第2章 Nature——Ralph Waldo Emerson

内容导读

拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生，美国思想家，因其超验主义对美国精神的深刻影响，被尊称为“美国文明之父”。在《自然》中，爱默生阐述了超验主义关于自然的基本观点：自然固然是可被感知的物质存在，但更重要的是它能与人类意识相结合。人与自然之间的和谐统一使人“成为上帝的一部分”，变得崇高和圣洁。

英文正文

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 theseenvoysof beauty, and light the universe with theiradmonishing smile.

The stars awaken a certainreverence, 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, reflecte the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.

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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, andmaugreall hisimpertinentgriefs, 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. In good health, the air is acordialof incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfectexhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, adecorumandsanctityreign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years.In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, —no disgrace, nocalamity, （leaving me my eyes,）which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, —my head bathed by theblitheair, and uplifted into infinite space, —all meanegotismvanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, —master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty.

In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In thetranquillandscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.

中文译文

自然

拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生

人要索居独处，不但要远离卧室，还要远离社会。在读书写作之时，我并不觉得是只身一人，尽管没有人陪伴我左右。如果一个人渴望独处，就请他注目于星辰吧。那从天界下行的光芒，使人们得以出离可触摸的现世。可以这样说，我们假想，大气之所以透明，就是为了让人们看到天国的灿烂光芒。从普通城市的街道向上看，它们是如此深邃伟岸！假如星辰千年一现，人类关于上帝之城的记忆，必将世代相传，为人们长久地信仰着，珍存着，崇拜着。然而，每一晚，这些美的使者都会降临，以它们无可置疑的微笑，照亮宇宙。

星辰唤醒心中的景仰，即使它们常在，也遥远而不可触摸；而当思想敞开心门，自然景物总会留下熟稔而亲切的印迹。自然永无恶意可憎的容颜。如同大智慧者不会因穷尽自然的和谐底蕴而失去对她的好奇之心。自然之于智慧的心灵绝非玩具。花朵，动物，群山，它们折射着智者思维的灵光，如同它们娱乐了他纯真的童年。

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说实话，成年人难得看到自然本身。多数人看不到太阳，至少，他们所见只是浮光掠影。阳光只照亮了成人的双眼所见，却照进儿童的眼睛和心灵深处。自然的热爱者，内向和外向的感觉尚能和谐地相应，他尚能在成年时保有婴儿的心灵。他与天地的交汇成为必需，就如每日的食物一样。自然当前时，奔腾的喜悦传遍他全身，尽管可能他正身处现实的苦境。他是我的造物，泯灭他无关紧要的悲伤，与我同在他应欢悦，自然向他如是说。不仅阳光和夏天带来欢跃，四季的每一时分都奉献出愉悦；自然变化的每一时辰无不如是。从燥热的午后到漆黑的子夜，四季早晚的嬗变对应并验证着人们不同的精神状态。自然既可以是悲剧的，也可以是喜剧的背景。身体康健时，空气就是让人难以置信的补剂甜酿。越过空旷地带，停留深雪潭边，注目晨昏熹微光芒，在满布乌云的天空下，并非出于特别的当头好运，我享受了完美无缺的欣喜。我欣喜以至有些胆怯。在树林里也是一样，人们抖落岁月如蛇脱旧皮，无论身处生命的哪一阶段，都会心如孩童。在森林中，有永恒的青春。在上帝的庄园里，气派和圣洁是主宰，四季的庆典准备就绪，客人们居此千年也不会厌倦。在森林里，我们回归理性和信仰，在那里，任何不幸不会降临于我的生命，没有任何屈辱和灾病——请留下我的双眼——是自然无法平复的。站在空旷大地之上，我的头脑沐浴于欢欣大气并升腾于无限空间，一切卑劣的自高自大和自我中心消失无踪。我变成一个透明的眼球，我不复存在，我洞察一切；宇宙精神的湍流环绕激荡着我。我成为上帝的一部分，我是他的微粒。密友的名字听起来陌生而无足轻重，兄弟、朋友、主人或仆从，这一切变得细碎而搅扰。我是不受拘束永恒不朽自然之美的情人。与街市和村庄相比，在旷野里，我体味到更亲切更可贵的实在。在静谧的风景里，尤其是在那遥远的地平线，我们看到自然美丽有如我们美丽自身和本性。

词汇速记

envoy n. 使者

admonish v. 劝诫，劝告

reverence n. 崇敬，庄严，敬礼

maugre prep.不管

impertinent adj. 无礼的，粗鲁的

cordial adj. 真诚的，诚恳的

exhilaration n. 愉快，兴高采烈

decorum n. 礼仪

sanctity n. 圣洁，尊严

calamity n. 灾难，不幸事件

blithe adj. 快乐无忧的

egotism n. 自我中心主义

tranquil adj. 平静的

美句欣赏

①Nature 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.自然永无恶意可憎的容颜。如同大智慧者不会因穷尽自然的和谐底蕴而失去对她的好奇之心。自然之于智慧的心灵绝非玩具。花朵，动物，群山，它们折射着智者思维的灵光，如同它们娱乐了他纯真的童年。

②In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, —no disgrace, no calamity, （leaving me my eyes,）which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, —my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, —all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.在森林里，我们回归理性和信仰，在那里，任何不幸不会降临于我的生命，没有任何屈辱和灾病——请留下我的双眼——是自然无法平复的。站在空旷大地之上，我的头脑沐浴于欢欣大气并升腾于无限空间，一切卑劣的自高自大和自我中心消失无踪。我变成一个透明的眼球，我不复存在，我洞察一切；宇宙精神的湍流环绕激荡着我。我成为上帝的一部分，我是他的微粒。