The Instinct for the Beautiful 愛(ài)美的天性

By Rachel Louise Carson

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，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!”