《四季随笔》节选 - 春 17

《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 17的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

A day of almost continuous rain, yet for me a day of delight. I had breakfasted, and was poring over the map of Devon (how I love a good map!) to trace an expedition that I have in view, when a knock came at my door, and Mrs. M. bore in a great brown-paper parcel, which I saw at a glance must contain books. The order was sent to London a few days ago; I had not expected to have my books so soon. With throbbing heart I set the parcel on a clear table; eyed it whilst I mended the fire; then took my pen-knife, and gravely, deliberately, though with hand that trembled, began to unpack.

今天，雨淅淅沥沥下个不停，而我的心情却是愉快的。吃过早饭，我俯身研究德文郡地图（一幅好地图真是我的心头宝贝啊！），想找出一条探险路线，这时传来敲门声，M夫人拿进来一个棕色纸包裹，我一眼看去便知道里面装的是书。订单是几天前发到伦敦的，我没想到这么快书就送到了。我怀着激动的心情，把包裹放在一张干净的桌子上，一面拨弄炉火一面看着它。然后我拿起一把小刀，手微微有些颤抖，郑重其事地开始拆封。

It is a joy to go through booksellers' catalogues, ticking here and there a possible purchase. Formerly, when I could seldom spare money, I kept catalogues as much as possible out of sight; now I savour them page by page, and make a pleasant virtue of the discretion I must need impose upon myself. But greater still is the happiness of unpacking volumes which one has bought without seeing them. I am no hunter of rarities; I care nothing for first editions and for tall copies; what I buy is literature, food for the soul of man. The first glimpse of bindings when the inmost protective wrapper has been folded back! The first scent of BOOKS! The first gleam of a gilded title! Here is a work the name of which has been known to me for half a lifetime, but which I never yet saw; I take it reverently in my hand, gently I open it; my eyes are dim with excitement as I glance over chapter-headings, and anticipate the treat which awaits me. Who, more than I, has taken to heart that sentence of the Imitatio16—”In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro"?

浏览书商的目录，在想买的商品上画勾，这真是一件乐事。从前囊中羞涩时，我总尽量把目录放在眼睛看不到的地方；而现在，我可以一页一页地细细翻看，并提醒自己选购时一定要保持克制的美德，真是愉快啊。而更大的快乐在于，拆开那些你已购买但还没有看到的书。我不是珍本善本的猎奇者，对第一版和精装版也毫不在意。我买的是文学，是人类灵魂的食粮。拆开最里面的包装纸，第一眼看到书的装订！第一次闻到书香！看到那烫金的书名发出的第一缕光亮！这里面有一本书，我知道它的名字有大半辈子那么久了，但还从没拜读过。我恭恭敬敬地将它捧在手心，轻轻打开。目光扫过那些章节和题目，预想到等待我的是怎样的盛宴，我的眼睛因为兴奋而有些模糊了。谁比我更能心领神会《效法基督》里那句“在一切事物中我追求安静，但是我得不到它，除非在一个角落里手执着一卷书？”

I had in me the making of a scholar. With leisure and tranquility of mind, I should have amassed learning. Within the walls of a college, I should have lived so happily, so harmlessly, my imagination ever busy with the old world. In the introduction to his History of France, Michelet17 says: "J'ai passe e cote du monde, et j'ai pris l'histoire pour la vie." That, as I can see now, was my true ideal; through all my battlings and miseries I have always lived more in the past than in the present. At the time when I was literally starving in London, when it seemed impossible that I should ever gain a living by my pen, how many days have I spent at the British Museum, reading as disinterestedly as if I had been without a care! It astounds me to remember that, having breakfasted on dry bread, and carrying in my pocket another piece of bread to serve for dinner, I settled myself at a desk in the great Reading-Room with books before me which by no possibility could be a source of immediate profit. At such a time, I worked through German tomes on Ancient Philosophy. At such a time, I read Appuleius18 and Lucian19, Petronius20 and the Greek Anthology, Diogenes Laertius21 and—heaven knows what! My hunger was forgotten; the garret to which I must return to pass the night never perturbed my thoughts. On the whole, it seems to me something to be rather proud of; I smile approvingly at that thin, white-faced youth. Me? My very self? No, no! He has been dead these thirty years.

我是有做学者的资质的。如果有闲暇和安宁的心境，我应该可以积累学识。在大学的象牙塔中，我应该可以生活得快快乐乐，与世无争，永远流连在对古老世界的想象中。在那本《法国历史》的序言中，米什莱说道：“我从世界的边缘上经过，我以历史为生活。”现在看来，那是我真正的理想。在经历所有的艰辛和苦难时，我总是生活在过去而不是现在。当我在伦敦忍饥挨饿，靠卖文谋生似乎是天方夜谭的时候，在大英博物馆我手不释卷地度过了多少个日子，不带任何功利性，似乎没任何烦恼。想到当时我早餐吃一片干面包，兜里再放上一片作为晚餐，而安坐在大阅览室里，桌上摆着一些不会立刻给我带来好处的书，就让我感到吃惊。在那时候，我读了论述古代哲学的大部头德国书籍。在那时候，我读了阿普列尤斯、琉善、佩特罗尼乌斯、《希腊诗文选》、第欧根尼·拉尔修以及……天知道还有哪些！我忘却了饥饿，就连晚上必须回去过夜的阁楼也从没扰乱我的思绪。总的说来，在我看来，这是非常值得骄傲的事情，我向那个瘦削苍白的年轻人投以赞许的微笑。那是我吗？真的是我吗？不，不！他已经死了三十年了。

Scholarship in the high sense was denied me, and now it is too late. Yet here am I gloating over Pausanias, and promising myself to read every word of him. Who that has any tincture of old letters would not like to read Pausanias, instead of mere quotations from him and references to him? Here are the volumes of Dahn's Die Konige der Germanen22: who would not like to know all he can about the Teutonic conquerors of Rome? And so on, and so on. To the end I shall be reading—and forgetting. Ah, that's the worst of it! Had I at command all the knowledge I have at any time possessed, I might call myself a learned man. Nothing surely is so bad for the memory as long-enduring worry, agitation, fear. I cannot preserve more than a few fragments of what I read, yet read I shall, persistently, rejoicingly. Would I gather erudition for a future life? Indeed, it no longer troubles me that I forget. I have the happiness of the passing moment, and what more can mortal ask?

高层次的学术成就，我过去没有取得，现在也为时太晚。而我现在还贪婪地读着佩特罗尼乌斯，下决心细细研读他的著作。对古典文学有兴趣的人哪一个不愿研读佩特罗尼乌斯的原著，而只满足于对他作品的引用和评述啊？这里还有达恩的《日耳曼国王》多卷本，谁不想尽可能多地了解罗马的条顿征服者啊？当然还远不止这些。而到最后，我会边读—边忘。啊！这是最糟糕的事情！如果能把拥有过的知识全部掌握，我可能会称自己为博学之士。无疑，对记忆最有害的莫过于长期的忧虑、不安和恐惧。我虽然只能记住书中的几个片段，但我还会坚持不懈、满怀喜悦地阅读。我还需要为以后的生活积累艰深的学问吗？的确，现在遗忘已经不再让我烦恼了。我可以享受每一个转瞬即逝的快乐时刻，试问一个凡人还能有更高的要求吗？