。令其留意与易怒好斗之辈交往方式；此辈中人会将其卷入自家争吵。周游归国之后，不可将周游各国置之脑后，而应与十分值得结交者保持书信来往。周游见闻宜行诸于谈吐之间，不必表现于服饰举止；谈吐之间宜三思而后应答，不必主动娓娓而谈；令人觉其并未改变本国风俗而照搬域外风俗，无非摘取一点国外见闻的精华而移入本国风俗。

杨自伍：靡不有始，鲜克有终

杨自伍,1955年生，祖籍安徽怀宁。上海外语教育出版社英语编辑。

从事文学翻译和学术翻译近二十年。1987年以前曾在《外国文艺》发表译作，1997年由上海译文出版社出版译著《近代文学批评史》前四卷，执笔第一卷，其父杨岂深校改全文，共同署名。二至八卷独立完成。上世纪90年代初翻译儿童文学作品《神灯》和《绿野仙踪》之一《林基汀克》。1992年出版艾•阿•理查兹《文学批评原理》，此书为20世纪欧美文论丛书之一，为国家社科项目。1997年至2000年间主编《英国散文名篇欣赏》和《英国文化选本》及《美国文化选本》（共4册）。2004年出版外国经典散文丛书之一《英国经典散文》。1997年至1999年出版《英语诵读菁华》（5册）。1993年由台湾联经出版社出版译著《傲慢与偏见续集》。2002年至2006年出版《近代文学批评史》五至八卷翻译。

采访手记

20年，在人类历史长河中不过短短一瞬，但在一个人的一生中，却是弥足珍贵的时间概念。1985年，杨自伍着手翻译国际比较文学权威韦勒克的《近代文学批评史》（下称《批评史》）第一卷时，刚届而立。在他翻译的《批评史》第八卷今年年底即将付梓之际，他已年过半百。

记者日前拨通了杨自伍上海家中的电话。他忆及父亲，回顾了自己二十余载翻译生涯的甘苦，也表达了对翻译事业乃至治学、做人的见解。他高兴地告诉记者，前两天，他刚刚阅毕《批评史》第八卷的清样。至此，《批评史》八卷本、共计350余万字的浩大翻译工程终告完成。

电话中的他兴致很好，谈锋甚健。说起这些年独守书斋译笔不辍的日子，他用一句话概括：“用老老实实的态度去做一件值得去做的事情，同时要善始善终。这是我治学的基本原则。”

父子若师徒

杨自伍的父亲杨岂深先生长期执教于复旦大学，为国内研究英美文学的专家，解放前就曾在《文摘》杂志发表过几十万字涉及西方文史哲领域的翻译文章，上世纪50年代与人合译《夸美纽斯教育学》，其主编的《英国文学选读》和《美国文学选读》是改革开放后国内最早出版的英美文学阅读选本，成为多家高校研究生的必备教材。在父亲的熏陶下，他走上翻译之路似乎是必然的。但是，跟很多同龄人一样，他的成长经历并非一帆风顺——文革期间初中毕业后当过工人，接着辞职自学，后来还在上海外国语大学教过两年书，现在是上海外语教育出版社的英语编辑。

据他回忆，父亲对其的教育是循循善诱式的，“小时候父亲对我耳提面命，到我青年时代准备自己干一番事业，他进而给我一些指导，因为他觉得我似乎可以独立做一些事情了。”由于没有上过大学，他的中国传统文化知识和英文都是在父亲的指点下自学而成的。他至今记得父亲教他修习古文的独特方式：“他手抄古文，然后让我在上面加标点，这令我加深对古文的记忆，理解得更透彻。”直到现在，《世说新语》、《唐宋文举要》等古代典籍仍是他案头常备的读物。

在复旦读书执教一生的杨岂深，工作之外便是读书，心无旁骛，做人和做学问都相对单纯，处于一种为学问而学问的境界。父辈知识分子那种不急功近利的治学心态令杨自伍受益终生：“父亲对我的影响无形大于有形。他教给我做学问应有的态度，知之为知之，不知为不知。我常常会想起他，这种想念除了父子情深之外，更缘于父亲的精神始终在激励我。”

他觉得，自己虽然身处这个经济飞速发展、技术日益进步的时代，内心反而更倾向老一辈学人的治学状态：“想想父亲那代人，最好的年纪都在动荡中度过，等到终于可以安心做学问，人也老了，这是多么遗憾的事情。更遗憾的是，我们这一代，做学问的很多客观条件远比父辈优越，但是态度却大不如前。”

推开译介韦勒克之门

最初推开翻译之门的杨自伍，兴趣焦点放在译介外国文学作品上。他在《外国文艺》等杂志上陆续发表了一些散文、诗歌、儿童文学作品的译作。上世纪80年代初，年事已高、身体欠佳甚至写字都会手抖的杨岂深计划翻译《批评史》第一卷，杨自伍决心协助父亲完成这一工作。那时他一边研读中国古典文论、外国文论，一边在父亲的指导下试译《批评史》。经过一年多的锻炼，他逐渐进入状态，正式开始与父亲合译，从此亦拉开他翻译《批评史》的序幕。这之后，他就很少有时间翻译小说了，只是为台湾联经出版社翻译过《傲慢与偏见续集》（1993年）。

记者从《批评史》第一卷“译者前言”中了解到一段插曲：早在1964年，杨岂深在复旦大学外文系资料室初识《批评史》头二卷，便打算将之译介到中国。第二年，高教部拟将此书列为高校文科辅助教材，复旦校方希望他来翻译。他在一年内译出三章，此后便因文革而中止，译稿也因抄家而不知去向。等到他再度提起译笔，已是改革开放初期……

应该说，最终跟读者见面的《批评史》第一卷凝聚了父子二人的心血，该书由杨自伍翻译全稿，杨岂深逐章校改、定稿。杨自伍坦言，当时的翻译过程中自己和父亲有些分歧和争执，也不乏争论得面红耳赤的时候。“毕竟是两代人，对于翻译的理解有所差别。”杨岂深认为翻译应力求平实，“辞达而已矣”，而年轻的杨自伍则认为，这类学术性比较强的外国文艺理论及批评文字有些枯燥，为便于读者阅读及接受起见，理应在翻译的时候适当提高译稿的可读性。那时候，父子二人常常对译稿一页一页甚至具体到段落地展开探讨，若无法达成一致，就在不违背翻译原则和减损译文水准的前提下尽量寻求一个彼此都能接受的程度。这样严谨的翻译过程令杨自伍获益匪浅，如斯记忆也令他至今怀念。

从《批评史》第二卷开始，杨自伍独自踏上翻译这部韦勒克皇皇巨著的“不归路”。这条路走得艰辛而孤寂，也充实而执着。如此规模的翻译工作由他一个人来完成，自然需要巨大的精神力量来支撑。“既然开了头，就不能半途而废。”他这样说。

在翻译中提升自己

同时下译界算作热门的海外文学作品翻译相比，翻译韦勒克的《批评史》无疑要求译者具备更高的起点。事实上，翻译《批评史》，篇幅浩大固然是对译者的莫大考验，更大的困难还来自文本内容本身漫长的时间跨度、丰富的信息量和广博的知识含量。诚如杨氏父子在《批评史》第一卷“前言”中所说，作为一位享誉世界的学者，“韦勒克既博又专”，学术视野异常开阔，跨越多个领域，其广度和深度都令人仰视。而八卷本的《批评史》是他积大半生治学之功，耗费几十年才完成的学术巨著，书中涉及欧美七个国家，时间跨度为两个世纪（1750-1950）的文学批评史，牵涉到众多文学流派、事件、人物和作品。翻译的难度可想而知。

要想顺利翻译韦勒克的《批评史》，译者至少在知识积累、学术深度和译笔上应有基本的“对话”基础，这犹如武侠小说中跟高手过招一样。杨自伍能够明显地体会到翻译《批评史》对自己很多方面的提升有很大帮助。“我觉得自己现在的学术素养及治学状态与当年有不小的差别。现在有些人所理解的‘比较文学’还是比较狭义而言的，有时停留于具体文本进行对比的层面。而通过翻译韦勒克的这些著作，让我对此有更深更广的认识。他堪称20世纪比较文学专家当中百科全书式的人物。”

谈到如何在翻译《批评史》的过程中遵循信、达、雅三项标准，杨自伍表示，任何一种翻译，信都是第一位的，“信、达、雅很难作为衡量所有翻译作品的统一标准。不同文本类别的翻译要视译者对作者及其作品的了解程度、通过作品与作者神交的深浅来界定。这当中也有悟性的成份。”他强调，翻译学术著作和翻译文学作品有所不同，“学术翻译首先要确保内容严谨，文学作品翻译则以传神达意为要。其实在学术翻译过程中，门外功夫要甚于翻译本身，有时查对资料花费的时间要远远超过翻译的时间。”

翻译《批评史》第二至第八卷的过程中，杨自伍曾经建议出版社找人共同参与，早日完成这项工作，因为这样可以提高翻译的效率，早日完成工作也可腾出精力再去翻译一些自己感兴趣的其他作品，“但是出版方上海译文出版社为了保证整套书的翻译质量，对译者人选宁缺毋滥，最终还是坚持由我一个人完成。”杨自伍苦笑说。

在20年的翻译历程中，杨自伍放弃了很多。特别是在翻译第五至第八卷的将近5年时间里，他除了必要的休息时间，其他几乎所有业余时间都用来翻译。“我在大年初一也只是休息半天而已。”在出版社担任英语编辑的杨自伍，八小时之内朝九晚五，天天上班，做英语教材的编辑、改稿工作。“那些稿子基本上跟文学和文学批评没有关系。”他半开玩笑地形容自己这种状态是完全分裂的。这些年来他翻译的作品将近400万字，有一半以上是业余时间完成的。为了节约时间，他很少与外界联系，也尽量减少应酬，还为此牺牲了个人兴趣范畴的文学作品翻译。“上海的方平、吴劳等翻译界的前辈，看到我这些年专注于韦勒克《批评史》的翻译而无暇翻译文学作品，偶尔也会为我感到一丝遗憾，甚至劝阻过我。”他说，“对我来说，翻译《批评史》更多是一种责任感，是非常强烈的文化责任感。《易经》上讲‘靡不有始，鲜克有终’，我一直以此自勉。”

虽然已经将《批评史》八卷全部译完，但杨自伍的工作仍未结束，他还要对这八卷进行一番修订。特别是前四卷，由于翻译得比较早，修订的幅度会更大，甚至会逐句逐句地。他希望修订后的前四卷译文水平能向后四卷靠拢。“《批评史》第八卷的翻译稿一交稿，我就开始修订第一卷了，目前第一卷已经修订完毕，第二卷的修订正在进行中。”他告诉记者，等到自己将八卷全部修订完毕之后，会由上海译文出版社同时推出。他对出版方的做法表示赞许：“这些年来，出版社从未向我催过稿，他们非常理解我的处境，使我能够比较从容、平静地完成翻译工作。”对于自己译完的东西，他时常觉得不完美：“在这方面我是个完美主义者，或者说希望能做到完美。我很认同傅雷先生的说法，在翻译这件事上，‘少一点则不完美’。我宁可译得慢一些，也要保证质量。”第八卷五十几万字的稿子，即使是二校样，他的改动也不下数千处，之后还要再仔细看。“校对对红之后我还是要再拿回来看一次。”

杨自伍不否认这些年潜心翻译《批评史》会不时感到寂寞，但他也认为，翻译这套书是需要耐得住寂寞的：“我用了这么长的时间，花费这么大的精力来做这件事，当然不是为了名利，否则我随便做什么都会比做这个得到的名利大。但是从文化积累和学术价值的角度来看，《批评史》要比很多其他的海外著作更值得译介到中国。”面对如今国内翻译界的很多翻译者追逐热门选题来译或者搞重复翻译的情况，他平静地说：“这些年来，我翻译过的书目和文章基本上都是首次介绍，未有重译的。”

坚守超然　自得其乐

说今天的杨自伍心境更加超然并不为过，在翻译《批评史》的过程中，他感受到有形或无形的快乐。

身居中国最具经济实力、最富国际化大都市色彩的上海，杨自伍却觉得这个城市的繁华与他关系不大。他笑称自己并不太喜欢这个生于斯长于斯的城市，因为“上海太摩登了”。隔着窗外的喧嚣，书房中的他过着一种隐士般的生活。他有时候会想到晚年的王国维，想到那一代学人的选择。除了使用电脑，上网查查资料收发电子邮件，他现在的物质生活同15年前相比没有太大的区别，“这一点是受我父亲的影响，他不太讲究物质生活，一生中也没有什么积蓄。”他理解并尊重其他人的生活方式，同时近乎顽固地坚守自己的方式。“如果不能左右大的环境，至少要独善其身。我只是觉得做一件事情就要争取做好，没有必要考虑那么多，没什么好患得患失的。”

伏案翻译之余，杨自伍最喜欢聆听古典音乐。歌剧、钢琴曲、交响乐都是他喜欢的，疲劳的时候，翻译的时候，陪伴他的常常就是巴赫、威尔第、莫扎特等音乐家的作品。在他每年屈指可数的外出活动中，带着女儿去听古典音乐会是难得的放松和享受。这些年来，由于埋头翻译，他几乎没有时间做家务，“好在妻子和女儿对我十分支持，我也尽量在周末略尽家庭义务。”

在结束采访之前，杨自伍说起他在青少年时期接触了尼采的著作，受尼采影响很大，觉得自己“是个悲观主义者”。小时候，父亲对他说的一句话深深刻在他的心底：“对一个人来说，生命只是面临一个选择——选择做一头快乐的猪，还是做一个痛苦的人。”他对此的理解是：“要做一个真正的人，免不了有痛苦，即所谓生于忧患死于安乐。人还是要有一种境界，这种境界需要修炼。”父亲对他的这种心情十分理解，曾在晚年对他说，希望他40以后能够活得稍微轻松一些，不要有那么大的压力。

不过，看来他的翻译生涯还在继续。

Of Riches by Francis Bacon

1 I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta; for as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon :Where much is, there are many to consume it; and what hath the owner, but the sight of it with his eyes? The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a custody of them, or a power of dole and donative of them, or a frame of them, but no solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones and rarities? And what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might seem to be some use of great riches? But then you will say, they may be of use to buy men out of dangers or troubles; as Solomon saith: Riches are as a stronghold in the imagination of the rich man. But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagination, and not always in fact; for, certainly, great riches have sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully and leave contentedly. Yet have no abstract nor friarly contement of them, but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthumus; in seeking to increase his fortune it was apparent that he sought not the gratification of avarice, but the means of doing good. Hearken also to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of riches: he who maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

论财富

曹明伦译

笔者认为财富不过是德行的包袱。包袱一词用拉丁字眼impedimenta更好，因为财富之于德行，不啻辎重之于军队。辎重不可缺少，亦不可滞后，但它每每有碍行军，有时为顾辎重甚至会贻误战机或妨碍胜利。巨额财富无什么真正的用处，除修斋布施之外，其他用途均属幻想。因此所罗门有言：财物越多，食者越众；除了饱饱眼福，财主得何益呢？任何人的个人享用都不可能达到非要巨额钱财的地步，有巨额钱财者只是保管着钱财，或拥有施舍捐赠的权利，或享有富豪的名声，但钱财于他们并无实用的用处。君不见有人为几粒石子或罕见之物开出天价？君不见有人为使巨额财富显得有用而着手某些铺张的工程？不过读者也许会说，钱财可以替人消灾化难，正如所罗门之言：钱财在富人心里就像一座城堡。然此言正好道破天机，那城堡是在心里，而绝非在现实之中；因为不可否认，钱财替人招灾致祸的时候远远多于替人消灾化难的时候。别为炫耀而追求财富，只挣你取之有道、用之有度、施之有乐且遗之有慰的钱财。但也别像修道士那样不食人间烟火，对金钱全然不屑一顾。只是挣钱要分清有道无道，就像西赛罗当年替波斯图穆斯辩护时所说：他追求财富增加显然不是为满足其贪婪之心，而是为了得到行善的资力。还应听从所罗门的教诲，别急欲发财，“急欲发财者将失去其清白”。

2 The poets feign, that when Plutus(which is riches)is sent from Jupite, he limps and goes slowly; but when he is sent from Pluto, he runs and is swift of foot; meaning, that riches gotten by good means and just labour pace slowly, but when they come by the death of others(as by the cours of inheritance, testaments, and the like), they come tumbling upon a man. But it might be applied likewise to Pluto, taking him for the devil; for when riches come from the devil(as by fraud and oppression, and unjust means), they come upon speed. The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul: parsimony is one of the best, and yet is not innocent, for it withholdeth men from works of liberality and charity. The improvement of the ground is the most natural obtaining of riches, for it is our great mother’s blessing, the earth’s; but it is slow. And yet where men of great wealth do stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceeding. I knew a noblenan in England that had the greatest audits of any man in my time: a great grazier, a great sheepmaster, a great timbe-man, a great collier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man, and so of iron, and a number of the like points of husbandry; so as the earth seemes a sea to him in respect of the perpetual importation.

在诗人的虚构中，财神普路图斯受天帝朱庇特派遣时总是磨磨蹭蹭，而受冥王普路托差遣时却跑得飞快。这段虚构的寓意是，靠诚实和汗水致富通常很慢，但靠他人的死亡发财（如继承遗产之类）则快如钱财从天而降。但若把普路托视为魔鬼，这种虚构也恰如其分；因为当财富来自魔鬼时（如靠欺诈、压迫和其他不公正的手段获取财富），的确来得很快。致富的途径千条万条，可多半都是邪路歪道；其中吝啬最为清白，但也并非清白无瑕，因为它阻止世人乐善好施。利用土地致富是最合理的生财之道，因土地提供的财富乃大地之母的恩赐，只是走这条路致富较慢。但已有万贯家财者若肯屈尊经营土地，其家财定会成倍增加。笔者曾识一位英格兰贵族，他当时需审计的账目为全国之最，因为他拥有大片的麦田、林场、牧场和羊群，还拥有巨大的煤矿、铅矿、铁矿和诸如此类的产业，所以大地于他就像是一片财源滚滚且永不枯竭的海洋。

3 It was truly observed by one, that himself came very hardly to a little riches, and very easily to great riches; for when a man’s stock is come to that, that he can expect the prime of market, and overcome those bargains which for their greatness are few men’s money, and be partner in the industries of younger trades and vocation are honest, and furthered by two things chiefly: by diligence, and by a good name for good and fair dealing. But the gains of bargains are of a more doubtful nature, when men shall wait upon others’ necessity, broke by servants and instuments to draw them on, put off others cunningly that would be better chapman, and the like practice, which are crafty and naught. As for the chopping of bargains, when a man buys not to hold, but to sell over again, that commonly gindeth double, both upon the seller and upon the buyer.Sharings do greatly enrich, if the hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury is the certainest means of gain, though one of the worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his bread in the sweat of another’s brow; and, besides, doth plough upon Sundays. But yet certain though it be, it hath flaws, for that the scriveners and brokers do value unsound men to serve their own turn. The fortune in being the first in an invention or in a privilege doth cause sometimes a wonderful overgrowth in riches, as it was with the first sugar-man in the Canaries. Therefore, if a man can play the true logician, to have as well judgment as invention, he may do great matters, especially if the times be fit. He that resteth upon gains certain shall hardly grow to great riches, and he that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break and come to poverty: it is good therefore to guard adventures with certainties that may uphold losses. Monopolies and coemption of wares for resale, where they are not restrained, are great means to enrich, especially if the party have intelligence what things are like to come into request, and so store himself beforehand. Riches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humours, and other servile conditions, they may be placed amongst the worst. As for fishing for testaments and executorships(as Tacitus saith of Seneca: he seized wills and wardships as with a net)it is yet worse, by how much men submit themselves to meaner person than in service.

有人说他挣小钱很难赚大钱却很容易，此话一点不假。因为一个人若像他那样拥有雄厚的资金，便可囤积居奇，恃强凌弱并与人合伙经营年轻人的行当，这样他非赚大钱不可。一般行当和职业挣的是老实钱，其挣钱手段主要有二：一是勤劳奋勉，二是童叟无欺。但靠讲盘议价而盈利，其公道就令人生疑；凡乘人急需而漫天要价，凡贿赂雇员和代理人而招揽生意，或是耍手腕排挤其他可能更公平的商人等等，都是奸诈卑劣之举。至于做投机买卖，即购物并非为自己所用，而是为了再高价出售，这对原卖主和二手顾客都可谓敲诈。如果选择的搭档可靠，合伙经营通常有大利可图。放债取息乃最可靠的发财之路，但也是最有害的邪路，因放债取息者不仅让别人流汗自己吃面包，而且还在安息日盈利。不过放债取息虽说可靠，但也并非没有风险，因公证人和中间人常常为了私利替没有偿还能力的人作信誉担保。若有幸率先获得某项发明或某项专利，有时候也可大发横财，如最先在加那利群岛建糖厂的那人。因此，一个人若能充当真正的逻辑学家，即善于发现又善于判断，那他就可以大捞一把，尤其是遇上走运得幸之时。靠固定收入生活者终归难成巨富，而倾其所有投机者又往往会倾家荡产；所以最好是有份固定收入作投机冒险的后盾，这样即使投机失败也有退路。在没有法律限制的地方，垄断商品并囤积待售乃发财之重要手段，在当事者能预见何种商品将供不应求，从而事先囤积时更是如此。出仕受禄固然最为风光，但若俸禄之获取是靠阿谀奉承、偷合苟容或其它奴颜婢膝的行径，那这种钱亦可列为最卑污之类。至于攫取遗嘱及遗嘱执行人身份（像塔西佗所说的塞内加那样用网捕捞遗嘱和遗孤监护权），这比前者更为卑污，因前者讨好的毕竟是公侯君王，而后者得讨好一些卑鄙小人。

4 Believe not much that seem to despise riches, for they despise them that despair of them; and none worse when they come to them. Be not penny-wise have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes them must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to their kindred, or to the public, and moderate portion prosper best of prey round to seize on him, if he be not the better established in years and judgment. Likewise, glorious gifts and foundation are like sacrifices without salt, and but the painted sepulchers of alms, which soon will putrery and corrupt inwardly. Therefore, measure not thine advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure; and defer not charities till death, for certainly if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man’s than of his own.

别太相信那些看上去蔑视财富的人，他们之所以蔑视财富乃因他们对发财已不抱希望；他们一旦发财仍然会惜财。别在小钱上精打细算，须知钱财长有翅膀，有时它们会自己飞走，有时你得放它们飞走，以便带来更多财富。人们通常把财产留给儿女或捐给社会，但或留或捐都以数额适中为妙。若子嗣年少，尚缺乏见识，留给他一大份家业不啻是留下了一块诱饵，将招来各种猛禽对他进行围攻。同样，为虚名而馈赠的捐款和基金就像没加盐的祭品，不过是善行之涂金抹彩的墓冢，里面很快就会开始腐烂。因此勿用数量作你捐赠的标准，而要用标准来规定你捐赠的用途；并且不可把捐赠之事拖到弥留之时，因平心而论，死到临头才捐赠那无疑是在慷他人之慨。

Of Beauty Francis Bacon

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy not to err, than in labor to produce excellency. And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior than virtue.

But this holds not always: for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alicibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor is more than of color; and that of decent and gracious motion more than that of favor.  That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath(<废>have的第三人称单数现在式) not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles or Albert Durer were the more trifler(不务正业的人；吊儿郎当的人); whereof the one would make a personage(要人, 名流, 个人) by geometrical(几何学的，几何的)  proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to  make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh as excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is  no  marvel  though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum  autumnus pulcher [beautiful persons have a beautiful autumn]; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth as to make up the comeliness.

Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth,  and  an  age a  little  out of countenance;  but yet certainly again, if it light well, it make the virtue shine, and vices blush.

Notes

Apelles: Greek painter whose works, none of which survives, are described in ancient writings.阿佩利斯古代文献里描写的一位古希腊画家，其作品全部失传

divers: Various; several; sundry.

felicity: Great happiness; bliss.

dissolute: Lacking moral restraint; indulging in sensual pleasures or vices. 放纵的，生活放荡的缺少道德限制；沉溺于性快乐或堕落中

谈美

王佐良 译

德行犹如宝石，朴素最美；其于人也，则有德者但须形体悦目，不必面貌俊秀，与其貌美，不若气度恢宏。人不尽知：绝色无大德也；一如自然劳碌终日，但求无过，而无力制成上品。因此美男子有才而无壮志，重行而不重德。

但亦不尽然。罗马大帝奥古斯特与泰特思，法王菲力浦，英王爱德华四世，古雅典之亚西拜提斯，波斯之伊斯迈帝，皆有宏图壮志而又为当时最美之人也。美不在颜色艳丽而在面目端正，又不尽在面目端正而在举止文雅合度。美之极致，非图画所能表，乍见所能识。举凡最美之人，其部分比例，必有异于常人之处。阿贝尔与丢勒皆画家也，其画人像也，一则按照几何学之比例，一则集众脸形之长于一身，二者谁更不智，实难断言，窃以为此等画像除画家本人外，恐无人喜爱也。余不否认画像之美可以超绝尘寰，但此美必为神笔，而非可依规矩得之者，乐师之谱成名曲亦莫不皆然。人面如逐部细察，往往一无是处，观其整体则光彩夺目。美之要素既在于举止，则年长美过年少亦无足怪。古人云：“万美之中秋为最。”年少而著美名，率由宽假，盖鉴其年事之少，而补其形体之不足也。

美者犹如夏日蔬果，易腐难存；要之，年少而美者常无行，年长而美者不免面有惭色。虽然，但须托体得人，则德行因美而益彰，恶行见美而愈愧。

Of Truth by Francis Bacon

谈真理

王佐良译

WHAT is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and labor, which men take in finding out of truth, nor again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself. One of the later school of the Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it, that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell; this same truth, is a naked, and open day-light, that doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs, of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond, or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy vinum daemonum, because it fireth the imagination; and yet, it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt; such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments, and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teaches that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last, was the light of reason; and his sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breathed and inspirit light, into the face of his chosen. The poet, that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure, to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling, or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.

真理何物？皮拉多笑而问曰，未待人答，不顾而去。却有见异思迁之徒，以持见不变为束缚，而标榜思想与行动之自由意志。先哲一派曾持此见，虽已逝去，尚有二三散漫书生依附旧说，唯精力已大不如古人矣。固然，真理费力难求，求得之后不免限制思想，唯人之爱伪非坐此一因，盖由其天性中原有爱伪之劣念耳。希腊晚期学人审问此事，不解人为何喜爱伪说，既不能从中得乐，如诗人然，又不能从中获利，如商人然，则唯有爱伪之本体而已。余亦难言究竟，唯思真理犹如白日无遮之光，直照人世之歌舞庆典，不如烛光掩映，反能显其堂皇之美。真理之价，有似珍珠，白昼最见其长，而不如钻石，弱光始露其妙。言中有伪，常能更增其趣。盖人心如尽去其空论、妄念、误断、怪想，则仅余一萎缩之囊，囊中尽装怨声呻吟之类，本人见之亦不乐矣！事实如此，谁复疑之？昔有长老厉责诗歌，称之为魔鬼之酒，即因其扩展幻想，实则仅得伪之一影耳。为害最烈者并非飘略人心之伪，而系滞留人心之伪，前已言及。然不论人在堕落时有几许误断妄念，真理仍为人性之至善。盖真理者，唯真理始能判之，其所教者为求真理，即对之爱慕；为知真理，即得之于心；为信真理，即用之为乐。上帝创世时首创感觉之光，末创理智之光，此后安息而显圣灵。先以光照物质，分别混沌；次以光照人面，对其所选之人面更常耀不灭。古有诗人信非崇高，言则美善，曾有妙语云：“立岸上见浪催船行，一乐也；立城堡孔后看战斗进退，一乐也；然皆不足以比身居真理高地之乐也；真理之峰高不可及，可吸纯洁之气，可瞰谷下侧行、瞭徨、迷雾、风暴之变”。景象如此，但须临之以怜世之心，而不可妄自尊大也。人心果能 行爱心，安天命，运转于真理之轴上，人间诚为世上天国矣。

To pass from theological, and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear, and round dealing, is the honor of man's nature; and that mixture of falsehoods, is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding, and crooked courses, are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice, that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false and perfidious. And therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason, why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge? Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood, and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal, to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men; it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth.

如自神学哲学之真理转论社会事务，则人无论遵守与否，皆识一点，即公开正直之行为人性之荣，如掺伪则如金银币中掺杂，用时纵然方便，其值大贬矣。盖此类歪斜之行唯毒蛇始为，其因无公行之足，唯有暗爬之腹也。恶行之中，令人蒙羞最大者莫过于虚伪背信。谎言之为奇耻大辱也，蒙田探究真理，曾云：“如深究此事，指人说谎犹言此人对上帝勇而对人怯也，该说慌者敢于面对上帝，而畏避世人”。善哉此言。虚伪背信之恶，最有力之指责莫过于称之为向上帝鸣最后警钟，请来裁判无数世代之人，盖圣经早已预言，基督降世时，“世上已无信义可言矣”。

Of Great Place by Sir Francis Bacon

论高位

王佐良译

MEN in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business. So as they have no freedom; neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty: or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place is laborious; and by pains, men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base; and by indignities, men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall, or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing. Cum non sis qui fueris, non esse cur velis vivere. Nay, retire men cannot when they would, neither will they, when it were reason; but are impatient of privateness, even in age and sickness, which require the shadow; like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street door, though thereby they offer age to scom. Certainly great persons had need to borrow other men's opinions, to think themselves happy; for if they judge by their own feeling, they cannot find it; but if they think with themselves, what other men think of them, and that other men would fain be, as they are, then they are happy, as it were, by report; when perhaps they find the contrary within. For they are the first, that find their own griefs, though they be the last, that find their own faults.

居高位者乃三重之仆役：帝王或国家之臣，荣名之奴，事业之婢也。因此不论其人身、行动、时间，皆无自由可言。追逐权力，而失自由，有治人之权，而无律己之力，此种欲望诚可怪也。历尽艰难始登高位，含辛茹苦，唯得更大辛苦，有时事且卑劣，因此须做尽不光荣之事，方能达光荣之位。既登高位，立足难稳，稍一倾侧，即有倒地之虞，至少亦晦暗无光，言之可悲。古人云：“既已非当年之盛，又何必贪生？”殊不知人居高位，欲退不能，能退之际亦不愿退，甚至年老多病，理应隐居，亦不甘寂寞，犹如老迈商人仍长倚店门独坐，徒令人笑其老不死而已。显达之士率需借助他人观感，方信自己幸福，而无切身之感，从人之所见，世之所羡，乃人云亦云，认为幸福，其实心中往往不以为然；盖权贵虽最不勇于认过，却最多愁善感也。

Certainly men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business, they have no time to tend their health, either of body or mind. Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.

凡人一经显贵，待己亦成陌路，因事务纠缠，对本人身心健康，亦无暇顾及矣，诚如古人所言：“悲哉斯人之死也，举世皆知其为人，而独无自知之明！”

In place, there is license to do good, and evil; whereof the latter is a curse: for in evil, the best condition is not to win; the second, not to can. But power to do good, is the true and lawful end of aspiring. For good thoughts (though God accept them) yet, towards men, are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act; and that cannot be, without power and place, as the vantage, and commanding ground.

居高位，可以行善，亦便于作恶。作恶可咒，救之之道首在去作恶之心，次在除作恶之力；而行善之权，则为求高位者所应得，盖仅有善心，虽为上帝嘉许，而凡人视之，不过一场好梦耳，唯见之于行始有助于世，而行则非有权力高位不可，犹如作战必据险要也。

Merit and good works, is the end of man's motion; and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest. Et conversus Deus, ut aspiceret opera quae fecerunt manus suae, vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis; and then the sabbath.

行动之目的在建功立业，休息之慰藉在自知功业有成。盖人既分享上帝所造之胜景，自亦应分享上帝所订之休息。《圣经》不云乎：“上帝回顾其手创万物，无不美好”，于是而有安息日。

In the discharge of thy place, set before thee the best examples; for imitation is a globe of precepts. And after a time, set before thee thine own example; and examine thyself strictly, whether thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the examples, of those that have carried themselves ill, in the same place; not to set off thyself, by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself, what to avoid. Reform therefore, without bravery, or scandal of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to create good precedents, as to follow them. Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein, and how, they have degenerate; but yet ask counsel of both times; of the ancient time, what is best; and of the latter time, what is fittest.

执行职权之初，宜将最好先例置诸座右，有无数箴言，可资借镜。稍后应以己为例，严加审查，是否已不如初。前任失败之例，亦不可忽，非为揭人之短，显已之能，以其可作前车之鉴也。因此凡有兴革，不宜大事夸耀，亦不可耻笑古人，但须反求诸己，不独循陈规，而且创先例也。凡事须追本溯源，以见由盛及衰之道。然施政定策，则古今皆须征询：古者何事最好，今者何事最宜。

Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know beforehand, what they may expect; but be not too positive and peremptory; and express thyself well, when thou digressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place; but stir not questions of jurisdiction; and rather assume thy right, in silence and de facto, than voice it with claims, and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of inferior places; and think it more honor, to direct in chief, than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps, and advices, touching the execution of thy place; and do not drive away such, as bring thee information, as meddlers; but accept of them in good part.

施政须力求正规，俾众知所遵循，然不可过严过死；本人如有越轨，必须善为解释。本位之职权不可让，管辖之界限则不必问，应在不动声色中操实权，忌在大庭广众间争名分。下级之权，亦应维护，与其事事干预，不如遥控总领，更见尊荣。凡有就分内之事进言献策者，应予欢迎，并加鼓励；报告实况之人，不得视为好事，加以驱逐，而应善为接待。

The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness, and facility.

掌权之弊有四，曰：拖，贪，暴，圆。

For delays: give easy access; keep times appointed; go through with that which is in hand, and interlace not business, but of necessity.

拖者拖延也，为免此弊，应开门纳客，接见及时，办案快速，非不得已不可数事混杂。

For corruption: do not only bind thine own hands, or thy servants' hands, from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also, from offering. For integrity used doth the one; but integrity professed, and with a manifest detestation of bribery, doth the other. And avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of corruption. Therefore always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change; and do not think to steal it. A servant or a favorite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought, but a by-way to close corruption.

贪者贪污也，为除此弊，既要束住本人及仆从之手不接，亦须束住来客之手不送，为此不仅应廉洁自持，且须以廉洁示人，尤须明白弃绝贿行。罪行固须免，嫌疑更应防。性情不定之人有明显之改变，而无明显之原因，最易涉贪污之嫌。因此，意见与行动苟有更改，必须清楚说明，当众宣告，同时解释所以变化之理由，决不可暗中为之。如有仆从捻友为主人亲信，其受器重也别无正当理由，则世人往往疑为秘密贪污之捷径。

For roughness: it is a needless cause of discontent: severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority, ought to be grave, and not taunting.

粗暴引起不满，其实完全可免。严厉仅产生畏惧，粗暴则造成仇恨。即使上官申斥，亦宜出之以严肃，而不应恶语伤人。

As for facility: it is worse than bribery. For bribes come but now and then; but if importunity, or idle respects, lead a man, he shall never be without. As Solomon saith, To respect persons is not good; for such a man will transgress for a piece of bread.

至于圆通，其害过于贿行，因贿行仅偶尔发生，如有求必应，看人行事，则积刁难返矣。所罗门曾云：“对权贵另眼看待实非善事，盖此等人能为一两米而作恶也。”

Of Marriage and Single Life by Sir France Bacon

谈结婚与独身

HE THAT hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and means, have married and endowed the public. Yet it were great reason that those that have children, should have greatest care of future times; unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are, who though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times impertinences. Nay, there are some other, that account wife and children, but as bills of charges. Nay more, there are some foolish rich covetous men, that take a pride, in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer. For perhaps they have heard some talk, Such an one is a great rich man, and another except to it, Yea, but he hath a great charge of children; as if it were an abatement to his riches. But the most ordinary cause of a single life, is liberty, especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous minds, which are so sensible of every restraint, as they will go near to think their girdles and garters, to be bonds and shackles.

Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants; but not always best subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all fugitives, are of that condition. A single life doth well with churchmen; for charity will hardly water the ground, where it must first fill a pool. It is indifferent for judges and magistrates; for if they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant, five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly in their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives and children; and I think the despising of marriage amongst the Turks, maketh the vulgar soldier more base. Certainly wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they may be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hardhearted (good to make severe inquisitors), because their tenderness is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses, vetulam suam praetulit immortalitati. Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do, if she find him jealous. Wives are young men's mistresses; companions for middle age; and old men's nurses. So as a man may have a quarrel to marry, when he will. But yet he was reputed one of the wise men, that made answer to the question, when a man should marry, - A young man not yet, an elder man not at all. It is often seen that bad husbands, have very good wives; whether it be, that it raiseth the price of their husband's kindness, when it comes; or that the wives take a pride in their patience. But this never fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends' consent; for then they will be sure to make good their own folly.

王佐良译

夫人之有妻儿也不啻已向命运典质，从此难成大事，无论善恶。兴大业，立大功，往往系未婚无儿者所为，彼辈似已与公众结亲，故爱情产业并以付之。按理而论，有子女者应对未来岁月最为关切，因已将至亲骨肉托付之矣。独身者往往思虑仅及己身，以为未来与己无关。有人则视妻儿为负债。更有贪而愚者，以无儿女为荣，以为如此更可夸其富足。此辈或曾闻人议论，一云此人为大富，另一则云否也，其人有多子负担，其财必损。然独身之原因，最常见者为喜自由，尤其自娱任性之人不耐任何束缚，身上褡带亦视为桎梏。

未婚者为最好之友、最好之主、最好之仆，然非最好之臣，因其身轻易遁也，故亡命徒几全未婚。未婚适合教会中人，因如先须注水于家池则无余泽以惠人矣。然对法官行政官等则无足轻重，彼辈如收礼贪财，劣仆之害五倍于妻。至于士兵，余尝见将军以渠等妻儿所望激励之，而土耳其人鄙视婚姻，故其士兵更为卑劣。妻儿对人确为一种锻炼。单身者本可心慈过人，因其资财少耗也，实则由于不常触其心肠，反而更为严酷(因而适为审判异端之官)。庄重之人守规不渝，为夫常能爱妻，是故人云优利息斯“爱老妻胜过不朽也”。贞节之妇自恃节操，不免骄纵。欲使妻子守贞从夫，夫须有智；如妻疑夫猜忌，则断难听命矣。妻子者，青年之情妇，中年之伴侣，老年之护士也，故如决心结婚，须善择时。昔有智者答人问何时可婚，曾云：“青年未到时，老年不必矣。”常见恶夫有良妻，是否由于此辈丈夫偶尔和善，更见其可贵，抑或此类妻子以忍耐为美德欤？可确言者，如妻子不顾友朋劝告而自择恶夫，则必尽力弥补前失。

Francis Bacon - Of Negotiating 汉译

曹明伦 译

IT IS generally better to deal by speech than by letter; and by the mediation of a third than by a man’s self. Letters are good, when a man would draw an answer by letter back again; or when it may serve for a man’s justification afterwards to produce his own letter; or where it may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in person is good, when a man’s face breedeth regard, as commonly with inferiors; or in tender cases, where a man’s eye, upon the countenance of him with whom he speaketh, may give him a direction how far to go; and generally, where a man will reserve to himself liberty, either to disavow or to expound. In choice of instruments, it is better to choose men of a plainer sort, that are like to do that, that is committed to them, and to report back again faithfully the success, than those that are cunning, to contrive, out of other men’s business, somewhat to grace themselves, and will help the matter in report for satisfaction’s sake. Use also such persons as affect the business, wherein they are employed; for that quickeneth much; and such, as are fit for the matter; as bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken men for persuasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, froward, and absurd men, for business that doth not well bear out itself. Use also such as have been lucky, and prevailed before, in things wherein you have employed them; for that breeds confidence, and they will strive to maintain their prescription. It is better to sound a person, with whom one deals afar off, than to fall upon the point at first; except you mean to surprise him by some short question. It is better dealing with men in appetite, than with those that are where they would be. If a man deal with another upon conditions, the start or first performance is all; which a man cannot reasonably demand, except either the nature of the thing be such, which must go before; or else a man can persuade the other party, that he shall still need him in some other thing; or else that he be counted the honester man. All practice is to discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares, and of necessity, when they would have somewhat done, and cannot find an apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him; or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him; or those that have interest in him, and so govern him. In dealing with cunning persons,we must ever consider their ends, to interpret their speeches; and it is good to say little to them, and that which they least look for. In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.

说洽谈

就一般情况而论，当面洽谈比书面洽谈更好，而由第三者出面谈比本人出面面谈更好。宜用书面洽谈的情况有：当一个人想得到书面答复的时候，当自己的洽谈信函日后可作为正当凭证的时候，或当面谈有可能受阻或被断章取义的时候。宜当面洽谈的情况有：当一个人德威信会令对方起敬的时候（如与身份较低者洽谈）；当所谈之事微妙，须观察对方的表情方知说话分寸的时候；更通常的事当一个人想对自己的话保留否认或解释之自由的时候。在挑选替自己出面洽谈事务的人时，最好挑那些爽快耿直的人，因为他们一般都受人之托就忠人之事，会向你如实汇报洽谈结果；千万别挑那些狡狯之徒，因为他们会利用替上等人办事的机会抬高自己，而且往往报喜不报忧以博取欢心。另须注意挑选那种乐意去谈你所托之事的人，这样会使洽谈事半功倍；同时亦须注意所选之人得适合所谈之事，如要告诫某人须挑敢说敢言者，要劝说某人须挑善甜言蜜语者，要探询某人须挑心眼灵活者，而要洽谈某项违情悖理的事时，则须挑选那种死心眼的人。还应注意选用那些曾受你之托去洽谈并有幸在洽谈中占上风的人，因为以往的成功会增加他们的自信，从而他们会努力坚持自己提出的条件。

洽谈时最好先婉转地探询对方的意图，不要直截了当地看门见山，除非你是想给对方来个出其不意。须知有求于人德洽谈对手比无所欲求的洽谈对手更容易对付。如果一个人与对方已达成初步协议，那该谁先履行协议就成了最重要的问题，而要合情合理地要求对方先履行义务，二是能使对方相信自己在另外某件事上还需要他的合作，三是能证明自己是最讲信用的人。洽谈的全部策略技巧就是观察对方并利用对方。人们暴露自己的时候往往是受人信任之时、兴奋激动之时、疏于防范之时、万不得已之时，或当想做某事而又找不到适当借口之时。如果你想左右对方，那你就必须了解其习性癖好从而引之，或了解其目的意图从而诱之，或了解其弱点短处从而迫之，要么就是了解到能影响对方的人和事，从而对其加以控制。与狡诈者洽谈必须断定他的真实意图，从而正确理解他的言语，记住在这种人面前应少说为佳，而且说的话要尽可能出乎意料。在洽谈遇到困难时不要急于求成，但必须为洽谈成功做好准备，以期达成协议的时机逐渐成熟。

Francis Bacon - Of Followers and Friends 汉译

曹明伦 译

COSTLY followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, but which are wearisome, and importune in suits. Ordinary followers ought to challenge no higher conditions, than countenance, recommendation, and protection from wrongs. Factious followers are worse to be liked, which follow not upon affection to him, with whom they range themselves, but upon discontentment conceived against some other; whereupon commonly ensueth that ill intelligence, that we many times see between great personages. Likewise glorious followers, who make themselves as trumpets of the commendation of those they follow, are full of inconvenience; for they taint business through want of secrecy; and they export honor from a man, and make him a return in envy. There is a kind of followers likewise, which are dangerous, being indeed espials; which inquire the secrets of the house, and bear tales of them, to others. Yet such men, many times, are in great favor; for they are officious, and commonly exchange tales. The following by certain estates of men, answerable to that, which a great person himself professeth (as of soldiers, to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, and well taken, even in monarchies; so it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind of following, is to be followed as one, that apprehendeth to advance virtue, and desert, in all sorts of persons. And yet, where there is no eminent odds in sufficiency, it is better to take with the more passable, than with the more able. And besides, to speak truth, in base times, active men are of more use than virtuous. It is true that in government, it is good to use men of one rank equally: for to countenance some extraordinarily, is to make them insolent, and the rest discontent; because they may claim a due. But contrariwise, in favor, to use men with much difference and election is good; for it maketh the persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more officious: because all is of favor. It is good discretion, not to make too much of any man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion. To be governed (as we call it) by one is not safe; for it shows softness, and gives a freedom, to scandal and disreputation; for those, that would not censure or speak ill of a man immediately, will talk more boldly of those that are so great with them, and thereby wound their honor. Yet to be distracted with many is worse; for it makes men to be of the last impression, and full of change. To take advice of some few friends, is ever honorable; for lookers-on many times see more than gamesters; and the vale best discovereth the hill. There is little friendship in the world, and least of all between equals, which was wont to be magnified. That that is, is between superior and inferior, whose fortunes may comprehend the one the other.

谈门客与朋友

不可喜欢身价太高的门客，只怕那只会使你像孔雀一样长了尾巴短了翅膀。我说身价太高并非仅指那种消耗钱者，也指那些令人厌倦者和纠缠不休者。须知除主人提供的赞助、推荐和庇护之外，一般门客不应再提出更高的要求。而那些好拉帮结派的门客更不可喜欢，因为他们来投靠你门下并非出于对你的敬慕，而是出于对另外某人心怀不满，于是接踵而来的就往往是我们常见的大人物之间的误会。那种爱替主人当吹鼓手的门客也往往会招来麻烦，因为他们只顾吹嘘不知保密，结果会成事不足败事有余，不仅有损主人的名望，而且为主人招来妒忌。还有一种门客也很危险，他们实际上是密探，善于打探主人家的秘密并将其告诉别人，然而这种人每每最受宠信，因为他们既殷勤又谦恭，而且常常能告诉主人他们用主人家的秘密交换而来的他人的秘密。至于说某位大人物被一些与其职业身份相符的追随，这一直都被视为民间常事，即使在君主制国家也无可厚非，只要被追随着不过分炫耀或过于深孚众望。但被追随者中之最可敬者莫过于那种意欲使各种人的美德都得以发挥的人；然若是追随者们的德行无明显差异，则宁可收纳那种才能尚可者也不要那种精明能干的人；而且毋庸讳言，若在人心不古的年代，积极行动者比才智出众者更为有用。当然，君王对政府中的同级官员应一视同仁，此乃天经地义之举，因若是不顾惯例对某人格外器重，那被器重者未免会趾高气扬，而其他同级官员则会产生不满，因为他们有权要求公平对待；但豢养门客的情况却恰好相反，对待他们有亲疏之别才是上策，因为这回使受器重者更感知遇之恩，而其他人对你则会更加殷勤，毕竟一切都取决于主人的欢心。对初接纳的任何门客都须谨慎，不可对其言听计从，因为此时你还掌握不好分寸。而一旦被某人牵着鼻子走，那你就将身处险境，须知这种情形会显出你的软弱，使对你的诬蔑诽谤肆意流行，因为连那些平时不直接说三道四的人也会更大胆地言及主人之不是，从而损害主人的名声。不过对众多门客都言听计从比这更糟，因为那会使你的见解变成印刷清样，已经经过多次校改。听取某几位朋友的意见永远是可敬之举，因为旁观者往往比当局者看得清，身在谷底者更识山之面目。世间少有真正的谊，而在势均力敌者之间这种友谊更罕见，惺惺惜惺惺不过是世人惯常的夸张。真正的友谊只存在于身份地位有上下之别者之间，这种朋友才可能风雨同舟，休戚与共。

Francis Bacon - Of Deformity 汉译

曹明伦 译

DEFORMED persons are commonly even with nature; for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature; being for the most part (as the Scripture saith) void of natural affection; and so they have their revenge of nature. Certainly there is a consent, between the body and the mind; and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Ubi peccat in uno, periclitatur in altero. But because there is, in man, an election touching the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars of natural inclination are sometimes obscured, by the sun of discipline and virtue. Therefore it is good to consider of deformity, not as a sign, which is more deceivable; but as a cause, which seldom faileth of the effect. Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person, that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself, to rescue and deliver himself from scorn. Therefore all deformed persons, are extreme bold. First, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn; but in process of time, by a general habit. Also it stirreth in them industry, and especially of this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of others, that they may have somewhat to repay. Again, in their superiors, it quencheth jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they may, at pleasure, despise: and it layeth their competitors and emulators asleep; as never believing they should be in possibility of advancement, till they see them in possession. So that upon the matter, in a great wit, deformity is an advantage to rising. Kings in ancient times (and at this present in some countries) were wont to put great trust in eunuchs; because they that are envious towards all are more obnoxious and officious, towards one. But yet their trust towards them, hath rather been as to good spials, and good wbisperers, than good magistrates and officers. And much like is the reason of deformed persons. Still the ground is, they will, if they be of spirit, seek to free themselves from scorn; which must be either by virtue or malice; and therefore let it not be marvelled, if sometimes they prove excellent persons; as was Agesilaus, Zanger the son of Solyman, AEsop, Gasca, President of Peru; and Socrates may go likewise amongst them; with others.

谈残疾

残疾者通常会向造物主实施报复。既然造物主对他们不公，他们对造物主也会不义。由于残疾者大多（都如《圣经》所言）“缺乏自然亲情”，所以他们对造物主都怀有报复之心。毋容置疑，肉体和精神之间应该有一种平衡，故造物主在一方面弄出差错，那她就得在另一方面担当风险。但由于精神之构筑可以由人选择，不像肉体之形只能听天由命，所以决定性格倾向的命星有时可被修炼和德行的太阳遮掩。由此可见，最好别把残疾视为一个人更可欺的标志，而应该将其看作十之八九会产生结果的动因。凡身上有引人轻视之处者无不具有一种欲使自己免遭白眼的永恒动力，因此所有的残疾人都异常勇敢。这种勇敢起初是为了在被人嘲弄时进行自卫，但久而久之就形成了一种习性。身体之缺陷还往往激起残疾人之勤奋，尤其是勤于观察他人的弱点，以期能发现什么可实施报复之处。另外残疾人可消除占优势者对他们的嫉妒，因他们在健康人眼中不过是可任意轻蔑的对象；残疾人亦可麻痹其竞争对手，因后者绝不会相信残疾人居然可能得到提升，直到他们目睹提升成为事实。因此总的来说，一个大智者的生理缺陷可能成为他们升迁的有利因素。古代（和现代某些国家）的君王都惯于宠信宦官，其原因是对天下人都怀有妒忌之心的宦官更乐于服从并效忠君王一人；不过君王对宦官的宠信与其说是把他们视为合格的行政官员，不如说是看作称职的耳目密探。宦官的情况与残疾人非常相似。二者的共同之处是，如若其智所能他们都将努力消除别人对自己的轻视，而消除的手段非善即恶。所以若偶见残疾者原来是出类拔萃的人物，千万别感到惊讶好奇，须知他们中已有过斯巴达国王阿偈西劳、苏里曼一世之子桑格尔、寓言大师伊索和秘鲁总督加斯卡，而且连苏格拉底和其他一些人也可以归入他们的行列。

Francis Bacon - Of Custom and Education 汉译

曹明伦 译

MEN’S thoughts, are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches, according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds, are after as they have been accustomed. And therefore, as Machiavel well noteth (though in an evil-favored instance), there is no trusting to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words, except it be corroborate by custom. His instance is, that for the achieving of a desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest upon the fierceness of any man’s nature, or his resolute undertakings; but take such an one, as hath had his hands formerly in blood. But Machiavel knew not of a Friar Clement, nor a Ravillac, nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar Gerard; yet his rule holdeth still, that nature, nor the engagement of words, are not so forcible, as custom. Only superstition is now so well advanced, that men of the first blood, are as firm as butchers by occupation; and votary resolution, is made equipollent to custom, even in matter of blood. In other things, the predominancy of custom is everywhere visible; insomuch as a man would wonder, to hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words, and then do, just as they have done before; as if they were dead images, and engines moved only by the wheels of custom. We see also the reign or tyranny of custom, what it is. The Indians (I mean the sect of their wise men) lay themselves quietly upon a stock of wood, and so sacrifice themselves by fire. Nay, the wives strive to be burned, with the corpses of their husbands. The lads of Sparta, of ancient time, were wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without so much as queching. I remember, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s time of England, an Irish rebel condemned, put up a petition to the deputy, that he might be hanged in a withe, and not in an halter; because it had been so used, with former rebels. There be monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with hard ice. Many examples may be put of the force of custom, both upon mind and body. Therefore, since custom is the principal magistrate of man’s life, let men by all means endeavor, to obtain good customs. Certainly custom is most perfect, when it beginneth in young years: this we call education; which is, in effect, but an early custom. So we see, in languages, the tongue is more pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more supple, to all feats of activity and motions, in youth than afterwards. For it is true, that late learners cannot so well take the ply; except it be in some minds, that have not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open, and prepared to receive continual amendment, which is exceeding rare. But if the force of custom simple and separate, be great, the force of custom copulate and conjoined and collegiate, is far greater. For there example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth: so as in such places the force of custom is in his exaltation. Certainly the great multiplication of virtues upon human nature, resteth upon societies well ordained and disciplined. For commonwealths, and good governments, do nourish virtue grown but do not much mend the deeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means, are now applied to the ends, least to be desired.

谈习惯和教育

人的思维取决于性格上的倾向，其言论多取决于被灌输的知识和主张，但其行为却多取决于他们长期养成的习惯。所以马基雅弗利理所当然地指出（尽管是在谈一桩丑恶的事情时指出），不可信性格的力量，不可信言辞之豪迈，除非它们能被习惯证明。这位史学家所谈的事例是：若要使刺杀君王的阴谋获得成功，主谋者就不可只信赖行刺者性格之凶残或誓言之豪迈，而须挑选一名双手已沾过鲜血的杀手。然而马基雅弗利不知会有位克莱芒，不知会有位拉瓦亚克，不知会有位若雷吉，亦不知会有位热拉尔。但尽管如此，他的话仍然基本正确，性格的力量不如习惯的力量强大，只是对誓言的力量已刮目相看。如今宗教狂热如火如荼，以致从未闻过血腥的人提起刀来也和职业屠夫一样毫不手软，在暗杀行刺方面，誓言的力量已同习惯的力量旗鼓相当。不过在其他方面，习惯的支配地位仍随处可见，以致你会惊讶地发现，世人在宣誓、保证、许诺和夸口之后，依然一如既往，一仍旧贯，仿佛他们是一些傀儡或机械，全凭习惯的轮子驱动。此外我们还可见到习俗惯例的统治或专横，其影响之大令人不可思议。印度的天衣教信徒竟会平静地卧于柴堆上，然后自焚以献祭，而且他们的妻子也都追求与丈夫一道葬身火堆。古代的斯巴达男孩习惯在狄安娜祭坛上受鞭笞，甚至挨打的时候一声不吭。我还记得在伊丽莎白女王时代之处，曾有位被判死刑的爱尔兰叛逆者上书总督，要求吊死他时用藤条而不用绞索，因为依照爱尔兰习惯，绞死叛逆者都用藤条。俄罗斯的东正教徒为了赎罪，会在盛满凉水的大盆子里坐上一夜，直到身子被冰冻住。关于习俗对人精神和肉体的强大作用，可举的例子还有很多。由此可见，既然习惯可主宰人德生活，那世人务须努力培养良好的习惯。

毋容置疑，形成于青少年时期的习惯最为良好。我们把这种习惯之形成称为教育，其实那不过是一种早期习惯。如我们所知，青少年舌头更灵活，四肢更柔软，他们更易模仿各种声音腔调，更易学会各种运动技艺，而成年人在这方面比青少年逊色乃不争之事实；虽说有些才智出众者从来不僵化，他们终生都能灵活柔软，随时都能接受可使之更完美的东西，但这种人毕竟太少。如果说单纯而独立的个人习惯力量已不小，那相互结合而成的集体力量则可谓强大无比；因为在集体中有榜样的教导、同伴的鼓励、竞争的鞭策和荣誉的指引，以致习惯的力量在那儿可登峰造极。不可否认，要让人类习性中的优点得以增加，关键在于各社会团体之规章严明和风纪纯正，因为国家和政府只鼓励已经形成的美德，而不改良美德的种子；但如今育种的最有效手段正被用来达到各种最不应该向往的目标，这种现状实乃可叹可悲。

Francis Bacon - Of Nature in Men 汉译

曹明伦 译

NATURE is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom extinguished. Force, maketh nature more violent in the return; doctrine and discourse, maketh nature less importune; but custom only doth alter and subdue nature. He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great, nor too small tasks; for the first will make him dejected by often failings; and the second will make him a small proceeder, though by often prevailings. And at the first let him practise with helps, as swimmers do with bladders or rushes; but after a time let him practise with disadvantages, as dancers do with thick shoes. For it breeds great perfection, if the practice be harder than the use. Where nature is mighty, and therefore the victory hard, the degrees had need be, first to stay and arrest nature in time; like to him that would say over the four and twenty letters when he was angry; then to go less in quantity; as if one should, in forbearing wine, come from drinking healths, to a draught at a meal; and lastly, to discontinue altogether. But if a man have the fortitude, and resolution, to enfranchise himself at once, that is the best:

Optimus ille animi vindex laedentia pectus Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel.

说人之本性

本性往往藏而不露，它有时可被压抑，但很少能被易移。强行压抑只会使本性越发强烈，谈经论道仅可使本性稍有收敛，惟有长期养成的习惯才能改变和制服人之本性。欲彻底改变本性者为自己规定的改变举措不可太多或太少，举措太多往往顾此失彼，从而使人灰心丧气；举措太少虽说易于实施，但却难以达到习与性成。培养新习惯之初可寻求一些帮助，就像初学游泳者借助漂浮物一样；但过些时候就应该在不利条件下培养，就像舞蹈家故意穿厚底鞋练舞一般，因所练所习难于日常所用，用时便会更显熟能生巧、习以为常。若本性根深蒂固，难以根除，改变之举措就须循序渐进：起初可练习及时克制自己的感情，就像易怒者每每默念二十四个字母那样；然后开始减少对痼习之纵容，如欲戒酒者把一杯之量减少到一口之量；到最后再一举革除旧习。但若是一个人有足够的决心和毅力，能在一次尝试中就脱胎换骨，那当然是最理想的情况；毕竟“最维护其精神自由者才能断然砸碎束搏其心灵的锁链，/从而一劳永逸地免除烦忧”。

Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend nature, as a wand, to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right, understanding it, where the contrary extreme is no vice. Let not a man force a habit upon himself, with a perpetual continuance, but with some intermission. For both the pause reinforceth the new onset; and if a man that is not perfect, be ever in practice, he shall as well practise his errors, as his abilities, and induce one habit of both; and there is no means to help this, but by seasonable intermissions. But let not a man trust his victory over his nature, too far; for nature will lay buried a great time, and yet revive, upon the occasion or temptation. Like as it was with AEsop’s damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demutely at the board’s end, till a mouse ran before her. Therefore, let a man either avoid the occasion altogether; or put himself often to it, that he may be little moved with it. A man’s nature is best perceived in privateness, for there is no affectation; in passion, for that putteth a man out of his precepts; and in a new case or experiment, for there custom leaveth him. They are happy men, whose natures sort with their vocations; otherwise they may say, multum incola fuit anima mea; when they converse in those things, they do not affect. In studies, whatsoever a man commandeth upon himself, let him set hours for it; but whatsoever is agreeable to his nature, let him take no care for any set times; for his thoughts will fly to it, of themselves; so as the spaces of other business, or studies, will suffice. A man’s nature, runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.

有古训认为矫枉不妨过正，可用完全相反的习惯来匡正瘤习，此训亦不失为一种良策，只要那相反的习惯不是恶习。人不可强迫自己一鼓作气地养成一种新的习性，这过程中需要有所间歇，其原因有二，一是停下来反省可巩固这新的开端，二是这样做可避免新养成的习性良恶兼备，因若是一个人的本性并不完美，那他一鼓作气养成的新习性也可能良恶兼而有之。人不可过分相信自己已革除旧习，因为本性会长期潜伏，一有机会或一受到刺激又会故态复萌；这就像伊索寓言中那位猫变的姑娘，她本一直娴静地坐在桌子一端，可当老鼠从她跟前蹿过时她马上就旧性复发。因此欲除旧习者要么完全避免开可诱发其本性的机会，要么就天天与之打交道，这样他也许会因见惯不惊而不再受其诱惑。人之本性最见于独处幽居之时、感情强烈之际和新的尝试之中，因独居时不必矫揉造作，激动时会忘掉其清规戒律，而在新的尝试中无惯例可援引。其本性适于其职业者乃幸运之人，而与之相反，哪些所从事的职业与其本性所好不相合者则只能悲叹：“我的心久久地寄人篱下。”在治学方面，人若强迫自己研究某一学科，他得为此安排出固定时间，但若研究某一学科符合他的习性，他就无须为固定时间费神，因为他的心思会自然而然地尽可能花在那上面，只要做其他事物或研究的时间允许。人之性格可长成芳草亦可长成杂莠，故须适时浇灌前者而芟除后者。

Francis Bacon - Of Discourse 汉译

曹明伦 译

SOME, in their discourse, desire rather commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments, than of judgment, in discerning what is true; as if it were a praise, to know what might be said, and not, what should be thought. Some have certain common places, and themes, wherein they are good and want variety; which kind of poverty is for the most part tedious, and when it is once perceived, ridiculous. The honorablest part of talk, is to give the occasion; and again to moderate, and pass to somewhat else; for then a man leads the dance. It is good, in discourse and speech of conversation, to vary and intermingle speech of the present occasion, with arguments, tales with reasons, asking of questions, with telling of opinions, and jest with earnest: for it is a dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade, any thing too far. As for jest, there be certain things, which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man’s present business of importance, and any case that deserveth pity. Yet there be some, that think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is piquant, and to the quick. That is a vein which would be bridled:

Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris.

谈辞令

某些人在言谈中更欣赏能自圆其说的趣言妙语，而不注重可辨明真伪的判断能力，仿佛值得赞赏的应该是知其言，而不应该是知其所思。某些人熟谙一些老生常谈，并善于就此高谈阔论而少有发挥，这种贫乏之辞多半都单调沉闷，而且一经察觉会显得荒唐可笑。善于辞令者德可贵之处只在于能提起话头、缓和话锋并转移话题，这种人可谓是交谈的指挥。言谈话语最好能有抑扬张弛，如在时事中加以论证，在铺叙中夹以推理，忽而提问忽而酬答，有时调侃有时认真，因为老用一种腔调平铺直叙会令人感到乏味，就如人们时下爱说的“简直没劲儿”。说到调侃，须注意有些事不可成为调侃的对象，如宗教、国务、伟人，以及任何人德当务之急和任务值得同情的病症；然而有些人以为言辞不刻薄就不足以显示其风趣，这是一种应加以制止的倾向，“小伙子哟，请少用鞭子，多拉缰绳。”

And generally, men ought to find the difference, between saltness and bitterness. Certainly, he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others’ memory. He that questioneth much, shall learn much, and content much; but especially, if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh; for he shall give them occasion, to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge. But let his questions not be troublesome; for that is fit for a poser. And let him be sure to leave other men, their turns to speak. Nay, if there be any, that would reign and take up all the time, let him find means to take them off, and to bring others on; as musicians use to do, with those that dance too long galliards. If you dissemble, sometimes, your knowledge of that you are thought to know, you shall be thought, another time, to know that you know not. Speech of a man’s self ought to be seldom, and well chosen. I knew one, was wont to say in scorn, He must needs be a wise man, he speaks so much of himself: and there is but one case, wherein a man may commend himself with good grace; and that is in commending virtue in another; especially if it be such a virtue, whereunto himself pretendeth. Speech of touch towards others, should be sparingly used; for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home to any man. I knew two noblemen, of the west part of England, whereof the one was given to scoff, but kept ever royal cheer in his house; the other would ask, of those that had been at the other’s table, Tell truly, was there never a flout or dry blow given? To which the guest would answer, Such and such a thing passed. The lord would say, I thought, he would mar a good dinner. Discretion of speech, is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him, with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words, or in good order. A good continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, shows slowness: and a good reply or second speech, without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in the turn; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare. To use too many circumstances, ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all, is blunt.

