新生活第二部分(听读新生活)
新生活第二部分
★ 第9章 ★
Neither Angel Clare nor his family had originally chosen farming as a profession for him.
无论安吉尔还是他的家人,最初都没有选择务农作为他的职业。
When he was a boy, people admired his great qualities.
当他还是个孩子时,他就有令人羡慕的聪颖天资。
Now he was a man, something vague and undecided in his look showed that he had no particular purpose in life.
现在他长大成人了,但神情里有一种模糊不定的东西显示出他在生活中还没有特定的目标。
He was the youngest son of a poor parson.
他是一位穷牧师的最小的孩子。
One day when he was studying at home, his father discovered that Angel had ordered a bookof philosophy, which questioned the Church's teaching.
有一天,当安吉尔在家里学习时,他父亲发现他订购了一本哲学书,该书对教会的教育提出了质疑。
How could his son become a priest if he read such books?
如果他的儿子读这种书,他还怎么做一名牧师呢?
Angel explained that he did not, in fact, wish to enter the Church like his brothers,
安吉尔解释说他实际上并不想像哥哥们那样从事神职工作,
because the Church's views were too strict and did not allow free thinking.
因为教会的观念太刻板,没有自由思想的余地。
The simple parson was shocked.
这让虔诚的牧师感到震惊。
He was a man of fixed ideas and a firm believer.
他是一个顽固、执着而又坚定的信仰者。
And if Angel did not want to become a priest, what was the use of sending him to study atCambridge?
如果安吉尔不打算成为一名牧师,那送他到剑桥读书又有什么意义呢?
For the parson the whole point of going to university was to become a minister of God.
对这位牧师而言,上大学的唯一目的,就是将来从事神职,成为一名牧师。
‘I want to use my mind,’Angel insisted.
“我想发挥自己的才智,”安吉尔坚定地说道,
‘ I want to read philosophy. I want to question my belief,so that what is left after I havequestioned it, will be even stronger.’
“我想研读哲学。我想对自己的信仰提出质疑,这样经过质疑留下的东西,会更加坚定有力。”
‘But Angel,your mother and I have saved and saved to send you to university like yourbrothers.
“但是,安吉尔,你的母亲和我一省再省,想供你念大学,就像对你的哥哥们那样。
But how can we send you there if it is not in the service of God?’
但是如果不是为了上帝服务,我们怎能送你去呢?”
So Angel did not have the advantage of a university education.
因此安吉尔失去了进大学接受教育的机会。
After some years studying at home he decided to learn farming.
在家自学了几年后,他决心去学习务农。
He thought this kind of work could give him what he most valued, independence and freedomto think.
他认为这种工作能给予他最最宝贵的东西,那就是独立思考的自由。
So he came to Talbothays at twenty-six,as a student.
于是在26岁时,他作为一名学徒来到了塔尔勃塞。
At first, he stayed up in his room most of the time in the evenings, reading and playing his harp.
起先,到了晚上他就待在自己的房间里,靠读读书、弹弹竖琴度过大部分时间。
But he soon preferred to read human nature by taking his meals in the general dining-roomwith the dairy people.
可是不久,他更愿意到公共餐室和奶场其他人一道吃饭,来体会人类的天性。
The longer he stayed, the more Clare liked living with these simple country people.
和大家在一起的时间越长,克莱尔就越喜欢和这些淳朴的乡下人生活在一起。
No longer did he see them as lacking in intelligence.
他不再把他们看做缺乏智慧、没有见地的人了。
He realized they were no different from him:he and they were all people walking on the dustyroad which ends in death.
他领悟到他们跟他没有什么不同:他和他们一样都是风尘仆仆的赶路人,他们的最终归宿都是死亡。
He began to like working outside.
他开始喜欢上户外的工作了。
He was learning about nature and about life.
他在学习更多关于自然和关于生活的知识。
He came to know the changing seasons,morning and evening,different winds,waters andmists,shade and silence,and the voices of nature.
他渐渐感悟到了变化的四季,清晨和黄昏,各种各样的风,水域和云雾,阴影和沉寂,以及自然界发出的种种声音。
All this he had never known before.
对这一切,他过去是一无所知的。
For several days after Tess's arrival,Clare,sitting reading a book,hardly noticed she wasthere.
苔丝到来后的头几天,克莱尔总是坐着看他的书,几乎没有注意到她在那儿。
But one morning at breakfast he was reading music and listening to the tune in his head,whenhe heard a musical voice which seemed to become part of his tune.
但是一天早上吃早饭时,他正在看一本乐谱,并沉浸在头脑里出现的旋律中,这时他听到了一个悦耳动听的嗓音,听起来就像他旋律中的一部分。
He looked round at Tess, seated at the table.
他掉头看到了苔丝,坐在餐桌旁。
‘What a fresh and pure daughter of nature that dairymaid is!’ thought Angel.
“那个女工多么娇嫩纯洁,真是大自然的女儿啊!”他思忖道。
He seemed to remember something about her,something which took him back into a happypast, before decision made his life difficult.
他像是记起了关于她的什么事情,记忆把他带回到过去的一段快乐时光。那时,他还没有做出让生活变得困难的抉择。
This memory made him look more often at Tess than the other dairymaids.
这种回忆也让他更加关注苔丝,而不是其他女工。
《苔丝》是英国文学巨匠托马斯·哈代最负盛名的长篇代表作,也是“威塞克斯系列”中的一部。苔丝出生于一个贫穷的农民家庭,她纯洁、美丽,是古老爵士世家的后裔。在父母的安排下,不谙世事的苔丝为了全家的生计去“攀亲”,不料却被纨绔的“堂兄”亚雷克·德伯维尔诱奸。倔强的苔丝不愿作亚雷克的情妇回到了家中,但回村后她渐渐受到全村人的非议,生下的孩子不久也夭折了,悲伤的苔丝选择离开家乡,去一个陌生的牛奶厂做女工。在这里,她遇上了毕生的挚爱克莱尔。克莱尔像一束温暖的阳光照亮了她年轻的生命,但苔丝又因过往而自卑,痛苦不堪。后来在新婚之夜,苔丝终于鼓起勇气向克莱尔坦白了一切,却由此陷入无尽的黑暗之中……
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