第四册第14篇：我早年是怎样练习写作的

14. Early Efforts at Writing 我早年是怎样练习写作的

All through my boyhood and youth, I was known as an idler; and yet I was always busy on my own private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words; when I sat by the roadside, I would either read, or a pencil and a note-book would be in my hand, to note down the features of the scene or write some poor lines of verse. Thus I lived with words. And what I thus wrote was for no future use; it was written consciously for practice. It was not so much that I wished to be an author (though I wished that too) as that I had vowed¹ that I would learn to write. That was a proficiency² that tempted³ me; and I practiced to acquire it. Description was the principal field of my exercise; for to any one with scenes there is always something worth describing, and town and country are but one continuous subject. But I worked in other ways also; I often accompanied my walks with dramatic dialogues, in which I played many parts; and often exercised myself in writing down conversations from memory.
从我的童年到青年时期，大家一直把我看做一个游手好闲的人，其实我一直在为个人的目标私下忙着，那就是练习写作。我口袋里经常带着两个本本，一本是读的，一本是写的。行走时，我忙于找适当的词句来表达我看到的事物。坐在路旁，我或者看书，或者拿出铅笔和笔记本，记下所见景物的特点，或者写几行不像样的诗句。我就这样生活在词语的天地里。这样写出来的东西并不是要留作将来之用，而是有意识地练习写作。与其说我想做一个作家（虽说也有这种愿望），还不如说我曾经发誓要学会写作。写作对我具有吸引力，我要通过练习来熟练地掌握它。练习的主要范围是描写，因为任何人只要有知觉，总有值得他描写的东西，而城市和乡村不过是可以经常描写的项目之一。不过我也采用其他练习方式。我时常一边走路，一边进行戏剧的对话，在对话中我扮演好几个角色。我也时常练习凭记忆把谈话写下来。

This was all excellent, no doubt. And yet this was not the most efficient part of my training. Good as it was, it only taught me the choice of the essential note and the right word. And regarded as training, it had one grave defect; for it set me no standards of achievement. So there was perhaps more profit, as there was certainly more effort, in my secret labours at home. Whenever I read a book or a passage that particularly pleased me, in which a thing was said or an effect rendered with propriety⁴, in which there was either some conspicuous⁵ force or some happy distinction in the style, I must sit down at once and set myself to ape that quality. I was unsuccessful, and I knew it; and tried again, and was again unsuccessful and always unsuccessful; but at least in these vain bouts⁶ I got some practice in rhythm, in harmony, in construction and the coordination⁷ of parts. I have thus played the sedulous⁸ ape to Hazlitt, to lamb, to Wordsworth, to Defoe, To Hawthorne.
这样练习无疑是很好的，但还不是我的训练中最有成效的部分。它好虽好，但只能教会我怎样选择基本的笔调和恰当的词语。作为训练，它有一个严重的缺点，因为它没有给我规定成功的标准。相比之下，当我在家里悄悄地工作时，也许收益更大，因为我肯定要做出更大的努力。每当我读到特别中意的书籍或段落，其中有某一件事说得恰到好处，收到恰如其分的效果，或者表达得特别有力，或者在风格上有巧妙的特色，我非立即坐下来模仿这些特点不可。当然不成功，我自己明白。再试一次，还是不成功，而且一直不成功。可是在这些失败的尝试中，我至少在韵律、匀称、篇章结构方面得到了练习的机会。我曾经这样依样画葫芦地模仿赫兹里特、兰姆、华兹华斯、笛福和霍桑。

That, like it or not, is the way to learn to write; whether I have profited or not, that is the way. It was so, if we could trace it out, that all men have learned. Perhaps I hear some one cry out: But this is not the way to be original! It is not; nor is there any way but to be born so. Nor yet, if you are born original, is there anything in this training that shall clip the wings of your originality⁹. Burns is the very type of a most original force in letters, he was of all men the most imitative. Shakespeare himself proceeds directly from a school. It is only from a school that we expect to have good writers; it is almost invariably from a school that great writers issue. Nor is there anything here that should astonish the considerate. Before he can tell what cadences¹⁰ he truly prefers, the student should have tried all that are possible; before he can choose a fitting key of words, he should long have practiced the literary scales; and it is only after years of such exercises that he can sit down at last, legions of words swarming¹¹ to his call, dozens of turns of phrase simultaneously¹² bidding for his choice, and he himself knowing what he want to do and (within the narrow limit of a man’s ability) able to do it.
不管你喜欢不喜欢，这就是学习写作的方法。无论我有没有从中获益，这就是方法。其实，追根究底，人人都是这样学会写作的。或许会有人大声反对：这种方法会使人失去独创性！对，但也没有任何方法会给你带来独创性，除非你天生如此。再说，假如你生而有独创性，这种训练方法也不可能剪断你独创性的翅膀。彭斯可以说是文学上最富于独创性的代表人物，他又偏偏是最善于模仿的。莎士比亚本人直接继承了一个流派。只有继承一个流派，我们才能希望产生优秀作家。伟大作家几乎总是出于某一流派。仔细想一想，这并不奇怪。一个学生只有试验过一切可能试验的曲调，才说出他真正喜欢的曲调；只有对文学的音阶作过长期的练习之后，才能选择最合适的词句的琴键；只有在长年的练习之后，他才能最后坐定下来，那时就会有大批词语召之即来，会有数十个有特色的措辞同时等他挑选，他本人也会知道应该做些什么，并且在个人力所能及的范围内是能够做到这一点的。

1 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

2 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

3 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

4 propriety   

n.正当行为；正当；适当

参考例句：

• We hesitated at the propriety of the method.我们对这种办法是否适用拿不定主意。
• The sensitive matter was handled with great propriety.这件机密的事处理得极为适当。

5 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

6 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

8 sedulous   

adj.勤勉的，努力的

参考例句：

• She is as gifted as sedulous.她不但有天赋，而且勤奋。
• The young woman was so sedulous that she received a commendation for her hard work.年轻女性是如此孜孜不倦,她收到了表扬她的辛勤工作。

9 originality   

n.创造力，独创性；新颖

参考例句：

• The name of the game in pop music is originality.流行音乐的本质是独创性。
• He displayed an originality amounting almost to genius.他显示出近乎天才的创造性。

10 cadences   

n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子

参考例句：

• He delivered his words in slow, measured cadences. 他讲话缓慢而抑扬顿挫、把握有度。
• He recognized the Polish cadences in her voice. 他从她的口音中听出了波兰腔。 来自辞典例句

11 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

12 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。