况且一般说来，听话人应该能辨出何为风趣何为尖刻。所以好冷嘲热讽者固然会使别人怕他的妙语，但他也肯定有必要担心人家的记忆。交谈中善于提问者不仅自己会获益匪浅，而且可使他人也得到满足，尤其是当他针对别人的专长提问之时，因这样他就使别人乐于开口，而他自己则可不断地获取知识；但所提的问题不可太难，因为太难的问题只适合老师考学生。若作为席谈的主人，务必保证让人人都有说话的机会，如果有人谈锋过健，悬河滔滔而不绝，就应设法转移话题，引其他人加入交谈，就像当年乐师们对付加利亚舞舞迷所做的那样。若对别人确信你懂得的事偶尔佯装不知，那下次你对不懂之事保持沉默别人也会以为你懂。交谈中应该少提自己，提及时应出言谨慎。我曾认识的某人爱说一句风凉话，曰：“过多言及自己的人肯定是智者。”只有在一种情况下人可以既称赞自己又不失体面，那就是在谈另一个人的优点之时，尤其是所谈的那种优点说话人本身也具有。议论应尽量避免针对具体的个人，因为交谈应该像一片原野纵横阡陌，没有直达某人家的专道。我曾认识两位贵族，都是英格兰西部人，其中一位有嘲弄人的癖好，但却爱在家中设华宴款待宾客；而另一位则爱问去过他家的赴宴者：“请说实话，难道席间没人别他讽刺挖苦？”客人们常常回答有诸如此类的事情发生，于是文化的一位常说：“我早料到他会糟践那桌佳肴。”慎言胜过雄辩，所以与人交谈时，话语中听比妙语如珠或有板有眼更为重要。善滔滔大论而不善酬答显反应迟钝；善应答酬对而不善侃侃长谈则显浅陋单薄。就像世人在动物界所见，不善久奔者多敏于腾挪转身，一如猎犬和野兔之分别。谈要点之前铺陈太多会令人生厌，但毫无铺陈又显得生硬。

Francis Bacon - Of Revenge 汉译

曹明伦；水天同 译

REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man’s enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he) take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Cæsar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate.

论复仇

复仇乃一种原始的公道，人之天性越是爱讨这种公道，法律就越是应该将其铲除；因为首先犯罪者只是触犯了法律，而对该罪犯以牙还牙则使法律失去了效用。无可否认，若一个人对其仇敌施加报复，那他与被报复者不过是半斤八两；而若是他不念旧恶，宽大为怀，那他就比对手高出一等，因高抬贵手乃贵人之举。笔者确信，所罗门曾言：“宽恕他人之过失乃宽恕者之荣耀。”过去的已经过去，且一去不返，而聪明人总是努力着眼于现在和将来的事情，所以对过去耿耿于怀着无非是在捉弄自己罢了。世间并无为作恶而作恶之人，作恶者之所以作恶皆为要获得名利享乐或诸如此类的东西。既然如此，我为何要因人爱己胜过爱我而对其发怒呢？而且即便有人纯然是出于恶性而作恶，那也不过像荆棘藜枯一般，刺扎戳钩皆因其没别的本事。最可原谅的一类报复是针对那些没有法律惩治的罪行而施行的报复，但此时报复者须当心，得让自己的报复行为也因没法惩治而逍遥法外，不然报复者的仇敌依然占便宜，因为受伤害的比例是二比一。有人复仇时想要仇敌知晓这复仇来自何方。这样复仇更为雍容大度，因为更痛快的报仇似乎不在于使仇敌皮肉受到伤害，而是要让其悔不当初；不过卑怯而狡猾的懦夫则往往想要暗中施放的冷箭。佛罗伦萨大公科西莫曾用极其强烈的言辞谴责朋友的背信弃义或忘恩负义，他似乎认为这类恶行不可饶恕。他说，你可以在《圣经》里读到基督要我们宽恕仇敌的教诲，但你绝不会读到要我们宽恕朋友的训喻。但迄今为止还是约伯的精神高一格调，他说：“我们怎能只喜欢上帝赐福而抱怨上帝降祸呢？”将此例推及朋友，亦有此问。毋庸置疑，念念不忘复仇者只会使自己的创伤新鲜如初，而那创伤本来是可以愈合的。报公仇多半会为复仇者带来幸运，如为消撒大帝之死而复仇，为佩尔蒂纳之死而复仇，以及为法王亨利三世之死而复仇等等。但报私仇却不会有这般幸运；与此相反，欲报私仇者过的是巫师一般的生活，他们活着时于人有害，死去则可叹可悲。

（曹明伦 译）

Francis Bacon - Of Unity in Religion 汉译

曹明伦；水天同 译

RELIGION being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing, when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The quarrels, and divisions about religion, were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen, consisted rather in rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief. For you may imagine, what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors, and fathers of their church, were the poets. But the true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore, his worship and religion, will endure no mixture, nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words, concerning the unity of the church; what are the fruits thereof ; what the bounds; and what the means.

The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, which is all in all) are two: the one, towards those that are without the church, the other, towards those that are within. For the former; it is certain, that heresies, and schisms, are of all others the greatest scandals; yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body, a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt humor; so in the spiritual. So that nothing, doth so much keep men out of the church, and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity. And therefore, whensoever it cometh to that pass, that one saith, Ecce in deserto, another saith, Ecce in penetralibus; that is, when some men seek Christ, in the conventicles of heretics, and others, in an outward face of a church, that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, Nolite exire, - Go not out. The doctor of the Gentiles (the propriety of whose vocation, drew him to have a special care of those without) saith, if an heathen come in, and hear you speak with several tongues, will he not say that you are mad? And certainly it is little better, when atheists, and profane persons, do hear of so many discordant, and contrary opinions in religion; it doth avert them from the church, and maketh them, to sit down in the chair of the scorners. It is but a light thing, to be vouched in so serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the deformity. There is a master of scoffing, that in his catalogue of books of a feigned library, sets down this title of a book, The Morris-Dance of Heretics. For indeed, every sect of them, hath a diverse posture, or cringe by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings, and depraved politics, who are apt to contemn holy things.

As for the fruit towards those that are within; it is peace; which containeth infinite blessings. It establisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church, distilleth into peace of conscience; and it turneth the labors of writing, and reading of controversies, into treaties of mortification and devotion.

Concerning the bounds of unity; the true placing of them, importeth exceedingly. There appear to be two extremes. For to certain zealants, all speech of pacification is odious. Is it peace, Jehu,? What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. Peace is not the matter, but following, and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans, and lukewarm persons, think they may accommodate points of religion, by middle way, and taking part of both, and witty reconcilements; as if they would make an arbitrament between God and man. Both these extremes are to be avoided; which will be done, if the league of Christians, penned by our Savior himself, were in two cross clauses thereof, soundly and plainly expounded: He that is not with us, is against us; and again, He that is not against us, is with us; that is, if the points fundamental and of substance in religion, were truly discerned and distinguished, from points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention. This is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and done already. But if it were done less partially, it would be embraced more generally.

Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small model. Men ought to take heed, of rending God's church, by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point controverted, is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction. For, as it is noted, by one of the fathers, Christ's coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers colors; whereupon he saith, In veste varietas sit, scissura non sit; they be two things, unity and uniformity. The other is, when the matter of the point controverted, is great, but it is driven to an over-great subtilty, and obscurity; so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious, than substantial. A man that is of judgment and understanding, shall sometimes hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself, that those which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgment, which is between man and man, shall we not think that God above, that knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend the same thing; and accepteth of both? The nature of such controversies is excellently expressed, by St. Paul, in the warning and precept, that he giveth concerning the same, Devita profanas vocum novitates, et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae. Men create oppositions, which are not; and put them into new terms, so fixed, as whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect governeth the meaning.There be also two false peaces, or unities: the one, when the peace is grounded, but upon an implicit ignorance; for all colors will agree in the dark: the other, when it is pieced up, upon a direct admission of contraries, in fundamental points. For truth and falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay, in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.

Concerning the means of procuring unity; men must beware, that in the procuring, or reuniting, of religious unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity, and of human society. There be two swords amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal; and both have their due office and place, in the maintenance of religion. But we may not take up the third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto it; that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force consciences; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against the state; much less to nourish seditions; to authorize conspiracies and rebellions; to put the sword into the people's hands; and the like; tending to the subversion of all government, which is the ordinance of God. For this is but to dash the first table against the second; and so to consider men as Christians, as we forget that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed: Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum.

What would he have said, if he had known of the massacre in France, or the powder treason of England? He would have been seven times more Epicure, and atheist, than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn with great circumspection in cases of religion; so it is a thing monstrous to put it into the hands of the common people. Let that be left unto the Anabaptists, and other furies. It was great blasphemy, when the devil said, I will ascend, and be like the highest; but it is greater blasphemy, to personate God, and bring him in saying, I will descend, and be like the prince of darkness; and what is it better, to make the cause of religion to descend, to the cruel and execrable actions of murthering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of states and governments? Surely this is to bring down the Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven; and set, out of the bark of a Christian church, a flag of a bark of pirates, and assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the church, by doctrine and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both Christian and moral, as by their Mercury rod, do damn and send to hell for ever, those facts and opinions tending to the support of the same; as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that counsel of the apostle would be prefixed, Ira hominis non implet justitiam Dei. And it was a notable observation of a wise father, and no less ingenuously confessed; that those which held and persuaded pressure of consciences, were commonly interested therein., themselves, for their own ends.

谈宗教之统一

宗教是维系人类社会的主要纽带，故保持其自身的真正统一是件幸事。对异教徒而言，关于宗教的争论和分歧乃闻所未闻之恶行。其原因是异教徒的宗教更在于仪式典礼，而非在于某种永恒不变的信仰。因为他们的神学宗师都是些诗人，所以不难想像他们崇奉的是何等宗教。但那位真正的上帝自有其特性，即他是一个“好忌妒的上帝”；因此对他的崇拜和信仰既容不得龙蛇混杂亦容不得分一杯羹。鉴于此，笔者得简单谈谈教会的统一，谈谈何为统一之好处，何为统一之限界，以及何为统一之手段。

（除取悦上帝这首要的一点之外，）统一的好处尚有两点：一是就教门外的俗人而论，一是对教门内的会众而言。对于前者，教门内的异端邪说和宗派分裂无疑比任何丑行都更为丑恶，甚至比仪典不纯还更有辱宗教；盖如在正常人体内，关节之受创或脱臼比血脉违和更糟，教会的宗教事务亦复如此。故而统一之破裂最能阻俗人并驱会众于教门之外。所以当听见有人说“看啊，基督在野外”，而有人则说“看啊，基督在屋内”，即每逢有人在异端集会处寻找基督，而有人则在教堂外面寻找耶稣的时候，那个声音须不断响在世人耳旁，“勿要出去”。那位（其特殊使命使他对未皈依基督者特别在意的）异邦人的导师曾说：“若有外乡人进来，闻尔等言杂语异，人家岂不说尔等癫狂耶？”而要是那些无神论者和世俗之徒闻知教会里有这么多冲突矛盾，其结果肯定也不会更佳，那无疑会使他们远避教门而“坐上嘲讽者的席位”。这不过是从如此严重的问题中引证一区区小事，但它也充分暴露了异端之丑陋。有位讽刺大师在其虚构的一份书目中列出了《异端教徒的舞蹈》这个书名；因每个异端教派都自有其独特的舞姿或媚态，而这些姿态只会引起世俗之徒和腐败政客的嘲笑，那类人天生就爱鄙视宗教事务。

至于统一对教内会众的好处，那就是包含无限神恩的和平；和平可树立信仰，和平可唤起爱心，教会表面的和平可升华成人们内心深处的和平，从而使人把炮制和翻阅争辩之作的工夫用来撰写和披览修行积善的华章。

说到统一的限界，这种限界之真正确定至关重要。眼下似乎有两个极端。在某些狂热派眼中，一切和平言谈都可厌可憎。“和平与否，耶户？——和平与你何干？站到我身后去罢”。狂热派所关心的不是和平，而是拉帮结派。与之相反，某些老底嘉派信徒和态度冷漠者则以为他们可以不偏不倚，可以巧妙地用中庸之法来调和教派纷争，仿佛他们可以在上帝与世人之间作出公断似的。这两个极端都必须避免，而若能用以下两句说法相反的箴言来正确而清晰地解释救世主亲自订下的基督教盟约，上述两个极端就可以避免。这两句箴言分别是“不与我们为伍者即我们的反对者”和“不反对我们者即与我们为伍者”，这就是说，要辨别区分何为信仰中有关宏旨的实质问题，何为不纯然属于信仰而仅仅属于见解、礼仪或概念分歧的枝节问题。这事在许多人看来也许微不足道并且已经解决，但倘若此事之解决少些私心偏见，那它就会受到更普遍的欢迎。

限于本文篇幅，笔者就此仅提供一点忠告。世人得当心勿以两种争论分裂上帝的教会。一种是争论之要点无足轻重，不值得唇枪舌剑，大动肝火；因为正如一位先哲所说：“基督的衣袍的确无缝，但教会的衣袍却五颜六色，”他随即又讲：“就让这衣袍多色吧，但不要将其撕裂”。由此可见，统一和划一是两个概念。另一种争论是所争之要点事关重大，但争到头来却趋于过分玄妙，以致争论变得技巧有余而内容不足。善断是非并善解人意者有时会听到一群愚氓争长论短，并深知那些人的不同说法实则言殊意合，然而他们却永远不可能达成共识；既然人与人之间因判断力不同会造成上述情况，那我们难道不可以认为：洞悉吾辈心思的上帝完全能看出世人的某些言人人殊实则异曲同工，从而对双方的意见都予以认可？关于这类争论的性质。圣保罗在对提摩太的告诫中已有精辟的阐述：“别卷入世俗的空谈和被人误以为是学问的荒谬争论。”世人爱炮制子虚乌有的奇谈怪说，并为其贴上新鲜的术语，而且贴得那样紧，以致本应支配术语的内容反被术语支配。和平或统一亦有两种赝品：一种是基于愚昧无知的和平，因为在蒙昧之中，形形色色的宗派均可和平共处；另一种是靠调和根本矛盾而拼凑的和平，因为在这样的和平中，真理与谬误就像尼布甲尼撒王梦中那尊偶像脚里的金和土一样；二者可互相粘附，但绝不会融为一体。

说到实现统一的手段，人们务须当心，切莫在实现或加强宗教统一的同时废除并损害了仁慈博爱之大义和人类社会的律法。基督徒有两柄利剑，即精神之剑和世俗之剑，在维护宗教信仰的事业中，二者各有其相应的功能和职权。但我们不可拿起第三柄利剑，那就是穆罕默德之剑或与之相似之类。换言之，即不可凭金戈铁马传播宗教，或凭血腥迫害强迫人心，除非目睹有人公然诽谤教会，亵渎上帝，或把宗教活动混于反对国家的阴谋；我们更不可鼓励煽动性言论，姑息阴谋和叛乱，把利剑授予各类想颠覆顺应天意之政府的民众；因这样做无异于用第一块法版去砸第二块法版，从而以为世人皆基督教徒，好像我们已忘了他们是人。在看到剧中阿伽门农忍心用亲生女儿献祭那一幕时，诗人卢克莱修曾惊叹：“宗教居然能诱人如此行恶！”

若这位诗人能知晓法兰西那场大屠杀或英格兰的火药阴谋，那他又当作何语？恐怕他会变得更加安于享乐，更加不敬神明。惟其缘宗教之故拔世俗之剑须慎之又慎，所以将此剑授予平民之手乃荒唐之举；这等荒唐事就留给再洗礼派和其他狂热派去做吧。当撒旦说：“我要上升至云端，与全能的至尊媲美”，那是对上帝十足的亵渎；但若把上帝人格化，让他说：“我要下降到地狱，与那黑暗之王颉颃”，这就是更名副其实的亵渎了；而若使宗教大业堕落成谋杀君主、屠戮百姓和颠覆社稷等凶残而可鄙的行当，那比之上述亵渎之言又有何较胜之处呢？毫无疑问，此等行为就是要把象征圣灵的鸽子变成兀鹰或渡鸦，就是要在基督教会的大船上扯起海盗和凶徒的旗幡。故眼下的当务之急是：教会须凭借其教义和教令，君王们则须凭借其君权和一切表现基督精神及道德力量的学识，像凭借墨丘利的魔杖一般，把那些有助于上述恶行的行径和邪说统统送下地狱并使之万劫不复，就像在很大程度上已经做到的那样。在有关宗教信仰的劝喻中，当首先铭记者无疑就是圣徒雅各的那句箴言：世人的愤怒并不能实现上帝的正义；还有位先哲的坦诚之言也值得注意，他说：凡怀有并劝人相信良心压力者，通常都出于个人动机才对那种压力感兴趣。

（曹明伦 译）

Francis Bacon - Of Death 汉译

fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations, there is sometimes mixture of vanity, and of superstition. You shall read, in some of the friars’ books of mortification, that a man should think with himself, what the pain is, if he have but his finger’s end pressed, or tortured, and thereby imagine, what the pains of death are, when the whole body is corrupted, and dissolved; when many times death passeth, with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts, are not the quickest of sense. And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa. Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man, so weak, but it mates, and masters, the fear of death; and therefore, death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him, that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest. A man would die, though he were neither valiant, nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft, over and over. It is no less worthy, to observe, how little alteration in good spirits, the approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men, till the last instant. Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation; as Tacitus saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant. Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut puto deus fio. Galba with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani; holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum. And the like. Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great preparations, made it appear more fearful. Better saith he, qui finem vitae extremum inter munera ponat naturae. It is as natural to die, as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful, as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed, and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolors of death. But, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is’, Nunc dimittis; when a man hath obtained worthy ends, and expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. - Extinctus amabitur idem.

论死亡

成人畏惧死亡犹如儿童怕进黑暗。儿童对黑暗之天然惧怕因妄言传闻而增长，成人对死亡之畏怯恐惧亦复如此。无可否认，对死亡心生畏怯，视其为罪孽之报应或天国之通途，实乃圣洁虔诚之举；而面对死亡心生畏怯，视其为应向自然交纳的贡物，则属懦弱愚陋之态。不过在虔诚的沉思中偶尔亦有虚妄和迷信混杂。在某些天主教修士的禁欲书中可读到这样的文字：人当自忖，思一指被压或被拶痛当如何，进而想死亡将使全身腐烂分解，此痛又当如何。其实死上千遭也不及一肢受刑之痛，盖维系生命之最重要器官并非人体最敏感的部位。故那位仅以哲学家和正常人身份立言的先哲所言极是：“伴随死亡而来的比死亡本身更可怕。”呻吟与痉挛、面目之变色、亲友之哀悼、丧服与葬礼，诸如此类的场面都显出死亡之可怖。但应注意的是，人类的种种激情并非脆弱得不足以克服并压倒对死亡的恐惧；而既然人有这么多可战胜死亡的随从，那死亡就并非如此可怕的敌人。复仇之心可征服死亡，爱恋之心会蔑视死亡，荣誉之心会渴求死亡，悲痛之心会扑向死亡，连恐惧之心亦会预期死亡。而且我们还读到，在罗马皇帝奥托伏剑之后，哀怜之心（这种最脆弱的感情）使许多士兵也自戕而毙，他们的死纯然是出于对其君王的同情和耿耿忠心。此外塞内加还补充了苛求之心和厌倦之心，他说：“思及长年累月劳于一事之单调，欲撒手弃世的不啻勇者和悲者，尚有厌腻了无聊的人。”即使一个人并不勇敢亦非不幸，可他仅为厌倦没完没了地做同一事情也会轻生。同样值得注意的是，罗马帝国那些凯撒们面对死亡是如何面不改色，因为他们在生命的最后一瞬仍显得依然故我。奥古斯都弥留时还在赞美其皇后，“永别了，莉维亚，勿忘我俩婚后共度的时光。”提比略危笃之际仍掩饰其病情，如塔西佗所言：“他体力已耗尽，但奸诈犹存。”韦斯帕芗大限临头时兀自坐在凳子上戏言：“看来我正在变成神袛。”伽尔巴的临终遗言是“你们砍吧，倘若这有益于罗马人民”，一边喊一边引颈就戳。塞维鲁行将自箦时照旧发号施令：“若还有什么我该做之事，速速取来。”此类视死如归之例，不一而足。毫无疑问，斯多葛学派那些哲学家为死亡的开价太高，而由于他们对死亡筹备过甚，遂使其显得更为可怕。尤维纳利斯说得较好，他认为生命之终结乃自然的一种恩惠。死之寻常犹如生之天然，不过在幼童眼里，出生于死亡也许都同样会引起痛苦。在执着追求中牺牲者之不觉死亡就如同在浴血鏖战中受创者之暂时不觉伤痛。由此可见，于坚定执着且一心向善的有才智之士，死亡之痛苦的的确可以避免；但尤其是要相信，最美的圣歌乃一个人实现其高尚目标和期望之后所唱的那首：“主啊，现在请你的仆人安然离世。”死亡尚可开启名望之门并消除妒忌之心，因“生前遭人妒忌者死后会受人爱戴”。

（曹明伦 译）

Francis Bacon - Of Fame 汉译

THE poets make Fame a monster. They describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and sententiously. They say, look how many feathers she hath, so many eyes she hath underneath; so many tongues; so many voices; she pricks up so many ears. This is a flourish. There follow excellent parables; as that, she gathereth strength in going; that she goeth upon the ground, and yet hideth her head in the clouds; that in the daytime she sitteth in a watch tower, and flieth most by night; that she mingleth things done, with things not done; and that she is a terror to great cities. But that which passeth all the rest is: They do recount that the Earth, mother of the giants that made war against Jupiter, and were by him destroyed, thereupon in an anger brought forth Fame. For certain it is, that rebels, figured by the giants, and seditious fames and libels, are but brothers and sisters, masculine and feminine. But now, if a man can tame this monster, and bring her to feed at the hand, and govern her, and with her fly other ravening fowl and kill them, it is somewhat worth. But we are infected with the style of the poets. To speak now in a sad and serious manner: There is not, in all the politics, a place less handled and more worthy to be handled, than this of fame. We will therefore speak of these points: What are false fames; and what are true fames; and how they may be best discerned; how fames may be sown, and raised; how they may be spread, and multiplied; and how they may be checked, and laid dead. And other things concerning the nature of fame. Fame is of that force, as there is scarcely any great action, wherein it hath not a great part; especially in the war. Mucianus undid Vitellius, by a fame that he scattered, that Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions of Syria into Germany, and the legions of Germany into Syria; whereupon the legions of Syria were infinitely inflamed. Julius Caesar took Pompey unprovided, and laid asleep his industry and preparations, by a fame that he cunningly gave out: Caesar’s own soldiers loved him not, and being wearied with the wars, and laden with the spoils of Gaul, would forsake him, as soon as he came into Italy. Livia settled all things for the succession of her son Tiberius, by continual giving out, that her husband Augustus was upon recovery and amendment, and it is an usual thing with the pashas, to conceal the death of the Great Turk from the janizaries and men of war, to save the sacking of Constantinople and other towns, as their manner is. Themistocles made Xerxes, king of Persia, post apace out of Grecia, by giving out, that the Grecians had a purpose to break his bridge of ships, which he had made athwart Hellespont. There be a thousand such like examples; and the more they are, the less they need to be repeated; because a man meeteth with them everywhere. Therefore let all wise governors have as great a watch and care over fames, as they have of the actions and designs themselves…

论谣言

诗人把谣言视为一种怪鸟，其记述谣言的文字往往既精致优雅，又简练庄重。他们说，瞧呀，谣言有多少羽毛，就有多少只眼睛、多少根舌头、多少种声音，而且她还竖起那么多耳朵。此即谓绚词丽句。其后尚有绝妙的比喻，诸如说谣言总在流传中积聚力量；说谣言在地上行走，却把头藏在云中；说谣言白天藏在瞭望塔，多在夜间飞驰；说谣言总把已行之事和未行之事混为一谈；还说谣言于通都大邑不啻为恐怖之缘由。不过最贴切的一种比喻是：谣言系大地女神该亚（即向天神朱庇特挑战并被其消灭的那些提坦巨神之母亲）因儿子们战败而在一怒之下所生。这种比喻甚妙，因为被喻为叛乱者的提坦神与煽动叛乱的流言蜚语一阳一阴，可谓兄妹。但眼下若有人能驯服这只怪鸟，将其收养，令其听命，并任其去追逐消灭其他鸷禽，这倒堪称可为之举。不过笔者也难免会沾染一些诗人风气。若以严肃认真的态度来加以谈论，可以说在所有政治话题中，最值得谈论而又最少被谈论的莫过于谣言这个话题。因此笔者将谈论一下几点：何谓假谣言，何谓真谣言，二者该如何辨别？谣言如何散播并扩散，如何煽动并蔓延，又该如何将其抑制并平息？以及其他有关谣言之性质的问题。谣言的影响力极大，几乎在所有重大事件（尤其是战争）中，谣言都起了一种重要作用。穆奇阿努斯使维特里乌斯失去帝位，凭的就是他散布的一则谣言：说维特里乌斯计划将驻叙利亚的军团调往日耳曼，而将驻日耳曼的军团调往叙利亚，结果驻叙利亚的军团被完全激怒了。凯撒对庞培攻其不备，使其懈怠的原因也是凯撒巧妙放出的一则谣言：说由于疲于征战，又负载从高卢获取的战利品，凯撒的军队对凯撒已不再拥戴，一到意大利就会把他抛弃。莉维亚能安排好一切，使儿子提比略继位，靠的也是不断放风，说她病重的丈夫奥古斯都正在恢复，即将痊愈；而这也是土耳其那些帕夏的惯用伎俩，他们往往对苏丹驾崩的消息秘而不宣，以免禁卫军和驻外军团依旧习劫掠君士坦丁堡和其他城镇。特米斯托克利令波斯王薛西斯一世仓皇撤离希腊，也是凭放出传闻，说希腊人准备摧毁他搭建的那座横跨达达尼尔海峡的舟桥。此类史例数以千计，多得没必要一一枚举，因为世人对此随处可见，随处可闻。鉴于此，所有明智的统治者对谣言均须密切关注，时时警励，就像他们亲自关注其行动计划一样……曹明伦

Francis Bacon - Of Dispatch 汉译

曹明伦 译

AFFECTED dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that, which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secret seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch, by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And as in races it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed; so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of some, only to come off speedily for the time; or to contrive some false periods of business, because they may seem men of dispatch. But it is one thing, to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off . And business so handled, at several sittings or meetings, goeth commonly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man that had it for a byword, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.

谈求速

急于求成对于将行之事乃最危险的因素之一，以为那就像医家所谓的预先消化，肯定会在体内留下许多没法吸收的物质，从而埋下难以察觉的病根。所以衡量办事之快慢不可凭耗时之多少，而应当根据事情的进展。一如奔跑之速度并不取决于跨步之大或抬足之高，办事之迅捷亦取决于一次办理许多，而是取决于认真负责的办理。有人只关心以较短的时间办完公务，或是设法让事情看上去已经了结，如此他们便可显得办事利索。但是凭精打细算省时是一回事，靠偷工减料求速则是另一回事；须知如此了结之事并未真正了结，而以多次会议或数轮会期来了结之事通常都反反复复，磕磕绊绊。我认识的一位明白人曾有句口头禅，他见人急于求成时爱说：“稍安勿躁，这样我们可以早点了事。”

On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at a dear hand, where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small dispatch; Mi venga la muerte de Spagna; Let my death come from Spain; for then it will be sure to be long in coming.

但另一方面，真正的求速求快则十分宝贵，因为正如金钱是商品价值的尺度，时间亦是办事效益的尺度；若办事慢条斯理，那办成事情所付出的代价就会高昂。斯巴达人和西班牙人以慢条斯理著称，故有“让我的死神从西班牙来”一说，因为如果那样的话，死亡肯定会姗姗来迟。

Give good hearing to those, that give the first information in business; and rather direct them in the beginning, than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order, will go forward and backward, and be more tedious, while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been, if he had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is seen, that the moderator is more troublesome, than the actor.

最好耐心地听取有关人士就有关事务的概要汇报，宁可在其汇报之前就发号施令，也不要在其汇报之中打断人家；因为被打断思路者往往会颠三倒四，重复前言，而比起他按自己的思路顺着将，他这样边回忆边说更为冗长乏味；不过会议主席比发言着更令人讨厌的时候并不鲜见。

Iterations are commonly loss of time. But there is no such gain of time, as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech, as it is coming forth. Long and curious speeches, are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle, with a long train, is for race. Prefaces and passages, and excusations, and other speeches of reference to the person, are great wastes of time; and though they seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. Yet beware of being too material, when there is any impediment or obstruction in men’s wills; for pre-occupation of mind ever requireth preface of speech; like a fomentation to make the unguent enter.

说话一再重复往往浪费世家，但有时节省时间的诀窍就是反复强调问题的要点，因为这样就消除了许多可能会随之而来的冗言赘语。发言拖泥带水就如同奔跑穿长袍披风。开场白、过渡语、客套话，以及关于发言者本人的空聊闲扯，都是对时间的极大浪费；它们听起来像是在谦虚，其实是在自夸。不过应该注意，当与会者对你的发言可能有反对之意时，则不可开门见山地亮出观点，因为脑子里的偏见需要用开场白去消除，正如要让药膏之药性发作需要热敷一样。

Above all things, order, and distribution, and singling out of parts, is the life of dispatch; so as the distribution be not too subtle: for he that doth not divide, will never enter well into business; and he that divideth too much, will never come out of it clearly. To choose time, is to save time; and an unseasonable motion, is but beating the air. There be three parts of business; the preparation, the debate or examination, and the perfection. Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only be the work of many, and the first and last the work of few. The proceeding upon somewhat conceived in writing, doth for the most part facilitate dispatch: for though it should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant of direction, than an indefinite; as ashes are more generative than dust.

最值得注意的是，有条不紊，各司其职和突出重点是办事迅捷的关键所在，而且分配职责不可过于粗略，因未分职者对事情会不闻不问，分配职责过多者则会忙得不顾后果。选择好时机就是节约时间，而不和适宜的行动只是徒劳。凡事都须经三个步骤，即筹划、讨论（或审议）和实施。如若你要求速就得注意，唯讨论可使较多人参加，筹划和实施则只能由少数人担任。某种书面形式的议事提纲可在很大程度上提高效率，即使提纲被完全否决，那些否决意见也比无纲可循的漫谈更有指导意义，正如柴灰比土尘更有利于植物生长一样。

Francis Bacon - Of Wisdom For a Man's Self 汉译

曹明伦 译

AN ANT is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd thing, in an orchard or garden. And certainly, men that are great lovers of themselves, waste the public. Divide with reason; between selflove and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others; specially to thy king and country. It is a poor centre of a man' s actions, himself. It is right earth. For that only stands fast upon his own centre; whereas all things, that have affinity with the heavens, move upon the centre of another, which they benefit. The referring of all to a man’s self, is more tolerable in a sovereign prince; because themselves are not only themselves, but their good and evil is at the peril of the public fortune. But it is a desperate evil, in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic. For whatsoever affairs pass such a man’s hands, he crooketh them to his own ends; which must needs be often eccentric to the ends of his master, or state. Therefore, let princes, or states, choose such servants, as have not this mark; except they mean their service should be made but the accessory. That which maketh the effect more pernicious, is that all proportion is lost. It were disproportion enough, for the servant's good to be preferred before the master's; but yet it is a greater extreme, when a little good of the servant, shall carry things against a great good of the master’s. And yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt servants; which set a bias upon their bowl, of their own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their master’s great and important affairs. And for the most part, the good such servants receive, is after the model of their own fortune; but the hurt they sell for that good, is after the model of their master's fortune. And certainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs; and yet these men many times hold credit with their masters, because their study is but to please them, and profit themselves; and for either respect, they will abandon the good of their affairs.

谈利己之聪明

若论为己营生，蚂蚁可谓一种聪明的动物，但对果园花圃来说，它却是一种祸害；而毋庸置疑，过分自私的人亦会有害于公众。故人应该理智地再私利与公利之间划出界限，不可利己而有负于他人，尤其不可有负于君王和国家。常人之行为以我为中心实乃不幸，因为那就像地球只绕其轴心而转，而与各重天道有亲和力的所有天体都绕别的中心而运动并有益于它们所围绕的中心。一切以自我为中心，这于帝王君王尚情有可原，因为君王并不仅仅代表其自身，他们的祸福也与公众的安危息息相关；但于普通臣民或公民，一切以自我为中心则是一种大恶，因为凡事经这种人之手，他们都会使其适合自己的目的，而他们的目的往往都与君王和国家的目标背道而驰，由此可见，君王或国家不可选这种人作为臣仆或公仆，除非只让他们做一些无关紧要的琐事。谋私利的更大危害是使纲常失调。置臣利于君利之先已是违常乱纲，而为臣之小利损君之大利则更是大逆不道。然而这正是那些贪官污吏所为，腐败堕落的大臣、司库、使节和将军，无不为其蝇头小利而偏离正道，从而破坏其君王的宏图大业。而总的说来，这些人所获之利通常只与他们的财富相称，可他们为获私利而牺牲的公利则往往与君王的财富成正比。为烤熟自家鸡蛋而不惜烧掉公家房屋，这无疑就是极端利己者的本性；然而这类利己者却往往得到主人的信任，因为他们的心思全在于如何讨好主人，如何替自己捞好处；他们可以为任何一点好处而抛弃主人的利益。

Wisdom for a man’s self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house, somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes, sine rivali, are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have, all their times, sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end, themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought, by their self-wisdom, to have pinioned.

为利己而玩弄的诸多聪明，说到底是一种败坏的聪明。它是老鼠的聪明，因大屋将倾，鼠必先逃之；它是狐狸的聪明，因獾掘洞穴，狐占而居之；它是鳄鱼的聪明，因其欲食之，必先哭之。但值得指出的是，那些除自己之外谁也不爱的人（如西塞罗笔下的庞培），到头来往往都可叹可悲；尽管他们总是为自己而牺牲他人，并自以为已用其聪明缚住了命运的翅翼，但他们终归也会变成无常命运的祭品。

Of Love

论爱情

THE stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent) there is not one, that hath been transported to the mad degree of love: which shows that great spirits, and great business, do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore it seems (though rarely) that love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus; as   if man, made for the contemplation of   heaven,   and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel be- fore a little idol, and make himself a subject, though not of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye; which was given him for higher purposes.

舞台上的爱情比生活中的爱情要美好得多。因为在舞台上，爱情只是喜剧和悲剧的素材。而在人生中，爱情却常常招来不幸。它有时像那位诱惑人的魔女，有时又像那位复仇的女神。你可以看到，一切真正伟大的人物（无论是古人、今人，只要是其英名永铭于人类记忆中的），“没有一个是因爱情而发狂的人：因为伟大的事业抑制了这种软弱的感憎。只有罗马的安东尼和克劳底亚是例外。前者本性就好色荒淫，然而后者却是严肃多谋的人。所以爱情不仅会占领开旷坦阔的胸怀，有时也能闯入壁垒森严的心灵－－假如守御不严的话埃皮克拉斯曾说过一句笑话：“人生不过是一座大戏台。”似乎本应努力追求高尚事业的人类，却只应像玩偶奴隶般地逢场作戏似的。虽然爱情的奴隶并不同于那班只顾吃喝的禽兽，但毕竟也只是眼目色相的奴隶－－而上帝赐人以眼睛本来是更高尚的用途的。

It is a strange thing, to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature, and value of things, by this; that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole, is comely in nothing but in love. Neither is it merely in the phrase; for whereas it hath been well said, that the arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self; certainly the lover is more. For there was never proud man thought so absurdly well of him self, as the lover doth of the person loved; and therefore it was well said, That it is impossible to love, and to be wise. Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, and not to the party loved; but to the loved most of all, except the love be reciproque. For it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, or with an

inward and secret contempt.

过度的爱情追求，必然会降低人本身的价值。例如，只有在爱情中，才永远需要那种浮夸诌媚的词令。而在其他场合，同样的词令只能招人耻笑。古人有一句名言：“最大的奉承，人总是留给自己的”。－－只有对情人的奉承要算例外。因为甚至最骄傲的人，也甘愿在情人面前自轻自贱。所以古人说得好：“就是神在爱情中也难保持聪明。”情人的这种弱点不仅在外人眼中是明显的，就是在被追求者的眼中也会很明显——除非她（他）也在追求他（她）。所以，爱情的代价就是如此，不能得到回爱，就会得到一种深藏于心的轻蔑，这是一条永真的定律。

By how much the more, men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself! As for the other losses, the poet's relation doth well figure them: that he that preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas.

由此可见，人们应当十分警惕这种感情。因为它不但会使人丧失其他，而且可以使人丧失自己本身。

For whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection, quitteth both riches and wisdom.

至于其他方面的损失，古诗人早已告诉我们，那追求海伦的人，是放弃了财富和智慧的。

This passion hath his floods, in very times of weakness; which are great prosperity, and great adversity; though this latter hath been less observed: both which times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of folly. They do best, who if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarters; and sever it wholly from their serious affairs, and actions, of life; for if it check once with business, it troubleth men's fortunes, and maketh men, that they can noways be true to their own ends. I know not how, but martial men are given to love: I think, it is but as they are given to wine; for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures. There is in man's nature, a secret inclination and motion, towards love of others, which if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable; as it is seen sometime in friars.

当人心最软弱的时候，爱情最容易入侵，那就是当人得意春风，忘乎所以和处境窘困孤独凄零的时候，虽然后者未必能得到爱情。人在这样的时候最急于跳入爱情的火焰中，由此可见，“爱情”实在是“愚蠢”的儿子。但有一些人，即使心中有了爱，仍能约束它，使它不妨碍重大的事业。因为爱情一旦干扰情绪，就会阻碍人坚定地奔向既定的目标。 我不懂是什么缘故，使许多军人更容易陷入爱情，也许这正像他们嗜爱饮酒一样，是因为危险的生活更需要欢乐的补偿。人心中可能普遍具有一种博爱的倾向，若不集中于某个专一的对象身上：就必然会施之于更广泛的大众，使他成为仁善的人，例如像有的僧侣那样。

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth, and embaseth it.

夫妻的爱，使人类繁衍。朋友的爱，给人以帮助。但那种荒淫纵欲的爱，却只会使人堕落毁灭啊！

Resolutions when I Come to Be Old by Jonathan Swift

预拟老年决心

王佐良 译

Not to marry a young Woman 不娶年轻老婆。Not to keep young Company 不同年轻人作伴，除非人家真心要求。Not to be peevish, or morose, or suspicious. 不暴躁，发楞，或多疑。Not to scorn present Ways, or Wits, or Fashions, or Men, or War, &c. 不嘲笑当今的风气、俏皮话、时装、人物、战争等等。Not to be fond of Children. 不亲儿童，或让他们随便接近。Not to tell the same Story over and over to the same People. 不对同样的人老说同样的故事。Not to be covetous. 不贪婪。Not to neglect decency, or cleanliness, for fear of falling into Nastiness. 不可忽略体面、清洁，否则会赃的不堪。Not to be over severe with young People, but to give allowances for their youthful follys and weaknesses. 不可对年轻人太严厉，而要谅解他们的蠢事、弱点。Not to be influenced by, or give ear to knavish tattling servants, or others. 不听不老实的仆人之流搬弄是非的话，更不受他们的影响。Not to be too free of advice, not trouble any but those that desire it. 不轻易替人出主意，也不麻烦人，除非人家自己愿意。To desire some good Friends to inform me which of these Resolutions I break, or neglect, & wherein; and reform accordingly. 要请几个好友告诉我这些决心有哪一条我没遵守或忽略了，在哪一点上，并且立即改正。Not to talk much, nor of myself. 不可多言，不要老谈自己。Not to boast of my former beauty, or strength, or favour with ladies, &c.

不夸自己以前如何英俊，如何强壮，如何得到小姐太太们的青睐，种种。Not to hearken to Flatteries, nor conceive I can be beloved by a young woman, et eos qui hoereditatem captant, odisse ac vitare. 不听谄言，不幻想还会有年轻女人爱自己。要憎恨那些伸手来抓遗产的人（此句原文为拉丁文）。Not to be positive or opiniative. 不可武断，或固执己见。Not to set up for observing all these Rules, for fear that I should observe none. 不可摆出一定会遵守所有这些条文的架子，很可能一条也遵守不了。王佐良译《谈高位》

William Cobbet - A Watering Place

Hayden

Saturday Night, 30 Sept. 1826

The Warwickshire Avon falls into the Severn here, and on the sides of both, for many miles back, there are the finest meadows that ever were seen. In looking over them, and beholding the endless flocks and herds, one wonders what can become of all the meat! By riding on about eight or nine miles farther, however, this wonder is a little diminished; for here we come to one of the devouring WENS: namely, CHELTENHAM, which is what they call a "watering place", that is to say, a place to which East India plunderers, West India floggers, English taxgorgers, together with gluttons, drunkards, and debauchees of all descriptions, female as well as male, resort, at the suggestion of silently laughing quacks, in the hope of getting rid of the bodily consequences of their manifold sins and iniquities. When I enter a place like this, I always feel disposed to squeeze up my nose with my fingers. It is nonsense, to be sure; but I conceit that every two-legged creature, that I see coming near me, is about to cover me with the poisonous proceeds of its impurities. To places like this come all that is knavish and all that is foolish and all that is base; gamesters, pick-pockets, and harlots; young wife-hunters in search of rich and old women, and young husband-hunters in search of rich and wrinkled or half-rotten men, the former resolutely bent, be the means what they may, to give the latter heirs to their lands and tenements. These things are notorious; and, Sir William Scott, in his speech of 1802, in favor of the non-residence of the Clergy, expressly said, that they and their families ought to appear at watering places, and that this was amongst the means of making them respected by their flocks!

Memorandum: he was a member for Oxford when he said this!

温泉胜地  海顿[著]

1826年9月30日，星球六晚

华立克夏的埃文河在此处流入色纹河，两河沿岸若干哩水草丰美，前所未见。草地上牛羊成群，沿途不断。看着这景色、这牛羊，心想这些好肉可作多少用途，不禁感到神奇。但是再向前骑八九哩，这神奇之感就破灭了；原来我们已到达一个毒瘤似的害人地方，名叫却尔特能，所谓温泉胜地是也。这地方充满了东印度的劫掠者，西印度的奴隶主，英国的税吏、吃客、酒鬼、淫棍，各色各样，男女俱全。他们听了一些窃窃暗笑的江湖郎中的鬼话，以为在做了多少丑事，一身孽障，可以到此一洗而净！我每次进入这等地方，总想用手指捏住自己鼻子。当然这话没有道理，但我一看见这儿任何一个两腿畜生向我走来，实在觉得他们肮脏不堪，像是一有机会就要将他们的毒疮传染给我似的！来这地方的都是最恶劣、最愚蠢、最下流的人：赌鬼、小偷、娼妓，一心想娶有钱的丑老婆子的年轻男子，一心想嫁有钱的满脸皱纹、半身入土的老头子的年轻女人，这些少夫幼妻为了便于继承产业，不惜一切手段，坚决要为这些老夫衰翁生男育女！

这等丑事，尽人皆知。然而威廉司各特爵士在1802年演讲，明白主张牧师不必定居教区，而应携眷到温泉游览，据说这样反而能得到他们教区子民的尊敬云云。查此人作此语时，官任代表牛津城的国会议员！

Upon Affectation by Lord Chesterfield

Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the former.

Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.

The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done. Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit, natural talents. I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word, many Bacons, Lockes, Newtons, Caesars, Cromwells, and Marlboroughs, at the plough-tail, behind counters, and, perhaps, even among the nobility ; but the soil must be cultivated, and the seasons favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour.

If sometimes our common parent has been a little partial, and not kept the scales quite even ; if one preponderates too much, we throw into the lighter a due counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set all right. Hence it happens, that hardly any one man would, without reserve, and in every particular, change with any other.

Though all are thus satisfied with the dispensations of nature, how few listen to her voice! how few follow her as a guide! In vain she points out to us the plain and direct way to truth; vanity, fancy, affectation, and fashion, assume her shape, and wind us through fairy-ground to folly and error.

These deviations from nature are often attended by serious consequences, and always by ridiculous ones; for there is nothing truer than the trite observation, ‘that people are never ridiculous for being what they really are, but for affecting what they really are not’. Affectation is the only source, and, at the same time, the only justifiable object, of ridicule. No man whatsoever, be his pretensions what they will, has a natural right to be ridiculous; it is an acquired right, and not to be acquired without some industry; which perhaps is the reason why so many people are so jealous and tenacious of it. Even some people’s VICES are not their own, but affected and adopted, though at the same time unenjoyed, in hopes of shining in those fashionable societies, where the reputation of certain vices gives lustre. In these cases, the execution is commonly as awkward as the design is absurd; and the ridicule equals the guilt.

This calls to my mind a thing that really happened not many years ago. A young fellow of some rank and fortune, just let loose from the university, resolved, in order to make a figure in the world, to assume the shining character of what he called a rake. By way of learning the rudiments of his intended profession, he frequented the theatres, where he was often drunk, and always noisy. Being one night at the representation of that most absurd play, the Libertine destroyed, he was so charmed with the profligacy of the hero of the piece, that, to the edification of the audience, he swore many oaths that he would be the libertine destroyed. A discreet friend of his who sat by him, kindly represented to him, that to be the libertine was a laudable design, which he greatly approved of; but that to be the libertine destroyed, seemed to him an unnecessary part of his plan, and rather rash. He persisted, however, in his first resolution, and insisted upon being the libertine, and destroyed. Probably he was so; at least the presumption is in his favour. There are, I am persuaded, so many cases of this nature, that for my own part I would desire no greater step towards the reformation of manners for the next twenty years, than that our people should have no vices but their own.

The blockhead who affects wisdom, because nature has given him dullness, becomes ridiculous only by his adopted character; whereas he might have stagnated unobserved in his native mud, or perhaps have engrossed deeds, collected shells, and studied heraldry, or logic, with some success.

The shining coxcomb aims at all, and decides finally upon everything, because nature has given him pertness. The degree of parts and animal spirits necessary to constitute that character, if properly applied, might have made him useful in many parts of life; but his affectation and presumption make him useless in most, and ridiculous in all.

The septuagenary fine gentleman might probably, from his long experience and knowledge of the world, be esteemed and respected in the several relations of domestic life, which, at his age, nature points out to him: he will most ridiculously spin out the rotten thread of his former gallantries. He dresses, languishes, ogles, as he did at five-and-twenty; and modestly intimates that he is not without a bonne fortune; which bonne fortune at last appears to be the prostitute he had long kept not to himself, whom he marries and owns, because the poor girl was so fond of him and so desirous to be made an honest woman.

The sexagenary widow remembers that she was handsome, but forgets that it was thirty years ago, and thinks herself so, or at least, very likeable, still. The pardonable affectations of her youth and beauty unpardonably continue, increase even with her years, and are doubly exerted in hopes of concealing the number. All the gaudy glittering parts of dress, which rather degraded than adorned her beauty in its bloom, now expose to the highest and justest ridicule her shriveled or her overgrown carcass. She totters or sweats under the load of her jewels, embroideries, and brocades, which, like so many Egyptian hieroglyphics, serve only to authenticate the venerable antiquity of her august mummy. Her eyes dimly twinkle tenderness, or leer desire: their language, however inelegant, is intelligible, and the half-pay captain understands it. He addresses his vows to her vanity, which assures her they are sincere. She pities him, and prefers him to credit, decency, and every social duty. He tenderly prefers her, though not without some hesitation, to a jail.

Self-love, kept within due bounds, is a natural and useful sentiment. It is, in truth, social love too, as Mr. Pope has very justly observed: it is the spring of many good actions, and of no ridiculous ones. But self-flattery is only the ape, or caricature of self-love, and resembles it no more than to heighten the ridicule. Like other flattery, it is the most profusely bestowed and greedily swallowed, where it is the least deserved. I will conclude this subject with the substance of a fable of the ingenious Monsieur de la Motte, which seems not unapplicable to it.

Jupiter made a lottery in heaven, in which mortals, as well as gods, were allowed to have tickets. The prize was WISDOM; and Minerva got it. The mortals murmured, and accused the gods of foul play. Jupiter, to wipe off this aspersion, declared another lottery, for mortals singly and exclusively of the gods. The prize was FOLLY. They got it and shared it among themselves. All were satisfied. The loss of WISDOM was neither regretted nor remembered; FOLLY supplied its place, and those who had the largest share of it, thought themselves the wisest.

论矫情 切斯特菲尔德勋爵

很多人抱怨命运，却很少有人抱怨自然；人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，便越是嘀咕命运对他们的所谓不公。

人们常常对命运发出诘难：我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此类的东西;但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。

事实是，自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，比人们通常认为的还要不偏不倚，很少过分地慷慨，也很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。我们并不怀疑在农田耕作，在柜台后营业，甚至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒们，如果允许我用“潜在的”这个学究味浓重的词的话；但是要使果实具有它全部的品质和风味，还必须有耕耘过的泥土，必须有适宜的季节。

倘若有时候大自然有那么一点偏心，没有将天平摆正；倘若有一头过多地往下沉，我们就会在轻的一头投上一枚大小适当的虚荣的砝码，它每次都会将天平重新调平，从不出差错。因此就出现了这种情况：几乎没有人会毫无保留地和另一个人里里外外全部对换一下。

虽然对于自然的分配，人人都感到满意；然而肯听听她的忠告的人却是如此之少!能将她当作向导而跟随其后的人又是如此之少!她徒然地为我们指出一条通向真理的笔直的坦途；而虚荣、幻想、矫情、时髦却俨然以她的面貌出现，暗中将我们引向虚幻的歧途，走向愚笨和谬误。

这些背离自然的举动往往伴随着严重的，而且总是荒唐可笑的后果；因为没有什么比这样一个老生常谈更加真实：“人们显得荒唐可笑，决不是因为表现出真实的自我，而是因为装扮出并非自我的模样。”矫情是造成荒唐可笑的唯一原因，同时也是荒唐可笑唯一无可非议的对象。不论什么人，不管他的托词是什么，都不可能拥有一种与生俱来的使自己的变得荒唐的权利；这种权利是后天的，是不经过努力无法获得的，也许这就是为什么这么多人对这种权利如此嫉妒，如此抓住不放的原因。甚至有些有身上的弱点并不是他们自身所固有的，而是伪装出来，或是从别人那儿借来的，当时也不使他们感到愉快，只是为了在时髦的上流社会里光彩照人。因为在这类上流社会里，某些弱点倒是颇能流光溢彩呢。在这些情况中，矫情的伪装正如意图的荒诞一样，通常显得十分笨拙，而且荒唐与过失是不相上下的。

这使我想起了一件发生在不久以前的事。一个有些地位和财富的年轻人，刚刚从大学校门解放出来，为了在世上崭露头角，决定将自己的装扮成那种被他称作浪荡子的角色。他常常出入戏院，在戏院里经常喝醉，吵闹不休，以此来获取他所要从事的那一行当的基本知识。一天晚上，在观看一出荒诞不经的戏《毁灭的浪荡子》时，他被剧中主人公荒淫无度的举止深深吸引，便对那些前来接受教化的观众屡屡发誓说他要成为那个毁灭的浪荡子。一位坐在他身旁的言行谨慎的朋友好心地对他说，做一个浪荡子固然是个值得称赞的主意，对此他也大为赞许；但是做一个毁灭的浪荡子却未免过于轻率，在他看来大可不必。然而此人执意不改初衷，坚持要做一个浪荡子，一个毁灭的浪荡子。也许他确实毁灭了，至少根据推理，他是应该毁灭的。这故事使我相信，有那么多不同情况的自然，因此就我本人而言，在未来的二十年里我不想在改变自己的行为举止方面迈出更大的一步，而只是希望人们拥有仅仅属于他们自己的弱点。

一个佯作智慧的笨人，因为自然赋予他愚钝滞笨的本性，所以他那从别处借来的性格只会使他显得荒唐可笑；然而倘若他不为人注意地滞留在自己土生土长的泥淖里，或者全神贯注地做些事情，拣拣贝壳，学习学习纹章学或逻辑学，或许反倒会有所获益。一个兴致勃勃的花花公子把目标瞄准一切，而且什么都想到手，因为自然赋予他活泼伶俐的气质。那构成他性格的必不可少的才华和勇敢精神，若是运用得恰到好处，或许会使他在一生的许多方面成就为有用人才；但是他的矫作和傲慢却使他在很多场合一无用处，在一切场合都显得荒唐可笑。

一位年逾七旬的可爱的绅士，也许由于他漫长的人生经历和处世阅历而在他的家庭生活中受到人们的敬重，在他这样的年纪，人自然会向他指出：要是他依旧沉浸于他那已经霉烂的昔日骑士风度的故事里，他将显得可笑之至。他还像二十五岁时那样精心打扮着自己，做出惹人怜爱的感伤神态，不时向人们飞着媚眼；谦逊地向人暗示他的运气不错，而这好运气最后竟是他长期供养的一个妓女，他娶了这妓女，因为这可怜的女孩子对他如此钟情，而且又如此迫切地希望自己成为一个诚实的好女子。

一位年过六十的寡妇依然记得自己的曾经长得十分标致，却忘了那已是三十年前的容颜，以为自己今日仍然丰姿未减，至少容貌依旧。她年轻时貌美时尚可原谅的矫揉造作此刻不可原谅地继续下去，而且与日俱增，为的是以加倍的矫情来掩盖自己的岁数。她身上所有那些闪闪发光的艳俗的服饰，即使在她如花的岁月也只能损她的美丽，而不能为她增添丝毫光彩，到了今天则更是暴露了她那干瘪或过分臃肿的身躯，使之变得无与伦比的而且是理所当然的荒唐可笑。她在那些珠宝、刺绣饰品和提花织锦的重负之下或是步履蹒跚，或是大汗淋漓。这些饰品很像埃及的象形文字，其作用仅仅是用来鉴定它所装饰的那具令人敬畏的木乃伊是一件货真价实的古代珍品而已。她那失去光泽的眼睛依然闪着肮脏的温情，或暗送秋波：它们所要表达的语言，不管如何缺少风雅，却是明明白白的，那个拿半薪的上尉军官是懂得个中意味的。他对她的虚荣心说了一套自己的盟誓，这盟誓的真诚使她深信不疑。她对他满怀爱怜之情，喜欢他竟胜过名誉、体面和所有的社会责任。至于他，虽然不无犹豫，还是情意绵绵地表示喜欢她胜过蹲监狱。

控制在适当范围内的自爱，是一种自然的也是有益的感情。而且事实上，它也是一种对于社会的爱，正如蒲柏先生非常正确地论述过的那样：它是许多良好行为的源泉，而不是荒唐行为的诱因。但是自吹自擂却只是对于自爱的一种夸张的、漫画式的模仿。要说与自爱有何相似之处，只是它更加突出其荒唐可笑而已。和其他奉承一样，它赠予时最慷慨，接受时最贪婪，同时却最名不符实。下面我将用足智多谋的德•拉莫特先生的寓言来结束这个话题，之寓言看来对这话题倒颇相宜。

说是朱庇特在天上搞了个摇奖抽彩的活动，不论神祇还是凡人都可以买彩票，奖品是智慧。于是智慧女神密涅瓦得了头奖。凡人仒嘀咕了起来，责怪天上的神祇营私舞弊。为了平息诽谤，朱庇特宣布搞一种神祇不能参加、专为凡人举办的摇奖抽彩。奖品是愚笨。凡人们中奖之后便在他们中间分享起来。结果人人心满意足。再也没有人对失去智慧感到后悔，甚至根本没有人还记得此事。愚笨取代了智慧的位置，那些分得最多的愚笨的人便自以为是最聪明的人了    （汪义群 译）

On the Cries of London by Joseph Addison

There is nothing which more astonishes a foreigner, and frights a country squire, than the Cries of London. My good friend Sir Roger often declares that he cannot get them out of his head or go to sleep for them, the first week that he is in town. On the contrary, Will Honeycomb calls them the Ramage de la Ville, and prefers them to the sound of larks and nightingales, with all the music of fields and woods. I have lately received a letter from some very odd fellow upon this subject, which I shall leave with my reader, without saying anything further of it.

SIR,

'I am a man out of all business, and would willingly turn my head to anything for an honest livelihood. I have invented several projects for raising many millions of money without burdening the subject, but I cannot get the parliament to listen to me, who look upon me, forsooth, as a crack, and a projector; so that despairing to enrich either myself or my country by this public-spiritedness, I would make some proposals to you relating to a design which I have very much at heart, and which may procure me a handsome subsistence, if you will be pleased to recommend it to the cities of London and Westminster.

'The post I would aim at, is to be comptroller-general of the London Cries, which are at present under no manner of rules or discipline. I think I am pretty well qualified for this place, as being a man of very strong lungs, of great insight into all the branches of our British trades and manufactures, and of a competent skill in music.

'The Cries of London may be divided into vocal and instrumental. As for the latter, they are at present under a very great disorder. A fireman of London has the privilege of disturbing a whole street for an hour together, with a twanking of a brass kettle or frying-pan. The watchman's thump at midnight startles us in our beds as much as the breaking in of a thief. The sowgelder's horn has indeed something musical in it, but this is seldom heard within the liberties. I would therefore propose, that no instrument of this nature should be made use of, which I have not tuned and licensed, after having carefully examined in what manner it may affect the ears of her majesty's liege subjects.

'Vocal cries are of a much larger extent, and indeed so full of incongruities and barbarisms, that we appear a distracted city to foreigners, who do not comprehend the meaning of such enormous outcries. Milk is generally sold in a note above E-la, and in sounds so exceedingly shrill, that it often sets our teeth on edge. The chimneysweeper is confined to no certain pitch; he sometimes utters himself in the deepest bass, and sometimes in the sharpest treble; sometimes in the highest, and sometimes in the lowest, note of the gamut. The same observation might be made on the retailers of small-coal, not to mention broken glasses, or brick-dust. In these, therefore, and the like cases, it should be my care to sweeten and mellow the voices of these itinerant tradesmen, before they make their appearance in our streets, as also to accommodate their cries to their respective wares; and to take care in particular, that those may not make the most noise who have the least to sell, which is very observable in the vendors of card-matches, to whom I cannot but apply that old proverb of "Much cry, but little wool".

'Some of these last-mentioned musicians are so very loud in the sale of these trifling manufactures, that an honest splenetic gentleman of my acquaintance bargained with one of them never to come into the street where he lived. But what was the effect of this contract? Why, the whole tribe of card-match-makers which frequent that quarter passed by his door the very next day, in hopes of being bought off after the same manner.

'It is another great imperfection in our London Cries, that there is no just time nor measure observed in them. Our news should indeed be published in a very quick time, because it is a commodity that will not keep cold. It should not, however, be cried with the same precipitation as fire. Yet this is generally the case. A bloody battle alarms the town from one end to another in an instant. Every motion of the French is published in so great a hurry, that one would think the enemy were at our gates. This likewise I would take upon me to regulate in such a manner, that there should be some distinction made between the spreading of a victory, a march, or an encampment, a Dutch, a Portugal, or a Spanish mail. Nor must I omit under this head those excessive alarms with which several boisterous rustics infest our streets in turnip season; and which are more inexcusable, because they are wares which are in no danger of cooling upon their hands.

'There are others who affect a very slow time, and are in my opinion much more tunable than the former. The cooper in particular swells his last note in a hollow voice, that is not without its harmony; nor can I forbear being inspired with a most agreeable melancholy, when I hear that sad and solemn air with which the public are very often asked if they have any chairs to mend? Your own memory may suggest to you many other lamentable ditties of the same nature, in which the music is wonderfully languishing and melodious.

'I am always pleased with that particular time of the year which is proper for the picking of dill and cucumbers; but alas! This cry, like the song of the nightingale, is not heard above two months. It would therefore be worthwhile to consider whether the same air might not in some cases be adapted to other words.

It might likewise deserve our most serious considerations, how far, in a well-regulated city, those humourists are to be tolerated, who, not contented with the traditional cries of their forefathers, have invented particular songs and tunes of their own: such as was, not many years since, the pastry-man, commonly known by the name of the Colly-Molly-Puff; and such as is at this day the vendor of powder and wash-balls, who, if I am rightly informed, goes under the name of Powder-Wat.

'I must not here omit one particular absurdity which runs through this whole vociferous generation, and which renders their cries very often not only incommodious, but altogether useless to the public. I mean that idle accomplishment which they all of them aim at, of crying so as not to be understood. Whether or no they have learned this from several of our affected singers, I will not take upon me to say; but most certain it is, that people know the wares they deal in rather by their tunes than by their words; insomuch that I have sometimes seen a country boy run out to buy apples of a bellows-mender, and ginger-bread from a grinder of knives and scissors. Nay, so strangely infatuated are some very eminent artists of this particular grace in a cry, that none but their acquaintance are able to guess at their profession; for who else can know, that  "work if I had it" should be the signification of a corn-cutter?

'Forasmuch, therefore, as persons of this rank are seldom men of genius or capacity I think it would be very proper that some men of good sense and sound judgement should preside over these public cries, who should permit none to lift up their voices in our streets that have not tunable throats, and are not only able to overcome the noise of the crowd, and the rattling of coaches, but also to vend their respective merchandises in apt phrases, and in the most distinct and agreeable sounds. I do therefore humbly recommend myself as a person rightly qualified for this post; and if I meet with fitting encouragement, shall communicate some other projects which I have by me, that may no less conduce to the emolument of the public.

'I am, Sir, &c.'RALPH CROTCHET.'

