Then, too, there is in German literature a fine reserve which I like; but its chief glory is therecognition I find in it of the redeeming potency of woman’s self-sacrificing love. This thought pervades all German literature and is mystically expressed in Goethe’s "Faust":

　　我很喜欢德国文学作品中的丰富内涵，而最令我推崇备至的，就是作品中对于女性自我牺牲精神的昭示和不遗余力的赞颂。可以说，这种思想遍及所有的德国文学作品，而对其神秘性最为深刻的阐释当属歌德的《浮士德》：

　　All things transitory

　　万物皆短暂

　　But as symbols are sent.

　　唯其意象绵绵不绝。

　　Earth’s insufficiency

　　尘世间人心不古

　　Here grows to event.

　　事端频生充满了大地。

　　The indescribable

　　乱世难以言说

　　Here it is done.

　　所行皆不义。

　　The Woman Soul leads us upward and on!

　　唯女人之性灵引领我们迈向天际！

　　Of all the French writers that I have read, I like Moli鑢e and Racine best. There are fine things in Balzac and passages in M閞im閑 which strike one like a keen blast of sea air. Alfred de Musset isimpossible! I admire Victor Hugo—I appreciate his genius, his brilliancy, his romanticism; though he is not one of my literary passions. But Hugo and Goethe and Schiller and all great poets of all great nations are interpreters of eternal things, and my spirit reverently follows them into the regions where Beauty and Truth and Goodness are one.

　　在我所读过的所有法国作家的作品当中，我最喜爱莫里哀和拉辛的（戏剧）著作。而巴尔扎克的鸿篇巨制和梅里美笔下的精彩段落就像一股强劲的海风，令人的精神为之一振。阿尔弗莱德·缪塞绝不可能有这样的感召力！我很推崇维克多·雨果——我欣赏他的创作才能，他的睿智，他的浪漫主义精神。虽然他并不是激发我的文学热情的启蒙者，但是雨果、歌德和席勒，以及所有伟大民族中的所有伟大诗人，他们都是永恒价值的阐释者，而且，我的心灵就会无比虔诚地追随他们进入真、善、美的世界。

　　I am afraid I have written too much about my book-friends, and yet I have mentioned only the authors I love most; and from this fact one might easily suppose that my circle of friends was very limited and undemocratic, which would be a very wrong impression. I like many writers for many reasons—Carlyle for his ruggedness and scorn of shams; Wordsworth, who teaches the oneness of man and nature; I find an exquisite pleasure in the oddities and surprises of Hood, in Herrick’s quaintness and the palpable scent of lily and rose in his verses; I like Whittier for his enthusiasms and moral rectitude. I knew him, and the gentle remembrance of our friendship doubles the pleasure I have in reading his poems. I love Mark Twain—who does not? The gods, too, loved him and put into his heart all manner of wisdom; then, fearing lest he should become apessimist, they spanned his mind with a rainbow of love and faith. I like Scott for his freshness,dash and large honesty. I love all writers whose minds, like Lowell’s,bubble up in the sunshine ofoptimism—fountains of joy and good will, with occasionally a splash of anger and here and there a healing spray of sympathy and pity.

　　我如此浓墨重彩地描述自己所钟爱的书籍，乃至提到了我最喜爱的一些作家，由此你也许会猜想我的阅读范围是非常有限的，我选择书籍的方式也是武断的，事实上，这是一种完全错误的猜想。我喜爱很多作家，原因多种多样——我喜欢卡莱尔是因为他恣肆无忌的文风；而华兹华斯则向我们传授了人类同自然和谐统一的真谛；我在胡德精灵古怪的诗作中发现了一种精致的快乐；而赫里克的诗篇则散发出奇特的，如同百合花和玫瑰花一般的芬芳；我喜欢惠蒂尔，因为他具有热情如火的个性和道德良知。我认识他，对友谊的美好回忆，使我更深刻地感受到了其诗歌带给我的快乐。我喜欢马克·吐温——又有谁会不喜欢他呢？连诸神也会喜欢他的，我想，诸神把所有的智慧赐给了他，接着，又唯恐他变成一个悲观主义者，所以，诸神又在他的头脑中架起一道爱与信念的彩虹。我喜欢司各特是因为其作品清新、率真而文思激昂。我热爱所有作家的思想，比如洛威尔，我感觉他的思想就像在乐观主义的阳光中汩汩涌动的喷泉——在喷涌快乐和美好意愿的同时，它偶尔也会在这里或那里溅射愤怒，或者喷洒同情和怜恤的水珠。

　　In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends. They talk to me withoutembarrassment or awkwardness. The things I have learned and the things I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."

　　一言以蔽之，文学是我的“乌托邦”。在这个领域，我不会被剥夺任何权利，也不存在任何阻断我同“书籍朋友们”亲密接触的屏障。这些朋友可以毫无障碍地同我自由交谈，同他们那“宏大的爱心和神圣的施与”相比，我所了解的以及被传授的那点知识显得是那么地微不足道。

　　编辑推荐：
　　海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》
　　《论语》中英文版 第二十章 尧曰篇汇总
　　《论语》中英文版 第十九章子张篇汇总