英語經(jīng)典美文誦讀摘抄
英語經(jīng)典美文誦讀摘抄
注重文章的整體閱讀和感悟,努力引導(dǎo)學(xué)生賞美文品美味,抒真情悟真諦,從而激發(fā)其閱讀興趣,提高其語文能力和審美能力。下面小編整理了英語經(jīng)典美文,希望大家喜歡!
英語經(jīng)典美文摘抄
Spell of the Rising Moon
月亮升起來
Peter Steinhart
〔美〕皮特·斯坦哈特
There is a hill near my home that I often climb at night. The noise of the city is a far-off murmur. In the hush of dark I share the cheerfulness of crickets and the confidence of owls. But it is the drama of the moonrise that I come to see. For that restores in me a quiet and clarity that the city spends too freely.
有一座小山就座落在家的附近,我常常會在夜間去爬山。到了山上,城市里的嘈雜就會變成遠方的低語。在安靜的黑夜里,我能夠感覺到蟋蟀的歡樂和貓頭鷹的自信。不過看月出才是我爬山的目的,重新找回在城市中輕易就迷失的那份寧靜與純真。
From this hill I have watched many moonsrises. Each one had its own mood. There have been broad,confident harvest moons in autumn;shy, misty moons in spring;lonely, winter moons rising into the utter silence of an ink-black sky and smoke-smudged orange moons over the dry fields of summer. Each,like fine music, excited my heart and then calmed my soul.
在小山上,我看過很多次月出。每次月出都是風(fēng)情萬種,不盡相同。秋日里,圓圓的月亮袒露出豐收的自信;春風(fēng)中,月亮灰蒙蒙地表達著羞澀;冬日里,冰輪般的月亮孤獨地懸在漆黑的空中;夏日中,橘黃色的月亮朦朦朧朧地俯瞰著干燥的田野。每一種月亮都似精美的音樂,感動我的心靈,撫慰我的靈魂。
Moon gazing is an ancient art. To prehistoric hunters the moon overhead was as unerring as heartbeat. They knew that every 29 days it becomes full-bellied and brilliant, then sickened and died,and then was reborn. They knew the waxing moon appeared larger and higher overhead after each succeeding sunset. They knew the waning moon rose later each night until it vanished in the sunrise. To have understood the moon's patterns from experience must have been a profound thing.
很久以前,人們就喜歡賞月。遠古時代的獵人,對空中月亮的了解如同知曉自己心跳一樣,絲毫不差。他們熟悉29天中的每個月亮,月亮?xí)擅髁溜枬M變得萎縮,直至消失,然后再次復(fù)活;他們知道,月盈期間,每經(jīng)日落,頭頂?shù)脑铝辆蜁@得更高更大;他們還知道,月虧期間,月出一日更比一日遲,直到有一天太陽升起時仍不見月亮的蹤跡。古人能根據(jù)經(jīng)驗知道月亮的行蹤變化,真是造詣頗深的事情。
But we,who live indoors,have lost contact with the moon. The glare of street lights and the dust of pollution veil the night sky. Though men have walked on the moon,it grows less familiar. Few of us can say when the moon will rise tonight.
但生活在室內(nèi)的我們,已經(jīng)失去了和月亮的聯(lián)系。城市耀眼的街燈、污染的煙塵遮蔽了原本晴朗的夜空。人類雖已在月亮上邁出了第一步,反而對月亮變得更加陌生。沒有幾人能說得出今晚月亮何時升起。
Still, it tugs at our minds. If we unexpectedly encounter the full moon,huge and yellow over the horizon,we are helpless but to stare back at its commanding presence. And the moon has gifts to bestow upon those who watch.
但無論如何,月亮仍然牽掛著我們的心。如果不經(jīng)意間看到剛剛升起的、大大的、黃澄澄的滿月,誰都會情不自禁地停下來,一睹她高貴的姿容。而月亮也會賜予觀看她的人禮物。
I learned about its gifts one July evening in the mountains. My car had mysteriously stalled, and I was stranded and alone. The sun had set, and I was watching what seemed to be the bright-orange glow of a forest fire beyond a ridge to the east. Suddenly, the ridge itself seemed to burst into flame. Then,the rising moon,huge and red and grotesquely mishappen by the dust and sweat of the summer atmosphere, loomed up out of the woods.
在山間七月的一個夜晚,我得到她的禮物。車子莫名其妙地熄了火,我束手無策一個人困在山中。太陽已經(jīng)落山了,我看到東邊山頭閃出一團橘紅色的光線,好像森林著火一樣。剎那間,山頭也被火焰吞噬。過了一會兒,月亮突然從密林中探出大大的漲紅的臉,夏日空氣中彌漫的塵霧與汗氣,使月亮顯得有些荒謬的變形。
Distorted thus by the hot breath of earth, the moon seemed ill-tempered and imperfect. Dogs at nearby farmhouses barked nervously, as if this strange light had wakened evil spirits in the weeds.
大地灼熱的呼吸曲解了它,月亮變得格外暴躁,不再完美。不遠處農(nóng)舍里的狗緊張地亂叫起來,好像這奇怪的光亮喚醒了野草中的魔鬼。
But as the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. It's complexion changed from red, to orange, to gold,to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light ouf of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer.By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon,full chested and round and the color of ivory, the valleys were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured that this was the familiar moon,stopped barking. And all at once I felt a confidence and joy close to laughter.
