《四季随笔》节选 - 春 15

《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 15的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

Midway in my long walk yesterday, I lunched at a wayside inn. On the table lay a copy of a popular magazine. Glancing over this miscellany, I found an article, by a woman, on "Lion Hunting," and in this article I came upon a passage which seemed worth copying.

昨天散步中途，我到路旁一家小酒馆吃午餐。餐桌上放着一本流行杂志，粗粗翻看之下，我发现一篇文章，作者是位女士，题目是“猎狮记”，我读到其中有一段似乎值得抄录的文字：

As I woke my husband, the lion—which was then about forty yards off—charged straight towards us, and with my .303 I hit him full in the chest, as we afterwards discovered, tearing his windpipe to pieces and breaking his spine. He charged a second time, and the next shot hit him through the shoulder, tearing his heart to ribbons.

“我把丈夫摇醒，当时那头狮子离我们大约40码远，它向我们直扑过来。我拿起.303步枪射击，正中它的胸膛。我们后来发现，子弹撕碎了它的气管，打断了它的脊柱。它又一次扑上来，第二颗子弹穿透了它的肩膀，扯烂了它的心脏。”

It would interest me to look upon this heroine of gun and pen. She is presumably quite a young woman; probably, when at home, a graceful figure in drawing-rooms. I should like to hear her talk, to exchange thoughts with her. She would give one a very good idea of the matron of old Rome who had her seat in the amphitheatre. Many of those ladies, in private life, must have been bright and gracious, high-bred and full of agreeable sentiment; they talked of art and of letters; they could drop a tear over Lesbia's sparrow15; at the same time, they were connoisseurs in torn windpipes, shattered spines and viscera rent open. It is not likely that many of them would have cared to turn their own hands to butchery, and, for the matter of that, I must suppose that our Lion Huntress of the popular magazine is rather an exceptional dame; but no doubt she and the Roman ladies would get on very well together, finding only a few superficial differences. The fact that her gory reminiscences are welcomed by an editor with the popular taste in view is perhaps more significant than appears either to editor or public. Were this lady to write a novel (the chances are she will) it would have the true note of modern vigour. Of course her style has been formed by her favourite reading; more than probably, her ways of thinking and feeling owe much to the same source. If not so already, this will soon, I daresay, be the typical Englishwoman. Certainly, there is "no nonsense about her." Such women should breed a remarkable race.

我很有兴趣见见这位枪法文笔俱佳的女主人公。推想起来，她应该是位不一般的年轻女士。在家里，她很可能是位上得厅堂的优雅女主人。我愿意听她谈话，和她交流思想。她会让我联想起在古罗马圆形露天剧场中就座的贵妇。许多这样的女士在私生活中一定都聪慧俊秀，和蔼亲切，举止文雅，讨人欢喜。她们谈论艺术和文学，她们会为莉丝比娅的爱雀落泪。同时，她们还是懂得鉴赏撕碎的气管、断裂的脊椎和破裂的内脏的行家。她们中许多人不大可能会愿意屠杀动物而手沾血腥。从这一点考虑，我推断这本流行杂志上的“猎狮女英雄”一定是位非同寻常的女士。但毫无疑问，她和其他罗马贵妇们一定能够相处融洽，只有一些肤浅的分歧。她血腥的回忆文章受到一位迎合流行趣味的编辑青睐，这一事实本身要比编辑或读者的阅读感受更有重要意义。这位女士如果写小说（可能性很大），一定会表现出现代活力的真实韵律。当然，她的写作风格会受到她钟爱读物的影响，很可能她思维和感觉的方式大抵也出自同一个源头。如果还没有成为现实，那么我敢说，她很快将是英国妇女的典型代表。当然，她为人“认真实在，不讲废话”。这样的女士养育的后代应该会很出众。

I left the inn in rather a turbid humour. Moving homeward by a new way, I presently found myself on the side of a little valley, in which lay a farm and an orchard. The apple trees were in full bloom, and, as I stood gazing, the sun, which had all that day been niggard of its beams, burst forth gloriously. For what I then saw, I have no words; I can but dream of the still loveliness of that blossomed valley. Near me, a bee was humming; not far away, a cuckoo called; from the pasture of the farm below came a bleating of lambs.

我离开酒馆时，思绪纷乱。我沿着一条从没走过的路回家，一会儿就发现自己站在一个小山谷边，那里有一处农场和一片果园。苹果花开得正盛，我站在那里，凝视着这片美景，此时，一整天都暗淡无光的太阳突然射出万道光芒。当时我面前的景色，美得无法用言语描述，我只能在梦中再见那片宁静可爱、鲜花盛开的山谷。在我近旁，一只蜜蜂嗡嗡作响；不远处，有布谷鸟在歌唱；从谷底的牧场上，传来羊羔的咩咩声。