《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 21

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對(duì)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(shí)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(duì)文學(xué)名著的愛好與追求，以及對(duì)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(gè)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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I make use of the present tense, but am I speaking truly of present England? Such powerful agencies of change have been at work during the last thirty years; and it is difficult, nay impossible, to ascertain in what degree they have affected the national character, thus far. One notes the obvious: decline of conventional religion, free discussion of the old moral standards; therewith, a growth of materialism which favours every anarchic tendency. Is it to be feared that self-righteousness may be degenerating into the darker vice of true hypocrisy? For the English to lose belief in themselves—not merely in their potential goodness, but in their pre-eminence as examples and agents of good—would mean as hopeless a national corruption as any recorded in history. To doubt their genuine worship, in the past, of a very high (though not, of course, the highest) ethical ideal, is impossible for any one born and bred in England; no less impossible to deny that those who are rightly deemed "best" among us, the men and women of gentle or humble birth who are not infected by the evils of the new spirit, still lead, in a very true sense, "honest, sober, and godly" lives. Such folk, one knows, were never in a majority, but of old they had a power which made them veritable representatives of the English ETHOS. If they thought highly of themselves, why, the fact justified them; if they spoke, at times, as Pharisees, it was a fault of temper which carried with it no grave condemnation. Hypocrisy was, of all forms of baseness, that which they most abhorred. So is it still with their descendants. Whether these continue to speak among us with authority, no man can certainly say. If their power is lost, and those who talk of English hypocrisy no longer use the word amiss, we shall soon know it.

我用的是現(xiàn)在時(shí)，但我談的果真是現(xiàn)在的英格蘭嗎？在過去三十年中，很多強(qiáng)大的代表變革的組織一直活動(dòng)著。要確定它們迄今對(duì)民族性格造成多少影響是困難的，不，簡直是不可能的。我們注意到一些明顯的事實(shí)：傳統(tǒng)宗教的衰落，舊道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的自由討論；同時(shí)，還有贊成各種無政府主義傾向的唯物主義的發(fā)展。我們是否應(yīng)該擔(dān)心自以為是的品性會(huì)墮落成真正偽善的惡習(xí)呢？因?yàn)槿绻藛适?duì)自身的信仰——不僅不相信自身潛在的善良，而且懷疑他們作為善良之模范和代表的崇高地位——那便預(yù)示著有史可查的那種絕望的全民族墮落。每一個(gè)生長在英格蘭的人，都不可能懷疑他們過去對(duì)高尚（盡管肯定不是最高尚）道德理想的真誠膜拜；就像不可能懷疑那些被視為我們之中“最好的”，那些沒有受到新時(shí)代精神邪惡影響的出身高貴或低微的男男女女，仍然過著真正意義上“誠實(shí)、清醒和正直”的生活。我們知道，這種人從來為數(shù)不多，但自古以來他們就擁有一種力量，使他們成為英國“氣質(zhì)”的真正代表。如果他們自視甚高，那也有充分的理由；如果他們的談話有時(shí)自以為是，那是脾性上的瑕疵，不應(yīng)招致嚴(yán)厲的譴責(zé)。在卑鄙人性的許多表現(xiàn)形式中，虛偽是他們最憎惡的，他們的后代亦是如此。這些人的話在我們之中是否還有威信，沒有人能肯定。是否他們喪失了力量，是否虛偽這個(gè)詞來形容英國人不再是誤用，這我們很快就能知道了。