文学的意义是什么？：英语精读讲义

We have a general sense that these sort of places are filled with things that are deeply important.

我们通常会觉得，这类地方充满了极其重要的东西。

But what exactly is literature good for? 表達脈絡

但文学到底有什么用？

Why should we spend our time reading novels or poems when out there big things are going on?

外面的世界每天都在发生大事，我们为什么要花时间去读小说或诗歌呢？

Let's have a think about some of the ways that literature benefits us. 短語搭配

让我们来思考一下文学能给我们带来哪些好处。

Of course, it looks like it's wasting time, 語法

当然，读文学作品看起来像是在浪费时间，

but literature is ultimately the greatest time saver

但文学最终却是最能节省时间的东西，

for it gives us access to a range of emotions and events 短語搭配

因为它让我们能够接触到各种各样的情感和事件，

that it would take you years, decades, millennia 語法

而如果要亲身去体验这些，

to try to experience directly.

你可能需要花费数年、数十年甚至数千年的时间。

Literature is the greatest reality simulator, 習語

文学是最伟大的现实模拟器，

a machine that puts you through infinitely more situations 短語動詞

它是台机器，能让你经历无数种

than you could ever directly witness.

你永远无法亲眼见证的处境。

It lets you, safely, that's crucial,

它让你安全地（这很关键）

see what it's like to get divorced 語法

看看离婚是什么感觉，

or kill someone and feel remorseful

或是杀人后感到悔恨，

or chuck in your job and take off to the desert 短語動詞

或是辞去工作逃往沙漠，

or make a terrible mistake while leading your country.

或是在领导国家时犯下大错。

It lets you speed up time 習語

它能让你加速时间，

in order to see the arc of a life 習語

去看透人一生的轨迹，

from childhood to old age.

从童年一直到老年。

It gives you the keys to the palace and to countless bedrooms, 習語

它给了你进入宫殿和无数间卧室的钥匙，

so you can assess your life in relation to that of others. 語法

让你可以在与他人的对比中审视自己的人生。

It introduces you to fascinating people,

它把你介绍给那些迷人的人物：

a Roman general, an 11th century French princess,

一位罗马将军，一位11世纪的法国公主，

a Russian upper-class mother just embarking on an affair. 短語搭配

或是刚开始一段婚外情的俄罗斯上流社会母亲。

It takes you across continents and centuries.

它带你穿越各大洲和几个世纪。

Literature cures you of provincialism 習語

文学治愈了你的狭隘，

and at almost no cost turns us into citizens of the world.

几乎零成本地将我们变成了世界公民。

Literature performs the basic magic of showing us

文学施展了一种基本的魔力，向我们展示

what things look like from someone else's point of view. 短語搭配

从别人的视角看事物是怎样的。

It allows us to consider the consequences of our actions on others

它让我们能够考虑我们的行为对他人造成的后果，

in a way we otherwise wouldn't.

以一种我们平常做不到的方式。

And it shows us examples of kindly, generous, sympathetic people.

它向我们展示了那些善良、慷慨、富有同情心的人的榜样。

Literature typically stands opposed to the dominant value system, 短語搭配

文学通常与主流的价值观背道而驰，

the one that rewards money and power.

即那个奖励金钱和权力的价值体系。

Writers are on the other side.

作家们站在另一边。

They make us sympathetic to ideas and feelings

他们让我们对那些至关重要的

that are of deep importance,

思想和情感产生共鸣，

but that can't afford airtime 習語

但这些思想和情感却无法

in a commercialized, status-conscious

在一个商业化、看重地位

and cynical world.

且愤世嫉俗的世界中获得发声的机会。

We're weirder than we're allowed to admit.

我们比我们敢于承认的要古怪得多。

We often can't say what's really on our minds, 習語

我们常常无法说出自己的真实想法，

but in books we find descriptions of who we genuinely are

但在书中，我们能找到对真实自我

and what events are actually like,

和事件真相的描述，

described with an honesty quite different

其描述的诚实程度，

from what ordinary conversation allows for.

