黄金国El Dorado（1/2）

罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森/ Robert Louis Stevenson

罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森（1850—1894）,英国小说家、散文家。生于爱丁堡，毕业于爱丁堡大学法律系，一生为肺病所扰，周游各地养病，期间发表大量短篇小说和散文游记。主要作品有小说《金银岛》《化身博士》《绑架》等。他的作品情节奇妙浪漫，文笔优美雅致。

Acethe Hole

Uand these new words before you read this article.

1. stow [st?u] v. 装载；收藏

2. squander [skw?nd?] v. 浪费

3. aly [?lei] v. 减轻；使缓和

4. startle [stɑ:tl] v. 使吓一跳

It sees as if a great deal were attaablea world where there are so any arriages and decisive battles, and where we all, at certa hours of the day, and with great gto and dispatch, stoortion of victuals fally and irretrievably to the bag whitas . And it would see also, on a hasty view, that the attant of as uch as possible was the one goal of an’s io life. A, as regards the spirit, this is but a sebnce. We livean asdg scale when we live happily, ohg leadg to anotheran endless series. There is always a new horizon for onward-lookg n, and although we dwell on a sall p, irsedpetty bess and not endurg beyond a brief period of years, we are so nstituted that our hopes are aessible, like stars, and the ter of hopg is prolonged until the ter of life. To be truly happy is a question of how we beg and not of how we end, of what we want and not of what we have. An aspiration is a joy forever, a possession as solid as a nded estate, a fortune which we ever exhat and which givesyear by year a revenue of pleasurable activity. To have any of these is to be spiritually rich. To those who have her art nor shard by the look of thgs and people, and that he wakens everywith a ree for work and pleasure. Desire and curiosity are the o eyes through which he sees the worldthe ost ented lors: it is they that ake woiful or fossils terestg: and the an ay squander his estate ao beggary, but if he keeps these o aulets he is still richthe possibilities of pleasure. Suppose he uld take one al so pad prehehat he should never hunger any ore; suppose hi, at a gne—would not that an bea poor way for aent ever after?

One who goes t on foot with a sgle vohis knapsack reads with circpe, pag often to reflect, and often yg the book down to e the ndscape or the prtsthe n parlour; for he fears to e to an end of his eant, and be left panionless o stages of his journey. A young fellow retly fished the works of Thoas Carlyle, dg up, if we reber aright with the ten note-books upon Frederick the Great.“What!”cried the young fellow,ion,“Is there not ore Carlyle? A I left to the daily papers?”A ore celebrated stance is that of Alexander, who wept bitterly becae he had no re worlds to subdue. And when Gibbon had fished the Decle and Fall, he had only a few onts of joy; and it was with a“sober ncholy”that he parted fro his bours.

Happily we all shoot at the oon with effectual arrows; our hopes are set on aessible El Dorado; we e to an end of nothg here below. Is are only pcked up to sow theselves aga, like tard. You would thk, when the child was born, there would be ao trouble; a is only the begng of fresh aies; and when you have seen it through its teethg and its education, and at st its arriage, as! It is only to have new fears, new quiverg sensibilities, with every day; and the health of your children’s children grows as touchg a n as that of your own. Aga, when you have arried your wife, you would thk you were got upon a hill, and ight beg to go downward by an easy slope. But you have only ended urtg to beg arriage. Fallglove and ng love are often difficult tasks to overbearg and rebellio spirits; but to keeplove is also a bess of so iportao which both an and wife t brg kdness and goodwill. The true love storythe altar, when there lies before the arried pair a ost beautifulof wisdo and generosity, and a lifelong struggle towards an unattaable ideal. Unattaable? Ay, surely unattaable, fro the very fact that they are o stead of one.

“Of akg books there is no end,”ped the Preacher, and did not perceive how highly he raisg letters as an oupation. There is no end. Io akg books or experts, or to travel, or to gatherg wealth. Proble gives rise to proble. We ay study forever, and we are never as learned as we would. We have never ade a statue worthy of our dreas. And when we have disvered a , or crossed a cha of ountas, it is only to fd another o or another p upon the further side. Ie universe there is roo for our swiftest diligend to spare. It is not like the works of Carlyle, whichbe read to an end. Evena rner of it,a private park, orthe neighborhood of a sgle halet, the weather and the seasons keep so deftly gg that although we walk there for a lifeti there will be always sothg o startle and delight .

There is only one wish realizable on the earth; only ohg thatbe perfectly attaed: Death. And fro a variety of circes we have no oo tellwhether it be worth attag.

