HOT 閃亮星─無聊種子稿件大募集

3.ON DREAMS

ON   DREAMS

論夢想

Discontent,   they   say,   is   divine;   I   am   quite   sure   anyway   that   discontent   is   human.

The   monkey   was   the   first   morose   animal,   for   I   have   never   seen   a   truly   sad   face   in

animals   except   in   the   chimpanzee.

        不滿足,別人說,是神性;而我確信,不滿足,是人性。猿猴是最早會憂鬱的動物,因為除了黑猩猩之外,我從沒有看過動物真正擁有憂傷的表情。

And   I   have   often   thought   such   a   one   a   philosopher,   because   sadness   and   thoughtfulness   are   so   akin.   There   is   something   in   such   a   face   which   tells   me   that   he   is   thinking.   Cows   don't   seem   to   think,   at   least   they   don't   seem   to   philosophize,   because   they   look   always   so   contented,   and   while   elephants   may   store   up   a   terrific   anger,   the   eternal   swinging   of   their   trunks   seems   to   take   the   place   of   thinking   and   banish   all   brooding   discontent.   Only   a   monkey   can   look   thoroughly   bored   with   life.   Great   indeed   is   the   monkey   !

        我一直認為黑猩猩是哲人,因為他的哀傷與沉思,和人類如此相似。他的表情告訴我,他在思考。牛看上去並不會思考,至少不會哲思,因為它們看起來總是那麼滿足,而大象呢,它們可能會暴怒,但是它們總在搖動的象鼻,似乎取代了思考、驅散了所有正在醞釀的不滿足。只有猴子看起來是完全對生命感到無趣的。猴子的確很偉大呀!

Perhaps   after   all   philosophy   began   with   the   sense   of   boredom.   Anyway   it   is   characteristic   of   humans   to   have   a   sad,   vague   and   wistful   longing   for   an   ideal.   Living   in   a   real   world,   man   has   yet   the   capacity   and   tendency   to   dream   of   another   world.   Probably   the   difference   between   man   and   the   monkeys   is   that   the   monkeys   are   merely   bored,   while   man   has   boredom   plus   imagination.   All   of   us   have   the   desire   to   get   out   of   an   old   rut,   and   all   of   us   wish   to   be   something   else,   and   all   of   us   dream.   The   private   dreams   of   being   a   corporal,   the   corporal   dreams   of   being   a   captain,   and   the   captain   dreams   of   being   a   major   or   colonel.   A   colonel,   if   he   is   worth   his   salt,   thinks   nothing   of   being   a   colonel.   In   more   graceful   phraseology,   he   calls   it   merely   an   opportunity   to   serve   his   fellow   men.   And   really   there   is   very   little   else   to   it.   The   plain   fact   is,   Joan   Crawford   thinks   less   of   Joan   Crawford   and   Janet   Gaynor   thinks   less   of   Janet   Gaynor   than   the   world   thinks   of   them.   "   Aren't   you   remarkable   ?"   the   world   says   to   all   the   great,   and   the   great,   if   they   are   truly   great,   always   reply,   "What   is   remarkable   ?"   The   world   is   therefore   pretty   much   like   an   a.   la   carte   restaurant   where   everybody   thinks   the   food   the   next   table   has   ordered   is   so   much   more   inviting   and   delicious   than   his   own.   A   contemporary   Chinese   professor   has   made   the   witticism   that   in   the   matter   of   desirability,   "Wives   are   always   better   if   they   are   others',   while   writing   is   always   better   if   it   is   one's   own.   "   In   this   sense,   therefore,   there   is   no   one   completely   satisfied   in   this   world.   Everyone   wants   to   be   somebody   so   long   as   that   somebody   is   not   himself.

