《四季随笔》节选 - 春 03

《四季随笔》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中对隐士赖克罗夫特醉心于书籍、自然景色与回忆过去生活的描述，其实是吉辛的自述，作者以此来抒发自己的情感，因而本书是一部富有自传色彩的小品文集。

吉辛穷困的一生，对文学名著的爱好与追求，以及对大自然恬静生活的向往，在书中均有充分的反映。本书分为春、夏、秋、冬四个部分，文笔优美，行文流畅，是英国文学中小品文的珍品之一。

以下是由网友分享的《四季随笔》节选 - 春 03的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

I am no botanist, but I have long found pleasure in herb-gathering. I love to come upon a plant which is unknown to me, to identify it with the help of my book, to greet it by name when next it shines beside my path. If the plant be rare, its discovery gives me joy. Nature, the great Artist, makes her common f lowers in the common view; no word in human language can express the marvel and the loveliness even of what we call the vulgarest weed, but these are fashioned under the gaze of every passer-by. The rare flower is shaped apart, in places secret, in the Artist's subtler mood; to find it is to enjoy the sense of admission to a holier precinct. Even in my gladness I am awed.

我虽然不是植物专家，但长久以来一直以收集花草为乐。偶然遇见一株陌生植物，遍查书本得其名，小径重逢之际以名呼之，这在我是一件乐事。若这植物是稀有品种，那就更令我欢喜。大自然这伟大的艺术家赋予普通花草普通的外表。然而即使是最寻常的野草，人类也无法找到语言来描述其神奇和可爱，它们还都是路人皆见的。稀有的花草则不然，它们是大自然这位艺术家更精巧构思的作品，并将它们隐于偏僻之处，遇之则有受允步入神圣疆域的欢欣之感。然而在这欢欣中我不能不心存敬畏。

Today I have walked far, and at the end of my walk I found the little whiteflowered wood-ruff. It grew in a copse of young ash. When I had looked long at the flower, I delighted myself with the grace of the slim trees about it—their shining smoothness, their olive hue. Hard by stood a bush of wychelm; its tettered bark, overlined as if with the character of some unknown tongue, made the young ashes yet more beautiful.

今天散步走得很远，最后我在幼嫩的树丛中，发现了开着小白花的车叶草，我凝视了它许久。花的周围是一株株纤细的树，它们长得油亮光滑，呈橄榄色，让我心里好不欢喜。近旁有一丛坚挺的山榆树，树皮坑坑洼洼，似乎横七竖八地刻着某种未知的文字，将幼嫩的树衬托得愈发美丽了。

It matters not how long I wander. There is no task to bring me back; no one will be vexed or uneasy, linger I ever so late. Spring is shining upon these lanes and meadows; I feel as if I must follow every winding track that opens by my way. Spring has restored to me something of the longforgotten vigour of youth; I walk without weariness; I sing to myself like a boy, and the song is one I knew in boyhood.

我漫游多久都无所谓。没什么等待处理的事务，也没有什么人会因为我在外耽搁太久而恼怒或不安。美好春光在这些小径和草地上闪耀，我感觉自己好像不由自主地想走一走每一条延伸至脚下的蜿蜒小路。春天复苏了我体内沉酣许久的年轻活力；我不知疲倦地散着步，哼着小曲，像小男孩一样，曲子也正是儿时学来的。

That reminds me of an incident. Near a hamlet, in a lonely spot by a woodside, I came upon a little lad of perhaps ten years old, who, his head hidden in his arms against a tree trunk, was crying bitterly. I asked him what was the matter, and, after a little trouble—he was better than a mere bumpkin—I learnt that, having been sent with sixpence to pay a debt, he had lost the money. The poor little fellow was in a state of mind which in a grave man would be called the anguish of despair; he must have been crying for a long time; every muscle in his face quivered as if under torture, his limbs shook; his eyes, his voice, uttered such misery as only the vilest criminal should be made to suffer. And it was because he had lost sixpence!

这勾起了我一件往事。在一个小村庄附近，树林旁一个偏僻的地方，我碰见一个约莫十岁的小男孩。当时他正靠着一棵树，抱头痛哭。我上前询问，费了一番功夫，才从这个愣头愣脑的乡下小子嘴里得知，原来他被差去还六个便士的债，结果把钱丢了。这个可怜的小家伙那时的心境，对于一个严肃的成年人来说，可以称之为“绝望的痛苦”。他一定哭了好一阵子，脸上的每一块肌肉都在颤动，好像在遭受折磨一样，他的四肢在发抖；他的眼睛和声音里流露出的是只有最十恶不赦的罪犯才该承受的痛楚。而一切只是因为他丢了六个便士！

I could have shed tears with him—tears of pity and of rage at all this spectacle implied. On a day of indescribable glory, when earth and heaven shed benedictions upon the soul of man, a child, whose nature would have bidden him rejoice as only childhood may, wept his heart out because his hand had dropped a sixpenny piece! The loss was a very serious one, and he knew it; he was less afraid to face his parents, than overcome by misery at the thought of the harm he had done them. Sixpence dropped by the wayside, and a whole family made wretched! What are the due descriptive terms for a state of "civilization" in which such a thing as this is possible?

我几乎要和他一起流泪—为这一幕情景流下同情和愤怒的眼泪。那天，阳光灿烂得无法用言语描绘，天地向人的灵魂播洒祝福，一个本该纵情欢乐的孩子却哭得死去活来，仅仅是因为他弄丢了六便士！这件事情非常严重，他清楚这一点。比起父母的责难，他更无法忍受的是自己的过失给他们带来的痛苦。真是“路上丢了六便士，一大家子都遭罪”！一个容许这种事情发生的“文明”，我们该用什么合适的词汇来描述它呢？

I put my hand into my pocket, and wrought sixpenny worth of miracle.

我把手伸进口袋，变出了六个便士的“魔法”。

It took me half an hour to recover my quiet mind. After all, it is as idle to rage against man's fatuity as to hope that he will ever be less a fool. For me, the great thing was my sixpenny miracle. Why, I have known the day when it would have been beyond my power altogether, or else would have cost me a meal. Wherefore, let me again be glad and thankful.

半个小时后，我的心情才平静下来。毕竟，为人们的愚蠢发火，和希望他能少做蠢事，都是徒然的。对于我，最可自豪的是那六个便士的魔法。是这样的，我也经历过那样的日子，我根本爱莫能助，或者说，我要付出一顿饭钱的代价。为此，请容许我再次感到喜悦并且感恩。