文學的意義是什麼？：英語精讀講義

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

我們通常會覺得，這類地方充滿了極其重要的東西。

But what exactly is literature good for? 表達脈絡

但文學到底有什麼用？

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發生大事，我們為什麼要花時間去讀小說或詩歌呢？

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

讓我們來思考一下文學能給我們帶來哪些好處。

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

當然，讀文學作品看起來像是在浪費時間，

but literature is ultimately the greatest time saver

但文學最終卻是最能節省時間的東西，

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

因為它讓我們能夠接觸到各種各樣的情感和事件，

that it would take you years, decades, millennia 文法

而如果要親身去體驗這些，

to try to experience directly.

你可能需要花費數年、數十年甚至數千年的時間。

Literature is the greatest reality simulator, 慣用語

文學是最偉大的現實模擬器，

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

它是台機器，能讓你經歷無數種

than you could ever directly witness.

你永遠無法親眼見證的處境。

It lets you, safely, that's crucial,

它讓你安全地（這很關鍵）

see what it's like to get divorced 文法

看看離婚是什麼感覺，

or kill someone and feel remorseful

或是殺人後感到悔恨，

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

或是辭去工作逃往沙漠，

or make a terrible mistake while leading your country.

或是在領導國家時犯下大錯。

It lets you speed up time 慣用語

它能讓你加速時間，

in order to see the arc of a life 慣用語

去看透人一生的軌跡，

from childhood to old age.

從童年一直到老年。

It gives you the keys to the palace and to countless bedrooms, 慣用語

它給了你進入宮殿和無數間臥室的鑰匙，

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

讓你可以在與他人的對比中審視自己的人生。

It introduces you to fascinating people,

它把你介紹給那些迷人的人物：

a Roman general, an 11th century French princess,

一位羅馬將軍，一位11世紀的法國公主，

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

或是剛開始一段婚外情的俄羅斯上流社會母親。

It takes you across continents and centuries.

它帶你穿越各大洲和幾個世紀。

Literature cures you of provincialism 慣用語

文學治癒了你的狹隘，

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

幾乎零成本地將我們變成了世界公民。

Literature performs the basic magic of showing us

文學施展了一種基本的魔力，向我們展示

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

從別人的視角看事物是怎樣的。

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

它讓我們能夠考慮我們的行為對他人造成的後果，

in a way we otherwise wouldn't.

以一種我們平常做不到的方式。

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

它向我們展示了那些善良、慷慨、富有同情心的人的榜樣。

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

文學通常與主流的價值觀背道而馳，

the one that rewards money and power.

即那個獎勵金錢和權力的價值體系。

Writers are on the other side.

作家們站在另一邊。

They make us sympathetic to ideas and feelings

他們讓我們對那些至關重要的

that are of deep importance,

思想和情感產生共鳴，

but that can't afford airtime 慣用語

但這些思想和情感卻無法

in a commercialized, status-conscious

在一個商業化、看重地位

and cynical world.

且憤世嫉俗的世界中獲得發聲的機會。

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

我們比我們敢於承認的要古怪得多。

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

我們常常無法說出自己的真實想法，

but in books we find descriptions of who we genuinely are

但在書中，我們能找到對真實自我

and what events are actually like,

和事件真相的描述，

described with an honesty quite different

其描述的誠實程度，

from what ordinary conversation allows for.

是日常對話完全無法企及的。

In the best books,

在那些最好的書裡，

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

彷彿作家比我們自己還要了解我們。

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

他們找到了合適的詞語來描述那些脆弱、古怪、特殊的

of our inner lives.

內心體驗。

The light on a summer morning,

夏日早晨的陽光，

the anxiety we felt at the gathering,

我們在聚會上感到的焦慮，

the sensations of a first kiss,

初吻的悸動，

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

當朋友告訴我們他們的新生意時我們產生的嫉妒，

the longing we experienced on the train

我們在火車上經歷的渴望，

looking at the profile of another passenger

當看著另一位乘客的側臉，

we never dared to speak to.

卻始終不敢與之搭話時。

Writers open our hearts and minds 慣用語

作家們敞開了我們的心扉和思想，

and give us maps to our own selves

並給了我們探索自我的地圖，

so that we can travel in them more reliably

這樣我們就能更踏實地在內心世界遊歷，

and with less of a feeling of paranoia and persecution.

減少偏執和被迫害的感覺。

As the writer Emerson remarked,

正如作家愛默生所說：

In the works of great writers,

「在偉大作家的作品中，

we find our own neglected thoughts.

我們找到了自己被忽視的思想。」

Literature is a corrective to the superficiality 用詞

文學是對膚淺

and compromises of friendship.

和友誼妥協的一劑糾偏藥。

Books are our true friends,

書籍是我們真正的朋友，

always to hand, never too busy, 慣用語

它們觸手可及，從不因為太忙而不理你，

giving us unvarnished accounts of what things are really like. 慣用語

給我們講述事物最真實的面貌。

All of our lives, one of our greatest fears

在我們的一生中，最大的恐懼之一

is of failing, of messing up,

就是失敗、把事情搞砸，

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

就是像小報上說的那樣，成為一個失敗者（loser）。

Every day the media takes us into stories of failure.

每天，媒體都在給我們講述失敗的故事。

Interestingly, a lot of literature is also about failure.

有趣的是，許多文學作品也是關於失敗的。

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

大量的小說、戲劇、詩歌都在以各種方式，

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

講述那些把事情搞砸的人，

people who slept with mum by mistake

那些不小心和母親睡了的人，

or who let down their partner 片語動詞

那些辜負了伴侶的人，

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

或者是那些在瘋狂購物欠下巨債後死去的人。

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

如果媒體抓住了他們，肯定會把他們批得體無完膚。

But great books don't judge as harshly 文法

但是，偉大的書籍不會像媒體那樣

or as one-dimensionally as the media.

做出嚴苛或單維度的評判。

They evoke pity for the hero

它們喚起我們對主人公的憐憫，

and fear for ourselves

以及對我們自己的恐懼，

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

因為我們獲得了一種全新的認知：我們所有人離

to destroying our own lives.

毀掉自己的人生有多麼近。

But if literature can really do all these things, 文法

但是，如果文學真的能做到所有這些事情，

we might need to treat it a bit differently

我們可能需要用一種不同於現在的方式

to the way we do now.

來對待它。

We tend to treat it as a distraction, 文法

我們傾向於把它看作一種消遣，

an entertainment, something for the beach.

一種娛樂，一種沙灘讀物。

But it's far more than that. 片語搭配

但它遠不止於此。

It's really therapy in the broad sense.

從廣義上講，它真的是一種療法。

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

我們應該學會像醫生對待藥物那樣對待文學，

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

把它當作我們為了應對各種病症而開出的處方，

and classify according to the problems

並根據它最適合解決的

it might best be suited to addressing. 片語搭配

各種問題進行分類。

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

文學之所以享有盛譽，首要的原因在於：

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

它是一種工具，能幫助我們帶著

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

多一點智慧、善良和理智去生與死。