伦敦的叫卖声

初来乍到的外国人或者外地乡绅，最感到吃惊的莫过于伦敦的叫卖声了。我那位好朋友罗杰爵士常说，他刚到京城第一周里，脑子里装的全是这些声音，挥之不去，简直连觉都睡不成。相反，威尔•亨尼康却把这些声音称为“鸟喧华枝”，说是这比什么云雀、夜莺连同田野、树林里的天籁加在一起还要好听呢。最近，我接到一位怪客来信，谈到这个问题。这封信，我不加任何按语，发表出来，请读者自己去看。

“先生：

“我是一个没有职业的人，只要能让我正正派派活下去，什么事情我都愿意去做。我制订种种方案，实行起来可以叫人轻轻松松发财数百万之巨，可惜议院不肯听听我的意见——他们不是以为我疯了，就是把我当作骗子。现在，我这一心造福大众、既能利己、又能富国的事业既已落空，愿就个人潜心探讨的另一计划，向贵报略陈鄙见。此项计划，若蒙贵报向伦敦及威斯敏斯特二市当局惠予推荐，本人说不定还可以找到一个体面的职业。

“鉴于叫卖之声目前处于一种无章可循的状态，我想来谋求伦敦市声总监一职。这个职位，我自认为还是满能胜任的，因为我本人嗓门很高，对于我们英国工商各业又了如指掌，而且还精通音乐。

“伦敦的市声可以分为声乐、器乐两大类。后一类现在特别杂乱无章。在伦敦，救火员是有特权的人物，他可以敲打着一只铜壶、或者一口煎锅，接连一个钟头不停，把整整一条街的人全都惊动起来。更夫半夜敲梆，把我们从梦中惊醒，好像屋子里突然闯进了一个贼。阉猪匠的号角声倒还有点悦耳，可惜在市区里难得听见。因此，我想建议：此类发声器具必先经过仔细检验，测定它对于女王陛下忠实臣民的耳鼓究竟产生何种影响，然后又敝人将其音量加以调整，逐一批准，否则，不得擅自使用。

“口头的叫卖声包括的范围则要广泛得多，而且又是那样聒聒躁躁，野调无腔。外国人听不懂这许多嚎叫到底是什么意思，说不定以为我们全城的人都发了疯。卖牛奶的人所采用的音调一般都在E调la以上，声音又特别尖细，听起来碜得我牙痒痒地。扫烟囱的人音调不受什么固定限制，有时候用最深沉的低音，有时候又用最尖锐的高音来吐露自己的心意，在全音阶中从最高音到最低音都可以。同样的评语也适用于那些卖煤末的、更适用于卖碎玻璃和砖渣的小贩。对于这些以及其他类似的行当，我职责所在，理应加以调整，先要使得这些流动商贩的叫卖声柔和、悦耳，方才准许他们在街头出现，还要使得他们的叫卖声适应各自的货物，特别要防止的是卖的东西最少、喊的声音最凶的人——这在卖纸片火柴的小贩那里是最明显不过了，对于他们，我只好照搬一句老话：‘声音很大，货色可怜。’

“上面说的那些卖纸片火柴的音乐家们，为了兜售他们那些微不足道的商品，有时候吆喝的声音实在太大了。我认识的一位患有脾脏病的老好先生，只好掏腰包请他们当中的某一位再也不要到他住的那条街上来了。可是，这笔交易结果怎样？第二天，那一带所有的纸片火柴贩子一个接一个到他门口叫卖，指望那位先生以同样方式拿钱出来把他们支走。

“我们伦敦的叫卖声还有一个大毛病，就是吆喝起来不顾时间，也不讲分寸。譬如说，新闻自应以快速公布为是，因为这种商品是经不起久放的。但是，卖报的时候也不必那样风是风火是火，跟闹了火灾似的。然而，这却是通常现象。一眨眼功夫，一场血战的消息就从伦敦这一头吆喝到那一头，弄得全城轰动。法国人有一点点动向，总是急匆匆登出来，让人觉得好像已经兵临城下似的。此种弊端，本人自当负责予以适当纠正。在卖报声中，对于胜利消息、行军消息、野营消息，以及荷兰、葡萄牙和西班牙各国邮件中所传来的消息，务必有所区别。在这一方面，我还必须指出：每当萝卜上市，总有许多乡下人大吵大嚷，沿街叫卖，满城为之骚然，实属不可原谅，因为萝卜这种商品即使在卖方手里放一放，并没有放凉的危险。

“另外有些商贩埃拉长腔，在我看来，这比前面说的那些叫卖声要更有韵味。特别是箍桶匠爱用闷声，送出他那最后的尾音，不失为具有和谐动人之处。修理匠常用他那悲怆、庄严的语调向居民们发问：‘有修理椅子的没有？’我每当听见，总禁不住感到有一种忧郁情调沁人心脾。——这时，你的记忆会联想出许许多多类似的哀歌，他们那曲调都是缠绵无力、哀婉动人的。

“每年，到了该摘黄瓜，收莳萝的季节，那叫卖声让我听了格外高兴。可惜，这种叫卖像夜莺的歌唱似的，让人听不上两个月就停了。因此，倒是值得考虑一下，是不是在其他场合把这个调调儿再配上别的什么词儿。

“还有些人——譬如说，不几年以前大家叫做‘松软——可口——蓬蓬酥’的卖点心小贩，以及现在（如果我没有弄错的话）统称为‘香粉沃特’的脂粉货郎，不以他们祖祖辈辈流传下来的叫卖声为满足，还特别编出自己的歌曲来，以吟唱代替叫卖。在一个管理完善的城市里，对于这些市廛奇人究竟应该宽容到何等程度，也值得我们认真考虑。

“在这些高声叫卖之徒当中还普遍流行一种荒唐行径，对此我不能放过不提，因为那使得他们的叫嚷不仅嘈杂不堪，而且也与公众无益。我指的是他们在叫卖是拼命不让人听懂的那种无补实际的本领。在这方面，他们究竟是不是在向我们那些装腔作势的歌唱家学习，我且不去说它。但是，有一点可以肯定：市民判断他们卖的什么货色，并不是根据他们叫喊的词儿，而是听他们叫喊的调调儿。有时候，我看见一个从乡下来的孩子跑出来，向风箱修理匠买苹果，向磨剪刀师傅买姜面包，这就可见一斑。有些高级花腔叫卖家对于这门艺术钻研到了如此入迷的地步，结果，除了他们自己的熟人，谁也猜不出他们干得到底是哪一行。譬如说，谁能想到，修脚工喊的词儿竟是：‘给活儿就干哪！’

“准此，既然在这个阶层里天才能人甚少，一切公共叫卖之声应该统归明理善断之士主管，嗓音不美者不得在街头大喊大叫，叫卖声不仅要压倒人声喧哗、车声轧轧，而且要使用恰当词句将各自贩卖的货色加以说明，发音也要清晰、悦耳。我谦卑地把自己推荐出来，担此重任。倘蒙奖掖，本人还有其他方案，也将一一献出，以惠公益。

“余不一一。

Death by Jeremy Taylor

It is a mighty change that is made by the death of every person, and it is visible to us who are alive. Reckon but from the sprightfulness of youth, and the fair cheeks and the full eyes of childhood, from the vigorousness and strong flexure of the joints of five-and-twenty, to the hollowness and dead paleness, to the loathsomeness and horror of a three days' burial, and we shall perceive the distance to be very great and very strange. But so have I seen a rose newly springing from the clefts of its hood, and at first it was fair as the morning, and full with the dew of heaven as a lamb's fleece; but when a ruder breath had forced open its virgin modesty, and dismantled its too youthful and unripe retirements, it began to put on darkness, and to decline to softness and the symptoms of a sickly age; it bowed the head, and broke its stalk; and at night, having lost some of its leaves and all its beauty, it fell into the portion of weeds and outworn faces. The same is portion of every man and every woman…

死亡

杰雷米·泰勒

死亡对人诚然是一场巨变，这点尚在世间的人大概无有不知。诚想一个人童年时的雪肤丰颊，慧眼明瞳，少年时的矫健活泼，二十四五岁时的蓬勃精力与坚强筋骨，曾是一种如何光景，而老来之后的瘦损干瘪、憔悴枯槁，新葬之后的可憎可怖、令人嫌恶，这中间的悬殊确属巨大莫测。同样，我见过迎风初放绽破花蕾的红红玫瑰，那美艳璨若晓空丽日，那娇滴宛如玉露凝香，幼羔嫩毛；然而一旦当狂风不顾它少女般的羞涩，排闼直入，把兰闺深处的一切摧残殆尽，那其中的细腻风光顿时蒙上一层阴暗，逐渐呈现颓靡衰败；垂头丧气，茎摧梗折，入夜更枝叶飘零，颜色褪落，辗转委顿于荒芜秽草之中。花的命运如此，每个男女亦然……高健 译

The Ephemera: An Emblem of Human Life by Benjamin Franklin

夏济安 译

You may remember, my dear friend, that when we lately spend that happy day in the delightful garden and sweet society of the Moulin Joly, I stopped a little in one of our walks, and stayed some time behind the company. We had been shown numberless skeletons of a kind of little fly, called an ephemera, whose successive generations, we were told, were bred and expired within the day. I happened to see a living company of them on a leaf, who appeared to be engaged in conversation. You know I understand all the inferior animal tongues. My too great application to the study of them is the best excuse I can give for the little progress I have made in your charming language. I listened through curiosity to the discourse of these little creatures; but as they, in their national vivacity, spoke three or four together, I could make but little of their conversation. I found, however, by some broken expressions that I heard now and then, they were disputing warmly on the merit of two foreign musicians, one a cousin, the other a moscheto; in which dispute they spent their time, seemingly as regardless of the shortness of life as if they had been sure of living a month. Happy people! thought I; you are certainly under a wise, just, and mild government, since you have no public grievances to complain of, nor any subject of contention but the perfections and imperfections of foreign music. I turned my head from them to an old gray-headed one, who was single on another leaf, and talking to himself. Being amused with his soliloquy, I put it down in writing, in hopes it will likewise amuse her to whom I am so much indebted for the most pleasing of all amusements, her delicious company and heavenly harmony.

“It was,” said he, “the opinion of learned philosophers of our race, who lived and flourished long before my time, that this vast world, the Moulin Joly, could not itself subsist more than eighteen hours; and I think there was some foundation for that opinion, since, by the apparent motion of the great luminary that gives life to all nature, and which in my time has evidently declined considerably towards the ocean at the end of our earth, it must then finish its course, be extinguished in the waters that surround us, and leave the world in cold and darkness, necessarily producing universal death and destruction. I have lived seven of those hours, a great age, being no less than four hundred and twenty minutes of time. How very few of us continue so long! I have seen generations born, flourish, and expire. My present friends are the children and grandchildren of the friends of my youth, who are now, also, no more! And I must soon follow them; for, by the course of nature, though still in health, I cannot expect to live above seven or eight minutes longer. What now avails all my toil and labor in amassing honey-dew on this leaf, which I cannot live to enjoy! What the political struggles I have been engaged in for the good of my compatriot inhabitants of this bush, or my philosophical studies for the benefit of our race in general! for in politics what can laws do without morals? Our present race of ephemera will in a course of minutes become corrupt, like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched. And in philosophy how small our progress! Alas! art is long, and life is short! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name they say I shall leave behind me; and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an ephemera who no longer exists? And what will become of all history in the eighteenth hour, when the world itself, even the whole Moulin Joly, shall come to its end and be buried in universal ruin?”

To me, after all my eager pursuits, no solid pleasures now remain, but the reflection of a long life spent in meaning well, the sensible conversation of a few good lady ephemeræ, and now and then a kind smile and a tune from the ever amiable Brillante. 夏济安 译

蜉蝣-------人生的一个象征 富兰克林

亲爱的朋友，上次在芍丽磨坊，举行游园会的那天，我们玩得很痛快。那天良辰美景，到会者个个是风雅仕女，可是你也许还记得，我们在散步的时候，我曾经在路上停留了一会儿，落在大家后面。原因是园里有很多蜉蝣的残尸——所谓蜉蝣，是苍蝇一类的小昆——有人指给我们看了，而且据说它们的寿命很短，一天之内，生生死死好几代就过去了。我听到之后，信步走去，在一片树叶上面，发现了这种小虫有一群之多。它们似乎在讨论什么东西——你知道我是善知虫语的；我和你往来这么久，可是你们贵国美妙的语言[3]我学来学去，始终进步很少，我如何能替自己解嘲呢？只好说我研究虫语用心过度了。现在这批小虫在举行辩论，我好奇心动，不免凑上前去偷听一番；可是虫虽小，它们的心却大，开起口来，都是三四个一起来的，因此听来很不清楚。偶尔断断续续也可听清一两句，原来它们正在热烈讨论两位外国音乐家的优劣比较——那两位，一位是蚋先生，一位是蚊先生[4]：讨论得非常之热烈，它们似乎忘记了“虫生”的短促，好像很有把握可以活满一个月似的。你们多快乐呀，我这么想，你们的政府一定是贤明公正、宽仁待民的，你们没有牢骚可发，你们也用不着闹党派斗争，你们竟有闲情逸致在这里讨论外国音乐的优劣。我转过头来，看见另一片树叶上有一头白发老蜉蝣，它一个正在自言自语。我听得很有趣，因此把它笔录下来。我的好朋友的深情厚谊，我已领受很多，她的清风明月的风度，她的妙音雅奏，一向使我倾倒不已，我这一段笔记，无非博她一粲，聊作报答而已。

老蜉蝣说道：“我们的哲人学者，在很久很久以前，以为我们这个宇宙（即是所谓芍丽磨坊），其寿命不会超过十八小时的。我想这话不无道理，因为自然界芸芸众生，无不倚赖太阳为生，但是太阳正在自东往西地移动，就在我的这一生，很明显的太阳已经落得很低，快要沉到我们地球尽处的诲洋里去了。太阳西沉，为大地周围的海洋所吞，世界变成—片寒冷黑暗，一切生命无疑都将灭亡，地球归于毁灭。地球的寿命一共十八小时，我已经活了7个小时了，说起来时间也真不少，足足有四百二十分钟呢！我们之间有几个能够如此克享高寿的呢？我看见好几代蜉蝣出生、长大，最后又死去。我现在的朋友只是些我青年时代朋友的子孙，可是他们本身，咳，现在是都已不在‘虫世’了，我追随他们于地下的时侯也不远，因为现在我虽然仍旧步履轻健，但天下无不死之虫，我顶多也只能再活七八分钟而已。我现在还是辛辛苦号地在这片树叶上搜集蜜露，可是这有什么用呢？我所收藏的，我自己是吃不到了。回忆我这一生，为了我们这树丛里同胞的福利，我参加过多少次政治斗争；可有法律而无道德配合，政治仍旧不能清明，因此为了增进全体蜉蝣类的智慧，我又研究过多少种哲学问题! ‘道心惟微，虫心惟危’，我们现在这一族蜉蝣必须随时戒慎警惕，否则一不小心，在几分钟之内，就可以变得像别的树丛里历史较为悠久的别族蜉蝣一样，道德沦亡，万劫不复！我们在哲学方面的成就又是多么的渺小！呜呼，我生也有涯而知也无涯。我的朋友常常都来安慰我，说我年高德劭，为蜉蝣中之大老，身后之名，必可流传千古。可是蜉蝣已死，还要身后名何用？何况到了第十八小时的时候，整个芍丽磨坊都将毁灭，世界末日已临，还谈得上什么历史吗?”

我劳碌一生，别无乐趣，惟有想起世间众生，无分人虫，如能长寿而为公众谋利者，这是可以引为自慰的；再则听听蜉蝣小姐蜉蝣太太们的高淡阔论，或者偶然从那可爱的白夫人那里，得到巧笑一顾，或者是清歌一曲，我的暮年也得到慰藉了。

Dancers by John Galsworthy

I was taken by a friend one afternoon to a theatre. When the curtain was raised, the stage was perfectly empty save for all grey curtains which enclosed it on all sides, and presently through the thick folds of those curtains children came dancing in, singly, or in pairs, till a whole troop of ten or twelve were assembled. They were all girls; none, I think, more than fourteen years old, one or two certainly not be more than eight. They wore but little clothing, their legs, feet and arms being quite bare. Their hair, too, was unbound; and their faces, grave and smiling, were so utterly dear and joyful, that in looking on them one felt transported to some Garden of Hesperides, a where self was not, and the spirit floated in pure ether. Some of these children were fair and rounded, others dark and elf-like; but one and all looked entirely happy, and quite unself-conscious, giving no impression of artifice, though they had evidently had the highest and most careful training. Each flight and whirling movement seemed conceived there and then out of the joy of being---dancing had surely never been a labor to them, either in rehearsal or performance. There was no tiptoeing and posturing, no hopeless muscular achievement; all was rhythm, music, light, air, and above all things, happiness. Smiles and love had gone to the fashioning of their performance; and smiles and love shone from every one of their faces and from the clever white turnings of their limbs.

Amongst them--though all were delightful--there were two who especially riveted my attention. The first of these two was the tallest of all the children, a dark thin girl, in whose every expression and movement there was a kind of grave, fiery love.

During one of the many dances, it fell to her to be the pursuer of a fair child, whose movements had a very strange soft charm; and this chase, which was like the hovering of a dragon-fly round some water-lily, or the wooing of a moonbeam by the June night, had in it a most magical sweet passion. That dark, tender huntress, so full of fire and yearning, had the queerest power of symbolizing all longing, and moving one’s heart. In her, pursuing her white love with such wistful fervor, and ever arrested at the very moment of conquest, one seemed to see the great secret force hunts through the world, or and on, tragically unresting, importantly sweet.

The other child who particularly enhanced me was the smallest but one, a brown-haired fairy crowned with a half-moon of white flowers, who wore a scanty little rose-petal-colored shift that floated about her in the most delightful fashion. She danced as never child danced. Every inch of her small head and body was full of the sacred fire of motion; and in her little pas seul she seemed to be the very spirit of movement. One felt that Joy had flown down, and was inhabiting there; one heard the rippling of Joy’s laughter. And, indeed, through all the theatre had risen a rustling and whispering; and sudden bursts of laughing rapture.

I looked at my friend; he was trying stealthily to remove something from his eyes with a finger. And to myself the stage seemed very misty, and all things in the world lovable; as though that dancing fairy had touched them with tender fire, and made them golden.

God knows where she got that power of bringing joy to our dry hearts: God knows how long she will keep it! But that little flying Love had in her the quality that lie deep in color, in music, in the wind, and the sun, and in certain great works of art---the power to see the heart free from every barrier, and flood it with delight

观舞 约翰•高尔斯华绥

一天下午，友人邀我去一家剧场观舞。幕启后，台上除四周高垂的灰色幕布外，空无一物。不一会，从幕布厚重的皱折处，孩子们一个个或一对对地联翩而出，台上最后总共出现了十一二个。全部是女孩，年龄都不超过十三四岁，有一两个最多只有八岁。衣衫都穿得很少，完全裸露着腿脚胳臂。她们的头发散开着，脸孔端庄之中却满带笑容，竟是那样的可爱活泼，让人看后恍有被魔法置入苹果仙园之感，此时此地身体已不复存在，唯有精魄浮游于缥缈的晴空。孩子们有的白晰而丰腴，有的黝深而窈窕；但个个都欢欣愉快，天真烂漫，丝毫没有矫揉造作之态，尽管她们显然都受过高超和认真的训练。每个跳步，每个转动，都仿佛出于对生命的喜悦，而就在此时此地即兴编成的---舞蹈对她们真是毫不费力，不论演出还是排练。这里见不到蹑足欠步、装模作样的姿态，也见不到徒耗体力，漫无目标的动作；眼前唯有节奏、音乐、光明、轻盈，特别是欢乐。笑与爱曾帮助塑造她们的舞姿，此刻笑与爱又正从她们的一张张笑靥中，从她们肢体的雪白而优美的旋转中，息息透出，光彩动人。

尽管她们全都逗人喜爱，但其中有两人却尤其引我注目。一个是她们中个子最高的女孩，她肤深腰纤，每个表情每个动作中都表现出一种庄重却火辣的热情。

舞蹈节目之一是她扮演一个美童的追逐者，当然这个美童的一举一动，顺便说一句，也都异常妩媚；在这场追逐中，宛如蜻蜓之戏舞于睡莲之旁，或如仲夏之夜向明月吐诉衷曲，抒发出一缕缕摄人心魄的细细幽情。这个发肤黝深的女猎手，情如火燎，实是世间一切渴求的最奇妙不过的象征，而且实在动人。当我们从她身上看到她在追逐她那情人时所流露的一腔迷惘激情，那种既得辄止的曳犹神态，我们仿佛隐约窥见了那奔流于整个世界并且永远如斯的伟大神秘力量。啊，令人伤痛的焦灼不安，用不逝去的悱恻缠绵。

另一个使我迷恋不已的是从身材上倒数第二的那个发色浅棕的孩子。这个头戴白花半月冠的俊美女神，短裙之上，绛英瓣瓣，裙衫动处，飘飘欲仙。她的舞蹈已远远脱出儿童的境界。她那娇小的秀颅与肢体之间，处处都充满着律动的圣洁火焰。在她的一小段“独舞”中，她简直成了节奏的化身。快睹之下，恍若一团喜悦骤从天降，并且登时凝聚在那里；而满台喜悦之声则洋洋盈耳。此时台灯之下也真的响起了一片啧啧之声，继而欢声雷动。

我看了看我的友人，他正在用指头悄悄地从眼边擦拭什么。至于我自己，则氍毹之上几乎一片模糊，世间万物都顿觉可爱；仿佛经此飞仙用魔杖一点，一切都变得金光灿灿。

或许唯有上帝知道她的这股力量是从哪里得来的，能把喜悦带给我们这些枯竭的心田；也唯有上帝知道她能把这力量保持多久，但是这个蹁跹的小爱神的身上却蕴蓄着那种味浓稠色调、幽美乐曲、天风丽日以及那些伟大艺术珍品所特具的力量——足以把心灵从其一切窒碍之中解脱出来，使之充满喜悦

The Clipper by John Masefield

When I saw her first there was a smoke of mist about her as high as her foreyard. Her topsails and flying kites had a faint glow upon them where the dawn caught them. Then the mist rolled away from her, so that we could see her hull and the glimmer of the red sidelight as it was hoisted inboard. She was rolling slightly, tracing an arc against the heaven, and as I watched her the glow upon her deepened, till every sail she wore burned rosily like an opal turned to the sun, like a fiery jewel. She was radiant, she was of an immortal beauty, that swaying, delicate clipper. Coming as she came, out of the mist into the dawn, she was like a spirit, like an intellectual presence. Her hull glowed, her rails glowed; there was colour upon the boats and tackling. She was a lofty ship (with skysails and royal staysails), and it was wonderful to watch her, blushing in the sun, swaying and curveting. She was alive with a more than mortal life. One thought that she would speak in some strange language or break out into a music which would express the sea and that great flower in the sky. She came trembling down to us, rising up high and plunging; showing the red lead below her water-line; then diving down till the smother bubbled over her hawseholes. She bowed and curveted; the light caught the skylights on the poop; she gleamed and sparkled; she shook the sea from her as she rose. There was no man aboard of us but was filled with the beauty of that ship. I think they would have cheered her had she been a little nearer to us; but, as it was, we ran up our flags in answer to her, adding our position and comparing our chronometers, then dipping our ensigns and standing away. For some minutes I watched her, as I made up the flags before putting them back in their cupboard. The old mate limped up to me, and spat, and swore. “That’s one of the beautiful sights of the world,” he said. “That, and a cornfield, and a woman with her child. It’s beauty and strength. How would you like to have one of them skysails round your neck?” I gave him some answer, and continued to watch her, till the beautiful, precise hull, with all its lovely detail, had become blurred to leeward, where the sun was now marching in triumph, the helm of a golden warrior plumed in cirrus.刘士聪 译

快帆船 约翰·梅斯菲尔德

我初看见她时，她前帆下桁以下的部分全笼罩在大雾里。上桅帆和迎风飘动的轻帆映着晨曦的微光。然后雾霭从她身边慢慢弥散开去，我们这才看见船身和刚刚挂起的舱内红色的舷灯发出的微弱的光。她轻轻地起伏着，在天穹之下画着一个个的弧。我看着她，船身上晨光的颜色渐渐加深，直到船上的风帆好像面向阳光的蛋白石一样透着玫瑰色，像火红的宝石。她灿烂绚丽，美若天仙，那只款款而动，体态轻盈的快帆船呀！她一路驶来，出迷雾，入熹微，她好像一个魂灵，一个智慧女神。她浑身泛着光，船帆泛着光；她携带的小船及索具都染上了颜色。她亭亭而立 （张着天帆和豪华的索帆）， 看着她在阳光里泛着红晕，轻轻摆动着，上下颠浮着， 令人心旷神怡。她是一只有生命的活船，比世间的生命更具生命力的活船。人们以为，她就要用一种陌生的语言开口说话，或演奏一首乐曲来抒发对大海的依恋，歌唱太阳的温情。她飘然而至，时而随波涌起，时而随浪而下，一会儿露出吃水线下面的测深铅锤，然后又潜入水中，让水雾淹没锚链孔。她俯首前行，接着又昂然跳跃；阳光照进船楼的天井；船身闪烁着光芒；当她涌起的时候，便抖掉全身的海水。船上的人们没有一个不为快帆船的美而感慨。我想，假如快帆船距离再近一点，他们一定会为她而欢呼；可是，事实上，我们升起船旗来对她做出回应，我们确定了位置，核准经纬仪，降下各色彩旗，然后站开。有好几分钟的时间，我一边整理着降下的旗子，准备把它们放回旗柜，一边看着她。这时老水手一瘸一拐的走过来，吐了一口唾沫，斩钉截铁地说：“这真是世上美景之一。那个，还有玉米地，还有抱着孩子的女人，这是‘美’和‘力’的化身。摘下一个天帆扎在你的脖子上，怎么样？”我好歹应了声，继续看着她，直至她那美丽的、棱角分明的船身，连同她精美的细部变得模糊时，太阳正照着她的下风处，从那里凯旋而上，身披金甲的勇士般的舵软拨打起羽状的水云。

Shakespeare's Island by George Gissing

Today I have read The Tempest ... Among the many reasons which make me glad to have been born in England, one of the first is that I read Shakespeare in my mother tongue. If I try to imagine myself as one who cannot know him face to face, who hears him only speaking from afar, and that in accents which only through the labouring intelligence can touch the living soul, there comes upon me a sense of chill discouragement, of dreary deprivation. I am wont to think that I can read Homer, and assuredly, if any man enjoys him, it is I; but can I for a moment dream that Homer yields me all his music, that his word is to me as to him who walked by the Hellenic shore when Hellas lived? I know that there reaches me across the vast of time no more than a faint and broken echo; I know that it would be fainter still, but for its blending with those memories of youth which are as a glimmer of the world's primeval glory. Let every land have joy of its poet; for the poet is the land itself, all its greatness and its sweetness, all that incommunicable heritage for which men live and die. As I close the book, love and reverence possess me. Whether does my full heart turn to the great enchanter, or to the island upon which he has laid his spell? I know not. I cannot think of them apart. In the love and reverence awakened by that voice of voices, Shakespeare and England are but one.

莎士比亚之岛 乔治·吉辛

今天我读完了《暴风雨》…… 我很庆幸自己出生在英格兰，在众多的理由之中首要的理由之一是，我用我的母语阅读莎士比亚。要是我想象自己不能面对面地去认识他，只能听他从遥远的地方讲话，而且是用一种费解的口音讲话，我将会感到心灰意冷，也会因为被剥夺了一种权利而感到沮丧。我常这样想，我能阅读荷马，而且可以肯定地说，要是有谁欣赏荷马的作品，那就是我；可是，我能梦想领悟他所有的音乐吗？我能像那些在古希腊海滩上漫步的古希腊人那样理解他诗篇的每一个字吗？我知道，越过广袤的时空传到我耳际的不过是一个微弱的、断断续续的回声；我知道，若不是这回声融汇着世界远古时代荣光火花的青春记忆，这微弱的回声还会更加微弱。让每个过度都为它的诗人而感到欣慰吧；因为诗人就是这国度本身，就是它的伟大和温馨所在，就是人们置生死于不顾而要继承的只可意会而不可言传的遗产。当我合上书时，心中充满了爱和崇敬。我的心事转向这位伟大的魔法师，还是转向他施过魔法的岛屿？我不知道。我无法将他们分开。在那伟大的声音所唤起的爱和崇敬之中，莎士比亚和英格兰已经融为一体。: 王宏印 译

The Faculty of Delight by Charles Edward Montague

Among the mind’s powers is one that comes of itself to many children and artists. It need not be lost, to the end of his days, by any one who has ever had it. This is the power of taking delight in a thing, or rather in anything, everything, not as a means to some other end, but just because it is what it is, as the lover dotes on whatever may be the traits of the beloved object. A child in the full health of his mind will put his hand flat on the summer turf, feel it, and give a little shiver or private glee at the elastic firmness of the globe. He is not thinking how well it will do for some game or to feed mistress’s money. The child’s is sheer affection, the true ecstatic sense of the thing’s inherent characteristics. No matter what the things may be, no thrilling unique look and feel of its own, like a face; the iron astringently cool under its paint, the painted wood familiarly warmer, the clod crumbling enchantingly down in the hands, with its little dry smell of the sun and of hot nettles; each common thing a personality marked by delicious differences.

The joy of an Adam new to the garden and just looking round is brought by the normal child to the things that he does as well as those that mankind can give him a mystical exaltation: to come home with his legs, as the French say, re-entering his body from the fatigue of helping the gardener to weed beds sends him to sleep in the glow of a beatitude that is an end in itself…

The right education, if we could find it, would work up this creative faculty of delight into all its branching possibilities of knowledge, wisdom, and nobility. Of all three it is the beginning, condition, or raw material.

感知快乐的天赋 查尔斯·爱德华·蒙塔格

在人的心理能力中，有一种是很多孩子和艺术家自然就有的。不论是谁，一旦有了这种能力，直到他生命的最后一天也不一定会丢失。这就是从某一事物，或任一事物，都能感受到快乐的能力，不是为了某一目的，只是因为它就是这样，这好比一个人喜爱一样东西，不论它有什么特征他都喜爱。一个心理健全的孩子会把他的手掌平放在夏天的草皮上，抚摩它，在他感觉到具有弹性又很坚实的地球表面时，他心里便产生一种快乐的冲动。他不是在想要是在上面做游戏或放羊什么的该有多好哇。那岂不是就像求婚者一心只想着女友的钱财一样吗？而孩子则完全是因为喜爱，是事物内在的特质真正让他有一种欣喜若狂的感觉。不论是什么事物，也不论它们有没有用途，它们就是那里，每一样东西都像一张脸孔，都有其独特的使人激动的面容和感觉；上过油漆的铁器使人感觉冷峻，而上过油漆的木器则让人感觉温和而亲切，当土块在手里松动而散发出阳光和热荨麻的微干的气味时，简直让人陶醉；每一样普通的东西都有它自己的“性格”，而这“性格”都有其不同的怡人的特征。

一个像亚当那样的人初次来到花园举目四望时所感到的那种快乐，一个正常孩子在其所做及所见的事物里都可以感觉到。在他被允许使用人类常用的铁锨去做一些简单的体力劳动时，他会感到一种神奇的兴奋：由于帮助园丁在花坛里锄草已经很疲劳，回到家时，就像法国人常说的那样，他的双腿又重新回到他的身上，在一种幸福感光辉里进入梦乡，这本身就是目的……

正确的教育，如果我们能够发现它，可以调动这一带有创造性的快乐的天赋，使其纳入所有可能的各个方面——知识，智慧和高尚的情操。对于这三者，这种心理能力是开始，是条件，或是原始材料。

The Weather in His Soul by George Santayana

Let me come to the point boldly; what governs the Englishman is his inner atmosphere, the weather in his soul. It is nothing particularly spiritual or mysterious. When he has taken his exercise and is drinking his tea or his beer and lighting his pipe; when, in his garden or by his fire, he sprawls in an aggressively comfortable chair; when well-washed and well-brushed, he resolutely turns in church to the east and recites the Creed (with genuflexions, if he likes genuflexions) without in the least implying that he believes one word of it; when he hears or sings the most crudely sentimental and thinnest of popular songs, unmoved but not disgusted; when he adopts a party or a sweetheart; when he is hunting or shooting or boating, or striding through the fields; when he is choosing his clothes or his profession—never is it a precise reason, or purpose, or outer fact that determines him; it is always the atmosphere of his inner man.

To say that this atmosphere was simply a sense of physical well-being, of coursing blood and a prosperous digestion, would be far too gross; for while psychic weather is all that, it is also witness to some settled disposition, some ripening inclination for this or that, deeply rooted in the soul. It gives a sense of direction in life which is virtually a code of ethics, and a religion behind religion. On the other hand, to say it was the vision of any ideal or allegiance to any principle would be making it far too articulate and abstract. The inner atmosphere, when compelled to condense into words, may precipitate some curt maxim or over-simple theory as a sort of war-cry; but its puerile language does it injustice, because it broods at a much deeper level than language or even thought. It is a mass of dumb instincts and allegiances, the love of a certain quality of life, to be maintained manfully. It is pregnant with many a stubborn assertion and rejection. It fights under its trivial fluttering opinions like a smoking battleship under its flags and signals; you must consider, not what they are, but why they have been hoisted and will not be lowered. One is tempted at times to turn away in despair from the most delightful acquaintance—the picture of manliness, grace, simplicity, and honour, apparently rich in knowledge and humour—because of some enormous platitude he reverts to, some hopelessly stupid little dogma from which one knows that nothing can ever liberate him. The reformer must give him up; but why should one wish to reform a person so much better than to the light touch, and coursing in most wonderful unison with you through the open world. What do you care what words he uses? Are you impatient with the lark because he sings rather than talks? And if he could talk, would you be irritated by his curious opinions? Of course, if any one positively asserts what is contrary to fact, there is an error, though the error may be harmless; and most divergencies between men should interest us rather than offend us, because they are effects of perspective, or of legitimate diversity in experience and interests. Trust the man who hesitates in his speech and is quick and steady in action, but beware of long arguments and long beards. Jupiter decided the most intricate questions with a nod, and a very few words and no gestures suffice for the Englishman to made his inner mind felt most unequivocally when occasion requires.

Instinctively the Englishman is no missionary, no conqueror. He prefers the country to the town, and home to foreign parts. He is rather glad and relieved if only natives will remain natives and strangers strangers, and at a comfortable distance from himself. Yet outwardly he is most hospitable and accepts almost anybody for the time being; he travels and conquers without a settled design, because he has the instinct of exploration. His adventures are external; they change him so little that he is not afraid of them. He carries his English weather in his heart wherever he goes, and it becomes a cool spot in the desert, and a steady and same oracle amonst all the deliriums of mankind. Never since the heroic days of Greece has the world had such a sweet, just, boyish master. It will be a black day for the human race when scientific blackguards, conspirators, churls, and fanatics manage to supplant him.

英国人灵魂的竟象 乔治·桑塔雅那

让我直接进入正题吧：左右英国人的是他内在的情调，心灵里的气象。这决不是什么精神层面的或神秘的东西。设想在他运动之余品茶或喝酒，并且点着烟斗；或在花园里或壁炉旁懒洋洋地躺在舒适的安乐椅上；或在他精心梳洗之后，在教堂里毅然面向东方背诵（跪诵，假如他喜欢跪诵）信经，但这决不意味着他相信其中的任一字句；或在他听着或哼着最低俗感伤、最浅薄的流行歌曲，虽未被感动但也并不讨厌；或在他确定谁是他最好的朋友或最喜爱的诗人；或在他选择一个群体或一个恋人；或在他打猎、射击、划船或大步走过田野；或在他挑选服装或选择职业——在他做着这一切的时候，并不是因为某一个确定的理由，或目的，或外界的事物，而是他内在的情调在决定着他的取向。

若说这一内在的情调仅仅是对于身体状况、血液循环和消化功能的感觉，那未免过于粗浅；因为，虽然灵魂的气象全然如此，它毕竟也是深深根植于灵魂之中的某种稳定的气质和某一日臻成熟的心理倾向的见证。它给人以生活的方向感，实则是一种道德准则，宗教背后的宗教。另一方面，若它是对于一种理想的幻想或对于某一原则的忠诚，那就把它说得过于雄辩也过于抽象了。这个“内在的情调”，必须用语言来表述时，可以凝结成一句战斗口号似的简短格言或简单的理论；但那幼稚的语言并不能将它表述清楚，因为它孕育在比语言，甚至比思想还要深得多的层次上。它是一团无声的本能和忠诚的结合体，是对某种生活品质的爱，需要勇敢而坚定地予以保持。它固执地坚持很多观点，也固执地摈弃很多妄念。它在各种涌动于内心的细微见解之下进行战斗，就像一艘吐浓烟的战舰在种种旗帜和信号的指挥之下进行战斗一样；你所要考虑的不是它们是什么，而是它们既然已经升起就不再降落这是为什么。有时人会在绝望的时候抛弃最让他感到快活的相识——有男子汉气概、儒雅、素朴、正直、显出一副知识渊博和幽默的样子——因为他总是重弹某些老调，陷入愚蠢的琐碎教务之中而无法得到解救。改良者必须放弃他；为什么偏要改变一个比自己好得多的人呢？他就像一匹英国纯种马，行家一看就满意，轻轻一拍就能领会你的意图，和你完全融为一体，载着你在空旷的原野里驰骋。至于他说话时如何措词，你在乎那个干什么？你会因为云雀只唱歌而不说话就对它不耐烦吗？假使它会说话，你会对它那些奇怪的念头感到恼火吗？当然，假如有人武断地坚持与事实相反的意见，那肯定是错误的，虽然这错误未必有害；再说人们之间大多数分歧应该引起我们的兴趣，而不是激怒我们，因为这些分歧是由看问题的角度不同，或由于那些合乎情理的经验和兴趣的多样性而引起的，应当信任那些言语迟疑但行动迅速而坚定的人，但要警惕无休止的争论和长着长胡子的人。朱庇特只一点头就决定了最棘手的问题，而当情势所需时，英国人只需三言两语而无需比比划划，就能使人准确无误地了解他的内心世界。

就其本能而言，英国人不是传教士，不是征服者。他宁愿待在乡村，而不愿住在城市，宁愿待在家里，而不愿去陌生的地方。如果本地人还是本地人，陌生人始终是陌生人，而且和自己保持一段舒适的距离，他会很高兴，很舒心。但在外表上，他很好客，几乎任何人他都可以暂时接纳；他不是按照一成不变的计划去旅行，去征服，因为他有探索的本能。他的冒险活动都是表面的，对他自己几乎没有什么影响，所以他不怕冒险。无论他走到哪里，心里总是怀着他的“英国气象”。它已变成沙漠里一个清凉的处所，人类谵妄之中一个稳固而明智的圣堂。自从希腊的英雄时代以来，世界还没有过如此可爱、正直和孩子气的主人。若以科学上的无赖、阴谋家、吝啬鬼和狂热之徒取而代之，将是为类遭遇暗无天日之时。

How to Grow Old by Bertrand Russell

In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject. My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off. A great-grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants. My maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow, devoted herself to woman’s higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical profession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad. She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. “Good gracious”, she exclaimed, “I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence!” “Madre snaturale,” he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a.m. in reading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old. This, I think, is proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years you have already lived, still less of the probable brevity of you future.

As regards health I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. I eat and drink whatever I like, and sleep when I cannot keep awake. I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health, though in actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.

Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One’s thoughts must be directed to the future and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy: one’s own past is gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one’s mind more keen. If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.

The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one’s interest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.

I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use telling grown-up children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with your children and grandchildren. In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material service, such as making them an allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it — so at least it seems to me — is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

怎样才能活得老 波特兰·罗素

题目虽然这样写，实际上本文所要谈的却是人怎样才可以不老。对于像我这样年纪的人来说，这个问题就更是重要得多了。我的头一条忠告是，你可得要挑选好你的先人啊。我的父母年纪轻轻就去世了，可是说到祖辈，我还是选得不错的。我外祖父固然是在风华正茂之年就弃世了，当时他只有六十七岁，但是我的祖父、祖母和外祖母却都活到了八十岁以上。再往远一点说，在我的先人之中，我发现只有一个活得不长，他得了一种现在已经不多见的病，那就是，头让人砍掉了。我的一位曾祖母，和吉本是朋友，活到了九十二岁，她直到临终都使儿孙望而生畏。我外祖母有九个孩子活了下来，有一个孩子很小就死了，她还流产过多次。丈夫一死，她就致力于女子高等教育。她是戈登学院的创办人之一，曾竭力使医学专业对妇女开放。她常对人说，她在意大利碰到过一位愁容满面的先生，就问他为什么闷闷不乐，他说两个小孙孙刚刚离开他？“我的天哪！”我外祖母就说，“我的孙子孙女有七十二个，要是每离开一个都要难过，我的生活可就太痛苦了。”听了这话，老先生竟说，“Madre snaturale”（意大利语，意思是：“这个做母亲的真怪呀！”——译注）但是我作为七十二人中的一员，倒是赞成她的办法的。她过了八十以后，常睡不着觉，所以从午夜到凌晨三点总要读些科普读物。我相信她从来没有功夫去注意自己是不是在日益衰老。我认为，要想永葆青春，这是最好的办法。你要是有广泛的爱好和强烈的兴趣，而且还有能力参加一些活动，你就没有理由去考虑自己已经活了多少岁这样的具体数字，更没有理由去考虑自己的余年大概是很有限的了。

谈到健康问题，我就没什么可说的了，因为我没怎么生过病。我想吃什么就吃什么，想喝什么就喝什么，眼睛睁不开了就睡觉，从来不为对身体有益而搞什么活动，然而实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。

从心理方面来说，到了老年，有两种危险倾向需要注意防止。一是过分地怀念过去。老想着过去，总觉得过去怎么好怎么好，或者总是为已故的朋友而忧伤，这是不妥的。一个人应当考虑未来，考虑一些可以有所作为的事情。要做到这一点是不大容易的；自己过去的经历就是一个越来越沉重的包袱。人们往往会对自己说，我过去感情多么丰富，思想多么敏锐，现在不行了。如果真是这样的话，那就不要去想它，而如果你不去想它，情形就很可能不是这样了。

另一件需要避免的事就是老想着和年轻人呆在一起，希望从青年的活力中汲取力量。孩子们长大之后，就希望独立生活，如果你还像在他们年幼时那样关心他们，你就会成为他们的累赘，除非他们特别麻木不仁。我不是说一个人不应当关心孩子，而是说这种关心主要应该是多为他们着想，可能的话，给他们一些接济，而不应该过分地动感情。动物，一旦它们的后代能够自己照料自己，它们就不管了；但是人，由于抚养子女的时间长，是难以这样做的。

我认为，如果老年人对个人以外的事情怀有强烈的兴趣，并参加适当的活动，他们的晚年是最容易过得好的。在这一方面，他们由于阅历深，是能够真正做得卓有成效的，也正是在这一方面，他们从经验中得出的智慧既可以发挥作用，又不至使人感到强加于人。告诫成年的子女不要犯错误，那是没有用的，一来他们不听你的，二来犯错误本身也是受教育的一个重要方面。但是如果你这个人对于个人以外的事情不发生兴趣，就会感到生活空虚，除非你老惦记着儿孙。在这种情况下，你可要明白，虽然你还可以在物质方面给他们以帮助，比如给他们零用钱，或者为他们织毛衣，但你决不要指望他们会喜欢跟你做伴。

有些老年人因怕死而惶惶不安。年轻人有这种情绪是情有可原的。如果青年人由于某种原因认为自己有可能在战斗中死去，想到生活所能提供的最美好的东西自己全都无法享受，觉得受了骗，因而感到痛苦，这是无可指责的。但是对老年人来说，他经历了人生的酸甜苦辣，自己能做的事情都做到了，怕死就未免有些可鄙，有些不光彩了。要克服这种怕死的念头，最好的办法――至少在我看来――就是逐渐使自己关心更多的事情，关心那些不跟自己直接有关的事情，到后来，自我的壁垒就会慢慢消退，个人的生活也就越来越和宇宙的生命融合在一起了。人生好比一条河，开头河身狭窄，夹在两岸之间，河水奔腾咆哮，流过巨石，飞下悬崖。后来河面逐渐展宽，两岸离得越来越远，河水也流得较为平缓，最后流进大海，与海水浑然一体，看不出任何界线，从而结束其单独存在的那一段历程，但毫无痛苦之感。如果一个人到了老年能够这样看待自己的一生，他就不会怕死了。因为他所关心的一切将会继续下去。如果随着精力的衰退，日见倦怠，就会觉得长眠未尝不是一件好事。我就希望在工作时死去，知道自己不再能做的事有人会继续做下去，并且怀着满意的心情想到，自己能做的事都已做到了。（庄绎传 译)

On Being Modern-minded by Bertrand Russell

Our age is the most parochial since Homer. I speak not of any geographical parish: the inhabitants of Mudcombe-in-the-Meer are more aware than at any former time of what is being done and thought at Praha, at Gorki or at Peiping. It is in the chronological sense that we are parochial: as the new names conceal the historic cities of Prague, Nijni-Novgorod, and Pekin, so new catchwords hide from us the thoughts and feelings of our ancestors, even when they differed little from our own. We imagine ourselves at the apex of intelligence, and cannot believe that the quaint clothes and cumbrous phrases of former times can have invested people and thoughts that are still worthy of our attention. If Hamlet is to be interesting to a really modern reader, it must first be translated into the language of Marx or of Freud, or better still, into a jargon inconsistently compounded of both. I read some years ago a contemptuous review of a book by Santayana, mentioning an essay on Hamlet ‘dated, in every sense, 1908’ -- as if what has been discovered since then made any earlier appreciation of Shakespeare irrelevant and comparatively superficial. It did not occur to the reviewer that his review was ‘dated, in every sense, 1936.’ Or perhaps this thought did occur to him, and filled him with satisfaction. He was writing for the moment, not for all time; next year he will have adopted the new fashion in opinions, whatever it may be, and he no doubt hopes to remain up to date as long as he continues to write. Any other ideal for a writer would seem absurd and old-fashioned to the modern-minded man.

The desire to be contemporary is of course new only in degree; it has existed to some extent in all previous periods that believed themselves to be progressive. The Renaissance had a contempt for Gothic centuries that had preceded it; the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries covered priceless mosaics with whitewash; the Romantic movement despised the age of the heroic couplet. Eighty years ago Lecky reproached my mother for being led by intellectual fashion to oppose fox-hunting: ‘I am sure,’ he wrote, ‘you are not really at all sentimental about foxes or at all shocked at the prettiest of all the assertions of women’s rights, riding across country. But you always look upon politics and intellect as a fierce race and are so dreadfully afraid of not being sufficiently advanced or intellectual.’ But in none of these former times was the contempt for the past nearly as complete as it is now. From the Renaissance to the end of the eighteenth century men admired Roman antiquity; the Romantic movement revived the Middle Ages; my mother, for all her belief in nineteenth-century progress, constantly read Shakespeare and Milton. It is only since the 1914-18 war that it has been fashionable to ignore the past en bloc.

The belief that fashion alone should dominate opinion has great advantages. It makes thought unnecessary and puts the highest intelligence within the reach of everyone. It is not difficult to learn the correct use of such words as ‘complex’, ‘sadism’, ‘Oedipus, ‘bourgeois’, ‘deviation’, ‘left’; and nothing more is needed to make a brilliant writer or talker. Some, at least, of such words represented much thought on the part of their inventors; like paper money they were originally convertible into gold. But they have become for most people inconvertible, and in depreciating have increased nominal wealth in ideas. And so we are enabled to despise the paltry intellectual fortunes of former times.

The modern-minded man, although he believes profoundly in the wisdom of his period, must be presumed to be very modest about his personal powers. His highest hope is to think first what is about to be thought, to say what is about to be said, and to feel what is about to be felt; he has no wish to think better thoughts than his neighbours, to say things showing more insight, or to have emotions which are not those of some fashionable group, but only slightly ahead of others in point of time. Quite deliberately he suppresses what is individual in himself for the sake of the admiration of the herd. A mentally solitary life, such as that of Copernicus, or Spinoza, or Milton after the Restoration, seems pointless according to modern standards. Copernicus should have delayed his advocacy of the Copernican system until it could be made fashionable; Spinoza should have been either a good Jew or a good Christian; Milton should have moved with the times, like Cromwell’s widow, who asked Charles II for a pension on the ground that she did not agree with her husband’s politics. Why should an individual set himself as an independent judge? Is it not clear that wisdom resides in the blood of the Nordic race or, alternatively, in the proletariat? And in case what is the use of an eccentric opinion, which never can hope to conquer the great agencies of publicity?

The money rewards and widespread though ephemeral fame which those agencies have made possible place temptations in the way of able men which are difficult to resist. To be pointed out, admired, mentioned constantly in the press, and offered easy ways of earning much money is highly agreeable; and when this is open to a man, he finds it difficult to go on doing the work that he himself thinks best and is inclined to subordinate his judgment to the general opinion.

Various other factors contribute to this result. One of these is the rapidity of progress which has made it difficult to do work that will not soon be superseded. Newton lasted till Einstein; Einstein is already regarded by many as antiquated. Hardly any man of science, nowadays, sits down to write a great work, because he knows that, while he is writing it, others will discover new things that will make it obsolete before it appears. The emotional tone of the world changes with equal rapidity, as wars, depressions, and revolutions chase each other across the stage. And public events impinge upon private lives more forcibly than in former days. Spinoza, in spite of his heretical opinions, could continue to sell spectacles and meditate, even when his country was invaded by foreign enemies; if he had lived now, he would in all likelihood have been conscripted or put in prison. For these reasons a greater energy of personal conviction is required to lead a man to stand out against the current of his time than would have been necessary in any previous period since the Renaissance.

The change has, however, a deeper cause. In former days men wished to serve God. When Milton wanted to exercise ‘that one talent which is death to hide’, he felt that his soul was ‘bent to serve therewith my Maker’. Every religiously minded artist was convinced that God’s aesthetic judgements coincided with his own; he had therefore a reason, independent of popular applause, for doing what he considered his best, even if his style was out of fashion. The man of science in pursuing truth, even if he came into conflict with current superstition, was still setting forth the wonders of Creation and bringing men’s imperfect beliefs more nearly into harmony with God’s perfect knowledge. Every serious worker, whether artist, philosopher, or astronomer, believed that in following his convictions he was serving God’s purposes. When with the progress of enlightenment this belief began to grow dim, there still remained the True, the Good and the Beautiful. Non-human standards were still laid up in heaven, even if heaven had no topographical existence.

Throughout the nineteenth century the True, the Good and the Beautiful preserved their precarious existence in the minds of earnest atheists. But in their very earnestness was their undoing, since it made it impossible for them to stop at a halfway house. Pragmatists explained that Truth is what it pays to believe. Historians of morals reduced the Good to a matter of tribal custom. Beauty was abolished by the artists in a revolt against the sugary insipidities of a philistine epoch and in a mood of fury in which satisfaction is to be derived only from what hurts. And so the world was swept clear not only of God as a person but of God’s essence as an ideal to which man owed an ideal allegiance; while the individual, as a result of a crude and uncritical interpretation of sound doctrines, was left without any inner defence against social pressure.

All movements go too far, and this is certainly true of the movement toward subjectivity, which began with Luther and Descartes as an assertion of the individual and has culminated by an inherent logic in his complete subjection. The subjectivity of truth is a hasty doctrine not validly deducible from the premises which have been thought to imply it; and the habits of centuries have made many things seem dependent on theological belief which are not so. Men lived with one kind of illusion, and when they lost it they fell into another. But it is not by old error that new error can be combated. Detachment and objectivity, both in thought and feeling, have been historically but not logically associated with certain traditional beliefs; to preserve them without these beliefs is both possible and important. A certain degree of isolation both in space and time is essential to generate the independence required for the most important work; there must be something which is felt to be of more importance than the admiration of the contemporary crowd. We are suffering not from the decay of theological beliefs but from the loss of solitude.

论具有现代头脑 伯特兰·罗素

自荷马时代以降，我们这个时代地方观念最重。我这么说并非就地理教区而言：和以往任何时候相比起来，莫德克姆海岛的居民更多意识到，在布拉哈、高尔基或在北平，人们都在做些什么和想些什么。因此是从年代先后的意义来说，我们抱有地方观念：如同新的地名掩盖了布拉格、尼基尼-诺夫戈和北平这些古城一样，新的时髦语也对我们隐瞒了我们祖先的思想感情，即使在它们和我们的时髦语差别不大的时候。我们自以为才智上登峰造极了，无法相信往代的奇装异服与笨拙词句居然包装着人们，思想也还值得我们重视。如果《哈姆雷特》还使一位真正现代的读者发生兴趣的话，必须首先把它译成马克思或弗洛伊德的语言，或者理想一点的话，译成合二为一的行话。几年前，我读过一篇对桑塔亚那某部书嗤之以鼻的评论，提到一篇哈姆雷特论“在各种意义上都是1908年的老调”——仿佛此后的一切发现都使以前任何一篇欣赏莎士比亚的文字无关紧要，因而也就比较肤浅。他的评论“在各种意义上都是1936年的老调”，这一点没有在评论家头脑闪现过。或许这种想法的确出现于他的头脑，而且使他洋洋得意。他是在为眼前而写作，不是为着一切时代而写作；时隔一年他又将采用舆论的新潮，无论是什么内容，他当然希望只要自己作文不辍，就得不断跟上新潮。对现代头脑的人来说，一位作家的其他任何理想看来都是荒唐过时的。

想成为当代人的愿望当然仅仅在程度上是新的；一切相信当世是进步的历史时期中，都在一定程度不同存在过这种愿望。文艺复兴时期对以前哥特式风行的几个世纪抱有蔑视；17和18世纪用白石灰涂抹价值连城的镶嵌画；浪漫主义运动瞧不起英雄偶句诗体。八十年代莱基责备我母亲受知识界沶的导向而反对猎狐：“我确信，”他这样写道，“你对于猎狐其实并非是感情用事的态度，对主张女权的最堂而皇之的论调，野外骑马，也不会大惊小怪。可你老是把政治和智力看作一种激烈的竞赛，唯恐不够了先进或知识分子气味不浓。”但是在这些时期，对往代的蔑视都不像目前这么彻底。从文艺复兴到18世纪末叶，人们都称羡罗马古风；浪漫主义运动使得中世纪重见天日；我的母亲尽管笃信19世纪的进步，却始终爱读莎士比亚和弥尔顿。只是自1914-1918的大战以来，彻底忽视往代才变得时髦起来。

唯有时尚应该左右舆论这种偏偏大有益处。这种信念使得思维成为多余的了，而且把至高的智力置于每个人可以企及的范围之内。“情结”、“虐待狂”、“俄狄浦斯”、“布尔乔亚”、“偏向”、“左派”，学会正确使用这类字眼并不困难；造就一位出色的作家和清谈者，再也不需要什么了。至少其中某些儿字眼颇多代表了发明这类字眼的人的思想；如同纸币一样，起初可以兑换成黄金。但对大多数人说来，它们已经渐渐地无法兑换了，而在贬值的过程中思想上名义财富却增加了。这样才使我们蔑视往代的无足轻重的的知识财产。

应该假定，具有现代头脑的人看待他的个人能力时非常谦虚，虽然他深信自己时代的智慧。他的最高希望就是，该想什么就想什么，该说什么就说什么，该感受什么就感受什么，他根本不希望思考的思想比他的邻居更高明；说出更有见地的话，也不愿具有某个时髦族所不具有的情感，他的希望无非是在时间上领先一步。他处心积虑地压制他身上反映个性的一面，图的是博得群体的赞赏。一种精神上孤独的生活，诸如哥白尼、斯宾诺莎或王政复辟之后弥尔顿的生活，依照现代标准来看似乎毫无意义。于是哥白尼理应推迟提倡哥白尼体系，直到它能变得时髦起来；斯宾诺莎理应要么做个虔诚的犹太人，要么做个虔诚的基督徒；弥尔顿则应该与时共进，像克伦威尔的遗孀那样，她向查理二世启齿索取养老金，理由是她并不赞同丈夫的政治主张。为什么个人要标榜自己是有主见的判官呢？智慧存在于北欧人种的血统之中，或者换而言之，存在于无产阶级之中，这不是明明白白的吗？况且，无论在哪种情况下，一个标新立异的见解又有何用处呢？它决不可能指望战胜宣传的强大机构。

那些机构可能提供的酬金和遐迩闻名却昙花一现的声誉，在能人的道路上所设置的诱惑难以抵制。在新闻界经常被指认出来，受人羡慕，大名被人提到，赚大钱的捷径有人提供，这是十分令人快意的；一旦所有这些机会都向某个人敞开了，他就会发现很难继续从事自认为最合适的工作，而且不由自主地使自己的判断服从一般舆论。

其他各种因素也促成了这种结果。其中之一便是进步之迅速，已经使得人们不容易从事不会即将被替代的工作。牛顿在爱因斯坦出现之前首屈一指；而爱因斯坦已被许多人视为陈腐。当今之世，很少有科学工作者坐下来撰写一部伟大的著作，因为他明白：他在著述的时候，别人将发现新事物，它们将使他的书在出版之前变显得内容陈旧了。世界的感情基调也是同样迅速的发生变化，因为战争、萧条、革命在世界舞台上竞相出现。而且和往日比较起来，公共事件更为有力地冲击着私人生活。斯宾诺莎尽管抱着异端见解，即使他的国家遭到外敌侵犯的时候，他还能继续出售眼镜，独自沉思；如果他生活在现代，极有可能被征募服兵役或关入牢房。由于这些原因，要一个人站出来反对当世的潮流，必须具有一种更大的个人信念的力量，它超过了文艺复兴以来任何时期所必要的程度。

然而，这种变化还有一层更深的原因。在往日，人们只想虔奉上帝。当弥尔顿想运用“遮掩起来等于死亡的唯一禀赋”的时候，他感到他的灵魂是“注定以它去虔奉我的造物主”。每一位具有宗教意思的艺术家都确信，上帝的审美判断契合他本人的审美判断；因此他自有一番道理，独立于大众的喝彩之上，去从事于他认为最适合的工作，即使他的作风不合时尚。探索真理的科学工作者，即令他与当时风行的迷信发生冲突，仍然在表述造化的奇迹，促使人们不完善的信仰与上帝的完美知识更近于和谐一致。每一位严肃的工作者，不论是艺术家、哲学家，还是天文学家，都曾相信，在遵循自己信念的同时，他是在为上帝的旨意服务。一旦随着启蒙的进步，这种信念开始变得暗淡了，真、善、美依然存在。非人类的标准还是被置于上天，即使上天已经失去地形上的存在。

整个19世纪期间，真、善、美还朝不保夕地保持在热诚的无神论者的心目中。但是他们的热诚却造成了他们的毁灭，因为这种态度使得他们不可能停止在中途客栈。实用主义者的解释是，“真”之所以有价值就是信仰有好处。研究伦理的史家把“善”归结为一种部落习俗的问题。“美”为艺术家所废弃，因为他们反叛庸俗时代华而无实的内容，同时处于一种愤怒的心情，认为满足得之于伤害。因此世界上一扫而空的不仅是作为人而存在的上帝，而且是作为一种理想的上帝的本质，原来人类是对它抱有一种理想上的忠诚；而个人呢，由于对健全的学说所采取的粗俗而无所鉴别的解释，结果内心的防御能力荡然无存，对付不了社会的压迫。

一切运动都走过了头，对主观性的反抗运动当然也是如此，始于马丁·路德和笛卡尔的那场运动是要维护个人，由于一种内在逻辑联系而以个人的彻底屈服告终。真理的主观性是一种仓促形成的学说，不是有效地从那些据认为是包含着它的前提中演绎出来的；多少世纪以来的习惯致使许多事物似乎依赖于神学的信仰，事实上并非如此。人们过去靠着某个幻想生活，他们失去了一个幻想，又陷入另一个幻想。可是我们不能以旧错误来战胜新错误。在思想和感情两个方面，超脱和客观的态度，在历史上而非逻辑上与某些传统信念相联系；保持这两种态度而不抱这些信念是可能而又重要的。在空间和时间上保持一定程度的孤立，这是产生最重要的工作所需要的独立性所必不可少的；必须具有人们觉得是比当代大众的推崇更为重要的东西。我们现在遭受的痛苦不是神学信念的衰退，而是孤独的丧失。

（杨岂深 译）

That Lean and Hungry Look by Suzanne Britt Jordan

Caesar was right. Thin people need watching. I've been watching them for most of my adult life, and I don't like what I see. When these narrow fellows spring at me, I quiver to my toes. Thin people come in all personalities, most of them menacing. You've got your "together" thin person, your mechanical thin person, your condescending thin person, your tsk-tsk thin person, your efficiency-expert thin person. All of them are dangerous.

In the first place, thin people aren't fun. They don't know how to goof off, at least in the best, fat sense of the word. They've always got to be adoing. Give them a coffee break, and they'll jog around the block. Supply them with a quiet evening at home, and they'll fix the screen door and lick S&H green stamps. They say things like "there aren't enough hours in the day." Fat people never say that. Fat people think the day is too damn long already.

Thin people make me tired. They've got speedy little metabolisms that cause them to bustle briskly. They're forever rubbing their bony hands together and eyeing new problems to "tackle". I like to surround myself with sluggish, inert, easygoing fat people, the kind who believe that if you clean it up today, it'll just get dirty again tomorrow.

Some people say the business about the jolly fat person is a myth, that all of us chubbies are neurotic, sick, sad people. I disagree. Fat people may not be chortling all day long, but they're a hell of a lot nicer than the wizened and shriveled. Thin people turn surly, mean and hard at a young age because they never learn the value of a hot-fudge sundae for easing tension. Thin people don't like gooey soft things because they themselves are neither gooey nor soft. They are crunchy and dull, like carrots. They go straight to the heart of the matter while fat people let things stay all blurry and hazy and vague, the way things actually are. Thin people want to face the truth. Fat people know that there is no truth. One of my thin friends is always staring at complex, unsolvable problems and saying, "The key thing is ..." Fat people never say things like that. They know there isn't any such thing as the key thing about anything.

Thin people believe in logic. Fat people see all sides. The sides fat people see are rounded blobs, usually gray, always nebulous and truly not worth worrying about. But the thin person persists, "If you consume more calories than you burn," says one of my thin friends, "you will gain weight. It's that simple." Fat people always grin when they hear statements like that. They know better.

Fat people realize that life is illogical and unfair. They know very well that God is not in his heaven and all is not right with the world. If God was up there, fat people could have two doughnuts and a big orange drink anytime they wanted it.

Thin people have a long list of logical things they are always spouting off to me. They hold up one finger at a time as they reel off these things, so I won't lose track. They speak slowly as if to a young child. The list is long and full of holes. It contains tidbits like "get a grip on yourself", "cigarettes kill", "cholesterol clogs", "fit as a fiddle", "ducks in a row", "organize", and "sound fiscal management." Phrases like that.

They think these 2000-point plans lead to happiness. Fat people know happiness is elusive at best and even if they could get the kind thin people talk about, they wouldn't want it. Wisely, fat people see that such programs are too dull, too hard, too off the mark. They are never better than a whole cheesecake.

Fat people know all about the mystery of life. They are the ones acquainted with the night, with luck, with fate, with playing it by the ear. One thin person I know once suggested that we arrange all the parts of a jigsaw puzzle into groups according to size, shape and color. He figured this would cut the time needed to complete the puzzle by at least 50 per cent. I said I wouldn't do it. One, I like to muddle through. Two, what good would it do to finish early? Three, the jigsaw puzzle isn't the important thing. The important thing is the fun of four people (one thin person included) sitting around a card table, working a jigsaw puzzle. My thin friend had no use for my list. Instead of joining us, he went outside and mulched the boxwoods. The three remaining fat people finished the puzzle and made chocolate double-fudged brownies to celebrate.

The main problem with thin people is they oppress. Their good intentions, bony torsos, tight ships, neat corners, cerebral machinations and pat solutions loom like dark clouds over the loose, comfortable, spread-out, soft world of the fat. Long after fat people have removed their coats and shoes and put their feet up on the coffee table, thin people are still sitting on the edge of the sofa, looking neat as a pin, discussing rutabagas. Fat people are heavily into fits of laughter, slapping their thighs and whooping it up, while thin people are still politely waiting for the punch line.

Thin people are downers. They like math and morality and reasoned evaluation of the limitations of human beings. They have their skinny little acts together. They expound, prognose, probe and prick.

Fat people are convivial. They will like you even if you're irregular and have acne. They will come up with a good reason why you never wrote the great American novel. They will cry in your beer with you. They will put your name in the pot. They will let you off the hook. Fat people will gab, giggle, guffaw, gallumph, gyrate and gossip. They are generous, giving and gallant. They are gluttonous and goodly and great. What you want when you're down is soft and jiggly, not muscled and stable. Fat people know this. Fat people have plenty of room. Fat people will take you in.

瘦人瘦相 苏姗娜·希里特·乔丹

凯撒说得对。遇上瘦人要当心。我自成年以来，多半时间都在注意他们，但所看到的情况让我不喜欢。细瘦的人冲我走来时，我连脚趾都哆嗦。虽然瘦人的性格各异，但多数让人望而生畏。你一定见过“井井有条”的瘦子，机械呆板的瘦子，优越感十足的瘦子，常常“啧啧”作响的瘦子，以及有“效率专家”之称的瘦子。他们都是危险人物。

首先，瘦人没意思。他们不懂得消闲，至少他们不了解“消闲”二字在最好和最广泛的意义上的含义。他们总是闲不住。若让他们停下来喝杯咖啡，他们就到街上去跑步；若让他们晚上在家里安安静静地待一会儿，他们就忙着钉纱门，用舌头舔贴S&H绿贴花*。他们老是抱怨说“白天时间不够”之类的话。胖人可从不说那个。他们觉得白天已经太长了。

瘦人让我感到累。他们新陈代谢快，手脚总是忙个不停。他们总是搓着那只皮包骨头的小手，东张西望，看有什么新问题需要“着手解决”。我喜欢和那些慢腾腾、懒洋洋、随随便便的胖人在一起，那种认为你今天打扫干净了明天还会变脏的人。

有人说关于笑嘻嘻的胖子的事情纯属杜撰；说我们胖人都是神经质，有病，可悲。我不同意。胖子虽然不是整天乐呵呵，但跟那干瘪的瘦子比起来要好得多。瘦子年纪轻轻的就变得脾气很坏，又小气又苛刻，因为他们从没认识到热乳脂软糖圣代冰淇淋可以缓和紧张情绪。瘦子不喜欢又甜又软的东西，因为他们自己既不甜也不温柔。他们像胡萝卜，嚼起来嘎吱作响而没有味道。瘦子喜欢直奔事物的要害，胖子却让事物就那么保持在含混模糊的状态，实际上客观的事物就是那样！瘦子总想面对真理，胖人很清楚，世上本无真理。我的一个瘦子朋友，眼睛老是盯着那些复杂、棘手的问题，说：“关键在于……”胖子从来不说那种话。他们知道，什么关键不关键的，根本就没那回事。

瘦子相信逻辑，而胖子从各个方面看问题。胖子所看到的各个方面是一团团难以名状的东西，通常是灰色的，黑白不甚分明，真不值得为之伤脑筋。但瘦子却很执著。“如果摄入的热量比消耗的多，”我的瘦子朋友说，“你的体重就会增加。道理就这么简单。”胖子听了这样的话，总是一笑了之。这个他们比谁都懂。

胖子知道，生活既不合逻辑，也不公平。他们很清楚，天上没有上帝，世上的一切都不正常。要是天上有上帝，胖子们岂不是随时都可以吃上两个馅饼，喝上一大杯橘子汁了。

瘦子总是滔滔不绝地给我拉出一个很长的单子，好谈什么事情是符合逻辑的。他们掰着手指一件一件地数着，这样我就不会跟不上。他们说话速度很慢，好像我是个小孩子。他们拉的单子很长，但漏洞百出。尽是些诸如“管住你自己”、“香烟能杀人”、“胆固醇堵塞血管”、“非常健康”、“井井有条”、“组织起来”和“完善财政管理”之类的空话。

他们认为这些有两千条的计划可以使你幸福。胖子知道，在最好的情况下幸福也是难以琢磨的，即使得到瘦子所说的那种幸福，他们也不要。胖子明智地看到，瘦子的计划太枯燥、太离谱、难以实现。永远比不上一块乳酪蛋糕。

胖子了解生活的奥秘。他们懂得夜生活，懂得运气，懂得命运，懂得随时就势。有一次，我认识的一个瘦子建议我们把拼图玩具按照大小、形状、颜色分开。他认为这样至少能把做一次游戏所需要的时间减少一半。我说我可不愿意那样做。第一，我喜欢随随便便地玩；第二，早早玩完了又有什么好处？第三，拼图本身并不重要，重要的是四个人（包括我的瘦子朋友）围着桌子做拼图游戏的乐趣。他不喜欢我列的那几条。他没有和我们一起玩，而是跑到外面给黄杨树根培土去了。剩下我们三个胖子玩完拼图后，做了几个双层巧克力饼以示庆祝。

瘦子最主要的问题是让人感到压抑。他们良好的愿望、瘦骨嶙峋的身躯、严密的组织、打扫干净的角落、理智的计谋、恰当的解决方案等，都像乌云一样笼罩着胖子的松散、舒适、开阔、温柔的世界。胖子早已脱下外套、鞋子，把脚搁在咖啡桌子上了，瘦子还坐在沙发边上一本正经地讨论着芜菁甘蓝。胖子已经拍着大腿前仰后合笑成一团时，瘦子还彬彬有礼地琢磨他们到底在笑什么。

瘦子使人感觉沮丧。他们喜欢讨论数学和道德之类的话题，以及已经争辩过的有关人类局限性的评价等。他们同时挥舞着瘦小的手臂不停地做着十分小所的动作。他们解释着，预测着，探索着，警惕着。

胖子喜欢社交。即使你脾气有些古怪，脸上有粉刺，他们也会喜欢你。在你没能写出那本伟大的美国小说时，他们会为你找到一个很好的理由。他们同你一起借酒浇愁。他们凑钱买东西时会把你的名字也写上。他们会帮你摆脱困境。胖子喜欢闲聊、傻乐、狂笑、狂蹦乱跳、转来转去，爱传小道消息。他们慷慨，大方，豪爽。他们贪吃，漂亮，伟大。你心情不好时需要温柔和轻松，而不是强劲和持重。胖子懂得这个道理。他们肚量大，容得下你。

General Douglas - MacArthur's Prayer for His Son

Build me a son, O Lord, will be strong enough to know when he is weak and brave, enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. Then I, his father, will dare to whisper,  "I have not lived in vain."

