旅行的藝術(shù):風(fēng)景 Ⅴ 鄉(xiāng)村與城市-4

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城市中的烏煙瘴氣、擁擠、貧窮和丑陋，都是人們抱怨的地方。但是，即使是實(shí)施了清除空氣污染法案，并且掃除了貧民窟，華茲華斯仍舊不會停止批評。因?yàn)?，他關(guān)注的不僅是城市對我們健康構(gòu)成的不良影響，更重要的是它危害我們的內(nèi)在心靈。

Part of the complaint was directed towards the smoke, congestion, poverty and ugliness of cities, but clean-air bills and slum clearance would not by themselves have eradicated Wordsworth's critique. For it was the effect of cities on our souls, rather than on our health, that concerned him.

詩人譴責(zé)城市造成一系列窒息生命的情感，包括對我們所處社會地位的焦慮、對他人成就的羨慕，以及在陌生人面前炫耀的欲望。他直言不諱地表示，城市人毫無主見，只限于在街邊或飯桌上道聽途說、人云亦云。雖然他們生活舒適，卻從未放棄追逐新鮮事物，即使他們什么都不缺、而幸福也根本與他們想要追逐的東西無關(guān)。另外，想在這樣擁擠而焦躁的生活圈子里與他人建立真誠的情誼，要比在一個孤立的居住環(huán)境還要困難。對于自己在倫敦的生活華茲華斯曾作如下描述：“我始終對一件事感到不解：人們?nèi)绾慰赡芘c隔壁的鄰居在同一處生活，卻如陌生人般，全然不知彼此的姓名？”

The poet accused cities of fostering a family of lifedestroying emotions: anxiety about our position in the social hierarchy, envy at the success of others, pride and a desire to shine in the eyes of strangers. City-dwellers had no perspective, he alleged; they were in thrall to what was spoken of in the street or at the dinner table. However well provided for, they had a relentless desire for new things, which they did not genuinely lack and on which happiness did not depend. And in this crowded, anxious sphere, it seemed harder than on an isolated homestead to begin sincere relationships with others. 'One thought baffled my understanding,' wrote Wordsworth of his residence in London, 'how men lived even next-door neighbours, as we say, yet still strangers, and knowing not each other's names.'

我起程前往湖區(qū)的幾個月前，在倫敦市中心（“這個人事喧嘩的世界”——《序曲》）參加了一次聚會，體會到了上述的一些弊端，讓我受盡折磨。我離開了會場，感到格外慶幸，抬頭一看，頭頂上出現(xiàn)的一大片烏云竟讓我感到意外的輕松。雖然它烏黑一片，我卻拿出小型照相機(jī)想把這個景觀拍攝下來。我似乎體驗(yàn)到了華茲華斯詩作中形容的那股自然力量的救贖作用。這片云在幾分鐘前才飄到此處，它很快會隨著強(qiáng)勁的西風(fēng)飄逝而去。周遭辦公樓的燈火，似乎點(diǎn)綴了這片云的邊緣，散發(fā)一股頹廢的橙色熒光，好比一個派對上全身掛滿飾物的老翁。然而，它中央那一團(tuán)花崗巖般的灰色，證明它是空氣與海緩慢交流而成。它不久會飄過埃塞克斯的原野上空，掠過沼澤地和煉油廠，最后飄向那波濤洶涌的北海。

Myself afflicted by a few of these ills, I had, several months before my journey to the Lake District, emerged from a gathering held in the centre of London, that 'turbulent world/of men and things' (The Prelude) . Walking away from the venue, envious and worried about my position, I found myself deriving unexpected relief from the sight of a vast object overhead which, despite the darkness, I attempted to photograph with a pocket camera-and which served to bring home to me, as rarely before, the redemptive power of natural forces with which so much of Wordsworth's poetry was concerned. The cloud had floated over that part of the city only a few minutes before and, given the strong westerly wind, was not destined to remain above it long. The lights of surrounding offices lent to its edges an almost decadent fluorescent orange glow, making it look like a grave old man bedecked with party decorations, and yet its granite grey centre testified to its origins in the slow interplay of air and sea. Soon it would be over the fields of Essex, then the marshes and oil refineries, before heading out over the mutinous North Sea waves.

我一面望著這個奇觀，一面走向公車站，我發(fā)現(xiàn)先前的焦慮退卻了，心中浮現(xiàn)華茲華斯贊頌威爾士山谷的詩句：

Keeping my eyes fixed on the apparition while walking towards the bus stop, I felt my anxieties abate, and turned over in my mind lines that the cadeish poet had once composed in honour of a Welsh valley.