然而,隨著月亮慢慢爬上山頭,它聚合了全身的堅定與威嚴;它的面孔也從紅變成了橘黃,又變成金色,最后成為淡淡的黃。月亮不斷地上升,下面的丘陵山谷逐漸暗淡朦朧,好像大地的光亮讓月亮漸漸吸走了似的。待到皓月當(dāng)空,圓圓的月亮灑下象牙般乳白的清輝,下面的山谷在這樣的風(fēng)景里,形成了一片片幽深的陰影。這時,那些亂叫的狗才打消了疑慮—原來那團光是它們熟悉的月亮—停止了吠叫。在那一刻,我忽然也覺得信心十足,心情歡暢,禁不住笑了起來。
The drama took an hour. A Moonrise is slow and serried with subtleties. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time. To watch the moon move inexorably higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distances of space, the immensity of the earth and huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.
整整一個小時,我都沉浸在這奇美的景觀里。月出是緩緩的,而又充滿驚喜的。想要欣賞月出,我們得退回到過去的時代,帶著一種對時間有耐心的心態(tài)去欣賞??粗铝梁翢o顧忌地不斷攀升能使我們找到內(nèi)心少有的寧靜。我們的想象力能讓我們感到宇宙的廣闊和大地的無限,忘卻自己的存在,感覺自我的渺小,卻又深感自己的獨特。
Moonlight shows us none of life's harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery, the oceans still and blue in its light.In moonlight we become less calculating,more drawn to our feelings.
月光從不向我們展示生活的艱辛。山坡好像讓銀色月光披上了柔和的輕紗。在月光的照耀下,海水顯得碧藍而靜謐。沉浸在月光中,我們不再像白天那般精于算計,而是交融在自然的情感之中。
And odd things happen in such moments. On that July night,I watched the moon for an hour or two, and then got back into the car, turned the key in the ignition and heard the engine start,just as mysteriously as it had stalled a few hours earlier. I drove down from the mountains with the moon on my shoulder and peace in my heart.
正當(dāng)我陶醉于月色之美時,奇妙的事情發(fā)生了。就是在七月的那個夜晚,我看了一兩個小時的月景后,當(dāng)我回到車里,再次轉(zhuǎn)動鑰匙發(fā)動汽車時,發(fā)動機出人意料地響了起來,和幾個小時前熄火時一樣蹊蹺而神秘。我開著車沿著山路回家,月光灑在肩上,心中滿是平靜。
I return often to the rising moon. I am drawn especially when events crowd ease and clarity of vision into a small corner of my life. This happens often in the fall. Then I go to my hill and await the hunter's moon, enormous and gold over the horizon,filling,the night with vision.
從那以后,我常常會到山上看月出。當(dāng)麻煩不斷,尤其是在秋季感到身心疲憊、頭暈眼花時,我就會爬上那座小山。我等著獵人之月的出現(xiàn),等著金色豐盈的月亮俯照大地,給黑夜帶來光明。
An owl swoops from the ridge top, noiseless but bright as flame. A cricket shrills in the grass. I think of poets and musicians.Of Beethoven's“Moonlight Sonata“and of Shakespeare,whose Lorenzo declaims in The Merchant of Venice,”How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! /Here will we sit and let the sounds of music/Creep in our ears." I wonder if their verse and music, like the music of crickets, are in some way voices of the moon. With such thoughts, my citified confusions melt into the quiet of the night.
一只貓頭鷹靜悄悄從山頭俯沖而下,卻在月色下如火光閃過。一只蟋蟀在草叢中尖聲歌唱。我不由想起了詩人和音樂家,想起了貝多芬的《月光奏鳴曲》和莎士比亞筆下的《威尼斯商人》。如同《威尼斯商人》中洛倫左的話:“月光沉睡在這岸邊多么迷人!/我們要坐在這里讓音樂之聲/潛入我們的耳內(nèi)。”我不清楚他們的詩篇與音樂是否與蟋蟀的歌聲相似,是否可以在某種程度上算作是月的聲音。想到這些,城市生活帶給我的混亂心緒,便在夜的寧靜中消失了。
Lovers and poets find deeper meaning at night. We are all apt to pose deeper questions-about our origins and destinies. We indulge in riddles, rather than in the impersonal geometries that govern the daylight world. We become philosophers and mystics.
戀人和詩人在夜里能尋找到更深奧的生活意義。其實我們都愛問一些深奧的問題—關(guān)于我們的祖先,我們的命運。我們只想縱容這些永遠找不到答案的謎團,而不喜歡那些主導(dǎo)著白天世界的沒有情感的幾何教科書。在夜里,我們都懂得了哲理和神秘。
At moonrise, as we slow our minds to the pace of the heavens, enchantment steals over us. We open the vents of feeling and exercise parts of our minds that reason locks away by day. We hear, across the distances, murmurs of ancient hunters and see a new the visions of poets and lovers of long ago.
