《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 春 09

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學中小品文的珍品之一。

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

For more than six years I trod the pavement, never stepping once upon mother earth—for the parks are but pavement disguised with a growth of grass. Then the worst was over. Say I the worst? No, no; things far worse were to come; the struggle against starvation has its cheery side when one is young and vigorous. But at all events I had begun to earn a living; I held assurance of food and clothing for half a year at a time; granted health, I might hope to draw my not insufficient wages for many a twelvemonth. And they were the wages of work done independently, when and where I would. I thought with horror of lives spent in an office, with an employer to obey. The glory of the career of letters was its freedom, its dignity!

六年多以來，我都行走于人行道上，從未踏足大地母親—公園也不過是用一些用草偽裝的人行道罷了。那么說，最壞的時候已經過去了。我說最壞了嗎？不，更糟的還在后面。年輕力壯的時候，與饑餓斗爭還有陽光的一面。不管怎樣，我已經開始謀生了，一次拿到的錢就足夠維持半年的衣食。身體不出狀況的話，在將來好多年里還能指望領取那點還算可觀的薪金。這些工資都是獨立工作的回報，是我按自己的心意選擇時間和地點工作的。想到辦公室里的生活，要對上司唯唯諾諾，我就會不寒而栗。文學生涯的光榮就在于它的自由，它的尊嚴！

The fact of the matter was, of course, that I served, not one master, but a whole crowd of them. Independence, forsooth! If my writing failed to please editor, publisher, public, where was my daily bread? The greater my success, the more numerous my employers. I was the slave of a multitude. By heaven's grace I had succeeded in pleasing (that is to say, in making myself a source of profit to) certain persons who represented this vague throng; for the time, they were gracious to me; but what justified me in the faith that I should hold the ground I had gained? Could the position of any toiling man be more precarious than mine? I tremble now as I think of it, tremble as I should in watching someone who walked carelessly on the edge of an abyss. I marvel at the recollection that for a good score of years this pen and a scrap of paper clothed and fed me and my household, kept me in physical comfort, held at bay all those hostile forces of the world ranged against one who has no resource save in his own right hand.

當然事實上，我服務的不是一個主人，而是一群。這又談何獨立!如果我的文章不能讓編輯、出版商和讀者們滿意，那我每天的面包又從何而來？我越成功，雇主就越多，我就是大眾的奴隸。蒙上天眷顧，我的文字還能讓代表這個模糊群體的幾個人感到滿意（也就是說，自己成為了他們獲取利潤的來源）。目前，他們對我相當殷勤，但我有什么理由相信自己能守住已經占領的文學地位呢？還有哪一個勞碌人的地位比我的更岌岌可危嗎？想到這里，我都會發(fā)抖，就像看到一個人在懸崖邊上漫不經心地走動?；貞泿资陙?，我和家人能衣食不愁，物質生活也算舒適，還抵御了一切世間的不幸遭遇和打擊，身無所長的一介文人僅靠著一支筆和一片紙就做到了這些，我不免驚異。

But I was thinking of the year which saw my first exodus from London. On an irresistible impulse, I suddenly made up my mind to go into Devon, a part of England I had never seen. At the end of March I escaped from my grim lodgings, and, before I had time to reflect on the details of my undertaking, I found myself sitting in sunshine at a spot very near to where I now dwell—before me the green valley of the broadening Exe and the pine-clad ridge of Haldon. That was one of the moments of my life when I have tasted exquisite joy. My state of mind was very strange. Though as boy and youth I had been familiar with the country, had seen much of England's beauties, it was as though I found myself for the first time before a natural landscape. Those years of London had obscured all my earlier life; I was like a man town-born and bred, who scarce knows anything but street vistas. The light, the air, had for me something of the supernatural—affected me, indeed, only less than at a later time did the atmosphere of Italy. It was glorious spring weather; a few white clouds floated amid the blue, and the earth had an intoxicating fragrance. Then first did I know myself for a sunworshipper. How had I lived so long without asking whether there was a sun in the heavens or not? Under that radiant firmament, I could have thrown myself upon my knees in adoration. As I walked, I found myself avoiding every strip of shadow; were it but that of a birch trunk, I felt as if it robbed me of the day's delight. I went bare-headed, that the golden beams might shed upon me their unstinted blessing. That day I must have walked some thirty miles, yet I knew not fatigue. Could I but have once more the strength which then supported me!

