《四季随笔》节选 - 春 18

《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 18的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

Is it I, Henry Ryecroft, who, after a night of untroubled rest, rise unhurriedly, dress with the deliberation of an oldish man, and go downstairs happy in the thought that I can sit reading, quietly reading, all day long? Is it I, Henry Ryecroft, the harassed toiler of so many a long year?

安稳地休息一夜后，不慌不忙地起床，带着上了年纪的人的从容穿上衣服，想到自己能坐下安静地读上一整天的书，心情愉快地下楼，这个人不正是我亨利·赖克罗夫特吗？是那个辛苦煎熬了半辈子的亨利·赖克罗夫特吗？

I dare not think of those I have left behind me, there in the ink-stained world. It would make me miserable, and to what purpose? Yet, having once looked that way, think of them I must. Oh, you heavy-laden, who at this hour sit down to the cursed travail of the pen; writing, not because there is something in your mind, in your heart, which must needs be uttered, but because the pen is the only tool you can handle, your only means of earning bread! Year after year the number of you is multiplied; you crowd the doors of publishers and editors, hustling, grappling, exchanging maledictions. Oh, sorry spectacle, grotesque and heart-breaking!

我不敢去想身后那些还在笔墨世界里摸爬滚打的人们。那会让我痛心疾首，又有何用呢？但是，既然已经回首了，那我必须要想想他们了。唉，你们这些负担沉重、正坐在书桌前绞尽脑汁的人，你们写作，不是因为所思所感不吐不快，而是因为这笔是你们能驾驭的唯一工具，是你们挣面包的唯一手段！年复一年，你们的数量翻倍增长，你们拥挤在出版商和编辑的门前，推推搡搡，骂骂咧咧。唉，这丑陋的一幕真让人心碎！

Innumerable are the men and women now writing for bread, who have not the least chance of finding in such work a permanent livelihood. They took to writing because they knew not what else to do, or because the literary calling tempted them by its independence and its dazzling prizes. They will hang on to the squalid profession, their earnings eked out by begging and borrowing, until it is too late for them to do anything else—and then? With a lifetime of dread experience behind me, I say that he who encourages any young man or woman to look for his living to "literature," commits no less than a crime. If my voice had any authority, I would cry this truth aloud wherever men could hear. Hateful as is the struggle for life in every form, this rough-and-tumble of the literary arena seems to me sordid and degrading beyond all others. Oh, your prices per thousand words! Oh, your paragraphings and your interviewings! And oh, the black despair that awaits those down-trodden in the fray.

现在卖文谋生的人不计其数，但靠着它永远衣食不愁几乎没有可能。他们选择写作是因为别无所长，不然就是受到文学职业的独立性和各种令人炫目的奖项的诱引。他们将依附这一惨淡的职业，靠着乞讨和借债勉强度日，等到想改行已为时过晚—以后怎么办呢？凭着一生的痛苦经验，我要说，任何人鼓励年轻人靠“文学”谋生，他的行为与犯罪无异。如果我的声音有任何权威力，我将大声疾呼，让各地的所有人都能听到这个事实真相。虽然为了生存任何形式的挣扎都令人憎恶，但对我来说，文坛的这种摸爬滚打比其他任何谋生手段都更卑贱和屈辱。噢，你们一千字的标价！噢，你们的分章列目和访谈录！噢，那些穷途潦倒的文人，等待他们的是黑暗的绝望！

Last midsummer I received a circular from a typewriting person, soliciting my custom; some one who had somehow got hold of my name, and fancied me to be still in purgatory. This person wrote: "If you should be in need of any extra assistance in the pressure of your Christmas work, I hope," etc.

去年仲夏，我收到一个打印商寄来的传单，请我照顾他的生意。不知道他怎么得到了我的名字，以为我还在炼狱里挣扎。这个人写道：“在圣诞节的工作压力下，如果您需要任何帮助，请与我联系”等等。

How otherwise could one write if addressing a shopkeeper? "The pressure of your Christmas work"! Nay, I am too sick to laugh.

给一个店老板写信，措辞也不过如此吧？“圣诞节的工作压力！”，我已经厌恶得笑不出来了。