英语名篇诵读 快乐谷

The Happy Valley

快乐谷

Samuel Johnson(塞缪尔·约翰逊)

What makes the difference between man and all the rest of the animal creation?Every beast

that strays beside me has the same corporeal¹ necessities with myself, he is hungry, and

crops the grass, he is thirsty, and drinks the stream, his thirst and hunger are appeased² , he is

satisfied and sleeps; he rises again and he is hungry, he is again fed and is at rest. I am hungry and

thirsty like him, but when thirst and hunger cease I am not at rest; I am, like him, pained with

want, but am not, like him, satisfied with fullness. The intermediate hours are tedious and

gloomy; I long again to be hungry that I may again quicken my attention. The birds peck the

berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves³ where they sit in seeming happiness on the

branches, and waste their lives in tuning⁴ one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise can call the

lutanist and the singer, but the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary me today, and will grow

yet more wearisome tomorrow. I can discover within me no power of perception which is not

glutted⁵ with its proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man has surely some latent

sense for which this place affords no gratification , or he has some desires distinct from sense

which must be satisfied before he can be happy.

同是上帝创造的人和所有其他的动物，区别在哪里？在我们身边游荡的每一种动物，

都和我们有肉体上的同样需要。动物饿了吃草，渴了饮水。饥渴得到满足就酣然入睡。动

物再次起身，饿了再进食，然后睡觉。我和动物一样，也会有饥渴之求，但吃饱喝足之后

并不会倒头就睡。我和动物一样因需求匮乏而痛苦，但不像动物因需求丰裕而满足。接下

来的几个小时冗长而阴郁；我又开始渴望饥饿，以便能再次增强我的注意力。鸟类啄食浆

果或玉米，然后飞进栖身的树林，立在树枝上似乎很快乐，把生命浪费在一支不变的曲调

上面。我同样可以请个演奏者或歌手，但是昨天使我愉悦的声音，今天使我厌倦，明天会

变得更加令人厌倦。我可以从自身发现，没有一种感受力不是被适度的愉悦充满的，但我

仍觉得不快乐。的确，人具有某种潜在的感觉，知道这个地方不能令人快乐，或者，他有

一些有别于感觉的渴望，必先得到满足，才能获得愉悦。

1 corporeal   

adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的

参考例句：

• The body is the corporeal habitation of the soul.身体为灵魂之有形寓所。
• He is very religious;corporeal world has little interest for him.他虔信宗教，对物质上的享受不感兴趣。

2 appeased   

安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• His hunger could only be appeased by his wife. 他的欲望只有他的妻子能满足。
• They are the more readily appeased. 他们比较容易和解。

3 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

4 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 glutted   

v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满

参考例句：

• The market was glutted with shoddy goods. 次货充斥市场。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The tour of Guilin glutted my eyes. 桂林一游使我大饱眼福。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》