General Douglas - MacArthur's Prayer for His Son

麦克阿瑟将军为儿子祈祷

主啊，求你把我的儿子培养成有足够的坚强和勇气的人，使他知道他何时软弱，使他能面对自己的胆怯，使他在失败时能够坚定和自尊，使他在胜利时能谦让和谦逊。求你教导我的儿子有愿望，但更要有勇气，要让我的儿子认识你，并认识他自己，这是知识的基石，求你带领他，不要让他在轻松松安逸的路上缓行，要使他经历艰难困苦和挑战，让他学会在风暴中挺立，让他学会对失败者的怜恤。求你培养我的儿子，使他有一个纯洁的心灵和远大的目标，让他先学会把握自己然后再寻求把握别人。使他学会欢笑，而不忘记哭泣，使他学会展望未来，而不忘记过去。所有这些他都具备之后，主啊，我再求你赐给他幽默感，以免他总是认真而太过严肃。求你赐给他谦卑以使他永记伟大的平凡，虚心领受真智慧，柔中有刚。到那时，我，他的父亲将敢低声说：我没有枉此一生。

（马丽丽 译）

A School Portrait by Robert Bridges

I had not visited Eton for many years, when one day passing from the Fellow’s Library into the Gallery I caught sight of the portrait of my school-friend Digby Dolben hanging just without the door among our most distinguished contemporaries. I was wholly arrested, and as I stood gazing on it, my companion asked me if I knew who it was. I was thinking that, beyond a few whom I could name, I must be almost the only person who would know. Far memories of my boyhood were crowding freshly upon me: he was standing again beside me in the eager promise of his youth; I could hear his voice; nothing of him was changed; while I, wrap from him in a confused mist of time, was wondering what he would think, could he know that at this actual moment he would have been dead thirty years, and that his memory would be thus preserved and honored in the beloved school, where his delicate spirit had been so strangely troubled.

This portrait-gallery of old Etonians is very select: preeminent distinction of birth or merit may win you a place there, or again official connection with the school, which right loves to keep up an unbroken panorama of its teachers, and to vivify its annals with the faces and figures of the personalities who carried on its traditions. But how came Dolben there? It was because he was a poet, --that I knew;--and yet his poems were not known they were jealously guarded by his family and a few friends: indeed such of his poems as could have come to the eyes of the authorities who sanctioned this memorial would not justify it. There was another reason; and the portrait bears its own credentials; for though you might not perhaps divine the poet in it, you can see the saint, the soul rapt in contemplation, the habit of stainless life, of devotion, of enthusiasm for high ideals. Such a being must have stood out conspicuously among his fellows; the facts of his life would have been the ground of the faith in his genius; and when his early death endeared and sanctified his memory, loving grief would generously grant him the laurels which he had never worn.

一张肖像   罗伯特·布里吉斯

我多年没回伊顿了。一天，在从研究员图书馆去画廊的路上，我看见学生时代的朋友迪格比·多尔宾的肖像和当代杰出名人肖像一起挂在门外。我被吸引住了，正在我停下来盯着画像出神的时候，我的同伴问我是否知道那是谁。我在想，除了几个我可以叫出名字的人以外，我差不多是唯一认识他的人了，遥远童年时代的记忆鲜活地涌进我的脑海：他又重新站在我的身边，焕发着青春的风采；我能听见他说话的声音；他没有一点变化；同时我在寻思着，因为与他之间相隔一段宛若迷雾的年月，假如他知道在这一时刻他已经死了三十年，他可爱的母校在以这样的方式纪念他，给他这样高的荣誉，而他上学时，他脆弱的心灵曾经莫名其妙地烦恼过，他会作怎样的感想呢？

这个为昔日的伊顿校友建立的肖像画廊在决定入选的人选时是很慎重的：出身显赫或表现突出有可能得到一个位置，或者与校方有正式的联系，而校方也希望完整地再现教师队伍的全貌，使那些保持了学校传统的名人形象构成的校史有生气，学校这样做是完全正确的。但是，多尔宾是怎么来到这里的呢？因为他是一个诗人---这我很清楚；然而，他的诗并不为人所知；他的诗是由他的家人和几个朋友精心保管着；要说只凭学校当局见到的几首诗就同意以这种方式纪念他，理由还不太充分。还有另外一个理由：他的肖像本身就是证明；虽然你也许不能从肖像里看出他是诗人，但你看见的是圣人，是沉浸在沉思默想之中的灵魂，是一生无瑕的、执著和热烈地追求崇高理想的气质。这样的人在他的同时代人当中一定是出类拔萃的；他生活的现实与经历足以使我们相信他是天才；当他的英年早逝使我们对他的怀念变得亲切而神圣时；出于对他的爱而产生的悲哀便赋予了他生前未曾享受过的诗人的桂冠。

Salvation by Langston Hughes

I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved. It happened like this. There was a big revival at my Auntie Reed’s church. Every night for weeks there had been much preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, and some very hardened sinners had been brought to Christ, and the membership of the church had grown by leaps and bounds. Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, “to bring the young lambs to the fold.” My aunt spoke of it for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners’ bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.

My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me.

The preacher preached a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell, and then he sang a song about the ninety and nine safe in the fold, but one little lamb was left out in the cold. Then he said: “Won’t you come? Won’t you come to Jesus? Young lambs, won’t you come?” And he held out his arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners’ bench. And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there.

A great many old people came and knelt around us and prayed, old women with jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands. And the church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be saved. And the whole building rocked with prayer and song.

Still I kept waiting to see Jesus.

Finally all the young people had gone to the altar and were saved, but one boy and me. He was a rounder’s son named Westley. Westley and I were surrounded by sisters and deacons praying. It was very hot in the church, and getting late now. Finally Westley said to me in a whisper: “God damn! I’m tired of sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.” So he got up and was saved.

Then I was left all alone on the mourners’ bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and song swirled all around me in the little church. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices. And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting--but he didn’t come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened.

I heard the songs and the minister saying: “Why don’t you come? My dear child, why don’t you come to Jesus? Jesus is waiting for you. He wants you. Why don’t you come? Sister Reed, what is this child’s name?"

“Langston,” my aunt sobbed.

“Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don’t you come?”

Now it was really getting late. I began to be ashamed of myself, holding everything up so long. I began to wonder what God thought about Westley, who certainly hadn’t seen Jesus either, but who was now sitting proudly on the platform, swinging his knickerbockered legs and grinning down at me, surrounded by deacons and old women on their knees praying. God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I’d better lie, too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved.

So I got up.

Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting, as they saw me rise. Waves of rejoicing swept the place. Women leaped in the air. My aunt threw her arms around me. The minister took me by the hand and led me to the platform.

When things quieted down, in a hushed silence, punctuated by a few ecstatic “Amens,” all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God. Then joyous singing filled the room.

That night, for the first time in my life but one for I was a big boy twelve years old--I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me

救赎  兰斯顿·休斯

在我快满13岁的时候，我从罪孽中得到拯救，但并未得到真正拯救。事情的经过是这样的：我的姑母丽德所在的教堂组织了一个声势很大的福音布道会。一连几个星期，每个晚上都有讲道、唱诗、祈祷和欢呼声。一些顽固不化的“罪人”被带到基督身边，因此，教堂信众的人数迅猛增加。在布道会结束之前，他们又专为孩子们举行了一个仪式，为了“把迷途的羔羊领回羊圈”。几天之前姑母就一直在念叨这件事。那天晚上，我被送到教堂，安顿在前排的忏悔席上，和那些还没有来到耶稣身边的“小罪人们”坐在一起。

姑母说，当你得到拯救的时候，你会看到一道光，你的心灵里也会有感觉。那是耶稣进入了你的生命，从此上帝就和你在一起！她还说，你能在心灵里听见耶稣，看见耶稣，感觉到耶稣。我相信她的话。我听很多老年人都这样说，我想，他们理应知道这些事。我就安安静静地坐在又热又挤的教堂里，等待耶稣来到我身边。

传道士用生动的、富于节奏的语言讲道，他描绘着地狱里的可怕情景：到处是呻吟、哀号和凄凉的哭声。他唱了一首歌，歌中说：九十九只羔羊安安乐乐在羊圈，只有一只流落在外受饥寒。然后他说：“你们不来吗？你们不到耶稣这边来吗？”他向我们坐在忏悔席上的小罪人伸出双臂，小女孩们都哭了，有几个女孩跳起来，立刻向耶稣奔去。可是我们大多数人仍然坐在那里。

许多老年人围拢过来---满脸乌黑发亮，头上梳着发辫的老太婆们和双手长满老茧和节瘤的老头子们，他们跪在我们周围，嗡嗡地祈祷起来。后来教堂里唱起了地狱之火在燃烧，可怜的罪人要得救的歌。祈祷声和唱歌声震撼了大厅。

我继续等着见到耶稣。

最后，除了我和另一个男孩，所有的年轻人都奔向圣坛，得到了拯救。那男孩是个无赖的儿子，名叫韦斯特利。我们两人被念念有词的女教友和教堂执事们团团围住。教堂里热极了，天色也渐渐晚了。最后韦斯特利悄声对我说：“去他的上帝，我在这儿坐腻了。咱们也起来去得救吧。”于是他站起来，得到了了拯救。

现在只剩下我一个人孤零零地坐在忏悔席上。这时姑母走过来，跪在我的膝下放声哭了，小教堂里的祝福声和唱歌声像旋风一样在我周围打转。全体会众一齐哀怨地哭叫为我一个人祷告，而我呢，还是安静地在等待耶稣，我等呀，等呀，但他始终没有来。我很想见他，可连他的影子也没有，一点也没有！我很希望发生点什么事，可什么也没有发生。

我听见唱歌声，也听见牧师在说：“你为什么不来？亲爱的孩子，你为什么不到耶稣这边来？耶稣正在等你。他欢迎你。你为什么不来呢？丽德教友啊，这孩子叫什么名字？”

“叫兰斯敦。”姑母抽泣着说，“兰斯敦，你为什么不来？你为什么不来接受拯救？啊！耶稣！你为什么不来？”

现在天可真的越来越晚了。我感到很难为情，一个人把会拖延这么长。同时我也很纳闷，上帝究竟对韦斯特利怎么想呢？他根本没看见耶稣。可他却洋洋得意地坐在教坛上，晃着穿着灯笼裤的两条腿，咧着嘴直冲着我笑，周围还有执事们和年老的女教友跪着祷告。上帝并没有因为韦斯特利亵渎他的圣名，因为他在教堂里撒谎而将他击毙。我决定，为了不再麻烦。我最好也撒个谎，就说耶稣已经来临，然后站起来去接受拯救。

于是我站了起来。

当人们看见我站起来，整个大厅变成了崇赞的海洋，欢乐的声浪席卷了全教堂。妇女们蹦呀，跳呀。姑母伸出双臂，把我紧紧搂住。牧师抓住我的手，把我领到教坛上。

一切安静下来，只有人们欢喜若狂地祷念“阿门”的声音断断续续打破沉寂时，所有得到新生的羔羊们都接受了上帝的祝福。这时，欢乐的歌声充满了大厅的各个角落。

那天夜里，我哭了。那是我一生中倒数第二次哭---因为我已是个十二岁的大孩子了。我一个人躺在床上哭呀，哭呀，怎么也止不住。我用被子蒙着头，可姑母还是听见了。她醒来对姑父说，我所以哭是因为圣灵进入了我的生命，还因为我已经看见了耶稣。其实，我哭泣的真正原因是我不忍心告诉她我说了谎，我欺骗了教堂里所有的人，也不忍心对她讲我并没有看见耶稣，因此我不再相信世界上有什么耶稣，因为他没有帮助我。

Mayhew William by S. Maugham

The lives of most men are determined by their environment. They accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with good will. They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flivver that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. I respect them; they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody has to pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting. I am fascinated by the men, few enough in all conscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it to their own liking. It may be that we have no such thing as free will, but at all events we have the illusion of it. At a cross-road it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or the left and, the choice once made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the world’s history obliged us to take the turning we did.

I never met a more interesting man than Mayhew. He was a lawyer in Detroit. He was an able and a successful one. By the time he was thirty-five he had a large and a lucrative practice, he had amassed a competence, and he stood on the threshold of a distinguished career, he had an acute brain, an attractive personality, and uprightness. There was no reason why he should not become, financially, a power in the land. One evening he was sitting in his club with a group of friends and they were perhaps a little worse (or the better) for liquor. One of them had recently come from Italy and he told them of a house he had seen at Capri, a house on the hill, overlooking the Bay of Naples, with a large and shady garden. He described to them the beauty of the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean.

“It sounds fine,” said Mayhew. “Is that house for sale?”

“Let’s send’em a cable and make an offer for it.”

“What in heaven’s name would you do with a house in Capri?”

“Live in it,” said Mayhew.

He sent for a cable form, wrote it out, and dispatched it. In a few hours the reply came back. The offer was accepted.

Mayhew was no hypocrite and he made no secret of the fact that he would never have done so wild a thing an impulsive nor an emotional man, but a very honest and sincere one. He would never have continued from bravado in a course that he had come to the conclusion was unwise. He made up his mind to do exactly as he had said. He did not care for wealth and he had enough money on which to live in Italy. He thought he could do more with life than spend it on composing the trivial quarrels of unimportant people. He had no definite plan. He merely wanted to get away from a life that had given him all it had to offer. I suppose his friends thought him crazy; some must have done all they could to dissuade him. He arranged his affairs, packed up his furniture, and started.

Capri is a gaunt rock of austere outline, bathed in a deep blue sea; but its vineyards, green and smiling, give it a soft and easy grace. It is friendly, remote, and debonair. I find it strange that Mayhew should have settled on this lovely island, for I never knew a man more insensible to beauty. I do not know what he sought there: happiness, freedom, or merely leisure; I know what he found. In this place which appeals so extravagantly to the sense he lived a life entirely of the spirit. For the island is rich with historic associations and over it broods always the enigmatic memory of Tiberius the Emperor. From his windows which overlooked the Bay of Naples, with the noble shape of Vesuvius changing colour with the changing light, Mayhew saw a hundred places that recalled the Romans and the Greeks. The past began to haunt him. All that he saw for the first time, for he had never been abroad before, excited his fancy; and in his soul stirred the creative imagination. He was a man of energy. Presently he made up his mind to write a history. For some time he looked about for a subject, and at last decided on the second century of the Roman Empire. It was little known and it seemed to him to offer problems analogous with those of our own day.

He began to collect books and soon he had an immense library. His legal training had taught him to read quickly. He settled down to work. At first he had been accustomed to foregather in the evening with the painters, writers, and such like who met in the little tavern near the Piazza, but presently he withdrew himself, for his absorption in his studies became more pressing. He had been accustomed to bathe in that bland sea and to take long walks among the pleasant vineyards, but little by little, grudging the time, he ceased to do so. He worked harder than he had ever worked in Detroit. He would start at noon and work all through the night till the whistle of the steamer that goes every morning from Capri to Naples told him that it was five o’clock and time to go to bed. His subject opened out before him, vaster and more significant, and he imagined a work that would put him forever beside the great historians of the past. As the years went by he was to be found seldom in the ways of men. He could be tempted to come out of his house only by a game of chess or the chance of an argument. He loved to set his brain against another’s. He was widely read now, not only in history, but in philosophy and science; and he was a skillful controversialist, quick, logical, and incisive. But he had good-humour and kindliness; though he took a very human pleasure in victory, he did not exult in it to your mortification.

When first he came to the island he was a big, brawny fellow, with thick black hair and a black beard, of a powerful physique; but gradually his skin became pale and waxy; he grew thin and frail. It was an odd contradiction in the most logical of men that, though a convinced and impetuous materialist, he despised the body; he looked upon it as a vile instrument which he could force to do the spirit’s bidding. Neither illness nor lassitude prevented him from going on with his work. For fourteen years he toiled unremittingly. He made thousands and thousands of notes. He sorted and classified them. He had his subject at his finger ends, and at last was ready to begin. He sat down to write. He died.

The body that he, the materialist, had treated so contumeliously took its revenge on him.

That vast accumulation of knowledge is lost for ever. Vain was that ambition, surely not an ignoble one, to set his name beside those of Gibbon and Mommsen. His memory is treasured in the hearts of a few friends, fewer, alas! As the years pass on, and to the world he is unknown in death as he was in life.

And yet to me his life was a success. The pattern is good and complete. He did what he wanted, and he died when his goal was in sight and never knew the bitterness of an end achieved.

生活的道路  威廉·S·毛姆

对于大多数人来说，生活是由环境决定的。他们在命运的拨弄面前，不仅逆来顺受，甚至还能随遇而安。这些人犹如街上的有轨电车，满足于在自己的轨道上运行；而对于那些不时出没于车水马龙间和欢快地奔驰在旷野上的廉价小汽车却不屑一顾。我尊重这些人；他们是守法的公民、尽职的丈夫、慈祥的父亲。当然，总得有人缴纳种种税款；可是，我并不觉得他们使人振奋。另有些人把生活掌握在自己手里，似乎在按照自己的意愿创造生活，尽管这样的人寥若晨星，他们却深深地吸引了我。自由意志这玩意儿对我们来说也许纯属子虚乌有；但不管怎么说，它确实存在于我们的幻想之中。每逢站在十字路口，我们好像能在左右两条道路中任选其一，可一旦选定之后，却又很难认识到那实际是世界历史的整个进程左右了我们的转折点。

我从未见到过比梅休更有意思的人了。他是底特律的一名律师，为人能干，事业上也很成功。35岁时就门庭若市，收入可观，累累胜诉，声名昭著，前程似锦。他头脑灵活，性格招人喜欢，为人又很正直，在这个国家里不变得有钱或者有势才怪呢。一天晚上，他与一些朋友在俱乐部聚会。喝了酒之后，他们也许有点醉意（或更清醒）了，其中一人刚从意大利回来，跟大家谈起了在卡普里岛看到的一幢房子。那是一幢坐落在小山上的房屋，还有个绿叶成荫的大花园。从屋里望出去，那不勒斯湾尽收眼底。他娓娓动听地把地中海这个最美的岛屿夸了一番。

“听起来倒真不错！”梅休说，“那房子卖不卖？”

“在意大利什么东西都卖。”

“我们打个电报，出个价把那房子买下来。”

“天哪！你买卡普里的一所房子干什么用啊？”

“住呗！”梅休说。

他叫人取来一张电报单，填好后就发了出去。没过几小时，回电来了，买卖成交。

梅休绝对不是伪君子。他毫不隐讳地承认，如果当时头脑清醒的话，他决不至于做出如此轻率的事。但此刻他清醒了，也决不反悔。他不是个一时冲动就鲁莽从事的人，也不多愁善感。他为人十分正直、诚恳。无论干什么，只要意识到所干的并不明智，他就马上会停下来，从不会因一时逞能而一味蛮干下去。他决心不折不扣地履行自己的诺言。梅休并不在乎钱财，他有的是钱，足够在意大利花的。他想使生活过得更有价值，不愿再把大好年华浪费在调停芸芸众生因区区小事引起的吵闹中。他没有明确的计划。他只是想抛弃这已不能再使他满意的生活。我想他的朋友们一定以为他疯了。有些人肯定是费尽唇舌劝他千万别这么做。可是他安排好手头的事务，把家具装了箱，毅然上路了。

卡普里岛是一块外形突兀的荒凉的岩石，沐浴在深蓝色的海洋里。但是它的葱绿的葡萄园仿佛在向人微笑，使这个海岛增添了几分令人舒爽的温柔宁静的姿色。卡普里岛远离尘嚣，却景色宜人，生气盎然。我真感到奇怪，梅休竟会找这么一个可爱的海鸟定居，因为我实在不相信还有谁会比他对美更无动于衷的了。我不知道他到那儿去想追求什么，是寻幸福，求自由，或者只是为了优游水月；但我知道他找到了什么。在这个岛上，人的感官本会受到强烈的刺激，而他却过上了纯精神的生活。因为这个岛上尽是能够勾起你联想的历史遗迹，总叫你想到提比略大帝的神秘故事。他站在窗前就能俯视那不勒斯湾。每当日移光变，维苏威火山的雄姿也随之变换色泽。此时，他凭窗远望，看到上百处残踪遗迹，因而联想起罗马和希腊的盛衰。他开始不停地思考起古代社会来。脑海中创造性的想象联翩浮来。他是个精力充沛的人，立刻就决定要笔耕史学。他花了一些时间寻找题目，最终选定了罗马帝国的第二世纪。这个题目很少为人所知。梅休认为帝国当时存在的问题与当今社会的情况颇有巧合之处。

他开始收集有关著作，不久就有了大量藏书。搞法律时受的训练教会了他如何快速阅读。他着手工作了。起初，他惯于在黄昏时分到市场附近的一个小酒店和聚在那里的画家、作家等文人墨客共同消磨一段时光，但不久他就深居简出了，因为研究工作日趋紧张，使他抽不出时间。一开始他也常到温和的海水中去洗澡，不时在可爱的葡萄园之间散步。但由于舍不得时间，渐渐地他不再洗澡，也不散步了。他干得要比在底特律卖力得多，常常是正午开始工作，彻夜不眠，待到汽笛一鸣，才恍然意识到已是清晨五点，从卡普里到那不勒斯的船只正要起锚出航，该是睡觉的时候了。他的主题在他面前展开了，涉及的内容越来越广泛，意义越来越重大。他在遐想，一旦巨著完成，他将跻身于历代伟大的史学家之列，永垂史册。时间一年一年过去，人们很少看到他与外界来往，只有一场棋赛或是一次辩论，才能诱使他走出家门。他就是爱与人斗智。现在他已博览群书，不仅读历史，还读哲学与科学。他能争善辩，思路敏捷，说理逻辑严密，批判尖锐辛辣。但他心地是善良的。当然，每逢胜利他也免不了满腔欢欣与快乐，这是人之常情。不过他并不沾沾自喜，而让别人下不了台。

当他初到海鸟时，个子高大结实，一头浓密的黑发和一把黑胡须，是一个身强力壮的人。但渐渐地他的皮肤日见苍白，人也瘦弱了。尽管他是一个坚定不移的、甚至近于偏激的唯物论者，却不把肉体放在眼里。这在一位最讲究逻辑的人身上，可真是自相矛盾得叫人不可思议。他把肉体视为微不足道的工具，认为他可以驱使肉体去完成精神赋予的使命。病魔和疲劳都不能使他停止工作。整整14年，他埋头苦干，锲而不舍，做了千万条注释，又把这些注释分门别类整理有序。对于自己的主题，他了如指掌，终于万事俱备，他坐下来去写那煌煌巨著。然而他死了。

这位唯物论者曾极度蔑视肉体，如今肉体对他进行了报复。

那长年累月积累起来的知识也随着他的死而化为乌有。他曾想与吉本和蒙森齐名。这雄心无疑是高尚的，然而如今只是一场空。几个朋友还怀念着他，可叹的是，随着岁月的流逝，记得他的人也越来越少。在这个大千世界上，他死后默默无闻，犹如他生前一样。

然而，在我看来，他的一生是成功的。他的生活道路是完善的。因为他干了他想干的事。当目标在望时，他与世长辞，因而也就幸免了达到目标后的心酸与痛苦。

The Song of the River by W. S. Maugham

You hear it all along the river. You hear it, loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stern, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream. You hear it from the trackers, a more breathless chant, as they pull desperately against the current, half a dozen of them perhaps if they are taking up a wupan, a couple of hundred if they are hauling a splendid junk, its square sail set, over a rapid. On the junk, a man stands amidships beating a drum incessantly to guide their efforts, and they pull with all their strength, like men possessed, bent double; and sometimes in the extremity of their travail they crawl on the ground, on all fours, like the beasts of the field. They strain, strain fiercely, against the pitiless might of the stream. The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo on the naked back. Each one must do his utmost or the labour of all in vain. And still they sing a vehement, eager chant, the chant of the turbulent waters. I do not know how words can describe what there is in it of effort. It serves to express the straining heart, the breaking muscles, and at the same time the indomitable spirit of man which overcomes the pitiless force of nature. Though the rope may part and the great junk swing back, in the end the rapid will be passed; and at the close of the weary day there is the hearty meal...

But the most agonising song is the song of the coolies who bring the great bales from the junk up the steep steps to the town wall. Up and down they go, endlessly, and endless as their toil rises their rhythmic cry. He, aw-ah, oh. They are barefoot and naked to the waist. The sweat pours down their faces and their song is a groan of pain. It is the cry of souls in infinite distress, only just musical, and that last note is the ultimate sob of humanity. Life is too hard, too cruel, and this is the final despairing protest. That is the song of the river.

河之歌 毛姆

沿河上下都可以听见那歌声。它响亮而有力，那是船夫，他们划着木船顺流而下，船尾翘得很高，桅杆系在船边。它也可能是比较急促的号子，那是纤夫，他们拉纤逆流而上，如果拉的是小木船，也许就只五六个人；如果拉的是扬着横帆的大船过急滩，那就要200来人。船中央站着一个汉子不停地击鼓助威，引导他们加劲。于是他们使出全部力量，像着了魔似的，腰弯成两折，有时力量用到极限就全身趴在地上匍匐前进，像田里的牲口。他们使劲，拼命使劲，对抗着水流无情的威力。领头的在纤绳前后跑来跑去，见到有人没有全力以赴，竹板就打在他光着的背上。每个人都必须竭尽全力，否则就要前功尽弃。就这样他们还是唱着激昂而热情的号子，那汹涌澎湃的河水号子。我不知道词语怎样能描写出其中所包含的拼搏，它表现的是绷紧的心弦，几乎要断裂的筋肉，同时也表现了人类克服无情的自然力的顽强精神。虽然绳子可能扯断，大船可能倒退，但最终险滩必将通过，在筋疲力尽的一天结束时可以痛快地吃上一顿饱饭……

然而最令人难受的却是苦力的歌，他们背负船上卸下的大包，沿着陡坡爬上城墙。他们不停地上上下下，随着无尽的劳动响起有节奏的喊声：嗨，哟—嗬，哟。他们赤着脚，光着背，汗水不断地从脸上流下。他们的歌是痛苦的呻吟，失望的叹息，听来令人心碎，简直不像是人的声音。它是灵魂在无尽悲戚中的呼喊，只不过有着音乐的节奏而已。那终了的一声简直就是人性泯灭的低泣。生活太艰难，太残酷，这喊声正是最后绝望的抗议。这就是河之歌。

Nature and Art by James Whistler

Nature contains the elements, in color and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music.

But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful—as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony.

To say to the painter, that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player, that he may sit on the piano…

The dignity of the snow-capped mountain is lost in distinctness, but the joy of the tourist is to recognize the traveller on the top. The desire to see, for the sake of seeing, is, with the mass, alone the one to be gratified, hence the delight in detail.

And when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairy-land is before us—then the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease to understand, as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone, her son and her master—her son in that loves her, her master in that he knows her.

To him her secrets are unfolded, to him her lessons have become gradually clear. He looks at her flower, not with the enlarging lens, that may gather facts for the botanist, but with the light of the one who sees in her choice selection of brilliant tones and delicate tints, suggestions of future harmonies.

He does not confine himself to purposeless copying, without thought, each blade of grass, as commended by the inconsequent, but, in the long curve of the narrow leaf, corrected by the straight tall stem, he learns how grace is wedded to dignity. How strength enhances sweetness, that elegance shall be the result.

In the citron wing of the pale butterfly, with its dainty spots of orange, he sees before him the stately halls of fair gold, with their slender saffron pillars, and is taught how the delicate drawing high upon the walls shall be traced in tender tones of orpiment, and repeated by the base in notes of graver hue.

In all that is dainty and lovable he finds hints for his own combinations, and thus is Nature ever his resource and always at his service, and to him is naught refused.

Through his brain, as through the last alembic, is distilled the refined essence of that thought which began with the Gods, and which they left him to carry out.

Set apart by them to complete their works, he produces that wondrous thing called the masterpiece, which surpasses in perfection all that they have contrived in what is called Nature; and the Gods stand by and marvel, and perceive how far away more beautiful is the Venus of Melos than was their own Eve.

自然和艺术   詹姆斯·惠斯勒

大自然，就色彩和形状而论，包含所有图画的元素，就像键盘包含所有音乐的音符一样。

艺术家的天职就是对这些元素进行选择，将它们科学地组织起来，结果可能是一幅美丽的图画——就像音乐家用声音谱成和音，从混乱无序的声音中创作出动人和谐的乐曲一样。

如果对画家说他可以照大自然本来的样子作画，就等于对演奏家说他可以一屁股坐在钢琴的键盘上……

白雪皑皑的高山若是变得清晰可见就失去了它的威严，但观光者却因为能看见山顶上的游客而喜形于色。大多数人是为了看见而要看见，只是为了使这个愿望得到满足而已，因此他们以能看见细节而感到快乐。

当傍晚的迷雾以其柔纱般的诗意笼罩着河边，破旧的建筑消失在朦胧的天空，高高的烟囱变成一座座孤立的钟楼，大大小小的仓库恍如夜间的宫殿，整个城市悬在了空中，宛若仙境展现在我们眼前，那时候，路上的人们匆匆走路回家；劳动者和文化人，智者和浪子，因为他们熟视无睹，他们也就不能理解，而只在此时才开始歌唱的大自然便把自己美妙的歌唱给艺术家——她的儿子和她的主人；说他是儿子是因为他爱她，说他是主人是因为他理解她。

只有对他，她才展示她的秘密，只有对他，她的教诲才逐渐变得清晰。他观察着她的花朵，不是用为植物学家采集实据的放大镜，而是用一种眼光，她用这种眼光在她精选的灿烂色调和精妙色彩中看见孕育和谐的迹象。

他并非不假思索地描摹每一片草叶，如同那些微不足道的人们所赞扬的那样，而是在又高又直地茎干上的细长叶弯里，他发现，优雅和尊严融为一体，力量使它更加温柔，而后才产生了高雅。

在蝴蝶那淡淡的香橼色并布满雅致的橘黄斑点的翅膀上，他看见庄严的金色大厅就在眼前，还有又细又高的金黄顶柱，他懂得了那高墙上精巧的图画要用轻柔的雄黄色调来描绘，并要以更加庄重的色调为底色将其绘制下来。

在所有这些雅致和可爱的元素里，他得到如何进行融合的启示，这样，大自然就成了他取之不尽的源泉，随时为他服务，对他从不拒绝。

通过他的大脑，如同通过最后一道蒸馏器一样，那发端于诸神，并由诸神托付他去实现的思想精髓得以净化。

由于受到诸神的青睐去完成他们的作品，他创作了被称之为杰作的绝妙之作，它的完美超出诸神在大自然里所创造的一切；他们站在一旁，惊叹不已，发现米洛斯岛上的维纳斯雕像比他们自己的夏娃要美丽得多。（刘士聪 译）

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

我有一个梦想 马丁·路德·金

100年前，美国的一位伟人，签署了《解放宣言》；今天，我们就站在他的纪念像前面，对成千上万在水深火热中挣扎、饱受屈辱的黑奴来说，这庄严的法令，是他们伟大的希望之灯塔，是他们凌受奴役的长夜终于破晓的欢乐之曙光。

但是，在100年后的今天，我们仍必须正视严峻的现实：黑人并没有获得自由。在100年后的今天，黑人仍然悲惨地生活在种族隔离和种族歧视的桎梏之下。在100年后的今天，黑人依旧生活在贫困的孤岛上，四周被浩瀚的物质财富的汪洋大海所包围。在100年后的今天，黑人依然被扔在美国社会的角落里任其消亡，成了自己国土上地流民。因此，我们今天在这里集会，正是为了让人们更清楚地看到这种骇人听闻的惨况。

我知道，在你们中间，有些人是历尽千辛万苦才来到这里的；有些人是刚从狭窄的牢房里释放出来的；有些人则来自一些地区，在那里，你们因追求自由而痛遭无情的暴风雨般的摧残，而警察的暴行又使你们深为惊慌不安。长期以来，你们饱尝了无穷无尽的和各种各样的苦难，成了经久考验的老战士。继续奋斗吧，你们要坚信，蒙受的不白之苦总是要偿还的！

回到密西西比去，回到亚拉巴马去，回到南卡罗来纳去，回到佐治亚去，回到路易斯安娜去，回到北方城市的贫民窟去；因为，我们坚信，目前的这种状况一定能改变，也一定要改变。我们不应在失望的深渊中逡巡不前！

朋友们，今天我要告诉你们，尽管我们当前屡遭挫折，身处逆境，我仍然有一个梦想，这是深深地根植于美国梦中的一个梦想。

我有一个梦想，有一天，我们这个国家将会起来维护并真正实践她自己的信念：“人人生而平等，此乃不言而喻之真理。”

我有一个梦想，有一天，在佐治亚州的红土山上，昔日奴隶的儿子能够同昔日奴隶主的儿子将同桌而坐，畅叙兄弟的情谊。

我有一个梦想，有一天，甚至那倍受屈辱和迫害的密西西比州，也将改造成为自由和公正的绿洲。

我有一个梦想，有一天，我的四个孩子将生活在这样的国家里，在那里，判断他们的准则将不是他们的肤色，而是他们的道德品质。

今天，我有一个梦想。

我有一个梦想，有一天，亚拉巴马州的黑人男女儿童，将和白人男女儿童像兄弟姐妹一样携手并行。尽管，甚至在今天，这个州的州长还口口声声地扬言拒绝实施联邦政府的法律。

今天，我有一个梦想。

我有一个梦想，有一天，峡谷将会填高，大山将会铲低，崎岖的山乡将改造成平原，转弯抹角的地方将整顿得端正笔直。上帝的灵光将会再现，而全人类都将共睹这神圣的光轮。

这就是我们的希望，这就是我回到南方去所抱的信念。有了这种信念，我们将能在绝望之山上砍下希望之石块。有了这种信念，我们将能把我们因民族不和而发出的刺耳的噪音，改编成为一首优美的友谊交响乐。有了这种信念，我们将共同劳动，齐声祈祷，共赴患难，团结一致，为自由而并肩战斗。因为，我们深信，总有一天，我们将获得自由。

到那一天，当上帝的子孙们唱起下面这首歌的时候，就赋予了新的意义：

“魏哉吾祖国，自由幸福邦。吾歌吾赞美：祖辈存忠骨，移民之骄傲。一曲自由歌，响彻万山冈。”

如果美国想成为伟大的国家，这个理想就一定要实现。那么，让自由的歌声响彻新罕布尔巍峨的山颠！

让自由的歌声响彻纽约州的崇山峻岭！

让自由的歌声响彻宾西法尼亚高高的阿勒格尼山脉！

让自由的歌声响彻科罗拉多的白雪覆盖的群山！

让自由的歌声响彻加利福尼亚美丽的山峰！

而且，还要让自由的歌声响彻佐治亚的石头山！

让自由的歌声响彻田纳西的了望山！

让自由的歌声响彻密西西比的大山小丘！

让自由的歌声响彻每一座山冈！

当我们让自由的歌声响彻云霄时，当我们让自由的歌声响彻每一座大小村庄、每一个州和每一座城市时，我们就能使自由平等的一天早日来临；到那时，上帝的后裔、白人和黑人、犹太教徒和异教徒、耶稣教徒和天主教徒，将手携手同声高唱古老的黑人《圣歌》：“自由了！终于自由了！感谢上帝，我们终于自由了！”（郭建中 译）

Are Books an Endangered Species? By Bob Greene

In the house where I grew up, we had a room we called the library. It wasn't a real library, of course, it was just a small den dominated by a television set. But there were bookshelves built into all four walls, and hundreds of books—hardback books with spines of many colors—surrounded us in that room. The books, collected by my parents and grandparents throughout their lifetimes, were a part of my childhood.

My generation—the generation that came of age in the 1950s and 1960s—may be the last one to know that feeling, the feeling of being surrounded by millions of words; those words were the products of years of work by authors famous and obscure. For now in the midst of the 1970s, we are seeing a subtle but unmistakable turning away from such things. The houses of America, I fear, may soon include no room for libraries. The hardcover book—that symbol of the permanence of thought, the handing down of wisdom from one age to the next—may be a new addition to our list of endangered species.

I have friend who runs a bookstore in a Midwestern college town. He has found that he cannot sell hardback books; paperbacks are his stock in trade, and even those are a disappointment to him. "You know how we used to see people carrying around book bags?" he tells me. "Well, now I look out the window of my shop, and all I see are students carrying packages from the record stores. The students aren't reading any more. They're listening to albums."

And indeed he may be right. Stories of problems young people have with reading are not new, but the trend seems to be worsening. Recently the chancellor of the University of Illinois’s branch campus in Chicago said that 10 percent of the freshmen at his university could read no better than the average eighth grader. As dismal a commentary as this, there is an even more chilling aspect to it: of those college freshmen whose reading skills were equivalent to the sixth to eighth-grade level, the chancellor reported that many had ranked in the top half of their high-school classes.

A professor at the same university said that even after four years on campus, some of the college graduates could hardly read or write. And the ramifications this situation brings to the nation are obvious, and will become even more so in the years to come. Those ramifications are already being felt in the cultural marketplace. A first work of fiction, if it has any luck at all, will sell perhaps 3,000 copies in its hardback edition. Publishers and authors know not to expect much better than that. And a record album? Well, a new group called Boston recently released an album of the same name. it is their first record. So far it has sold 3.5 million copies.

Much of the problem is that we live in a passive age. To listen to a record album, to sit through a movie, to watch a television show—all require nothing of the cultural consumer, save his mere presence. To read a book, though, takes an act of will on the part of the consumer. He must genuinely want to find out what is inside. He cannot just sit there; he must do something, even though the something is as simple an action as opening the book, closing the door and beginning to read. In generations before my own, this was taken for granted as an important part of life. But now, in the day of the "information retrieval system," such a reverence is not being placed on the reading, and then saving, of books. If a young American reads at all, he is far more likely to purchase a paperback that may be flipped through and then thrown away. In a disposable age, the book for keeping and rereading is an anachronism, a ponderous dinosaur in a high-speed society

书籍是即将绝灭的物种吗？鲍勃•格林

在我成长的房子里有一间屋，我们把它称做图书馆。当然，那不是个真正的图书馆，它仅仅是由电视机占据了主要位置的一间书斋。但是它四面墙上全部装修了嵌入式书架，上面摆了数百本书籍——那些精装本的书脊呈现着各种颜色，它们在那间屋里把我们团团围住。这些书是我父母和祖父母花了毕生的精力收集来的，它们成为我童年的一部分。

我这一代人——即20世纪50和60年代成年的人——可能是了解这种心情的最后一代人了，那种被上百万文字环绕着的感觉；那些文字是历代知名的默默无闻的作家们的产品。当前，在20世纪70年代中期，我们正目睹一个不易觉察却毫无疑问存在的慢慢背离书籍这类事物的倾向。恐怕美国的家庭很快就不会再留出房间做图书馆了。精装的图书——那思想永驻的象征，那从一个时代向下一时代传留的智慧——可以作为我们即将绝灭的物种名单上的一项新的补充。

我有个朋友，他在一座中西部大学城开了一家书店。他发现他卖不出精装书；他的买卖主要是做平装、简装书籍，就连这种书卖得也很令他伤心。“你知道我们过去总是看见人们手中提着一袋袋的书，对吧？”他对我说，“唉，现在我从铺子的窗户望出去，见到的都是学生拿着大包小包从唱片铺子里走出来。学生们不再读书了，他们成天听唱片。”

的确，他说得蛮有道理。关于年轻人读书方面问题的种种闲话虽然不是今日才有，但是不读书的这个倾向似乎愈演愈劣。近来，位于芝加哥的伊利诺斯大学分校校长说，在他学校里百分之十的一年级学生读书能力比一般中学八年级学生好不了多少。这话就够令人忧愁的，可它还有更令人心寒的一面：据这位校长报道，在这些读书能力同中学六年级至八年级程度的大学一年级学生中，不少人在中学各自的班上是排名在前一半的学生。

就是这所大学里的一位教授说，即使在学校念下四年书来，有些大学毕业生仍旧不能读和写。这种状况给国家带来的后果是明显的，而且在今后的年月里将会更明显。我们说的后果已经在文化市场上体现了出来。一部一流的小说，如果有运气的话，可能卖出3，000本精装本。出版商和作家都明白，不能企望超过这个数目许多。而一套唱片呢？一个叫做波士顿的新乐队最近发行了以波士顿命名的一套唱片。这是他们制作的第一套唱片，迄今为止已销售了3，500，000份。

问题主要在于我们是生活在一个被动的年代。听一套唱片，看完一场电影，看电视节目——这些不需要文化消费者做任何事，只要他在场就行。而读一本书就要求消费者方面有毅力。他必须真正想知道书里说了什么。他不能仅仅坐在那里；他得做点事，即使这事十分简单，只不过就是动手翻开书本，关上门，然后开始读。

对我前面历代的人们来说，读书天经地义是构成生活的一个重要部分。但是现在，在这个“信息检索系统”的时代，读书和藏书已不能获得这种尊重。如果一位美国青年要读书，他很可能去买一册简装收，这样就可以很快地翻完，然后把它扔掉。在一个讲求把没用物品处理掉的时代里，要保存和重读书简简直是与时代格格不入的行为，就像个笨重的恐龙在高速的社会里寸步难行。

MacArthur's Prayer for His Son by General Douglas

Build me a son, O Lord, will be strong enough to know when he is weak and brave, enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. Then I, his father, will dare to whisper,  "I have not lived in vain."

麦克阿瑟将军为儿子祈祷

主啊，求你把我的儿子培养成有足够的坚强和勇气的人，使他知道他何时软弱，使他能面对自己的胆怯，使他在失败时能够坚定和自尊，使他在胜利时能谦让和谦逊。求你教导我的儿子有愿望，但更要有勇气，要让我的儿子认识你，并认识他自己，这是知识的基石，求你带领他，不要让他在轻松松安逸的路上缓行，要使他经历艰难困苦和挑战，让他学会在风暴中挺立，让他学会对失败者的怜恤。求你培养我的儿子，使他有一个纯洁的心灵和远大的目标，让他先学会把握自己然后再寻求把握别人。使他学会欢笑，而不忘记哭泣，使他学会展望未来，而不忘记过去。所有这些他都具备之后，主啊，我再求你赐给他幽默感，以免他总是认真而太过严肃。求你赐给他谦卑以使他永记伟大的平凡，虚心领受真智慧，柔中有刚。到那时，我，他的父亲将敢低声说：我没有枉此一生。

（马丽丽 译）

Life Is Not like Merchandise by Sydney J. Harris

A reader in Florida, apparently bruised by some personal experience, writes in to complain, "If I steal a nickel's worth of merchandise, I am a thief and punished; but if I steal the love of another's wife, I am free."

This is a prevalent misconception in many people's minds—that love, like merchandise, can be "stolen." Numerous states, in fact, have enacted laws allowing damages for "alienation of affections."

But love is not a commodity; the real thing cannot be bought, sold, traded or stolen. It is an act of the will, a turning of the emotions, a change in the climate of the personality.

When a husband or wife is "stolen" by another person, that husband or wife was already ripe for the stealing, was already predisposed toward a new partner. The "lovebandit" was only taking what was waiting to be taken, what wanted to be taken.

We tend to treat persons like goods. We even speak of children "belonging" to their parents. But nobody "belongs" to anyone else. Each person belongs to himself, and to God. Children are entrusted to their parents, and if their parents do not treat them properly, the state has a right to remove them from their parents' trusteeship.

Most of us, when young, had the experience of a sweetheart being taken from us by somebody more attractive and more appealing. At the time, we may have resented this intruder—but as we grew older, we recognized that the sweetheart had never been ours to begin with. It was not the intruder that "caused" the break, but the lack of a real relationship.

On the surface, many marriages seem to break up because of a "third party." This is, however, a psychological illusion. The other woman or the other man merely serves as a pretext for dissolving a marriage that had already lost its essential integrity.

Nothing is more futile and more self-defeating than the bitterness of spurned love, the vengeful feeling that someone else has "come between" oneself and a beloved. This is always a distortion of reality, for people are not the captives or victims of others—they are free agents, working out their own destinies for good or for ill.

But the rejected lover or mate cannot afford to believe that his beloved has freely turned away from him—and so he ascribes sinister or magical properties to the interloper. He calls him a hypnotist or a thief or a home-breaker. In the vast majority of cases, however, when a home is broken, the breaking has begun long before any "third party" has appeared on the scene.

爱情不是商品 西德尼•J. 哈里斯

佛罗里达州的一位读者显然是在个人经历上受过创伤，他写信来抱怨道：“如果我偷走了五分钱的商品，我就是个贼，要受到惩罚；但是我如果偷走了他人妻子的爱情，我没事儿。”

这是许多人心目中普遍存在的一种错觉——爱情，像商品一样，可以“偷走”。实际上，许多州都颁布法令，允许索取“情感转让”赔偿金。

但是爱情并不是商品；真情实意不可能买到，卖掉，交换，或者偷走。爱情是志愿的行动，是感情的转向，是个性发挥上的变化。

当丈夫或妻子被另一个人“偷走”时，那个丈夫或妻子就已经具备了偷走的条件，事先已经准备接受新的伴侣了。这位“爱匪”不过是取走等人取走、盼人取走的东西。

我们往往待人如物。我们甚至说孩子“属于”父母。但是谁也不“属于”谁。人都属于自己和上帝。孩子是托付给父母的，如果父母不善待他们，州政府有权取消父母对他们的托管身份。

我们多数人年轻时都有过恋人被某个更有迷惑力、更有吸引力的人夺去的经历。在当时，我们兴许怨恨这位不速之客——但是后来长大了，也就认识到了心上人本来就不属于我们。并不是不速之客“导致了”决裂，而是缺乏真实的关系。

从表面上看，许多婚姻似乎是因为有了“第三者”才破裂的。然而这是一种心理上的幻觉。另外那个女人，或者另外那个男人，无非是作为借口，用来解除早就不是完好无损的婚姻罢了。

因失恋而痛苦，因别人“插足”于自己与心上人之间而图报复，是最没有出息、最自作自受的了。这种事总是歪曲了事实真相，因为谁都不是给别人当俘虏或牺牲品——人都是自由行事的，不论命运是好是坏，都由自己来做主。

但是，遭离弃的情人或配偶无法相信他的心上人是自由地背离他的——因而归咎于插足者心术不正或迷人有招。他把他叫做催眠师、窃贼或者破坏家庭的人。然而，从大多数事例来看，一个家的破裂，是早在什么“第三者”出现之前就开始了的。

（乔萍 瞿淑蓉 宋洪玮 编著）

A Boy and His Father Become Partners by Ralph Moody

:乔萍等 编著

I like all kinds of chocolate. Best of all, though, I like bitter baking chocolate. Mother had bought a bar of it, and somehow I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I was helping Father on the winnower. It was right then I got the idea. I could whack a chunk off the end of that bar of chocolate. Mother would be sure to miss it, but before she had any idea who had done it, I could confess I'd taken it. Probably I would not even get a spanking.

I waited until Mother was out feeding the chickens. Then I told Father I thought I'd go in for a drink of water. I got the bar down, but I heard Mother coming just when I had the knife ready to whack. So slipped the chocolate into the front of my shirt and left quickly. Before I went back to help Father, I went to the barn and hid the chocolate there.

All the rest of afternoon, I didn't like to look at Father. Every time he spoke it made me jump. My hands began shaking so much that he asked me what was the matter. I told him it was just that my hands were cold. I knew he didn't believe me, and every time he looked my way my heart started pounding. I didn't want the chocolate anymore. I just wanted a chance to put it back without being caught.

On the way out for the cows, I calmed down a little and could think better. I told myself that I hadn't really stolen the whole bar of chocolate, because I meant to take only a little piece. That's as much as I would have taken, too, if Mother hadn't come along when she did. If I put back the whole bar, I wouldn't have done anything wrong at all.

I nearly decided to put it all back. But just thinking so much about chocolate made my tongue almost taste the smooth bitterness of it. I got thinking that if I sliced about half an inch off the end with a sharp knife, Mother might never notice it.

I was nearly out to where the cows were when I remembered what Father had said once — some of the family money was mine because I had helped to earn it. Why wouldn't it be all right to figure the bar of chocolate had been bought with my own money? That seemed to fix everything.

But by the time I had the cows headed home, I had begun to worry again. We were nearly to the railroad tracks when I decided to leave the whole matter to the Lord. I picked up a dried soap weed stalk with seed-pods on it and decided I would throw it up into the air and take my orders from the way it landed. If it pointed west, I'd take the whole bar back. If it pointed south, I'd take half an inch off the end. If it pointed east, I'd bought the bar with my own money and it wouldn't be stealing to keep it.

I swung the pod stalk as high as I could. When it came down, it pointed mostly west — but a little south.

That night I couldn't sleep. I kept trying to remember how much that stalk had really been pointing to the south. At last I got up, slipped out into the yard, and took the ax from the chopping block. Then I went into the barn and got the chocolate. I took it outside and laid it on the lower rail of the corral fence. The moon gave enough light for me to see what I was doing.

Just as I was starting to cut, Father said: "Son!"

I couldn't think of a thing to say. I grabbed up the bar of chocolate and hid next to my chest before I turned around. Father picked me up by the shoulder straps of my overalls and took me over to the woodpile. I didn't know anybody could spank as hard as he did!

Then he stood me on my feet and asked if I thought I had deserved it. He said it wasn't so much that I'd taken the chocolate, but that I'd tried to hide it from him.

"Son," he said, "I know you help to earn the family money. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place. You should have had it if you'd asked for it, but I won't have you being sneaky about things. Now, do you want to keep your money separated from mine — or are we partners?"

I never knew till then how much I wanted my money to go in with Father's. When I went to sleep my hand was still hurting — from where he squeezed it when we shook hands.

父子伙伴情 拉尔夫·穆迪

我喜欢各种各样的巧克力，不过我最喜欢那种做糕点用的无糖巧克力。妈妈买了一块这种巧克力，我不知怎么的总在不停地打它的注意。

我在帮爸爸扬谷。这时我突然有了个主意。我可以从那块巧克力的一头敲下一块来，妈妈肯定会发现丢了巧克力，但在她意识到这件事是谁干的之前，我可以先承认是我偷吃的，也许连屁股也不会挨打。

我一直等到妈妈出去喂鸡，然后我对爸爸说我要回屋去喝口水。我拿到那块巧克力，但正当我准备用刀切的时候我听见妈妈进屋的声音，所以就悄悄把巧克力塞进我衬衫的硬衬胸中，赶紧溜出房间，我走进谷仓把巧克力藏在那里。

整个一下午，我连看都不敢看爸爸一眼，每次他开口讲话就吓得我心惊肉跳。我的双手开始抖得厉害，以致爸爸问我出了什么事。我告诉他只是因为手冷。我知道他没有相信我的话，因此每当他朝我看的时候，我的心就开始怦怦地跳。我再也不想要那块巧克力了，我只想找个机会在没有被抓住的当口就把它放回去。

在去放牛的路上，我感到平静了一些，头脑也比较好使唤了。我对我自己说，我并不真的要真的偷那块巧克力，因为我只想弄它一小块。如果我把整块巧克力放回去的话，那我就根本没干过什么错事了。

我几乎已决定把它完整无损地放回去。但是，我对巧克力的向往使我的舌头似乎尝到它那绝妙的味道。我一再想，假如我用把快刀从它的一头切下半英寸，妈妈或许不会注意到它的。

我快走近牛群的时候，突然想起了爸爸曾经讲过的话——家里的钱有我的一份，因为我已帮着家里挣钱了。为什么不可以说这块巧克力正是用我自己的钱买来的呢？看来一切都说得过去。

但到赶牛回家的时分，我又开始担心起来。当我们快到铁路轨道时，我决定让上帝来确定这桩事该怎么办。于是，我捡起一根带荚的干的皂草梗，并且决定把它抛向空中，看它落地后的方向而行事。如果它指向西方，我就把整块巧克力放回去；如果它指向南方，我就从头上切下半英寸；如果它指向东方，这块巧克力就是用我自己的钱买来的，这样把它留下就不算是偷。

我使劲把那根带荚的草梗尽力甩向空中。落地时，它几乎全指向西方，但稍微有点偏南。

那天晚上，我怎么也睡不着。我竭力回想那根草梗指向南方的程度到底有多大。最后，我翻身下床，悄悄溜到院子里，从劈柴墩上抓起一柄斧头。然后我进入谷仓把巧克力拿了出来。我把它拿到外面，搁在牛厩篱笆下面的横栏上。月亮的光亮足以使我看得清要干的事。

就在我动手要切巧克力时，爸爸叫道：“儿子！”

我不知道说什么好，转身之前我抓起这块巧克力把它藏进胸前的衬衫里。爸爸抓住我工装裤上的背带，把我带到柴堆那里。我不晓得还有谁打屁股像他打得这样狠！

然后，他叫我站直，问我这是不是我应得的惩罚。他说我拿走巧克力不算什么，但不该瞒着他。

“孩子，”他说，“我清楚你帮家里挣了钱，可以说巧克力本来就是你的。要是你坦率地要它，你本可以得到它的。但我不允许你做事偷偷摸摸的。现在要是想把你的钱和我的分开呢，还是与我结成伙伴呢？”

直到这时我才知道我是多么想把我的钱和爸爸的合在一起。我去睡觉时，我的那只手——我们握手时父亲曾用力握过的地方——还在痛呢。

Arthur Clutton Brock - The Cardinal Virtue of Prose

刘士聪 译

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 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 his 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.

散文最重要的品质 阿瑟·克拉顿-布罗克

散文，就其本质而言，比韵文篇幅长，而且，其特有的品质是逐渐展现出来的。如果说诗最重要的品质是爱，散文最重要的品质是合理。并且，尽管“爱”使你因一时冲动而行动、而抒发，“合理”则需要调查，需要耐心，需要控制即使是最崇高的激情。关于合理，我不是指只针对具体人或具体思想的合理，而是指在思想的全过程中的一种合理的习惯，一种由此习惯所形成的沉稳的文风和由此习惯所造就的形式。散文大师并不冷漠，但他也不允许那些满含激情，但又与他的初衷毫不相干的词语或形象来激发他的感情。他不慌不忙、永不停止地追求着，克制着脑子里丰富的思想活动，摒弃所有与之无关的美，从完成的作品之中，从作品的整体和各部分之间和谐的关系里，去创造自己的美，因此，你必须把作品读完，才能知道它是美的。可是，他享有自己的报偿，因为他取得人们的信任，他令人信服，正向那些单靠显弄雄辩的人们得不到这一报偿，道理是一样的。而且，他不露声色，这反而能给人更大的愉悦。我们在阅读最好的散文时，无论是叙事的还是说理的，是在情不自禁地一直读下去，而不会停下来向作者欢呼，也不会停下来向作者发问。

On Leadership

What is leadership? Its qualities are difficult to define. But they are not so difficult to identify.

Leaders don't force other people to go along with them. They bring them along. Leaders get commitment from others by giving it themselves, by building an environment that encourages creativity, and by operating with honesty and fairness.

Leaders demand much of others, but also give much of themselves. They are ambitious—not only for themselves, but also for those who work with them. They seek to attract, retain and develop other people to their full abilities.

Good leaders aren't "lone rangers." They recognize that an organization’s strategies for success require the combined talents and efforts of many people. Leadership is the catalyst for transforming those talents into results.

Leaders know that when there are two opinions on an issue, one is not bound to be wrong. They recognize that hustle and rush are the allies of superficiality. They are open to new ideas, but they explore their ramifications thoroughly.

Successful leaders are emotionally and intellectually oriented to the future—not wedded to the past. They have a hunger to take responsibility, to innovate, and to imitate. They are not content with merely taking care of what's already there. They want to move forward to create something new.

Leaders provide answers as well as direction, offer strength as well as dedication, and speak from experience as well as understanding of the problems they face and the people they work with.

Leaders are flexible rather than dogmatic. They believe in unity rather than conformity. And they strive to achieve consensus out of conflict.

Leadership is all about getting people consistently to give their best, helping them to grow to their fullest potential, and motivating them to work toward a common good. Leaders make the right things happen when they're supposed to.

A good leader, an effective leader, is one who has respect. Respect is something you have to have in order to get. A leader who has respect for other people at all levels of an organization, for the work they do, and for their abilities, aspirations and needs, will find that respect is returned. And all concerned will be motivated to together

论领导

什么是领导？领导应具备什么品质，这很难精确地解说，但辨认指陈却不难。

领导者不强制别人与自己协调一致，而是帮助他们跟上。领导者让别人承担义务，首先自己承担义务，造成一种能鼓励创造的环境，待人诚恳，处事公正。

领导者对人要求很多，同时给也很多。他们有雄心壮志——不仅为自己，也为和他们一道工作的人。他们设法吸引人才，留住他们，使他们充分发挥才能。

好的领导者不是“孤胆骑警”。他们认识到一个组织要获得成功，其方针在于把许多人的才能和力量结合起来。领导艺术是一种催化剂，把众人的才智转化成业绩。

领导者明白，在争论的问题上出现两种意见时，并非必然有一种是错的。他们认识到匆忙草率就会促成肤浅片面。他们愿意接受新的设想或建议，但对它们的后果要作认真的探讨。

成功的领导者无论是感情上还是理智上都着眼未来而不眷恋过去。他们渴望负责、改革、开拓。他们不仅仅满足于守成，他们要前进，要创新。

领导者不仅给予方向性指导，也对问题和要求给予具体解答，不仅示以献身精神而且给予力量。他们说话既根据经验，也根据对问题的认识秋对同事的了解

领导者处事灵活而不武断。他们认为与其循规蹈矩不如目标一致。他们力图在矛盾冲突中求得意见协调。

领导艺术全在于使下级工作人员不断的发挥所长，帮助他们最大限度地发掘法力，推动他们为共同事业而奋斗。领导者务使该办的事情按时办成。

好的领导者，卓有成效的领导者，善于对人关怀尊重。要得人尊重必须尊重别人。领导者对本组织各级人员都表示尊重，对他们的工作、能力、愿望与要求表示关怀，他就会发现人家也尊重他关怀他。这样，所有有关人员都会激励起来共同努力。（乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著）

University Days by James Thurber

I passed all the other courses that I took at my University, but I could never pass botany. This was because all botany students had to spend several hours a week in a laboratory looking through a microscope at plant cells, and I could never see through a microscope. I never once saw a cell through a microscope. This used to enrage my instructor. He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the students were making in drawing the involved and, so I am told, interesting structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. "I can't see anything," I would say. He would begin patiently enough, explaining how anybody can see through a microscope, but he would always end up in a fury; claiming that I could too see through a microscope but just pretended that I couldn't. "It takes away from the beauty of flowers anyway," I used to tell him. "We are not concerned with beauty in this course," he would say. "We are concerned solely with what I may call the mechanics of flowers." "Well," I'd say. "I can't see anything." "Try it just once again," he'd say, and I would put my eye to the microscope and see nothing at all, except now and again a nebulous milky substance—a phenomenon of maladjustment. You were supposed to see a vivid, restless clockwork of sharply defined plant cells. "I see what looks like a lot of milk," I would tell him. This, he claimed, was the result of my not having adjusted the microscope properly, so he would readjust it for me, or rather, for himself. And I would look again and see milk.

I finally took a deferred pass, as they called it, and waited a year and tried again. (You had to pass one of the biological sciences or you couldn't graduate.) The professor had come back from vacation brown as a berry, bright-eyed, and eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. "Well," he said to me, cheerily, when we met in the first laboratory hour the semester, "we're going to see cells this time, aren't we?" "Yes, sir," I said. Students to the right of me and left of me and in front of me were seeing cells, what's more, they were quietly drawing pictures of them in their notebooks. Of course, I didn't see anything.

"We'll try it," the professor said to me, grimly, "with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. As God is my witness, I'll arrange this glass so that you see cells through it or I'll give up teaching. In twenty-two years of botany, I—" He cut off abruptly for he was beginning to quiver all over, like Lionel Barrymore, and he genuinely wished to hold onto his temper; his scenes with me had taken a great deal out of him.

So we tried it with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only one of them did I see anything but blackness or the familiar lacteal opacity, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amazement, a variegated constellation of flecks, specks, and dots. These I hastily drew. The instructor, noting my activity, came from an adjoining desk, a smile on his lips and his eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. "What's that?" he demanded, with a hint of squeal in his voice. "That's what I saw," I said. "You didn't, you didn't, you didn't!" he screamed, losing control of his temper instantly, and he bent over and squinted into the microscope. His head snapped up. "That's your eye!" he shouted. "You've fixed the lens so that it reflects! You've drawn your eye!"

Another course I didn't like, but somehow managed to pass, was economics. I went to that class straight from the botany class, which didn't help me any in understanding either subject. I used to get them mixed up. But not as mixed up as another student in my economics class who came there direct from a physics laboratory. He was a tackle on the football team, named Bolenciecwcz. At that time Ohio State University had one of the best football teams in the country, and Bloenciecwcz was one of its outstanding stars. In order to be eligible to play it was necessary for him to keep up in his studies, a very difficult matter, for while he was not dumber than an ox he was not any smarter. Most of his professors were lenient and helped him along. None gave him more hints, in answering questions, or asked him simpler ones than the economics professor, a thin, timid man named Bassum. One day when we were on the subject of transportation and distribution, it came Bolenciecwcz's turn to answer a question, "Name one means of transportation," the professor said to him. No light came into the big tackle's eyes. "Just any means of transportation," said the professor. Bolenciecwcz sat staring at him. "That is," pursued the professor, "any medium, agency, or method of going from one place to another," Bolenciecwcz had the look of a man who is being led into a trap. "You may choose among steam, horse-drawn, or electrically propelled vehicles," said the instructor. "I might suggest the one which we commonly take in making long journeys across land." There was a profound silence in which everybody stirred uneasily, including Bolenciecwcz and Mr. Bassum. Mr. Bassum abruptly broke this silence in an amazing manner. "Choo-choo-choo," he said, in a low voice, and turned instantly scarlet. He glanced appealingly around the room. All of us, of course, shared Mr. Bassum's desire that Bolenciecwcz should stay abreast of the class in economics. For the Illinois game, one of the hardest and most important of the season, was only a week off. "Toot, toot, too-tooooooot!" some student with a deep voice moaned, and we all looked encouragingly at Bolenciecwcz. Somebody else gave a fine imitation of a locomotive letting off steam. Mr. Bassum himself rounded off the little show. "Ding, dong, ding, dong," he said, hopefully. Bolenciecwcz was staring at the floor now, trying to think, his great brow furrowed, his huge hands rubbing together, his face red.

"How did you come to college this year, Mr. Bolenciecwcz?" asked the professor. "Chuffa chuffa, chuffa chuffa."

"M'father sent me," said the football player.

"What's on?" asked Bassum.

"I git an 'lowance," said the tackle, in a low, husky voice, obviously embarrassed.

"No, no," said Bassum, "Name a means of transportation. What did you ride here on?"

"Train," said Bolenciecwcz.

"Quite right," said the professor. "Now, Mr. Nugent, will you tell us—"

If I went through anguish in botany and economics—for different reasons—gymnasium work was even worse. I don't even like to think about it. They wouldn't let you play games or join in the exercises with your glasses on and I couldn't see with mine off. I bumped into professors, horizontal bars, agricultural students, and swinging iron rings. Not being able to see, I could take it but I couldn't dish it out. Also, in order to pass gymnasium (and you had to pass it to graduate) you had to learn to swim if you didn't know how. I didn’t like the swimming pool, I didn’t like swimming, and I didn't like the swimming instructor, and after all these years I still don't. I never swam but I passed my gym work anyway, by having another student give my gymnasium number (978) and swim across the pool in my place. He was a quiet, amiable blonde youth, number 473, and he would have seen through a microscope for me if we could have got away with it, but we couldn't get away with it. Another thing I didn't like about gymnasium work was that they made you strip the day you registered. It is impossible for me to be happy when I am stripped and being asked a lot of questions. Still, I did better than a lanky agricultural student who was cross-examined just before I was. They asked each student what college he was in—that is, whether Arts, Engineering, Commerce, or Agriculture. "What college are you in?" the instructor snapped at the youth in front of me. "Ohio State University," he said promptly.

