LESSON 24

SHORT SELECTIONS IN PROSE

散文选篇

I. DRYDEN AND POPE.

Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, more certainty in that of Pope. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden’s page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope’s is the velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and leveled by the roller. If the flights of Dryden are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If, of Dryden’s fire, the blaze is brighter, of Pope’s the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.

(Samuel Johnson)

II. LAS CASAS DISSUADING FROM BATTLE.

Is then the dreadful measure of your cruelty not yet complete? Battle! against whom? Against a king, in whose mild bosom your atrocious injuries, even yet, have not excited hate; but who, insulted or victorious, still sues for peace. Against a people, who never wronged the living being their Creator formed; a people, who received you as cherished guests, with eager hospitality and confiding kindness. Generously and freely did they share with you their comforts, their treasures, and their homes; you repaid them by fraud, oppression, and dishonor.

Pizarro, hear me! Hear me, chieftains! And thou, All-powerful! whose thunder can shiver into sand the adamantine rock, whose lightnings can pierce the core of the riven and quaking earth, oh let thy power give effect to thy servant’s words, as thy Spirit gives courage to his will! Do not, I implore you, chieftains,—do not, I implore you, renew the foul barbarities your insatiate avarice has inflicted on this wretched, unoffending race. But hush, my sighs! fall not, ye drops of useless sorrow! heart-breaking anguish, choke not my utterance.

(E. B. Sheridan)

III. ACTION AND REPOSE.

John Ruskin, 1819—, is a distinguished English art critic and author. From 1869 to 1884, he was Professor of the Fine Arts at Oxford University. His writings are very numerous, and are noted for their eloquent and brilliant style.

About the river of human life there is a wintry wind, though a heavenly sunshine; the iris colors its agitation, the frost fixes upon its repose. Let us beware that our rest become not the rest of stones, which, so long as they are tempest-tossed and thunderstricken, maintain their majesty; but when the stream is silent and the storm passed, suffer the grass to cover them, and are plowed into the dust.

IV. TIME AND CHANGE.

Sir Humphry Davy, 1778-1829, was an eminent chemist of England. He made many important chemical discoveries, and was the inventor of the miner’s safety lamp.

Time is almost a human word, and Change entirely a human idea; in the system of nature, we should rather say progress than change. The sun appears to sink in the ocean in darkness, but it rises in another hemisphere; the ruins of a city fall, but they are often used to form more magnificent structures: even when they are destroyed so as to produce only dust, Nature asserts her empire over them; and the vegetable world rises in constant youth, in a period of annual successions, by the labors of man—providing food, vitality, and beauty—upon the wrecks of monuments which were raised for the purposes of glory, but which are now applied to objects of utility.

V. THE POET.

William Ellery Channing, 1780-1842, was a distinguished clergyman and orator. He took a leading part in the public affairs of his day, and wrote and lectured eloquently on several topics.

It is not true that the poet paints a life which does not exist. He only extracts and concentrates, as it were, life’s ethereal essence, arrests and condenses its volatile fragrance, brings together its scattered beauties, and prolongs its more refined but evanescent joys; and in this he does well, for it is good to feel that life is not wholly usurped by cares for subsistence and physical gratifications, but admits, in measures which may be indefinitely enlarged, sentiments and delights worthy of a higher being.

VI. MOUNTAINS.

William Howitt, 1795-1879, was an English author. He published many books, and was associated with his wife, Mary Howitt, in the publication of many others.

There is a charm connected with mountains, so powerful that the merest mention of them, the merest sketch of their magnificent features, kindles the imagination, and carries the spirit at once into the bosom of their enchanted regions. How the mind is filled with their vast solitude! How the inward eye is fixed on their silent, their sublime, their everlasting peaks! How our hearts bound to the music of their solitary cries, to the tinkle of their gushing rills, to the sound of their cataracts! How inspiriting are the odors that breathe from the upland turf, from the rock-hung flower, from the hoary and solemn pine! How beautiful are those lights and shadows thrown abroad, and that fine, transparent haze which is diffused over the valleys and lower slopes, as over a vast, inimitable picture!