當(dāng)月亮升起之時,我們放緩思想,讓它追隨天堂的腳步。不經(jīng)意間,一種魔力就會遍布全身。我們會敞開情感之門,讓白天被理智束縛的那部分思緒自由奔涌。我們能跨越遙遠的時空,聽見遠古獵人的細語,看到久遠時代戀人與詩人眼中的世界。
英語經(jīng)典美文鑒賞
Nature
自然
Ralph Waldo Emerson
[美]拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生
To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst 1 read and write,though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds,will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man,in the heavenly bodies,the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years,how would men believe and adore;and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
一個想要追求孤獨的人,不但要離開自己的臥室,還要離開社會。在我閱讀和寫作之時,盡管無人相伴,可我沒有覺得孤獨。然而,假如有誰用盡心思追求孤獨,那就讓他抬頭凝望星空吧。那來自天國的光芒,能在他和他生活的天地之間分出一條界限。你也許會認為,如此的構(gòu)想簡直太棒了:空曠遼闊的大地之上,人們抬頭仰視星空,仿佛從中領(lǐng)悟到某種崇高的永恒。從城市的街道看過去,那種場面的確令人恭敬!假設(shè)天上的星星一千年才出現(xiàn)一次,可想而知他們會對這上蒼的顯圣該是何等的崇敬,又該是如何仔細地將它收藏進記憶里好流芳百世啊!只可惜,這些美的使者夜夜都會帶著勸誡式的微笑降臨,將光輝普照整個宇宙。
The stars awaken a certain reverence,because though always present, they are inaccessible;but all natural objects make a kindred impression,when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit.The flowers,the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood. When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter,from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning,is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field,Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man,but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth,becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, he is my creature,and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece.
星星使我們產(chǎn)生敬畏之心,不是因為它常常高懸于空中,而是因為它的可望而不可即。然而,只要擁有一顆包容的心,你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)世間萬物和人類其實都是心靈相通的。自然從不把它吝嗇的一面顯露出來,頂尖聰明之人也不會強求打開它全部的奧秘,而會保留好奇之心去探尋它所有的完美之處。在智者看來,自然永遠不會是一個玩物。鮮花、動物、山脈—折射出他們的純真童年—也是他最高智慈的體現(xiàn)。當(dāng)我們以這種方式來談?wù)撟匀粫r,頭腦中自然會產(chǎn)生一種清晰而又極富詩意的畫面,這種畫面是世間萬物在我們的印象中留下印跡的總和。也正是在這種印象的指引下,才會有伐木工手中的是木頭,而詩人筆下卻是大樹的區(qū)別。今天早上我所看到的那一片令人陶醉的景色,毫無疑問它是由二三十個農(nóng)場組成的。米勒占有這一塊土地,洛克是那一片田野的主人,樹林外面的那一片則歸曼寧所有……可是,他們誰都不能擁有這片風(fēng)景。遠處有一塊土地,誰也不能將其劃在自己的名下,唯有那個又能看見土地又看得見風(fēng)景的人,才是它真正的主人,而詩人正符合這樣的要求。這個地方是農(nóng)場主所有財產(chǎn)中最值錢的一部分,但按照他們的擔(dān)保契約卻并不是這樣。坦誠講,現(xiàn)在沒有多少成年人能真正看得見自然了。大多數(shù)人都不看太陽,至少,只是膚淺地看。對成人而言,太陽只照亮了他們的眼睛,對孩子來說,太陽卻照進了他們的眼睛與心靈。一個自然愛好者,他外在的知覺和內(nèi)心的感觸是相互和諧的,甚至在他成年以后,依然擁有一顆童心。在他看來,與天地的接觸,是日常生活中不可分割的一部分,只要身處大自然中,不管生活中遭遇多大的悲痛,但內(nèi)心總會產(chǎn)生巨大的快樂。大自然說,他是我的杰作,不管他有多少沒有緣由的悲傷,他都會同我一起快樂。自然賦予給我們不僅僅是陽光、夏日、四季的變換,她每時每刻都在給予我們快樂與欣喜。這是因為,每一刻、每一個變化,不管是壓抑的中午還是黑暗的午夜,都意味著一種別樣的心情。在自然的舞臺上,不僅能上演喜劇,也能烘托悲劇。
英語經(jīng)典美文賞析
On Tea and Friendship
茶和交友
Lin Yutang
林語堂
I do not think that,considered from the point of view of human culture and happiness,there have been more significant inventions in the history of mankind,more vitally important and more directly contributing to our enjoyment of leisure, friendship,sociability and conversation,than the inventions of smoking,drinking and tea. All three have several characteristics in common:first of all,that they contribute toward our sociability; secondly,that they do not fill our stomach as food does, and therefore can be enjoyed between meals;and thirdly, that they are all to be enjoyed through the nostrils by acting on our sense of smell. So great are their influences upon culture that we have smoking cars besides dining cars,and we have wine restaurants or taverns and tea houses. In China and England at least, drinking tea has become a social institution.
