《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 春 15

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學(xué)名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

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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，我到路旁一家小酒館吃午餐。餐桌上放著一本流行雜志，粗粗翻看之下，我發(fā)現(xiàn)一篇文章，作者是位女士，題目是“獵獅記”，我讀到其中有一段似乎值得抄錄的文字：

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.

“我把丈夫搖醒，當(dāng)時那頭獅子離我們大約40碼遠(yuǎn)，它向我們直撲過來。我拿起.303步槍射擊，正中它的胸膛。我們后來發(fā)現(xiàn)，子彈撕碎了它的氣管，打斷了它的脊柱。它又一次撲上來，第二顆子彈穿透了它的肩膀，扯爛了它的心臟。”

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.

我很有興趣見見這位槍法文筆俱佳的女主人公。推想起來，她應(yīng)該是位不一般的年輕女士。在家里，她很可能是位上得廳堂的優(yōu)雅女主人。我愿意聽她談話，和她交流思想。她會讓我聯(lián)想起在古羅馬圓形露天劇場中就座的貴婦。許多這樣的女士在私生活中一定都聰慧俊秀，和藹親切，舉止文雅，討人歡喜。她們談?wù)撍囆g(shù)和文學(xué)，她們會為莉絲比婭的愛雀落淚。同時，她們還是懂得鑒賞撕碎的氣管、斷裂的脊椎和破裂的內(nèi)臟的行家。她們中許多人不大可能會愿意屠殺動物而手沾血腥。從這一點考慮，我推斷這本流行雜志上的“獵獅女英雄”一定是位非同尋常的女士。但毫無疑問，她和其他羅馬貴婦們一定能夠相處融洽，只有一些膚淺的分歧。她血腥的回憶文章受到一位迎合流行趣味的編輯青睞，這一事實本身要比編輯或讀者的閱讀感受更有重要意義。這位女士如果寫小說（可能性很大），一定會表現(xiàn)出現(xiàn)代活力的真實韻律。當(dāng)然，她的寫作風(fēng)格會受到她鐘愛讀物的影響，很可能她思維和感覺的方式大抵也出自同一個源頭。如果還沒有成為現(xiàn)實，那么我敢說，她很快將是英國婦女的典型代表。當(dāng)然，她為人“認(rèn)真實在，不講廢話”。這樣的女士養(yǎng)育的后代應(yīng)該會很出眾。

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.

我離開酒館時，思緒紛亂。我沿著一條從沒走過的路回家，一會兒就發(fā)現(xiàn)自己站在一個小山谷邊，那里有一處農(nóng)場和一片果園。蘋果花開得正盛，我站在那里，凝視著這片美景，此時，一整天都暗淡無光的太陽突然射出萬道光芒。當(dāng)時我面前的景色，美得無法用言語描述，我只能在夢中再見那片寧靜可愛、鮮花盛開的山谷。在我近旁，一只蜜蜂嗡嗡作響；不遠(yuǎn)處，有布谷鳥在歌唱；從谷底的牧場上，傳來羊羔的咩咩聲。