《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 夏 16

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學(xué)名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

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In the last ten years I have seen a good deal of English inns in many parts of the country, and it astonishes me to find how bad they are. Only once or twice have I chanced upon an inn (or, if you like, hotel) where I enjoyed any sort of comfort. More often than not, even the beds are unsatisfactory—either pretentiously huge and choked with drapery, or hard and thinly accoutred. Furnishing is uniformly hideous, and there is either no attempt at ornament (the safest thing) or a villainous taste thrusts itself upon one at every turn. The meals, in general, are coarse and poor in quality, and served with gross slovenliness.

過去的十年里，我在全國許多地方看到了不少英國客棧，我很吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的服務(wù)質(zhì)量如此之差。只有一兩次，我在客棧（或者你也可以叫它旅館)享受到某種舒適感。大多數(shù)時候，連床都不能讓人滿意—不是大的離譜而帷帳又密不透氣，就是床板太硬鋪蓋單薄。家具是毫無例外的丑陋，要么根本看不出裝修的意圖（這是最安全的做法），要么就是品味低劣，處處惡心人。通常，飯菜本身的質(zhì)量就粗糙差勁，上菜時還一副懶散邋遢的態(tài)度。

I have often heard it said that the touring cyclist has caused the revival of wayside inns. It may be so, but the touring cyclist seems to be very easily satisfied. Unless we are greatly deceived by the old writers, an English inn used to be a delightful resort, abounding in comfort, and supplied with the best of food; a place, too, where one was sure of welcome at once hearty and courteous. The inns of to-day, in country towns and villages, are not in that good old sense inns at all; they are merely public-houses. The landlord's chief interest is the sale of liquor. Under his roof you may, if you choose, eat and sleep, but what you are expected to do is to drink. Yet, even for drinking, there is no decent accommodation. You will find what is called a bar-parlour, a stuffy and dirty room, with crazy chairs, where only the sodden dramgulper could imagine himself at ease. Should you wish to write a letter, only the worst pen and the vilest ink is forthcoming; this, even in the "commercial room" of many an inn which seems to depend upon the custom of travelling tradesmen. Indeed, this whole business of innkeeping is incredibly mismanaged. Most of all does the common ineptitude or brutality enrage one when it has possession of an old and picturesque house, such as reminds you of the best tradition, a house which might be made as comfortable as house can be, a place of rest and mirth.

我常聽說，是騎自行車周游的旅客帶動了路邊小客棧的復(fù)興。可能如此吧，但這些人也顯得太容易滿足了。除非以前的作家大大地欺騙了我們，英國從前的小客?？墒莻€快樂的好住處，環(huán)境舒適，并提供最好的食物，客人們在這里總會受到禮貌熱心的款待。而今天城鎮(zhèn)鄉(xiāng)村的小客棧已經(jīng)不是那種古道熱情的客棧了，它們只不過是酒館而已。店主的主要生意是賣酒，在他的客棧里，如果你愿意可以吃飯住宿，但是人家期待你做的是喝酒?？杉幢闶呛染?，你在這里也找不到一個體面的場所。你會發(fā)現(xiàn)一個叫做“吧臺”的地方，就是一間悶熱臟亂的屋子，擺著怪樣的椅子，只有麻木的醉漢才能想象出這是個舒服的地方。如果你要寫封信，那只有最差的筆和最糟糕的墨可用。即使在許多客棧的“商務(wù)間”，筆墨似乎也是從沿街叫賣的貨郎那里買到的。整個客棧業(yè)經(jīng)營的混亂無序確實令人難以置信。絕大多數(shù)都管理不善或者服務(wù)態(tài)度粗魯，令人憤慨，因為它們擁有古雅美麗的房屋，讓人憶起舊時的優(yōu)秀傳統(tǒng)，很可能經(jīng)營成一個舒適的客棧和一個可供休息和玩樂的好住所。

At a public-house you expect public-house manners, and nothing better will meet you at most of the so-called inns or hotels. It surprises me to think in how few instances I have found even the pretence of civility. As a rule, the landlord and landlady are either contemptuously superior or boorishly familiar; the waiters and chambermaids do their work with an indifference which only softens to a condescending interest at the moment of your departure, when, if the tip be thought insufficient, a sneer or a muttered insult speeds you on your way. One inn I remember, where, having to go in and out two or three times in a morning, I always found the front door blocked by the portly forms of two women, the landlady and the barmaid, who stood there chatting and surveying the street. Coming from within the house, I had to call out a request for passage; it was granted with all deliberation, and with not a syllable of apology. This was the best "hotel" in a Sussex market town.