我以為從人類文化和快樂的觀點論起來,人類歷史中的杰出新發(fā)明,其能直接有力地有助于我們的享受空閑、友誼、社交和談天者,莫過于吸煙、飲酒、飲茶的發(fā)明。這三件事有幾樣共同的特質(zhì):第一,它們有助于我們的社交;第二,這幾件東西不至于一吃就飽,可以在吃飯的中間隨時吸飲;第三。都是可以藉嗅覺去享受的東西。它們對于文化的影響極大,所以餐車之外另有吸煙車,飯店之外另有酒店和茶館,至少在中國和英國,飲茶已經(jīng)成為社交上一種不可少的制度。
The proper enjoyment of tobacco, drink and tea can only be developed in an atmosphere of leisure, friendship and sociability.For it is only with men gifted with the sense of comradeship,extremely select in the matter of forming friends and endowed with a natural love of the leisurely life, that the full enjoyment of tobacco and drink and tea becomes possible. Take away the element of sociability, and these things have no meaning. The enjoyment of these things,like the enjoyment of the moon,the snow and the flowers, must take place in proper company, for this I regard as the thing that the Chinese artists of life most frequently insist upon: that certain kinds of flowers must be enjoyed with certain types of persons, certain kinds of scenery must be associated with certain kinds of ladies, that the sound of raindrops must be enjoyed, if it is to be enjoyed fully, when lying on a bamboo bed in a temple deep in the mountains on a summer day; that, in short, the mood is the thing,that there is a proper mood for everything, and that wrong company may spoil the mood entirely. Hence the beginning of any artist of life is that he or anyone who wishes to learn to enjoy life must, as the absolutely necessary condition, find friends of the same type of temperament, and take as much trouble to gain and keep their friendship as wives take to keep their husbands,or as a good chess player takes a journey of a thousand miles to meet a fellow chess player.
煙酒茶的適當(dāng)享受,只能在空閑、友誼和樂于招待之中發(fā)展出來。因為只有富于交友心,擇友極慎,天然喜愛閑適生活的人士,方有圓滿享受煙酒茶的機會。如將樂于招待心除去,這三種東西便成毫無意義。享受這三件東西,也如享受雪月花草一般,須有適當(dāng)?shù)耐椤V袊纳钏囆g(shù)家最注意此點,例如:看花須和某種人為伴,賞景須有某種女子為伴,聽雨最好須在夏日山中寺院內(nèi)躺在竹榻上。總括起來說,賞玩一樣?xùn)|西時,最緊要的是心境。我們對每一種事物,各有一種不同的心境。不適當(dāng)?shù)耐?,常會敗壞心境。所以生活藝術(shù)家的出發(fā)點就是:他如更想要享受人生,則第一個必要條件即是和性情相投的人交朋友,須盡力維持這友誼,如妻子要維持其丈夫的愛情一般,或如一個下棋名手寧愿跑一千里的長途去會見一個同志一般。
The atmosphere,therefore, is the thing. One must begin with the proper conception of the scholar's studio and the general environment in which life is going to be enjoyed. First of all,there are the friends with whom we are going to share this enjoyment.Different types of friends must be selected for different types of enjoyment. It would be as great a mistake to go horseback riding with a studious and pensive friend,as it would be to go to a concert with a person who doesn't understand music. Hence as a Chinese writer expresses it:
所以氣氛是重要的東西。我們必須先對文士的書室的布呈,和它的一般的環(huán)境有了相當(dāng)?shù)恼J識,方能了解他怎樣在享受生活。第一,他們必須有共同享受這種生活的朋友,不同的享受須有不同的朋友。和一個勤學(xué)而含愁思的朋友共去騎馬,即屬引非其類,正如和一個不懂音樂的人去欣賞一次音樂表演一般。因此,某中國作家曾說過:
For enjoying flowers, one must secure big-hearted friends For going to sing-song houses to have a look at sing-song girls,one must secure temperate friends. For going up a high mountain,one must secure romantic friends. For boating, one must secure friends with an expansive nature. For facing the moon,one must secure friends with a cool philosophy. For anticipating snow, one must secure beautiful friends. For a wine party, one must secure friends with flavor and charm.
賞花須結(jié)豪友,觀枝須結(jié)淡友,登山須結(jié)逸友,泛舟須結(jié)曠友,對月須結(jié)冷友,捉酒須結(jié)韻友。
Having selected and formed friends for the proper enjoyment of different occasions, one then looks for the proper surroundings. It is not so important that one's house be richly decorated as that it should be situated in beautiful country, with the possibility of walking about on the rice fields, or lying down under shady trees on a river bank. The requirements for the house itself are simple enough. One can "have a house with several rooms, grain fields of several mow, a pool made from a basin and windows made from broken jars, with the walls coming up to the shoulders and a room the size of a rice bushel, and in the leisure time after enjoying the warmth of cotton beddings and a meal of vegetable soup, one can become so great that his spirit expands and fills the entire universe. For such a quiet studio, one should have wut'ung trees in front and some green bamboos behind. On the south of the house, the eaves will stretch boldly forward, while on the north side, there will be small windows, which can be closed in spring and winter to shelter one from rain and wind,and opened in summer and autumn for ventilation. The beauty of the wut'ung tree is that all its leaves fall off in spring and winter, thus admitting us to the full enjoyment of the sun's warmth, while in summer and autumn its shade protects us from the scorching heat”Or as another writer expressed it,one should "build a house of several beams, grow a hedge of chin trees and cover a pavilion with a hay-thatch. Three mow of land will be devoted to planting bamboos and flowers and fruit trees,while two mow will be devoted to planting vegetables. The four walls of a room are bare and the room is empty, with the exception of two or three rough beds placed in the pavilion.A peasant boy will be kept to water the vegetables and clear the weeds. So then one may arm one's self with books and a sword against solitude, and provide a chin (a stringed instrument) and chess to anticipate the coming of good friends.”