         也許究其所終,所有的哲學都始於無聊之感。無論如何,憂傷地、不確定地、不滿足地期待完美,是人類的特質。即便身處現世,人類也有能力和傾向去夢想另一個世界。可能人與猴的區別在於,猴子只是純粹的無聊,而人兼有無聊和想像力。我們都渴望出逃循规蹈矩,我們都希望不是現在的自己,我們都有夢想。列兵夢想著成為下士,下士夢想著成為上尉,上尉夢想著成為少校或上校。而一個上校,如果他稱職的話,會認為成為上校也沒什麼大不了的。如果措辭優雅一些,這位上校會將他的頭銜說成是一個為人民服務的機會。確實也沒什麼了不起的。而明顯的事實是,瓊·克勞馥或者珍妮·蓋諾,都不會像其他人那樣看重自己。“難道你不卓越嗎?”世人問所有偉大之人,而那些偉人,如果他們真正偉大的話,一定會回答“何為卓越?”所以,世界就像一家點菜的餐館,在那裏每一個人都認為臨桌點的菜比自己點的更誘人、更美味。一位現代的中國教授詼諧地評價人類的渴望:“老婆是別人的好,而文章是自己的好”。所以,在這個意義上,世界上沒有完全滿足的人。每一個人都希望成為別人。

This   human   trait   is   undoubtedly   due   to   our   power   of   imagination   and   our   capacity   for   dreaming.   The   greater   the   imaginative   power   of   a   man,   the   more   perpetually   he   is   dissatisfied.   That   is   why   an   imaginative   child   is   always   a   more   difficult   child;   he   is   more   often   sad   and   morose   like   a   monkey,   than   happy   and   contented   like   a   cow.   Also   divorce   must   necessarily   be   more   common   among   the   idealists   and   the   more   imaginative   people   than   among   the   unimaginative.   The   vision   of   a   desirable   ideal   life   companion   has   an   irresistible   force   which   the   less   imaginative   and   less   idealistic   never   feel.   On   the   whole,   humanity   is   as   much   led   astray   as   led   upwards   by   this   capacity   for   idealism,   but   human   progress   without   this   imaginative   gift   is   itself   unthinkable.

         人類的這種特質無疑源於我們的想像力和夢想力。一個人的想像力越豐富,他的不滿足感就越持久。這就是爲什麽一個頗具想像力的孩子不是那麼輕鬆過活的原因;他更多地像猴子那樣哀傷和憂鬱,而不是像牛那樣開心與滿足。同樣地,比起想像力較弱的人群,離婚更多地發生在完美主義者和富有想像力的人中間。對於他們來說,憧憬完美的人生伴侶有著不可抗拒的吸引力,而較少想像力和不那麼完美主義的人卻無法感受到這一點。從總體上看,這種完美主義更多的是將人類引入歧途而不是引導人類前進,但是,如果沒有想像力這種天賦,人類進步本身就是無法想像的。

        

Man,   we   are   told,   has   aspirations.   They   are   very   laudable   things   to   have,   for   aspirations   are   generally   classified   as   noble.   And   why   not?   Whether   as   individuals   or   as   nations,   we   all   dream   and   act   more   or   less   in   accordance   with   our   dreams.   Some   dream   a   little   more   than   others,   as   there   is   a   child   in   every   family   who   dreams   more   and   perhaps   one   who   dreams   less.   And   I   must   confess   to   a   secret   partiality   for   the   one   who   dreams.   Generally   he   is   the   sadder   one,   but   no   matter;   he   is   also   capable   of   greater   joys   and   thrills   and   heights   of   ecstasy.   For   I   think   we   are   constituted   like   a   receiving   set   for   ideas,   as   radio   sets   are   equipped   for   receiving   music   from   the   air.   Some   sets   with   a   finer   response   pick   up   the   finer   short   waves   which   are   lost   to   the   other   sets,   and   why,   of   course,   that   finer,   more   distant   music   is   all   the   more   precious   if   only   because   it   is   less   easily   perceivable.

