书城外语英文爱藏:天使吻过那片海
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第6章 在行路中遇见自己 (5)

不论你身处何地,也不论你是什么人,此刻,以及我们生命中的每时每刻,有一件事对你我来说是相同的:我们不是在休憩,而是在旅途中。我们的生活是一种运动、一种趋势,是向一个看不见的目标稳步前进。每一天,我们都会赢得某些东西,或者失去某些东西。甚至当我们的位置和我们的性格看起来跟以前完全相同时,它们事实上也在变化着,因为仅仅时间的流逝就是一种变化。对于一块荒地来说,在一月和七月是不同的,季节会制造差异。孩子身上的局限可说是孩子气,但在大人身上就是幼稚。

我们做的每一件事都是朝着一个或另一个方向前进的。甚至“没有做任何事情”这件事本身也是一种行为,它让我们前进或后退;一根磁针阴极和阳极作用都是一样真实的;拒绝也是一种接受——接受了另一种选择。

你今天比昨天更接近你的港口了吗?是的——你必须接近某一个港口或者另一个港口。自从你第一次被抛入生活之海,你的船连一分钟都没有静止过;海是如此之深,你也不可能找到一个抛锚的地方。于是,你不可能停下来,直到你驶入港口。

心灵小语

每时每刻,我们不是在休憩,而是在旅途中。

记忆填空

1. We are gaining something, or__ something, everyday. Even when our position and our character__ to remain precisely the same, they are__ .

2. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in__ and in July. The season makes the__ .

3. It sets us forward or__ . The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive__ .

佳句翻译

1. 我们的生活是一种运动、一种趋势,是向一个看不见的目标稳步前进。

译__________________

2. 每一天,我们都会赢得某些东西,或者失去某些东西。

译__________________

3. 我们做的每一件事都是朝着一个或另一个方向前进的。

译__________________

短语应用

1. We are not at rest.

at rest:休息中,处于静止状态

造__________________

2. The season makes the difference.

make the difference:区别对待,起(重要)作用,有影响

造__________________

自然

Nature

拉尔夫?沃尔多?爱默生 / Ralph Waldo Emerson

拉尔夫?沃尔多?爱默生(1803—1882),美国思想家、诗人和散文家。生于波士顿牧师家庭,毕业于波士顿拉丁学校和哈佛大学。21岁时成为神职人员,不久便对基督教产生怀疑,1832年辞职远游,遍访欧洲文化名人。曾经深入研究过荷马、柏拉图、但丁、蒙田和莎士比亚。代表作有《论自然》《美国学者》《神学院致辞》《散文选》和《诗集》等。

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.

一个想要追求孤独的人,不但要离开自己的卧室,还要离开社会。在我阅读和写作之时,尽管无人相伴,可我没有觉得孤独。然而,假如有谁用尽心思追求孤独,那就让他抬头凝望星空吧。那来自天国的光芒,能在他和他生活的天地之间分出一条界限。你也许会认为,如此的构想简直太棒了:空旷辽阔的大地上,人们抬头仰视星空,仿佛从中领悟到某种崇高的永恒。从城市的街道看过去,那种场面的确令人恭敬!假设天上的星星一千年才出现一次,可想而知他们会对这上苍的显圣何等崇敬,又会如何仔细地将它收藏进记忆里流芳百世啊!只可惜,这些美的使者夜夜都会带着劝诫式的微笑降临,将光辉普照整个宇宙。

星星使我们心生敬畏,不是因为它常常高悬于空中,而是因为它的可望不可即。然而,只要拥有一颗包容的心,你就会发现世间万物和人类其实都是心灵相通的。自然从不把它吝啬的一面显露出来,顶尖聪明之人也不会强求打开它全部的奥秘,而会保留好奇之心去探寻它所有的完美之处。在智者看来,自然永远不会是一个玩物。鲜花、动物、山脉——折射出他们的纯真童年——也是他最高智慧的体现。当我们以这种方式来谈论自然时,头脑中自然会产生一种清晰而又极富诗意的画面,这种画面是世间万物在我们的印象中留下印迹的总和。也正是在这种印象的指引下,才会有伐木工手中的木头在诗人笔下却是大树的区别。今天早上我所看到的那一片令人陶醉的景色,毫无疑问它是由二三十个农场组成的。米勒占有这一块土地,洛克是那一片田野的主人,树林外面的那一片则归曼宁所有……可是,他们谁都不能拥有这片风景。

远处有一块土地,谁也不能将其划在自己的名下,唯有那个既能看见土地又看得见风景的人,才是它真正的主人,而诗人正符合这样的要求。这个地方是农场主所有财产中最值钱的一部分,但按照他们的担保契约却并不是这样。坦诚地讲,现在没有多少成年人能真正看得见自然了。大多数人都不看太阳,至少,只是肤浅地看。对成人而言,太阳只照亮了他们的眼睛,对孩子来说,太阳却照进了他们的眼睛与心灵。一个自然爱好者,他外在的知觉和内心的感触是相互协调的,甚至在他成年后,依然拥有一颗童心。在他看来,与天地的接触,是日常生活中不可分割的一部分,只要身处大自然中,不管生活中遭遇多大的悲痛,内心总会产生巨大的快乐。大自然说,他是我的杰作,不管他有多少没有缘由的悲伤,都会同我一起快乐。自然赋予给我们不仅仅是阳光、夏日、四季的变换,她每时每刻都在给予我们快乐与欣喜。这是因为,每一刻、每一个变化,不管是压抑的中午还是黑暗的午夜,都意味着一种别样的心情。在自然的舞台上,不仅能上演喜剧,也能烘托悲剧。

心灵小语

自然从不把它吝啬的一面显露出来,顶尖聪明之人也不会强求打开它全部的奥秘,而会保留好奇之心去探寻它所有的完美之处。

记忆填空

1. If the__ should appear one night in a thousand__ , how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many__ the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!