It wasn't that agricultural student but it was another a whole lot like him who decided to take up journalism, possibly on the ground that when farming went to hell he could fall bake on newspaper work. He didn't realize, of course, that that would be very much like falling back full-length on a kit on carpenter's tools. Haskins didn't seem cut out for journalism, being too embarrassed to talk to anybody and unable to use a typewriter, but the editor of the college paper assigned him to the cow barns, the sheep house, the horse pavilion, and the animal husbandry department generally. This was a genuinely big "beat," for it took up five times as much ground and got ten times as great a legislative appropriation as the College of Liberal Arts. The agricultural student knew animals, but nevertheless his stories were dull and colorlessly written. He took all afternoon on each one of them, on account of having to hunt for each letter on the typewriter. Once in a while he had to ask somebody to help him hunt. "C" and "L", in particular, were hard letters for him to find. His editor finally got pretty much annoyed at the farmer-journalist because his pieces were so uninteresting. "See here, Haskins," he snapped at him one day, "why is it we never have anything hot from you on the horse pavilion? Here we have two hundred head of horses on this campus—more than any other university in the Western Conference except Purdue—and yet you never get any real low down on them. Now shoot over to the horse barns and dig up something lively." Haskins shambled out and came back in about an hour; he said something. "Well, start it off snappily," said the editor. "Something people will read." Haskins set to work and in a couple of hours brought a sheet of typewritten paper to the desk; it was a two-hundred word story about some disease that had broken out among the horses. Its opening sentence was simple but arresting. It read: "Who has noticed the sores on the tops of the horses in the animal husbandry building?"

大学生涯 J. 瑟伯

我大学所修各门课程都通过了，但就是过不了植物学这一关，这是因为，凡是修植物学课程的学生都必须每周在实验室里呆上若干小时，透过显微镜观看植物细胞，而我却总是看不透显微镜。我从未透过显微镜看见过一个细胞，这每每令我的老师勃然大怒。他总是在实验室踱来踱去，为所有学生在绘画有关的花朵细胞的结构上所取得的进步而高兴，大家告诉我那是很有意思的结构。最后他来到我面前，我则往往站在那儿，说道：“我什么也看不见。”他开始说话时总是很耐心，说明谁都能看显微镜，但又总是以怒不可遏告终。他宣称，我也能看透显微镜，只是假装不能而已。我对他说：“不管怎样，这都剥夺了花的美。”他则说：“这门课程讲的不是美，而主要是姑妄称之为花的结构。”“唔，”我说，“我什么也看不见。”“再试一次，”他说，于是我便把眼睛贴在显微镜上，除了偶尔看见一种模糊的乳状物质之外，根本什么也看不见，而这种模糊的乳状物质则是一种镜片没调好的现象。你应该看见轮廓醒目的植物细胞，它们形似时钟，生动鲜明，动作不停。“我看到的就像大量牛奶。”我告诉他，而他则声称，这是由于我没能调好显微镜所致，因而他就为我调试，更确切的说是为他自己调试，而我再次观看，又看见牛奶。

最后我得了个延期及格，他们是这样称呼的，我又等了一年再试一次。（你必须通过一门生物学类的课程，否则不予毕业。）教授度假后归来，脸晒得黝黑像个浆果，眼睛发亮，一片热诚要向各班学生再次讲解细胞的结构。我们在开学后第一堂试验课上见了面，他兴高采烈地对我说，“唔，这次我们会看见细胞的，对吗？”“对，先生，”我说道。在我的右方、左方和前方的学生正在看到细胞，不仅如此，他们还在静静地在笔记本上绘制细胞图画。当然，我什么也没有看见。

教授严厉的对我说，“我们将用人类所知的每一种调试显微镜的方法再试一次。上帝作证，我要为你调试这个显微镜，让你透过它看见细胞，若不然这个书我就不教了。我教了22年的植物学——”他突然缄口不言，因为他全身颤抖了起来，就像莱昂内尔•巴里莫尔一样。他确实想控制住自己的情绪，他跟我发的那些脾气已使他大伤元气。

因而我们尝试着用人类所知的每一种调试显微镜的方法进行调试。只有一次我没有看见漆黑一片或者那种熟悉的乳状混浊物。那一次我看见由斑斑点点组成的灿烂群星，不禁惊喜交加，于是匆匆把这灿烂群星画了下来。老师见我忙个不停，于是从邻座走来，笑容可掬，眉开眼笑，满怀希望。他看了看我画的细胞。“这是什么？”他诘问道，声音快有一点要尖叫的样子。“这是我看到的。”我说道。“不是，不是的，不是！”他尖叫着，顿时大发雷霆，并且弯下身来，迷着眼睛朝显微镜里望去。他猛地抬起头来。“这是你的眼睛！”他喊道，“你调的镜头反射了！你画的是你的眼睛！”

还有一门课程我不喜欢，却又终得通过，那就是经济学。我上完植物学课后直接去上经济学课，不过这对于我理解这两门科目都毫无助益。我每每把这两门课混淆起来。但跟直接从物理实验室来经济学班上课的另一个学生相比，我的混淆程度倒也略逊一筹。他是校橄榄球队的一名后卫，名叫博伦虬茨威克兹。那时俄亥俄州立大学拥有一支国内最好的球队，博伦虬茨威克兹又是它的一名最杰出的球星。要获得打球的资格，他的学习就必须跟上趟，这可是一件极其困难的事情，因为他虽说并不必公牛笨，却也聪明不到哪里去。他的教授大都对他宽宏大量，始终助他一臂之力。而在教授当中，经济学教授又在他回答问题时给他最多的暗示，问他的问题也最简单。经济学教授是一个瘦削、胆小的人，名叫巴瑟姆。一天，我们学习有关运输和分配的问题，又轮到博伦虬茨威克兹回答问题了。“说出一种运输工具的名称。”教授对他说。这位大个子后卫的眼睛里并未出现什么光彩。“什么运输工具都行。”教授说道，博伦虬茨威克兹坐着干瞪眼。“也就是说，”教授循循善诱，“是从一个地方到另一个地方的任何手段、媒介或方法。”博伦虬茨威克兹的表情就像是被引入陷阱一般。“你可以在蒸汽、马拉或者电力驱动的运载工具当中进行选择，”老师说道，“我建议你说说我们陆路长途旅行通常使用的那一种。”班上一片沉寂，大家都不安地移动着身子，博伦虬茨威克兹和巴瑟姆先生也不例外。巴瑟姆先生突然打破了这种寂静，那幅样子让人大吃一惊。“噗—噗—铺。”他小声说道，顿时满脸绯红。他恳求地瞥了全班同学一眼。当然，我们都与巴瑟姆先生怀有同样的愿望，希望博伦虬茨威克兹能与这个经济学班上的同学并肩前进，因为这个赛季的一场最为艰巨、最为重要的比赛，也就是那场伊利诺斯比赛，一个星期以后就要举行了。“嘟，嘟，嘟—嘟……！”有个学生低吟道，我们都用鼓励的目光看着博伦虬茨威克兹，又有一个人模仿了火车头放气的声音，模仿得惟妙惟肖。巴瑟姆先生本人则圆满地完成了这个小小的演出。“叮当，叮当。”他说道，满怀着希望。此刻博伦虬茨威克兹正盯着地板，尽力在思考，巨大的前额紧锁着，两只大手揉来揉去，满脸通红。

“今年你是怎么来学校的，博伦虬茨威克兹先生？”教授问道，“咔嚓，咔嚓，咔嚓。”

“我爸爸送我来的，”这位橄榄球队员说道。

“靠的是什么？”巴瑟姆说道。

“我得到了一笔津贴，”这位后卫说道，嗓音低沉、沙哑，显然困窘不安。

“不，不，”巴瑟姆说道，“说出一种运输工具的名称，你是乘坐什么来的？”

“火车。”博伦虬茨威克兹说道。

“完全正确，”教授说道，“现在，纽金特先生，你能不能告诉我们——”

如果说我是极度痛苦地上了植物学和经济学课——痛苦的原因不同，那么体育课就痛苦愈甚。真是不堪回首。他们不让你带着眼镜打球跑步或者做体操，可是我一摘了眼镜就两眼一团黑。我撞上了教练，撞上单杠，撞上农科学生，撞上摆动着的铁环。由于看不见，因而我可以上这门课，却不能没完没了。而且，为了通过体育课（你须通过方可毕业），你如果不会游泳就得学会。我不喜欢游泳池，不喜欢游泳，不喜欢游泳老师，而且过了这么多年还是不喜欢。我从未游过泳，却又终究通过了体育课，那时让另一位学生用我的体育课号码（978）代替我游过了游泳池。他是个沉默寡言、性情温和的金发青年，473号，要是我们能不被发现的话，他也会替我看显微镜的，但我们做不到不被发现。体育课的另一件讨厌事就是注册时得脱光衣服。我脱光衣服又被询问许多问题，自然是高兴不起来的。尽管如此，但我还是没有差到那位就在我前面被盘诘的瘦高个子农科学生那种程度。他们问每一个学生是哪个学院的——也就是说，到底是艺术学院，工学院，商学院，还是农学院。“你是哪个学院的？”老师猛地询问我前面那位青年。“俄亥俄州立大学。”他冲口而出。

做出学新闻学的决定的，并不是那位农科学生，而是另外一个十分象他的学生，也许是基于下述理由，即一旦农业垮台他就可转而从事报业。当然，他并没有意识到，那样做与向后倒在一套木工工具箱上没有什么两样。哈斯金斯似乎天生就不是搞新闻的材料，他与人交谈时手足无措，也不会打字，不过校刊编辑还是派他去牛棚、羊舍、马厩及一般的畜牧部门进行报道。这是一个真正巨大的“采访领域”，因为上述畜牧部门占地面积是文学院的五倍，所获得的立法机关的拨款是文学院的十倍。这为农科学生了解动物，但他的文笔单调而毫无色彩。他每写一篇都花上整整一个下午的时间，因为他得在打字机上寻找每一个字母。每过一会儿他就得请人帮他寻，“C”和“L”这两个字母他尤难觅到。他的编辑终于对这位农夫记者不胜其烦，因为他的文章太索然乏味了。“我说，哈斯金斯，”有一天编辑对他厉声说道，“我们怎么从未从你那儿得到有关马厩的有滋有味的报道呢？咱们学校有200匹马——比加入西部联合会的哪一所大学都多，除了普渡大学之外——可你从未真正把它们写进去。喂喂，赶快到马棚去，挖掘出点活生生的东西。”哈金斯金踉跄着出去了，大约一个小时以后又返回，他说他已有所得。“唔，赶快动手，”编辑说道，“写出点人家乐意看的东西。”哈斯金斯开始写作，几个小时后带来一张打好字的纸，放在桌上。这是一篇200字的文章，讲的是马群当中爆发的一种疾病。文章开头的那句话简单却又颇为醒目。那句子是：“有谁注意到，畜牧楼里马的头顶上长了疮？”

When the Moon Follows Me by Mary E. Potter

Each of my sons made the discovery early. We would be riding in the car at night, and a little voice would call out from the back seat, "Hey, the moon is following us!" I would explain that the moon was not actually gliding along with our car. There would be another period of critical observation and the final verdict, delivered more quietly this time: "But it really is moving. I can see it."

I thought of that one evening as I was driving. The moon, one day short of fullness, rode with me, first gliding smoothly, then bouncing over the bumpy stretches, now on my right, then straight ahead, the silver light washing over dry grasses in open fields, streaking along through black branches, finally disappearing as the road wound its way through the hills.

When I crested the hill in the village, there it was again—grown suddenly immense, ripe, flooding the town with a sprawling light so magical I began to understand why it is said to inspire "looniness". I could hardly wait to get back home to show the boys.

Robert was in the bathtub, so I grabbed John. "Close your eyes and come see what followed me home," I said, hoping to increase the dramatic impact, I led him out into the night, "Okay. Open! Isn't it beautiful?"

John blinked a few times and looked at me as if I might, indeed, be loony. "Mom, it's just the moon. Is this the surprise?" I suppose he was hoping for a puppy.

I should have realized that, being only ten, he was probably too young to know how much we sometimes need the magic and romance of moonlight—a light that is nothing like the harsh glare of the sun that it reflects. Moonlight softens our faults; all shabbiness dissolves into shadow. It erases the myriad details that crowd and rush us in the sunlight, leaving only sharp outlines and highlights and broad brushstrokes—the fundamental shape of things.

Often in the soothing, restorative glow we stare transfixed, bouncing our ambitions and hopes and plans off this great reflector. We dream our dreams; we examine the structure of our lives; we make considered decisions. In a hectic, confusing world, it helps to step out into a quiet, clear swath of moonlight, to seek out the fundamentals and eschew the incidentals.

The night after I showed John the moon, he burst breathlessly through the door, calling, "Mom, come out for a minute!" This time, he led me, coatless and shivering. The driveway gravel crunched underneath our sneakers. From somewhere in the woods beyond the pond, the plaintive calls of geese honked and died away.

Past the row of pine trees that line the road, the sky opened up with the full moon on it, suspended so precariously close that it might come hurtling toward us—incandescent, even larger and more breathtaking than the night before, climbing its motionless climb over the molten silver of our pond. Even a ten-year-old could see this wasn't just the moon. This was The Moon.

When I turned around, John was grinning, expectant, studying my face intently to see if he had pleased me. He had. I knew that now the moon was following him too.

月儿随我同行

我的两个儿子各自都在很小的时候就有了那惊人的发现。每当我们驱车夜行的时候，后座上总会传来稚嫩惊奇的声音：“嘿，瞧！月亮正在跟着我们呢！”这时，我就向他们解释，月亮实际上并没有跟在我们的汽车后面滑行。发出惊叹的孩子往往审视良久，终于得出定论，再一次用较冷静的口吻说：“它确实在动的嘛，我看得见的。”

一天晚上，在驱车回家的途中，我想起了这件事儿。再过一天就要盈满的月亮随我一路同行；它先是平稳地的滑行，继而又在崎岖的山路上跃动，忽而在我的右边，忽而又跑到我的前头。银色的月光泼洒在旷野的枯草上，沿着一路黑黝黝的枝丛投下斑驳的光点，最后，当车道在山间绕了个弯，它便消失得无踪无影。

当我的车开上村子里的小山顶时，月亮又出现了——突然变得硕大、饱满；神奇的银辉充盈四野，整个城镇都被淹没在溶溶的月色中。我这才开始明白，为什么人们会说月亮能激发起“疯狂”。我急不可待地赶回家，想让孩子们出来看看。

罗伯特正在洗澡；于是我一把拉起约翰，说：“闭上眼睛，来看看什么东西随我回家了。”希望这样能增强戏剧性的效果。我牵着他走到户外的夜色中。“行了，睁开眼睛！瞧，多美呀！”

约翰眨巴眨巴双眼，盯着我看，仿佛我真的发疯了一样。“妈，不就是月亮嘛。这有啥稀奇的？”我猜他希望我带了只小狗回来。

我本该认识到这一点：他才10岁，也许还太小，弄不清我们有时是何等需要月光的魅力和浪漫，这种光和它所反射的太阳那耀眼的光芒是多么大相径庭。月光淡化了我们的种种缺点，所有的卑微都化解为依稀朦胧的阴影。它抹去了在阳光下充塞于我们周围、压迫着我们的无数细微的事物，只留下轮廓鲜明的剪影、最精彩的场面和粗线条的画――万物的基本形状。

常常，在那令人屏神静气的光华中，我们注目凝视；这时，我们的雄心壮志、美好希望和宏伟蓝图便会从那了不起的反射物上跃然而出。我们做着五光十色的梦，考察我们的生活结构，作出深思熟虑的决定。在一个喧嚣、混乱的世界上，走进一片宁静、清新的月光，去寻循事物的根本，避开不期而至的变故，那可真是大有裨益。

就在我让约翰看月亮的第二天晚上，他气喘喘地一头闯进屋来，喊道：“妈，快出去一会儿。”这一次是他牵着我。当时我没穿外衣，不由得一阵哆嗦。车道上的砾石被我们的旅游鞋踩得嘎嘎作响。从水塘彼岸的树林里不知什么地方传来几声鹅的哀鸣，转而又悠然消逝。

走过路边那排松树，天空豁然开郎，一轮满月晃晃悠悠地悬浮在上面，离我们那么近，仿佛就要掉下来撞在我们身上。它光华照人，比前一天晚上还大，更令人心驰神往，在熔银般的水塘上空悄悄地爬升。就连10岁的孩童也能看出，这不仅仅是个月亮，这是个大写的月亮。

我转过身，只见约翰正咧着嘴笑，满脸企盼的神情；他热切的目光想从我的脸上探明他是否博得了我的欢心。他确实博得了我的欢心。我意识到现在月儿也正在随他同行。（方杰 译）

A Season for Hymning and Hawing by Frank Trippett

Technically, it begins next week. Actually, it began with the epic sigh of relief that could be sensed all over the U.S. right after Labor Day. Even before it arrives, Americans always manage to get into autumn. And no wonder. It is easily the most habitable season of the year.

Indeed, autumn deserves a hymn—and it has received far less tribute than it deserves. True, some mixed notices have come in over the centuries. Horace slandered autumn as a "dread" period—"harvest-season of the Goddess of Death." He was dead wrong, of course, for as Ovid noted, once he got his mind off sex, autumn is "cum formossisimus annus"—"the fairest season of the year." Had he lived a little later, Horace might have found out from the U.S. Census Bureau that the death rate is usually lower in autumn than in winter and spring. Why? Science doesn't know, but it is quite possible that the will to live is stronger in the fall. Conversely, the will to mayhem weakens: nobody has ever worried about a Long Hot Autumn.

So autumn is a blatantly vital season, contrary to the allegations of sorrowful poets who misconstrue the message of dying leaves. A more realistic poet, Archibald MacLeish, says that "Autumn is the American season. In Europe the leaves turn yellow or brown and fall. Here they take fire on the trees and hang there flaming. Life, too, we think, is capable of taking fire in this country; of creating beauty never seen."

Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. Yale Lecturer William Zinsser hit the nail squarely: "The whole notion of New Year's Day as the time of fresh starts and bold resolutions is false." In truth that time is autumn. Popular pleasure shows itself in those hastening steps and brightened smiles encountered as the air grows nippier. Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. Autumn is a friendlier time.

The rejuvenating ambience of autumn is immeasurably more ancient than even the calendar. The Creation itself was achieved in the autumn, according to a tradition of Judaism—whence the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, at summer's end or the start of fall. The suspicion that even God is partial to autumn has overwhelmed others, including John Donne, who enthused: "In Heaven, it is always Autumn."

No, autumn is not always heaven on earth. The season does induce a quickening of the blood and a heightening of human kind's sensual pleasures. Yet the very jubilant excesses that ensue often lead, at last, to the well-known post-Thanksgiving "holiday blues." In darker ways still, fate and tragedy have made some American Novembers seem more cruel than April.

Autumn is honest; it does not pretend to be heaven. Yet almost everybody recognizes that the season's character transcends those familiar bracing days, crystal nights, bigger stars, vaulted skies, fluted twilights, harvest moons, frosted pumpkins and that riotous foliage that impels whole traffic jams of leaf freaks up into New England (even though Columnist Russell Baker has reminded them that "if you've seen 1 billion leaves, you've seen them all"). What is not widely recognized is that autumn is richly enhanced simply by what it is not. Specifically, it is not summer, winter or spring.

Take winter. It is basically uninhabitable. Whenever it shows its true nature, real life bogs to a standstill. Almost no one sincerely likes winter except the oil cartel and the cough-syrup magnates. True, everybody pretends that real life actually goes on. This very effort has inspired some of mankind's most desperate inventions—curling and skiing, to name two. To help foster the illusion of life happening, the Constitution requires Congress to convene each January—and the illusion is sometimes convincing even if the Capitol is often the scene of more commotion than movement. Winter is, in a word, unacceptable.

Then there is spring, the season for simpering adolescents, May flies and impressionable poetasters. Listen to a typical springophile, Poet George Herbert: "Sweet Spring, full of sweet days and roses, / A box where sweets compacted lie; / My music shows ..." Hold! Enough! His muse-ack provides sufficient cause to reflect—coolly—on the hard fact that spring was the time when our ancestral tribes built festivals around the rites of blood sacrifice. Moreover, did not Eve accomplish the Fall of Man in the eternal spring of Eden? In cool weather, serpents do not tempt; they grow diffident, recede and hibernate.

Summer? If any abomination so current needs to be reprised, think of it. Drought. Crowded beaches. Sunburn. Poison ivy. McDonald's. Summer is sand between the toes, fleafestations on the cats, movies like New York, New York. Every so-called joy of summer—whether getting wet, beering up or fleeing to the mountains—consists, in its essence, of escaping the suffocating reality of the season. August is so horrible that even dedicated psychiatrists abandon posts and patients for the entire month. Mosquitoes love summer. They hate autumn.

In short, winter is a tomb, spring is a lie, and summer is a pernicious mirage. Thus, if only by some crude law of relativity, autumn is the preferred stock of seasons. Autumn is the truth. It had to be autumn (unless the fabled apple fell unseasonably) that inspired Newton to discover the law of gravity. More books and most of the best come forth in the autumn. In theatrical circles, autumn is spoken of as the season. Autumn is for stamping on ripe grapes. Even now the vintners are prowling the prodigal vines.

No hymning—or hawing—in behalf of autumn should neglect to note that the coming season is a self-contained climactic cycle. It offers every weather—at its end, days icy enough for any sane person, and along the way, those indefinite Indian summers that put the real ones to shame. Fittingly enough, autumn delivers us to Christmas.

Admittedly, the season has imperfections. Yet even some of these—such as pro football and TV premieres—have become popular. On the other hand, autumn's few blemishes tend to be offset, for civilized folk, by that man-made miracle, the World Series. Maybe the saddest defect of autumn in America is the fact the country is so large that some regions do not get to experience it—Southern California, for one. Inhabitants of such deprived places should be encouraged to make-believe. That sort of thing comes easy to any folk not brought firmly back to earth once a year by a fall.

令人赞叹的季节 弗兰克·特瑞普特

严格按季节来说，秋天要下周才开始。实际上，劳动节一过，在整个美国都可以听到一声如释重负的巨大叹息，秋天从此开始了。即使在它来临之前，美国人已在想方设法进入秋天了。这倒不足为奇。因为秋天无疑是一年中最惬意的季节。

秋天的确值得赞颂。但它所得到的赞颂与它应该得到的却相差甚远。多少个世纪以来，人们对秋天就褒贬不一。贺拉斯诽谤秋天，说它是“可怕的”时期，是“死亡女神丰收的季节”。当然他是大错特错了。正如奥维德所说的，一旦摒弃了性的念头，秋天便是“cum formossisimus annus”——“一年中最美丽的季节”。要是贺拉斯晚出生那么几年，他可以从美国人口普查局发现，秋天的人口死亡率一般低于冬、春两季。为什么呢？科学难以回答这个问题。不过很可能是因为秋天里人们生存的愿望更强。而相反，戕害的愿望更弱：谁也不会担心有一个漫长而炎热的秋天。

因此，秋天显然是一个生机勃勃的季节。这跟伤感的诗人们对凋零的树叶所传达的信息的误解刚好相反。一位比较现实的诗人——阿契博德·麦克勒什这样说，“秋天是美国的季节。在欧洲，树叶变黄、变褐之后就纷纷凋落了；而这里的树叶却像是挂在树梢上的火焰，发出耀眼的光芒。在我们看来，这个国度里的生活也能燃出熊熊烈火，也能创造出一种前所未有的美。”

秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。耶鲁大学讲师威廉·辛塞说得非常中肯：“把元旦视为重新开始、树立雄心的日子，这种观念完全是错误的。”实际上，那应该是秋天。随着空气日益清凉，可以从人们轻快的步履和开心的笑容中看出他们愉快的心情。有些精神分析家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。秋天比较友好。

秋天那让人恢复青春活力的气氛远比历法还要古老。按照犹太教的传统说法，天地万物的创造就是在秋天里完成的。因此，犹太人的新年——拉什·哈夏那节定在夏末秋初。连上帝也偏爱秋天，这种看法得到了许多人的赞同，约翰·多恩就曾热情地说过，“天堂里总是秋天。”

不，在人世间秋天并不总是天堂。这个季节的确会加速血液循环、提高人们感官的兴奋程度。随之而来的纵情欢乐到了感恩节之后却能最终引起那有名的“节日忧郁症”。更有甚者，灾难与悲剧似乎曾使美国的某些十一月比四月更为残忍。

秋天是诚实的，它并不把自己装扮成天堂。然而几乎每个人都明白秋天的特点并不止于凉爽的白昼、水晶样的夜晚、更大的星星、无垠的苍穹、长笛悠扬的黄昏、丰收时的月亮、长了白霜的南瓜以及那漫山遍野的红叶——它催逼着癖嗜它的人们到新英格兰去赏玩，以至形成了交通阻塞，尽管专栏作家罗素·贝克曾提醒他们说，“哪怕你看到的有十亿多张之多，也无法把所有的红叶看完。”有一个道理却还没有被普遍认识到：秋天之所以大受赞扬就因为它不是别的。确切地说，就因为它不是夏天、冬天或春天。

就说冬天吧。冬天的日子简直难熬。无论何时，只要它显示出它的本来面目，真正的生活就陷入停滞。除了石油联合组织和生产止咳糖浆的巨头，几乎没有人真正喜欢冬天。人们倒是都装出现实生活仍在照常继续的样子。正是这种努力促使人们发明了一些最玩命的东西，比如冰上溜石、滑雪等。为了造成生活仍在继续的假象，宪法要求国会在每年一月召开会议。这种假象有时倒还真能让人迷惑，不过国会大厦发生的骚乱往往比政治活动多。总之，冬天是难以让人接受的。

再说春天吧。那是乐呵呵的小青年，多愁善感的三流诗人和蜉蝣的季节。请听一位迷恋春天的典型诗人——乔治·赫伯特的诗吧：“甜美的春天，充满了甜美的日子和玫瑰，／一个装满了糖果的盒子；我的音乐表明……”好了！够了！他那蹩脚的音乐足以让人思索，冷静地思索这样一个铁的事实：春天是我们的祖先部落围绕血祭仪式举行庆典的季节。而且，夏娃不正是在伊甸园永恒的春天里完成人类的堕落的吗？在凉爽的天气里，蛇是不会出来引诱人的，它会胆怯、退避、还要冬眠。

那么夏天呢？如果近在眼前就有什么令人厌恶的东西需要反复强调的话，那就想一想夏天。久旱不雨、拥挤的沙滩、晒黑的皮肤、栎叶毒漆树、麦当劳快餐馆。夏天意味着脚趾间的沙子，猫身上的虱子，《纽约、纽约》之类的电影。夏天里的每一种快乐，不管是冲凉、喝啤酒，还是逃进山里去，说穿了，都是对令人窒息的现实的逃避。八月的天气实在可怕，就连恪尽职守的心理咨询医生这时也会整月地抛开自己的岗位和病人。只有蚊子才喜欢夏天、憎恨秋天。

总而言之，冬天是坟墓，春天是谎言，夏天则是险恶的海市蜃楼。因此，即使用相对性这种粗浅的法则来衡量，秋天也是四季中最受欢迎的。秋天就是真理。只有秋天才能激发牛顿发现万有引力定律的灵感，除非那只传说中的苹果落得不合季节。在秋天里，人们会写出更多的著作，而且大多数是上乘之作。秋天被戏剧界看做黄金季节。秋天是人们压榨成熟的葡萄的时候。看，酒商们正在蓊蓊郁郁的葡萄藤下钻来钻去呢。

无论对秋天怎样赞美或是感叹，我们都不能忽视这样一点：接下来的季节是一个自成体系的有高潮的循环。它有各种各样的气候——秋季结束时，任何一个神智正常的人都会感到寒冷，而在那以前，不时出现的晴暖宜人的晚秋气候，那是足以令正牌的夏天自叹弗如的。说是秋天将我们带到圣诞节那是最恰当不过的。

应当承认，这个季节也有缺陷。但有些缺陷也变得受人欢迎了，比如职业足球赛和电视节目首映。另一方面，对文明人来讲，秋天的瑕疵已被人为的奇迹——全球联赛所掩盖。也许美国的秋天最令人惋惜的缺点是：我国版图太辽阔，有的地方经历不到秋天，南加州就是其一。应该鼓励生活在这种享受不到秋天的地方的居民假想出秋天来。而这样做对于不能一年一度被秋天坚实地带回到人世中来的人并不困难。（陈春发 译）

Roses, Roses, All the Way by Martha Duffy

It has now been five years since Margaret Thatcher resigned as Britain's Prime Minister. In her heyday she strode the international headlines with such bravura that she seemed inevitable, a natural force. The world stage seemed just the right size for her, as she chaffed her conservative soul mate Ronald Reagan or flattered the "new man", Mikhail Gorbachev.

Now the political world has begun to focus on the immensity of her achievement. How on earth did she manage to get there? She was elected to Parliament at 32 in 1958 (five years before the Feminine Mystique was published). She parried her way through the complacent, male-dominated councils of power—no woman had ever roiled those waters. Couldn't the old boys see her coming? After all, there was nothing subtle about her personality or her approach.

As The Path to Power (Harper-Collins; 656 pages; $30), the second volume of her autobiography, makes clear, Thatcher was probably too simple and direct for the Tories, with their heavy baggage of class and compromise. She traveled light, proud of her roots as a grocer's daughter from the small town of Grantham but never tethered by working-class resentments or delusions of inferiority. Her parents taught her the verities they believed in: Methodism, hard work, thrift and the importance of the individual. She has never wavered from them, and they run through the book.

"Nothing in our house was wasted." Or, "I had less leisure time than other children." These are boasts of a childhood recalled in tranquility. Late they became a philosophy: "Being conservative is never merely a matter of income, but a whole way of life, a will to take responsibility for oneself."

From the start, she notes almost with bemusement, there was a contrast between her own "executive style" and her colleagues' "more consultive style." Thatcher laid down the law. In her 11-year leadership, she broke the crippling power of British unions, made many thousands of her countrymen homeowners, strengthened British ties with the U.S. and the Soviet Union and gave voice to Britain's reluctance about joining Europe, a reluctance that still plagues her successor, John Major.

The Downing Street Years, the first volume of her memoirs, covered her time in power. This one is more interesting and better fun, a formidable leader looking back on her early winning battles. She is known now as the Iron Lady, but as a pretty, naive young pol who cut through cant, prevarication and some very real problems, she must have been exhilarating. Her rise, as she once described the star-is-born press coverage that greeted her maiden speech in commons, was "roses, roses all the way."

In a final section on the '90s political scene, she calls for renewed dedication to her principles. The imperiled John Major cannot take comfort in the timing of The Path to Power. Thatcher has relentlessly flogged the book in Britain and the U.S., giving TV interviews that scourge what she sees as the collapse of her country's leadership. The one thing she doesn't say is that as this old century draws to a close, there simply aren't that many leaders. Thatcher was one.

一路玫瑰 马落·达菲

马格丽特·撒切尔从英国首相位置上退下来已经五年了。在她（政治生涯）的鼎盛时期，她以光彩照人的风格而成为国际上的新闻人物，她好像必然如此，她是一股自然的力量。在她跟她的的保守的精神伙伴罗纳德·里根打趣时，或是在奉承新人米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫时，这个世界看来恰好是适合她驰骋的舞台。

现在政界开始关注她辉煌的政绩。她到底是如何进入政界的呢？1958年（《女性的奥秘》发表前五年）她三十二岁时被选进议会。她左挡右闪闯进了那些由自满的男人控制的权力机构—过去还不曾有妇人到那里去搅和过。难道那些老家伙们没看见她到来吗？她的性格和手法毕竟没有什么微妙之处。

正如她的第二本自传《通往权力的路》（哈珀·科林斯出版社；656页；30美元）清楚指明的那样，对于那阶级意识很强、善于折中的英国保守党员，也许撒切尔过于简单，过于直来直去。她没有负担。她以自己是格兰瑟姆小镇一个杂货商的女儿而感到自豪，但她没有被劳动阶级因为地位低下而产生的怨恨或煽惑所束缚。她的父母教她懂得了他们所信仰的真理：卫斯理派，刻苦，节俭，以及个人的重要性。对于这些信仰，她从未动摇过。这些内容贯穿着全书。

“我们家从不浪费任何东西。”或者是，“我的闲暇时间比别的孩子们都少。”这是在生活平静下来以后回忆童年时颇具自豪的语言。后来这些信仰变成了一种哲学：“信仰保守决不仅仅是收入问题，而完全是一种生活方式，一种自己勇于承担责任的意志。”

一开始，她几乎是带着一种困惑注意到，她自己的“施政风格”和她的同僚的“更喜欢磋商的风格”形成鲜明的对照。撒切尔一人说了算。在她长达十一年的执政期间，她削弱了英国工会的破坏力，使成千上万的同胞有了自己的住宅，加强了英国与美国和苏联的关系，并且明确表示了英国不加入欧洲，她的这个意见至今仍在烦扰着她的继承人约翰·梅杰。

她的第一本自传《唐宁街的岁月》记录了她的执政历程。而这一本更有意思，一个令人敬佩的领导人回顾她早年所打的一个又一个的胜仗。她现在以“铁娘子”著称，可是作为一个漂亮、天真、年轻的政治家，在虚伪和含糊其辞的人们中间以及问题成灾的地方披荆斩棘，她一定令人感到兴奋。新闻界在报道她第一次在下院发表学说时，对其表示了赞许，说她是一颗已经诞生的新星；正像撒切尔在描述这一报道时说，她是沿着一条“铺满玫瑰的路”冉冉升起的。

在最后一部分谈及九十年代世界政局时，她号召人们重新献身她的原则。《通往权力的路》在这个时候出版，身陷困境的约翰·梅杰是不会感到舒服的。撒切尔毫不客气地在英国和美国销售此书，同时接受电视台采访，起到了鞭笞在她看来摇摇欲坠的英国领导的作用。有一件事她没有明说，在本世纪即将结束的时候，根本就找不出那么多领导人。而撒切尔是一个。   （刘士聪 译）

Why I Hate Dogs by Joel Stein

I love children, flowers and touched by an angel. I once even sent cards to my grandmothers for that fake Grandparents Day holiday. That's not going to happen again. But no matter how much I want to be a normal, manly, overconsuming American, I can't get myself to like dogs.

I don't want to hate dogs. But I just can't imagine sharing my apartment with some dirty, dependent animal willing to trade unconditional love for canned food that, to be honest, I find a little salty. How can people love something so much that they're willing to walk behind it and retrieve its feces with their own hands every day? I have yet to meet a woman for whom I'd do that.

Dog owners are a mystery to me. I once went on a long series of nonproductive dates with one, and every time we were about to fool around, she would have to leave to go home and walk her dog. Hey, wait. I think I just figured out something.

They send their pets to dog salons and dog psychologists, who prescribe them dog antidepressants. June 25 is the first Take Your Dog to Work Day. June 26 is Why Does This Office Smell Bad? Day. While the homeless go ignored, almost 28.5 million Americans bought their dogs Christmas presents last year. A woman I know throws her dogs a Bar Mitzvah every year. That's not even correct on a religious level. People knit their dogs things. Now I've never knitted anything, but it looks like a pretty serious endeavor. If getting married meant knitting something instead of buying a ring, there would be even more out-of-wedlock births.

Dog owners, please don't buy that leash-on-a-reel thing that takes up 40 ft. of sidewalk. Save yourself some money: let your dog run free and use a large stick to trip people with instead. And why do you get offended when I refer to your dog as "it"? Was I supposed to be checking out its genitals the whole time? Or am I just supposed to get some kind of feminine vibe from your bulldog's strut?

No, I wasn't bitten by a dog as a kid or raised by cats. It's just that dogs frighten me and kind of gross me out. Last week Mexico City, upon which dogs drop around 120,000 tons of feces a year, appealed to owners to clean up after their dogs because it was causing major health problems. Plus, dogs are the only animals I know of that are sexually interested in breeds 500 times smaller than them. They're worse than frat boys.

I decided that I'm no longer going to remain a victim of my fears. The New York City parks department, which claims dogs do $250,000 worth of damage each year to park lawns in Manhattan, is going to hand out cell phones to volunteers willing to turn in owners of unleashed dogs. Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern told me that he would put me on the list for a phone but that the program hadn't been started yet because he was waiting for a cell-phone company to give him some second-hand ones. I was going to tell him just to wait for a leash company to get rid of some old leashes, but I really wanted the phone. I'm not even planning on using it to tattle. Whenever I see a dog owner, I'm going to talk loudly and obnoxiously about how I just bought a cell phone and this is my first call. It's a dog-eat-dog world.

我干嘛讨厌狗 乔尔·斯特恩

我喜欢孩子，喜欢花朵，喜欢天使的触摸。为了那个假惺惺的“祖父母日”的节日，我还给我的姥姥和奶奶寄过贺卡呢。我以后再也不干这种事了。然而，无论我多么想成为一个正常的、充满阳刚之气的、大手大脚消费的美国人，我怎么也喜欢不起狗来。我并不是想讨厌狗，可我就是不能想象跟某种脏兮兮的，赖兮兮的动物同居一室。这种动物愿意用无条件的爱来换取一点点罐头食品，这一点，说实话，我觉得有点粗俗。人怎么能把某个东西喜欢到如此程度，以致于愿意每天都跟在它的屁股后面用自己的手去拣它拉出来的屎？我还没遇到过能让我喜欢得为她捡屎的女人呢。

那些狗的主人对我来说是个百思不得其解的谜。我曾经跟一个养了条狗的女人进行过一系列的约会，但都未能取得我预期效果。每次一要跟她亲热，她总是要走人，说是要回家遛狗去！喂，等等，我现在搞懂这是咋回事了：原来她不想跟我亲热啊！

这些主人把宠物送到狗沙龙和狗心理诊所去，那里的狗精神病医生给就给狗开些狗用的抗忧郁症药物。六月二十五日是第一个“带狗上班日”。六月二十六日就成了“‘办公室怎么这么臭？’日”了。在美国，尽管还有许多人流离失所无人关心，而仅去年就有近2850万人在圣诞节给他们的狗买圣诞礼物。我认识的一个妇人每年都给她的狗们举行类似犹太男孩成人仪式，既使是从宗教的角度来看这也是不正确的。人们还为他们的狗织衣服。我可从来没有织过什么东西。不过，编织似乎是件很严肃而费劲的事。如果结婚意味着织衣服，而不是买只戒指，那么就会出现更多的婚外生育。

狗的主人们，请别买那种带卷轴的牵狗皮带。这种皮带要占上近40英尺长的人行道。给自己省点钱吧：让你的狗放开跑吧，你就别用这种皮带来把行人绊倒吧，干脆用大棒算了。我把你的狗说成无性别区分的“它”的时候你干嘛要生气？难道我还得每次都得查看一下它的生殖器吗？难道我还得从你那叭儿狗的趾高气扬的步伐中看出某种女性的气质来吗？

不，小时候我从没被狗咬过，我也不是被猫养大的。只是狗让我害怕而且有点让我作呕。在墨西哥城，狗每年都要给它拉上约120，000吨的粪便。上个星期，这个城市呼吁狗的主人在狗便后要打扫干净，因为狗的粪便正在引起严重的健康问题。另外，狗也是我所知道的唯一对比它们体积小500倍的狗仔感“性”趣的动物。它们比美国大学生兄弟联谊会的男孩还要坏，这些小子是以酒后乱交而臭名昭著的。

我决定，我再也不做自己的恐惧的受害者了。纽约市的公园管理部宣称，狗对曼哈顿的公园草坪造成的破坏每年达250，000美元之多。这个部门准备给主动举报不给狗系皮带的主人的人发手机。公园负责人亨利·斯特恩告诉我，他愿意把我的名字记在那个发手机的名单上，只是这个计划还没有启动，因为他正等着一家手机公司给他一些用过的手机。我本打算告诉他，这简直就等于等着卖牵狗皮带的公司淘汰旧的牵狗皮带一样的没门，可我又的确很想要那个手机，所以就没有把这个想法告诉他。我甚至就不打算用这个手机来打小报告。一见到狗的主人，我就要大声地、令人讨厌地大谈我是怎么从公园负责人那里刚刚弄到手机的，而且这还是我用这个手机打的第一个电话。这可是个“狗吃狗”的世界！（蒋跃 译）

Alexander Bloch - Life in a Violin Case

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly sketch something of my personal history.

The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of my family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as profession carried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went—quite happily, as I remember, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests.

Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career—which I always think of as the wasted years.

Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is all I got out of it. It was not enough, I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for “downtown,” distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap café, order a meager meal and scribble my harmony enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent, and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.

“Enjoyed” is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.

If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man’s primary goal is financial success.

When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is “Gee, it’s great to be crazy.”

Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.

琴匣子中的生趣 亚历山大·布洛克

为了阐明我生活的信条，我必须简单介绍一下我的经历。

我生活的转折点是我决定不做发迹有望的商人而专攻音乐。我父母虽然同情我，也像我一样热爱音乐，却反对我以音乐为职业。考虑到我的家庭情况，他们的这种态度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比尔的斯普林希尔学院教授音乐达40年之久，深受学院师生的热爱和敬重，他的工资却几乎不够维持一大家人的生活。父亲常说若不是祖母精明能干，克勤克俭，一家人非挨饿不可。所以在我们家，只要一提起音乐这个行当，大家就会想起那收入微薄、朝不保夕的苦日子。父母坚持要我上大学，不准我进音乐学院，我也就上了大学。我记得自己当时还挺高兴，因为虽然我热爱小提琴，大部分课余时间都花在练琴上，但我还有许多其他的爱好。

不等我从哥伦比亚大学毕业，家庭经济严重恶化，我感到自己有责任退学找工作，就这样我投身于商界——事后我每次想起这段经历都觉得是虚度了年华。

我从来无意贬低经商，我的意思是它不适合我。我经商只是为了挣钱。除了能补贴家用给我带来一点满足以外，我从这项职业得到的唯一东西就是钱。这是不够。 我感到年华似水从我身边流走。对职业的不满使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱负就是积攒足够的钱，然后改行，到欧洲去学音乐。于是，我天天黎明即起，练习小提琴，再去“商业区”上班，几乎来不及囫囵吞下仓促准备的早餐，搞得我可怜的妈妈惶恐不安。我不与商界同事共进午餐，总爱找个便宜的餐馆，随便混上一顿，信手写些和声练习曲。我不停的挣钱，终于，一分一分地攒够了出国的钱。这时，家庭经济情况也好转了，不再需要我的帮助。我辞去商务，感到自己像出狱的犯人一样自由，乘船去了欧洲，一去就是四年。我学习要比从前想象的刻苦得多，然而生活得很快乐。

“快乐”一词还不足以表达我的心情。我是乐不可支，飘飘欲仙了。我过着真正的生活。我是个自由人，做我爱做的、命中注定要做的事情。

假如我一直经商，今天可能已经成了一个相当富有的人，但我认为我那时的生活并没有带来成功；为了金钱我可能放弃了一切无形的东西，放弃了精神上的种种乐趣，那时金钱永远买不来的，一个要是把获取金钱当做主要的奋斗目标，他的精神乐趣就常常被牺牲了。

我毅然脱离商业，几乎违背了所有的亲友的劝告。我们大多数人习惯把成功与金钱连在一起。那种为理想而放弃高薪的念头简直会被人认为是疯子的念头。如果真是如此，我倒要说一声：“咦！疯子真了不起！”

钱固然是好东西，但是为了钱而付出的代价往往太高昂了。

Logan Pearsall Smith—The Rose

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)

The old lady had always been proud of the great rose-tree in her garden, and was fond of telling how it had grown from a cutting she had brought years before from Italy, when she was first married. She and her husband had been travelling back in their carriage from Rome ( it was before the time of railways ) and on a bad piece of road south of Siena they had broken down, and had been forced to pass the night in a little house by the road-side. The accommodation was wretched of course; she had spent a sleepless night, and rising early had stood, wrapped up, at her window, with the cool air blowing on her face, to watch the dawn. She could still, after all these years, remember the blue mountains with the bright moon above them, and how a far-off town on one of the peaks had gradually grown whiter and whiter, till the moon faded, the mountains were touched with the pink of the rising sun, and suddenly the town was lit as by an illumination, one window after another catching and reflecting the sun's beam, till at last the whole little city twinkled and sparkled up in the sky like a nest of stars.

老太太一直为她园中那株蔷薇树感到骄傲，好对人讲，这树是怎么从一根由意大利带回的枝条上长起来的，那是好多年以前的事，那时她刚结婚。 她和她丈夫正从罗马乘坐马车回国（那时还没有火车），一天在辛拿城南一段崎岖的路上，车子出了毛病，不得已只好暂时到路边一所小宅院去过夜。 设备当然是简陋极了；她度过了一个不眠之夜，次日很早起身，披衣凝立窗前，在拂面的习习晨风中，注视天色破晓。 虽然事隔多年，她仍然记得青山让一轮皓月，远山之颠的一座城镇，逐渐泛白，继而月落，山边为徐徐升起的朝阳染成绯红；不久，城镇恍然似为巨焰所映，斗然大亮，窗扉一扇扇在朝霞的照耀下，光晶泛彩。 最后整个小城在天宇之间闪烁辉耀起来，宛若一团星群。

That morning, finding they would have to wait while their carriage was being repaired, they had driven in a local conveyance up to the city on the mountain, where they had been told they would find better quarters; and there they had stayed two or three days. It was one of the miniature Italian cities with a high church, a pretentious piazza, a few narrow streets and little palaces, perched, all compact and complete, on the top of a mountain, within and enclosure of walls hardly larger than an English kitchen garden. But it was full of life and nose, echoing all day and all night with the sounds of feet and voices.

由于修车尚待时日，那天早上他们便搭乘当地车辆去了那座山城，那里据说可以觅到较好住处；他们在那里逗留了两三天。 那座城是典型意大利式的小城，有一座高耸的教堂，一个矜饰的广场，几条狭窄的街道，几所矮小的楼房，紧凑齐全，毕集于一座山头之上，周围还有城墙环绕，占地比一个英国的家厨菜园也大不许多。 然而这里却充满生机，非常热闹，轮蹄喧哗，彻夜不休。

The Cafe of the simple inn where they stayed was the meeting place of the notabilities of the little city; the Sindaco, the avvocato, the doctor, and a few others; and among them they noticed a beautiful, slim, talkative old man, with bright black eyes and snow-white hair — tall and straight and still with the figure of a youth, although the waiter told them with pride that the Conte was molto vecchio — would in fact be eightey in the following year. He was the last of his family, the waiter added — they had once been great and rich people — but he had no descendants; in fact the waiter mentioned with complacency, as if it were a story on which the locality prided itself, that the Conte had been unfortunate in love, and had never married.

他们下榻的一家普通旅店中的餐馆为城中名流聚会之地；包括市长，律师，医生，以及一些其他人物；这些人中他们遇见了一位风姿翩翩，消瘦健谈的老人，乌黑的眸子炯炯有神，头发已经雪白 —— 他的体格修长挺立，仍然具有年轻人的身段，虽然侍者骄傲地对他们讲，这位伯爵已经molto vecchio （年纪很大）了 —— 实际上翌年即满八十。 他是他家族的最后一人，侍者补充到 —— 他家曾经是富贵望族 —— 但他没有后代；伯爵在爱情上受过挫折，并从此未曾结婚，云云。

The old gentleman, however, seemed cheerful enough; and it was plain that he took an interest in the strangers, and wished to make their acquaintance. This was soon affected by the friendly waiter; and after a little talk the old man invited them to visit his villa and garden which were just outside the walls of the town. So the next afternoon, when the sun began to descend, and they saw in glimpses through door-ways and windows, blue shadows beginning to spread over the brown mountains, they went to pay their visit. It was not much of a place, a small, modernized, stucco villa, with a hot pebbly garden, and in it a stone basin with torpid gold-fish, and a statue of Diana and her hounds against the wall. But what gave a glory to it was a gigantic rose-tree which clambered over the house, almost smothering the windows, and filling the air with the perfume of its sweetness. Yes, it was a fine rose, the Conte said proudly when they praised it, and he would tell the Signora about it. And as they sat there, drinking the wine he offered them, he alluded with the cheerful indifference of old age to his love-affair, as though he took for granted that they had heard of it already.

实际上侍者提及此事时面有得意之色，仿佛这是当地人民引以为荣的一段故事。

这为老先生兴致很高；显然他对这两位陌生人很感兴趣，并愿意结识他们。 这事随即由友好的侍者促成；于是，在一次短暂的交谈之后，老人便邀请他们去他的别墅与花园做客，地址即在城墙之外不远的地方。 于是次日下午，当夕阳开始西沉，门窗启处，兰色暗影已渐渐笼罩棕褐的山岭时，他们遂欣然命驾。 那里地势局促 —— 一座不大的现代式灰墁别墅而外，另有一个炎澳的软石路面的花园，石砌水池之中浮游着一些懒散的金鱼，池旁靠墙处并有一尊女猎神及其猎犬的雕像等等。 但是足为这小园增色的是其中一巨株蔷薇，树身过屋，绿荫翳窗，使院中沁满浓香。 的确，这是一株不错的蔷薇，伯爵听了客人夸奖之后得意地说，并说他乐意把树的来历讲给夫人听听。 于是当他们坐定之后，一边饮着酒时，他便以老年人满不在乎的欣然神情，略微提了提他的一段旧情，仿佛他相信他们对此一定早有所闻似的。

"The lady lived across the valley there beyond that hill. I was a young man then, for it was many years ago. I used to ride over to see her; it was a long way, but I rode fast, for young men, as no doubt the Signora knows, are impatient. But the lady was not kind, she would keep me waiting, oh, for hours; and one day when I had waited very long I grew very angry, and as I walked up and down in the garden where she had told me she would see me, I broke one of her roses, broke a branch from it ; and when I saw what I had done, I hid it inside my coat — so —; and when I came home I planted it, and the Signora sees how it has grown. If the Signora admires it, I must give her a cutting to plant also in her garden; I am told the English have beautiful gardens that are green, and not burnt with the sun like ours."

“女士就住在青山背后的河谷对岸。 那时我还是个少年，因为这已是多年前的事了。 我常常骑马过去看她；路途不近，但我骑得很快，这点夫人当然理解，年轻人总是性急的。 但这位女士心地不善良，喜欢叫人等个不休，往往一等就是几个小时；一天，我因为等得过久而生气起来。 当我在她叫我等她的那个花园中踱来踱去时，我折了她的一朵，应该说一枝，蔷薇；当我发现自己做了这么一件事时，我便把那枝蔷薇藏在外衣里面 —— 就像这样 ——；回来以后我就把它种上，而夫人也已看到，它长得多好。 如果夫人喜爱的话，我当然要奉赠一枝，好把它栽在园里；听说英国人的花园非常美丽，青葱翠绿，不象我们此地给太阳晒得那么燥热。”

The next day, when their mended carriage had come up to fetch them, and they were just starting to drive away from the inn, the Conte's old servant appeared with the rose-cutting neatly wrapped up, and the compliments and wishes for a buon viaggio from her master. The town collected to see them depart, and the children heard a rush of feet behind them for a few moments, but soon they were far down towards the valley; the little town with all its noise and life was high above them on its mountain peak.

第二天，修好了的马车来迎接他们。 正当他们即将离开旅社之际，伯爵的老仆赶来，奉上包扎精致的蔷薇枝条一束，并代其主人转致一路平安之意。 城中的人也都跑来向他们道别，儿童尾随在车子后面，一直跟出城外。 他们听见车后的脚步声乱哄了一阵，但不久车子已经往下走了很远，进入河谷地带，而这座喧闹的山顶小城则早已高高地在他们头顶之上了。

She had planted the rose at home, where it had grown and flourished in a wonderful manner; and every June the great mass of leaves and shoots still broke out into a passionate splendor of scent and crimson color, as if in its root and fibers there still burnt the anger and thwarted desire of that Italian lover. Of course the old Conte must have died many years ago; she had forgotten his name, and had even forgotten the name of the mountain city that she had stayed in, after first seeing it twinkling at dawn in the sky, like a nest of stars.

她把蔷薇栽在家中，蔷薇长得枝遂叶茂，十分美丽；每逢六月到来，浓碧的枝叶丛中，猩红馥郁，蔚成一派情如火灼的奇观，仿佛它的根茎之间依旧燃烧着那位意大利情人的愤怒与郁悒。 当然那老伯爵此时肯定早已去世多年；而她也记不起他的名字，甚至连她所住过的那座山城叫什么名字，她也都记不起了，虽然她曾经在拂晓之时看它在空中闪烁发光，宛若一团星群。

Siena: 意大利城镇名

piazza: 特指意大利都市中的广场或市场

Sindaco: 意语，市长

avvocato: 意语，律师

Conte: 意语，伯爵

molto vecchio: 意语，very old

Signora：意语，夫人

buon viaggio: =good journey.

A.A.Milne - Golden Fruit

刘士聪、靳梅琳 译

Of the fruits of the year I give my vote to the orange.

In the first place it is a perennial—if not in actual fact, at least in the greengrocer's shop. On the days when dessert is a name given to a handful of chocolates and a little preserved ginger, when macedoine de fruits is the title bestowed on two prunes and a piece of rhubarbs, then the orange, however sour, comes nobly to the rescue; and on those other days of plenty when cherries and strawberries and raspberries, and gooseberries riot together upon the table, the orange, sweeter than ever, is still there to hold its own. Bread and butter, beef and mutton, eggs and bacon, are not more necessary to an order existence than the orange.

It is well that the commonest fruit should be also the best. Of the virtues of the orange I have not room fully to speak. It has properties of health giving, as that it cures influenza and establishes the complexion. It is clean, for whoever handles it on its way to your table, but handles its outer covering, its top coat, which is left in the hall. It is round, and forms an excellent substitute with the young for a cricket ball. The pip can be flicked at your enemies, and quite a small piece of peel makes a slide for an old gentleman.

But all this would count nothing had not the orange such delightful qualities of the taste. I dare not let myself go upon this subject. I am a slave to its sweetness. I grudge every marriage in that it means a fresh supply of orange blossom, the promise of so much golden fruit cut short. However, the world must go on....

With the orange we do live year in and year out. That speaks well for the orange. The fact is that there is an honesty about the orange which appeals to all of us. If it is going to be bad—for the best of us are bad sometimes—it begins to be bad from the outside, not from the inside. How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harbouring a worm in the bud. But the orange had no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside, and if you are quick you can tell the shopman so before he slips it into the bag.

柑橘

A.A.米尔恩

一年四季的水果里，我最推崇柑橘。

首先，柑橘常年都有——即使不是在树上，至少是在水果店里。有的时候，只用几块巧克力和一点蜜饯生姜充当餐后的甜点，两块李子干加一片大黄便被冠以蔬果什锦美名时，这是仍带酸味的柑橘便前来慷慨救驾；其他时候，水果丰盈，樱桃、草莓、木莓、醋栗在餐桌上相互争艳时，此时比往日更加甜美的柑橘依然能坚守自己的岗位。对于人们的日常生活，面包和黄油、牛肉和羊肉、鸡蛋和咸肉，都未必像柑橘那样不可或缺。

很幸运，这种最普遍的水果恰恰是最好的水果。论其优点，难尽其详。柑橘有益于健康，比如，可以治疗流感，滋养皮肤。柑橘清洁干净，不管是谁把它端上桌子，也只触到它的表皮，亦即它的外衣，吃完后橘皮便被留在餐厅里。柑橘是圆的，给孩子当板球玩是再好不过了。柑橘核可用来弹射你的敌人，一小片橘皮也能让一个老者滑个趔趄。

但是，如若不是柑橘的味道甜美可口，上述的一切便都不足取。我真不敢纵谈柑橘的美味。我为它的美味所倾倒。每当有人结婚我便心生怨意，因为那就意味着一束鲜橘花——未来金黄果实的夭折。然而，人类总得继续繁衍。

……

我们年复一年地吃着柑橘生活，这就是对它有力的辩护。事实上，是柑橘诚实的品格吸引了我们。假如它要开始腐败的话——因为我们之中的优秀者有时也会腐败的——它是从外表而不是从内里开始的。有多少梨子在向世人展示其鲜嫩的容光时，内里已经腐烂。有多少看上去纯美无瑕的苹果，刚刚发芽就已经包藏蛀虫。而柑橘从不隐藏瑕疵。它的外表是它内心的镜子，那么，如果你反应快，不等售货员把它丢进纸袋儿，你就能告诉他这是一个坏橘子。

A Hard Day in the Kitchen by Shannon Hodge

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

Everything had gone wrong that morning. The chef had arrived late, severe headache and other effects from drinking too much alcohol, nursing a hangover, and the kitchen hadn’t been cleaned properly the night before, which put him in a worse mood.

The boss, having attended the same party, was in a similar state. He was holding his head and trying to do the accounts at the same time. Enclosed in his little glass-fronted office, Caroline could see his face growing more puce by the moment. He was just reaching for his first sherry.

Running backwards and forwards between the kitchen and the dining room, Caroline had no time to think for a while.

When she’d first managed to get the waitressing job in the restaurant, she was delighted, for she was at her first year at university and jobs were scarce. She sighed. She’d wondered at the time at her ease in getting employment. It now appeared that her boss’ reputation had preceded him, and no one else had applied. However, she had no time to think of that now. A portly blue-eyed man was giving her furious looks as he waited for his order. Damn! What was it again? She had been caught up with the fussy woman who had been so particular about how her streak was cooked. In fact the offending meal had been sent back to the kitchen twice. It was, the woman complained, too well done—she liked her steak “bleu.” Yuk! Thought Caroline. Give me a well-done piece of steak every time. The man continued to glower at her while he watched the grey-haired lady’s antics.

Sweetly Caroline went to him and made sure that his order was right. “I wanted,” he enunciated in ringing tones, “just a moderate grill, French fries, and a well-done steak.” He glared dismissively at the woman at the next table. “And a green side salad.” “Right, sir,” she chirped with a cheer she did not feel. “Coming right up.” With that, she hastily retreated to make sure that Joseph the chef had it right this time.

Yes, thank goodness it was ready. Caroline thought the side salad of lettuce with tomato, several slices of hard-boiled egg, cucumber and dressing looked very attractive.

In her haste, she did not see the young man at a corner table casting her sympathetic glances as he waited patiently. Tall and about 25 with tousled black hair and an impish grin, he was watching “the circus” as he mentally dubbed it.

He could see the pretty young waitress getting more and more frustrated. Poor girl, she looked at the end of her tether. He wondered what he could do to give her a hand and pour oil on troubled waters.

But all was not over. The man, Henry Savage, had finished his grill with much enjoyment and now turned to his salad. He poised with his knife and fork in mid-air, his expression a study. A green caterpillar was slowly crawling out from under the lettuce. It was large, fat, and apparently well-fed. It paused in its travels to survey the scene. Purple with fury, Henry could barely find his voice.

“Waitress!” he thundered. “Come here this moment!” He sounded every inch the headmaster he was.

“What do you call this?” He pointed with a quivering finger at the caterpillar, which decided the world outside was not as copy as hiding behind the lettuce leaf and retreated.

Caroline, petrified by the tone of the shout, came into the dining room at a trot.

By now, the whole room had ground to a halt. The diners were all staring at her, mostly in sympathy.

Henry speechlessly gestured at the salad where the caterpillar, bored by its seclusion, had reappeared.

Caroline blanched. Nervously she tried to speak, but failed, then managed, “Sorry, sir, it’s never happened before, we’ll make you a new one.” Grabbing the salad, she whisked it away into the kitchen. But Henry Savage was not to be deterred. After a shouted opinion of what he thought of the restaurant, he stormed out.

Caroline, with a hastily prepared new salad in her hands, returned to an empty table. She didn’t know where to put herself with the rest of the customers peering at her. Bursting into tears, she rushed back to the kitchen. “Take that, you stupid man, next time make sure you wash the salad when you’ve got a hangover,” she ground out to the startled chef. “I’ll give you a tossed salad!” she snarled and threw the contents of the bowl over his head.

The manager, by now completely sober, appeared. When a hasty explanation was made by one of the more lucid customers, he was remarkably nice about the whole episode. Maybe he had a guilty conscience. Caroline mused, remembering that sometimes he was the one who helped wash the lettuce if the staff were too busy. In any event, the whole incident was quickly smoothed over and everyone’s temper restored.

After Caroline had washed her face, tided herself up and resumed working, the young man beckoned her over. “I watched you handle that,” he said admiringly. “I think you did great. That old man really gave you ‘what for.’ Do you think you could do it all over again for a film I’m producing? It was far better than a custard pie any day, you did it so beautifully!” Here he chuckled. “But you really should have thrown it over the old boy’s head: he was being the unreasonable one.”

They looked at each other. Caroline could feel the beginnings of a smile on her face. All of sudden both of them burst out laughing. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad day after all.

厨房里的一场闹剧

香农·霍奇

那天早晨，所有的事都不对劲。厨师来晚了，由于喝酒过多，头痛，还在调理中。前一天晚上厨房没有收拾干净，这使他心情更坏。

曾参加同一个晚会的老板也处于类似的状态中。他一面托着头，一面还试图结帐。卡罗琳可以看到他在正面镶有玻璃窗的小办公室里，他的脸那时候变得更加紫了。他在伸手去拿第一瓶雪利酒。

卡罗琳在厨房和餐厅之间前前后后地奔跑着，没有片刻时间容她思索。

当她首次设法得到餐馆女侍者这一职务时，她很高兴，因为她还在上大学一年级，而工作又很难找到。她叹了一口气。她当时奇怪为什么那么不费力地就找到工作。现在看来，她的老板早已名声在外，因此没有别人申请到他这儿来干。但是，她现在没有时间来考虑这些了。一个胖胖的蓝眼睛的男子正在给她看一副愤怒的脸色，这是他在等着点菜，该死！又是什么？她曾经被那爱挑剔的女人缠住，那女人对于她点的牛排怎么烹调要求很特殊。事实上，这份使那顾客生气的菜也退回厨房两次了。那女人抱怨说，它做得这头了——她喜欢吃“半生不熟”的牛排。啐！卡罗琳想，要我吃牛排每次都得熟透过好呢。那个男子一面观察那灰白头发的女人的古怪样子一面继续怒视着卡罗琳。

卡罗琳和颜悦色来到他面前，向他保证点菜不会出什么问题。他毫不含糊地一字一句地说：“我要一份不要太熟也不要太生的烤肉、法国油炸土豆片和一份熟透的牛排。”他轻蔑地瞪了一眼邻桌那位女人后又说：“还要一份绿色配菜色拉。”“好的，先生，”卡罗琳细声细气地用一种自己没有察觉到的愉快的口吻说，“马上就来。”随即，匆匆地回到厨房让约瑟夫厨师这次务必要做好。

好，感谢上帝，终于做好了。卡罗琳想，这份用西红柿、几片煮老的鸡蛋、黄瓜和调料搭配的生菜色拉看起来真诱人。

匆忙中，她没有注意到在角落里那张桌子旁的年轻人在耐心里等待时向她投来的同情的眼光。他是个高个儿，大约25岁，一头蓬乱的黑发，带着一种顽童的笑容注视着这出“杂耍表演”，这是他暗自给眼前这一幕起的绰号。

他可以看出这漂亮的年轻女侍者越来越泄气了。可怜的姑娘，她看来已到了山穷水尽的地步。他不知道他是否能做些什么来帮她一把以平息争端。

但事情还没有了结。那位男子，亨利·萨维奇，相当愉快地吃完了烤肉，又转向他的色拉。忽然，他举着的刀和叉停在了半空中，带着一种钻研的神情看着它。一条绿色蠕虫正慢慢地从生菜下面爬出来，很大，很肥，显然吃得很好。它在旅途中停了下来以观察周围环境，亨利气得脸色发紫，话都差点说不出来。他吼叫着：“女招待！马上来这儿！”俨然一副十足的校长派头。他用颤抖的手指指那条虫说：“你说这是什么？”这时，这条虫断定外面世界不如藏在生菜叶子后面那么舒服，于是就撤退了。

卡罗琳被那吼叫声吓呆了，赽跌到餐厅。现在整个餐厅都鸦雀无声，用餐者都一个个盯着她看，大多数是带着同情的眼光。

亨利无声的用手势示意那色拉，在那儿，那条虫不甘隐居，又重新出现了。

卡罗琳脸色煞白，想说些什么，但紧张得一时说不出来。后来终于说出：“对不起，先生，这种事以前从来没有发生过。人我们替你另做一份。”她一把抓住那碗色拉，一下子把它端进厨房。但亨利·萨维奇不肯就此罢休。他大喊大嚷地发表了一通他认为餐馆应该是什么样的议论后，就冲出去了。

卡罗琳手里端着仓促做好的新的色拉回到已经没有人的桌子旁。在顾客众目睽睽的情况下，她感到十分尴尬。她哭着跑回了厨房。她冲着受惊吓的厨师以刺耳的嗓音大声嚷：“认错吧，你这傻瓜，下次你要是再酒后头痛，也得一定把生菜干净。” “我给你一份拌好的色拉！”她说着粗暴地把那碗菜扣到他的头上。

经理来了，他此刻完全清醒。当一位头脑比较清楚的顾客匆忙地向他做了一番解释以后，他对于整个事件表现得非常理智。也许他良心上也感到内疚。卡罗琳思索着，想起有时候如果员工们太忙的话，他就是帮助洗生菜的人。无论如何，整个事件很快平息下去了，而每个人又都恢复了平静。

当卡罗琳洗了脸，梳理了一下，又重新工作时，那个年轻人向她招手，要她过去。他表示赞赏地说：“我观察了你处理的这件事。我想你处理得很好。那老家伙确实把你‘整’得够受的。你能考虑为我制作的一部影片再重演一遍刚才发生的事吗？不管怎么说，它比粗俗的打闹喜剧要好得多，你干得真漂亮！”这时他咯咯地笑了起来。“但是你真应该把那碗色拉扣到那老家伙的头上，他当时真不讲道理。”

他们互相对视了一下，卡罗琳开始感到自己脸上有了笑意。突然，他们两人都哈哈大笑起来。也许，这终究不是很坏的一天。

English Food

English food has a bad reputation abroad. This is most probably because foreigners in England are often obliged to eat in the more “popular” type of restaurant. Here it is necessary to prepare food rapidly in large quantities, and the taste of the food inevitably suffers, though its quality, from the point of view of nourishment, is quite satisfactory. Still, it is rather dull and not always attractively presented. Moreover, the Englishman eating in cheap or medium price restaurant is usually in a hurry—at least at lunch—and a meal eaten in a leisurely manner in pleasant surroundings is always far more enjoyable than a meal taken hastily in a business-like atmosphere. In general, it is possible to get an adequate meal at a reasonable price; in fact, such a meal may be less expensive than similar food abroad. For those with money to spare, there are restaurants that compare favorably with the best in any country.

