英国的农村生活 Rural Life in England

[美国]华盛顿·欧文/Washington Irving

华盛顿·欧文（1783-1859），享誉国际的文学家，也是19世纪最伟大的美国散文家之一。他生于纽约，在家中是11个孩子中最小的。欧文自幼聪颖，19岁攻读法律。1804年至1806年间游历欧洲，回国后取得律师资格。但是，他对当律师并不感兴趣，而且身体不太好。因此，他改变职业，以写作谋生，并进入仕途，曾任驻西班牙公使，旅居欧洲长达17年。他的杰作《见闻札记》就在这其间完成的，其中的《瑞普·凡·温克尔》已成为妇孺皆知的故事。总之，华盛顿·欧文在世界文学史上有着不可或缺的地位。

Nothing can be more imposing than the magnificence of English park scenery. Vast lawns that extend like sheets of vivid green, with here and there clumps of gigantic trees, heaping up rich piles of foliage:the solemn pomp of groves and woodland glades, with the deer trooping in silent herds across them;the hare, bounding away to the covert;or the pheasant, suddenly bursting upon the wing;the brook, taught to wind in natural meanderings or expand into a glassy lake-the sequestered pool, reflecting the quivering trees, with the yellow leaf sleeping on its bosom, and the trout roaming fearlessly about its limpid waters;while some rustic temple or sylvan statue, grown green and dank with age, gives an air of classic sanctity to the seclusion.

These are but a few of the features of park scenery;but what most delights me, is the creative talent with which the English decorate the unostentatious abodes of middle life. The rudest habitation, the most unpromising and scanty portion of land, in the hands of an Englishman of taste, becomes a little paradise.

The sterile spot grows into loveliness under his（an Englishman）hands, and yet the operations of art which produce the effect are scarcely to be perceived. The cherishing and training of some trees;the cautious pruning of others;the nice distribution of flowers and plants of tender and graceful foliage;the introduction of a green slope of velvet turf;the partial opening to a peep of blue distance, or silver gleam of water:all these are managed with a delicate tact, a pervading yet quiet assiduity, like the magic touchings with which a painter finishes up a favorite picture.

The residence of people of fortune and refinement in the country has diffused a degree of taste and elegance in rural economy that descends to the lowest class. The very laborer, with his thatched cottage and narrow slip of ground, attends to their embellishment. The trim hedge, the grass, plot before the door, the little flower, bed bordered with snug box, the woodbine trained up against the wall, and hanging its blossoms about the lattice, the pot of flowers in the window, the holly, providently planted about the house, to cheat winter of its dreariness, and to throw in a semblance of green summer to cheer the fireside:all these bespeak the influence of taste, flowing down from high sources, and pervading the lowest levels of the public mind. If ever Love, as poets sing, delights to visit a cottage, it must be the cottage of an English peasant.

没有什么景物比英国公园的壮丽景色更吸引人了。广阔的草地就像一块鲜明的绿毯伸展开来，到处都是巨树丛林，它们聚成一簇簇丰厚的树叶丛。茂盛的小树林和宽敞的林间空地，有鹿群静静走过；野兔跳进藏身之所；雉鸟突然展翅高飞；小溪流顺着天然曲折的道路蜿蜒前行，或延展成平镜般的湖泊——这个幽静的水塘映出颤动的树影，黄叶静静地躺在塘心，鳟鱼无惧地悠游于清水之中；而一些乡间的庙宇及森林中的雕像，则因时间久远而变绿了，阴湿湿的，给这种隐蔽蒙上了一层古典圣洁的气氛。

这只不过是公园景观特色中的一个很小的部分。英国人装饰他们朴实的中产阶级生活时的那种创造性才智，才是最让我欣赏的。在有品位的英国人手中，最粗陋的住宅，前景不好而又贫乏的土地，也能成为一个小天堂。

在他（英国人）的手中，再贫瘠的土地也会变成可爱之地，而且看不到任何产生这种效果的艺术操作的迹象。对一些树的精心爱护和培育；对另一些树的谨慎的修剪；对娇嫩的植物和花朵的悉心分类；对鹅绒似的绿色草皮斜坡的引入；可以瞥见远处蔚蓝或银光闪烁水色的空隙……这一切都是以精巧的机智、无处不在又不露痕迹的勤勉来设计的，就像一位画家用神笔完成的一幅心爱之作。

乡村里，富有且教养良好的乡绅住处，在乡村经济中散发出了一定程度的品位及优雅，并向最低等的阶层散布。即使是只拥有茅顶小屋及狭长空地的工人，也会注意装饰的问题。整洁的篱笆，门前的绿草地，环绕着的小花床，修过枝的忍冬攀在墙上，将花朵缀满了格子窗和窗台上的花盆，冬青则被巧妙地种植在房子周围。即使到了冬天，也满是夏天的样子，充满温暖，鼓舞着屋内围炉而坐的人们。这都是品位的影响力在起作用。它从高处汩汩向下，一直流到公众认为的最低等阶层中。如果诗人所歌颂的爱是针对农舍的话，那该农舍则非英国人的农舍莫属了。

词汇笔记

gigantic[dʒai'gæntik]adj.巨大的

The whole job was a gigantic bungle.

整件工作都糟透了。

paradise['pærədaiz]n.天堂

Hawaii is called an island paradise.

夏威夷被称为天堂岛。

effect[i'fekt]n.结果，影响，效果

The aspirins soon took effect.

服下的阿司匹林药片，很快见效了。

perceive[pə'si:v]v.察觉，感觉；认知，理解

We perceived that we were unwelcome and left.

我们发觉自己不受欢迎，因此便离开了。

小试身手

没有什么景物比英国公园的壮丽景色更吸引人了。

译______________________________

在他（英国人）的手中，再贫瘠的土地也会变成可爱之地，而且看不到任何产生这种效果的艺术操作的迹象。

译______________________________

即使到了冬天，也满是夏天的样子，充满温暖，鼓舞着屋内围炉而坐的人们。

译______________________________

In the hands of an Englishman of taste, becomes a little paradise.

in the hands of：在，交托给，由……负责

造______________________________

The very laborer, with his thatched cottage and narrow slip of ground, attends to their embellishment.

attend to：注意；留意，专心于，照料

造______________________________