他對各種享受已選定了不同的適當(dāng)游伴之后,還須去找尋適當(dāng)?shù)沫h(huán)境。所住的房屋,布里不必一定講究,地點也不限于風(fēng)景優(yōu)美的鄉(xiāng)間,不必一定需一片稻田方足供他的散步,也不必一定有曲折的小溪以供他在溪邊的樹下小憩。他所需的房屋極其簡單,只需:“有屋數(shù)間,有田數(shù)畝,用盆為池,以甕為牌,墻高于肩,室大于斗,布被暖余,攀龔飽后,氣吐胸中,充塞宇宙。凡靜室,須前栽碧梧,后種翠竹。前檐放步,北用暗窗,春冬閉之,以避風(fēng)雨,夏秋可開,以通涼爽。然碧梧之趣,春冬落葉,以舒負喧融和之樂,夏秋交蔭,以蔽炎爍蒸烈之威。”或如另一位作家所說,一個人可以“筑室數(shù)楹,編模為籬,結(jié)茅為亭。以三畝蔭竹樹栽花果,二畝種蔬菜。四壁清曠,空諸所有。蓄山童灌園雄草,置二三胡床著亭下。挾書劍,伴孤寂,攜琴奕,以遲良友。”
An atmosphere of familiarity will then invest the place.
到處充滿著親熱的空氣。
"In my studio, all formalities will be abolished,and only the most intimate friends will be admitted. They will be treated with rich or poor fare such as I eat, and we will chat and laugh and forget our own existence. We will not discuss the right and wrong of other people and will be totally indifferent to worldly glory and wealth. In our leisure we will discuss the ancients and the moderns, and in our quiet, we will play with the mountains and rivers. Then we will have thin,clear tea and good wine to fit into the atmosphere of delightful seclusion. That is my conception of the pleasure of friendship.”
吾齋之中,不尚虛禮。凡入此齋,均為知己。隨分款留,忘形笑語。不言是非,不侈榮利。閑談古今,靜玩山水。清茶好酒,以適幽趣。臭味之交,如斯而已。
"In such a congenial atmosphere, we are then ready to gratify our senses, the senses of color and smell and sound. It is then that one should smoke and one should drink. We then transform our bodies into a sensory apparatus for perceiving the wonderful symphony of colors and sounds and smells and tastes provided by Nature and by culture. We feel like good violins about to be played on by master violinists. And thus "we burn incense on a moonlight night and play three stanzas of music from an ancient instrument, and immediately the myriad worries of our breast are banished and all our foolish ambitions or desires are forgotten. We will then inquire, what is the fragance of this incense, what is the color of the smoke, what is that shadow that comes through the white papered windows, what is this sound that arises from below my fingertips, what is this enjoyment which makes us so quietly happy and so forgetful of everything else, and what is the condition of the infinite universe?"
在這種同類相引的氣氛中,我們方能滿足色香聲的享受,吸煙飲酒也在這個時候最為相宜。我們的全身便于這時變成一種盛受器械,能充分去享受大自然和文化所供給我們的色聲香味。我們好像已變?yōu)橐话褍?yōu)美的小提琴,正待由一位大音樂家來拉奏名曲了。于是我們“月夜焚香,古桐三弄,便覺萬慮都忘,妄想盡絕。試看香是何味,煙是何色,穿窗之白,是何影,指下之余是何音,恬然樂之,而悠然忘之者,是何趣,不可思量處是何境?”
Thus chastened in spirit, quiet in mind and surrounded by proper company, one is fit to enjoy tea. For tea is invented for quiet company as wine is invented for a noisy party. There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life. It would be as disastrous to drink tea with babies crying around,or with loud-voiced women or politics-talking men, as to pick tea on a rainy or a cloudy day. Picked at early dawn on a clear day, when the morning air on mountain top was clear and thin,and the fragrance of dews was still upon the leaves, tea is still associated with the fragrance and refinement of the magic dew in its enjoyment. With the Taoist insistence upon return to nature, and with its conception that the universe is kept alive by the interplay of the male and female forces, the dew actually stands for the "juice of heaven and earth" when the two principles are united at night, and the idea is current that the dew is a magic food, fine and clear and ethereal, and any man or beast who drinks enough of it stands a good chance of being immortal. De Quincey says quite correctly that tea "will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual,” but the Chinese seem to go further and associate it with the high-minded recluse.