In many countries breakfast is a snack rather than a meal, but the traditional English breakfast is a full meal. Some people have a cereal or porridge to begin with. If porridge is prepared from coarse oatmeal (in the proper Scottish manner) it is a tasty, economical, and nourishing dish, especially when it is eaten with milk or cream, and sugar or salt. Then comes a substantial, usually cooked, course such as bacon and eggs, sausages and bacon or, sometimes, haddock or kippers. Yorkshire ham is also a breakfast speciality. Afterwards comes toast, with butter and mamalade, and perhaps some fruit. Tea or coffee is drunk with the meal. Many English people now take such a full breakfast only on Sunday morning.

The traditional English meal (lunch or dinner, lunch generally being the lighter meal) is based on plain, simply-cooked food. British beefsteak is unsurpassed (with the best steaks coming from the Scotch Angus cattle) and is accompanied by roast potatoes; a second vegetable (probably cabbage or carrots), and Yorkshire pudding (baked batter, a mixture of flour, egg, milk and salt).

English lamb chops, best when grilled, make a very tasty dish, particularly when eaten with fresh spring peas, new potatoes and mint sauce. English pork is good, but English veal is sometimes disappointing.

As regards fish, Dover soles are a delicacy. So are British trout and salmon. Unfortunately, they are not cheap!

Apple pie is a favourite sweet, and English puddings, of which there are various types, are an excellent ending to a meal, especially in winter.

English cheeses deserve to be better known than they are. The “king” of cheeses is Stilton, a blue-veined cheese both smooth and strong, and at its best when port is drunk with it. Cheddar, Cheshire, and Lancashire cheeses are all pleasing to the palate, and cream cheeses are to be had in various parts of the country. In Devon, excellent clotted cream is made, which goes well with English strawberries and raspberries.

But what, you may say, shall we drink with our meal? Many will say English beer, preferably bitter or pale ale, or cider. If it is real Devonshire country cider, be careful—it is stronger than you think when you first taste it!

In recent years the British have become more cosmopolitan in their eating habits, and many families frequently sit down to meals whose ingredients or recipes may come from India (curry is a well-liked dish), China, or anywhere in the world.

英国饮食

选自《英国风情录》

英国食品在海外的名声不佳，这很可能是因为来英国的外国人不得不在更“大众化”的餐馆里用餐的缘故。在那里，必须迅速、大量的备餐，因此饭菜的味道不可避免地要差一些，尽管在营养方面，其质量还是令人满意的。可是饭菜仍然显得单调，花色也常常不大讲究。此外，在价钱便宜或适中的饭店里用餐的英国人，通常是来去匆匆——至少午餐如此——而在舒适的环境里中从容就餐要比在生意氛围较浓的环境里匆忙吃饭更有乐趣。一般来说，花不多的钱吃上一顿饱饭是可能的。事实上，同样的饭菜比国外或许还要便宜些。对于手头有富余的人来说，英国某些饭店和国外最好的饭店相比还要划算一些。

在许多国家，早餐只是小吃而不算正餐，但传统的英国早餐却是正餐。有的人先吃麦片或喝粥，如果粥是用粗燕麦片做的（正宗的苏格兰风味），那就既可口又经济并富有营养，特别是加了牛奶或奶油，糖或盐。然后是一道实实在在的熟菜，火腿鸡蛋、香肠火腿，有时是鳕鱼或熏鲱。约克郡火腿也是早餐的特色食堂。然后是涂上黄油和果酱的吐司，也许还有些水果。吃早餐时喝茶或咖啡。许多英国人现在只是在星期天才吃这样的早餐。

传统的英国正餐（午餐或晚餐；午餐一般比较简单）以清淡、烹调省事的食物为主。英国的牛排最好（用苏格兰安格斯牛的上等牛排调制），伴以烤土豆另加第二道菜（可能是卷心菜或胡萝卜），以及约克郡布丁（用面粉、蛋、牛奶和盐调制成面烦乱烘烤而成）。

英国的羊排美味可口，烤着吃滋味最佳，特别是和春天新鲜的豌豆、土豆和薄荷酱一起吃。英国的猪肉味道也很好，但英国的小牛肉有时却令人失望。

至于鱼类，多佛鳎鱼味道鲜美，英国的鳟鱼和鲑鱼也很好。只可惜，价格不低！

苹果饼是受欢迎的甜食，各式各样的英国布丁也是很好的饭后点心，特别是在冬天。

英国奶酪应该比现在更知名。奶酪之王是斯提耳顿干酪，带有青色纹络，细腻而味浓，喝着波尔图葡萄酒吃味道最好。切达干酪、柴郡奶酪和兰开夏郡奶酪味道都很好，而奶油干酪在全国各地都有。德文郡出产上等的浓缩奶油，用英国草莓和紫莓沾着吃味道鲜美。

可是你也许要问，我们用餐时喝些什么呢？许多人会说：英国啤酒，最好是苦啤酒或淡啤酒，或者是苹果酒。如果是正宗的德文郡乡间产的苹果酒，那你得小心——第一次品尝时可比你所想象的要厉害。

近年来，英国人的包含习惯越来越国际化了，许多家庭上食物的原料或烹调方法可能来自印度（咖喱食品是很受欢迎的菜肴），中国，或世界上任何地方。

A Gift of Dreams (Excerpt) George H. Brooks

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

Christmas Eve, 1944. I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, on a one-day leave in San Francisco, I had won $300 at poker that ordinarily would have burned a hole in my pocket, but I couldn’t shake an overwhelming sadness.

Scuttlebutt had it we’d be pulling out before the New Year for the South Pacific. I’d just received word that another friend had been killed in Europe. And here I was, an 18-year-old alone in a strange city. Nothing seemed to make any kind of sense. What was I going to be fighting for, anyway?

I spent most of the day in a mental fog, wandering aimlessly through crowds of laughing, happy people. Then, late in the afternoon, my vision suddenly focused, and for the first time a scene registered.

There in a departure-store window were two electric trains chugging through a miniature, snow-covered town. In front of the window was a skinny boy around nine years old, his nose pressed against the glass. He just stood there, fixed on those trains.

Suddenly the boy was me nine short years before, and the store was Macy’s in New York City, my hometown. I could see, could feel the same longing, the same desperate hoping. I could hear the sigh of resignation—the frail attempt to hide the disappointment that Dad could not afford those trains. And I saw the reluctant turning away and then the one last look.

Not this time! I don’t know what came over me, but I grabbed the boy by the arm, scaring him half to death.

“My name is George,” I told him.

“Jeffrey Hollis Jr.,” he managed to reply.

“Well, Jeff Hollis Jr.,” I said in my best grown-up voice, “we are going to get us those trains.”

His eyes grew wide, and he let me lead him into the store. I knew it was crazy, but I didn’t care. Suddenly I wanted to be nine again and have a kid’s dream come true. The salesclerk looked at us suspiciously, a scruffy black boy and a black sailor in ill-fitting drew blues.

“Those trains in the window,” I blurted before he could speak. “The whole setup. How much is it?”

His snorting response was interrupted by the arrival of a much older man wearing a warm Christmas smile. “One hundred and sixty-five dollars and sixty-three cents,” the elder man replied, “delivery included.”

“We’ll take it,” I said. “Right now if we can.”

…

Jeff Hollis Sr.’s reaction reminded me of what my own father’s would have been if I had shown up with a stranger and a whole lot of gifts. I could see he was a hard-working man, breaking his back to make ends meet and knowing he couldn’t give his family all he wanted.

“I’m just a sailor a long way from home, Mr. Hollis,” I said respectfully, explaining how I had seen myself in his son’s longing gaze at the store display.

“You couldn’t have spent the money any other way?” he asked gruffly.

“No, sir,” I replied.

His face softened, and he welcomed me to share their table. After supper, I read to Jeff Jr. and his sisters until they went off to bed.

“I guess you know we’ve got a lot to do before morning,” Jeff Sr. said. His words startled me for a moment. Then I understood. I was no longer a child; I was a man now, with adult responsibilities. So I joined him at what turned out to be nearly an all-night job of getting the trains put together and set up. His wife, Marge, made sandwiches and coffee and kept me talking about growing up in New York. At midnight we paused to wish each other a Merry Christmas, then went back to the task of making a boy’s dream come true.

…

Dreams, I thought sleepily. Kid dreams. I guess I dozed because the next thing I knew it was five o’clock, and Jeff Jr. was shaking me. He had remembered I had to be back by eight.

…

For about five minutes Jeff Jr. ran his train. Then abruptly, he stopped and, without a word, left the room. He returned with the presents he had bought, a look of pride on his face. He’d had some help, but he’d made the choices himself.

I thought he was finished when he turned to me with a package in his hand. “Merry Christmas, George,” he said quietly.

I was totally surprised. The gift was a comb-and-brush set, along with a case for other toilet articles. He held out his hand, then changed his mind and hugged me warmly. The moment of parting was bittersweet, for I knew I would probably never see the Hollises again. Jeff Sr. and Marge thanked me, but I was the grateful one.

As I made my way to the station to catch a bus back to the base, I realized I had no more nagging doubts. I had found more in this experience than I had received for all the pep talks and patriotic speeches I had ever heard.

For me, it was a revelation. I knew now what this war and all the fighting was about. It was something at once wonderful and simple. This country, my country, was a place of dreams…and of dreamers who had the faith and the will to make dreams come true.

梦寐以求的礼物 乔治·H·布鲁克斯

（节选）

1944年圣诞夜。当时我是美国海军士兵，到旧金山休假一天。在那以前，我玩扑克游戏，赢了300元。通常，钱烧口袋漏，一有就不留。可我当时极为忧愁烦闷，怎么也无法摆脱那种恶劣的心境。

据传闻，部队在新前要开赴南太平洋。而且刚刚听说又有一位朋友在欧洲阵亡。我年仅18，如今在一个陌生的城市里，单身无靠。干什么都没有意思。我究竟为什么打打仗来着？

我精神迷惘，在欢笑的人群毫无目的地逛荡，消磨了差不多一整天。后来，在黄昏的时候，视线突然集中，第一次有一个情景引起了我的注意。

在一家百货商店的橱窗里，有两列电动火车正在一座白雪覆盖的微型城市里喀嚓喀嚓地行驶。在橱窗前，一个约莫九岁光景的瘦小男孩，鼻子紧贴着玻璃，一动不动地站在那里，目不转睛地注视着那两列火车。

那男孩忽地成了短短的九年前的我，那商店成了我的家乡纽约市的梅西商店。我看得见，也感觉得到那同样的渴望和急切的期待。我听得见那无可奈何的叹息——爸爸买不起那种火车只好这么强憋住失望的心情。那恋恋不舍地转身起开，最后又看上一眼，恍如就在眼前。

不能再这样了！我至今都弄不明白当时中的什么邪，反正我一把抓住男孩的胳臂，把他吓得半死。

“我叫乔治。”我告诉他。

“我叫小杰弗里·霍利斯，”我尽量说得像大人，“咱们去把那火车买下来。”

他睁大了眼睛，随我进了商店。我知道这真荒唐，可我不管。我忽然想再回到九岁，实现孩时梦想。售货员心怀疑虑地望着我们：一个是衣衫褴褛的黑孩子，一个是黑人水兵，穿着一套不合身的海军制服。

“橱窗里那套火车，”不等售货员说话我就脱口而出，“要整套。多少钱？”

他刚露出一副不屑答理的模样，过来一位年纪大得多的人，满脸喜气洋洋的过节神情。“165元6角3分，”他回答，“包送到家。”

“我们要了，”我说，“可以现买现送吧。”

……

老杰弗·霍利斯的反应使我想起我的父亲，要是我当初也领着一个陌生人，抱着一大堆礼物回来，他会怎么样呢？我看得出这人很勤劳，累死累活也只能勉强糊口，他也知道他没法尽心尽意满足这一大家人。

“我只是个远离家乡的水兵，霍利斯先生。”我说得很谦恭，说我见他儿子眼巴巴地盯着商店里的摆设，像是看到了我自己。

“你有钱就不能往别处花了？”他问得挺生硬。

“不能，先生。”我回答。

他脸色和气了，邀我一起吃晚饭。饭后，我给小杰弗和他的两个妹妹念故事，直到他们去睡觉。

“我想你也知道，这下我可得忙乎到天亮了。”老杰弗说。我一听吃了一惊，过了一会才明白过来。我已不再是孩子，是大人了，该尽成年人的责任了。于是，我和他一起把火车攒起来，装配好，几乎干了一个通宵。他的妻子玛吉做三明治，煮煮咖啡，一面要我讲从小怎么在纽约长大的。午夜时分，我们停下来互相祝贺圣诞，过后，又再接再厉，把一个孩子的梦想变成现实。

…

多少个梦想，我睡眼蒙眬地想。儿时的梦想。我猜想我后来打了个盹儿，因为待到清醒进来已是五点，小杰弗正忙着推我。他记得必须在八点钟以前赶回基地。

……

小杰弗玩了大约五分钟的火车。突然，他停了下来，一句话没说就离开了房间。他回来时，拿着他买好的礼物，脸上神气十足。当时店里是有人领他去的，可东西都是他自己挑的。

他手里拿着个小盒子转向我的时候，我想他准是准备好了。“圣诞快乐，乔治。”他轻声说。

我大为惊奇。他的礼物是一套梳洗用具，还一盒其他梳妆物品。他伸出手，接着又改变了主意，诚挚地拥抱了我。分别的时刻让人百感交集，因为我知道，我也许再也见不着霍利斯一家了。老杰夫和玛吉向我表达了谢意，不过该表示感激的人是我。

在赶往车站搭车返回基地的路上，我意识到我不再有那些牵肠挂肚的疑虑了。我从这次经历中觉得的，要比我从所有听过的鼓动性讲话和宣扬爱国精神的演讲中得到的更多。

这对我是个启发。我终于明白这场战争和所有这些战斗为的是什么了。它是某种既精彩又简单的东西。这个国家、我的祖国，是将人梦寐以求的国土……是一片让那些有信心和意志让梦想成真的人梦寐以求的国土。

A Bouquet for Miss Benson (Excerpt) by Paul Villard

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

Miss Benson was the kindest, sweetest, most beautiful creature that ever walked the earth. She was my second-grade teacher, and I was going to marry her when I grew up—if she would wait. I would sit squirming in my seat for the entire morning to keep from raising my hand. I could not bear to miss one precious moment of her presence by leaving the room.

My hand was always the first to be raised, however, when Miss Benson called for volunteers to clean the blackboards or to gather papers and bring them to her desk. That was the best chore of all. It made possible getting near enough to her to close out the others in the classroom. I would arrange and rearrange the papers. They had to be in perfect order before I would make my reluctant way back to my seat.

Early in the term, I started pestering my mother to put an extra apple or peach in my lunch. I never quite worked up the courage to say it was for my teacher, as I never quite worked up the courage to hand my offering to Miss Benson directly. Each day the delicacy found its way unobserved to the corner of her desk. And each day the response was the same.

Miss Benson would come in and sit down. “Good morning, children.”

“Good morning, Miss Benson,” in unison.

“Why, how nice!” She would pick up the offering of the day, then look around the room. “What thoughtful little boy or girl brought me this?”

No one claimed the honor, least of all me. I kept my head down, looking at my desk.

“Can it be that I have a secret admirer?” she would ask.

I would feel the red rising in my face. I was certain that everyone was looking at me, and I would sigh with when Miss Benson put the fruit away and started the lesson.

One fall morning, the class was abuzz with excitement. Someone had discovered that the next day, Friday, was Miss Benson’s birthday. Everyone wanted to get her a present. My heart gave a leap, at last I could give her something openly. That afternoon was spent combing the fields for wild flowers. Not many were in bloom at that time of year, but I found several kinds of bright berries on shrubs, some dry thistle heads. And finally I came upon a patch of gorgeous crimson leaves…

In the morning I hung back as others presented their gifts. Finally I went to the desk and gave the bouquet to Miss Benson. She exclaimed with pleasure as she took it, and held it to her cheek for a moment. My reward was a smile and a pat on the head.

The next Monday, Miss Benson was not in class. About the middle of the morning, I was asked to go to the principal’s office. When I arrived, I was surprised to see my mother. On a table was my bouquet.

“Do you know where Miss Benson is today?” the principal asked.

“No, sir,” I answered.

“Miss Benson,” he said, slowly and clearly. “is in the hospital, and you sent her there!”

I sat, stricken, in my chair.

“Do you know what you gave her?” he continued.

I nodded. “Berries, thistles and pretty red leaves,” I listed.

“Those pretty red leaves’ are poison ivy, young man.” (Poison ivy is a kind of sumac which can cause a severe skin rash if touched) His voice was filling with anger. “How did you protect yourself when you picked them? Gloves?” I shook my head. “Honest, I didn’t know they were poison ivy.” I started to cry.

The principal stood up. “Paul, I am suspending you for ten days. What happens after that depends upon your behavior when you return.”

…

When I went back, Mother was sitting in her rocker, she held out her arms, and I sat in her lap while she rocked me for a new minutes. “Let’s have a party!” she exclaimed finally. “What would you like to do the very most?” “I’d like to go see Miss Benson,” I replied.

Miss Benson was sitting up in bed when we arrived. Her face was covered with bandages. Only one eye was showing. Both of her hands were swathed as well.

“I didn’t know they were poison ivy,” I blurted out. “I didn’t mean to make you sick. I only wanted to give you something…” I stopped talking and swallowed hard.

Miss Benson’s one eye studied me. “You wanted to give me something special, didn’t you Paul?” I nodded.

“All those apples were from you, weren’t they?” Again I nodded.

“When I get these bandages off,” she said, “I am going to give you a great a big hug.”

I was filled with happiness. She was not mad at me.

“And I’ll tell you a great big secret, too, Paul,” she continued. “When I am married, if I have a son, I would like him to grow up just like you.”

I wasn’t certain that I saw a tear in her eye as Mother led me out of the room.

送给卞老师的一束花 保罗·维拉德

（节选）

卞老师是世界上最亲切可爱、美得出奇的人。她是我二年级的老师，我长大了一定要娶她——只要她肯等我。我常常一整个晚上午都憋在座位上扭来扭去，就是不举手。有她在教室，一时一刻都很宝贵，我舍不得出去。

但是，老师如果问谁愿意擦黑板，谁愿意收卷子交到讲台上，我总是头一个举手。这可是最美的差事了。可以撇开班上的同学，接近她，我会把卷子理了又理，放得齐齐整整，才依依不舍地回到座位上去。

开学不久，我就缠着我妈要她在我午饭里多放一个苹果或者桃子。我一直没敢说这是给老师的，也一直不敢当面送给卞老师。每天都有好吃的东西偷偷放在讲台上。她每天的反应也都一样。

卞老师走进教室，坐下。“小朋友早！”

“卞老师早！”全班齐声回答。

“哈，真好！”她拿起当天的礼物，四下看看，“是哪个体贴人的小朋友送我的？”

谁也没争这份功，我就更甭说了。我低着头，两眼盯着书桌。

她会问：“是不是有人喜欢我，又不肯说？”

我都觉得出脸发红了。我肯定大伙都在盯着我，只见老师把水果放在一边，开始讲课，我这才松了口气。

一个秋天的上午，全班闹腾起来了。原来有人发现，第二天星期五，是卞老师的生日。谁都想送件礼物给她。我的心都要蹦了出来：终于可以大大方方送她东西了。那天下午，我一直在田野里搜寻野花。那个季节开花的不多见了，不过我还是在灌木丛里找到了好几种鲜艳的浆果，摘到些干枯的蓟花头。后来我还看到有一小块地里，好一片鲜红的红叶……

第二天早晨，大家都纷纷献礼，我拖到最后才走上讲台，把一束花送给了老师。她接过花，高兴得叫了起来，又捧在脸上好个亲。她对我报以一笑，还拍了拍我的头。

接下去那个星期一，卞老师没来上课。上午过了半晌，我给叫到校长室去。我一进去，想不到我妈也在。桌上还放着我那束花。

“你知道卞老师今天去哪儿了？”校长问。

“报告，不知道。”我回答。

校长的话说得又慢又清楚：“卞老师在医院里——是你害了她！”

我坐在椅子上，吓坏了。

“你知道你送她什么啦？”他又问。

“小家伙，那些‘挺好看的红叶’就是毒葛！”（毒葛是一种苏模叶，可触发严重的皮疹。）他越说越生气，“你摘的时候是怎么保护自己的？戴手套了？”

我摇摇头、“真的，我不知道是毒葛。”我哭了起来。

校长站起身。“保罗，我罚你停学十天。十天后复学，以观后效。”

……

我回到家里，我妈正坐在摇椅上。她伸开双臂，把我搂在怀里摇了一阵。“咱们来乐和乐和！”她最后问了我一声，“你最想做什么？”

“我就想去看卞老师。”我回答。

我们去了，卞老师坐在病床上。她脸上缠满了绷带，只露出一只眼睛，两只手也裹着绷带。

“我不知道那是毒葛，”我脱口说了出来，“我不是有意伤害你。我就想送您一点……”我说不下去了，强憋住不哭。

卞老师那只眼打量着我。“你想送我一点特别的东西，对吧，保罗？”我点点头。

“那些苹果也都是你送的，对吧？”我又点点头。

“等我拆掉绷带，”她说，“我要好好地拥抱你。”

我也快活啊。她没生我的气啊。

“保罗，我还要告诉你一个天大的秘密，”她接着说，“等我结了婚，要是有个儿子，我就要他长大了跟你一个样。”

我妈领我走出病房的时候，我仿佛看到卞老师的那只眼里正闪着泪花。

Learned Words and Popular Words

专业学术词汇与一般常用词汇

In every cultivated language there are two great classes of words which, taken together, make up the whole vocabulary. First, there are those words with which we become familiar in ordinary conversation, which we learn, that is to say, from the members of our own family and from our friends, and which we should know and use even if we could not read or write. They concern the common things of life, and are the stock in trade of all who speak the language. Such words may be called "popular," since they belong to the people at large and are not the possession of a limited class only.

每一个文明社会所使用的语言里，都有两在类不同的词汇，如果把这两大类词汇加在一起，就构成了该语言的整个词汇。道德有些词汇是我们在一般的谈话当中才用熟了的，也就是，是我们从我们自己家的人或我们的朋友们那学来的，这些词汇是在我们即使还不会看书报，不会写字时，就懂得，就会用了的。这些词汇涉及的是生活中的一般事物，凡是说这种语言的人，脑海里都会储存这些词汇的。这些词汇可以称之为'一般常用词汇'，因为这些词汇是属于一般人民的，而不是只属于有限的某一阶层的人的。

On the other hand, our language includes a large number of words which are relatively seldom used in ordinary conversation. Their meanings are known to every educated person, but there is little occasion to use them at home. Our first acquaintance with them comes not from our mother's lips or from the talk of our classmates, but from books that we read, lectures that we hear, or the more formal conversation of highly educated speakers who are discussing some particular topic in an elevated style. Such words are called "learned", and the difference between them and "popular" words is of great importance to a right understanding of language.

另一方面，我们的语言中还包括一些在一般谈话中相对说来几乎不用的一些为数很大的词汇。每位受过教育的人士都懂得这些词汇的意思，但是在家里几乎根本没有机会使用这些词汇。我们最初并不是从母亲的嘴里也不是从同班同学的谈话中才听到这些词汇，而是从我们的读物当中，从我们所听的讲座当中，或者一些受过很高的教育的人在以很高深的学术风格讨论某一特定的专题时，从他们的比较正式的交谈当中，听到这些词汇的。这类词汇称之为专业学术词汇。理解专业学术词汇和一般常用词汇之间的差别，对正确地掌握语言是很重要的。

The difference between popular and learned words may be easily seen in a few examples. We may describe a girl as "liverly" or as "vivacious." In the first case, we are using a native English word formed from the familiar noun life. In the latter, we are using a Latin derivative which has exactly the same meaning. Yet the atmosphere of the two words is quite different. No one ever got the adjective lively out of a book. It is a part of everybody's vocabulary. We cannot remember a time when we did not know it, and we fell sure that we learned it long before we were able to read. On the other hand, we must have passed several years of our lives before learning the word vivacious. We may even remember the first time that we saw it in print or heard it from some grown-up friend. Both lively and vivacious are good English words, but lively is popular and vivacious is learned.

举几个例子就能容易地看出一般常用词汇与专业学术词汇之间的差别。我们在描述一位活泼的姑娘，“活泼”这个词，既可以lively，也可以用vivacious。在第一种情况，我们用的是由我们熟悉的名词life构成的一个英格兰本地词；在后一种情况，我们用的是一个拉丁语来源的词，这两个词汇的意思是一样的。可是这两个词使用的场合却完全不同。没有任何一个人是从书本上学会lively这个形容词的。这个词是每个人都会用的词汇中的一个。我们记不起我们学会用这个词的时候是什么时候，我们都敢肯定，早在我们还没学会阅读很久以前，我们就学会了这个词。与此相反，我们准是又过了若干年以后，这才学会了vivacious这个词。我们甚至还能记得我们第一次在印刷品上见到这个词的时候或者记得从某个成年朋友那里听到这个词的时间。lively和vivacious这两个词都是纯正的英语词汇。但lively是一般常用词，而vivacious是专业学术词。

The terms "popular" and "learned," as applied to words, are not absolute difinitions. No two persons have the same stock of words, and the same word may be "popular" in one man's vocabulary and "learned" in another's. There are also different grades of "popularity." Still, the classification into "learned" and "popular" is convenient and sound. Different opinions may come up as to the classification of any particular word, but there can be no difference of opinion about the general principle. We must be careful, however, to avoid misconception. When we call a word "popular," we do not mean that it is a favorite word, but simply that it belongs to the people as a whole - that is, it is everybody's word, not the possession of a limited number. When we call a word "learned" we do not mean that it is used by learned persons alone, but simply that its presence in the English vocabulary is due to books and the cultivation of literature rather than to the actual needs of ordinary conversation.

把“一般常用”和“专业学术”这两个术语若用到词汇上并没有绝对的定义。根本就不可能有两个人储存在脑海里的词汇数量和内容是完全相同的。同一个单词在某人掌握的词汇里很可能算是一般常用词，而在另一个人所掌握的词汇里却成了“专业学术词”。“一般常用”的程度也可以有几个不同的档次。然而把词汇划分成“一般常用词”和“专业学术词”这种分类方法还是方便而又有理有据的。尽管把某一个别的词究竟划分到哪一类会再现有不同的意见，但对划分的根本标准却不会有分歧。但我们必须谨慎，避免把概念搞错了。如果我们把一个单词划归“一般常用词”，这并不意味着该词是属于全民的词，也就是说，它是大家都会用的词。而不是属于有限数量的少数人会用的词。当我们把某一单词称为“专业学术词”，这并不意味着只有有学问的人才能使用它，而是仅仅意味着，这个词汇之所以能出现在英文中，完全是由于有了书刊有了文学的熏陶的结果，而不是由于日常谈话有什么实际需要才有了这个单词。

Another School Year -- What For?

又是一个新学年——上大学到底为了什么

Let me tell you one of the earliest disasters in my career as a teacher. It was January of 1940 and I was fresh out of graduate school starting my first semester at a university. A tall boy came into my class, sat down, folded his arms, and looked at me as if to say: “all right, damn you, teach me something.” Two weeds later we started Hamlet. Three weeks later he came into my office with his hands on his hips. “Look,” he said, “ I came here to be a pharmacist. Shy do I have to read this stuff?” he pointed to the book which was lying on the desk.

我来告诉你我的教学生涯中最早的一次令我啼笑皆非的经历。那是1940年的一月，我刚刚从研究生院毕业，开始了在大学第一学期的教学工作。一个高个子男生来到我的课堂，坐了下来，两臂交叉往胸前一放，看了我一眼，好象在说：“好吧，你这该死的，教我点东西吧。”两个星期后我们开始上《哈姆雷特》。三个星期后，他来到我的办公室，两手叉腰。“喂，”他说，“我到这里来是想成为药剂师的。为什么要我读这玩意儿？”他指着桌子上的那本书。

New as I was to the faculty, I could have told this boy that he had enrolled, not in a technical training school, but in a university, and that in a university students enroll for both training and education. I tried to put it this way. “For the rest of your life,” I said, “your days are going to average out to about twenty-four hours. For eight of these hours, more or less, you will be asleep, and I suppose you need neither education nor training to get you through that third of your life.

虽然我是一名新教师，我也完全可以告诉这名学生，他现在上的是大学而不是技术培训学校，在大学里学生接受的是教育而不仅仅是培训。我试着向他这样解释：“你的一生中，每天平均二十四小时，其中大约有八个小时要睡觉，我想这三分之一的时间，你既不需要培训也不必受教育。

“ Then for about eight hours of each working day you will I hope, be usefully employed. Suppose you have gone through pharmacy school---or engineering, or law school, or whatever---during those eight hours you will be using your professional skills. You will see to it during this third of our life that the cyanide stays out of the aspirin, that the bull doesn’t jump the fence, or that your client doesn’t go to the electric chair as a result of your incompetence. These involve skills every man must respect, and they can all bring you good basic satisfactions. Along with everything else, they will probably be what provides food for your table, supports your wife, and rears your children. They will be your income and may it always be sufficient.

“然后，每个工作日的另外八个小时里，你将从事有用的职业。假设你读完了药学院，或是工学院，法学院还是别的什么学院，在工作的八小时里你将应用你的专业技能。在你生命的这三分之一的时间里，当药剂师你的责任就是不把氰化钠弄到阿司匹林里去，当工程师就不能让工程失控，当律师就要做到你的当事人不会因为你不称职而上电椅。所有这些都涉及到人人都必须尊重的技能，这些技能能满足你最基本的需求。除了满足其它的需求之外，你所从事的职业将是你养家糊口的经济来源。这些职业是你收入的来源，愿你的收入永远够用。

“But having finished the day’s work, what do you do with those other eight hours---with the other third of your life? Let’s say you go home to your family. What sort of family are you raising? Will the children ever be exposed to a profound idea at home? We all think of ourselves as citizens of a great civilization. Civilizations can exist, however, only as long as they remain intellectually alive. Will you be head of a family that maintains some basic contact with the great continuity of civilized intellect? Or is your family life going to be merely beer on ice? Will there be a book in the house? Will there be a painting? Will your family be able to speak English and to talk about an idea? Will the kids ever get to hear Bach?”

“但是在你完成你的工作之后，还有另外八小时的时间，也就是说你生命中的另外三分之一的时间你怎么度过？比如说你回到家与你的家人呆在一起，那么你要把你的子女培养成什么样的人？孩子们在家里能接触到深邃的思想吗？我们都自认为我们是伟大文明社会的成员，然而文明只有保持其创造性，才能存在。将来你成为一家之主的时候，你的家庭是否对整个人类文明思想有起码的了解？或者你下班回到家之后，是不是在家里只知道喝冰镇啤酒？你家里有书吗？有画吗？你的家人能不能说英语？能不能就一个话题发表意见？你的孩子能不能有机会听到巴赫的音乐？”

That is about what I said, but this boy was not interested “Look,” he said, “you professors raise your kids your way; I’ll take care of my own. Me, I’m out to make money.”“I hope you make a lot of it, I told him, because you’re going to be badly in need of something to do when you’re not signing checks.”Fourteen years later, I am still teaching, and I am here to tell you that the business of the college is not only to train you, but to put you in touch with what the best human minds have thought. If you have no time for Shakespeare, for a basic look at philosophy, for the fine arts, for that less of man’s development we call history---then you have no business being in college. You are on your way to being the mechanized savage, the push-button savage.

我说的大致是这些，可是那个学生根本就不感兴趣。“得，”他说，“你们这些教授按你们的办法教育小孩，我的孩子我管。我呀，我要挣大钱。”“我希望你能挣到很多钱，”我对他说，“因为你要是不赚钱去买东西就会难受的。” 十四年过去了，我仍然在教书。在这里我仍要给你说的是，大学的任务不仅仅是对你进行培训，还要向你介绍人类最伟大人物的思想。如果你不愿抽出时间读莎士比亚的作品，学点最基础的哲学，学点艺术，学点我们称为历史的人类发展过程，那么你就不该来上大学。你就会成为一个机械化的野蛮人，一个只会按按钮的野蛮人。

No one becomes a human being unaided. There is not time enough in a single lifetime to invent for oneself everything one needs to know in order to be a civilized human. Any of you who managed to stay awake through part of a high school course in physics knows more about physics than did many of the great scientists of the past. You know more because they left you what they knew. The first course in any science is essentially a history course. You have no begin learning what the past learned for you.

谁也不可能在没有人的帮助下就能成为一个文明人。要是全靠自己去创造成为文明人所应有的一切知识，一辈子的时间也是不够的。你们今天的年轻人，只要在中学的物理课上没有睡觉，比过去许多伟大的科学家都懂得的多。你之所以比他们懂得的多是因为他们把他们的知识留给了你。任何一门科学的第一课实质上都是历史课，因为刚开始你必须学习前人已经获取并流传给你的知识。

This is true of the techniques of mankind. It is also true of mankind’s spiritual resources. Most of these resources, both technical and spiritual, are stored in books. When you have read a book, you have added to your human experience. Read Homer and your mind includes a piece of Homer’s mind. Through books you can acquire at least fragments of the mind and experience of Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare---the list is endless. For a great book is necessarily a gift; it offers you a life you have not time to live yourself, and it takes you into a world you have not the time to travel in literal time. A civilized mind is one that contains many such lives and many such worlds. If you are too much in a hurry, or too proud of your own limitations, to accept as a gift to your humanity some pieces of the minds of Aristotle or Einstein, then you are neither a developed human nor a useful citizen of a civilization.

人类技术的发展是如此，人类精神财富的积累也是如此。这些财富，不管是技术方面的，还是精神方面的，大都储存在书本里。多读一本书，你就多增加一份经验。读一读荷马的史诗，你的头脑里就有了一些荷马的思想。通过读书，你至少能获得维吉尔、但丁、莎士比亚等无数前人的一点点思想火花与人生经验，因为一部伟大的著作就是一份厚礼，它使你经历你一生中没有时间去亲身经历的生活，把你带到一个你在现实中没有时间去遨游的世界。一个文明人的头脑里包含着许许多多这样的生活经历和这样的世界。如果你匆匆忙忙急着去赚钱，或者对自己有限的知识而自鸣得意，从而把亚里士多德或者爱因斯坦的思想这个提高你的品德修养的礼物拒之门外，那么你既不是一个发展到成熟阶段的人，也不是一个文明社会有用的成员。

I say that a university has no real existence and no real purpose except as it succeeds in putting you in touch, both as specialists and as humans, with those human minds your human mind needs to include.

我认为，要是一所大学不能使你们学生无论作为专门人才还是普通人，去接触你们的头脑应该有的那些大师们的思想，那么，这所大学就没有真正的办学宗旨，也就没有存在的必要了。

注释

A.词汇（Vocabulary）

1. disaster: n. sudden great misfortune （突然发生的）灾难；祸患；

大不幸

The loss of the ship was a disaster. 那只船的沉没是一场灾难。

The election results will bring political disaster. 选举结果将在政治上带来灾难。

2.career: n.

1) a job or profession for which one is trained and which one intends to follow for the whole of his life 事业；职业

He made the Church his career. 他选择了牧师的职业。

Teaching is a satisfying career. 教书是一份令人满意的职业。

2) (a part of)the general course of a person’s working life 经历；生涯

Have you ever studied Gladstone’s career as a politician?

你是否研究过格莱斯通的政治生涯？

Churchill’s career proves he was a great man. 丘吉尔的经历证明他是个伟人。

3. put: vt. express 表达

I’m not sure how to put my plan to you. 我不知道怎样向你说明我的计划。

Let’s put it like this: I want to help you. 让我们这样说吧：我愿意帮助你。

4. involve: vt.

1) cause (sb. or sth.) to be caught or mixed up (in trouble, etc); get (sb./sth.) into a complicated or difficult condition 使陷于（麻烦等）中；使卷入复杂或困难的情况

They are deeply involved in debt. 他们债台高筑。

Don’t involve me in your fights, please. 请别把我卷入到你们的斗殴中去。

2) have as a necessary consequence 产生某种必然的结果；牵涉；包含

Being a soldier can involve getting killed. 当兵就有送命的可能。

To accept the position you offer would involve my living in London. 若接受你提供的职位，我必然得住伦敦了。

5. rear: vt. care for until fully grown 喂养；饲养；养育

He reared those birds himself. 他亲自喂养那些鸟。

It’s difficult to know what is the best way to rear children. 很难知道养育孩子的最好方法。

6. sufficient: adj. enough 足够的；充分的

There is sufficient food for everybody. 有足够的东西给大家吃。

One hundred dollars is sufficient for the expenses of my journey. 一百美元够我路上的花费了。

7. expose: vt.

1) uncover so as to leave without protection 使暴露（因而得不到保护）

She exposed her skin to the sun. 她让皮肤暴露在太阳下。

The soldiers were warned to remain hidden and not to expose themselves. 士兵们奉命继续隐蔽，不要暴露自己。

Her youth and beauty will expose her to many dangers. 她的年轻貌美会使她遭遇许多危险。

The house is in an exposed position on top of a hill. 房子造在高山顶上，没有任何隐蔽。

2) make known ( a secretly guilty person or action) 揭露；揭发（罪犯；罪行）

I threatened to expose him to the police. 我威胁要向警方揭发他。

He exposed the criminal this morning. 今天早晨他揭露了这个罪犯。

3) display 陈列；展出

They exposed the goods for sale in the market. 他们在市场陈列出售商品。

A lot of goods are exposed in the shop window. 商店的橱窗里陈列着许多商品。

8. civilization: n.the fact of becoming or state of being highly developed socially, with a system of government, methods of education, etc. 文明，文化

In 20 years they have reached the level of civilization it took our society a century to reach. 他们用二十年的时间就达到了我们社会花了一个世纪才达到的文明程度。

The ancient Egyptian civilization existed for several thousand years. 古埃及文明存在了数千年之久。

Civilizations rise and fall. 各种文化都有盛衰。

9. intellect: n. the power of reasoning , esp. on difficult matters; a person who has great ability of this kind 理解力，智力；有才智的人

She is a woman of great intellect. 她是一位智力很高的女性。

They are among the greatest intellects in the country. 他们是全国最有聪明才智的人物。

10. head: n. a leader 首脑；领袖

He is the head of the group. 他是这个组的头

This conference is for heads of government. 这是政府首脑会 议。

There were many heads of state at the king’s funeral. 许多国家的政府首脑出席了国王的葬礼。

11. contact: n.

1) relationship; connection 联系；联络

The tribe had no contact with the outside world for centuries. 这个部落与世隔绝已有好几百年了。

Have you been in contact with your sister recently? 最近你和你妹妹有联系吗？

That poor madman has lost all contact with reality. 那个可怜的疯子已经完全与现实脱节了。

2) a social, professional, or business connection; a person one knows in a position to be of help to one 社会联系；业务联系；（可以帮忙的）熟人

Her contacts in the government warned her that she ought to leave the country 她在政府里的熟人警告她应该离开那个国家。

She made many useful social contacts while she was in the company. 在这家公司期间，她结识了许多有力的人士。

12. business: n.

1) one’s work or employment 工作；职业

What I do is no business of yours. 我做什么不关你的事。

Other people’s quarrels are a lawyer’s business. 律师的职业就是专管人家的不和。

I’m here on business, not for pleasure. 我是来办公事的，不是来玩的。

2) trade and getting of money 商业；生意

It’s pleasure to do business with you. 跟你做生意是件愉快的事。

After leaving college he went into business. 大学毕业后，他进入了商界。

13. savage: n. an uncivilized or uncultured person, esp. one who is fierce and violent 野人；野蛮人

The savages who lived on that island used to eat people. 住在那个岛上的野人以往是吃人的。

14. spiritual: adj. of or concerning the soul or spirit 精神（上）的；心灵（上）的

She leads a very spiritual life. 她过着颇为超乎世俗的生活。

He felt a spiritual sympathy with the local religion. 他对当地的宗教有一种精神上的同情感。

15. store: vt. keep ready for use when needed; put or keep in a safe place 储备，储存；储藏

Store the food in that room. 把食物储存到那间房里。

He stored his furniture here when he went to America. 他去美国时，把他的家具存放在这里。

16. acquire: vt. gain by skill or ability, by one’s own efforts or behaviour 获得， 取得，得到

He acquired a knowledge of the language by careful study. 他通过认真学习掌握了这门语言。

A bad habit is easily acquired but broken up with difficulty. 坏习惯染上容易改掉难。

17. fragment: n. small piece that is broken off a large piece or whole 碎片，断片

When the bomb went off, fragments flew in all directions. 炸弹爆炸时，弹片四处横飞。

Only a fragment of the ancient book remains now. 那古书现在只剩下一点残卷了。

18. literal: adj.

1) following the usual meaning of the words without any additional

meanings 原义的；字面的

We should understand more than the literal sense of the word. 我们不应该只是理解这个单词的字面意思。

2) actual 如实的

Can you have a literal version of the conversation? 你能把谈话的内容如实给我转述一下吗？

B. 短语、句型（Set Phrases and Sentence Patterns）

1. go through:

1) undergo; suffer 经历；遭受

He has already gone through unutterable agonies. 他已经遭受了种种无法形容的痛苦。

Traditional art crafts have also gone through many changes. 传统的工艺也经历了许多变化。

2) pass through 经过，通过；完成

The plan must go through several stages. 这项计划得经过好几个阶段。

We went through our task without a hitch. 我们顺利地完成了任务。

2. as a result of: because of 由于

Two people have already died as a result of the accident, and the lives of several others are in danger. 由于这起事故，已有两人死亡，另有数人生命垂危。

He was injured as a result of a boiler explosion. 他因锅炉爆炸而受了伤。

3. be exposed to: be uncovered or unprotected 暴露于

Now it has been exposed to the light of day. 现在它已经暴露在光天化日之下。

They are exposed to attack everywhere. 他们到处被动挨打。

4. maintain contact with: keep connection with 与……保持联系

He maintained close contact with the masses. 他和群众保持着密切的联系。

It became more and more difficult for them to maintain contact with the outside world. 他们与外界保持联系越来越困难了

5. have no business doing: have no right to do 无权做某事

A superpower has no business interfering in the internal affairs in the small countries. 超级大国无权干涉小国的内政。

You have no business hitting the boy. 你没有权利打这小孩。

6. be in need of: need 需要

The house is in need of repair. 这房子需要修理。

He is seriously in need of medical attention. 他急需医疗护理。

7. succeed in doing: manage to do 成功地做某事

At last they succeeded in performing their task. 最后他们胜利完成了任务。

In trying to isolate us, they succeeded in isolating themselves. 他们想孤立我们，却只孤立了他们自己。

8. be true of: be right in terms of 符合于；适用于

There are exceptions, of course, but it is generally true of American life that the man is the head of the family. 当然会有例外的情况，但一般说来，在美国生活中，男人总是一家之长。

The same is true of the way of living of the Japanese. 日本人的生活方式也是这样。

9. get through:

1) pass 通过

They have all got through the examination. 考试他们全通过了。

It took us only a few minutes to get through the Customs. 通过海关检查，只费了我们几分钟。

2) reach the end of 结束，完成

I must get through the book before Saturday. 我必须在星期六之前看完这本书。

We have got through the sum of money in less than a year. 我们在不到一年的时间里就用完了那笔钱。

10. do with: deal with 处理

What did you do with my umbrella? 你把我的伞放到哪里去了？

What are you going to do with the back numbers of those magazines? 你打算怎么处理那些过期杂志？

C. 难句理解（Sentence Comprehension）

1. I was fresh out of graduate school starting my semester at a university.

——I had just graduated from a graduate school and began my teaching at a university. 那时我刚刚从研究生院毕业，开始了在一所大学第一学期的教学工作。

fresh 在这里表示“刚刚毕业的”，又如：The boy is fresh from school. 这个男孩刚从学校毕业。

semester 是美国英语中的用法，意为“学期”；在英国英语中用term。

2. New as I was to the faculty, I could have told this boy that he had enrolled, not in a technical training school, but in a university, and that in a university students enroll for both training and education.

——Although I was a new teacher, I could have told this boy that he had enrolled in a university instead of a technical training school, and that a university student should receive education as well as training. 虽然我是一名新教师，但我也完全可以告诉这名学生，他现在上的是大学而不是技术培训学校，在大学里学生接受的是教育而不仅仅是培训。

as 在本句中引导让步状语从句，句子进行了倒装。再如：

Young as he is, he has become a well-known scientist. 尽管他还很年轻，但已成为一名著名的科学家。

Much as I like him, I don’t love him. 尽管我很喜欢他，但我不爱他。

could 后接动词的完成时态，表示“本来能够做某事但没有做”。又如：I could have passed the examination. 我本来能够通过考试的（但实际上没通过）。

3. Suppose you have gone through pharmacy school —— or engineering, or law school, or whatever —— during those eight hours you will be using your professional skills.

——Suppose you have graduated from pharmacy school, or engineering school, or law school, or any other school, you will start your work eight hours a day and apply your professional skills to it. 假设你读完了药学院，工学院，法学院，或者别的什么学院，在工作的八小时内你就会应用你的专业知识。

Suppose 在这里是“假设”的意思，再比如：If we suppose that man is an animal, then we can learn something useful from animal behaviour. 如果我们假定人是一种动物，那么我们就能从动物的行为中学到一些有用的东西。

school 在这里是指“学院”。一所综合性的大学是由很多学院组成的。

4. You will see to it during this third of your life that the cyanide stays out the aspirin, that the bull doesn’t jump the fence, or that your client doesn’t go to the electric chair as a result of your incompetence.

—— You will assure your client that your medicine does no harm, that the project you are in charge of won’t be out of control, or that your client won’t be sentenced to death because you are not qualified.

在你生命的这三分之一的时间里，当药剂师你的责任就是不把氰化物弄到阿司匹林里去，当工程师你就是不能让工程失控，当律师你就要做到你的当事人不会因为你不称职而上电椅。

see to 的意思是“确保；务必”；the bull doesn’t jump the fence 为比喻说法，表示“事情不失控”；go to the electric chair 实指“处死”，并不一定就是“上电椅”。

5. Will the children ever be exposed to a profound idea at home.

——Will the children have the opportunity to learn anything profound at home? 孩子们能够接触到高深的思想吗？

be exposed to 在这里表示“接触”，又如：Mr. Johnson has been exposed to a great deal of Chinese culture. 约翰逊先生接触了大量的中国文化。

6. Will you be head of a family that maintains some basic contact with the great continuity of civilized intellect?

——Will you be head of a family that has a basic knowledge of the history, the present and the future of our civilization? 将来你成为一家之主的时候，你的家庭是非对整个人类的文明思想有基本的了解呢？

maintain contact with 意为“与……保持联系”，请参阅短语注释4。

7. I’m out to make money.

——I’m determined to make money. 我要挣大钱。

be out to do sth. 是口语化的表达方法，意思是“企图/打算/决心做某事”，例如：

The police feel that, having been so successful here, the gang may be out to commit similar robberies in nearby towns. 警方认为，这群歹徒既然在这里干得很顺利，很可能要到其它的城市去进行类似的抢劫。

The firm is out to capture the Canadian market. 该公司决心要夺取加拿大市场。

8. Then you have no business being in college.

——Then you have no reason to be in college. 那么你就没理由上大学。

have no business doing sth. 的意思是“无权/没理由/没必要做某事”，参见短语注释5。

9. You are on the way to being the mechanized savage, the push-button savage.

——You are going to be an uncivilized man, one who is like a robot and who can do but the most simple things. 你就会成为一个机械化的野蛮人，一个只会按按钮的野蛮人。

on the way to being 的意思是“将成为……”，又如：He is well on the way to becoming a fine mechanic. 他就要成为一个优秀的技工。

10. Any of you who managed to stay awake through part of a high school course in physics knows more about physics than did many of the great scientists of the past.

——So long as you did not sleep in physics class in high school, you would know more about physics than did many of the great scientists of the past. 只要你们在中学的物理课上没有睡觉，就比过去许多的科学家懂得的物理知识更多。

than did many of the great scientists of the past 用了倒装，以避免句子失衡。正常的语序应为than many of the great scientists of the past did。

11. If you are too much in hurry, or too proud of your own limitations, to accept as a gift to your humanity some pieces of the minds of Aristotle or Einstein, then you are neither a developed human nor a useful citizen of a civilization.

——If you are so eager to make money or so contented with your limited knowledge that you won’t care to learn anything from the great minds like Aristotle or Einstein to enrich yourself, then you are neither a cultured man nor a useful person of a civilized society. 如果你急着去赚钱或是对自己有限的知识而感到自鸣得意，从而把亚里士多德或爱因斯坦的思想这个提高你的品德修养的礼物拒之门外，那么你既不是一个发展到成熟阶段的人，也不是一个文明社会有用的成员。

在if 引导的从句中，基本结构是too…to…句型，意思是“太……而不……”；accept 的宾语是some pieces of the minds of Aristotle or Einstein，as a gift to your humanity 作accept 的宾语补足语

How Dictionaries Are Made

各类词书都是怎样编成的

It is widely believed that every word has a correct meaning, that we learn these meanings mainly from teachers and grammarians, and that dictionaries and grammars are the supreme authority in matters of meaning and usage. Few people ask by what authority the writers of dictionaries and grammars say what the say. I once got into a dispute with an English woman over the pronunciation of a word and offered to look it up in the dictionary. The English woman said firmly, "What for? I am English. I was born and brought up in England. The way I speak is English." Such self-assurance about one's own language is fairly common among the English. In the United States, however, anyone who is willing to quarrel with the dictionary is regarded as either eccentric or mad.

人们普遍认为每个单词都有准确的词义，人们还认为我们主要是向教师和语法学家们学习这些词义，人们还谥为一切词典和语法书都是解释词义和词的用法的最高权威。几乎没有人会提出这样的问题：词典和语法的编著者们根据什么权威资料来说出他们所说的那些话。我有一次曾和一位英国妇女争论过一个英语单词的发音。我让她查一查英语词典。这位英国妇女坚定地说：“还查词典干什么？我是英国人。我生在英国，长在英国。我讲的话是英语。”在全体英格兰人当中这种对自己语言的十分自信的态度是相当普遍的。可是，在美国，若是有人想同词典争论，那人会被认为是颠狂或者是疯子。

Let us see how dictionaries are made and how the editors arrive at definitions. What follows applies only to those dictionary offices where first-hand, original research goes on - not those in which editors simply copy existing dictionaries. The task of writing a dictionary begins with the reading of vast amounts of the literature of the period or subject that the dictionary is to cover. As the editors read, they copy on cards every interesting or rare word, every unusual or peculiar occurrence of a common word, a large number of common words in their ordinary uses, and also the sentences in which each of these words appears.

让我们来看看各类词书都是怎样编成的，看看编者们是怎样给每个词条下定义的。下面所述的方法是那些汇集第一手的原始研究资料的词典编纂机构所采用的，而不是那些只是简单地抄一抄现有的一些词典的内容的那些编词典的机构所采用的方法。编词典的工作始于博览所编的词书内容所包括的该段时期里该门学科内有关的浩瀚的文献资料。在词书编者们博览群书的过程中，他们把每一个有趣的词汇，罕见的词汇，每一个普通词汇的不普通的特别的用法，大量常见词的种种常见的用法，以及这些词汇所出现的例句都一一作成卡片。

That is to say, the context of each word is collected, along with the word itself. For a really big job of dictionary writing, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, millions of such cards are collected, and the task of editing occupies decades. As the cards are collected, they are alphabetized and sorted. When the sorting is completed, where will be for each word anywhere from two or three to several hundred quotations, each on its card.

这也就是说，不但要汇集该词汇，而且还要把每个词所出现的上下文语言环境也汇集起来。对于编写词典这样十分庞大的工程来说，例如编像《牛津英语大词典》之类，要汇集数百万张卡片。因此要完成这样一部巨著需要费时数十年。在汇集卡片的过程中，要把卡片按字母顺序排列加以分类整理。分类整理工作完成之后，整本词典不论在任何位置上的单词都应当有从二三句到数百个例句的引文出现在该单词的卡片上。

To define a word, then, the dictionary editor places before him the stack of cards illustrating that word; each of the cards represents an actual use of the word by a writer of some literary or historical importance. He reads the cards carefully, discards some, re-reads the rest, and divides up the stack according to what he thinks are the several senses of the word. Finally, he writes his definitions, following the hard-and-fast rule that each definition must be based on what the quotations in front of him reveal about the meaning of the word. The editor cannot be influenced by what the thinks a given word ought to mean. He must work according to the cards, or not at all.

为了确定单词的义项，然后，词典的编者就把能说明该单词用法的那一堆卡片摆在自己的面前；每一张卡片都阐明了某一文学作品或某一重要历史文献的作者对该单词的实际用法。词典编者要仔细认真地研读，再根据词典编者认为单词所含有的几个义项将这一推卡片加以分类。最后词典编者写出每个义项的定义，在下定义时，编者必须遵守这样一条不容改变的铁的规则：那就是每个义项的定义编者必须根据摆在面前那些卡片上的例句所含有的该词的词义来写。词典编者不能接受到自己认为某词应该有某个义项的这一想法的影响。词典的编者必须根据所汇集的卡片来编词典，不然的话，就根本不必去汇集那些卡片了。

The writing of a dictionary, therefore, is not a task of setting up authoritative statements about the "true meanings" of words, but a task of recording, to the best of one's ability, what various words have meant to authors in the distant or immediate past. If, for example, we had been writing a dictionary in 1890, or even as late as 1919, we could have said that the word "broadcase" means "to scatter" (seed, for example), but we could not have states that from 1921 on, the most common meaning of the word should become "to send out programs by radio or television." In choosing our words when we speak or write, we can be guided by the historical record provided us by the dictionary, but we cannot be bound by it, because new situations, new experiences, new inventions, new feelings, are always forcing us to give new uses to old words. Looking under a "hood," we should ordinarily have found, five hundred years ago, a monk; today, we find a car engine.

因此，编写一部词典并不是这样一种工作：编者以权威的身份给所有的单词都规定出一些所谓的“真正的词义”；编写词典是一种记录工作，编者要尽自己的最大努力记录下在很久以前或在最近刚出版的著作中，各种不同的的单词所具有的意义。例如，如果我们是在1890年或者迟至1919年或者迟至在1919年编写一本词典，我们本来可以说broadcast这个词的意思是“撒播”（例如：撒播种子），但是从1921年起我们就不能再这样说了。从1921年起这个词最普遍的意义应该是“通过收音机或电视机播出节目”。当我们说话或写作时在精选推敲用词方面，我们要依词典提供给我们历史上的记录为准绳，但也不能受词典上的记录所束缚，因为一些新的情况，新的经历，新的发明，新的感情总是迫使我们给旧的词汇赋予新的用法。我们查一下“hood”这个词，就会发现，在500年前，意思是“修道士”（a monk），今天这一词条下的解释却是汽车引擎或汽车发动机。

The Language of Uncertainty

模糊语言

Uncertainty spreads through our lives so thoroughly that it dominates our language. Our everyday speech is made up in large part of words like probably, many, soon, great, little. What do these words mean? "Atomic war," declared a recent editorial in the London Times, "is likely to destroy forever the nation that wages it." How exactly are we to understand the word likely? Lacking any standard for estimating the probability, we are left with the judgment of the editorial writer.

模糊现象已经无孔不入地扩展到我们生活的各个方面，以致模糊现象也扩展到了我们的语言当中。我们的日常讲话很大一部分是由“也许”、“好多”、“不久”、“大量”、“很少”这类词汇所构成的。这些词汇意味着什么？英国伦敦《泰晤士报》在最近的一篇社论中说“原子战争很可能会永久性地毁灭了进行原子战的国家”。我们怎样才能确切地理解“很可能”这个词汇？因为要估计某事的可能性，没有什么标准可依据，我们只能由着社论的作者去估计判断了。

Such verbal imprecision is not necessarily to be criticised. Indeed, it has a value just because it allows us to express judgments when a precise quantitative statement is out of the question.

对这种用词不够精确的模糊语言，倒不一定要加以批评责备。其实，这种模糊语言有它一定的使用价值，因为当我们不能用精确的数量来叙述时，这种模糊语言使我们能表达出对各种事物的判断。

The language of uncertainty has three main categories: (1) words such as probably, possibly, surely, which denote a single subjective probability and are potentially quantifiable; (2) words like many, often, soon, which are also quantifiable but denote not so much a condition of uncertainty as a quantity imprecisely known; (3) words like fat, rich, drunk, which can not be reduced to any accepted number because they are given different values by different people.

模糊语言有三大类：（1）“很可能”、“有可能”、“肯定会”之类的词。这类词表示个人主观认为的可能性，这些词在发言人的心目中是有一定的潜在的数量的；（2）“很多”、“经常”、“很快”之类的词表示的是模糊的状况倒不如说表达的是知道得不够确切的数量；（3）“肥胖”、“富有”、“酒醉”之类的词，这类词不能精确到大家都能同意接受的数字，因为不同的人对这些词都会有不同的评价。

We have been trying to pin down by experiments what people mean by these expressions in specific contexts, and how the meanings change with age. For instance, a subject is told "There are many trees in the park" and is asked to say what number the word many mean to him. Or a child is invited to take "some" sweets from a bowl and we then count how many he has taken. We compare the number he takes when he is alone with the number when one or more other children are present and are to take some sweets after him, or with the number he takes when told to give "some" sweets to another child.

我们一直都想通过多次实验来解释在特定的语言环境当中，人们使用这些词语都用于哪些意思，解释明白随着年龄的不同在使用这些词语时意义上有了哪些变化。例如，我们告诉一位被测试者“公园里有很多树”。然后再问这位被测试者，“很多”这个词在他看来意味着多少。或者我们请一个小孩从一只碗里拿取“一些”糖块，然后我们数一数他拿取了多少块糖。我们把只有他一人在场时所拿取的糖块，跟还有一个或一些儿童在场时，这些儿童在他拿了糖之后也要去拿糖块，他所拿取的数量比较一下；或者把只有他一个人在场时他所取的糖块数量跟你告诉他还要分给另一儿童"一些"糖块时，他所拿取的数量比较一下。

First, we find that the number depends, of course, on the items involved. To most people some friends means about five, while some trees means about twenty. However, unrelated areas sometimes show parallel values. For instance, the language of probability seems to mean about the same thing in predictions about the weather and about politics: the expression is certain to (rain, or be elected) signifies to the average person about a 70 per cent chance; is likely to, about a 60 per cent chance; probably will, about 55 per cent.

首先，我们发现孩子所拿取的糖块数量，当然要取决于碗里有多少块糖的数量。对大多数人来说“有些朋友”指的是5个左右，而“有些树木”则指的是20棵左右。但是，在互相没有什么关连的事物范畴之内有时却能表示出平行的数值概念。例如，可能性这类话在天气预报和政治预测当中的意思是相同的；在“确实有可能会”这类话中，对一般人来说，这表示约有70%的可能性；若说“很可能会”就意味着约有60%的可能性；若是说“有可能会”这就意味着55%的可能性了。

Secondly, the size of the population of items influences the value assigned to an expression. Thus, if we tell a subject to take "a few" or "a lot of" glass balls from a box, he will take more if the box contains a large number of glass balls than if it has a small number. But not proportionately more: if we increase the number of glass balls eight times, the subject takes only half as large a percentage of the total.

第二，测试所用物品数量的多少会影响某一词语或某一说法所代表的实际数值。因此，如果我们让某一位被测试者从一个盒子中拿取“很少”或“很多个”玻璃球。如果盒子里的玻璃球少，他就拿取得少。但取多少并不是按比例增多的：如果我们把玻璃球的总数增加到8倍，被测试者也只从玻璃球的总数量的某个百分数中取走一半。

Thirdly, there is a marked change with age. Among children between six and fourteen years old, the older the child, the fewer glass balls he will take. But the difference between a lot and a few widens with age. This age effect is so consistent that it might be used as a test of intelligence. In place of a long test we could merely ask the subject to give numerical values to expressions such as nearly always and very rarely in a given context, and then measure his intelligence by the ratio of the number for nearly always to the one for very rarely. We have fund that this ration increases systematically for about 2 to 1 for a child of seven to about 20 to 1 for a person twenty-five year old.

第三，随着年龄的增长拿取多少个也有明显的变化。在6到14岁的孩子们中间，年纪越大的孩子，他所拿取的玻璃球就越少。但是拿取“很多个”和拿取“很少”之间的差距随着年龄的增长而加大了。这种年龄的差别是十分稳定的，可以把它用作智力测验。我们不必进行长期测试，我们只请被测试者在特定的语言环境中对“几乎总是”和“很少有”这类说法用数字表示到底代表多少。然后根据代表“几乎总是”的数字与代表“很少有”的数字为1个比值来测量被测试者的智力。我们发现这一比值随着年龄的增长也在逐渐增大。7岁孩子的比值是2：1上升到25岁的尬的比值是20：1。

Language

语言

When we want to tell other people what we think, we can do it not only with the help of words, but also in many other ways.

如果我们想把我们所想的事情告诉给别人，我们不但可以用话语还可以用很多其他方法来表示。

An Englishman who could not speak Italian was once traveling in Italy. One day he entered a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter come, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers in it, took them out again and moved his lips. In this way he meant to say, "Bring me something to eat." The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The Englishman shook his head and the waiter understood that he didn't want tea, so he took it away and brought him some coffee. The Englishman, who was very hungry by this time and not at all thirsty, looked very sad. He shook his head each time the waiter brought him something to drink. The waiter brought him wine, then beer, then soda-water, but that wasn't food, of course. He was just going to leave the restaurant when another traveler came in. When this man saw the waiter, he put his hands on his stomach. That was enough: in a few minutes there was a large plate of macaroni and meat on the table before him.

有一次，一位不会说意大利语的英国人在意大利境内旅游。有一天，他走进了一家饭馆后就在餐桌旁坐下了。一位男服务员走过来以后，这位英国人就张开了嘴，把两个手指放进了嘴里，然后又把手指拿出来，接着又动了动嘴唇。他用这种办法想表示说“给我拿些吃的东西来”。这位服务员马上就给他端来了上杯茶水。这英国人摇了摇头，这们服务员明白了，他不要茶，于是就把茶端走了，并给他端来了咖啡。这位英国人看起来很不高兴，因为他到这个时候已经很饿了，可是他根本不渴。每当服务员给他端喝的东西他都摇头。服务员给他端来葡萄酒、又端来啤酒、又端来汽水，当然这些都不是食品。他刚打算要离开这家饭馆时，突然另一位旅客进来了。只见这个人一见了服务员，就把他们又手放到肚子上。这就行了：过了两三分钟就在他面前的餐桌上摆上了一大盘子意大利通心面条和肉。

As you see, the primitive language of signs is not always very clear. The language of words is much more exact.

正如你所看到的这个场面一样，原始的手势语并不总是能表达清楚的，词句语言就能表达得清楚得多。

Words consist of sounds, but there are many sounds which have a meaning and yet are not words. For example, we may say "Sh-sh-sh" when we mean "keep silent." When babies laugh, we know they are happy, and when they cry, we know they are ill or simply want something.

话语是由声音所组成的，但具有下定意义的声音并不都是话语。例如，我们说“嘘！”表示“别出声”。当婴儿笑了，我们知道他们高兴了，当婴儿哭了，我们就知道他们病了或只不过是要什么东西。

It is the same with animals. When a dog says "G-r-r" or a cat says "F-f-f" we know they are angry.

