《四季随笔》节选 - 春 09

《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 09的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

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!

六年多以来，我都行走于人行道上，从未踏足大地母亲—公园也不过是用一些用草伪装的人行道罢了。那么说，最坏的时候已经过去了。我说最坏了吗？不，更糟的还在后面。年轻力壮的时候，与饥饿斗争还有阳光的一面。不管怎样，我已经开始谋生了，一次拿到的钱就足够维持半年的衣食。身体不出状况的话，在将来好多年里还能指望领取那点还算可观的薪金。这些工资都是独立工作的回报，是我按自己的心意选择时间和地点工作的。想到办公室里的生活，要对上司唯唯诺诺，我就会不寒而栗。文学生涯的光荣就在于它的自由，它的尊严！

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.

当然事实上，我服务的不是一个主人，而是一群。这又谈何独立!如果我的文章不能让编辑、出版商和读者们满意，那我每天的面包又从何而来？我越成功，雇主就越多，我就是大众的奴隶。蒙上天眷顾，我的文字还能让代表这个模糊群体的几个人感到满意（也就是说，自己成为了他们获取利润的来源）。目前，他们对我相当殷勤，但我有什么理由相信自己能守住已经占领的文学地位呢？还有哪一个劳碌人的地位比我的更岌岌可危吗？想到这里，我都会发抖，就像看到一个人在悬崖边上漫不经心地走动。回忆几十年来，我和家人能衣食不愁，物质生活也算舒适，还抵御了一切世间的不幸遭遇和打击，身无所长的一介文人仅靠着一支笔和一片纸就做到了这些，我不免惊异。

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!

我的思绪回到第一次出走伦敦的那一年。因为一股不可抑制的冲动，我突然决定要到德文郡去，我之前从没去过那里。三月底的时候，我从阴暗的寓所逃离，还没有来得及细想旅行的细节，就发现自己已经坐在阳光之下，坐在离现在住处很近的一个地方—面前是渐次开阔的绿油油的埃克斯河谷和青松覆盖的哈尔登山脊。那一刻是我人生少有的，我感受到一种奇妙无比的快乐。当时的心态很奇怪。虽然从小在乡村长大，看到过英格兰乡间的许多美景，但那一刻似乎是我第一次意识到自己面对的是自然景色。伦敦的岁月把我儿时的记忆变模糊了，我就像一个在城里出生长大，除街景外一无所知的孩子。那时的阳光和空气似乎蕴含着一种超自然的东西—深深地感染了我，这种感觉仅次于我后来在意大利氛围中的陶醉。那个春日绚烂美丽，白云朵朵在蓝天上飘浮，大地散发出醉人的芬芳。那是我第一次知道原来自己是个崇拜太阳的人。我怎么可以在世上活了这么久，却从没问过天上是否有个太阳？在华彩的天穹下，我几乎要跪下来表达我的仰慕之情。当我行走时，我发现自己躲避着每一方阴影；就连桦树的阴影，我都感觉它会抢走我这一天的快乐。我光着头，全身心地接受金色光线的慷慨爱抚。那天我可能走了三十英里，却毫无倦意。如果能再次拥有到那一天支撑我的无穷力量该有多好！

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.

我步入了一个全新的生活中。过去的我和现在的我之间有了显著的区别。一天之内，我奇迹般地成熟了。毫无疑问，这意味着我突然开始有意识地享受那些在我不知情时不停生长起来的力量和感情。举一个例子来说：在那之前，我对花草几乎是漠不关心，但现在我对路边的每一朵花和每一株植物都充满了浓厚的兴趣。我一路走来，采集了一大把花草，决定第二天就买本书，把它们的名字都查出来。我并不是一时兴起，因为从那以后，我再没有失去对花朵的兴趣，也没有失去了解它们的愿望。我那时的无知现在提起来真是非常羞愧，但当时我和任何一个生活在城里或乡下的普通人并无二致。有多少人能够说出从春天的树篱下随手采撷的六七种花草的名字呢？对我而言，这些花朵象征着一次伟大的渲泄，一次奇妙的觉醒。我的眼睛就在那一瞬间睁开了；在那之前我一直行走在黑暗中，但却无所察觉。

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.

我还清楚地记得那次春天的漫游。我住在埃克塞特城边一条街上的一间寓所，那里感觉更像乡村，而非城市，每天早晨，我都会出发探险。天气好到不能更好，我深刻感受到自己不曾了解的气候的作用。空气中的芬芳既振奋着我，又安抚着我。埃克塞特河一会儿流向内陆，一会儿奔向海洋，我顺着它的蜿蜒流向散步。一天，我在肥沃温暖的山谷间漫游，看到繁花盛开的果园，一间比一间漂亮的农舍，一个个掩映在翠绿的常青树林里的村庄。接着我走上了青松覆盖的高地，凝视着棕色的经年石南花覆盖的沼泽地，脸上感受到波光粼粼的海峡吹来的微风。周围这个美好的世界让我如此快乐，竟然到了忘我的境地；我没有回顾过去，也没有预见将来，只享受现在；我—这个彻底的自我主义者—竟忘了细细体察自己的感受，也忘了拿自己现时的快乐跟其他更幸运的人比较。这真是有益健康的时光，它赐予我生命全新的意义，并教会了我怎样尽己所能充分利用它。