         我們知道,人都有志向。擁有志向是值得稱讚的,因為志向通常被認為是高尚的。爲什麽不呢?無論個人還是國家,我們都按照願景來夢想和行動。一些人比其他人夢想得多一些,就像一個家庭里,有的孩子夢想得多一些,有的則夢想得少一些。而我需要坦白的是,自己私下是偏心那些夢想者的。通常夢想者更為憂鬱,但是這無關緊要,因為他同時也能感受到更多的歡樂、激動和狂喜的高潮。我認為,我們就像一個思想的接收器、一個從空中接收音樂信號的收音機。一些機器有更精准的反應器,能夠撲捉到其他機子無法察覺的更細微的短波;這就是爲什麽音樂越細微、越遙遠,就越珍貴的原因,因為它們更難被覺察到。

        

And   those   dreams   of   our   childhood,   they   are   not   so   unreal   as   we   might   think.   Somehow   they   stay   with   us   throughout   our   life.   That   is   why,   if   I   had   my   choice   of   being   any   one   author   in   the   world,   I   would   be   Hans   Christian   Andersen   rather   than   anybody   else.   To   write   the   story   of   The   Mermaid,   or   to   be   the   Mermaid   ourselves,   thinking   the   Mermaid's   thoughts   and   aspiring   to   be   old   enough   to   come   up   to   the   surface   of   the   water,   is   to   have   felt   one   of   the   keenest   and   most   beautiful   delights   that   humanity   is   capable   of.

         我們童年的那些夢想,其實并不像我們認為的那樣不切實際。它們以某種方式貫穿著我們的人生。正如如果我選擇成為一名作家,那麼我更可能成為汉斯•克里斯蒂安•安徒生,而不是其他人。書寫美人魚的故事,或者化身成為美人魚,想美人魚之所想,期待長大后能到海面上去看一看,這本身就是對人類能夠達到的最強烈的、最美好的喜悅的感知。

        

And   so,   out   in   an   alley,   up   in   an   attic,   or   down   in   the   barn   or   lying   along   the   waterside,a   child   always   dreams,   and   the   dreams   are   real.   So   Thomas   Edison   dreamed.   So   Robert   Louis   Stevenson   dreamed.   So   Sir   Walter   Scott   dreamed.   All   three   dreamed   in   their   childhood.   And   out   of   the   stuff   of   such   magic   dreams   are   woven   some   of   the   finest   and   most   beautiful   fabrics   we   have   ever   seen.   But   these   dreams   are   also   partaken   of   by   lesser   children.   The   delights   they   get   are   as   great,   if   the   visions   or   contents   of   their   dreams   are   different.   Every   child   has   a   soul   which   yearns,   and   carries   a   longing   on   his   lap   and   goes   to   sleep   with   it,   hoping   to   find   his   dream   come   true   when   he   wakes   up   with   the   mom.   He   tells   no   one   of   these   dreams,   for   these   dreams   are   his   own,   and   for   that   reason   they   are   a   part   of   his   innermost   growing   self.   Some   of   these   children's   dreams   are   clearer   than   others,   and   they   have   a   force   which   compel   their   own   realization;   on   the   other   hand,   with   growing   age,   those   less   clear   dreams   are   forgotten,   and   we   all   live   through   life   trying   to   tell   those   dreams   of   our   childhood,   and   "sometimes   we   die   ere   we   find   the   language.   "

         就像這樣,無論是行走于田園小徑,或身處閣樓之上、穀倉之中,抑或躺在水邊,孩子更喜歡做夢,而這些夢是那麼的真實。正如托馬斯·愛迪生、羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森、沃爾特·司各特爵士曾經的夢想,他們在孩提時代都做著自己的夢,而從這些神奇的夢中衍生出的東西,編織成了我們見過的最精美的織錦。但是這些夢想是為少數孩子所共享的。雖然他們夢想的圖景或內容不盡相同,但是他們從中獲得的喜悅卻一樣強烈。每一個孩子都有一個嚮往美好和承載希冀的靈魂,把它放在膝頭、帶著它入眠,期待著當他和媽媽一起醒來的時候,夢想能夠成真。他不與任何人說起這些夢想,因為它們只屬於自己,因為它們是內心最深處不斷成長自我的一部份。孩子的一些夢想較為清晰,能夠驅散孩子的認識;而隨著年齡的增長,那些不太清晰的夢想逐漸被遺忘,我們便終盡所生來陳述童年時的夢想,“有時,我們在找到合適的陳述語言之前,生命便已終結”。

