My Library1我的书房

艾伦·亚历山大·米尔恩/文　沈洁/译

When I moved into a new house a few weeks ago， my books， as was natural， moved with me. Strong， perspiring men shovelled them into packing-cases， and staggered with them to the van， cursing Caxton2 as they went. On arrival at this end， they staggered with them into the room selected for my library， heaved off the lids of the cases， and awaited orders. The immediate need was for an emptier room. Together we hurried the books into the new white shelves which awaited them， the order in which they stood being of no matter so long as they were off the floor. Armful after armful was hastily stacked， the only pause being when （in the curious way in which these things happen） my own name suddenly caught the eye of the foreman. “Did you write this one， sir？” he asked. I admitted it. “Hm，” he said noncommittally. He glanced along the names of every armful after that， and appeared a little surprised at the number of books， which I hadnt written. An easy-going profession， evidently.

幾个星期前我迁居新房，我的书自然也随我一起搬走。几个壮汉大汗淋漓地忙活着，他们把书胡乱塞进包装箱，踉踉跄跄地将箱子搬上货车，一边走一边诅咒卡克斯顿。到达这边的新居后，他们又踉踉跄跄地把书搬入我选定的书房，掀开箱盖，等候我的指令。眼下急需在屋里腾出一些地方。我们一起匆匆把书放入待用的白色新书架，无所谓摆成什么顺序，只要将它们搬离地板即可。一摞摞的书迅速堆积起来，其间唯一的停顿（这种事不知怎的就发生了），是在我的名字蓦然攫住工头的目光之际。“这书是你写的吗，先生？”他问道。我承认了。“哼嗯……”他含糊地应了一声，但之后每搬一摞书都要扫一眼署名，发现那么多书都不是我写的，显得有些惊讶。这显然是一个做事不慌不忙的职业。

So we got the books up at last， and there they are still. I told myself that when a wet afternoon came along I would arrange them properly. When the wet afternoon came， I told myself that I would arrange them one of these fine mornings. As they are now， I have to look along every shelf in the search for the book which I want. To come to Keats is no guarantee that we are on the road to Shelley. Shelley， if he did not drop out on the way， is probably next to How to be a Golfer though Middle-aged.

于是我们终于把所有的书都放上了书架，它们一直原样儿摆放在那里。我告诉自己，等到哪个午后阴雨天，我再将它们收拾整齐。可是那个午后阴雨天到来时，我却对自个儿说，还是等到哪个晴朗的早晨再整理它们吧。按照它们如今的样子，我得逐排扫视所有的书架，才能寻找到所需之书。找到济慈不能确保我随即看见雪莱。雪莱，如果没有走失的话，大概挨着那本《中年高尔夫进阶》。

Having written as far as this， I had to get up and see where Shelley really was. It is worse than I thought. He is between Geometrical Optics and Studies in New Zealand Scenery. Ella Wheeler Wilcox3， whom I find myself to be entertaining unawares， sits beside Anarchy or Order， which was apparently “sent in the hope that you will become a member of the Duty and Discipline Movement”—a vain hope， it would seem， for I have not yet paid my subscription. What I Found Out， by an English Governess， shares a corner with The Recreations of a Country Parson; they are followed by Villette and Baedekers Switzerland4. Something will have to be done about it.

走筆至此，我得起身去看看雪莱到底在哪儿。比我想象的还糟，他置身于《几何光学》和《新西兰风景绘画习作》之间。艾拉·惠勒·威尔科克斯，我无意中用以消遣的读物，眼下位于《无政府或秩序》旁边，显然，他们“寄赠此书，希望您能成为责任与纪律运动这一组织的成员”——这一希望似乎落空了，因为我迄今尚未支付会费。英格兰家庭女教师所写的《亲眼所见》，与《乡村牧师自娱有方》共据一个角落，紧随其后的是《维莱特》和《瑞士旅行指南》。我确实得为此做点什么了。

But I am wondering what is to be done. If I gave you the impression that my books were precisely arranged in their old shelves， I misled you. They were arranged in the order known as “all anyhow.” Possibly they were a little less “anyhow” than they are now， in that the volumes of any particular work were at least together， but that is all that can be claimed for them. For years I put off the business of tidying them up， just as I am putting it off now. It is not laziness; it is simply that I dont know how to begin.