在酒館你只能期待酒館的服務(wù)，在多數(shù)所謂的“客?！被颉奥灭^”，你也別指望能享受到更好的服務(wù)。想到甚至連偽裝的禮貌都很少見到，我感覺很驚訝。一般來說，老板和老板娘的態(tài)度要么頤指氣使、居高臨下，要么就粗俗隨便；侍者和女傭的服務(wù)態(tài)度冷漠，在得知你要離開時，他們的態(tài)度會緩和為一種屈尊俯就的殷勤，但當(dāng)你的小費(fèi)讓他們覺得不夠豐厚，便會有一聲冷笑或是低聲叫罵將你送出門去。我還記得一家客棧，有天早晨，我需要進(jìn)出門兩三次，而每次我都看到老板娘和一個女傭，兩個身形肥胖的女人擋在門口，她們站在那里瀏覽街景和閑聊。我要出客棧，所以不得不請她們讓道；她們讓開時顯得極為勉強(qiáng)，更是連一個道歉的字都沒說。而這還是蘇塞克斯郡商業(yè)區(qū)最好的一家“旅館”呢。

And the food. Here, beyond doubt, there is grave degeneracy. It is impossible to suppose that the old travellers by coach were contented with entertainment such as one gets nowadays at the table of a country hotel. The cooking is wont to be wretched; the quality of the meat and vegetables worse than mediocre. What! Shall one ask in vain at an English inn for an honest chop or steak? Again and again has my appetite been frustrated with an offer of mere sinew and scrag. At a hotel where the charge for lunch was five shillings, I have been sickened with pulpy potatoes and stringy cabbage. The very joint—ribs or sirloin, leg or shoulder—is commonly a poor, underfed, sapless thing, scorched in an oven; and as for the round of beef, it has as good as disappeared—probably because it asks too much skill in the salting. Then again one's breakfast bacon; what intolerable stuff, smelling of saltpetre, has been set before me when I paid the price of the best smoked Wiltshire! It would be mere indulgence of the spirit of grumbling to talk about poisonous tea and washy coffee; every one knows that these drinks cannot be had at public tables; but what if there be real reason for discontent with one's pint of ale? Often, still, that draught from the local brewery is sound and invigorating, but there are grievous exceptions, and no doubt the tendency is here, as in other things—a falling off, a carelessness, if not a calculating dishonesty. I foresee the day when Englishmen will have forgotten how to brew beer; when one's only safety will lie in the draught imported from Munich.

再說說食物。在這里，毫無疑問，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)嚴(yán)重的退步。昔日那些坐馬車的旅人，我想他們絕不可能會對擺在今天客棧餐桌上的菜肴感到滿意。烹調(diào)常常是極為糟糕的，肉和蔬菜的口味差得不如嚼蠟。天哪！難道在英國的客棧點(diǎn)一份真正的豬排或牛排是癡心妄想嗎？端上來的都是一坨腱子肉或頸骨，一次又一次令我大倒胃口。在一家旅館，午餐的價錢是五先令，我厭透了他們綿軟的土豆和多筋的老白菜。排骨—不管是肋骨還是腰肉、腿還是肩膀—總是是一塊干巴巴、營養(yǎng)不良且無汁無味的東西，還在爐里烤焦了；至于牛大腿肉呢，瘦得都看不見了—也許把它腌咸需要很高的技術(shù)吧。還有端到我面前的早餐腌肉，這東西真讓人無法忍受，聞起來有硝石的味道，而我付的錢足以買最好的威爾特郡熏肉了!抱怨這里令人作嘔的茶和寡淡乏味的咖啡，只是發(fā)泄牢騷讓自己痛快一下。大家都知道這些飲品不能在公共酒館里享用，但是如果我有理由覺得連淡啤酒都不能讓人滿意呢？通常本地酒廠的生酒是醇厚勁足的，但也有可悲的例外，毫無疑問這種可能性存在，就像其他東西一樣—這是一種退步，一種漫不經(jīng)心，如果不是故意作假的話。我可以預(yù)見，有一天英國人將忘記怎樣釀造真正的啤酒。那時我們唯一的安全選擇，就只有從慕尼黑進(jìn)口來的生啤了。