是日常对话完全无法企及的。

In the best books,

在那些最好的书里，

it's as if the writer knows us better than we know ourselves. 語法

仿佛作家比我们自己还要了解我们。

They find the words to describe the fragile, weird, special experiences 短語搭配

他们找到了合适的词语来描述那些脆弱、古怪、特殊的

of our inner lives.

内心体验。

The light on a summer morning,

夏日早晨的阳光，

the anxiety we felt at the gathering,

我们在聚会上感到的焦虑，

the sensations of a first kiss,

初吻的悸动，

the envy when a friend told us of their new business,

当朋友告诉我们他们的新生意时我们产生的嫉妒，

the longing we experienced on the train

我们在火车上经历的渴望，

looking at the profile of another passenger

当看着另一位乘客的侧脸，

we never dared to speak to.

却始终不敢与之搭话时。

Writers open our hearts and minds 習語

作家们敞开了我们的心扉和思想，

and give us maps to our own selves

并给了我们探索自我的地图，

so that we can travel in them more reliably

这样我们就能更踏实地在内心世界游历，

and with less of a feeling of paranoia and persecution.

减少偏执和被迫害的感觉。

As the writer Emerson remarked,

正如作家爱默生所说：

In the works of great writers,

“在伟大作家的作品中，

we find our own neglected thoughts.

我们找到了自己被忽视的思想。”

Literature is a corrective to the superficiality 用詞

文学是对肤浅

and compromises of friendship.

和友谊妥协的一剂纠偏药。

Books are our true friends,

书籍是我们真正的朋友，

always to hand, never too busy, 習語

它们触手可及，从不因为太忙而不理你，

giving us unvarnished accounts of what things are really like. 習語

给我们讲述事物最真实的面貌。

All of our lives, one of our greatest fears

在我们的一生中，最大的恐惧之一

is of failing, of messing up,

就是失败、把事情搞砸，

of becoming, as the tabloids put it, a loser. 表達脈絡

就是像小报上说的那样，成为一个失败者（loser）。

Every day the media takes us into stories of failure.

每天，媒体都在给我们讲述失败的故事。

Interestingly, a lot of literature is also about failure.

有趣的是，许多文学作品也是关于失败的。

In one way or another, a great many novels, plays, poems 短語搭配

大量的小说、戏剧、诗歌都在以各种方式，

are about people who've messed up, 短語動詞

讲述那些把事情搞砸的人，

people who slept with mum by mistake

那些不小心和母亲睡了的人，

or who let down their partner 短語動詞

那些辜负了伴侣的人，

or who died after running up some debts on shopping sprees. 短語動詞

或者是那些在疯狂购物欠下巨债后死去的人。

If the media got to them, they'd make mincemeat out of them. 習語

如果媒体抓住了他们，肯定会把他们批得体无完肤。

But great books don't judge as harshly 語法

但是，伟大的书籍不会像媒体那样

or as one-dimensionally as the media.

做出严苛或单维度的评判。

They evoke pity for the hero

它们唤起我们对主人公的怜悯，

and fear for ourselves

以及对我们自己的恐惧，

based on a new sense of how near we all are 語法

因为我们获得了一种全新的认知：我们所有人离

to destroying our own lives.

毁掉自己的人生有多么近。

But if literature can really do all these things, 語法

但是，如果文学真的能做到所有这些事情，

we might need to treat it a bit differently

我们可能需要用一种不同于现在的方式

to the way we do now.

来对待它。

We tend to treat it as a distraction, 語法

我们倾向于把它看作一种消遣，

an entertainment, something for the beach.

一种娱乐，一种沙滩读物。

But it's far more than that. 短語搭配

但它远不止于此。

It's really therapy in the broad sense.

从广义上讲，它真的是一种疗法。

We should learn to treat it as doctors treat their medicines, 表達脈絡

我们应该学会像医生对待药物那样对待文学，

something we prescribe in response to a range of ailments 短語搭配

把它当作我们为了应对各种病症而开出的处方，

and classify according to the problems

并根据它最适合解决的

it might best be suited to addressing. 短語搭配

各种问题进行分类。

Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others, 表達脈絡

文学之所以享有盛誉，首要的原因在于：

because it's a tool to help us live and die

它是一种工具，能帮助我们带着

with a little bit more wisdom, goodness, and sanity.

多一点智慧、善良和理智去生与死。