讀點好英文:Nature 自然

Nature 自然

Ralph Waldo Emerson

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood. When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece.

自然

［美］拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生

一個想要追求孤獨的人，不但要離開自己的臥室，還要離開社會。在我閱讀和寫作之時，盡管無人相伴，可我沒有覺得孤獨。然而，假如有誰用盡心思追求孤獨，那就讓他抬頭凝望星空吧。那來自天國的光芒，能在他和他生活的天地之間分出一條界限。你也許會認為，如此的構(gòu)想簡直太棒了：空曠遼闊的大地之上，人們抬頭仰視星空，仿佛從中領(lǐng)悟到某種崇高的永恒。從城市的街道看過去，那種場面的確令人恭敬！假設(shè)天上的星星一千年才出現(xiàn)一次，可想而知他們會對這上蒼的顯圣該是何等的崇敬，又該是如何仔細地將它收藏進記憶里好流芳百世??！只可惜，這些美的使者夜夜都會帶著勸誡式的微笑降臨，將光輝普照整個宇宙。

星星使我們產(chǎn)生敬畏之心，不是因為它常常高懸于空中，而是因為它的可望而不可即。然而，只要擁有一顆包容的心，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)世間萬物和人類其實都是心靈相通的。自然從不把它吝嗇的一面顯露出來，頂尖聰明之人也不會強求打開它全部的奧秘，而會保留好奇之心去探尋它所有的完美之處。在智者看來，自然永遠不會是一個玩物。鮮花、動物、山脈——折射出他們的純真童年——也是他最高智慧的體現(xiàn)。當(dāng)我們以這種方式來談?wù)撟匀粫r，頭腦中自然會產(chǎn)生一種清晰而又極富詩意的畫面，這種畫面是世間萬物在我們的印象中留下印跡的總和。也正是在這種印象的指引下，才會有伐木工手中的是木頭，而詩人筆下卻是大樹的區(qū)別。今天早上我所看到的那一片令人陶醉的景色，毫無疑問它是由二三十個農(nóng)場組成的。米勒占有這一塊土地，洛克是那一片田野的主人，樹林外面的那一片則歸曼寧所有……可是，他們誰都不能擁有這片風(fēng)景。遠處有一塊土地，誰也不能將其劃在自己的名下，唯有那個又能看見土地又看得見風(fēng)景的人，才是它真正的主人，而詩人正符合這樣的要求。這個地方是農(nóng)場主所有財產(chǎn)中最值錢的一部分，但按照他們的擔(dān)保契約卻并不是這樣。坦誠講，現(xiàn)在沒有多少成年人能真正看得見自然了。大多數(shù)人都不看太陽，至少，只是膚淺地看。對成人而言，太陽只照亮了他們的眼睛，對孩子來說，太陽卻照進了他們的眼睛與心靈。一個自然愛好者，他外在的知覺和內(nèi)心的感觸是相互和諧的，甚至在他成年以后，依然擁有一顆童心。在他看來，與天地的接觸，是日常生活中不可分割的一部分，只要身處大自然中，不管生活中遭遇多大的悲痛，但內(nèi)心總會產(chǎn)生巨大的快樂。大自然說，他是我的杰作，不管他有多少沒有緣由的悲傷，他都會同我一起快樂。自然賦予給我們不僅僅是陽光、夏日、四季的變換，她每時每刻都在給予我們快樂與欣喜。這是因為，每一刻、每一個變化，不管是壓抑的中午還是黑暗的午夜，都意味著一種別樣的心情。在自然的舞臺上，不僅能上演喜劇，也能烘托悲劇。

實戰(zhàn)提升

Practising & Exercise

導(dǎo)讀

拉爾夫·瓦爾多·愛默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson），美國著名散文作家、思想家、詩人?！墩撐募窞閻勰A得了極高的聲譽，他的思想被稱為超驗主義的核心，他本人則被冠以“美國的文藝復(fù)興領(lǐng)袖”之美譽。

作者在該文中置身于自然之中，拋開了塵世的虛榮和紛爭，進入理想的境界。在藝術(shù)上作者采用內(nèi)心獨白的表述，語言親切自然、感情真摯。文章情景交融、充滿詩情畫意，給人精神上美的享受。

核心單詞

retire [ri?tai?] v. 退休；退役

perpetual [p??petju?l] adj. 永久的；長期的

manifold [?m?nif?uld] adj. 各式各樣的；種種的

illuminate [i?lju?mineit] v. 照亮；照射

maugre [?m??ɡ?(r)] prep. 【古】盡管

翻譯

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society.

Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection.

To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature.