旅行的藝術(shù):風(fēng)景 Ⅴ 鄉(xiāng)村與城市-2

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我們此趟旅程的直接動機是為了個人私事，但它同時也可以追溯到18世紀后半期一次影響廣泛的歷史運動。當時歷史上第一次出現(xiàn)城市居民大量涌往鄉(xiāng)間，他們的目的是恢復(fù)身體健康，更重要的是恢復(fù)心靈的和諧。在1700年的英格蘭和威爾士，有17%的人居住在城鎮(zhèn)上。到了1850年，這個比例上升為50%，1900年則為70%。

The immediate motives for our journey were personal; but they might also be said to have belonged to a broader historical movement dating back to the second half of the eighteenth century, in which city dwellers began for the first time to travel in great numbers through the countryside in an attempt to restore health to their bodies and, more importantly, harmony to their souls. In 1700, 17 per cent of the population of England and Wales lived in a town; in 1850, it was 50 per cent, by 1900, 75.

我們往北前進，到達溫德米爾湖以北幾英里，一個叫特魯特貝克的鄉(xiāng)村。我們在一家名為“凡人”的小旅館預(yù)訂了房間。兩張很窄的床挨在一起，毛毯上污跡斑斑。房東帶我們看了看浴室，并提醒我們這里的電話費昂貴得我們可能付不起（他大概從我們的穿著和在柜臺上的猶豫態(tài)度推斷我們經(jīng)濟能力有限）。當他離開的時候，他向我們保證會有3天的晴朗天氣，并且歡迎我們來到“湖區(qū)”。

We headed north towards the village of Troutbeck, a few miles above Lake Windermere. We had reserved a room at an inn called the Mortal Man. Two narrow beds with stained blankets had been pushed together. The landlord showed us the bathroom, warned us of the high phone charges which he suspected (from our clothes and our hesitant manner at the reception desk) that we would be unable to afford and, as he took his leave, promised us three days of perfect weather and welcomed us to the Lake District.

我們打開電視察看能收看到什么頻道，并且發(fā)現(xiàn)這里能收看倫敦的新聞。不一會兒，我們把電視關(guān)上，把房間的窗打開。在這寧靜的夜晚，我們惟獨聽見窗外一只貓頭鷹的叫聲，不禁讓我們思索它在靜夜中的出現(xiàn)是何等奇異。

We tried the television and found news from London, but after a moment switched off and opened the window. There was an owl hooting outside-and we thought of its strange existence, out there in the otherwise silent night.

我來這里還有一個原因，是因為一位詩人。那一晚，我在房里又讀了華茲華斯 [1] 《序曲》中的一段。我讀的是平裝本，封面上畫著一幅肅穆的老年華茲華斯肖像，這幅畫出自本雅明·海頓 [2] 之手。M說，這人丑得像只老蟾蜍，接著就去洗澡。但是當她過后站在窗前抹面霜時，卻吟了華茲華斯的幾行詩。她已忘了詩名，但卻表示這些詩句是所有她讀過的文字中最令她感動的。

I had come in part because of a poet. That evening in the room, I read another section of Wordsworth's Prelude . The cover of the paperback was illustrated with a portrait by Benjamin Haydon, which showed Wordsworth severe and aged. M declared him an old toad, and went to have a bath, though later, while standing by the window applying face cream, she recited several lines from a poem whose title she had forgotten, which she said had moved her perhaps more than anything she had ever read:

光輝曾經(jīng)那么耀眼

What though the radiance which was once so bright

現(xiàn)在卻從我的視線中消逝

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

縱使再也喚不回

Though nothing can bring back the hour

那綠茵蔥郁、花朵絢麗的一刻

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower；

我們不會悲傷，而是從殘留中

We will grieve not, rather find

尋找一股力量

Strength in what remains behind

——頌歌：《永生的宣言》，第十節(jié)

Ode: Intimations of Immortality, X

我們躺在床上，我想多看幾行書，但是當我發(fā)現(xiàn)一根金黃色長發(fā)夾在床頭板上，我就很難再專心看書。發(fā)絲既不屬于我，也不屬于M，但它卻表明這里住過許多游客?；蛟S其中一位已經(jīng)身處另一個大陸，而對于曾在此處留下自己身上的一小部分卻渾然不知。在外面貓頭鷹的呼叫聲中我們斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地睡了一晚。

We went to bed and I tried to read further, though it became hard to concentrate after I found a long blonde hair caught on the headboard that belonged neither to M nor to me, and hinted at the many guests who had stayed in the Mortal Man before us, one of whom was perhaps now on another continent, unaware of having left a part of herself behind. We fell into fitful sleep to the sound of the owl outside.