This compact I have only just broken in my study of Shakespeare under Professor Kittredge. I know there are many things in Shakespeare, and in the world, that I do not understand; and I am glad to see veil after veil lift gradually, revealing new realms of thought and beauty.
直到接觸了吉特萊芝教授開設的莎士比亞課,“協議”才被我打破。我知道,莎士比亞(戲劇)博大精深,而且,我并不了解世界范圍內的莎劇研究。我很高興看到一層層的面紗被人掀起,將一個嶄新而美妙的思想王國展現在我們面前。
Next to poetry I love history. I have read every historical work that I have been able to lay my hands on, from a catalogue of dry facts and dryer dates to Green's impartial, picturesque "History of the English People"; from Freeman's "History of Europe" to Emerton's "Middle Ages." The first book that gave me any real sense of the value of history was Swinton's "World History," which I received on my thirteenth birthday. Though I believe it is no longer considered valid, yet I have kept it ever since as one of my treasures. From it I learned how the races of men spread from land to land and built great cities, how a few great rulers, earthly Titans, put everything under their feet, and with a decisive word opened the gates of happiness for millions and closed them upon millions more: how different nations pioneered in art and knowledge and broke ground for the mightier growths of coming ages; how civilization underwent as it were, the holocaust of a degenerate age, and rose again, like the Phoenix, among the nobler sons of the North; and how by liberty, tolerance and education the great and the wise have opened the way for the salvation of the whole world.
在我喜歡的書籍中,僅次于詩歌的就是歷史。我把能用雙手觸摸到的每一本歷史著作都讀了個遍。從樸素的書頁目錄、記事年表到格林所著的客觀公正、視角獨特的《英國人民史》;從弗里曼的《歐洲歷史》到艾默頓的《中世紀》。真正使我意識到歷史價值的第一本書是斯溫頓的《世界歷史》,這本書是我十三歲時收到的生日禮物。雖然我已經不再認為這本書無懈可擊,但是我仍然把它視做我(童年)的珍寶之一。正是通過這些歷史書籍,我了解到了上古人類是如何分散到世界各地并建立起巨大的城市的;那些偉大的統治者,也就是人世間的“提坦”,是如何把萬物置于自己的腳下,又是如何以一句決定性的話語為千百萬人開啟和關閉幸福之門的;不同種族的先驅們是如何在藝術和知識的領域開疆拓土,促進時代進步的;人類文明如何遭受社會墮落的浩劫,又是如何像鳳凰涅槃一樣重生的;人類又是如何通過自由、寬容的精神和聰明才智鋪設拯救世界之路的。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/Article/201710/527494.shtml