文/亨利·戴維·梭羅譯/李家真

《瓦爾登湖》（節(jié)選一）

文/亨利·戴維·梭羅譯/李家真1

每個(gè)早晨都是一張喜人的請(qǐng)柬，邀請(qǐng)我把自己的生活變得像大自然一樣簡(jiǎn)單，還可說(shuō)是像大自然一樣純真。我向來(lái)崇拜奧蘿拉，跟古希臘人一樣虔誠(chéng)。我總是早早起床，到湖里去洗浴，這既是一種宗教儀式，也是我做得最滿(mǎn)意的事情之一。有人說(shuō)，成湯王的浴盆上刻著這么一些文字：“茍日新，又日新，日日新。”我對(duì)這些話(huà)心有戚戚。晨曦使得英雄時(shí)代重返人間。曙光初現(xiàn)之時(shí)，我開(kāi)著門(mén)窗坐在屋里，一只蚊子在屋里飛來(lái)飛去，遵循著我無(wú)法看見(jiàn)也無(wú)從想象的飛行路線(xiàn)。蚊子發(fā)出微弱的嗡嗡聲，帶給我的震撼絕不亞于任何歌頌英名的號(hào)角。嗡嗡聲好比荷馬的安魂曲，蚊子本身則好比飛舞空中的《伊利亞特》和《奧德賽》，吟唱的是它自己的憤怒與漂泊。這樣的情形小中見(jiàn)大，如同一則未予作廢即為有效的長(zhǎng)期廣告，昭示著萬(wàn)事萬(wàn)物生生不息的活力與繁殖力。早晨是覺(jué)醒的時(shí)辰，是一天里最可貴的一段光陰。晨間我們絕少睡意，我們身上那個(gè)晝夜昏睡的部分，晨間至少能保持一個(gè)鐘頭的清醒。如果我們不是在靈性驅(qū)策之下自發(fā)醒來(lái)，而是靠仆人按部就班地把我們推醒，如果喚醒我們的是工廠(chǎng)的鈴聲，而不是煥然一新的毅力與抱負(fù)、抑揚(yáng)頓挫的天籟和漫溢空中的香氣，如果我們起身迎接的并不是一種比睡下時(shí)崇高的生活，那么，接下來(lái)的這個(gè)白晝必定是空虛無(wú)望，甚至配不上白晝的名稱(chēng)。果真如此的話(huà)，黑暗就結(jié)出了果實(shí)，并且借此證明，光明也并不比它美好。每個(gè)白晝都包孕著一個(gè)比它早、比它神圣、尚未遭人褻瀆的破曉時(shí)辰，人若是不相信這件事情，那便是絕望于生活，走的是一條越來(lái)越黑暗的下坡路。每一天，經(jīng)歷過(guò)感官生活的部分中斷之后，人的靈魂，確切說(shuō)是承載靈魂的器官，便會(huì)再一次充滿(mǎn)活力，人的靈性也會(huì)再一次趨向它力所能及的崇高生活。要我說(shuō)，值得銘記的事件全都發(fā)生在晨間，發(fā)生在曉風(fēng)曙色之中?！斗屯印酚性疲耙磺兄腔?，與晨俱醒?！痹?shī)歌與藝術(shù)，以及人類(lèi)那些至為美好、至為特殊的行動(dòng)，無(wú)不肇端于這樣的時(shí)辰。跟曼儂一樣，所有的詩(shī)人和英雄都是奧蘿拉的子嗣，會(huì)在日出時(shí)奏響他們的樂(lè)章。人若是擁有與太陽(yáng)同步的鮮活思維，便可把白晝變成一個(gè)綿延無(wú)盡的早晨。不管時(shí)鐘指示了怎樣的數(shù)字，也不管旁人有著怎樣的心態(tài)和作息安排，只要我醒著，心里有曙光，時(shí)候便是早晨。洗心革面，其實(shí)就是驅(qū)散睡意的嘗試。人們把自個(gè)兒的日子過(guò)得如此不堪，要不是因?yàn)樗麄円恢碧幱诔了恍训臓顟B(tài)，還能是因?yàn)槭裁茨兀克麄儾⒉皇沁@么不會(huì)過(guò)日子啊。要是沒(méi)有向倦意繳械投降的話(huà)，他們本可以有所作為。清醒得足可運(yùn)用體力的人，數(shù)目以百萬(wàn)計(jì)，清醒得足可善用頭腦的人，卻只有百萬(wàn)分之一，清醒得足可追求詩(shī)意生活或圣潔生活的人，更只有一億分之一。醒著才是活著。我從來(lái)不曾遇見(jiàn)十足清醒的人，又怎會(huì)有緣目睹他的容顏？ □