动物也一样。当狗发出“呜！”的声音或猫发出“呋！”的声音。我们就知道它们发怒了。

But these sounds are not language. Language consists of words which we put together into sentences. But animals can not do this: a dog can say "G-r-r" when he means "I am angry," but he cannot say first "I" and then "am" and they "angry." A parrot can talk like a man; it can repeat whole sentences and knows what they mean. We may say that a parrot talks, but cannot say that it really speaks, because it cannot from new sentences out of the words it knows. Only man has the power to do this.

但这些声音都不是语言。语言是组词成句的。动物都不能组词成句：一条狗要表示我发怒了，只能发出“呜”的声音，但狗就不会先说“我”再说“发怒”再说“了”。一只鹦鹉会像人一样学舌，也能重复一些完整的句子，也可以懂得这些句子的意思。我们只能说鹦鹉会学舌，但我们不能说鹦鹉会真正发表讲话。因为鹦鹉不会用所知道的单词形成一些新的句子。只有人才有造句的本领。

Solving Problems Scientifically

按科学的步骤去解决问题

There are scientific ways in which man solves problems. Once his curiosity has been aroused, he uses certain methods and procedures to obtain new knowledge and greater understanding. Although the methods are not always the same, there are usually certain elements in the procedures that are similar.

在人类解决问题时，总有一些科学的方法和步骤。一旦激起了人的好奇心，人们就会用一系列的方法和程序去获取新的知识或获得更深刻的理解。尽管所采用的那些方法并不总是一样的，但在步骤上总是会有某些相似的成分。

Recognizing the Problem

发现问题

Problems must first of all be recognized. The right answers can be obtained only if the right questions are asked. A thoroughly understood problem is well started toward solution. Problems arise in a variety of ways. Sometimes they grow out of a chance observation. They may result from reading, from laboratory experiments, or simply from thinking. They also may result from new developments or from new or different human needs. Today, for example, problems are arising from new discoveries in the fields of nuclear physics, biological engineering and microelectronics. The development of industry has also brought about large numbers of problems which have to be solved.

首先，必须发现问题。只有问题找对了，才能得出正确答案。对问题理解得透彻，就是接近于解决问题的良好开端。问题都是以多种多样的方式出现的。这些问题有时偶尔观察到的，有的是阅读中发现的问题，有的是在做实验时发现的，还有的问题干脆是冥思苦想而发现的。有些问题也可能是在新的研制过程中发现的，或者是由于人们有了新的需要或者由于不同的人有不同的需要而发现的。例如，今天的核物理学、生物工程学、微电子学等专业领域中，由于有了新的发现，也就冒出了一些新的问题。工业的大发展也带来了许许多多的必须加以解决的问题。

Collecting Information

汇集信息

Next, the scientist tries to learn as much as possible about it. Often this means going to the library and studying books which contain accounts of man's experience and knowledge of the problem. This is called searching the literature.

第二个步骤，科学家尽量想方设法尽可能多地去了解有关该问题的情况。通常这意味着得去图书馆，去研读一些含有叙述人类有关这一问题的经验和知识的书籍。这一步骤称为查阅文献资料。

The scientist may find that others have already solved all or a part of the problem. Occasionally he finds answers to closely related questions, which give clues for solving the new one. In his search the scientist accumulates much background information. With these new ideas and facts he builds a firm foundation for solving the problem.

这位科学家很可能发现其他一些人早已把这一问题全部或部分地解决了。偶而这位科学家还会找到与这些问题有密切关系的一些答案，而这些答案又提供了一些解决某一新问题的线索。在科学家查阅文献资料的过程中，他会积累很多背景资料。依照从这些资料中得来的新的事实和新的想法，他就为最后解决这一问题打下了坚实的基础。

Organizing the Information

整理信息

After the scientist has finished this part of his word he will probably take the many facts which he has collected and organize them into some kind of system. This may be a logical classification or it may be a mathematical analysis. Usually the analysis will whow unanswered questions. Sometimes it will suggest areas that are in need of further study. Perhaps one of the most important results of such an analysis is that it indicates certain truths, which generally are called inferences.

在科学家结束了汇集资料这一部分工作之后，该科学家会把所汇集的许多事实加以整理，编制出某种系统性的东西。这个系统的东西也可能是逻辑分类或者是数理分析。通常这种分析就会显示出有些问题还没得到答案。有时表示这些没有答案的地方尚需进一步加以研究。也许这种分析的最重要的成果之一，就是这一分析表露出一些真相，这一步骤一般称之为推理。

Making a Hypothesis

提出假说

In making an inference the scientist has built up a hypothesis. A hypothesis is only a "best" guess. It must next be tested.

在推理的过程中这位科学家必须假设的论断或称之为假说。一种假说也只能是一种“最接近事实的”猜测。下一步骤必须对假说加以实地验证。

If it is correct, then certain things should follow. This means if a particular experiment is carried out, certain observations ought to be possible or it should be possible to make certain predictions. Should the observations or predictions turn out to be as expected, the scientist has added confidence in the probable truth of his hypothesis. If, however, observations cannot be made or the predictions are unreliable, then the hypothesis will probably be given up or at least modified.

如果这种假说是正确的，那么有些事实就应随之而来。这也就是说，如果实际做了某项实验，就应取得一定的观察结果或者对未来将会发生的某些情况作出估计或预测。假如观察结果或估计会出现的情况正如所料，科学家对自己提出的假说为真理的可能性就增加了信心。倡，如果将来不能进行观察，或者那些估计都将成为毫无根据的，那么，这些假说可能将要被放弃或者最低限度地加以修改。

The Experiment

进行实验

The hypothesis must check with the facts. Scientific facts are usually established by work in the laboratory. Experiments have to be made under carefully controlled conditions. Thorough and accurate records must be kept.

所提出的假说必须用事实来检验。是否是人事科科学的事实，通常要由实验的结果来确定。一切实验必须在非常严格的控制下来做。实验的记录必须完整而又精确。

In making certain kinds of experiments in science variables are used. A variable is something which has different values under different conditions. In one type of laboratory test all the variables but one are controlled. This method of testing is called controlled experimentation.

在做某些理科方面的实验时要利用变量。变量指的是在各种不同的条件下会得出各种不同的数值。在某一项实验室的检测中，除了百分之一而外，一切变量都必须能得到控制。这种试验方法被称之为控制试验。

What Is a Decision?

什么是决策

A decision is a choice made from among alternative courses of action that are available. The purpose of making a decision is to establish and achieve organizational goals and objectives. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists, goals or objectives are wrong, or something is standing in the way of accomplishing them.

决策是从可供挑选的行动方向中作选择。决策的目的是建立并实现一个机构的目的和目标。之所以要决策是因为有问题存在，目标或目的的不适当，或者有某种东西妨碍了目标或目的的实现。

Thus the decision-making process is fundamental to management. Almost everything a manager does involves decisions, indeed, some suggest that the management process is decision making. Although managers cannot predict the future, many of their decisions require that they consider possible future events. Often managers must make a best guess at what the future will be and try to leave as little as possible to chance, hut since uncertainty is always there, risk accompanies decisions. Sometimes the consequences of a poor decision are slight; at other times they are serious.

因此，决策过程对于管理非常重要。一个管理者做的差不多所有事情都离不开决策。有人甚至提出管理就是决策。虽然管理者不能预见未来，但是他们要做的很多决策需要他们考虑将来可能发生的情况。管理者常常必须对未来的情况作出最佳的猜测，使偶然性尽可能少地发生。但是因为总是在不确定的因素，所以决策往往伴随着风险。一个不当的决策的后果有时不严重而有时严重。

Choice is the opportunity to select among alternatives. If there is no choice, there is no decision to be made. Decision making is the process of choosing, and many decisions have a broad range of choice. For example, a student may be able to choose among a number of different courses in order to implement the decision to obtain a college degree. For managers, every decision has constraints based on policies, procedures, laws, precedents, and the like. These constraints exist at all levels of the organization.

选择就是从多个选项中进行挑选的机会。没有选择就没有决策。决策本身就是一个选择的过程。很多决策有很宽的选择范围。例如，一个学生为了自己获得学位的志向，可以在许多不同的课程里作选择。对管理者来说，每一个决策都受着政策、程序、法律、先例等方面的制约。这些制约在一个机构的各个阶层都存在。

Alternatives are the possible courses of action from which choices can be made. If there are no alternatives, there is no choice and, therefore, no decision. If no alternatives are seen, often it means that a thorough job of examining the problems has not been done. For example, managers sometimes treat problems in an either/or fashion; this is their way of simplifying complex problems. But the tendency to simplify blinds them to other alternatives.

选择项就是可供选择、可能的行动方向；没有选择项，就没有选择，也就没有了决策。如果看不到有不同的选择项，说明对问题还没有进行全面的研究。一些管理者有时用非此即彼的方式处理问题，这虽然是他们简化复杂问题的方法，但是习惯了简化常使他们看不到别的解决办法。

At the managerial level, decision making includes limiting alternatives as well as identifying them, and the range is from highly limited to practically unlimited.

在管理这个层次上，决策包括识别选择项和减少选择项两个步骤；其范围可以从极为有限的几个选择项到几乎无限多的选择项。

Decision makers must have some way of determining which of several alternatives is best -- that is, which contributes the most to the achievement of organizational goals. An organizational goal is an end or a state of affairs the organization seeks to reach. Because individuals (and organizations) frequently have different ideas about how to attain the goals, the best choice may depend on who makes the decision. Frequently, departments or units within an organization make decisions that are good for them individually but that are less than optimal for the larger organization. Called suboptimization, this is a trade-off that increases the advantages to one unit or function but decreases the advantages to another unit or function. For example, the marketing manager may argue effectively for an increased advertising budget. In the larger scheme of things, however, increased funding for research to improve the products might be more beneficial to the organization.

决策者必须有办法能从多种选择里确定一种为最佳，也就是说哪个对实现机构目标帮助最大，机构的目标也就是此机构所寻求的事态的结果。如何实现目标，个人和组织都有不同的看法。因此，最佳选择可能就取决于决策人了。通常一个组织内的单位或部门作出的决策可能有利于本部门、本单位，但对比它们大的机构来说就不是最佳选择了。这就是所谓的局部优化：增加对一单位或部门的便利同时减少对另一个单位或部门的便利，这是在两利不能兼顾的情况下所做的取舍。例如，经理可以把增加广告预算的必要性讲得头头是道，但是从总的布局看，增加改进产品的科研费用也许对这个组织更有好处。

These trade-offs occur because there are many objectives that organizations wish to attain simultaneously. Some of these objectives are more important than others, but the order and degree of importance often vary from person to person and from department to department. Different managers define the same problem in different terms. When presented with a common case, sales managers tend to see sales problems, production managers see production problems, and so on.

因为一个组织希望同时达到的目标很多，所以就要进行权衡，虽然有些目标比另一些重要，但重要程度和次序则常常因人而异，因部门而异。管理者不同对同一问题所做的解说也是不同的。把同样一种情况摆在他们面前，销售经理看的是销售问题，生产经理看的是生产问题，如此等等。

The ordering and importance of multiple objectives is also based, in part, on the values of the decision maker. Such values are personal; they are hard to understand, even by the individual, because they are so dynamic and complex. In many business situations different people's values about acceptable degrees of risk and profitability cause disagreement about the correctness of decisions.

多个目标的排序和重要性在某种程度上是以决策者的价值观为依据的。这些价值观念是个性的，很难捉摸，甚至抱有这种观念的人自己也很难弄清楚；这是因为价值观不断变化，也很复杂。很多商业活动中，不同的人对于风险和收益的可接受程度的价值观不一样，这就导致了他们对决策正确与否的看法也不同。

People often assume that a decision is an isolated phenomenon. But from a systems point of view, problems have multiple causes, and decisions have intended and unintended consequences. An organization is an ongoing entity, and a decision made today may have consequences far into the future. Thus the skilled manager looks toward the future consequences of current decisions.

人们常以为决策是一个孤立的现象，但从系统的观念看，问题的产生有多种原因，所以决策既有意料中的结果，又有意料外的结果。一个组织是一个发展的实体，所以今天所做的决策对未来可能产生意义深远的影响。因此一个老练的管理者常要考虑当前决策在将来产生的结果。

Window

窗外

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

两个病重的男人住在同一间病房。其中一个每天下午能够在床上坐起来一个小时，以便排出肺部的流质食物。他的床靠着这间房子的惟一一扇窗户。另一个人则只能平躺在床上度日。

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

他们能连续说上好几个小时的话。他们谈论各自的妻子和家人，他们的家，他们的工作，他们参军的经历，还有好多其他的事情。每天下午，靠着窗户的那个人能坐起来的时候，他总是向他的室友描绘他看到的窗外发生的所有事情。 睡在另一张床上的人开始盼望那些一小时的生活。每当那时，他的生活就会因窗外的一切活动和窗外的多姿多彩而感到开阔和愉快。

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

从窗口望去是一个公园，里面有一个可爱的池塘。鸭子和天鹅在水中嬉戏，孩子们则在划模型船，年轻的恋人手挽手在绚丽多彩的花丛中散步，远处是城市地平线上美丽的风景。

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

靠窗的这个人用优美的语言详细描绘这些的时候，房子另一端的那个人就会闭上眼睛想象那些栩栩如生的情景。

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

一个温和的下午，窗口的那个人描绘了经过此处的阅兵。尽管另一个人听不到乐队演奏，但他却能看到。当窗口那个人用生动的语言描绘的时候，他则用心在看。

Days and weeks passed. One morning, the nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

一天天过去了，一周周过去了。一天早晨，当值白班的护士为他们提来洗澡水，看到的却是窗口那个男人的尸体，他已经在睡梦中安然去世了。她很悲伤，便叫医院的值班人员把尸体抬走了。

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

一到合适的时机，另一个人便问他能否搬到窗口那儿去。护士很乐意为他做了调换，在确信他觉得舒适后，就离开了。缓慢地，痛苦地，他用一个胳膊肘支撑着自己起来，想第一次亲眼看看外面的真实世界。他竭尽全力慢慢地朝床边的窗口望去，看到的却只是一面墙。

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

这个人问护士是什么促使他过世的室友描绘出窗外那么丰富的世界的。护士回答说，那个人是个盲人，甚至连墙都看不见。她说：“也许他只是想鼓励你。”

************

Lessons: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

People will forget what you said...

People will forget what you did...

But people will never forget how you made them feel...

Make someone happy, share a kind word today.

A good word is charity. (Bukhari, Muslim)

Jonathan Swift - Resolutions When I Come to Be Old

王佐良 译

Not to marry a young Woman.

Not to keep young Company.

Not to be peevish, or morose, or suspicious.

Not to scorn present Ways, or Wits, or Fashions, or Men, or War, &c.

Not to be fond of Children.

Not to tell the same Story over and over to the same People.

Not to be covetous.

Not to neglect decency, or cleanliness, for fear of falling into Nastiness.

Not to be over severe with young People, but to give allowances for their youthful follies and weaknesses.

Not to be influenced by, or give ear to knavish tattling servants, or others.

Not to be too free of advice, not trouble any but those that desire it.

To desire some good Friends to inform me which of these Resolutions I break, or neglect, & wherein; and reform accordingly.

Not to talk much, nor of myself.

Not to boast of my former beauty, or strength, or favour with ladies, &c.

Not to hearken to Flatteries, nor conceive I can be beloved by a young woman, et eos qui hoereditatem captant, odisse ac vitare.

Not to be positive or opiniative.

Not to set up for observing all these Rules, for fear that I should observe none.

预拟老年决心

斯威夫特

不娶年轻老婆。

不同年轻人作伴，除非人家真心要求。

不暴躁，发愣，或多疑。

不嘲笑当今的风气、俏皮话、时装、人物、战争等等。

不亲儿童，或让他们随便接近。

不对同样的人老说同样的故事。

不贪婪。

不可忽略体面、清洁，否则会脏得不堪。

不可对年轻人太严厉，而要谅解他们的蠢事、弱点。

不听不老实的仆人之流搬弄是非的话，更不受他们影响。

不轻易替人出主意，也不麻烦人，除非人家自己愿意。

要请几个好友告诉我这些决心有哪一条我没遵守或忽略了，在哪一点上，并且立即改正。

不可多言，不要老谈自己。

不夸自己以前如何英俊，如何强壮，如何得到小姐太太们的青睐，种种。

不听谄言，不幻想还会有年轻女人爱自已。要憎恨那些伸手来抓遗产的人。

不可武断，或固执己见。

不可摆起一定会遵守所有这些条条的架子，很可能一条也遵守不了。

Henry David Thoreau - Autumn Sunset

高健 译

We had a remarkable sunset one day last November. I was walking in a meadow, the source of a small brook, when the sun at last, just before setting, after a cold gray day, reached a clear stratum in the horizon, and the softest, brightest morning sunlight fell on the dry grass and on the stems of the trees in the opposite horizon, and on the leaves of the shrub-oaks on the hill-side, while our shadows stretched long over the meadow eastward, as if we were the only motes in its beams. It was such a light as we could not have imagined a moment before, and the air also was so warm and serene that nothing wanted to make a paradise of that meadow. When we reflected that this was not a solitary phenomenon, never to happen again, but that it would happen forever and ever an infinite number of evenings, and cheer and reassure the latest child that walked there, it was more glorious still.

秋天的日落

亨利·大卫·梭罗

最近十一月的一天，我们目睹了一个极其美丽的日落。方当我仍然漫步于一道小溪发源处的草地之上，那天际的太阳，终于在一个凄苦的寒天之后，暮夕之前，涌出云层，骤放澄明。这时但见远方天暮下的衰草残茎，山边的木叶橡丛，顿时沉浸在一片最柔美也最耀眼的绮照之中，而我们自己的身影也长长伸向草地的东方，仿佛是那缕斜辉中仅有的点点微尘。周围的风物是那么妍美，一晌之前还是难以想象，空气也是那么和暖纯净，一时这普通草原实在无异天上景象。但是当我想到，这眼前之景又岂必是绝不经见的特殊奇观？说不定自有天日以来，每个暮夕便都是如此，因而连跑动在这里的孩童也会觉着自在欣悦，想到这些，这副景象也就益发显得壮丽。

The sun sets on some retired meadow, where no house is visible, with all the glory and splendor that it lavishes on cities, and, perchance, as it has never set before, –where there is but a solitary marsh-hawk to have his wings gilded by it, or only a masques lookout from his cabin, and there is some little black-veined brook in the midst of the marsh, just beginning to meander, winding slowly round a decaying stump. We walked in so pure and bright a light, gilding the withered grass and leaves, so softly and serenely bright, I thought I had never bathed in such a golden flood, without a ripple or a murmur to it. The west side of every wood and rising ground gleamed like a boundary of Elysium, and the sun on our backs seemed like a gentle herdsman driving us home at evening.

此刻那落日的余辉正以它全般的灿烂与辉煌，并不分城市还是乡村，甚至以往日也少见的艳丽，尽情斜映在一带境远地僻的草地之上；这里没有一间房舍——茫茫之中只瞥见一头孤零零的沼鹰，背羽上染尽了金黄，一只麝香鼠正探头穴外，另外在沼泽之间望见了一股水色黝黑的小溪，蜿蜒而前，绕行于一堆残株败根之旁。我们漫步于其中的光照，是这样的纯美与熠耀，满目衰草木叶，一片金黄，晃晃之中又是这般柔和恬静，没有一丝涟漪，一息咽鸣。我想我从来不曾沐浴于这么幽美的金色光汛之中。西望林薮丘岗之际，彩焕烂然，恍若仙境边陲一般，而我们背后的秋阳，仿佛一个慈祥的牧人，正趁薄暮时分，赶送我们归去。

So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn.

我们在踯躅于天国的历程当中也是这样。总有一天，太阳的光辉会照耀得更加妍丽，会照射进我们的心扉灵府之中，会使我们的生涯汛满了更大彻悟的奇妙光照，其温煦、恬淡与金光熠耀，恰似一个秋日的岸边那样。

Hilaire Belloc - A Conversation with a Cat

The other day I went into the bar of a railway station and, taking a glass of bear, I sat down at a little table by myself to meditate upon the necessary but tragic isolation of the human soul. I began my meditation by consoling myself with the truth that something in common runs through all nature, but I went on to consider that this cut no ice, and that the heart needed something more. I might by long research have discovered some third term a little less hackneyed than these two, when fate, or some fostering star, sent me a tawny silky, long-haired cat.

If it be true that nations have the cats they deserve, then the English people deserve well in cats, for there are none so prosperous or so friendly in the world. But even for an English cat this cat was exceptionally friendly and fine—especially friendly. It leapt at one graceful bound into my lap, nestled there, put out an engaging right front paw to touch my arm with a pretty timidity by way of introduction, rolled up at me an eye of bright but innocent affection, and then smiled a secret smile of approval.

No man could be timid after such an approach as not to make some manner of response. So did I. I even took the liberty of stroking Amathea (for by that name did I receive this vision), and thought I began this gesture in a respectful fashion, after the best models of polite deportment with strangers, I was soon lending it some warmth, for I was touched to find that I had a friend; yes, even here, at the ends of the tubes in S.W. 99. I proceeded (as is right) from caress to speech, and said, “Amathea, most beautiful of cats, why have you deigned to single me out for so much favor? Did you recognize in me a friend to all that breathes, or were you yourself suffering from loneliness (though I take it you are near your own dear home), or is there pity in the hearts of animals as there is in the hearts of some humans? What, then, was your motive? Or am I, indeed, foolish to ask, and not rather to take whatever good comes to me in whatever way from the gods?”

To these questions Amathea answered with a loud purring noise, expressing with closed eyes of ecstasy her delight in the encounter.

“I am more than flattered, Amathea,” said I, by way of answer; “I am consoled. I did not know that there was in the world anything breathing and moving, let alone so tawny-perfect, who would give companionship for its own sake and seek out, through deep feeling, some one companion out of all living kind. If you do not address me in words I know the reason and I commend it; for in words lie the seeds of all dissension, and love at its most profound is silent. At least, I read that in a book, Amathea; yes, only the other day. But I confess that the book told me nothing of those gestures which are better than words, or of that caress which I continue to bestow upon you with all the gratitude of my poor heart.”

To this Amathea made a slight gesture of acknowledgement—not disdainful—wagging her head a little, and then settling it down in deep content.

“Oh, beautiful-haired Amathea, many have praised you before you found me to praise you, and many will praise you, some in your own tongue, when I am no longer held in the bonds of your presence. But none will praise you more sincerely. For there is not a man living who knows better than I that the four charms of a cat lie in its closed eyes, its long and lovely hair, its silence, and even its affected love.”

But at the word affected Amathea raised her head, looked up at me tenderly, once more put forth her paw to touch my arm, and then settled down again to a purring beatitude.

“You are secure,” said I sadly; “mortality is not before you. There is in your complacency no foreknowledge of death nor even of separation. And for that reason, Cat, I welcome you the more. For if there has been given to your kind this repose in common living, why, then, we men also may find it by following your example and not considering too much what may be to come and not remembering too much what has been and will never return. Also, I thank you, for this, Amathea, my sweet Euplokamos” (for I was becoming a little familiar through an acquaintance of a full five minutes and from the absence of all recalcitrance), “that you have reminded me of my youth, and in a sort of shadowy way, a momentary way, have restored it to me. For there is an age, a blessed youthful age (O my Cat) even with the miserable race of men, when all things are consonant with the life of the body, when sleep is regular and long and deep, when enmities are either unknown or a subject for rejoicing and when the whole of being is lapped in hope as you are now lapped on my lap, Amathea. Yes, we also, we of the doomed race, know peace. But whereas you possess it from blind kittenhood to that last dark day so mercifully short with you, we grasp it only for a very little while. But I would not sadden you by the mortal plaint. That would be treason indeed, and a vile return for your goodness. What! When you have chosen me out of seven London millions upon whom to confer the tender solace of heart, when you have proclaimed yourself so suddenly to be my dear, shall I introduce you to the sufferings of those of whom you know nothing save that they feed you, house you and pass you by? At least you do not take us for gods, as do the dogs, and the more am I humbly beholden to you for this little service of recognition—-and something more.”

Amathea slowly raised herself upon her four feet, arched her back, yawned, looked up at me with a smile sweeter than ever and then went round and round, preparing for herself a new couch upon my coat, where on she settled and began once more to purr in settled ecstasy.

Already had I made sure that a rooted and anchored affection had come to me from out the emptiness and nothingness of the world and was to feed my soul henceforward; already had I changed the mood of long years and felt a conversion towards the life of things, an appreciation, a cousinship with the created light—and all that through one new link of loving kindness—when whatever it is that dashes the cup of bliss from the lips of mortal man (Tupper) up and dashed it good and hard. It was the Ancient Enemy who put the fatal sentence into my heart, for we are the playthings of the greater powers, and surely some of them are evil.

“You will never leave me. Amathea,” I said: “I will respect your sleep and we will sit here together through all uncounted time, I holding you in my arms and you dreaming of the fields of Paradise. Nor shall anything part us. Amathea; you are my cat and I am your human. Now and onwards into the fullness of peace.”

Then it was that Amathea lifted herself once more, and with delicate, discreet, unweighted movement of perfect limbs leapt lightly to the floor as lovely as a wave. She walked slowly away from me without so much as looking back over her shoulder; she had another purpose in her mind; and as she so gracefully and so majestically neared the door which she was seeking, a short, unpleasant man standing at the bar said, “Puss, Puss, Puss!” and stooped to scratch her gently behind the ear. With what a wealth of singular affection, pure and profound, did she not gaze up at him, and then rub herself against his leg in token and external expression of a sacramental friendship that should never die.

对猫一席话

H. 白洛克

张禹九 译

前些日子，我走进某火车站酒吧，买了一杯啤酒便独自在一张小桌旁坐下，默想人类灵魂虽属必需却又悲哀的疏离。开始想时还以为万物总有某种相通之处，尚可聊以自慰，不过继而一想，这不解决问题，人心还需要更多的东西。正当我可能通过长期研究发现不像灵魂、人心二词那么陈腐的另一个词，忽然，命运或福星给我送来了一只毛光如丝的茶色长毛猫。

各国的人都有值得他们称道的猫，如果此话不假，那么英国人则应当好好称道他们的猫，因为世上没有如此顺遂、如此友善的猫。但即便就英国猫而言，我这只猫格外友善聪明——尤其是友善。它优雅地一跳，跳到我的怀里，舒舒服服地安顿下来，伸出可爱的右前爪，怯生生地碰碰我的胳膊，算是作了介绍，那眼光里充满乖巧然而天真的友爱，打量我，然后暗暗一笑，表示认可了。

经过这般亲近之后，谁也不会胆小到不作某种回答。我作了回答。我甚至冒昧地抚摩阿玛西亚（我正因这名字才有这番幻想）；虽然我以尊重的方式开始作此表示，完全以最佳的对待陌生者的有礼态度为典范，但很快就增加了几分亲热，因为我发现我有了一个朋友而感动不已；是的，即便在这里，西南99路的地铁终点站。我继而（做法是得当的）由抚摩转入说话，说道：“阿玛西亚，美丽至极的猫，你为了得到宠爱为何偏偏挑中了我呢？是你看出我是一切有生命之物的朋友，还是你自己也因孤独而痛苦（尽管我相信你离你自己心爱的家很近），还是因为动物之心如同某些人的心一样有怜悯之情？那么，你的动机是什么？我这样问实在是蠢，天神以任何方式赐给我的任何幸福难道我反而不愿接受了？”

对这些问题，阿玛西亚都以很响的咕噜声作了回答，以欣喜的紧闭的眼睛表示它对这次邂逅相逢感到高兴。

“我无比荣幸，阿玛西亚，”我说，算是回答；“我得到了安慰。我原先不知道世上有生命、能活动的东西，当然更不用说有如此完美的茶色猫了，会为了自身起见愿意献出友谊，而且以奥妙的感情从各种有生之物当中寻求某一个同伴。如果你不用言语跟我交谈，我知道是何原因并且表示称赞；因为一切分歧的根源就在于言语，而最意味深长的友爱总是无言的。至少，这是我从一本书上读到的，阿玛西亚；是啊，就在前些日子。但是我承认，我这胜过言词的表示不是这本书告诉我的，我以我脆弱的心灵的感激之情继续向你表示的爱抚也不是这本书告诉我的。”

阿玛西亚对此略表谢意——并无轻蔑之意——微微地摇摇头，然后称心如意地安顿下来。

“啊，美丽的阿玛西亚，你发现我赞美你之前已有许多人赞美过你了，当我不再隶属于你时，将要赞美你的还会多得很，有的会用你的语言赞美你。但是不会有人比我更真诚地赞美你。因为，世上没有一个活着的人比我更了解猫的四大魅力就在于它那紧闭的眼睛，漂亮的长毛，默默无言，甚至还在于它那种假情假意的友爱。”

阿玛西亚听到“假”这个字时，抬起头，敏感地仰望着我，又伸出右前爪碰碰我的胳膊，然后又安顿下来，咕噜咕噜，好不幸福。

“你是安全的啊，”我哀伤地说，“你面前不存在人终有一死的问题。你自得其乐，对生离死别都无先见之明。惟其如此，猫啊，我才越发欢迎你。因为，如果你们猫类乐于在尘世悠然自得，那么，我们人类也许能通过效法你们，不过多考虑将来，也不过多回忆以往那早已逝去而且永不再回来的一切，从而悠然自得。还有，我要感谢你，阿玛西亚，我可爱的尤普洛卡谟（相识已有整整五分钟，也未见有何不顺从的表示，所以我变得亲热些了）。“你使我想起了我的青年时代，你梦幻般地、瞬息间地把我的青年时代归还给了我。因为，（哦，我的猫啊！）就连不幸的人类也有过一个时代，一个幸福的青年时代。那时候，万物皆与肉体生活协调一致，睡眠有规律而且睡得久，睡得熟；仇恨或是无从知晓或是成了寻乐的话题；整个生命躺在希望的怀抱中，就像你现在安睡在我膝上一样，阿玛西亚。是的，我们，我们这受诅咒的人类也懂得安宁平和。不过，你们从懵懵懂懂、活蹦乱跳的幼年到幸好极其短暂的那个倒霉的末日，都保持着安宁而不变，而我们把握住安宁而不变，而我们把握住安宁的时间却极其短暂。但我不愿以生命必有终结的哀叹使你悲伤。那样做实在是不忠，是以恶行回报你的善意。什么？既然你从伦敦700万大众中挑中我是为了给我以好心的安慰，既然你如此突然地表示要和我亲近，那么我能不能把一些人——你只知道他们给你吃让你住而从不过问你，此外你对他们一无所知——的苦难对你讲一讲，行不行？至少你不像狗一样把我们看作偶像，因而我越发谦卑地承你的情，感激你的这般赏识——以及其他种种。”

阿玛西亚慢慢地站起来，弓弓背，打个哈欠，带着比刚才更美妙的微笑望着我，然后走来走去，已想好把我的上衣当作它的新床榻，然后安顿下来，又开始咕噜咕噜，好不惬意。

我已经确信，从那空虚无聊的人世中，已有一种根深蒂固的爱来到我的身边，并将从此安慰我的灵魂；我已改变了长年的心绪，对万物的生命的看法有了转变，开始有了一种鉴赏，有一种跟福祉很亲密的关系——这一切都通过新的慈爱之杯而来——忽然，不是什么东西这时撞翻凡人嘴边的至福之杯，并把它撞得粉碎。那时恶魔撒旦把致命的判决进了我心里，因为我们是更大力量的手中玩物，而有些更大力量是邪恶的。

“你永远不离开我，阿玛西亚，”我说，“我要让你安睡，我们要永无尽期地坐在这里，我抱着你，你梦到乐园的田野。不会有什么把我们分开，阿玛西亚；你是我的猫，我是你的人。从今以后一直在完全的和平之中。”

就在此时，阿玛西亚又站了起来，轻轻一跳，跳到地上，完美的四肢动作优雅、谨慎、轻盈，美如波浪。它慢慢离我而去，甚至不回头看看我；它心里另有打算；当它优美而庄重地走到它要找的门口时，站在酒吧柜台旁的一个令人讨厌的矮个子说，“小猫咪，小猫咪，小猫咪！”接着弯下腰轻轻地搔它的后颈。它抬头注视着他，充满爱意，即纯朴又奥妙，然后它在那人的腿边蹭着，象征了也表明了一种永远不会消亡的神圣的友谊。

Francis Bacon - Of Beauty

王佐良；曹明伦；何新 译

VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency. And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler; whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.

R. Duncan - Three Peach Stones

陶洁 译

Observe a child; any one will do. You will see that not a day passes in which he does not find something or other to make him happy, though he may be in tears the next moment. Then look at a man; any one of us will do. You will notice that weeks and months can pass in which day is greeted with nothing more than resignation, and endured with every polite indifference. Indeed, most men are as miserable as sinners, though they are too bored to sin—perhaps their sin is their indifference. But it is true that they so seldom smile that when they do we do not recognize their face, so distorted is it from the fixed mask we take for granted. And even then a man can not smile like a child, for a child smiles with his eyes, whereas a man smiles with his lips alone. It is not a smile; but a grin; something to do with humor, but little to do with happiness. And then, as anyone can see, there is a point (but who can define that point?) when a man becomes an old man, and then he will smile again.

It would seem that happiness is something to do with simplicity, and that it is the ability to extract pleasure form the simplest things—such as a peach stone, for instance.

It is obvious that it is nothing to do with success. For Sir Henry Stewart was certainly successful. It is twenty years ago since he came down to our village from London, and bought a couple of old cottages, which he had knocked into one. He used his house as weekend refuge. He was a barrister. And the village followed his brilliant career with something almost amounting to paternal pride.

I remember some ten years ago when he was made a King’s Counsel, Amos and I, seeing him get off the London train, went to congratulate him. We grinned with pleasure; he merely looked as miserable as though he’d received a penal sentence. It was the same when he was knighted; he never smiled a bit, he didn’t even bother to celebrate with a round of drinks at the “Blue Fox”. He took his success as a child does his medicine. And not one of his achievements brought even a ghost of a smile to his tired eyes.

I asked him one day, soon after he’d retired to potter about his garden, what it was like to achieve all one’s ambitions. He looked down at his roses and went on watering them. Then he said, “The only value in achieving one’s ambition is that you then realise that they are not worth achieving.” Quickly he moved the conversation on to a more practical level, and within a moment we were back to a safe discussion on the weather. That was two years ago.

I recall this incident, for yesterday, I was passing his house, and had drawn up my cart just outside his garden wall. I had pulled in from the road for no other reason than to let a bus pass me. As I set there filling my pipe, I suddenly heard a shout of sheer joy come from the other side of the wall.

I peered over. There stood Sir Henry doing nothing less than a tribal war dance of sheer unashamed ecstasy. Even when he observed my bewildered face staring over the wall he did not seem put out or embarrassed, but shouted for me to climb over.

“Come and see, Jan. Look! I have done it at last! I have done it at last!”

There he was, holding a small box of earth in his hand. I observed three tiny shoots out of it.

“And there were only three!” he said, his eyes laughing to heaven.

“Three what?” I asked.

“Peach stones”, he replied. “I’ve always wanted to make peach stones grow, ever since I was a child, when I used to take them home after a party, or as a man after a banquet. And I used to plant them, and then forgot where I planted them. But now at last I have done it, and, what’s more, I had only three stones, and there you are, one, two, three shoots,” he counted.

And Sir Henry ran off, calling for his wife to come and see his achievement—his achievement of simplicity.

三颗核桃

R. 邓肯

仔细观察一个小孩，随便哪个孩子都行，你会发现，他每天都会发现一两件令他快乐的事情，尽管过一会儿他可能会哭哭啼啼。再看看一个大人，我们中间任何人都行。你会发现，一周复一周，一月又一月，他总是以无可奈何的心情迎接新的一天的到来，以温文尔雅、满不在乎的心情忍受这一天的消逝。确实，大多数人都跟罪人一样苦恼难受，尽管他们太百无聊赖，连罪恶都不犯——也许他们的冷漠就是他们的罪孽。真的，他们难得一笑。如果他们偶尔笑了，我们会认不出他们的容貌，他们的脸会扭曲走样，不再是我们习以为常的固定不变的面具。即使在笑的时候，大人也不会像小孩儿那样，小孩儿用眼睛表示笑意，大人只用嘴唇。这实际上不是笑，只是咧列嘴；表示一种心情，但跟快乐无关。然而，人人都能发现，人到了一定地步（但又有谁能解释这是什么地步呢？），成了老人，他又会笑了。

看起来，幸福同纯真的赤子之心有关系，幸福是一种能从最简单的事物里——譬如说，核桃——汲取快乐的能力。

幸福显然同成功毫不相干。因为亨利·斯图亚特爵士当然是个十分成功的人。20年前，他从伦敦来到我们的村子，买了好几座旧房屋，推倒后建了一所大房子。他把这所房子当作度周末的场所。他是位律师。我们村里的人带着一种几近父辈的骄傲心情追随他那辉煌的业绩。

我记得，大约十年前他被任命为王室法律顾问，阿莫斯和我看见他走下伦敦开来的火车便上前去表示祝贺。我们高兴地笑着；而他的表情却跟接到判刑通知一样悲惨。他受封当爵士时也是如此，他没有一丝笑容，他甚至不屑于在蓝狐狸酒馆请我们大家喝杯酒。他对待成功就像小孩吃药一样，任何一项成就都未能使他疲惫的眼睛里露出一丝笑意。

他退休以后可以在花园里随便走走，干些轻松的闲活。有一天，我问他一个问题：一个人实现了一切雄心壮志是什么滋味？他低头看着玫瑰花，继续浇水。过了一会儿，他说：“实现雄心壮志的唯一价值是你发现他们都不值得追求。”他立刻改变话题讨论有实际意义的事情，我们很快谈论起万无一失的天气问题。这是两年前的事。

我想起这件事情，因为昨天我经过他的家，把我的大车停在他花园的院墙外边。我从大路把车赶到他花园外边是为了给一辆公共汽车让路。我坐在车上装烟斗时忽然听见院墙里面传来一声欣喜欲狂的欢呼。

我向墙内张望。里面是亨利爵士，他欢蹦乱跳像在跳部落出征的舞蹈，表现出毫无顾忌的真正的快乐。他发现了我在墙头张望的迷惑不解的面孔，他似乎毫不生气，也不感到窘迫，而是大声呼喊叫我爬过墙去。

“快来看，杰。看呀！我终于成功了！我终于成功了！”

他站在那里，手里拿着一小盒土。我发现土里有三颗小芽。

“就只有三个！”他眉开眼笑地说。

“三个什么东西？”我问。

“核桃。”他回答道，“我一直想种核桃，从小就想，当时我参加晚会后老把核桃带回家，后来长大成人参加宴会后也这样。我以前常常种核桃，可是过后就忘了种在什么地方。现在，我总算成功了。还有，我只有三颗核桃。你瞧，一、二，三颗芽。”他数着说。

亨利爵士跑了起来，叫他的妻子来看他的成功之作——他的单纯纯朴的成功之作。

Charles Edward Montague - The Faculty of Delight

刘士聪 译

Among the mind’s powers is one that comes of itself to many children and artists. It need not be lost, to the end of his days, by any one who has ever had it. This is the power of taking delight in a thing, or rather in anything, everything, not as a means to some other end, but just because it is what it is, as the lover dotes on whatever may be the traits of the beloved object. A child in the full health of his mind will put his hand flat on the summer turf, feel it, and give a little shiver or private glee at the elastic firmness of the globe. He is not thinking how well it will do for some game or to feed mistress’s money. The child’s is sheer affection, the true ecstatic sense of the thing’s inherent characteristics. No matter what the things may be, no thrilling unique look and feel of its own, like a face; the iron astringently cool under its paint, the painted wood familiarly warmer, the clod crumbling enchantingly down in the hands, with its little dry smell of the sun and of hot nettles; each common thing a personality marked by delicious differences.

The joy of an Adam new to the garden and just looking round is brought by the normal child to the things that he does as well as those that mankind can give him a mystical exaltation: to come home with his legs, as the French say, re-entering his body from the fatigue of helping the gardener to weed beds sends him to sleep in the glow of a beatitude that is an end in itself…

The right education, if we could find it, would work up this creative faculty of delight into all its branching possibilities of knowledge, wisdom, and nobility. Of all three it is the beginning, condition, or raw material.

刘士聪 译

感知快乐的天赋

查尔斯·爱德华·蒙塔格

在人的心理能力中，有一种是很多孩子和艺术家自然就有的。不论是谁，一旦有了这种能力，直到他生命的最后一天也不一定会丢失。这就是从某一事物，或任一事物，都能感受到快乐的能力，不是为了某一目的，只是因为它就是这样，这好比一个人喜爱一样东西，不论它有什么特征他都喜爱。一个心理健全的孩子会把他的手掌平放在夏天的草皮上，抚摩它，在他感觉到具有弹性又很坚实的地球表面时，他心里便产生一种快乐的冲动。他不是在想要是在上面做游戏或放羊什么的该有多好哇。那岂不是就像求婚者一心只想着女友的钱财一样吗？而孩子则完全是因为喜爱，是事物内在的特质真正让他有一种欣喜若狂的感觉。不论是什么事物，也不论它们有没有用途，它们就是那里，每一样东西都像一张脸孔，都有其独特的使人激动的面容和感觉；上过油漆的铁器使人感觉冷峻，而上过油漆的木器则让人感觉温和而亲切，当土块在手里松动而散发出阳光和热荨麻的微干的气味时，简直让人陶醉；每一样普通的东西都有它自己的“性格”，而这“性格”都有其不同的怡人的特征。

一个像亚当那样的人初次来到花园举目四望时所感到的那种快乐，一个正常孩子在其所做及所见的事物里都可以感觉到。在他被允许使用人类常用的铁锨去做一些简单的体力劳动时，他会感到一种神奇的兴奋：由于帮助园丁在花坛里锄草已经很疲劳，回到家时，就像法国人常说的那样，他的双腿又重新回到他的身上，在一种幸福感光辉里进入梦乡，这本身就是目的……

正确的教育，如果我们能够发现它，可以调动这一带有创造性的快乐的天赋，使其纳入所有可能的各个方面——知识，智慧和高尚的情操。对于这三者，这种心理能力是开始，是条件，或是原始材料。

James Baldwin - A Fly in Buttermilk

佳宁 译

“You can take the child out of the country,” my elders were fond of saying, “but you can’t take the country out of the child.” They were speaking of their own antecedents, I supposed; it didn’t, anyway, seem possible that they could be warning me; I took myself out of the country and went to Paris. It was there I discovered that the old folks knew what they had been talking about: I found myself, willy-nilly, alchemized into an American the moment I touched French soil.

Now, back again after nearly nine years, it was ironical to reflect that if I had not lived in France for so long I would never have found it necessary – or possible – to visit the American South. The South had always frightened me. How deeply it had frightened me – though I had never seen it – and how soon, was one of the things my dreams revealed to me while I was there. And this made me think of the privacy and mystery of childhood all over again, in a new way. I wondered where children got their strength – the strength, in this case, to walk through mobs to get to school.

“You’ve got to remember,” said an older Negro friend to me, in Washington, “that no matter what you see or how it makes you feel, it can’t be compared to twenty-five, thirty years ago – you remember those photographs of Negroes hanging from trees?” I looked at him differently. I had seen the photographs – but he might have been one of them. “I remember,” he said, “when conductors on streetcars wore pistols and had police powers.” And he remembered a great deal more. He remembered, for example, hearing Booker T. Washington speak, and the day-to-day progress of the Scottsboro case, and the rise and bloody fall of Bessie Smith. These had been books and headlines and music for me but it now developed that they were also a part of my identity.

“You’re just one generation away from the South, you know. You’ll find,” he added, kindly, “that people will be willing to talk to you… if they don’t feel that you look down on them just because you’re from the North.”

The first Negro I encountered, an educator, didn’t give me any opportunity to look down. He forced me to admit, at once, that I had never been to college; that Northern Negroes lived herded together, like pigs in a pen; that the campus on which we met was a tribute to the industry and determination of Southern Negroes. “Negroes in the South form a community.” My humiliation was complete with his discovery that I couldn’t even drive a car. I couldn’t ask him anything. He made me feel so hopeless an example of the general Northern spinelessness that it would have seemed a spiteful counterattack to have asked him to discuss the integration problem which had placed his city in the headlines.

At the same time, I felt that there was nothing which bothered him more; but perhaps he did not really know what he thought about it; or thought too many things at once. His campus risked being very different twenty years from now. Its special function would be gone – and so would his position, arrived at with such pain. The new day a-coming was not for him. I don’t think this fact made him bitter but I think it frightened him and made him sad; for the future is like heaven – everyone exalts it but no one wants to go there now. And I imagine that he shared the attitude, which I was to encounter so often later, toward the children who were helping to bring this future about: admiration before the general spectacle and skepticism before the individual case.

That evening I went to visit G., one of the “integrated” children, a boy of about fifteen. I had already heard something of his first day in school, the peculiar problems his presence caused, and his own extraordinary bearing.

He seemed extraordinary at first mainly by his silence. He was tall for his age and, typically, seemed to be constructed mainly of sharp angles, such as elbows and knees. Dark gingerbread sort of coloring, with ordinary hair, and a face disquietingly impassive, save for his very dark, very large eyes. I got the impression, each time that he raised them, not so much that they spoke but that they registered volumes; each time he dropped them it was as though he had retired into the library.

We sat in the living room, his mother, younger brother and sister, and I, while G. sat on the sofa, doing his homework. The father was at work and the older sister had not yet come home. The boy had looked up once, as I came in, to say, “Good evening, sir,” and then left all the rest to his mother.

Mrs. R. was a very strong-willed woman, handsome, quiet-looking, dressed in black. Nothing, she told me, beyond name-calling, had marked G.’s first day at school; but on the second day she received the last of several threatening phone calls. She was told that if she didn’t want her son “cut to ribbons” she had better keep him at home. She heeded this warning to the extent of calling the chief of police.

“He told me to go on and send him. He said he’d be there when the cutting started. So I sent him.” Even more remarkably perhaps, G. went.

No one cut him, in fact no one touched him. The students formed a wall between G. and the entrances, saying only enough, apparently, to make their intention clearly understood, watching him, and keeping him outside. (I asked him, “What did you feel when they blocked your way?” G. looked up at me, very briefly, with no expression on his face, and told me, “Nothing, sir.”) At last the principal appeared and took him by the hand and they entered the school, while the children shouted behind them, “Nigger-lover!”

G. was alone all day at school.

佳宁 译

酸奶里的一只苍蝇

“你能让孩子离开祖国，”我的上辈人常常这样说，“却不能让孩子忘记祖国。”我时觉得他们是在谈他们那一代的事，这话不可能是对我的告诫。后来，我离开祖国来巴黎，直到这时我方才认识到老人们的话一点也不假。我发现当我的双脚踏上法国的土地，就身不由己地一下子认识到自己是美国人。

将近9年过去了，现在我已归来。如果不是在法国住了那么长时间，我绝不会觉得必要，或者有可能去访问美国南方，想到这里真觉得是莫大的讽刺。以前一想到南方，我就感到惧怕。那个我从未看到过的地方使我产生的恐惧有多么深啊！而当我来到里时曾在我梦魇中出现过的情景又发生得何等迅速？所发生的事促使我重新估量童年的秘密以及令人不可思议之处，并用新的目光思考这一问题。使我难以理解之处是孩子究竟是从哪儿得到的力量，就这次的事件而论，是什么力量使一个孩子有勇气冲破暴民的包围走向学校。

“你应该记住，”华盛顿一位较年长的黑人朋友对我说，“不管你看到什么，或有什样的感想和体会，现在跟25年前，或30年前相比情况好了不知多少。你还记得那些吊死在树上的黑人照片吗？”我不以为然地注视着他，是的，我看到过那些照片，他对也有可能成为吊死的人之一。“我可记得，”他说，“那时候公共汽车售票员带着手枪，并行使警察的职权。”他还记得许多别的事情，譬如，他记得去听布克·T·华盛顿的演说，斯科茨伯勒案件的进展情况，贝茜·史密斯的发迹与惨死。过去，这一切对我长说只是书本、报纸标题和音乐，而现在已逐渐融入了我的生活。

“你只离开了南方30年，你知道。你会发现，”他和善地补充说，“那儿的人非常乐意跟你聊聊……我是说如果他们不觉得你因为自己是北方人就瞧不起他们的话。”

我所遇到的第一个黑人是一位教育家，他没有让我瞧不起他的意思。他一见面就迫使我承认，我从未上过大学；并且承认北方黑人住得很挤，像猪一样给圈在一起；还得承认我们相遇的校园是南方黑人勤俭与意志力的标志。“南方黑人是一个整体。”当他发现我甚至连车都不会开的时候，我的羞愧达到了无以复加的地步。我不能问他任何问题。他使我感到我是那些北方没有骨头的黑人中不可救药的一个。所以，尽管他所居住的城市因白人黑人合校问题上了报纸，但是如果我请他就此发表点儿意见的话，则将意味着我是向他进行可耻的反攻。

同时，我感到最使他担忧的也正是这件事。也许他自己还没有意识到这一点，或者他的思绪过于纷杂。20年后他的校园就会完全变样，它的特殊功能将会消失，而他呕心沥血挣得的地位也将不复存在。未来不属于他。我认为这一点并不使他感到不满，而是令他感到惧怕，并令他忧伤。因为未来正如天堂，那是人人说好而谁都不愿意马上就去的地方。以我猜想，对于那些使未来成为现实的年轻人，他的态度也跟我后来遇到的许多人一样：一般来说表示赞赏，而在具体情况面前则持怀疑态度。

一天晚上我去访问了G，一个15岁的男孩，他是个“合校”的学生。我曾听说过他第一天去上白人学校的情形，他的出现引起的问题，以及他出色的表现。

一开始是他的沉默使我感到他不同凡响。看上去他比与自己同龄的孩子要高，长着一副这个年龄的男孩典型的骨架，诸如胳臂膝盖等处的骨骼都很突出，暗棕色的皮肤，头发很平常。他的脸上毫无表情，以至令人感到不安，只有那双大而又极黑的眼睛不是这样。我产生了这样的印象：每当他抬起这双眼睛的时候，那眼睛虽不能说是在说话，表情也是十分丰富的。而当他垂下眼帘的时候，他便像是又回到图书馆去一样沉静了。

起居室里坐着他的母亲、弟弟、妹妹，还有我。G坐在沙发上做作业，他的父亲上班去了，姐姐也还没有回家。我进门时那孩子抬头看了看我，说了声“晚上好，先生，”然后就把余下的一切留给他母亲了。

R太太是个个性很强的妇女。她漂亮、稳重，穿着一身黑色的衣裳。她说G第一条去学校的时候除了有人骂骂街以外，没有发生其它事情。而第二天却有人打来了好几次恫吓电话，她接了最后一次。电话里说如果她不想让儿子给“剁成肉酱”，就最好把他关在家中，她对此事予以一定重视并给警察局打了电话。

“他叫我只管送孩子去上学。他说他们动手的时候他将在场。于是我打发他去了。“也许更为令人感到惊讶的是G竟然真的去了。

没有人将他“剁成肉酱”，甚至没有人碰他一碰。学生们组成了人墙，站在校门口挡住他的去路。他们的话虽然不多，但是足以表达他们的意图。他们盯着他，把他堵在门外。（我问他：“他们挡着你的路时你感觉如何？”G只抬眼看了我一下，脸上毫无表情地告诉我：“没感到什么，先生。”）最后，校长来了，他拉着他的手走进校园。而学生们却在他们背后喊：“黑鬼迷！”

G在学校里呆了一天都没有人理睬他。

William Henry Hudson – Birds

林鸟

高健 译

For some time past I had been ascending a low, broad, flat-topped hill, and on forcing my way through the undergrowth into the open I found myself on the level plateau, an unenclosed spot overgrown with heather and scattered furze bushes, with clumps of fir and birch trees. Before me and on either hand at this elevation a vast extent of country was disclosed. The surface was everywhere broken, but there was no break in the wonderful greenness, which the recent rain had intensified. There is too much green, to my thinking, with too much uniformity in its soft, bright tone, in South Devon. After gazing on such a landscape the brown, harsh, scanty vegetation of the hilltop seemed all the more grateful. The heath was an oasis and a refuge; I rambled about in it until my feet and legs were wet; then I sat down to let them dry and altogether spent several agreeable hours at that spot, pleased at the thought that no human fellow-creature would intrude upon me. Feathered companions were, however, not wanting. The crowing of cock pheasants from the thicket beside the old road warned me that I was on preserved grounds. Not too strictly preserved, however, for there was my old friend the carrion-crow out foraging for his young. He dropped down over the trees, swept past me, and was gone. At this season, in theearly summer, he may be easily distinguished, when flying, from his relation the rook. When on the prowl the crow glides smoothly and rapidly through the air, often changing his direction, now flying close to the surface, anon mounting high, but oftenest keeping nearly on alevel with the tree tops. His gliding and curving motions are somewhat like those of the herring-gull, but the wings in gliding are carriedstiff and straight, the tips of the long flight-feathers showing a slight upward curve. But the greatest difference is in the way the head is carried. The rook, like the heron and stork, carries his beak pointing lance-like straight before him. He knows his destination, and makes for it; he follows his nose, so to speak, turning neither to the right nor the left. The foraging crow continually turns his head, gull-like and harrier-like, from side to side, as if to search the ground thoroughly or to concentrate his vision on some vaguely seen object.

相当一段时间以来，我一直在攀登一座低矮宽阔的平顶小山；当我拨开灌丛，又出现在空地时，我已经置身于一片平坦高地，一片四望空旷，到处石楠与零星荆豆杂生的地方，其间也有几处稠密的冷杉桦木之类。在我面前以及高地的两侧，弥望尽是一带广野。那地亩田垄时有中断，惟独那惊人的青葱翠绿则绵延不绝，这点显然与新近降雨丰沛有关。依我看来，南德文郡里的绿色实在未免过多，色调的柔和与亮度也到处过趋单一。在眼睛饱餍这种景色之后，山顶上那些棕褐刺目的稀疏草木反而有爽心怡目之感。这块石楠地宛如一片绿洲与趋避之地；我在那里漫步许久，一直弄得腿脚淋湿；然后我又坐下来等脚晒干，就这样我在这里愉快地度过了几个小时，高兴的是这里再没有人前来打搅。不过鸟类友伴并不缺乏。路边丛薄间一只雄雉的鸣叫似乎已在警告我说我已闯入了禁猎地带。或许这里的禁猎并不严格，因力我便看到我所熟识的食腐肉乌鸦出来为它的幼雏觅食。它在树上稍停了停，接着掠我而过，便不见了。在这目前季节，亦即在初夏时期，当飞起时，是很容易同它的近亲白嘴鸭分别清楚的。前者在出来巡劫时，它在空中的滑翔流畅而迅速，并不断地改变着方向，时而贴近地面，继而又升腾得很高，但一般保持着约与树齐的高度。它的滑翔与转弯动作略与鲱鱼鸥相似，只是滑翔时翅膀挺得直直，那长长的翎翮尖端呈现一条稍稍上翘的曲线。但最主要的区别还在飞行时的头部姿势。至于白嘴鸭，则像苍鹭与鹤那样，总是把它的利喙笔直地伸向前面。它飞时方向明确，毫不犹豫；它简直可说是跟着它自己的鼻子尖跑，既不左顾，也不右盼。而那寻觅肉食的乌鸦则不停地转动着它的头部，好像只海鸥或猎兔狗那样，忽而这边，忽而那边，仿佛在对地面进行彻底搜查，或集中其视力于某个模糊难辨的事物。

Not only the crow was there: a magpie chattered as I came from the brake, but refused to show himself; and a little later a jay screamed at me, as only a jay can. There are times when I am intensely in sympathy with the feeling expressed in this ear-splitting sound, inarticulate but human. It is at the same time warning and execration, the startled solitary's outburst of uncontrolled rage at the abhorred sight of a fellow-being in his woodland haunt.

这里不仅有乌鸦：我从羊齿丛中走出时，一只喜鹊正在叽喳叫着，只是拒不露面；过了一会儿，一只桂鸟又对着我啼叫起来，那叫法在鸟中实在够得上十分独特。对于这聒噪不已的警告与咒骂里所流露的一腔愤激，对于这位受惊的孤客在骇睹其他生物侵入其林中净地时胸头盛怒的这种猝然勃发，我有时倒也能深表同情。

Small birds were numerous at that spot, as if for them also its wildness and infertility had an attraction. Tits, warblers, pipits, finches, all were busy ranging from place to place, emitting their various notes now from the tree-tops, then from near the ground; now close at hand, then far off; each change in the height, distance, and position of the singer giving the sound a different character, so that the effect produced was one of infinite variety. Only the yellow-hammer remained constant in one spot, in one position, and the song at each repetition was the same. Nevertheless this bird is not so monotonous a singer as he is reputed…

这个地方的小鸟实在不少，仿佛此地的荒芜和贫瘠对它们也有着某种吸引力量。各类山雀、各类鸣禽、云雀以及各种鸳鸟都正在飞飞去，一边吐弄着不同的佳音，这些时而来自树端，时而来自地上，时而逼近，时而遥远；但是随着放歌者的或远或近，鸣声上下，也给那声音带来不同的特质，因而所产生的效果真是千声万籁，嗡然大观。只有峋鸭总是停留在一个地方或保持着一种姿势，另外每次开口唱时，也总是重复着一个调子不变。尽管如此，这种鸟的鸣叫也并不如人们所说的那般单调……

By and by I had a better bird to listen to--a redstart. A female flew down within fifteen yards of me; her mate followed and perched on a dry twig, where he remained a long time for so shy and restless a creature. He was in perfect plumage, and sitting there, motionless in the strong sunlight, was wonderfully conspicuous, the gayest, most exotic-looking bird of his family in England. Quitting his perch, he flew up into a tree close by and began singing; and for half an hour thereafter I continued intently listening to his brief strain, repeated at short intervals--a song which I think has never been perfectly described. "Practice makes perfect" is an axiom that does not apply to the art of song in the bird world; since the redstart, a member of a highly melodious family, with a good voice to start with, has never attained to excellence in spite of much practising. The song is interesting both on account of its exceptional inferiority and of its character. A distinguished ornithologist has said that little birds have two ways of making themselves attractive--by melody and by bright plumage; and that most species excel in one or the other way; and that the acquisition of gay colours by a species of a sober-coloured melodious family will cause it to degenerate as a songster. He is speaking of the redstart. Unfortunately for the rule there are too many exceptions. Thus confining ourselves to a single family--that of the finches--in our own islands, the most modest coloured have the least melody, while those that have the gayest plumage are the best singers--the goldfinch, chaffinch, siskin, and linnet. Nevertheless it is impossible to listen for any length of time to the redstart, and to many redstarts, without feeling, almost with irritation, that its strain is only the prelude of a song—a promise never performed; that once upon a time in the remote past it was a sweet, copious, and varied singer, and that only a fragment of its melody now remains. The opening rapidly warbled notes are so charming that the attention is instantly attracted by them. They are composed of two sounds, both beautiful--the bright pure gushing robin-like note, and the more tender expressive swallow-like note. And that is all; the song scarcely begins before it ends, or collapses; for in most cases the pure sweet opening strain is followed by a curious little farrago of gurgling and squeaking sounds, and little fragments of varied notes, often so low as to be audible only at a few yards' distance. It is curious that these slight fragments of notes at the end vary in different individuals, in strength and character and in number, from a single faintest squeal to half a dozen or a dozen distinct sounds. In all cases they are emitted with apparent effort, as if the bird strained its pipe in the vain attempt to continue the song.

不久之后，我有了更有趣的鸟来听了——红尾。一只雌的飞下地面，离我不到十五码远；它的伴侣追随其后，接着落在一个枯枝上面，而就这样一个胆怯易惊、生性好动的小东西说，它停留的时间可不算短。它周身羽毛丰满，一动不动地待在熠熠的阳光之下，非常惹人注目，可说是英国禽羽族中心情最欢快、样子也最带异国色彩的了。过了一晌，它离开这里，飞向附近一棵树上，于是啭喉歌唱起来；这之后一连半个小时，我始终凝神倾听着它那每过一阵便重复一番的短促曲调一一这是一种从来没有为人很好描写过的特别歌唱。“多练使艺完美”这句格言是不适用于鸟类的歌唱艺术的；因力即以红尾来说。虽然出身于有名的音乐家族，而且歌喉的天赋也极不错，却并不曾因为多练而臻于完美境地。它的歌声之所以有趣不仅因为它的性质特别，也还因为它的出奇糟糕。一位著名的鸟类学家曾经说过，鸟类一般靠两种办法来讨人喜欢，一靠歌喉，二靠羽毛；多数鸟类都是非此即彼，不出这两种途径；另外，长于歌而短于色的族类一旦变得羽毛美艳之后，势必要引起其歌艺的堕落。他这里即是指的红尾而言。但可惜的是，出乎这条规律的例外实在未免太多。例如，即以我们英国岛上的一个鸟族一一莺类来说，那些羽毛平常的往往也音调不佳，而那些羽毛最艳丽的又偏偏都是歌唱妙手一一例如金翅雀、鶸鸟、金雀、红雀，等等。但是要人长时间地去听一只红尾，哪怕再多的红尾，而不产生厌烦，却是不可能的，因为它那曲调最多也不过是一曲歌的前奏一一一个永不会兑现的承诺；也许在遥远的古代时候它曾一度是个幽美繁富、极具变化的歌唱好手，但如今所残留下来的只不过是当年妙曲的一些残片。它一开始时滴沥溜转的几个音符往往是极动听的，人们的注意力登时被它吸住。这包括两种声音，但都很美一一即那纯净浏亮有如泉涌的知更雀式的音调，以及更加柔美和富于表情的燕子式的音调。但是一切也即此为止；刚已成声调便已失声走调；因为多数情形是，这个纯净优美的开始曲不久便被继之而来的一连串稀奇古怪的咕咕唧唧以及破碎不成片段的夹七杂八的混乱东西所弄坏，而且往往弱不成声，数码之外，便听不见。另外，奇怪的是，这些细碎音调最后不仅在这种鸟的不同成员身上，其在力度、性质与数量上也很不一致，有的不过单纯一声微弱的鸣啸而已，有的则连续发至六七甚至十来声清晰音响。但整个来说，这些声音的吐放总给人以显然吃力之感，仿佛这种鸟只是在声嘶力竭地硬唱下去。

W. Faulkner - Funeral Sermon for Mammy Caroline Barr

李文俊 译

Delivered at Oxford, Mississippi, February 1940

Caroline has known me all my life. It was my privilege to see her out of hers. After my father’s death, to Mammy I came to represent the head of that family to which she had given a half century of fidelity and devotion. But the relationship between us never became that of master and servant. She still remained one of my earliest recollections, not only as a person, but as a fount of authority over my conduct and of security for my physical welfare, and of active and constant affection and love. She was an active and constant precept for decent behavior. From her I learned to tell the truth, to refrain from waste, to be considerate of the weak and respectful to age. I saw fidelity to a family which was not hers, devotion and love for people she had not borne.

She was born in bondage and with a dark skin and most of her early maturity was passed in a dark and tragic time for the land of her birth. She went through vicissitudes which she had not caused; she assumed cares and griefs which were not even her cares and griefs. She was paid wages for this, but pay is still just money. And she never received very much of that, so that she never laid up anything of this world’s goods. Yet she accepted that too without cavil or calculation or complaint, so that by that very failure she earned the gratitude and affection of the family she had conferred the fidelity and devotion upon, and gained the grief and regret of the aliens who loved and lost her.

She was born and lived and served, and died and now is mounted; if there is a heaven, she has gone there.

在卡洛琳·巴尔大妈葬仪上的演说词

W. 福克纳

1940年2 月于密西西比州奥克斯福镇

从我出生时起卡洛琳就认得我。为她送终对我来说是一种特殊的光荣。我父亲死后，在大妈眼里我成了一家之主，对于这个家庭，她献出了半个世纪的忠诚与热爱。不过，我们之间的关系从来也不是主仆间的关系。直到今天，她仍然是我最早的记忆的一部分，不仅是作为一个人，而是作为我行为准则和我物质福利可靠的一个源泉，也是积极、持久的感情与爱的一个源泉。她也是正直行为的一个积极、持久的准则。从她那里，我学会了说真话、不浪费、体贴弱者、尊重长者。我见到了一种对于一个不属于她的家庭的忠诚，对并非她亲生的子女的深情与挚爱。

她生下来就处在受奴役的状态中，她皮肤黑，最初进入成年时她是在她诞生地的黑暗、悲惨的历史阶段中度过的，她经历过盛衰变嬗，可这些都有不是她造成的；她体会到忧虑与哀伤，其实这些甚至都还不是她自己的忧虑与哀伤。别人为此付给她工钱，可是能够付给她的也仅仅是钱而已。何况她得到的从来就不多，因此她一生可以说是身无长物。可是连这一点她也默默地接受下来，既没有异议也没有算计和怨言，正因为不考虑这一切，她赢得了她奉献出忠诚与挚爱的一家人的感激和敬爱，也获得了热爱她、失去她的异族人的哀悼与痛惜。

她曾诞生、生活与侍奉，后来又去世了，如今她受到哀悼；如果世界上真有天堂，她一定已经到那里了。

Max Forrester Eastman - On Learning Foreign Languages

:姚乃强 译

After spending a couple of weeks talking to Americans in Moscow, and listening through a wall to the life of the Russians. I decided to learn the language. I did not want to collect bits of second-hand information. I did not want information. I wanted the feeling of life under a proletarian dictatorship, and there was only one way to get it. I had been puttering along with my grammar and with Lhermontov and Pushkin, reading at them in the same dreadful way that we used to read at Horace and Virgil. That was not learning anything.

