赫胥黎：势利种种
? 势 利 种 种
阿尔多斯?赫胥黎
Lesson Thirteen Selected Snobberies
13-1 All men are snobs about something. One is almost tempted to add :
There is nothing about which men cannot feel snobbish.
人人都有势利之处。人们几乎很想加一句：任何东西都可引起人们的势利感。
But this would doubtless be an exaggeration(夸張).
不过这一点无疑会是一种夸张。
There are certain disfiguring(毀容) and mortal(致命) diseases about which
there has probably never been any snobbery.
也许对某些毁容或致命的疾病从来没有使人感到势利，
I cannot imagine, for exameple, that there are any leprosy-snobs.
例如我无法想像会有麻风病势利者。
More picturesque diseases, even when they are dangerous, and less
dangerous diseases, particularly when they are the diseases of the rich,
can be and very frequently are a source of snobbish self-importance.
一些纵使有危险但较为别致的疾病，以及不太危险的病，特别是富人爱得的病，能够并常常是使人感到势利、自以为了不起的根源。
I have met several adolescent consumption-snobs , who thought that it
would be romantic to fade away in the flower of youth , like Keats or
Marie Bashkirtseff. Alas,
我遇见过好几位因患肺结核而有势利感的年轻人，他们觉得很像济慈或玛丽?巴什基尔采夫那样在青春妙龄时死去是很浪漫的一件事。
the final stages of the consumptive fading are generally a good deal less
romantic than these ingenuous young tubercle-snobs seem to imagine .
哎呀，结核病晚期通常远远不像这些天真的年轻结核势利者想像得那么浪漫。
To anyone who has actually witnessed these final stages, the complacent
poeticizings of these adolescents must seem as exasperating (惱怒)as they
are profoundly pathetic（可憐）. In the case of those commoner disease-snobs,
whose claim to distinction is that they suffer from one of the maladies of
the rich, exasperation(惱怒) is not tempered by very much sympathy.
对任何一个亲眼目睹过晚期状态的人，这些少年的自我满足的浪漫诗情必定会显得既令人恼怒又深觉可怜。至于那些较常见疾病的势利者，由于得的是有钱人易得的病而自称与众不同，对他便没有多少同情来减少恼怒了。
People who possess sufficient leisure, sufficient wealth, not to mention
sufficient health, to go travelling from spa to spa. from doctor to
fashionable doctor, in search of cures from problematical diseases (which,
in so far as they exist at all. probably have their source in overeating)
cannot expect us to be .very lavish (慷慨的)in our solicitude an
d pity.
拥有充足的闲暇，充足的财富，更别说充足的健康的人们从一个矿泉疗养地旅行到又一个矿泉疗养地，从一个医生那里到又一个时髦的医生处去寻求对那些很难说是否存在的疾病的治疗（如果真有什么病的话，可能病因是吃得太多了），他们不可能指望我们会对他们慷慨地表示关怀和同情。
13-2 Disease-snobbery is only one out of a great multitude of snobberies,
of which now some, now others take pride of place in general esteem.
因疾病而生之势利仅是众多的势利中的一种，在这众多的势利中，有时有这样或那样的势利在人们心目中独尊其位，
For snobberies ebb and flow ; their empire rises, declines, and falls in
the most approved historical manner.
因为势利也有盛衰消长，他们的帝国也以最为公认的历史方式兴盛、衰落、消亡。
What were good snobberies a hundred years ago are now out of fashion .
一百年以前的好势利感现在已经过时了，
Thus, the snobbery of family is everywhere on the decline .
因此，家庭出身的势利感在各地都在衰落之中，
The snobbery of culture, still strong, has now to wrestle with an
organized and active low-browism(大老粗主義), with a snobbery of ignorance
(無知)and stupidity unique(獨一無二), so far as I know, in the whole of history
…
仍在盛行的文化势利感现在必须和有组织的、活跃的大老粗主义，以及就我所知在整个历史上独一无二的无知愚昧势利力量去拼搏。
Hardly less characteristic of our age is that repulsive(排拆)
booze-snobbery(狂飲) born of American Prohibition.