And   so   with   nations,   too.   Nations   have   their   dreams   and   the   memories   of   such   dreams   persist   through   generations   and   centuries.   Some   of   these   are   noble   dreams,   and   others   wicked   and   ignoble.   The   dreams   of   conquest   and   of   being   bigger   and   stronger   than   all   the   others   are   always   bad   dreams,   and   such   nations   always   have   more   to   worry   about   than   others   who   have   more   peaceful   dreams.   But   there   are   other   and   better   dreams,   dreams   of   a   better   world,   dreams   of   peace   and   of   nations   living   at   peace   with   one   another,   and   dreams   of   less   cruelty,   injustice,   and   poverty   and   suffering.   The   bad   dreams   tend   to   destroy   the   good   dreams   of   humanity,   and   there   is   a   struggle   and   a   fight   between   these   good   and   bad   dreams.   People   fight   for   their   dreams   as   much   as   they   fight   for   their   earthly   possessions.   And   so   dreams   descend   from   the   world   of   idle   visions   and   enter   the   world   of   reality,   and   become   a   real   force   in   our   life.   However   vague   they   are,   dreams   have   a   way   of   concealing   themselves   and   leave   us   no   peace   until   they   are   translated   into   reality,   like   seeds   germinating   under   ground,   sure   to   sprout   in   their   search   for   the   sunlight.   Dreams   are   very   real   things.

         國家亦如此。國家有自己的夢想,而對這些夢想的記憶存在了一代又一代、一個世紀又一個世紀。有的夢想是高尚的,有的則邪惡與卑鄙。征服和稱霸其他國家的夢想都是惡劣的,這些國家通常要比那些持有和平夢想的國家擔憂得更多。但是也有別的、更好的夢想,夢想一個更好的世界,夢想國家之間和平共處,夢想更少的殘忍、不公正、貧窮和痛苦。惡願總是要摧毀人性的良願,正邪的較量一直持續著。人們同時在為自己的夢想和現實的財產而奮鬥著。如此,夢想從空中樓閣進入現實世界,成為我們生活中實在的推動力。無論夢想多麼渺茫,它們總有法子隱藏自己並且讓我們無法安生,直到它們成為現實为止,就像土壤下發芽的種子,一定要破土而出找尋陽光。夢想是多麼真實的存在呵。

        

There   is   also   a   danger   of   our   having   confused   dreams   and   dreams   that   do   not   correspond   to   reality.   For   dreams   are   escapes   also,   and   a   dreamer   often   dreams   to   escape   from   the   present   world,   hardly   knowing   where.   The   Blue   Bird   always   attracts   the   romanticist's   fancy.   There   is   such   a   human   desire   to   be   different   from   what   we   are,   to   get   out   of   the   present   ruts,   that   anything   which   offers   a   change   always   has   a   tremendous   appeal   to   average   humanity.   A   war   is   always   attractive   because   it   offers   a   city   clerk   the   chance   of   donning   a   uniform   and   wearing   puttees   and   a   chance   for   travel   gratis,   while   an   armistice   or   peace   is   always   desirable   after   three   or   four   years   in   the   trenches   because   it   offers   the   soldier   a   chance   to   come   back   home   and   wear   civilian   dress   and   a   scarlet   necktie   once   more.   Some   such   excitement   humanity   evidently   needs,   and   if   war   is   to   be   avoided,   governments   may   just   as   well   recruit   people   between   twenty   and   forty-five   under   a   conscript   system   and   send   them   on   European   tours   to   see   some   exposition   or   other,   once   every   ten   years.   The   British   Government   is   spending   five   billion   pounds   on   its   Rearmament   Program,   a   sum   sufficient   to   send   every   Englishman   on   a   trip   to   the   Riviera.   The   argument   is,   of   course,   that   expenditures   on   war   are   a   necessity   while   travel   is   a   luxury.   I   feel   inclined   to   disagree:   travel   is   a   necessity,   while   war   is   a   luxury.

