《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 22

《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。

以下是由網(wǎng)友分享的《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 22的內(nèi)容，讓我們一起來感受吉辛的四季吧!

It is time that we gave a second thought to Puritanism. In the heyday of release from forms which had lost their meaning, it was natural to look back on that period of our history with eyes that saw in it nothing but fanatical excess; we approved the picturesque phrase which showed the English mind going into prison and having the key turned upon it. Now, when the peril of emancipation becomes as manifest as was the hardship of restraint, we shall do well to remember all the good that lay in that stern Puritan discipline, how it renewed the spiritual vitality of our race, and made for the civic freedom which is our highest national privilege. An age of intellectual glory is wont to be paid for in the general decline of that which follows. Imagine England under Stuart rule, with no faith but the Protestantism of the Tudor. Imagine (not to think of worse) English literature represented by Cowley18, and the name of Milton unknown. The Puritan came as the physician; he brought his tonic at the moment when lassitude and supineness would naturally have followed upon a supreme display of racial vitality. Regret, if you will, that England turned for her religion to the books of Israel; this suddenly revealed sympathy of our race with a fierce Oriental theocracy is perhaps not difficult to explain, but one cannot help wishing that its piety had taken another form; later, there had to come the "exodus from Houndsditch19," with how much conflict and misery! Such, however, was the price of the soul's health; we must accept the fact, and be content to see its better meaning. Health, of course, in speaking of mankind, is always a relative term. From the point of view of a conceivable civilization, Puritan England was lamentably ailing; but we must always ask, not how much better off a people might be, but how much worse. Of all theological systems, the most convincing is Manicheism20, which, of course, under another name, was held by the Puritans themselves. What we call Restoration morality—the morality, that is to say, of a king and court—might well have become that of the nation at large under a Stuart dynasty safe from religious revolution.

是時候重新審視清教主義了。在英國從那些喪失意義的形式束縛中解脫出來的全盛期，我們回顧那段歷史時，自然只會看到狂熱過度，別的什么也看不到。我們贊許“解脫”那樣的生動詞語，它表明英國人思想進入牢籠，但已有開啟牢門的鑰匙。在今天，思想解放的危險變得和克制的痛苦一樣明顯時，我們最好去記住嚴(yán)苛的清教徒信條蘊含著的所有好處，它怎樣恢復(fù)我們民族的精神活力，促進了作為我們最高國民權(quán)利的公民自由。一個知識繁榮的時代，通常是以接下來那個時代的衰落為代價的。想想斯圖亞特王室統(tǒng)治下的英格蘭，除了都鐸王室的新教教義外沒有其他信仰。想想（就不想更壞的了）以考利為代表的英國文學(xué)，彌爾頓的大名還不為人知。清教徒像醫(yī)生一樣出現(xiàn)了，在民族生命力發(fā)展到最高峰后，疲乏和懶散自然地隨之而來，就在此時，清教徒帶來了他們的補藥。如果你愿意，對英格蘭從以色列人的書籍中尋求宗教感到遺憾吧。我們民族突然表現(xiàn)出的對兇暴東方神權(quán)政治的同情，也許并不難解釋，但我們?nèi)滩蛔∠Ｍ尿茨懿扇×硪环N形式。隨后到來的應(yīng)是帶來無數(shù)爭斗和苦難的“霍恩德斯迪奇大遷徒”！然而，這就是靈魂保持健康的代價，我們必須接受這個事實，滿足于看到它更好的意義。當(dāng)然，對于全人類而言，健康總是一個相對的詞。從一個文明發(fā)展的假設(shè)中來看，清教徒的英格蘭是令人哀傷的病態(tài)文明；但我們必須追問的不是一個民族可能有多好，而是它可能有多糟。在所有神學(xué)派別中，最令人信服的是摩尼教，它也被清教徒奉為信仰，當(dāng)然是在另一個名義下。我們所謂的復(fù)辟時期的道德——即國王和王室的道德——很可能會在斯圖亞特王朝統(tǒng)治下成為整個國家的道德準(zhǔn)則，要是沒有經(jīng)歷宗教革命的話。

