From "Little Lord Fauntleroy" I date the beginning of my true interest in books. During the next two years I read many books at my home and on my visits to Boston. I cannot remember what they all were, or in what order I read them; but I know that among them were "Greek Heroes," La Fontaine’s "Fables," Hawthorne’s "Wonder Book," "Bible Stories," Lamb’s "Tales from Shakespeare," "A Child’s History of England" by Dickens, "The Arabian Nights," "The Swiss Family Robinson," "The Pilgrim’s Progress," "Robinson Crusoe," "Little Women," and "Heidi," a beautiful little story which I afterward read in German. I read them in the intervals between study and play with an ever-deepening sense of pleasure. I did not study nor analyze them—I did not know whether they were well written or not; I never thought about style or authorship. They laid their treasures at my feet, and I accepted them as we accept the sunshine and the love of our friends. I loved "Little Women" because it gave me a sense of kinship with girls and boys who could see and hear. Circumscribed as my life was in so many ways, I had to look between the covers of books for news of the world that lay outside my own.

　　自从读过《小爵爷方特勒罗伊》后，我对书籍就产生了真正的兴趣。在其后的两年间，我读了很多书，这些书都是我在家里以及在游览波士顿期间读的。具体读了哪些书，或者是在何种状态下读的，我已经记不清了；不过有一些书我是不会忘的，比如《希腊英雄传》，拉封丹的《寓言》，霍桑的《奇书》、《圣经故事》，兰姆的《莎士比亚故事集》，狄更斯的《英格兰历史儿童读本》，《天方夜谭》，《瑞士人罗宾逊一家》，《天路历程》，《鲁滨孙漂流记》，《小妇人》，还有《海蒂》——这是个美丽的故事，我记得我看的是德文版本。这些书都是在边学边玩之间读完的。当然，自始至终我都怀着强烈的求知欲。当时，我并不会对我所读的书进行研究和分析，我不知道这些书写得是好是坏，我也从来没有想过它们的写作风格和作者背景。就这样，这些书把它们的“财宝”堆放在我的脚前，而我欣然接纳了书籍的馈赠，正如我接纳阳光和朋友们的友谊一样自然而然。我喜欢读《小妇人》，因为它让我意识到了自己同那些能听能看的正常孩子之间的“血缘关系”。由于我的生活受到了种种限制，因此我不得不在书籍之中寻找尚未发掘的新世界。

　　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 vividword-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.

　　我尤其不喜欢《天路历程》，我想我都没有读完这本书。《寓言》我也不喜欢，我最初读的拉封丹的《寓言》是英文版本，当时我只是感觉这本书还说得过去。后来我又读了法文版本，于是我发现，无论书中的文字是多么生动，故事是多么精彩，我还是不太喜欢。我不知道为什么会有这种感觉，不过书中的那些像人类一样会说话的动物从来就没有引起过我太大的兴趣。不妨说，给我留下印象的不过是一些滑稽可笑的动物，而并不是其中的道德说教。

　　Then, again, La Fontaine seldom, if ever, appeals to our higher moral sense. The highest chords he strikes are those of reason and self-love. Through all the fables runs the thought that man’smorality 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.

　　接着说拉封丹。如果说他的作品带给了我们更高的道德感，我认为这种说法是言过其实的。事实上，其作品中最值得回味的地方就是故事的发生动机和其中蕴涵的自恋主张，所有的寓言无不传达出这样一种思想——人类的道德感完全来自于自恋，假如自恋的动机被压制，那么幸福一定会到来。而我本人的看法是，自恋是一切罪恶的根源。当然，我的判断也许是错的，毕竟，同我相比，拉封丹有着更加丰富的观察人生的经验。此外，我并不太反对寓言所具有的讽刺效果，尤其是通过猴子和狐狸的口传授做人的至理名言。

　　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. And if they point a moral, it is so subtle that we are not conscious of it.

　　比较而言，我更喜欢读《丛林故事》和《我所知道的野生动物》这类书。我对动物确实有着浓厚的兴趣，因为它们是真正的动物而非被拟人化的笑料。当然，人们更愿意把自己的喜悦、憎恨和笑声贡献给喜剧，而把哭泣留给悲剧。如果说这些作品表达出了一种道德观，那么我们也会因其过于深奥而意识不到它的存在。

　　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