海边的贝壳

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海边的贝壳 “我好像是在海上玩耍，时而发现了一个光滑的石子儿， 时而发现了一个美丽贝壳而为之高兴的孩子。 尽管如此，那真理的海洋还是神秘地展现在我们面前。” ――伊萨克・牛顿 <<<认识我们脚下的土地 | 首页 | 维基百科：互动的乌托邦？>>> 瓦尔登湖（三六） mountain @ 2003-12-04 A man who has at length found something to do will not need to get a new suit to do it in; for him the old will do, that has lain dusty in the garret for an indeterminate period. Old shoes will serve a hero longer than they have served his valet―if a hero ever has a valet―bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make them do. Only they who go to soires and legislative balls must have new coats, coats to change as often as the man changes in them. But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; will they not? Who ever saw his old clothes―his old coat, actually worn out, resolved into its primitive elements, so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow it on some poor boy, by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer still, or shall we say richer, who could do with less? I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit? If you have any enterprise before you, try it in your old clothes. All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles. Our moulting season, like that of the fowls, must be a crisis in our lives. The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it. Thus also the snake casts its slough, and the caterpillar its wormy coat, by an internal industry and expansion; for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil. Otherwise we shall be found sailing under false colors, and be inevitably cashiered at last by our own opinion, as well as that of mankind. 一个人，到后来，找到工作做了，其实并不要他穿上新衣服去上工的；旧衣服就行了，就是那些很久地放在阁楼中，积起了灰尘的衣服。一个英雄穿鞋子的时间倒要比他的跟班穿它们的时间长――如果说，英雄也有限班的活――至于赤脚的历史比穿鞋子更悠久了，而英雄是可以赤脚的。只有那些赴夜宴，到立法院去的人必须穿上新衣服，他们换了一件又一件，正如那些地方换了一批又一批人。可是，如果把我的短上衣和裤子穿上身，帽子戴上鞋子穿上，便可以礼拜上帝的话，那未有这些也就够了，不是吗？谁曾注意到他的破衣服――真的已经穿得破敝不堪了，变成了当初的原料，就是送给一个乞儿也算不得行善了，说不定那乞儿还要拿它转送给一个比他更贫苦的人，那人倒可以说是最富有的，因为最后还是他什么都不要还可以过活的呢。我说你得提防那些必须穿新衣服的事业，尽可不提防那些穿新衣服的人。如果没有新的人，新衣服怎么能做得合他的身？如果你有什么事业要做，穿上旧衣服试试看。人之所需，并不是要做些事，而是要有所为，或是说，需有所是。也许我们是永远不必添置新衣服的，不论旧衣服已如何破敝和肮脏，除非我们已经这般地生活了，或经营了，或者说，已向着什么而航行了，在我们这古老的躯壳里已有着新的生机了，那时若还是依然故我，便有旧瓶装新酒之感了。我们的换羽毛的季节，就像飞禽的，必然是生命之中一个大的转折点。潜鸟退到僻静的池塘边去脱毛。蛇蜕皮的情形也是如此，同样的是蛹虫的出茧。都是内心里孜孜扩展着的结果；衣服不过是我们的最表面的角质，或者说，尘世之烦恼而已。要不然我们将发现我们在伪装底下行进，到头来必不可兔地将被人类及我们自己的意见所唾弃。 生词：garret, valet, bestow(on, upon), perchance, beware of, procure, moult, fowl, loon, slough, caterpillar, wormy, cuticle, coil, false color, cashier. 注意： at length 最后、详细地。 cast slough 当蜕皮讲。 for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil. 中的but用法。 false color 伪装。 cashier 除了作名词当出纳员讲，还作动词当dismiss（开除）讲。 理解不足： Who ever saw his old clothes―his old coat, actually worn out, resolved into its primitive elements, so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow it on some poor boy, by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer still, or shall we say richer, who could do with less? 句子里面的his, him, poor boy, poorer, richer指代关系没搞清楚。 All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. 人之所需，并不是要做些事，而是要有所为，或是说，需有所是。 体会不出 to do with sth, to do sth, to be sth的区别，特别是前两个的区别。 引用(0) 评论 XML blogger del.icio.us furl.net Wikipedia 发表评论 最后更新 煎饼 探索Wiki Wiki资料：自由百科制造者 维基百科Wiki新写法―主题首页 发现了一个好站点 《锐思评论》关于中立观点是否适用于BBS的讨论 累坏了 国内比较早的几个Wiki 台湾的Wiki资料 Wiki资料：大家都来玩wiki <<<认识我们脚下的土地 | 首页 | 维基百科：互动的乌托邦？>>>