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself. I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora2奧蘿拉，羅馬神話(huà)中的曙光女神，相當(dāng)于希臘神話(huà)as the Greeks. I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did. They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of King Tching Thang3“成湯王”即商湯?！抖Y記·大學(xué)》第三章有云：“湯之《盤(pán)銘》曰，‘茍日新，又日新，日日新’。”朱熹在《四書(shū)集注》中注解這句話(huà)時(shí)說(shuō)：“盤(pán)，沐浴之盤(pán)也?！眛o this effect: “Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.” I can understand that. Morning brings back the heroic ages4這里特指古希臘的英雄時(shí)代（Heroic Age）。公元前八世紀(jì)的希臘詩(shī)人赫西俄德（Hesiod）把人類(lèi)歷史劃分為五個(gè)時(shí)代，依次為黃金時(shí)代、白銀時(shí)代、青銅時(shí)代、英雄時(shí)代和詩(shī)人自己所在的黑鐵時(shí)代。英雄時(shí)代以希臘奠基為開(kāi)端，以特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)為結(jié)束，赫拉克勒斯、忒修斯和阿喀琉斯等半神半人的偉大英雄都屬于這一時(shí)代。. I was as much affected by the faint hum of a mosquito making its invisible and unimaginable tour through my apartment at earliest dawn, when I was sitting with door and windows open, as I could be by any trumpet that ever sang of fame. It was Homer’s requiem5參照多位西方學(xué)者的看法，梭羅說(shuō)到“荷馬的安魂曲”，可能是因?yàn)楹神R在《伊利亞特》當(dāng)中寫(xiě)到了某種昆蟲(chóng)的“勇猛”。據(jù)《伊利亞特》所載，特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)當(dāng)中，雅典娜想要鼓舞墨涅拉俄斯（Menelaus, 海倫的丈夫）的斗志，便往他心里注入了“蜉蝣的勇猛，它雖遭人奮力驅(qū)趕，卻仍然瘋狂叮咬，因?yàn)槿搜撬哪恐械奶旖缂厌劇?。（引文系譯者由美國(guó)詩(shī)人羅伯特·菲茨杰拉德的《伊利亞特》英譯本譯出）依英譯本不同，這里的“蜉蝣”亦作“蚊子”“蒼蠅”或“黃蜂”。; itself an Iliad and Odyssey in the air, singing its own wrath and wanderings6《奧德賽》（Odyssey）也是荷馬史詩(shī)，為《伊利亞特》續(xù)篇?！兑晾麃喬亍芬詳?xiě)阿喀琉斯的憤怒開(kāi)篇，《奧德賽》則敘寫(xiě)了希臘英雄俄底修斯（Odysseus）在特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)之后的漂泊旅程，故有“憤怒與漂泊”之說(shuō)。. There was something cosmical about it; a standing advertisement, till forbidden7till forbidden譯為“未予作廢即為有效”，廣告業(yè)行話(huà)，意思是某則廣告長(zhǎng)年有效，除非廣告主聲明廣告作廢。, of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world. The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night. Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are not awakened by our Genius, but by the mechanical nudgings of some servitor, are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the undulations of celestial music, instead of factory bells, and a fragrance fi lling the air—to a higher life than we fell asleep from; and thus the darkness bear its fruit, and prove itself to be good, no less than the light. That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way. After a partial cessation of his sensuous life, the soul of man, or its organs rather, are reinvigorated each day, and his Genius tries again what noble life it can make.8在本書(shū)篇章“春”當(dāng)中，梭羅引用了《孟子》的語(yǔ)句來(lái)進(jìn)一步闡發(fā)此處所說(shuō)的道理，可參看。All memorable events, I should say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere. TheVedas9《吠陀》，印度最古老也最重要的宗教及哲學(xué)文獻(xiàn)集，按通常說(shuō)法包括《梨俱吠陀》（Rigveda）、《娑摩吠陀》（Samaveda）、《夜柔吠陀》（Yajurveda）和《阿達(dá)婆吠陀》（Atharvaveda）四個(gè)部分。梭羅引用的這句話(huà)不詳所自，一些西方學(xué)者說(shuō)它出自亨利·科爾布魯克（Henry Colebrooke）等人譯注的古印度經(jīng)典《數(shù)論頌》（Sankhya Karika，牛津大學(xué)1837年印行的版本），但譯者沒(méi)有從該書(shū)找到對(duì)應(yīng)文字。say, “All intelligences awake with the morning.”P(pán)oetry and art, and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men, date from such an hour. All poets and heroes, like Memnon10曼儂，希臘神話(huà)中的埃塞俄比亞國(guó)王，曙光女神埃俄斯（亦即羅馬神話(huà)中的奧蘿拉）的兒子，死后成為神祇。尼羅河畔有被人誤稱(chēng)為曼儂神像的巨型法老塑像，據(jù)說(shuō)會(huì)在日出時(shí)發(fā)出樂(lè)聲。, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music at sunrise. To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning. It matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men. Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me. Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep. Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering? They are not such poor calculators. If they had not been overcome with drowsiness, they would have performed something. The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?

Walden(Exerpt I)

ByHenry David Thoreau

1 川人，1972年生，曾任《中國(guó)文學(xué)》執(zhí)行主編及《英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)》副主編，現(xiàn)居北京，專(zhuān)事文字。寫(xiě)有大量隨筆，譯有《采果集》（Fruit-Gathering）、《流螢集》（Fire fl ies）、《吉檀迦利》（Gitanjali）、《園丁集》（The Gardener）、《丘吉爾傳》（Churchill: An Unruly Life）、《先知》（The Prophet）、《沙與沫》（Sand and Foam）、《流浪者》（The Wanderer）、《福爾摩斯探案全集》（The Complete Sherlock Holmes）、《王爾德小說(shuō)童話(huà)全集》（The Complete Oscar Wilde Stories）、《培根隨筆全集》（Essays）等作品。譯文節(jié)選自李家真譯《瓦爾登湖》第二章“我居何所，所求者何”（Where I Lived, and What I Lived for）。