晨讀美文欣賞：The Instinct for the Beautiful愛(ài)美的天性

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A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct of what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed or even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

兒童的世界新奇而美麗，充滿(mǎn)了驚異和興奮。可是，對(duì)我們多數(shù)人來(lái)說(shuō)，還未到成年，這種銳利的目光，這種愛(ài)一切美麗的和令人敬畏的事物的天性，就已經(jīng)變得遲鈍，甚至喪失殆盡。這真是我們的不幸。據(jù)說(shuō)，有一位善心的仙女主持所有兒童的洗禮。假如我能對(duì)她有所影響的話(huà)，我倒想向她提個(gè)要求：請(qǐng)她賦予世間的兒童以新奇感(一種能伴隨他們終身的無(wú)可摧毀的新奇感)，并使它成為萬(wàn)靈的解藥。有了它，他們?cè)谝院蟮臍q月中就會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)陶醉在新奇之中，不致產(chǎn)生厭倦感，不致徒勞地全神貫注于人為的虛假的事物，不致脫離力量的源泉。

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement of mystery of the world we live in. Parents often have a sense of inadequacy when confronted on the hand with eager, sensitive child mind of a child and on the other with a world of complex physical nature, inhabited by a life so various and unfamiliar that it seems hopeless to reduce it to order and knowledge. In a mood of self-defeat, they exclaim, "How can I possibly teach my child about nature - why, I don't even know one bird from another!"

假如一個(gè)兒童沒(méi)有受到仙女的賜予而想要持久地保持他那天生的新奇感，他至少需要有一個(gè)能與他共享新奇感的成年人和他作伴，并且跟他一起不斷去發(fā)現(xiàn)我們所生活的這個(gè)世界中的一切歡樂(lè)、刺激和神秘。做父母的常有力不從心之感。一方面，他們要滿(mǎn)足孩子那感覺(jué)靈敏而又渴望求知的心靈。另一方面，復(fù)雜的物質(zhì)世界卻使他們感到難于應(yīng)付，他們自己對(duì)于這個(gè)世界形形色色的生活都感到生疏，好像未抱有理出頭緒、弄個(gè)明白的愿望。他們自己就泄了氣，喊道：“我哪能教我的孩子認(rèn)識(shí)大自然!啊，我連兩只鳥(niǎo)都分不清哩!”

I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide them, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.

我真誠(chéng)地相信，對(duì)于兒童以及期望引導(dǎo)兒童的父母來(lái)說(shuō)，感覺(jué)力比理解力相對(duì)更為重要。如果將事實(shí)比作是以后會(huì)萌發(fā)知識(shí)和智慧的“種子”的話(huà)，那么，情感激情與感官印象就好比是肥沃的“土壤”，“種子”離開(kāi)它就無(wú)法生長(zhǎng)。童年早期是準(zhǔn)備、培育“土壤”的時(shí)期。一旦喚起了內(nèi)心中的種種情感，如美感、對(duì)新鮮事物和未知事物的興奮感、同情心、惻隱之心、欽慕之情、愛(ài)慕之心，我們繼而就會(huì)希望獲得關(guān)于引起我們產(chǎn)生情感反應(yīng)的事物的知識(shí)。而這種知識(shí)一旦獲得，就會(huì)產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的意義與影響。顯而易見(jiàn)，培養(yǎng)、激發(fā)孩子的求知欲與探究欲，比像飲食似地讓孩子吞咽下他還吸收不了的種種知識(shí)更為重要。

I am sure there is something much deeper, something lasting and significant. Those who dwell, as scientists or laypeople, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the problems or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner satisfaction and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

我確信有某種深刻得多的東西,某種持久而意義深淵的東西。那些生活在地球上的美與神奇的東西之間的科學(xué)家或者準(zhǔn)科學(xué)家,永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)孤單或?qū)ι�活趕到厭倦.無(wú)論他們的個(gè)人生活有什么問(wèn)題或憂(yōu)慮,他們的思想都能夠知道到同往內(nèi)心的滿(mǎn)足和對(duì)生活重燃激情的途徑.那些凝視地球之美的人能找到終生受用的力量?jī)?chǔ)備.在鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)的遷徙中,在潮水的漲落中,在含苞待放的花蕾中,即有距離的美也有象征性的美.在大自然反反復(fù)復(fù)的循環(huán)中,有一種具有無(wú)限的治愈力的東西-黑夜過(guò)后一定是黎明,冬天過(guò)后必然是春天.