At first he lived up above entirely, reading a good deal, and strumming upon an old
harp which he had bought at a sale, saying when in a bitter humour that he might have to get his living by it in the streets some day. But he soon preferred to read human nature by taking his meals downstairs in the general dining-kitchen, with the dairyman and his wife, and the maids and men, who all together formed a lively
assembly; for though but few milking hands slept in the house, several joined the family at meals. The longer Clare resided here the less objection had he to his company, and the more did he like to share quarters with them in common.
起初他完全住在樓上,讀了大量的書,彈一彈廉價(jià)買來(lái)的一架舊豎琴,在他感到心情苦惱無(wú)奈的時(shí)候,就說(shuō)有一天他要在街上彈琴掙飯吃??墒呛髞?lái)不久,他就寧肯下樓到那間大飯廳里去體察人生,同老板、老板娘和男女工人一起吃飯了,所有這些人一起組成了一個(gè)生動(dòng)的集體;因?yàn)橹挥泻苌俚臄D奶工人住在奶牛場(chǎng)里,但是同牛奶場(chǎng)老板一家吃飯的人倒有好幾個(gè)。克萊爾在這兒住的時(shí)間越長(zhǎng),他同他的伙伴們的隔閡就越少,也愿意同他們多增加相互的往來(lái)。
Much to his surprise he took, indeed, a real delight in their
companionship. The conventional farm-folk of his imagination - personified in the newspaper-press by the
pitiable dummy known as Hodge - were obliterated after a few days' residence. At close quarters no Hodge was to be seen. At first, it is true, when Clare's intelligence was fresh from a contrasting society, these friends with whom he now
hobnobbed seemed a little strange. Sitting down as a level member of the dairyman's household seemed at the outset an undignified proceeding. The ideas, the modes, the surroundings, appeared
retrogressive and unmeaning. But with living on there, day after day, the acute sojourner became conscious of a new aspect in the spectacle. Without any objective change whatever, variety had taken the place of
monotonousness. His host and his host's household, his men and his maids, as they became intimately known to Clare, began to
differentiate themselves as in a chemical process. The thought of Pascal's was brought home to him: `A mesure qu'on a plus d'esprit, on trouve qu'il y a plus d'hommes
originaux. Les gens du commun ne trouvent pas de difference entre les hommes.' The typical and unvarying Hodge ceased to exist. He had been
disintegrated into a number of varied fellow-creatures - beings of many minds, beings
infinite in difference; some happy, many serene, a few depressed, one here and there bright even to genius, some stupid, others wanton, others
austere; some mutely Miltonic, some potentially Cromwellian; into men who had private views of each other, as he had of his friends; who could applaud or
condemn each other, amuse or sadden themselves by the
contemplation of each other's foibles or vices; men every one of whom walked in his own individual way the road to dusty death.
使他大感意外的是,他的確真的喜歡與他們?yōu)槲榱?。他想象中的世俗農(nóng)夫——報(bào)紙上所說(shuō)的典型人物,著名的可憐笨伯霍吉——他住下來(lái)沒(méi)有幾天就從他心中消失了。同他們一接近,霍吉是不存在的。說(shuō)真的,起初克萊爾從一個(gè)完全不同的社會(huì)來(lái)到這里,他感到同他朝夕相處的這些朋友呆在一起似乎有點(diǎn)兒異樣。作為奶牛場(chǎng)老板一家人中的一個(gè)平等成員坐在一起,他在開頭還覺(jué)得有失身分。他們的思想觀念、生活方式和周圍的環(huán)境似乎都是落后的、毫無(wú)意義的。但是他在那兒住下來(lái),同他們天天生活在一起,于是寄居在這兒的這個(gè)眼光敏銳的人,就開始認(rèn)識(shí)到這群平常人身上的全新的一面。雖然他看到的人并沒(méi)有發(fā)生什么變化,但是豐富多采已經(jīng)取代了單調(diào)乏味。老板和老板娘、男工和女工都變成了克萊爾熟悉的朋友,他們像發(fā)生化學(xué)變化一樣開始顯示出各自不同的特點(diǎn)。他開始想到帕斯卡說(shuō)過(guò)的話:“一個(gè)人自身的心智越高,就越能發(fā)現(xiàn)別人的獨(dú)特之處。平庸的人是看不出人與人之間的差別的。”①那種典型的沒(méi)有變化的霍吉已經(jīng)不存在了。他已經(jīng)分化了,融進(jìn)了大量的各色各樣的人中間去了——成了一群思想豐富的人,一群差別無(wú)窮的人;有些人快樂(lè),多數(shù)人沉靜,還有幾個(gè)人心情憂郁,其間也有聰明程度達(dá)到天才的人,也有一些人愚笨,有些人粗俗,有些人質(zhì)樸;有些人是沉默無(wú)聲的彌爾頓式的人物,有些人則是鋒芒畢露的克倫威爾式的人物②;他們就像他認(rèn)識(shí)自己的朋友一樣,相互之間都有著自己的看法;他們也會(huì)相互贊揚(yáng),或者相互指責(zé),或者因?yàn)橄氲礁髯缘娜觞c(diǎn)或者缺點(diǎn)而感到好笑和難過(guò);他們都按照各自的方式在通往塵土的死亡道路上走著。
①帕斯卡(Pascal,1623-1662),法國(guó)數(shù)學(xué)家和哲學(xué)家,引文引自其《沉思錄》“總序”。
②該文出自于英國(guó)詩(shī)人托瑪斯·葛雷的《墓園挽歌》一詩(shī)的第十五節(jié)。