我的思緒回到第一次出走倫敦的那一年。因為一股不可抑制的沖動，我突然決定要到德文郡去，我之前從沒去過那里。三月底的時候，我從陰暗的寓所逃離，還沒有來得及細想旅行的細節(jié)，就發(fā)現自己已經坐在陽光之下，坐在離現在住處很近的一個地方—面前是漸次開闊的綠油油的?？怂购庸群颓嗨筛采w的哈爾登山脊。那一刻是我人生少有的，我感受到一種奇妙無比的快樂。當時的心態(tài)很奇怪。雖然從小在鄉(xiāng)村長大，看到過英格蘭鄉(xiāng)間的許多美景，但那一刻似乎是我第一次意識到自己面對的是自然景色。倫敦的歲月把我兒時的記憶變模糊了，我就像一個在城里出生長大，除街景外一無所知的孩子。那時的陽光和空氣似乎蘊含著一種超自然的東西—深深地感染了我，這種感覺僅次于我后來在意大利氛圍中的陶醉。那個春日絢爛美麗，白云朵朵在藍天上飄浮，大地散發(fā)出醉人的芬芳。那是我第一次知道原來自己是個崇拜太陽的人。我怎么可以在世上活了這么久，卻從沒問過天上是否有個太陽？在華彩的天穹下，我?guī)缀跻蛳聛肀磉_我的仰慕之情。當我行走時，我發(fā)現自己躲避著每一方陰影；就連樺樹的陰影，我都感覺它會搶走我這一天的快樂。我光著頭，全身心地接受金色光線的慷慨愛撫。那天我可能走了三十英里，卻毫無倦意。如果能再次擁有到那一天支撐我的無窮力量該有多好！

I had stepped into a new life. Between the man I had been and that which I now became there was a very notable difference. In a single day I had matured astonishingly; which means, no doubt, that I suddenly entered into conscious enjoyment of powers and sensibilities which had been developing unknown to me. To instance only one point: till then I had cared very little about plants and flowers, but now I found myself eagerly interested in every blossom, in every growth of the wayside. As I walked I gathered a quantity of plants, promising myself to buy a book on the morrow and identify them all. Nor was it a passing humour; never since have I lost my pleasure in the flowers of the field, and my desire to know them all. My ignorance at the time of which I speak seems to me now very shameful; but I was merely in the case of ordinary people, whether living in town or country. How many could give the familiar name of half a dozen plants plucked at random from beneath the hedge in springtime? To me the flowers became symbolical of a great release, of a wonderful awakening. My eyes had all at once been opened; till then I had walked in darkness, yet knew it not.

我步入了一個全新的生活中。過去的我和現在的我之間有了顯著的區(qū)別。一天之內，我奇跡般地成熟了。毫無疑問，這意味著我突然開始有意識地享受那些在我不知情時不停生長起來的力量和感情。舉一個例子來說：在那之前，我對花草幾乎是漠不關心，但現在我對路邊的每一朵花和每一株植物都充滿了濃厚的興趣。我一路走來，采集了一大把花草，決定第二天就買本書，把它們的名字都查出來。我并不是一時興起，因為從那以后，我再沒有失去對花朵的興趣，也沒有失去了解它們的愿望。我那時的無知現在提起來真是非常羞愧，但當時我和任何一個生活在城里或鄉(xiāng)下的普通人并無二致。有多少人能夠說出從春天的樹籬下隨手采擷的六七種花草的名字呢？對我而言，這些花朵象征著一次偉大的渲泄，一次奇妙的覺醒。我的眼睛就在那一瞬間睜開了；在那之前我一直行走在黑暗中，但卻無所察覺。

Well do I remember the rambles of that springtide. I had a lodging in one of those outer streets of Exeter which savour more of country than of town, and every morning I set forth to make discoveries. The weather could not have been more kindly; I felt the influences of a climate I had never known; there was a balm in the air which soothed no less than it exhilarated me. Now inland, now seaward, I followed the windings of the Exe. One day I wandered in rich, warm valleys, by orchards bursting into bloom, from farmhouse to farmhouse, each more beautiful than the other, and from hamlet to hamlet bowered amid dark evergreens; the next, I was on pine-clad heights, gazing over moorland brown with last year's heather, feeling upon my face a wind from the white-flecked Channel. So intense was my delight in the beautiful world about me that I forgot even myself; I enjoyed without retrospect or forecast; I, the egoist in grain, forgot to scrutinize my own emotions, or to trouble my happiness by comparison with others' happier fortune. It was a healthful time; it gave me a new lease of life, and taught me—in so far as I was teachable—how to make use of it.

我還清楚地記得那次春天的漫游。我住在?？巳爻沁呉粭l街上的一間寓所，那里感覺更像鄉(xiāng)村，而非城市，每天早晨，我都會出發(fā)探險。天氣好到不能更好，我深刻感受到自己不曾了解的氣候的作用?？諝庵械姆曳技日駣^著我，又安撫著我。?？巳睾右粫毫飨騼汝?，一會兒奔向海洋，我順著它的蜿蜒流向散步。一天，我在肥沃溫暖的山谷間漫游，看到繁花盛開的果園，一間比一間漂亮的農舍，一個個掩映在翠綠的常青樹林里的村莊。接著我走上了青松覆蓋的高地，凝視著棕色的經年石南花覆蓋的沼澤地，臉上感受到波光粼粼的海峽吹來的微風。周圍這個美好的世界讓我如此快樂，竟然到了忘我的境地；我沒有回顧過去，也沒有預見將來，只享受現在；我—這個徹底的自我主義者—竟忘了細細體察自己的感受，也忘了拿自己現時的快樂跟其他更幸運的人比較。這真是有益健康的時光，它賜予我生命全新的意義，并教會了我怎樣盡己所能充分利用它。