評論
打印
I did not care especially for "The Pilgrim's Progress," which I think I did not finish, or for the "Fables." I read La Fontaine's "Fables" first in an English translation, and enjoyed them only after a half-hearted fashion. Later I read the book again in French, and I found that, in spite of the vivid word-pictures, and the wonderful mastery of language, I liked it no better. I do not know why it is, but stories in which animals are made to talk and act like human beings have never appealed to me very strongly. The ludicrous caricatures of the animals occupy my mind to the exclusion of the moral.
我尤其不喜歡《天路歷程》，我想我都沒有讀完這本書。《寓言》我也不喜歡，我最初讀的拉封丹的《寓言》是英文版本，當時我只是感覺這本書還說得過去。后來我又讀了法文版本，于是我發現，無論書中的文字是多么生動，故事是多么精彩，我還是不太喜歡。我不知道為什么會有這種感覺，不過書中的那些像人類一樣會說話的動物從來就沒有引起過我太大的興趣。不妨說，給我留下印象的不過是一些滑稽可笑的動物，而并不是其中的道德說教。
Then, again, La Fontaine seldom, if ever, appeals to our highest moral sense. The highest chords he strikes are those of reason and self-love. Through all the fables runs the thought that man's morality springs wholly from self-love, and that if that self-love is directed and restrained by reason, happiness must follow. Now, so far as I can judge, self-love is the root of all evil; but, of course, I may be wrong, for La Fontaine had greater opportunities of observing men than I am likely ever to have. I do not object so much to the cynical and satirical fables as to those in which momentous truths are taught by monkeys and foxes.
接著說拉封丹。如果說他的作品帶給了我們更高的道德感，我認為這種說法是言過其實的。事實上，其作品中最值得回味的地方就是故事的發生動機和其中蘊涵的自戀主張，所有的寓言無不傳達出這樣一種思想——人類的道德感完全來自于自戀，假如自戀的動機被壓制，那么幸福一定會到來。而我本人的看法是，自戀是一切罪惡的根源。當然，我的判斷也許是錯的，畢竟，同我相比，拉封丹有著更加豐富的觀察人生的經驗。此外，我并不太反對寓言所具有的諷刺效果，尤其是通過猴子和狐貍的口傳授做人的至理名言。
But I love "The Jungle Book" and "Wild Animals I Have Known." I feel a genuine interest in the animals themselves, because they are real animals and not caricatures of men. One sympathizes with their loves and hatreds, laughs over their comedies, and weeps over their tragedies.
比較而言，我更喜歡讀《叢林故事》和《我所知道的野生動物》這類書。我對動物確實有著濃厚的興趣，因為它們是真正的動物而非被擬人化的笑料。當然，人們更愿意把自己的喜悅、憎恨和笑聲貢獻給喜劇，而把哭泣留給悲劇。