几乎同样反映了我们时代特征的是那令人厌恶的产生与美国禁酒时期的对狂饮的势利感。
The malefic influences, of this snobbery are rapidly spreading all over
the world.
这种势利的有害影响正迅速扩散到全世界。
Even in France, where the existence of so many varieties of delicious wine
had hitherto（訖今為止） imposed a judicious connoisseurship(鑒賞家) and has led to
the branding of mere drinking as a brutish solecism, (而把喝烈酒視為粗野的行為)even in
France ,the American booze-snobbery, with its odious(可憎的) accompaniments a
taste for hard drinks in general and for cocktails in particular is making
headway among the rich.
即使在法国，由于有这样多不同种类的葡萄美酒，一直使品酒时极有鉴赏力，而把喝烈酒视为粗野的失礼行为；即使在法国，美国的狂饮势利感及其伴随而来的可憎的爱好——通常喜欢喝烈酒，特别是爱喝鸡尾酒——在有钱人中大有进展。
Booze snobbery has now made it socially
permissible, and in some circles
(圈子)even rather creditable(讚賞), for well-brought-up men and (this is the
novelty新鮮的) well-brought up women of all ages, from fifteen to seventy, to
be seen drunk, if not in public, at least in the very much tempered
privacy of a party.
由于这一势利感，有教养的男子和（这一点很新鲜）从15岁到70岁之间的一切年龄的有教养的妇女，如果还不能在大庭广众之下至少在相当公开的社交聚会上在众目睽睽下喝醉酒是为社会允许的，而且在某些圈子里还是相当受赞赏的事。
13-3 Modernity snobbery, though not exclusive to our age , has come to
assume an unprecedented, importance .
新潮势利感虽然不是我们的时代所特有的，却具有了空前的重要性，
The reasons for this are simple and of a strictly economic character.
理由很简单，而且完全是经济上的。
Thanks to modern machinery, production is outrunning consumption.
多亏有了现代化的机器，使生产超过了消费。
Organized waste among consumers is the first condition of our industrial
rosperity(繁榮).
消费者有组织的浪费是我们工业繁荣的首要条件。
The sooner a consumer throws away the object he has bought and buys
another, the better for the producer.
消费者越快扔掉买来的东西再买新的，对生产者就越有利。
At the same time, of course, the producer must do his bit by producing
nothing but the most perishable articles ,
当然，与此同时，生产者必须尽一己之力，只生产最易损坏的东西。
"The man who builds a skyscraper to last more than forty years is, a
traitor to the building trade." The words are those of a great American
contractor.
“把一座摩天大楼建造得可以耐用40年以上的人是建筑行业的叛徒。”这是美国一个大承包商说的话。
Substitute motor-car, boot, suit of clothes, etc., for skyscraper, and one
year; three months, six months, and so on for forty years, and you have
the gospel(信條) of any leader of any modern industry,
如果用汽车、靴子、一套衣服等等来代替摩天大楼，用1年、3个月、6个月等等来代替40年，你得出的就是任何现代工业所有的领导信条。
The modernity-snob(新潮勢力), it is obvious, is this industrialist's(實業家) best
friend.
很明显，新潮势利感是这位实业家最好的朋友，`
For modernity-snobs naturally tend to throw away their old possessions and
buy new ones at a greater rate than those who are notmodernity-snobs.
因为新潮势利者自然会比无此势利感的人更快地抛弃他们所拥有的旧东西并购买新东西。
Therefore it is in the p
roducer's interest to encourage
modernity-snobbery. Which in fact he does do on an enormous scale and to
the tune of millions and millions a year by means of advertising.
因此鼓励新潮势利感是对生产者有利的，而实际上他也是这样做的，以一年成百上千万的金钱大规模进行广告宣传。
The newspapers do their best to help those who help them; and to the flood
of advertisement is added a flood of less directly paid-for propaganda in
favour of modernity-snobbery.
