第三册第20篇：随感录

20. Random¹ Thoughts 随感录

This matter of other people’s learning and ccomplishments has been worrying me for some time. I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or to do in half a dozen life-times. To begin with, unless these people chance to be obvious invalids² like Stevenson or Tchehov, they are always tremendous athletes with surprising strength, powers of endurance, and so forth³.
一直以来，对别人学识渊博及造诣之深，我感到很不理解。只要你随便读一读哪一位重要人物的传记，就总会发现他的学问和才能，就算我活六辈子也休想学到和做到。首先，除了碰到像史蒂文森或契诃夫那样的，有明显残疾的人以外，他们总是成绩顶呱呱的运动员，他们有着惊人的气力、耐力。

They could all walk and run and climb our heads off, even when they were seventy. Then they all have the gift of tongues. You never catch a glimpse of them sitting down to learn a new language, not even running an eye over its irregular verbs, yet it is admitted that they speak any number with an astonishing fluency⁴ and purity of accent. They never confine themselves to one science, but are inevitably⁵ masters of several. The big book of Nature they know by heart. Only the other day I was reading an account of a great novelist, a most sophisticated and subtle person, and was told that he knew the name and habits and history of every wild flower and plant and tree and bird in the country. Nor is that all. There is not one of these bigwigs who is not (I quote the customary phrases) a sensitive and accomplished⁶ musician, or an extraordinarily⁷ fine amateur water-colourist, or the possessor of a magnificent prose style. We are always told that, had circumstance  been different, their talents     were such that they need only have given  their serious attention to one or other of these arts to have procured⁸ for themselves lasting⁹ and perhaps world-wide reputation. So runs the legend of the eulogists.
他们即使年届七旬，在走路，跑步，翻山越岭时我们都赶不上他们。其次，他们大都是语言方面的天才。你从来没有看见他们坐下来学习一种新的语言，甚至连不规则动词表也没有看见他们浏览—下。但是大家都认为他们随便可以讲几种语言，不仅流利，而且发音纯正。他们一般都精通几门，而不会使局限在一门科学里。大自然这部巨著被他们熟记于心。不久以前，我还读到一位杰出的小说家的事迹。他是一位非常老练而又精细的人，据说他熟悉乡村每一种野花野草、树木和禽鸟的名称、习性和生活史。除此之外，请原谅我用一些套语来形容，这些大人物都是富于灵感的音乐大师，或是精妙绝伦的业余水彩画家，或是风格优美的文体家。更使我们感到惊讶的是，要是他们的境遇不同，只要他们认真从事这门或那门艺术，凭着他们的才能，而且日后一定会获得不朽的声誉，再者还会享誉全球。这些对他们的描述真是神乎其神。

I am baffled. How is it done? I ask the question again, my voice rises to a scream of envy and vexation. Consider what is involved in this matter (so lightly touched upon and dismissed) of music or water-colour painting or fine writing, what years of serious application, of drudgery¹⁰ at the keyboard, the easel, or the writing-desk. It is one thing to strum on the piano, as you and I do, faking the left-hand passages as we go along, or to daub a few patchy water colours, or to paste on to clumsy prose some old spangles of rhetoric¹¹, and it is quite another thing to be an accomplished musician or artist or writer. If the first were meant, I could understand it; but the second —— and as a mere¹² recreation, too! And then to add the athleticism¹³, the sciences, the tongues, the natural history! I am bewildered and crushed. The very idle rumour¹⁴ of fellow-creatures so wonderfully gifted makes me dwindle¹⁵ in my own estimation to the size of a gnat¹⁶.
但是我被搞糊涂了。他们凭什么做得到?我再次想问这个问题，甚至忌妒和烦恼得要遥问苍天。我们应该仔细地想一想一首乐曲、一幅水彩画或一篇美妙的文章究竟意味着什么(这一点却被他们轻轻带过或略而不论)，这需要很多年专心致志地在键盘上、在画架上或者在写字台上辛勤操作，这样才能有所成就。而像你我这样，胡乱弹奏钢琴曲，同时还用左手插入即兴的过门，或者不管色彩是否协调，乱涂几笔蘸上水彩，或者在一篇粗制滥造的散文里贴上几句闪闪烁烁的陈词滥调是一回事；而要成为一个有成就的音乐家、画家或作家，却是另一回事。要是那指的是前者，我可以理解；但是如果指的是后者呢?——尚且还不过是作为一种业余的消遣!更不用说他们还要从事体育运动，研究各门科学，学习各种语言，或者博物学!这使我迷惑不解，而且佩服得五体投地。这就是使我自己越看越小，小得像个小蚊虫的原因。他们有如此神奇的天赋!正像传说中讲的那样。

1 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

2 invalids   

病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The invention will confer a benefit on all invalids. 这项发明将有助于所有的残疾人。
• H?tel National Des Invalids is a majestic building with a golden hemispherical housetop. 荣军院是有着半球形镀金屋顶的宏伟建筑。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 fluency   

n.流畅，雄辩，善辩

参考例句：

• More practice will make you speak with greater fluency.多练习就可以使你的口语更流利。
• Some young children achieve great fluency in their reading.一些孩子小小年纪阅读已经非常流畅。

5 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

6 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

7 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

8 procured   

v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条

参考例句：

• These cars are to be procured through open tender. 这些汽车要用公开招标的办法购买。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A friend procured a position in the bank for my big brother. 一位朋友为我哥哥谋得了一个银行的职位。 来自《用法词典》

9 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

10 drudgery   

n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作

参考例句：

• People want to get away from the drudgery of their everyday lives.人们想摆脱日常生活中单调乏味的工作。
• He spent his life in pointlessly tiresome drudgery.他的一生都在做毫无意义的烦人的苦差事。

11 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 athleticism   

n.运动竞赛，崇尚运动，竞技热

参考例句：

• He brings defense. He brings talent. He brings athleticism. That's a lot. “他带来的防御，他带来了人才，他带来了身体，这是很多”。 来自互联网
• Each of these sports isn't won through sheer athleticism alone. 每个体育项目无法凭借纯粹的运动能力而获胜。 来自互联网

14 rumour   

n.谣言，谣传，传闻

参考例句：

• I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
• There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来，一直有谣言产生，对他进行中伤。

15 dwindle   

v.逐渐变小（或减少）

参考例句：

• The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 4,000 to a few hundred.工厂雇员总数已经从4,000多人减少到几百人。
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority.他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。

16 gnat   

v.对小事斤斤计较，琐事

参考例句：

• Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.小事拘谨，大事糊涂。
• He's always straining at a gnat.他总是对小事很拘谨。