但我不知道到底该做点什么。如果我让你觉得，搬家之前我的书摆放得井然有序，那是受了我的误导。当初放置它们，是按照一种名曰“混乱不堪”的顺序，其混乱程度相较如今大概稍有不及，毕竟当时每一部作品是成套摆放的，但也就这一点可取之处。这些书多少年我始终拖着不加整理，现如今依旧如此。并非懒惰所致，只是我不知道该如何着手。

Let us suppose that we decide to have all the poetry together. It sounds reasonable. But then Byron is eleven inches high （my tallest poet）， And Beattie5 （my shortest） is just over four inches. How foolish they will look standing side by side. Perhaps you dont know Beattie， but I assure you that he was a poet. He wrote those majestic lines：

不妨假设我们决定把所有的诗集放在一起。此言听似有理，但是拜伦足足高达11英寸（我最高的诗人），而贝蒂（我最矮的诗人）只有4英寸出头，让他俩并排而立是何等荒唐。也许你不认识贝蒂，但我向你担保他是诗人无疑。他曾写下那些雄浑的诗句：

“The shepherd-swain of whom I mention made

“我先前提到的那位牧羊郎，

On Scotias mountains fed his little flock;

在斯科舍群山间喂养他的一小群羊；

The sickle， scythe or plough he never swayed——

既不挥镰也不扶犁——

An honest heart was almost all his stock.”

一颗真心几乎是他的全部宝藏。”

Of course， one would hardly expect a shepherd to sway a plough in the ordinary way， but Beattie was quite right to remind us that Edwin didnt either. Edwin was the name of the shepherd-swain. “And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy，” we are told a little further on in a line that should live. Well， having satisfied you that Beattie was really a poet， I can now return to my argument that an eleven-inch Byron cannot stand next to a four-inch Beattie， and be followed by an eight-inch Cowper6， without making the shelf look silly. Yet how can I discard Beattie—Beattie who wrote：

当然，人们一般不会指望一个牧羊人扶犁耕地，好在贝蒂相当明智，他提醒我们埃德温也不会这么做。埃德温是牧羊郎的名字。“然而可怜的埃德温绝非粗笨小伙”，诗人在稍后本应永久流传的一行诗里这样告诉我们。好了，已经向你们证明贝蒂果真是诗人，且容我回归刚才的话题：如果将11英寸高的拜伦放在4英寸高的贝蒂旁，随后再摆上8英寸高的柯珀，整个书架势必显得不伦不类。可我岂能抛弃贝蒂——贝蒂还曾写下——

“And now the downy cheek and deepened voice

“如今毛茸茸的脸颊和浑厚的嗓音

Gave dignity to Edwins blooming prime.”

给风华正茂的埃德温平添了尊严。”

You see the difficulty. If you arrange your books according to their contents you are sure to get an untidy shelf. If you arrange your books according to their size and colour you get an effective wall， but the poetically inclined visitor may lose sight of Beattie altogether. Before， then， we decide what to do about it， we must ask ourselves that very awkward question， “Why do we have books on our shelves at all？” It is a most embarrassing question to answer.

这下你知道困难所在了吧。假如按照书的内容分类整理，书架注定杂乱无章；假如按照书的颜色和大小摆放，书架的陈设当然整齐醒目。但是，喜欢读诗的客人可能遍寻贝蒂而不见。如此说来，在决定就此做点什么之前，我们必须向自己提出那个特别尴尬的问题：“我们到底为什么要把书放在书架上呢？”回答这个问题，会让你无比难堪。

Of course， you think that the proper answer （in your own case） is an indignant protest that you bought them in order to read them， and that you put them on your shelves in order that you could refer to them when necessary. A little reflection will show you what a stupid answer that is. If you only want to read them， why are some of them bound in morocco and half-calf and other expensive coverings？ Why did you buy a first edition when a hundredth edition was so much cheaper？ Why have you got half a dozen copies of The Rubáiyát7？ What is the particular value of this other book that you treasure it so carefully？ Why， the fact that its pages are uncut. If you cut the pages and read it， the value would go.