一個人在這種神清氣爽、心氣平靜、知己滿前的境地中,方真能領(lǐng)略到茶的滋味。因為茶須靜品,而酒則須熱鬧。茶之為物,性能引導(dǎo)我們進入一個默想人生的世界。飲茶之時而有兒童在旁哭鬧,或粗蠢婦人在旁大聲說話,或自命通人者在旁高談國是,即十分敗興,也正如在雨天或陰天去采茶一般的糟糕。因為采茶必須天氣清明的清早,當(dāng)山上的空氣極為清新,露水的芬芳尚留于葉上時,所采的茶葉方稱上品。照中國人說起來,露水實在具有芬芳和神秘的功用,和茶的優(yōu)劣很有關(guān)系。照道家的返自然和宇宙之能生存全恃陰陽二氣交融的說法,露水實在是天地在夜間和融后的精英。至今尚有人相信露水為清鮮神秘的瓊漿,多飲即能致人獸長生。特昆雪所說的話很對,他說:“茶永遠是聰慧的人們的飲料。”但中國人則更進一步,而視它為風(fēng)雅隱士的珍品。
Tea is then symbolic of earthly purity, requiring the most fastidious cleanliness in its preparation,from picking,frying and preserving to its final infusion and drinking, easily upset or spoiled by the slightest contamination of oily hands or oily cups.Consequently, its enjoyment is appropriate in an atmosphere where all ostentation or suggestion of luxury is banished from one's eyes and one's thoughts. After all,one enjoys sing-song girls with wine and not with tea,and when sing-song girls are fit to drink tea with,they are already in the class that Chinese poets and scholars favor. Su Tungp'o once compared tea to a sweet maiden,but a later critic, T' ten Yiheng,author of Chuch’u an Hsiaop’in (Essay On Boiling Spring Water)immediately qualified it by adding that tea could be compared, if it must be compared to women at all, only to the Fairy Maku,and that, "as for beauties with peach-colored faces and willow waists, they should be shut up in curtained beds,and not be allowed to contaminate the rocks and springs.”For the same author says, "One drinks tea to forget the world's noise;it is not for those who eat rich food and dress in silk pyjamas."
因此,茶是凡間純潔的象征,在采制烹煮的手續(xù)中,都須十分清潔。采摘烘焙,烹煮取飲之時,手上或土壺中略有油膩不潔,便會使它喪失美味。所以也只有在眼前和心中毫無富麗繁華的景象和念頭時,方能真正地享受它。和妓女作樂時,當(dāng)然用酒而不用茶。但一個妓女如有了品茶的資格,則她便可以躋于詩人文士所歡迎的妙人兒之列了。蘇東坡曾以美女喻茶,但后來,另一個持論家,‘.煮泉小品”的作者田藝恒即補充說,如果定要以茶去擬女人,則唯有麻姑仙子可做比擬。至于“必若桃臉柳腰,宜巫屏之銷金慢中,無俗我泉石。”又說:“吸茶 忘喧,謂非裔梁紋綺可語。”
It must be remembered that, according to Ch'alu,"the essence of the enjoyment of tea lies in .appreciation of its color,fragrance and flavor,and the principles of preparation are refinement, dryness and cleanliness." An element of quiet is therefore necessary for the appreciation of these qualities, an appreciation that comes from a man who can "look at a hot world with a cool head." Since the Sung Dynasty, connoisseurs have generally regarded a cup of pale tea as the best, and the delicate flavor of pale tea can easily pass unperceived by one occupied with busy thoughts,or when the neighborhood is noisy, or servants are quarreling,or when served by ugly maids. The company, too, must be small. For, "it is important in drinking tea that the guests be few. Many guests would make it noisy, and noisiness takes away from its cultured charm. To drink alone is called secluded;to drink between two is called comfortable;to drink with three or four is called charming, to drink with five or six is called common;and to drink with seven or eight is called [contemptuously]philanthropic." As the author of Ch'asu said,"to pour tea around again and again from a big pot, and drink it up at a gulp, or to warm it up again after a while, or to ask for extremely strong taste would be like farmers or artisans who drink tea to fill their belly after hard work;it would then be impossible to speak of the distinction and appreciation of flavors.”
據(jù)(茶錄》所說:“其旨歸于色香味,其道歸于精燥潔。”所以如果要體味這些質(zhì)素,靜默是一個必要的條件;也只有“以一個冷靜的頭腦去看忙亂的世界”的人,才能夠體味出這些質(zhì)素。自從宋代以來,一般喝茶的鑒賞家認為一杯淡茶才是最好 的東西,當(dāng)一個人專心思想的時候,或是在鄰居嘈雜、仆人爭 吵的時候,或是由面貌丑陋的女仆侍候的時候,當(dāng)會很容易地忽略了淡茶的美妙氣味。同時,喝茶的友伴也不可多,”因為飲茶以客少為貴??捅妱t喧,喧則雅趣乏矣。獨吸曰幽;二客曰勝;三四曰趣;五六日泛;七八日施。”《茶蔬)的作者說:“若巨器屢巡,滿中瀉飲,待停少溫,或求濃苦,何異農(nóng)匠作勞,但需涓滴;何論品賞?何知風(fēng)味乎?”
For this reason,and out of consideration for the utmost rightness and cleanliness in preparation,Chinese writers on tea have always insisted on personal attention in boiling tea,or since that is necessarily inconvenient, that two boy servants be specially trained to do the job. Tea is usually boiled on a separate small stove in the room or directly outside,away from the kitchen. The servant boys must be trained to make tea in the presence of their master and to observe a routine of cleanliness, washing the cups every morning (never wiping them with a towel),washing their hands often and keeping their fingernails clean. "When there are three guests, one stove will be enough,but when there are five or six persons,two separate stoves and kettles will be required, one boy attending to each stove,for if one is required to attend to both,there may be delays or mix-ups." True connoisseurs,however, regard the personal preparation of tea as a special pleasure. Without developing into a rigid system as in Japan,the preparation and drinking of tea is always a performance of loving pleasure,importance and distinction. In fact, the preparation is half the fun of the drinking,as cracking melon-seeds between one's teeth is half the pleasure of eating them.