报纸也尽一切力量帮助那些帮助它们的人们，在洪水般的广告之外再加上洪水般的不那么直接花钱去做的有利于新潮势利感的宣传。
The public is taught that up-to-dateness (保持時尚)is one of the first duties
of man.
公众被教育说保持时尚是人类首要的职责之一，
Docile, it accepts the reiterated suggestion.
驯服的公众接受了这个一再被重申的启事。
We are all modernity-snobs now.
现在我们全都成了新潮势利者了。
13-4 Most of us are also art-snobs. There are two varieties of
art-snobbery the platonic and the unplatonic.
我们中多数人也是艺术势利者，这种势利感有两类，一是纯精神的，另一类则与之相反。
Platonic art-snobs merely "take an interest" in art.
纯精神的艺术势利者只是对艺术“感兴趣”，
Unplatonic art-snobs go further and actually buy art.
非精神的则进一步而且真的购买艺术，
Unplatonic art-snobbery is a hybrid or mule ;
这种势利感是一种杂交品种或者说是一头骡子，
for it is simultaneously (同時的)a sub-species of culture-snobbery and of
possession-snobbery.
因为它同时是文化势利感和财产势利感的亚种，
A collection of works of art is a collection of culture symbols, and:
culture-symbols still carry social prestige(聲望). It is also a collection,
of wealth-symbols,
收集艺术作品就是收集文化象征，而文化象征则仍意味着社会声望。它又是财富象征的收集，
for an art collection can represent money more effectively than a whole
fleet of motor-cars.
因为艺术收藏比一整队汽车更能有效地代表金钱。
13-5 The value of art-snobbery, to living artists, is considerable.
艺术势利感对活着的艺术家具有极大的价值。
True most art snobs collect only the works of the dead; for an Old Master
is both.
a safer investment and a holier culture-symbol. than a living master.
的确，多数艺术势利者只收集已故的艺术家的作品，因为古代艺术大师比起活着的大师来既是安全的投资又是较神圣的文化象征。
But some art-snobs are also moder
nity-snobs. There are enough of them,
with the few eccentrics(古怪的人)who like works of art for their own sake(喜愛),
to provide living artists with the means of subsistence.
但某些艺术势利者同时也是新潮势利者，他们这些人再加上少数出于对艺术品本身的喜爱而买画的怪人，足以使活着的艺术家获得必需的生活资料。
13-6 The value of snobbery in general, its humanistic "point", consists in
its power to stimulate activity.
总的来说，势利感的价值，即它与人相关的意义在于它有能刺激行动的能力。
A society with plenty of snobberies is like a dog with plenty of fleas: it
is not likely to become comatose,(昏睡狀態)
一个有许多种势利感的社会就像一只有许多跳蚤的狗，它不太可能变得麻木倦惰。
Every snobbery demands of its, devotees unceasing efforts, a succession of
sacrifices.
每种势利感都要求其信徒作出不懈的努力，一个接一个的牺牲。
The society-snob must be perpetually lion-hunting ;
对社会地位，势利者必须不停地巴结社会名流，
the modernity-snob can never rest from trying to be up-to-date.
新潮势利者永远不可能停止追求时尚，
Swiss doctors and the Best that has been thought or said must be-the daily
and nightly preoccupation of all the snobs respectively of disease and
culture.
疾病或文化势利者各自朝思暮想的必定是瑞士医生或人们被称作是最好的一切。
13-7 If we regard activity as being in itself a good, then we must count
all snobberies as good ; for all provoke activity.
如果我们把行动本身看作是好事，那么我们必须把一切势利感当作好事，因为它们全都能引起行动。
If, with the Buddhists , we regard all activity in this world of illusion
as bad, then we shall condemn all snobberies out of hand.
如果我们和佛教徒一样，认为在这个虚幻的世界上一切行动都是坏事，那么我们就会立即谴责所有的势利感。
Most of us, I suppose, take up our position somewhere between the two
extremes . We regard some activities as good, others as indifferent or
downright bad.