         然而,混淆夢想和不切實際空想的危險是存在的。由於做夢也是種出逃,所以夢想者常常通過漫無目的地做夢來逃離現世。藍鳥牌汽車常常能引發浪漫主義者的幻想。人們就是渴望不同於現在的自己,渴望逃出現有的規則,所以任何能帶來不同改變的事物對於常人都有巨大的吸引力。戰爭誘人之處在於,市府書記因此能夠有機會穿上制服和裹腿、并且免費旅遊,而停戰或和平在三到四年的戰壕生活之後顯得如此令人神往,因為它讓士兵有機會回家,重新穿上平民的服裝、戴起緋紅色的領帶。人類顯然需要這類刺激,而如果要避免戰爭,政府仍需徵募二十至二十五歲的軍人,每隔十年送他們到歐洲去看看展覽或其他。英國政府目前在其軍備重整項目中花費了五百億英鎊,該數額足夠讓每一英國人到里维埃拉旅行一次。當然,有人會爭辯說戰爭的花費是必要的,而旅行則是種奢侈。我的觀點與之相反:旅行是必須品,而戰爭是奢侈品。

        

There   are   other   dreams   too.   Dreams   of   Utopia   and   dreams   of   immortality.   The   dream   of   immortality   is   entirely   human   note   its   universality   although   it   is   vague   like   the   rest,   and   few   people   know   what   they   are   going   to   do   when   they   find   eternity   hanging   on   their   hands.   After   all,   the   desire   for   immortality   is   very   much   akin   to   the   psychology   of   suicide,   its   exact   opposite.   Both   presume   that   the   present   world   is   not   good   enough   for   us.   Why   is   the   present   world   not   good   enough   for   us?   We   should   be   more   surprised   at   the   question   than   at   any   answer   to   the   question   if   we   were   out   on   a   visit   to   the   country   on   a   spring   day.

         還有別的夢想。夢想烏托邦,夢想永生不朽。從普遍性來看,夢想永生不朽是獨屬於人類的,雖然它和其他夢想一樣虛幻,也只有少數人知道如果獲得永生,他們應該做什麽。實際上,渴望永生與自殺的心理十分相似,儘管後者是前者的反面。兩者的前提條件都是現世還不夠好。爲什麽現世還不夠好呢?當我們在春日里出遊,我們應該更驚訝于這個問題的提出,而不是這個問題的答案。

And   so   with   dreams   of   Utopia   also.   Idealism   is   merely   that   state   of   mind   which   believes   in   another   world   order,   no   matter   what   kind   of   an   order,   so   long   as   it   is   different   from   the   present   one.   The   idealistic   liberal   is   always   one   who   thinks   his   own   country   the   worst   possible   country   and   the   society   in   which   he   lives   the   worst   of   all   possible   forms   of   society.   He   is   still   the   fellow   in   the   a   la   carte   restaurant   who   believes   that   the   next   table's   order   of   dishes   is   better   than   his

         夢想烏托邦亦然。理想主義,僅僅是一種思維狀態,它信仰另一種世界秩序,無論是哪一種秩序,只要它與現在的不同就行。理想主義的自由人士通常認為自己的國家是所有可能中最糟糕的,自己所在的社會是所有可能的社會形式中最差勁的。他仍舊是點菜餐館中的一名食客,認為臨桌點的菜總比自己點的好。

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