【中文阅读】

1.德莱登和蒲伯

德莱登对人的了解更多地着眼于普遍性，而蒲伯则基于地域特征。德莱登的观念源于综合推断，而蒲伯的观念成因于细微的观察。德莱登的认识体系更严谨，要比蒲伯的认识带有更多的确定性。德莱登的风格变幻莫测，富于变化，而蒲伯的则小心谨慎，趋于单一。德莱登恪守自己内心的活动，而蒲伯则将内心活动置于自己的创作原则之下。德莱登的文章就像一块未经开垦过的土地，不注重着墨均匀，多姿多彩，变幻万千。蒲伯的文章就像天鹅绒般平整的草地，用镰刀都修整过了，滚压机在上面碾压得非常平坦。如果说德莱登能飞得更高的话，那么蒲伯更注重的是翅膀能扑扇得更久。如果说德莱登的文章绽放出的火焰更明亮的话，那么蒲伯的文章所散发出的炽热更有规律、更持久。德莱登经常能超出人们的预期，而蒲伯从未让读者失望过。读德莱登的文章，人们经常脸上现出惊愕，读蒲伯的文章人们永远如沐春风。

（塞缪尔•约翰逊）

2.拉斯·卡萨斯劝人们免战

对你的残忍程度那可怕的衡量还没有完吗？去战斗吧！跟谁作战呢？跟国王啊，你那残忍的刑讯还没有激起仇恨，可是那些受到伤害或者侥幸逃脱的人们，还在祈求安宁。跟自从造物主给予生命，从未犯过过错的人吗？还是跟非常热情地把你当成贵客招待，让你马上就有久逢知己之感的人呢？他们慷慨和随便与你分享令他们倍感安慰的事情、他们的财富和他们的家庭，而你则拿欺诈、压制和侮辱来回报他们。

皮萨罗，你听我说！听我说，酋长！你无所不能！谁的雷声能令沙子躲进金刚石里，谁的闪电能钻进裂开和摇晃的大地，直抵地心？在你的精神赋予他的意志以勇气时，让你无所不在的力量来影响你奴仆们的话语吧！我求你了，不要啊，酋长——千万不要，我求你，改掉你令人不快的野蛮习气，你永不知足的贪婪强加给这个讨厌但无害的种族的坏习气。且慢，我的天！不要流露出无益的悲哀！令人心碎的极度痛苦不会令我的言语窒息。

（E·B·谢里丹）

_{3.活动和休憩}

在人类的生命长河里，始终存在一股凛冽的风，尽管苍穹阳光明媚。彩虹在摇动中变换着色彩，冰霜凝住了它的安宁。我们要明白，我们的休憩不会像石头那样一动不动，只要它们能够忍受暴风雨的肆虐和雷电的鞭打，仍然不失其庄严。但是，当小溪静谧，风暴过后，草就会蔓延而至，覆盖在它们身上，耕犁所至皆为尘土。

4.时间和改变

有一个人类差不多天天挂在嘴边上的字眼，改变完全是人类的主观想法。在自然界，我们说得更多的是进步，而不是改变。太阳似乎湮没于大海黑暗的尽端，但却升起于另一个半球。一座城市尽成废墟，但是通常会形成更为壮观的建筑景象。甚至当这些建筑被摧毁时，只不过化为尘土而已。大自然声称它的帝国必须覆盖在这些建筑之上，而年景交替之间，在人们辛勤劳作之下，绿色植物世界永远焕发生机——提供食物、生机和美景——在这些纪念物的残垣断壁上，为了荣耀的目的而茁壮成长，但是现在这些建筑物则被用于公益事业。

1. 诗人

诗人渲染并不存在的生活，这个说法并不确切。在某种程度上，诗人只是提炼并专注于生活的虚幻缥缈的精神本质，阻止并凝聚其容易挥发的芳香，将分散的美结合成一个整体，延长其带给人们的转瞬即逝的快乐，使其焕发出更精美的一面。在这方面，诗人做得恰到好处。因为切实感受生活并非全都被对生计的担心和生理上的满足霸占了，这是很好的体验。但是必须承认，相对来说对生计的担心和生理上的满足的蔑视也许被无限放大了，情感和愉悦仍然是较高层次的精神实在。

6.崇山峻岭

有一种魅力与山联在一起，崇山峻岭如此摄人心魄，以至于哪怕是略一提及，哪怕对其巍峨的面貌最细小的描述，都会激发人们的想象，并马上将这种情绪传导到他们内心被迷惑住的心房。人们的内心何以被孤独塞满的啊！内心的目光又是怎样被山之静谧、崇高和永恒的峰顶震慑住了！我们的心灵如何与它们孤独的呐喊那雄浑的乐声，与小溪潺潺的悦耳声音，与山间大瀑布的隆隆声连在一起！从高地草场，从岩石上长的鲜花，从生长多年庄严肃穆的松柏传来的味道真沁人心脾啊！这些向外投射的那些光影多美啊，散到山谷和斜坡上的透明的雾霭，这一切就像一幅巨大的无法仿效的画儿一样！