The political services of Puritanism were inestimable; they will be more feelingly remembered when England has once more to face the danger of political tyranny. I am thinking now of its effects upon social life. To it we owe the characteristic which, in some other countries, is expressed by the term English prudery, the accusation implied being part of the general charge of hypocrisy. It is said by observers among ourselves that the prudish habit of mind is dying out, and this is looked upon as a satisfactory thing, as a sign of healthy emancipation. If by prude be meant a secretly vicious person who affects an excessive decorum, by all means let the prude disappear, even at the cost of some shamelessness. If, on the other hand, a prude is one who, living a decent life, cultivates, either by bent or principle, a somewhat extreme delicacy of thought and speech with regard to elementary facts of human nature, then I say that this is most emphatically a fault in the right direction, and I have no desire to see its prevalence diminish. On the whole, it is the latter meaning which certain foreigners have in mind when they speak of English prudery—at all events, as exhibited by women; it being, not so much an imputation on chastity, as a charge of conceited foolishness. An English woman who typifies the begueule may be spotless as snow; but she is presumed to have snow's other quality, and at the same time to be a thoroughly absurd and intolerable creature. Well, here is the point of difference. Fastidiousness of speech is not a direct outcome of Puritanism, as our literature sufficiently proves; it is a refinement of civilization following upon absorption into the national life of all the best things which Puritanism had to teach. We who know English women by the experience of a lifetime are well aware that their careful choice of language betokens, far more often than not, a corresponding delicacy of mind. Landor21 saw it as a ridiculous trait that English people were so mealy-mouthed in speaking of their bodies; De Quincey22, taking him to task for this remark, declared it a proof of blunted sensibility due to long residence in Italy; and, whether the particular explanation held good or not, as regards the question at issue, De Quincey was perfectly right. It is very good to be mealymouthed with respect to everything that reminds us of the animal in man. Verbal delicacy in itself will not prove an advanced civilization, but civilization, as it advances, assuredly tends that way.

清教主義的政治影響是不可估量的，在英格蘭再次面對政治暴政的威脅時，人們會更加充滿感情地想起它來。我現(xiàn)在思考的是它對社會生活的影響。它賦予了我們民族一個特征，在其他國家，會用“英國式拘謹(jǐn)”這個詞來表達，其中隱含的指責(zé)是構(gòu)成我們虛偽之罪名的一部分。我們的觀察家說，拘謹(jǐn)?shù)乃季S習(xí)慣正在消亡，這被視為一件讓人滿意的事情，視為健康的天性解放的一個標(biāo)志。如果拘謹(jǐn)指一個人私下里邪惡，而表面上裝得十分得體有禮，那就務(wù)必讓拘謹(jǐn)消失吧，即使代價是大家變得有些無恥。但是另一方面，如果拘謹(jǐn)指一個生活正派的人，出于天性或是原則，在談及人類性情的基本事實時，思想和言談中表現(xiàn)得有點過份細膩敏感，那么我要強調(diào)這只是在正確方向上出現(xiàn)的一點偏差，我不想看到它不受歡迎而消失。總體上說，某些外國人在談起英國式拘謹(jǐn)時——至少就女人的表現(xiàn)來說——他們想到的都是后一種意義；與其說是對貞潔的詆毀，不如說是對傲慢和愚蠢的責(zé)難。一個作為“假正經(jīng)”代表的英國婦女，也許和白雪一樣純潔無瑕；但她也被認(rèn)為有白雪的另外一種品質(zhì)，同時又十分荒謬可笑，讓人無法忍受。好了，這就是不同點。過分講究措詞并不是清教主義造成的直接后果，我們的文學(xué)已經(jīng)充分證明了這一點；它是國民生活吸收了清教主義可教授的所有最好的東西之后，英國文明的一種自我改良。憑著畢生對英國女人的了解和體驗，我們清楚地知道，她們謹(jǐn)慎的遣詞用語，常常反映了她們思想的細膩敏感。英國人在談起自己的身體時總是拐彎抹角，可蘭多卻視之為滑稽可笑。德昆西對他的評語進行譴責(zé)，稱這是蘭多長期寓居意大利使感情變得遲鈍的佐證；不管他這種奇特的解釋是否正確，德昆西在這個問題上是完全正確的。對于讓我們聯(lián)想起身上獸性的一切事物，拐彎抹角是很好的。言辭的文雅本身不是文明進步的證明，但文明在進步中一定是朝這個方向前進的。