I have my own system for learning foreign languages, which is based upon a profound knowledge of the human heart, and which I will here with some reservations impart to the reader. The first thing to do is to go to the capital of the country where the language is spoken, and buy a grammar, two little red dictionaries, and a railroad ticket. The railroad ticket should take you as far away from the capital as possible, clear out of the sound of your own language, and preferable to a summer resort. The reason for this is that you are going to have a good time, and you need company.

On the train, on the way to your summer resort, you have some hard work to do. It is the only work called for by my system, and it has to be done thoroughly. You have to learn the name in the language under consideration for “noun,” “adjective,” “verb,” “participle,” “conjunction,” “pronoun,” and “preposition.” And if you do not know in your own language just what these wonders are, you have to find out. And then you have to learn to say, “What does that mean?” and “What is the word for this?”, and a few handy remarks like “Do you speak English?”, “Do you speak French?”, “Do you speak German?”, “Do you speak Italian?”, “It’s too bad.”, and “Let’s take a walk.”

With that equipment you go into the dining-room of the principal hotel in your summer resort, and pick out your teacher. You may do this quite boldly, if you have equipped yourself as I direct, for you have a power to ensnare that teacher which reaches beyond the charms of your personality. Moreover, it is advisable to have an eye to her physical beauties, for you are going to spend a good deal of time gazing on them in comparative silence.

After dinner you may go and lean up against a pillar, or the railing of a little foot-bridge in the garden, or somewhere—I need not be too specific about this—and when she comes by, you will say in your poor broken tongue and with a forlorn expression, “Mademoiselle, do you speak English?” When she says “No,” you will heave a sigh and say, “Do you speak German?” At a second “No,” your expression will become disconsolate, and you will say, “Do you speak French?” At a third “No” you show real consternation, and offer to speak Italian, or Bohemian, or Chinese, or what you will. If God is with you, she will decline all these offers, and you will find that she is at once seriously distressed over your plight, and in a somewhat humbled condition as to her own talents. You will find, if I am not mistaken, that you are already taking a walk with her, and you may assume that her next statement is, “Too bad you haven’t a Russian dictionary,” or something to that effect. At the sound of these words—-no matter how bad they sound—you will produce your two little red books, and hand her the one marked “Russian-English”.

Here the work, properly so called, comes to an end. She will be very curious to see what the words in your language look like, and she will examine the little red book and pretty soon point to a word, probably the word “hot”, or something equally uninteresting under ordinary circumstances. Under these circumstances it acquires the charm of an incantation. It begins to open just by something less than the shadow of a hair’s breadth the gate of a possible romance. You both know that that gate will be a long, long time in opening. And you both know, if you have reached years of some discretion, that when it is once wide open, the romance is gone. For there is no such thing as romance—it is only the expectation of itself.

And so, in a gentle fever of delight, you look up the word for “too” in your dictionary, and you say, “Too hot?”

It is one of the signs of our human kinship, and a blessing we never pause to appreciate, that in all languages, however the words may change, the vocal inflections have substantially the same meaning: You do not have to learn how to melodize a question in Russian, or a doubt, or a suspicion, or a declaration, or a declaration, or a caress. If you did, this industrious romance would probably run on the rocks in the first three minutes.

To your question, “Too hot?”, she will no doubt answer rapidly and at some length, forgetting your limitations. Perhaps she will say, “Not if we could find a shady tree to sit under.”

She will be a little shocked at your inability to grasp this simple proposition. A flicker of impatient contempt will cross her face. She has forgotten about your magnanimous offer to speak English, French, German, Italian or Bohemian. She has forgotten that there are any such languages. She just primitively and quite naturally feels that a person who can’t talk is a fool. And here you must bring forward the second part of your equipment. But use it gently. Use it sparingly, for it is possible the experience may be too bitter, and her pride not strong enough to hold her to the task.

You may, I trust, have been able to isolate one word in that insane rush of syllables that came out of her mouth. Look for it in your dictionary, and while you are looking, murmur somewhat abstractedly, “Is that a preposition or a participle?”

You will see that look of contempt upon her features give place to a flush and a catching of breath, and your companion will wrinkle her brows, and lean over your shoulder to watch you find the word in your dictionary, and her hair will brush your cheek helpfully, and her voice be all gentle sympathy as she says, “Why, now, let’s see, that must be—there it is! You understand?”

By this time no doubt you will have arrived at a shady tree, and at something far better than understanding, a consciousness of your power. You are in the peculiar position of knowing more than your teacher about the very subject she is going to teach. And if you employ your power with delicacy as I have advised, so that she does not either run away from you in fright as from an intellectual monster, or in a fit of mad pride buy a grammar and learn her own language, you can retain this position of lofty helplessness throughout the duration of the romance. For at every stage of the proceeding your mind will know more about the language than hers; her knowledge is in her tongue.

There are only two forces in this world, love and pride, and upon these two I base my linguistic system. I do not assault you with rules of syntax, with paradigms, with conjugations, declensions, and other things appealing purely to the intellect, and to that weakly. I go straight to the heart. I put you in the position of a child, for whom life itself—that is, love and pride—demands a learning of his language. And I put your wind and the waves and the stars and the sunshine, and all the forces of nature, run to help you when you have made yourself a child. You will read your grammar in the intervals of study. It will rest and relax you from the thrilling excitement of your lessons. You will find its pages colored with the same emotion, but in a milder tone. And if you do not overdo it—-if you do not get all the most passionate words in the language whirling through your brain at a rate fatal to the tissue—I guarantee that inside of two weeks you will have communicated some of the most profound and dangerous thoughts in our soul. Inside of a month you will have said enough in that language to keep you busy regretting in English as it begins to get loose in a foreign language. Those words mean what they say, but they do not mean it seriously. They are play words. They are exercises of agility. They are not yet firmly geared in with the real world, arising out of causes and attached to consequences. They are laughing in space. Prudence would be an affectation. You say wild things and you say them with enormous and sincere enthusiasm—enthusiasm about your ability to say them. It is not only learning a language when you learn it according to my system—it is taking a little breath of the free, superficial and inconsequential life of the gods.

谈谈学习外语

M.伊斯特曼

我在莫斯科呆了几个星期，跟一些美国人谈了谈，又隔墙窥视了一下俄罗斯人的生活，我决定学习俄语。我不想搜集零零星星的二手材料，我并不要信息材料，我要的是在无产阶级专政制度下人们生活的感受。而只有一个办法能够获得这种感受。我早泡上了好多时间学习俄语语法，学习莱蒙托夫和普希金的诗。我读他们的诗就用我以前读贺拉斯和维吉尔的诗时用的方法。那种方法是学不到什么东西的。

我现在有了一套自己学习外语的方法，一套建立在对人的思想感情深刻了解基础上的方法。我想在这里把这种方法介绍给读者，不过稍有保留。第一件要做的事是到说这种语言的国家首都去，再买一本语法书和两本红封面的小辞典，然后再买一张火车票。这张火车票可以让你乘到远离首都的地方，在那里你完全听不到你本族语的声音。最佳的选择是避暑胜地。因为你在那里可以玩得很开心，而且你有需要的伴儿。

在火车上，在去避暑胜地的路上，你得做一些艰苦的工作。它是我的学习方法所要求做的惟一的工作，而且要求你干得一丝不苟。你得学会所学语言中的有关名称，如什么叫“名词”、“形容词”、“副词”、“分词”、“连结词”、“代名词”和“前置词”。要是你还不知道这些东西在你本族语中是什么意思的话，你得想办法搞清楚。然后，你得学会说这样的一些句子：“那是什么意思？”和“这在俄语中怎么说？”以及这样一些常用的话：“你会说英语吗？”，“你会说法语吗？”，“你会说德语吗？”，“你会说意大利语吗？”，“噢，这太糟糕了！”，“咱们一块儿走走好吗？”。

你有了以上的装备，就在避暑胜地找一家大饭店，到餐厅去挑选一名老师。要是你按我上面说的那样装备好了自己，你就可以放着胆子去干，因为你已经具备一种吸引你老师的力量，一种超越你性格魅力的力量。另外，我得提醒你，挑选老师时，还要注意她的外表，要漂亮一些的，因为在你俩一时无话可说而面面相觑时，你的眼睛得瞧着她许久许久呢。

吃过饭，你可以走到餐厅外面，靠在一根门柱上，或者花园里小桥的栏杆上，或者其他什么地方——无需我说得太具体，当她经过你的时候，你得装出满面愁容，哀楚动人，用你刚学的那点语言，嗑磕巴巴地对她说：“小姐，你会说英语吗？”要是她说不会，你便叹口气，接着问：“你会说德语吗？”在听到第二声“不会”时，你脸上的表情要变得很沮丧，紧接着说：“你会说法语吗？”在听到第三声“不会”时，你要显得惊慌失措，再问她会不会说意大利语、波西米亚语、汉语或其他你会说的任何语言。要是你运气好，她碰巧那些语言都不会说，并且你会发现她对你的困境立刻深感不安，同时也对她自己的语言才能感到十分自卑，自惭形秽。要是我没说错的话，此时你已经跟她在一块散步了，而且你可以预料到她的下一句话：“太糟糕了，你没有一本俄语字典。”或者诸如此类的话。在听到这些话时——尽管听起来不那么悦耳，你可以掏出你的两本红封面的小词典，把标有“俄英”的一本递给她。

称之为工作的那部分到此便告结束了。她会非常好奇地看着你所用语言中的那些词是什么样儿。她翻阅了一下那本小红书，很快指到一个字，也许是那个“热”字，或者其他在一般情况下索然无味地字。在这种情况下，该字像咒语一般具有一种魔力。她打开了一个浪漫故事的大门，可能仅仅打开比头发丝还要细的一条缝隙。你和那位小姐都知道要完全打开这扇门要花很多时间。你们俩人也都知道（如果你们已经到了做事很稳重的年龄），门一旦打开，浪漫故事也就结束了。实际上根本不存在什么浪漫故事，无非是一种期望而已。

就这样，你以一种欣喜的心情，在你的词典里查到“太”这个字，并说“太热了？”

这是我们人的共同特点之一，那就是在一切语言里，不管词汇可能发生如何大的变化，声调却具有大体相同的意思。可惜我们对这个特点从未予以足够的注意。你不必学习如何使俄语的问句说得悦耳动听，也不必学习如何表示怀疑、猜疑、陈述或爱意。要是你认真学了，那么费了很大的劲建造的浪漫故事，在开初的三分钟里就会触礁了。

对你提的问题：“太热了？”她一定迅速做出回答，并滔滔不绝地说个没完，完全忘掉你只有那么一丁点儿俄语老底。也许她会说：“要不我们找一个有树阴的地方坐下。”

她对你连这样简单的建议都听不懂感到有点吃惊，脸上会露出一丝不耐烦、甚至轻蔑的神态。她已经忘记了你曾经宽宏大度地提出用英语、法语、德语、意大利语和波西米亚语交谈的建议。她忘记了天下还有这几种语言。她本能地，也是很自然地感到不能跟别人交谈的人一定是傻瓜。这时，你应该启用你装备中的第二部分。不过使用时，要倍加小心，不要随便乱用，因为这是一种很痛苦的经历，也许她的自尊心还不能够承受住压给她的任务。

我相信你已经能够从她嘴中急促发出的一连串的音节中分辨出一个词来。你便到你的字典里去查找这个词，边查，边心不在焉地喃喃自语：“它是前置词，还是分词？”

你会发现她脸上原来的那副轻蔑的神色为羞愧所替代。她倒抽了一口气，蹙起眉头，从你的肩膀上探过头来瞧你查词典。她的一绺头发轻轻地拂着你的脸颊，说话的声音里充满着温馨与同情。她说：“嗯，让我们一起来找那个字。对，就是这个字！你懂吗？”

这个时候，你们无疑已经走到了某一棵大树底下，思想上也达到了远胜于理解的某种事物，即一种对你自己力量的认识。你处于一种特殊的地位，你比你老师对她要教授的那个问题了解得更多。倘若你像我规劝你那样小心翼翼地使用自己的力量，既不把她吓跑掉——像看到一个聪明过人的怪物那样拔腿逃走，又不让她在一阵傲慢的冲动下，立刻去买一本语法书，学习起她自己的语言来。你便能在这个传奇阶段，自始至终地保持孤苦伶仃而又不卑不亢的态度。因为在每一个阶段，你自己心中明白，你的语法知识比她强，而她的舌头比你强得多。

在这个世界上只有两种力量，即爱心和自尊心。我的语言系统正是建立在这两种力量之上。我不用语法规则、词形变化、动词变化、语尾变化以及其它纯粹诉诸于智力但不起多大作用的东西来向你进攻。我直接诉诸于感情。我把你放在一个儿童的位置上。对于儿童，生活本身——爱心和自尊心——要求他学好语言。我把你的老师也放在类似的位置上。你会感到十分惊奇，发现风、浪、星辰、阳光以及自然界的万物都会跑过来帮助你，帮助你这个成为儿童的人。当然，你可以在学习的间隙读你的语法。它会让你得到休息，松弛一下，从紧张热烈的上课中解脱出来。你会发现语法书同样充满感情色彩，只是语气温和些。要是你不做得过火的话，也就是说你没有以旋风般的速度把你所学语言中最富有感情的词汇灌进你脑袋的话（附带说一下，这种高速度对于脑子的机体极其有害），那么我保证你在两周之内就能把灵魂深处最深刻、最危险的思想跟人进行交流。不出一个月，你会用那种语言说许多许多话，乃至使你将对自己用英语抱憾终身。因为当你的舌头能运用自如地说外语时，你的舌头会表现得极端不负责任。那些词是表达那些意思，但是并不当真。它们是游戏文字，用来操练舌头的。它们并不跟真实世界牢牢地联接在一起，由原因产生，又归之结果，因果相关。它们在空间嘲笑。谨慎成了矫揉造作。你乱说一通，放纵不羁，而且戴着巨大和真诚的热情来说——一种对你有能力说话的热情。当你用我的方法来学习外语时，你不仅仅是在学外语，而且是在呼吸一点自由的空气，一点肤浅的毫无意义的神的气息。

William J.Lederer - A Sailor's Christmas Gift

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

Last year at Christmas time my wife, three boys, and I were in France, on our way from Paris to Nice. For five wretched days everything had gone wrong. Our hotels were “tourist traps”; our rented car broke down; we were all restless and irritable in the crowded car. On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a dingy hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts.

It was raining and cold when we went out to eat. We found a drab little joint shoddily decorated for the holiday. It smelled greasy. Only five tables in the restaurant were occupied. There were two German couples, two French families, and an American sailor, by himself. In the corner a piano player listlessly played Christmas music.

I was too stubborn and too tired and miserable to leave. I looked around and noticed that the other customers were eating in stony silence. The only person who seemed happy was the American sailor. While eating, he was writing a letter, and a half-smile lighted his face.

My wife ordered our meal in French. The waiter brought us the wrong thing. I scolded my wife for being stupid. She began to cry. The boys defended her, and I felt even worse.

Then, at the table with the French family on our left, the father slapped one of his children for some minor infraction, and the boy began to cry. On our right, the German wife began berating her husband.

All of us were interrupted by an unpleasant blast of old air. Through the front door came an old French flower woman. She wore a dripping, tattered overcoat, and shuffled in on wet, rundown shoes. Carrying her basket of flowers, she went from one table to the other.

“Flowers, monsieur? Only one franc.”

No one bought any.

Wearily she sat down at a table between the sailor and us. To the waiter she said, “A bowl of soup. I haven’t sold a flower all afternoon.” To the piano player she said hoarsely, “Can you imagine, Joseph, soup on Christmas Eve?”

He pointed to his empty “tipping plate”.

The young sailor finished his meal and got up to leave. Putting on his coat, he walked over to the flower woman’s table.

“Happy Christmas,” he said, smiling and picking out two corsages. “How much are they?”

“Two francs, monsieur.”

Pressing one of the small corsages flat, he put it into the letter he had written, then handed the woman a twenty-franc note.”

“I don’t have change, monsieur,” she said. “I’ll get some from the waiter.”

“No, ma’am.” said the sailor, leaning over and kissing the ancient cheek. “This is my Christmas present to you.”

Straightening up, he came to our table, holding the other corsage in front of him. “Sir,” he said to me, “may I have permission to present these flowers to your beautiful daughter?” In one quick motion he gave my wife the corsage, wished us a Merry Christmas, and departed.

Everyone had stopped eating．Everyone had been watching the sailor. Everyone was silent. A few seconds later, Christmas exploded throughout the restaurant like a bomb. The old flower woman jumped up, waving the twenty-franc note. Hobbling to the middle of the floor she did a merry jig and shouted to the piano player, “Joseph, my Christmas present! And you shall have half, so you can have a feast, too.”

The piano player began to belt out “Good King Wenceslaus,” beating the keys with magic hands, nodding his head in rhythm.

My wife waved her corsage in time to the music. She was radiant and appeared twenty years younger. The tears had left her eyes, and the corners of her mouth turned up in laughter. She began to sing, and our three sons joined her, bellowing the song with uninhibited enthusiasm.

“Gut! Gut!” shouted the Germans. They jumped on their chairs and began singing the words in German. The waiter embraced the flower woman. Waving their arms, they sang in French. The Frenchman who had slapped the boy beat rhythm with his fork against a bottle. The lad climbed on his lap, singing in a youthful soprano.

The Germans ordered wine for everyone. They delivered it themselves, hugging the other customers. One of the French families called for champagne－made the rounds, kissing each of us on both cheeks. The owner of the restaurant started “The First Noel,” and we all joined in, half of us crying.

People crowded in from the street until many customers were standing. The walls shook as hands and feet kept time to the Christmas carols.

The miserable evening in a shoddy restaurant ended up being the very best Christmas Eve we had ever experienced just because of a young sailor who had Christmas spirit in his soul. He released the love and joy that had been smothered within us by anger and disappointment. He gave us Christmas.

一个海员的圣诞礼物

威廉·J·莱德勒

去年，在圣诞节期间，我和我的妻子以及我们的三个孩子，从法国踏上由巴黎到尼斯的旅途。由于接连五天的恶劣天气，旅途上一切很不顺心。我们下榻的旅馆尽是些敲诈勒索旅客的“陷阱”；我们租用的那辆汽车老是发生故障，在拥挤不堪的车子上大家个个显得烦躁不安。圣诞节前夕，我们住进了尼斯的一家旅店，这家旅店又脏又暗，我们打心眼里感觉不到丝毫的节日气氛。

我们外出就餐时，天正下着小雨，天气寒冷。我们找到了一家死气沉沉的小餐馆。为点缀一下节日的气氛，这家餐馆刚刚做了番粗劣的装潢。一进门就闻到一股刺鼻的油污气味。整个餐厅只有五张桌子有人就餐：两对德国夫妇，两户法国家庭和一名孑然一身的美国水手。在餐厅的一个角落里，有位钢琴师在无精打采地弹奏着圣诞乐曲。

我情绪低落，加之疲惫不堪，执意不愿离开这儿去找别的餐馆了。我环顾四周，见这里的顾客一个个沉默不语，只顾吃着、喝着，唯独那位美国水手看上去兴高采烈。他一边吃着，一边写信，面带微笑，光彩熠熠。

我的妻子给我们叫来了法国式的饭菜，而服务员给我们端来的却是别的东西。我斥责妻子尽干些蠢事，她哭了起来。孩子们一个个都护着他们的妈妈，于是我的情绪变得更加糟糕。

继而，坐在我们左侧餐桌上的那家法国人父亲因为一点鸡毛蒜皮的小事动手打了他的一个孩子一记耳光，那个小男孩哇哇大哭起来。在我的右边，那个德国妇女不知因何缘故开始喋喋不休地数落、责骂起她的丈夫来。

我们大家都被一阵令人不快、死灰复燃的陈规陋习弄得心烦意乱。这时，从前门进来一个卖花的法国老妪。她浑身湿透，衣衫褴褛，脚穿一双水淋淋的破鞋，手里提着花篮，沿桌叫卖。

“买花吗，先生？一束才一个法郎哩。”

谁也没有答理她。

她疲惫不堪，在水手和我们之间的那张餐桌旁边坐了下来，对服务员说：“请来碗汤吧。整整一下午，我连一朵花也不曾脱手。”接着，她转向那位钢琴师，用嘶哑的声音问，“在圣诞节前夕喝碗汤，约瑟夫，你能设想这种滋味吗？”

钢琴师指了指身旁的那只空空如也的“放小费的盘子”。

那位年轻的海员已用罢晚餐，欠起身来准备离开餐馆。他披上外套，走到卖花老妪的桌前。

“祝您圣诞快乐！”说着，他笑嘻嘻地从花篮里挑出两束专供妇女佩带在前胸的鲜，“多少钱？”

“两个法郎，先生。”

他把其中的一束花压平，放进一封已经写好的笺里，然后将一张20法郎面额的钞票递给了老妪。

“我没有零钱找您，先生。”她说，“我这就向服务员去借。”

“不用了，夫人。”说着，水手俯身吻了吻老太婆那张皱纹褶褶的老脸，“这是我送给您的圣诞礼物。”

他直起身躯，朝我们的餐桌走来，那另一束鲜花擎在他的胸前。“先生，”“他对我说，“我可以将这束花作为礼物送给您漂亮的妻子吗？”说着，他迅速地将那束鲜花塞到我妻子的手中，道了声“圣诞快乐”，便转身走出了餐馆。

人们都放下手中的餐具，个个目不转睛地看着那位水手，整个餐厅悄无声息。几秒钟后，圣诞节日那固有的欢乐激情像枚炸弹似地爆裂开来。卖花老妪腾身站起，挥动着她手中的那张20法郎的钞票。她跌跌绊绊地走到餐厅的中央，欢快地踏起了舞步，冲着钢琴师大声嚷：“约瑟夫，瞧瞧我这份圣诞礼物吧！说什么我也得让你分享其中的一半，让你也能吃上一顿丰盛的圣诞晚餐。”

钢琴师急速地弹起了《好国王温西斯劳斯》舞曲，魔术般的指头敲击着琴键，头部和着乐曲的旅律频频点动。

我的妻子也随着音乐的节奏挥动着那束鲜花。她容光焕发，仿佛一下子年轻了20岁。幸福的泪水夺眶而出，嘴角上绽出青春的笑容。她启动歌喉，放声歌唱，我们的三个孩子随声和了起来。他们纵情高歌，没有一丝半缕的拘谨感。

“好！好！”德国人高声喝彩。他们跳到椅子上，并用德语唱起这支歌。服务员上前拥抱着卖花的老太太，两人同时挥舞手臂，用法语唱了起来。那个曾打了他的儿子一巴掌的法国男子用餐叉敲击着酒瓶打起了拍子，那男孩爬上他爸爸的膝盖，用童声男高音歌唱起来。

德国人请在场的每个人喝酒。人们自斟自饮，相互拥抱。那家法国人当中的一位要来了香槟——到每张桌上给人敬酒，并吻了每个人的双颊。饭馆老板带头唱起圣诞歌，我们大家都跟着唱，其中有半数人是含着眼泪唱的。

人们络绎不绝地从街上向餐馆涌来，其中一些顾客由于没有空位而只好站在那里。人们和着圣诞歌的节奏手舞足蹈，声音震得餐厅的四壁阵阵发颤。

没想到在这家简陋的小餐馆里所度过的那个凄凉的夜晚，结果竟变成我们终生难忘的最最美好的圣诞之夜。这全亏那位灵魂中闪烁着圣诞精神的年轻海员。是他把我们由于愤懑和失望而被压抑在内心深处的爱心和欢乐给引发出来的。他赐给了我们圣诞的欢乐

Glories of the Storm

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

It begins when a feeling of stillness creeps into my consciousness. Everything has suddenly gone quiet. Birds do not chirp. Leaves do not rustle. Insects do not sing.

The air that has been hot all day becomes heavy. It hangs over the trees, presses the heads of the flowers to the ground, sits on my shoulders. With a vague feeling of uneasiness I move to the window. There, in the west, lies the answer—cloud has piled on the cloud to form a ridge of mammoth white towers, rearing against blue sky.

Their piercing whiteness is of brief duration. Soon the marshmallow rims flatten to anvil tops, and the clouds reveal their darker nature. They impose themselves before the late-afternoon sun, and the day darkens early. Then a gust of wind whips the dust along the road, chill warning of what is to come.

In the house the door shuts with a bang, curtains billow into the room. I rush to close the windows, empty the clothesline, secure the patio furnishing. Thunder begins to grumble in the distance.

The first drops of rain are huge. They splat into the dust and imprint the windows with the individual signatures. They plink on the vent pipe and plunk on the patio roof. Leaves shudder under their weight before rebounding, and the sidewalk wears a coat of shiny spots.

The rhythm accelerates; plink follows faster and faster until the sound is a roll of drums and the individual drops become an marching over fields and rooftops. Now the first bolt of lightning stabs the earth. It is heaven’s exclamation point. The storm is here!

In spite of myself, I jump at the following crack of thunder. It rattles the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get under the bed. The next bolt is even closer. It raises the hair on the back of my neck, and I take an involuntary step away from the window.

The rain now becomes a torrent, flung capriciously by a rising wind. Together they batter the trees and level the grasses. Water streams off roofs and out of rain spouts. It pounds against the window in such a steady wash that I am sightless. There is only water. How can so much fall so fast? How could the clouds have supported this vast weight? How can the earth endure beneath it?

Pacing through the house from window to window, I am moved to open-mouthed wonder. Look how the lilac bends under the assault, how the day lilies are flattened, how the hillside steps are a new-made waterfall! Now hailstones thump upon the roof. They bounce white against the grass and splash into the puddles. I think of the vegetable garden, the fruit trees, the crops in the fields; but, thankfully, the hailstones are not enough in numbers or size to do real damage. Not this time.

For this storm is already beginning to pass. The tension is released from the atmosphere, the curtains of rain let in more light. The storm has spent most of its energy, and what is left will be extended on the countryside to the east.

I am drawn outside while the rain still falls. All around, there is a cool and welcome feeling. I breathe deeply and watch the sun’s rays streak through the breaking clouds. One ray catches the drops that form on the edge of the roof, and I am treated to a row of tiny, quivering colors—my private rainbow.

I pick my way through the wet grass, my feet sinking into the saturated soil. The creek in the gully runs bank—full of brown water, but the small lakes and puddles are already disappearing into the earth. Every leaf, brick, shingle and blade of grass is fresh-washed and shining.

Like the land, I am renewed, my spirit cleansed. I feel an infinite peace. For a time I have forgotten the worries and irritations I was nurturing before. They have been washed away by the glories of the storms.

辉煌壮丽的暴风雨

起初，有一种平静的感觉悄然袭上我的心头。刹那间，万物都突然沉寂无声。鸟儿不啁啾，树叶不再沙沙作响，昆虫也停止了欢唱。

整日闷热的空气变得格外呆滞，它笼罩着树木，逼的花朵垂向地面，也压得我肩头沉甸甸的。我怀着隐隐的烦躁不安，信步走到窗边。原来答案就在西边天际，云层重重叠叠，就像一排嵯峨的白塔，高耸在蓝天之上。

云彩那耀眼的白色转瞬便消失了。顷刻间，棉花糖状的云边变得像铁砧一样平展，云层也露出了阴暗的本来面目。它强行遮住西斜的太阳，使天色早早地黑了下来。接着，劲风骤起，一路卷起尘土飞扬，冷嗖嗖的，预示着即将来临的一切。

砰的一声，风关上了一扇房门，窗帘也随风扬起，向屋内翻卷着。我急忙跑过去关上窗户，收下晾晒的衣服，安顿好露台上的家什。远处开始响起隆隆的雷声。

最初落下来的是大颗大颗的水珠，扑扑地打在尘土里，在玻璃窗上留下了一个个印记。雨点把排水管敲得叮叮当当，把露台顶棚打得噼噼啪啪，树叶被砸得瑟瑟发抖，难以抬头。人行道披上了一层亮闪闪的水点。

雨加快了节奏，叮叮当当紧跟着噼噼啪啪，一阵紧似一阵，终于连成一片紧密的鼓点，颗颗雨滴也汇集成一支行进在田野和屋顶的大军。这时，第一道闪电刺向大地，这是老天划的惊叹号。暴风雨来了。

随即响起了一声霹雳，我不禁跳了起来，雷声震得窗户咯咯作响，吓得狗儿三抓两爬钻到床底下。第二道闪电离得更近。我惊得寒毛倒竖，不由得从窗边后退了一步。

这时，雨下得简直是倾盆如注，狂风吹得雨水飘摇不定。风雨交加，恣意地抽打树木，夷平草地。雨水从屋顶奔流而下，漫出了排水管，不停地泼洒在窗户上，使我什么也看不清楚。眼前只有水。这么多雨水，怎么能下得这么急？云层怎么能承受得住这么巨大的重量？大地怎么能经受得起这样的冲击？

我在房里踱来踱去，从一个窗口走到另一个窗口，室外的景色使我瞠目结舌，惊叹不已。瞧，在暴风雨的袭击下，丁香折弯了腰，萱草倒伏在地，山坡上的石阶小道变成了一帘新辟的瀑布！这时突然下起冰雹，乒乒乓乓地砸在屋顶上，顷刻间草地上银珠纷飞，水洼里水花四溅。我开始担心园里的蔬菜、果树，还有田里的庄稼；不过，谢天谢地，冰雹个头不大，数量也不多，还不足以造成什么实际损失，至少这次是不会了。

因为这场暴风雨即将过去，紧张的气氛缓和了，从雨幕中透出更多的亮光。暴风雨已耗去了大部分的精力，还有一点余威只能到东边的乡间中去施展了。

雨仍在淅淅沥沥地下着，我却忍不住走到室外。环境是那么清新宜人。我深深地呼吸着新鲜空气，仰望那穿云而出的道道阳光，有一束阳光恰巧映射在屋檐边的水珠上，我便看到一条细细的、微微颤动着的七色彩带——一条供我个人欣赏的彩虹。

我小心翼翼地穿过那湿漉漉的草地，双脚不时陷入雨水浸透的土壤中。河谷里的小溪满载着浑浊的泥水奔流而去但那些小水洼和小水坑里的水已渗入地下，都不见了踪影。每片树叶和草叶，每块砖头和卵石都冲洗得纤尘不染，熠熠发光。

像大地一样，我也焕然一新，心灵得到了净化。我感到无比的平静，一时间全然忘掉了以往郁积在心头的烦恼与忧愁。它们都已被这辉煌壮丽的暴风雨荡涤得干干净净。

Lynn Rosellini

Doug Heir

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

It was Father’s Day 1978, and Doug Heir, a brawny 18-year-old, was working as a lifeguard at a pool in Fairfield, N.J. Suddenly he spotted a struggling child crying for help. Doug dived off the nine-foot lifeguard stand into the pool. The next thing he saw was a white flash as his head struck the concrete bottom.

The water turned red around him, and Dong felt he was drowning. Then he saw his brother, Brian, pulling him to the surface.

“Somebody’s in trouble over there,” Doug sputtered, blood gushing from his head.

“Don’t worry,” said Brian, in words his brother would never forget. “The kid was faking.”

Doug couldn’t move. A defensive tackle on his college football team, he was used to being hit hard. He was just stunned, he thought.

Brian and the other lifeguards lifted Doug from the water. Later, as paramedics from an ambulance unit hovered over him, Doug waited for feeling to return to his body. The minutes ticked by, yet his legs and hands remained numb. He was frightened.

A few miles away in North Caldwell, Leonard and Carol Heir’s preparations for a Father’s Day barbecue were interrupted by a telephone call from the pool manager. They arrived at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair just as their son, his head cradled in towels, was carried in on a stretcher. The prognosis came quickly: a broken neck, irreversible spinal damage. “He’s a quadriplegic,” said the doctor. “Doug has lost all use of his hands and legs.”

By now, Doug was in deep shock. It was decided to transfer him to Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where he could get the best care. At six the next morning, Doug went into surgery. For three hours, doctors at Bellevue rebuilt his shattered neck, taking bone from his hip.

In January 1979, six months after the accident, Doug moved home. The next day, he entered Ramapo College of New Jersey, a small school in Mahwah with excellent facilities for the handicapped. He plunged into his political-science studies, accumulating a straight-A average, and began swimming and lifting weights. Before long, the phys-ed instructor asked Doug, “Why don’t you enter a wheelchair competition?”

Doug said he wasn’t interested, but the teacher persisted. Finally Doug agreed to enter a race. On the day of the meet, as he sat at the starting line in his heavy, everyday wheelchair, Doug noticed that the other competitors had fancy, light racing chairs.

Then the starter’s gun went off, and Doug barreled down the course, pushing his wheels faster and faster. As the unwieldy chair gained speed, Doug lost control. His chair careened into an opponent, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

Doug was disqualified. But as friends helped him right his chair, his heart pounded with excitement. And a grin spread over his face. Discouraged? He was elated!

At the next meet, Doug concentrated on field events. His shot put was good enough to qualify him for the annual National Wheelchair Games, to be held on Father’s Day 1979.

Doug won a bronze medal in shot put that day. But more important, he met the world-champion wheelchair athlete, whose muscular chest and arms and powerful throws astonished Doug. “I’m going to beat that guy one day,” he vowed.

After that, his training began in earnest. Every day at 7 a .m. Leonard, Brian and Doug gathered in their back yard. First Brian and his father helped Doug stretch and warm up his arms. Then, while his father held the wheelchair and Brain coached, Doug put the shot and threw the discus and javelin. Afterward, he swam half a mile and worked out for two hours on a weight-training machine in his bedroom.

In time, his biceps bulged to 18 1/2 inches, and Doug was able to bench-press 400 pounds. Between classes at Ramapo, he traveled with the Jersey Wheelers wheelchair team and began cleaning up in local competitions. When he entered his second national games in 1980, he came away with silver medals in shot put, discus and pentathlon. The following year he won a gold in discus, plus silvers in shot put and javelin.

Even with success, Doug occasionally got discouraged. On winter mornings, the ground where he trained was snowy and frozen, the wind bitter. In summer, the heat and humidity seemed to cook him alive. As a result of his accident, Doug couldn’t perspire from his shoulders downward, and Brian had to spray him with water to ward off heat exhaustion.

Why am I trying so hard? Doug sometimes wondered. And then he would remember the long, helpless days in the hospital, the despair, and the support of his family. How could he let them down?

In1982, Doug won three gold medals at the World Games, and he graduated from Ramapo as a dean’s list scholar. That fall, he entered Rutgers School of Law in Camden, N.J. But he also had another goal: doing his best in the 1984 Paralympics, in Aylesbury, England.

On the morning of July 29, Doug took his place with other Paralympic athletes for his first event, the javelin competition. He noticed reporters crowding around a South African athlete who had just thrown the javelin.

“A world record!” someone said.

Doug’s heart fell. The record had been his.

He rolled to the throwing circle, took several deep breaths and glanced at his father. “You can do it!” Leonard Heir shouted.

Doug took a practice throw. Then, as he lifted the javelin and drew back his arm, the crowd grew still. With a supreme effort, he hurled the slim rod skyward, nearly catapulting himself from the chair. When the javelin plunged to earth, the crowd erupted in thunderous shouts. Doug had set yet another record!

Before the Paralympics were over, Doug had won not only the gold medal for javelin but also golds in discus and shot put, plus a silver in pentathlon. As he accepted his four medals, the American flag flying behind him, he had never been happier.

“If you look at life,” he told a reporter, “there are 10,000 things you can do. With a disability, maybe you can’t do 1,000 of them, but you’ve got to go for the other 9,000. You set your own limits.”

杜格·埃厄

林·罗塞利尼

1978年父亲节这天，杜格·埃厄，一个身强体壮的18岁小伙子，作为救生员在新泽西州费尔菲尔德镇上的一家游泳池值班。突然，他发现有个孩子正在水中挣扎着呼救。杜格从九英尺高的救生台上一个猛子扎入池中。头部撞在混凝土池底上，紧接着，他眼前白光一闪，他周围的水变成了红色，杜格觉得自己快淹死了。随后，他看见哥哥布赖恩把他拖出水面。

“那边有人出事儿了。”杜格一边吐水一边急促而含糊地说，鲜血正从他头上涌出。

“没事儿，”布赖恩说，“那孩子是假装的。”这句话让他弟弟永世难忘。

杜格一动也不能动。作为大学橄榄球队的一名防守抢截，他对于猛烈的冲撞已经习以为常。自己只不过是被震晕了，他想。

布赖恩和其他救生员一起把杜格从水里抬了出来。后来，当急救单位的医护人员在他左右俯身忙碌时，杜格还在等着自己的身体恢复知觉。时间过了一分钟又一分钟，但他的双腿和双手仍然麻木。这下子他可吓坏了。

在几英里之外的北考德威尔镇，伦纳德·海尔和卡萝尔·海尔夫妇正在为父亲节的烤肉野餐做准备，突然间游泳池经理打来了电话。他们到达蒙特克莱市的芒腾赛德医院时，正好看见他们的儿子躺在担架上被送了进来，他的头用毛巾裹着。预后很快就出来了：颈椎骨折，不可逆性脊髓损伤。“他四肢瘫痪了，”大夫说，“杜格完全丧失了使用双手和双腿的能力。”

此时，杜格已处于严重的休克状态。于是，决定把他转往纽约市的贝尔维尤医院，在那里他可以得到最好的治疗。翌晨六时，杜格开始接受手术。大夫们花了3个小时的时间，用从他髋部取出的骨头修复了他粉碎性骨折的颈椎。

1979年1月，即事故后的六个月，杜格回到了家中。第二天，他进入了新泽西州的拉马波学院。这是位于莫沃镇的一所小型学府，有专供残疾人使用的优良设施。入学后，他一心扑在政治学专业的学习上，平均成绩均为优秀，并开始游泳和举重。不久，体育老师问杜格：“你干吗不参加轮椅赛呢？”

杜格说没有兴趣，但那位老师却坚持要杜格试试。最后，杜格同意参加一次竞赛。比赛那天，杜格坐着笨重的普通轮椅停在出发线上时，他注意到别的参赛者使用的都是轻便讲究的竞赛轮椅。

接着，发令员的枪响了，杜格立刻沿着竞赛路线全速前进，把座下的轮子越推越快。随着笨重轮椅的加速，杜格失去了控制。他的轮椅向一侧倾倒，正好撞着一个对手，结果两个人一块儿翻倒在地上。

杜格被取消了比赛资格。可是，当朋友们帮他扶起轮椅时，他的心却兴奋得怦怦直跳，脸上布满了笑容。泄气了吗？不，他还挺得意的呢！

第二次运动会时，杜格把精力集中在田赛项目上。他的铅球成绩已使他有资格参加1979年父亲节举行的一年一度的全国轮椅运动会。

父亲节那天，杜格获得了铅球赛的铜牌。但更重要的是，他遇见了当过世界冠军的轮椅运动员。那位运动员肌肉发达的胸膛和臂膀，以及他强劲有力的投掷，使杜格感到十分惊讶。“有朝一日我要击败那家伙。”他发誓道。

从那以后，他开始了认真的训练。每天早上7点，伦纳德、布赖恩和杜格在他们家后院碰头。首先，布赖恩和父亲帮杜格伸展双臂做准备活动；接下来，父亲扶住轮椅，杜格在布赖恩的指导下练习推铅球和投掷铁饼及标枪；然后，杜格下水游半英里，再回到他卧室的力量训练器上联系两小时。

终于，杜格的二头肌鼓了起来，其周长达18.5英寸，他还能卧推400磅的重量。在拉马波学院听课之余，他随同泽西轮椅队四处征战，并开始在当地的比赛中连连夺标。1980年再度参加全国比赛时，他摘走了铅球、铁饼和五项全能三枚银牌。次年，他又获得铁饼金牌，以及铅球和标枪的银牌。

即使有了这样的成功，杜格偶尔也会感到心灰意懒，冬日的清晨，训练场地上冰封学冻，寒风刺骨。一到夏季，溽热的酷夏又似乎要把他活活蒸熟。由于那次事故，杜格的身体从肩部以下不会排汗；因此，布赖恩不得不往他身上喷水以避免中暑。

我干吗要这么拼命地练呢？杜格有时这样问自己。但每当这时，他就会想起在医院里度过的那些漫长的、无能为力的日子和当时的绝望心情，同时，他也会想到家人给于他的大力支持。他怎么能让他们失望呢？

1982年，杜格在世界运动会上赢得三枚金牌，并作为优等生从拉马波学院毕业。当年秋季，他进入位于新泽西州坎登市的拉特格斯法学院深造。但是，他还有另一个目标：要在1984年英国埃尔兹伯里举行的国际伤残人奥运会上发挥出最佳水平。

这年7月29日上午，杜格来到赛场，和其他伤残人奥运会选手一起参加他第一个项目的角逐，即标枪比赛。他发现记者们正围着一个刚投完标枪的南非运动员。

“一项新的世界纪录！”有人说。

杜格的心随之一沉，原先的纪录是他保持的呀！

他坐着轮椅进入投掷圈内，做了几次深呼吸，又朝父亲那边瞥了一眼。“你能行！”伦纳德·海尔叫道。

杜格先进行了一次练习性试投。接着，他举起标枪，向后引臂，人们都静了下来。只见他奋臂一挥，把细长的标枪猛地投向空中，他自己也差点从轮椅中弹出。当标枪终于一头扎进地面时，人群中顿时爆发出雷鸣般的欢呼。杜格再次创造了一项世界纪录！

伤残人奥运会尚未结束，杜格不仅夺得了标枪金牌，而且还荣获了铁饼和铅球的金牌，外加一枚五项全能银牌。当他接受四枚奖牌时，美国国旗在他身后高高飘扬，这是他有生以来最幸福的时刻。

“如果你纵观人生，”他对一位记者说，“你会发现有10,000件你能够做到的事。假如你有某种残疾，也许对其中的1,000件你已经无能为力。但是，你必须努力争取去做好另外9,000件。事在人为啊。”

Edward Verrall Lucas - The School for Sympathy

高健 译注

I had heard a great deal about Miss Beam's school, but not till last week did the chance come to visit it.

The cabman drew up at a gate in an old wall, about a mile out of the town. I noticed as I was waiting for him to give me change that the Cathedral spire was visible down the road. I rang the bell, the gate automatically opened, and I found myself in a pleasant garden facing a square, red, ample, Georgian house, with the thick white window-frames that to my eyes always suggest warmth and welcome and stability. There was no one in sight but a girl of about twelve, with her eyes covered with a bandage, who was being led carefully between the flower-beds by a little boy of some four years her junior. She stopped, and evidently asked who it was that had come in, and he seemed to be describing me to her. Then they passed on, and I entered the door which a smiling parlour-maid — that I had expected — that pretty sight! — was holding open for me.

Miss Beam was all that I had expected - middle-aged, authoritative, kindly, and understanding. Her hair was beginning to turn grey, and her figure had a fullness likely to be comforting to a homesick child.

We talked idly for a little while, and then I asked her some questions as to her scholastic methods, which I had heard were simple.

“Well,” she said, “we don’t as a matter of fact do much teaching here. The children that come to me — small girls and smaller boys — have very few formal lessons: no more than is needful to get application into them, and those only of the simplest — spelling, adding, subtracting, multiplying, writing. The rest is done by reading to them and by illustrated discourses, during which they have to sit still and keep their hands quiet. Practically there are no other lessons at all.”

“But I have heard so much,” I said, “about the originality of your system.”

Miss Beam smiled. “Ah, yes,” she said. “I am coming to that. The real aim of this school is not so much to instil thought as thoughtfulness — humanity, citizenship. That is the ideal I have always had, and happily there are parents good enough to trust me to try and put it into execution. Look out of the window a minute, will you ?”

I went to the window, which commanded a large garden and playground at the back.

“What do you see ?” Miss Beam asked. “I see some very beautiful grounds,” I said, “and a lot of jolly children; but what perplexes me, and pains me too, is to notice that they are not all as healthy and active as I should wish. As I came in I saw one poor little thing being led about owing to some trouble with her eyes, and now I can see two more in the same plight; while there is a girl with a crutch just under the window watching the others at play. She seems to be a hopeless cripple."

Miss Beam laughed. “Oh, no,” she said; “she’s not lame, really; this is only her lame day. Nor are those others blind; it is only their blind day.” I must have looked very much astonished, for she laughed again. “There you have an essential part of our system in a nutshell. In order to get a real appreciation and understanding of misfortune into these young minds we make them participants in misfortune too. In the course of the term every child has one blind day, one lame day, one deaf day, one maimed day, one dumb day. During the blind day their eyes are bandaged absolutely, and it is a point of honour not to peep. The bandage is put on overnight; they wake blind. This means that they need assistance in everything, and other children are told off to help them and lead them about. It is educative to both of them — the blind and the helpers.”

“There is no privation about it,” Miss Beam continued. “Everyone is very kind, and it is really something of a joke, although, of course, before the day is over the reality of the affliction must be apparent even to the least thoughtful. The blind day is, of course, really the worst,” she went on, “but some of the children tell me that the dumb day is the most dreaded. There, of course, the child must exercise will-power only, for the mouth is not bandaged.... But come down into the garden and see for yourself how the children like it.”

Miss Beam led me to one of the bandaged girls, a little merry thing, whose eyes under the folds were, I felt sure, as black as ash-buds. “Here’s a gentleman come to talk to you,” said Miss Beam, and left us.

“Don’t you ever peep?” I asked, by way of an opening.

“Oh, no,” she exclaimed; “that would be cheating. But I’d no idea it was so awful to be blind. You can’t see a thing. One feels one is going to be hit by something every moment. Sitting down’s such a relief.”

“Are your guides kind to you ?” I asked.

“Pretty good. Not so careful as I shall be when it’s my turn. Those that have been blind already are the best. It’s perfectly ghastly not to see. I wish you’d try !”

“Shall I lead you anywhere?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” she said; “let’s go for a little walk. Only you must tell me about things. I shall be so glad when today’s over. The other bad days can’t be half as bad as this. Having a leg tied up and hopping about on a crutch is almost fun, I guess. Having an arm tied up is a little more troublesome, because you have to get your food cut up for you, and so on; but it doesn’t really matter. And as for being deaf for a day, I shan’t mind that — at least, not much. But being blind is so frightening. My head aches all the time, just from dodging things that probably aren’t there. Where are we now?”

“In the playground.” I said, “going towards the house. Miss Beam is walking up and down the terrace with a tall girl.”

“What has the girl got on?” my companion asked.

“A blue serge skirt and pink blouse.”

“I think it’s Millie. She said. “What colour’s her hair?”

“Very light,” I said.

“Yes, that’s Millie. She’s the head girl. She’s awfully decent.”

“There’s an old man tying up roses,” I said.

“Yes, that’s Peter. He’s the gardener. He’s hundreds of years old!”

“And here comes a dark girl in red, on crutches.”

“Yes,” she said; “that’s Beryl.”

And so we walked on, and in steering this little thing about I discovered that I was then times more thoughtful already than I had any notion of, and also that the necessity of describing the surroundings to another makes them more interesting.

When Miss Bean came to release me I was quite sorry to go, and said so.

“Ah!” she replied; “then there is something in my system after all!”

I walked back to the town murmuring (inaccurately as ever) the lines: —

Can I see another’s woe

And not share their sorrow too?

O no, never can it be,

Never, never, can it be.

毕姆小姐的学校

爱德华·凡尔拉尔·卢卡斯著

毕姆小姐的学校我已经久有所闻，但是直到上周才得机会前去拜访。

车夫把车停在一道古旧墙垣的门前，那里离城约有一里左右。就在我等着找钱的工夫，那教堂的巍峨尖顶已从路的远方映入我的眼帘。我进门前拉了拉门铃，街门竞无人而自开，这时呈现在眼前的是一座幽美的花园，给我一种温暖亲切与安详之感。在整个院中我只见到了一个女孩，大约十一二岁，眼睛扎着绷带，由一个比她小三四岁的小男孩慢慢牵着穿行花坛。她突然停下步来，显然是在询问来人是谁，于是男孩又似乎在把我的样子说给她听，然后他们便过去了。这时我已走进了由一个满面笑容的女佣人——多么美的景象——为我打开的客厅房门。

毕姆小姐正是我心目中准备见到的那种人——中等年纪，很有威信，和蔼可亲，通达透彻。她的鬓角已渐发白，但她那丰腴的体态对于一个正在想家的儿童的确不无一种慰藉作用。

寒喧既毕，我便针对她的教育方法提出了一些问题，而这些方法，据我以前听说，则是较单纯的。

“是的，”她回答道，“事实上我们这里并不进行大量教学。那些前来就学的儿童——年龄不大的女孩和甚至更小的男孩——所上的正式课程并不很多：往往不外是一些实用上所必需的东西，而且这些也只限于最简单的——加减乘除与拼写造句之类。至于其余的课程，不是由教师阅读一些内容给他们听，便是看图识物之类。这时我们只要求他们专心听讲、遵守秩序就是了。实际上这就是我们的全部课程。”

“可是，”我提出，“我曾一再听人们讲，你们的体系中颇有一些独创的地方。”

毕姆小姐笑了笑。“噢，是的，”她接着道，“我正准备来谈这个。这个学校的真正宗旨主要还不在教人如何思考，而在教人学会体贴——仁爱同情与公民美德。这是我个人的一贯理想，而幸运的是，社会上也竟有一些做父母的慨然给了我机会来进行尝试，以便把这种理想付诸实行。好了，现在就先请你向窗外看。”

我来到窗边，凭窗可望见下面一片广阔的花园，花园后面还有一个儿童的游戏场地。

“请问你看到了什么?”毕姆小姐问我。

“我看到的是一片非常美丽的场地，”我回答道，“还有一群快乐的孩子；可是使我感到困惑，甚至痛苦的是，我觉得这些孩子并不都像我想象的那么健康活泼。刚才我进来时就看见个小东西走路要人搀扶，因为眼睛有毛病；现在又看到了两个同类情形，另外站在窗下观看孩子

们作游戏的那个女孩也拄着拐杖，她的腿看起来已经无可救药了。”

毕姆小姐大笑起来。“噢，并不，”她道，“她并不真是个跛子；而只是今天是她的瘸日。另外几个也并不瞎，而是因为今天是他们的盲日。”我这时的神气一定显得诧异极了，因为她又笑了。“看了这个，你大概已经能够对我们体系的要点有几分了解了吧。为了使这些幼小心灵真正能够理解和同情疾苦不幸，我们就得使他们进入到这些疾苦不幸之中。所以一个学期当中，每个孩子都得过一个盲日，一个瘸日，一个聋日和一个哑日。

比如在盲日那天，他们的眼睛就要被严格地绷扎起来，而把是否从绷带缝内偷看当成一件荣誉攸关的大事。那绷带头一天夜里就要扎上，第二天一醒便什么也看不见了。这就是说他们事事都得要人帮助，而别的孩子也被打发去帮助他们，引领他们。这会使双方都受到教育， 盲者本人和帮助盲者的人。”

“不过倒也不必担心那患者会短缺什么，”毕姆小姐接着说道，“每个人都会很体贴的，而且这事说来也不过是个玩笑，可是不消一天工夫那痛苦的现实就会呈露出来，即使对那最迟钝的人。当然盲日是最受罪的一天，”她继续说，“可有些孩子对我说哑日才是最可怕的。这时孩子们就要全凭发挥意志力了，因为嘴是不绷扎的……现在就请您到园中去走走，亲自看看孩子们对这些的反应如何。”

毕姆小姐将我引到一个扎着绷带的女孩——一个可爱的小姑娘的面前，她绷带下的一双眼睛，我敢说，会像榛芽一样乌黑。“现在有位先生前来和你谈谈”，毕姆小姐作了这句介绍，便走开了。

“你从来不从缝里偷看吗?”我用这句话打开了话题。

“噢，从来不，”她大声道，“那就是欺骗了。过去我完全不知道没有眼睛是这么可怕。你真是什么也看不见。你老是担心会给什么东西撞着。只有坐下来才能放心。”

“你的向导们对你好吗?”我问她。

“还算不错。不过不如轮到我时那么细心。自己当过盲人以后对人就特别好。什么都看不见真是太可怕了。但愿您也能来试试。”

“让我领你走走好码?”我又问道。

“好极了，”她道，“我们就一起走走吧。可您得告诉我周围都有些什么。我真盼这一天能早些过去。其它那些什么什么日并不像盲目这么可怕。把一条腿捆了起来拄着棍儿走简直还挺好玩，我是这么觉得。把胳臂绑上就痛苦多了，这样吃起饭来自己不能使用刀叉，还有别的麻烦，不过也还不太要紧。聋日那天我也不怕，至少不太厉害。盲日可是太吓人了。这时我总是觉得头疼，可能是因为老得躲东西的缘故，其实好些地方也没有东西。现在我们走到哪儿啦?”

“到操场了，”我回答道，“前面就是回去的路了。毕姆小姐正和一个高个儿女孩在露台上溜达。”“那女孩穿的什么衣服?”

“蓝哔叽裙，粉红外套。”

“那可能是弥莉了。”她说，“头发什么颜色?”

“非常浅淡。”我回答。

“那就是弥莉。我们的级长。规矩体面极了。”

“有个老人在捆扎玫瑰。”

“那是彼得，这里的花匠。简直有一百岁了!”

“对面来了个穿红衣服的黑头发女孩，拄着拐杖。”

“对的，”她说，“那是蓓里尔。”

这样我们又走了一程．而就在我领着这小东西的过程中。我发觉，我自己的同情心也比往常胜过十倍；另外，由于不得不把周围的种种说给人听，这样也使他人更多地引起我的兴趣。

当最后毕姆小姐前来解除我的责任时，我真是大有不忍离去之感，而且毫不隐讳地将自己的感觉告诉了她。

“你瞧，”她答复我道．“如此说来我的这套体系也还有不无可取的地方吧!”

我告辞回城，一路上不断吟哦着(尽管照例不够确切)下面的诗句——

“我怎能见到别人苦难

而自己丝毫不想分担?

啊，这样不行，永远不行，

永远永远也不行不行。”

William Trevor - Felicia's Journey

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

The sun is warm now, the water of the river undisturbed. Seagulls teeter on the parapet in front of her, boats go by. The line of trees that breaks the monotony of the pavement is laden with leaves in shades of russet. Figures stride purposefully on a distant bridge, figures in miniature, creatures that could be unreal. Somewhere a voice is loud on a megaphone.

She is not hungry. It will be a few hours before she begins to feel hungry and then there will be the throwaway stuff in the bins. The sky is azure, evenly blue, hardly faded at the edges at all. She moves a hand back and forth on a slat of the seat she is sitting on, her fingers caressing the smooth timber, the texture different where the paint has worn away.

The gap left where a tooth was drawn a fortnight ago has lost its soreness. She feels it with her tongue, pressing the tip of her tongue into the cavity, recalling the aching there has been. It was the Welshman, Davo, who said that. They went along together because he knew the way, “Not many would bother with your toothache,” Davo said. Not many would think toothache would occur in a derelict’s mouth.” You can always come back,” the woman dentist said. “Don’t be in pain.”

The woman dentist has dedicated her existence to the rotten teeth of derelicts, to derelicts’ odour and filth. Her goodness is a great mystery.

She turns her hands so that the sun may catch them differently, and slightly lifts her head to warm the other side of her face.

费利西娅的旅行

威廉·特雷弗

阳光正暖，江面水波不兴。海鸥在她面前的护墙上摇摇摆摆地走着，船只从她身边驶过。一行树木打破了人行道的单调，树上长满了深浅不一的黄褐色树叶。远方桥上的行人心无旁骛大踏步地向前走着，那些小人儿细细点点的，看上去影影绰绰的、似幻似真。远处什么地方的扩音器里传来响亮的声音。

她一点也不饿，还要再过几小时才会感到饿，那时候垃圾箱里自会有人家扔掉的东西。天空湛蓝蓝的，一丝云彩也没有，连天边的颜色都不见淡下去。她用手在座椅的一条横木上来回摩挲着，手指爱抚地摸着光滑的木头，油漆磨掉的地方木料的质感不同。

两周前拔牙后留下的那个豁口现在已经不痛了。她用舌头舔着它，把舌尖伸进那个小洞里，同时回想着那曾经有过的痛楚。那话是那个威尔士人达沃说的，当时他们正搭伴一块儿往前走，因为他认识路。“没有多少人会为你的牙痛操心的。”他说。没有多少人会想到无家可归的人也会牙痛。“你什么时候都可以过来，”那个女牙医说，“别强忍着痛。”

女牙医把自己献给了无家可归者的烂牙，献给了无家可归者身上的臭味和污秽。她的好心肠很是让人费解。

她翻转双手，让阳光从不同的角度照拂着它们，并且微微抬起头，让脸的另一侧也能感受到阳光的温暖。

William N. Brown - Genius Sacrificed for Failure

乔萍、瞿淑蓉、宋洪玮 编著

During my youth in American’s Appalachian mountains, I learn that farmers preferred sons over daughters, largely because boys were better at heavy farm labor (though what boys anywhere could best the tireless Hui’an girls in the fields of Fujian!).

With only 3% of Americans in agriculture today, brain has supplanted brawn, yet culture preference, like bad habits, are easier to make than break. But history warns repeatedly of the tragic cost of dismissing too casually the gifts of the so-called weaker sex.

About 150 years ago, a village church vicar in Yorkshire, England, had three lovely, intelligent daughters but his hopes hinged entirely on the sole male heir, Branwell, a youth with remarkable talent in both art and literature.

Branwell's father and sisters hoarded their pennies to pack him off to London's Royal Academy of Arts, but if art was his calling, he dialed a wrong number. Within weeks he hightailed it home, a penniless failure.

Hopes still high, the family landed Branwell a job as a private tutor, hoping this would free him to develop his literary skills and achieve the success and fame that he deserved. Failure again.

For years the selfless sisters squelched their own goals, farming themselves out as teachers and governesses in support of their increasingly indebted brother, convinced the world must eventually recognize his genius. As failure multiplied, Branwell turned to alcohol, then opium, and eventually died as he had lived: a failure. So died hope in the one male-but what of the three anonymous sisters?

During Branwell's last years, the girls published a book of poetry at their own expense (under a pseudonym, for fear of reviewers' bias against females). Even Branwell might have snickered: they sold only two copies.

Undaunted, they continued in their spare time, late at night by candlelight, to pour out their pent-up emotion, writing of what they knew best, of women in conflict with their natural desires and social condition—in reality, less fiction than autobiography! And 19th century literature was transformed by Anne's Agnes Grey, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte's Jane Eyre.

But years of sacrifice for Branwell had taken their toll. Emily took ill at her brother's funeral and died within 3 months, aged 29; Anne died 5 months later, aged 30; Charlotte lived only to age 39. If only they had been nurtured instead of sacrificed.

No one remembers Branwell's name, much less his art or literature, but the Bronte sisters' tragically short lives teach us even more of life than literature. Their sacrificed genius cries out to us that in modern society we must value children not by their physical strength or sexual gender, as we would any mere beast of burden, but by their integrity, strength, commitment, courage—spiritual qualifies abundant in both boys and girls. China, a nation blessed by more boys and girls than any nation, ignores at her own peril the lesson of the Bronte tragedy.

Patrick Bronte fathered Branwell, but more importantly, he fathered Anne, Emily and Charlotte. Were he alive today he would surely urge us to put away our passé prejudices and avoid his own tragic and irrevocable error of putting all of his eggs in one male basket.

为育庸才损英才

威廉·N. 布朗

我在美国的阿拉巴契亚山区度过青少年时代时，发现那里的农民重男轻女，多半因为男子更能胜任重体力农活——当然，如果要和福建农田里的惠安妇女相比，她们那份不歇不竭的能耐是任何地方的男子都自叹弗如的！

今天在美国，脑力已经取代了体力，只有百分之三的美国人在从事农业。但文化上的习俗正如陋规，形成容易冲破难。面对所谓“阴柔”性别，历史再三告诫我们，若对她们的秉赋过于轻率地否认，其代价将会何其惨重！

约150年前在英国的约克郡有一个乡村教区的牧师，他有三位聪慧可爱的女儿，但是他的希望却独独钉在唯一的继承者儿子布朗维尔身上。这个年轻人在艺术和文学上都有出众的天赋。

父亲和姐妹都省吃俭用，帮兄弟打点完备，送他上了伦敦皇家艺术学院，可是尽管他要以艺术为业，但拨错了号。不到几个礼拜，就不名一文，弃甲归家。

然而家人并不就此罢休，他们又想方设法帮布朗维尔捞到一份私人教师的活儿，希望这份差事能够使他自由发展文学才能，走上应得的功成名就的大道。这次又失败了。

几年来，无私的姐妹们压抑着她们自己的目标和志向，受雇于人做管家或家庭教师以支持她们那日益债台高筑的兄弟，她们深信世界总有一天会认识到他的天才。随着接踵而来的失败，布朗维尔开始酗酒，后来又吸上了鸦片，最后死时与生前一样，一无所成，于是寄托在这唯一男性身上的指望也随之死去。但，那三位默默无闻的姐妹们又如何了呢？

在布朗维尔生前几年，姑娘们自己出资出版了一本诗集（用的是假名，以防编辑们对女性的成见）。只卖出两本，就连布朗维尔也哂笑她们。

然而她们并不气馁。姐妹们继续利用她们的空余时间，夜深人静时秉烛而书，倾吐她们幽禁的情怀，抒写她们最熟悉的一切。她们描写了那种女性自发的意愿与社会环境之间的冲突。实际上她们所写的与其说是小说不如说是自传！于是，19世纪文学就因安妮的《安格尼斯·格雷》、艾米莉的《呼啸山庄》和夏洛特的《简·爱》而改观了。

然而。三姐妹为了布朗维尔的多年牺牲，付出了沉重的代价。艾米莉在她兄弟葬礼的那一天得了病，三个月之后便离世了，年方29岁；五个月后安妮也以30芳龄长逝；夏洛特则只活到39岁，假若她们能早日得到培养而不作牺牲，那该多好啊！

无人再记得布朗维尔的名字，更不用说他的艺术和文学了。然而从勃朗特三姐妹悲剧性的夭折中我们学到的不仅是文学，更重要的是生命之谛，她们牺牲了的天分向我们大声疾呼：现代社会再不能以体力或性别，把子女当牛马来评估了。它必须就忠诚、能力、责任心、勇敢等等男女孩子都富有的精神品质来对他们评价。中国。这个有幸拥有世界上最多的男孩女孩的国家应从勃朗特悲剧中获得认识，免蹈覆辙。

帕特利克·勃朗特养育了布朗维尔，但更重要的，他是安妮、艾米莉和夏洛特的父亲。倘若此人今日仍活着的话，他一定会迫切敦促我们放下我们的古旧偏见，避免他自己的悲剧和抱憾终生的过失：将一切都押在一个男性后裔身上。

Table of Contents

世界医学之父《希波克拉底格言》选译... 8

The Roman Peace by Aelius Aristides 13

罗马的和平 [古罗马] 阿里斯蒂德斯... 13

To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson. 15

约翰逊致切斯特菲尔德伯爵书（五种译文赏析）... 15

说明... 16

译文一　辜正坤 译　文言体译文... 16

译文二　辜正坤 译　白话体译文... 17

译文三　黄继忠译　文言体译文... 18

译文四　高健 译　常风校　文言体译文... 19

译文五　罗珞珈译　文白体译文... 19

附辜正坤译文说明：... 20

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice (Excerpt) 汉译... 24

傲慢与偏见（节选）... 24

Narcissus; or Self-Love by Francis Bacon. 26

论自恋 弗兰西斯·培根... 26

Of Travel by Francis Bacon. 28

周游... 29

杨自伍：靡不有始，鲜克有终... 30

Of Riches by Francis Bacon. 34

论财富... 34

Of Beauty Francis Bacon. 37

谈美... 38

Of Truth by Francis Bacon. 39

谈真理... 39

Of Great Place by Sir Francis Bacon. 41

论高位... 41

Of Marriage and Single Life by Sir France Bacon. 44

谈结婚与独身... 44

Francis Bacon - Of Negotiating 汉译... 45

说洽谈... 46

Francis Bacon - Of Followers and Friends 汉译... 47

谈门客与朋友... 47

Francis Bacon - Of Deformity 汉译... 48

谈残疾... 49

Francis Bacon - Of Custom and Education 汉译... 50

谈习惯和教育... 51

Francis Bacon - Of Nature in Men 汉译... 51

说人之本性... 52

Francis Bacon - Of Discourse 汉译... 53

谈辞令... 53

Francis Bacon - Of Revenge 汉译... 56

论复仇... 56

Francis Bacon - Of Unity in Religion 汉译... 58

谈宗教之统一... 60

Francis Bacon - Of Death 汉译... 63

论死亡... 63

Francis Bacon - Of Fame 汉译... 64

论谣言... 65

Francis Bacon - Of Dispatch 汉译... 66