蕾切尔卡逊《让爱美的天性常在》(中英文互译).docVIP

蕾切尔·卡逊《让爱美的天性常在》(中英文互译) 蕾切尔·卡逊（Rachel Carson，1907—1964），美国海洋生物学家，代表作《寂静的春天》（Silent Spring）引发了美国乃至全世界的环境保护事业。她是美国20世纪具有强大影响力的自然作家之一。 A True Instinct for the Beautiful 让爱美的天性常在 By Rachel Carson 文/蕾切尔·卡逊 A childs world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength. 儿童的世界新奇而美丽，充满惊异和兴奋。可是，对我们多数人来说，等不到成年，这种锐利的目光、爱一切美丽的和令人敬畏的事物的天性，就已经迟钝，甚至丧失殆尽，这真是我们的不幸。据说有一位善良的仙女主持所有儿童的洗礼，假如我能对她有所影响，我倒想向她提个要求，请她赋予世间儿童以新奇感——无可摧毁、能伴随他们终身的新奇感——并使它成为万灵的解药，有了它，他们在以后的岁月中就会永远陶醉在新奇之中，不致产生厌倦感，不致徒劳地全神贯注于人为虚假的事物，不致脱离力量的源泉。 If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. Parents often have a sense of inadequacy when confronted on the one hand with the eager, sensitive mind of a child and on the other with a world of complex physical nature, inhabited by a life so various and unfamiliar that it seems hopeless to reduce it to order and knowledge. In a mood of self-defeat, they exclaim, “How can I possibly teach my child about nature — why, I dont even know one bird from one another!” 假如一个儿童没有仙女的赏赐而要保持他的天生的新奇感常新，他至少需要有一个能与他共享新奇感的成年人和他作伴，并且跟他一起不断再发现我们生活的这个世界的一切欢乐、刺激和神秘。做父母的常有力不从心之感，他们一方面要满足孩子的感觉灵敏而又急于求知的心灵，可是另一方面复杂的物质世界却使他们感到难于应付，这个世界的生活形形色色，他们自己都感到生疏，好像没有理出头绪、弄个明白的希望。他们自己就泄了气，喊道：“我哪能教我的孩子认识大自然！啊，我连两只鸟都分不清哩！” I