因為這個理由,因為要顧到烹時的合度和潔凈,有茶癖的中國文士都主張烹茶須自己動手。如嫌不便,可用兩個小童為助。烹茶須用小爐,烹煮的地點須遠離廚房,而近飲處。茶童須受過訓(xùn)練,當(dāng)主人的面前烹煮。一切手續(xù)都須十分潔凈,茶杯須每晨洗滌,但不可用布揩擦。童兒的兩手須常洗,指甲中的污膩須剔干凈。“三人以上,止燕一爐,如五六人,便當(dāng)兩鼎,爐用一童,湯方調(diào)適,若令兼作,恐有參差。”真正鑒賞家常以親自烹茶為一種殊樂。中國的烹茶飲茶方法不像日本那么過分嚴肅和講規(guī)則,而仍屬一種富有樂趣而又高尚重要的事情。實在說起來,烹茶之樂和飲茶之樂各居其半,正如吃西瓜子,用牙齒咬瓜子殼之樂和吃瓜子肉之樂實各居其半。
Usually a stove is set before a window,with good hard charcoal burning. A certain sense of importance invests the host,who fans the stove and watches the vapor coming out from the kettle. Methodically he arranges a small pot and four tiny cups, usually smaller than small coffee cups, in a tray. He sees that they are in order, moves the pewter-foil pot of tea leaves near the tray and keeps it in readiness, chatting along with his guests,but not so much that he forgets his duties. He turns round to look at the stove,and from the time the kettle begins to sing,he never leaves it, but continues to fan the fire harder than before.Perhaps he stops to take the lid off and look at the tiny bubbles,technically called "fish eyes" or "crab froth,”appearing on the bottom of the kettle, and puts the lid on again. This is the "first boil." He listens carefully as the gentle singing increases in volume to that of a "gurgle,”with small bubbles coming up the sides of the kettle, technically called the "second boil." It is then that he watches most carefully the vapor emitted from the kettle spout, and just shortly before the "third boil" is reached, when the water is brought up to a full boil, "like billowing waves,”he takes the kettle from the fire and scalds the pot inside and out with the boiling water, immediately adds the proper quantity of leaves and makes the infusion. Tea of this kind, like the famous "Iron Goddess of Mercy,”drunk in Fukien,is made very thick. The small pot is barely enough to hold four demi-tasses and is filled one-third with leaves. As the quantity of leaves is large,the tea is immediately poured into the cups and immediately drunk. This finishes the pot, and the kettle,filled with fresh water, is put on the fire again,getting ready for the second pot. Strictly speaking, the second pot is regarded as the best; the first pot being compared to a girl of thirteen,the second compared to a girl of sweet sixteen,and the third regarded as a woman. Theoretically, the third infusion from the same leaves is disallowed by connoisseurs, but actually one does try to live on with the "woman.”
茶爐大都置在窗前,用硬炭生火。主人很鄭重地扇著爐火,注視著水壺中的熱氣。他用一個茶盤,很整齊地裝著一個泥茶壺和四個比咖啡杯小一些的茶杯。再將貯茶葉的錫罐安放在茶盤的旁邊,隨口和來客談著天,但并不忘了手中所應(yīng)做的事。他時時顧看爐火,等到水壺中漸發(fā)沸聲后,他就立在爐前不再離開,更加用力地扇火,還不時要揭開壺蓋望。那時壺底已有小泡,名為“魚眼”或“蟹沫”,這就是“初滾”。他重新蓋上壺蓋,再煽上幾扇,壺中的沸聲漸大,水面也漸起泡,這名為“二滾”。這時已有熱氣從壺口噴出來,主人也就格外注意。到將屆“三滾”,壺水已經(jīng)沸透之時,他就提起水壺,將小泥壺里外一澆.趕緊將茶葉加入泥壺,泡出茶來。這種茶如福建人所飲的“鐵觀音”,大都泡得很濃。小泥壺中只可容水四小杯,茶葉占去其三分之一的容隙。因為茶葉加得很多,所以一泡之后即可倒出來喝了。這一道茶已將壺水用盡,于是再灌入涼水,放到爐上去煮,以供第二泡之用。嚴格地說起來,茶在第二泡時為最妙。第一泡苦如一個十二三歲的幼女,第二泡為年齡恰當(dāng)?shù)氖?,而第三泡則已是少婦了。照理論上說起來,鑒賞家認第三泡的茶為不可復(fù)飲,但實際上,則享受這個“少婦”的人仍很多。
The above is a strict description of preparing a special kind of tea as I have seen it in my native province, an art generally unknown in North China. In China generally, tea pots used are much larger, and the ideal color of tea is a clear, pale, golden yellow, never dark red like English tea.