A strange picture we ake on our way to our chiaeras, ceaselessly archg, grudgg ourselves the ti for rest; defatigable, adventuro pioneers. It is true that we shall never reach the goal; it is evehan probable that there is no such pce; and if we lived for turies and were endowed with the powers of a god, we should fd ourselves not uearer what we wa the end. O, toilg hands of ortals! O, unwearied feet, travelg ye know not whither! Soon, soon, it sees to you, you t e forth on so nspicuo hill, and but a little way further, agast the settg sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thg than to arrive, and the true suess is to bour.

参考译文

人活一世，渴望得到的东西好像很多：不胜枚举的婚姻和决战等；无论身居何方，每天固定的时刻，我们都不可避免地将一份食物津津有味并且迅速地吞入腹中。粗看一下，倾尽所能去获取就是人纷扰一生唯一的目的。然而从精神层面上说，这只是一个假象。如果我们生活幸福，我们就如登梯，步步高升，没有终结。眼光长远的人，天地自然宽。虽然我们蜗居在这颗小行星上，整日为琐事而忙，生命短暂，但我们生来就心比天高，生命不息，奋斗不止。真正的幸福就在于怎样开始而不是怎样结束，是想拥有什么，而不是得到了什么。渴望是一种永恒的幸福，它是一笔财富，犹如房地产一样踏实，用之不竭、年年受益、幸福一生。精神的富有和这些渴望是成正比的。对于既没有艺术细胞也没有科学细胞的人们而言，世界只是颜色的混合体，或者是一条崎岖的小路，一不小心就会摔伤小腿。正是这些渴望和好奇，吸引人们充满耐心地生活着，形形色色的人和物吸引着你我，促使我们每天醒来可以兴致盎然地工作和娱乐。渴望和好奇是人们打量这个五彩世界的一双眼睛：女人因它而美丽，化石因它而有趣。只要有这两道护身符，即使这个人挥霍无度沦为乞丐，他仍能笑口常开。假设一个人一顿饭吃得紧凑而丰盛，他将不会再饿；假设他把这世间万象看了个明明白白，便不再有求知欲；假设他在每个经验领域中都如此——你觉得他的人生还有乐趣吗？

一个徒步旅行的人，随身只带了一本书，他会精心研读，不时地思考一下，还会合上书本凝视风景或者玩赏小酒馆雅间中的画。他害怕书读完了，乐趣也随着消失，剩下的旅程将无以为藉。最近一个年轻人拜读完托马斯·卡莱尔的著作。如果我没记错的话，他把有关腓特列大帝的笔记整整做了十本。“什么？”这个年轻人惊讶地叫道：“卡莱尔的书都看完了？那我只能天天看报纸了？”最典型的例子是亚历山大，因为已无国家供他征服，他号啕大哭。吉本写完《罗马帝国衰亡史》时也只兴奋了一时，他带着一种“清醒而又悲凉的心情”与以往的劳动果实辞别。

我们高兴地把箭射向月亮，却总是毫无效果；我们总是将希望寄托在遥不可及的黄金国上，我们好像什么也没完成。就像芥菜一样，兴趣的收获只是为了下次的耕种。你会想当然地以为孩子出生了，什么麻烦都没了，其实这只是新麻烦的开始。你看着他长大，入学，结婚生子，唉！每天都有新问题、新的感情撞击，你孙儿辈的健康将像你的健康一样牵动着你的心。当你步入婚姻殿堂时，你认为已经到顶了，可以轻松地往下走了。但这只是恋爱的终结，婚姻的开始。对于桀骜不驯或者反叛的人来说，坠入爱河和获得爱情都很困难，但维持爱情也很重要，夫妻之间应该相敬如宾。真正的爱情故事从圣坛开始，在每对夫妇面前都有一场关于智慧和慷慨的壮观竞争，他们要为不可能实现的理想终生奋斗。不可能？啊，当然不可能，因为他们不是一个人，而是两个人。

传道者哀叹“著书无止境”，却没有觉察到它已高度评价了作家这一职业。确实，世界上有很多事是无止境的，例如著书立说、旅行、试验、获取财富等。一个问题会引发另一问题。我们必须活到老学到老，我们的学习永远得不到满足。我们从未雕刻出符合我们梦想的塑像。我们发现一个新大陆，翻过一座山脉时，总会看到远方还有未曾涉足的海洋和大陆。宇宙浩渺，不像卡莱尔的著作可以读完。即使在其一角，一个私人花园，一个农庄附近，尽管在那里生活一辈子，天气和季节的无常变化也令我们有常看常新的感觉。

世界上只有一种愿望可以实现，也仅有一种事物绝对能得到，那就是死亡。死的方式很多，但没有人知道是否能死得其所。

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