不消說，你认为合适的答复（根据你自己的情况），是愤愤不平地反驳道，你买书是为了读书，把它们放上书架是为了不时查阅之需。但只要稍加思索，你就会发现这个回答何其荒谬。你若是仅仅为了阅读，那为什么其中一些书是用摩洛哥革、牛犊皮或其他昂贵的皮面装帧呢？你为什么要高价购置首版，而第100版明明便宜得多？为什么你有半打各种版本的《鲁拜集》？你视若珍宝的那本书又有什么特殊的价值呢？唉，为何实际上你连书页都没切边。你一旦切边读起来，其价值也将随之失去。

So， then， your library is not just for reference. You know as well as I do that it furnishes your room; that it furnishes it more effectively than does paint or mahogany or china. Of course， it is nice to have the books there， so that one can refer to them when one wishes. One may be writing an article on sea-bathing， for instance， and have come to the sentence which begins： “In the well-remembered words of Coleridge8， perhaps almost too familiar to be quoted” and then one may have to look them up. On these occasions a library is not only ornamental but useful. But do not let us be ashamed that we find it ornamental.

所以，你的书房不只是为了查阅资料。你我都知道，书籍装饰了你的房间，书籍的装饰效果胜过油漆、桃花心木和瓷器。当然，把书放在那里，便于随时查阅，这本身是件好事。比如，某人在写一篇关于海水浴的文章时，碰到一句话开头写到：“柯勒律治的这段名言我们耳熟能详，因其几乎尽人皆知，以致无需引用”——他大概只得查寻原话啰。此类情形下的书房不仅是装饰，而且实用。但我们不必因为发现它的装饰功能而羞愧。

Indeed， the more I survey it， the more I feel that my library is sufficiently ornamental as it stands. Any reassembling of the books might spoil the colour-scheme. Baedekers Switzerland and Villette are both in red， a colour which is neatly caught up again， after an interlude in blue， by a volume of Browning and Jevons Elementary Logic. We had a woman here only yesterday who said， “How pretty your books look，” and I am inclined to think that that is good enough. There is a careless rapture about them which I should lose if I started to arrange them methodically.

確实，我愈加端详我的书房，便愈觉其装饰气派十足。任何形式的书籍整理，都会破坏现有的色彩搭配。《瑞士旅行指南》和《维莱特》都是红色封皮，中间夹了一本蓝色的书，紧接着又是红色，是布朗宁和杰文斯的《初级逻辑学》。昨天来访的一位女士说：“你的书摆放得好美观呀。”我也情愿认为如此甚好。其中自有一种悠然自得的乐趣。一旦我中规中矩地整理，这种乐趣便不复存在。

But perhaps I might risk this to the extent of getting all their heads the same way up. Yes， on one of these fine days （or wet nights） I shall take my library seriously in hand. There are still one or two books which are the wrong way round. I shall put them the right way round.

不过，我仍有可能冒险行事，至多是将所有的书头尾摆正置于架上。没错，等到哪个晴天（或者某个雨夜），我会认真摆弄自己的书房。眼下仍有一两本书放得不对头。我得把它们放好。

1选自英国作家艾伦·亚历山大·米尔恩（1882—1956）的散文集《无关紧要》（Not That It Matters）  2威廉·卡克斯顿（William Caxton，1422—1491），英国印刷商，翻译家，1476年创办第一家印刷所。

3 （1850—1919），19世纪美国著名作家和诗人。

4 Baedeker源自19世纪德国出版商卡尔·贝德克尔（Karl Baedeker）的姓。他所出版的“贝德克尔旅行指南丛书”囊括欧洲各国，内容丰富，携带方便，不断再版。Baedeker后来变成了“旅行指南”的代名词，并且还扩展到其他领域，表示“入门手册”。  5詹姆斯·贝蒂（James Beattie，1735—1803），苏格兰早期浪漫主义诗人。

6威廉·柯珀（William Cowper，1731—1800），英国诗人。

7《鲁拜集》是波斯著名诗人欧玛尔·海亚姆（Omar Khayyam）的四行诗诗集，在世界范围内享有极其崇高的声誉。  8塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治（Samuel Taylor Coleridge，1772—1834），英国诗人、文评家，英国浪漫主义文学的奠基人之一。