以上所說是我本鄉(xiāng)中一種泡茶方法的實際素描。這個藝術(shù)是中國的北方人所不曉的。在中國一般的人家中,所用的茶壺大都較大。至于一杯茶,最好的顏色是清中帶微黃,而不是英國茶那樣的深紅色。
Of course, we are speaking of tea as drunk by connoisseurs and not as generally served among shopkeepers. No such nicety can be expected of general mankind or when tea is consumed by the gallon by all comers. That is why the author of Ch'asu, Hs u Ts'eshu, says, "When there is a big party, with visitors coming and coming, one can only exchange.with them cups of wine, and among strangers who have just met or among common friends, one should serve only tea of the ordinary quality. Only when our intimate friends of the same temperament have arrived,and we are all happy, all brilliant in conversation and all able to lay aside the formalities, then may we ask the boy servant to build a fire and draw water, and decide the number of stoves and cups to be used in accordance with the company present." It is of this state of things that the author of Ch'achieh says, "We are sitting at night in a mountain lodge, and are boiling tea with water from a mountain spring. When the fire attacks the water, we begin to hear a sound similar to the singing of the wind among pine trees. We pour the tea into a cup, and the gentle glow of its light plays around the place. The pleasure of such a moment cannot be shared with vulgar people”
我們所描寫的當(dāng)然是指鑒賞家的飲茶,而不是像店鋪中的以茶奉客。這種雅舉不是普通人所能辦到,也不是人來人往,論碗解渴的地方所能辦到。(茶蔬》的作者許次纖說得好:“賓朋雜沓,止堪交鐘膚籌;乍會泛交,僅須常品酬醉。惟素心同調(diào),彼此暢適,清言雄辯,脫略形骸,始可呼童簧火,吸水點湯,量客多少,為役之煩簡。”而《茶解》作者所說的就是此種情景:“山堂夜坐,汲泉煮茗。至水火相戰(zhàn),如聽松濤。傾瀉入杯,云光瀚徽。此時幽趣,故難與俗人言矣。”
In a true tea lover, the pleasure of handling all the paraphernalia is such that it is enjoyed for its own sake, as in the case of Ts'ai Hsiang,who in his old age was not able to drink, but kept on enjoying the preparation of tea as a daily habit. There was also another scholar, by the name of Chou Wenfu,who prepared and drank tea six times daily at definite hours from dawn to evening, and who loved his pot so much that he had it buried with him when he died.
凡真正愛茶者,單是搖摩茶具,已經(jīng)自有其樂趣。蔡襄年老時已不能飲茶,但他每天必烹茶以自娛,即其一例。又有一個文士名叫周文甫,他每天自早至晚,必在規(guī)定的時刻自烹自飲六次。他極寶愛他的茶壺,死時甚至以壺為殉。
The art and technique of tea enjoyment, then,consists of the following: first,tea,being most susceptible to contamination of flavors, must be handled throughout with the utmost cleanliness and kept apart from wine,incense,and other smelly substances and people handling such substances Second, it must be kept in a cool,dry place, and during moist seasons,a reasonable quantity for use must be kept in special small pots, best made of pewterfoil, while the reserve in the big pots is not opened except when necessary, and if a collection gets moldy, it should be submitted to a gentle roasting over a slow fire,uncovered and constantly fanned, so as to prevent the leaves from turning yellow or becoming discolored. Third,half of the art of making tea lies in getting good water with a keen edge;mountain spring water comes first, river water second,and well water third; water from the tap, if coming from dams, being essentially mountain water and satisfactory. Fourth,for the appreciation of rare cups, one must have quiet friends and not too many of them at one time. Fifth, the proper color of tea in general is a pale golden yellow, and all dark red tea must be taken with milk or lemon or peppermint, or anything to cover up its awful sharp taste. Sixth,the best tea has a "return flavor"(hueiwei),which is felt about half a minute after drinking and after its chemical elements have had time to act on the salivary glands. Seven,tea must be freshly made and drunk immediately, and if good tea is expected, it should not be allowed to stand in the pot for too long, when the infusion has gone too far. Eight, it must be made with water just brought up to a boil. Nine,all adulterants are taboo, although individual differences may be allowed for people who prefer a slight mixture of some foreign flavor (e.g.,jasmine, or cassia). Eleven, the flavor expected of the best tea is the delicate flavor of "baby's flesh.”
因此,茶的享受技術(shù)包括下列各節(jié):第一,茶味嬌嫩,茶易敗壞,所以整治時,須十分清潔,須遠離酒類香類一切有強味的事物,和身帶這類氣息的人;第二,茶葉須貯藏于冷燥之處,在潮濕的季節(jié)中,備用的茶葉須貯于小錫罐中,其余則另貯大罐,封固藏好,不取用時不可開啟,如若發(fā)霉,則須在文火上微烘,一面用扇子輕輕揮扇,以免茶葉變黃或變色;第三,烹茶的藝術(shù)一半在于擇水,山泉為上,河水次之,井水更次,水槽之水如來自堤堰,因為本屬山泉,所以很可用得;第四,客不可多,且須文雅之人,方能鑒賞土壺之美;第五,茶的正色是清中帶微黃,這濃的紅茶即不能不另加牛奶、檸橡、薄荷或他物以調(diào)和其苦味;第六,好茶必有回味,大概在飲茶半分鐘后,當(dāng)其化學(xué)成分和津液發(fā)生作用時,即能覺出;第七,茶須現(xiàn)泡現(xiàn)飲,泡在壺中稍稍過候,即會失味;第八,泡茶必須用剛沸之水;第九,一切可以混雜真味的香料,須一概摒除,至多只可略加些桂皮或花,以合有些愛好者的口味而已;第十,茶味最上者,應(yīng)如嬰孩身上一般的帶著“奶花香”。