我认为我们多数人所采取的立场是介于这两个极端之间的某个地方，我们把某些行动看作是好的，某些是无关紧要的，或彻底坏的。
Our approval will be given only to such snobberies as excite what we
regard as the better activities ;
我们赞成的只能是那些激起我们认为是较好的行动的势利感，`
the others we shall either tolerate or detest .
其余的我们只能或容忍、或憎恶。`
For example, most professional intellectuals wilt, approve of
cul
ture-snobbery (even while intensely, disliking most individual
culture-snobs ),
例如，多数专业知识分子会赞成文化势利感（即使他们十分讨厌多数文化势利者个人），`
because it compels the philistines to pay at least some slight tribute to
the things of the mind and so helps to make the world less dangerously
unsafe for ideas than it otherwise might have been.
因为这迫使市侩庸人们至少对精神上的东西要稍加赞许，因此有助于使世界比没有这一点赞许时对精神可能少一点危险和不安全。
A manufacturer of motor-cars, on the other hand, will rank the snobbery of
possessions above culture-snobbery;
另一方面，一个汽车制造商会把财产势利感置于文化势利感之上，
he will do his best to persuade people that those who have fewer
possessions, particularly possessions on four wheels, are inferior to
those who
have more possessions.
他会尽其所能使人们相信，占有东西少的人，特别是在四个轮子上的东西，低于占有东西多的人。
And so on . Each hierarchy culminates in its own particular Pope.
依此类推。每一等级的人到头来终有自己具体最崇拜的教皇。
Lesson Thirteen
1. tempt sb.to do sth.(para.1)引诱某人干某事
e.g.The thief tempted the boy to steal.那个小偷唆使男孩偷东西。
该表达形式还可以表示为tempt sb.into doing sth.
2. ingenuous (para.1) 坦率的；天真的；单纯的
注意该词与ingenious的区别。ingenious表示“机灵的，足智多谋的；有独创性的；巧妙的”。
e.g.①an ingenious mind 机灵的头脑
②ingenuous young man 天真的年轻人
3. not to mention / without mentioning (para.1):更不必说
e.g.The boy has not learnt mathematics, not to mention algebra.
这孩子算术还没学会，更谈不上代数了。
4. problematical (para.1)成问题的，未决的
注意：problematical与questionable的区别。虽然二者都可译成“有问题的”，但problem
atical表示存在问题，难以处理，而questionable表示不一定对或真实，有疑问。
5. out of fashion (para.2)不合时尚，过时的［反］in fashion［同］out of date
e.g. Her hairstyle is quite out of fashion.
她的发式完全过时了。
6. creditable (para.2)值得赞扬的，带来荣誉的；可信的
e.g.creditable conduct值得称道的行为
注意该词与credible的区别。credible表示“可信的，可靠的”。
e.g.The news report is hardly credible.
这篇新闻报导令人难以置信。
7. by means of (para.3) 凭借，用(某物，某方法)。
e.g.①Thoughts are express
ed by means of words.
思想凭借语言来表达。
②The burglar entered the house by means of a ladder.
盗贼借助于梯子进了房子。
8. docile (para.3)容易管教的，驯顺的，驯良的
e.g.a docile house驯良的马
注意docile和obedient的区别。docile表示因容易管教而表现出听话，顺从。而obedient表示愿意听从命令，愿意遵守而表现出服从，顺从。
e.g.be obedient to对……服从
9. consist in (para.6)在于，以……为要素，存在于……中［同］lie in
e.g.The beauty of Venice consists in the style of its ancient buildings.
威尼斯之美主要在于它古建筑的风格。
10. out of hand (para.7) 立即
e.g.deal with sth.out of hand 立即处理某事
该词组还有一个主要意思“无法控制，不可收拾”，相当于out of control。
e.g.His wrath got out of hand.他怒不可遏。