最新--河海大学研究生英语一-Unit-19---The-Essayist资料
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Unit 19 The EssayistThe essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest. He is a fellow who thoroughly enjoys his work, just as people who take bird walks enjoy theirs. Each new excursion of the essayist, each new “attempt”, differs from the last and takes him into new country. This delights him. Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays.散文家是一位自我解脱的人，靠一种幼稚的信念支撑着，他总认为自己想到的一切，自己遭遇的一切，是大家都感兴趣的。
他是一个充分欣赏自己工作的人，就像遛鸟的人欣赏他们的工作那样。
散文家的每一次新的游览，每一次新的“尝试”，都和前一次不同，而且总把他带进新的国度里去。
这使他很快慰。
只有生来以自我为中心的人才会厚颜无耻、持之以恒地去写散文。
There are as many kinds of essays as there are human attitudes or poses, as many essay flavors as there are Howard Johnson ice creams. The essayist arises in the morning and, if he has work to do, selects his garb from an unusually extensive wardrobe: he can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter--philosopher, scold, jester, raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil’s advocate, enthusiast. I like the essay, have always liked it, and even as a child was at work, attempting to inflict my young thoughts and experiences on others by putting them on paper. I early broke into print in the pages of St.Nicholas. I tend still to fall back on the essay form ( or lack of form) when an idea strikes me, but I am not fooled about the place of the essay in twentieth-century American letters--it stands a short distance down the line. The essayist, unlike the novelist, the poet, and the playwright, must be content in his self-imposed role of second-class citizen. A writer who has his sights trained on the Nobel Prize or other earthly triumphs had best write a novel, a poem, or a play, and leave the essay to ramble about, content with living a free life and enjoying the satisfactions of a somewhat undisciplined existence. (Dr. Johnson called the essay “an irregular, undigested piece”; this happy practitioner has no wish to quarrel with the good doctor’s characterization.散文种类很多，犹如人的姿态，而散文风格韵味之多则犹如霍华德•约翰逊的冰淇淋。
散文家清晨起来，倘若有工作得做，总从一批特别多样化的服装中挑选出他的外衣来：且不论他是哪一类人，他可以根据自己的心境或是题材披上任何种类的衬衫——哲学家、爱骂人的人、诙谐的人、讲故事的人、知己朋友、学术权威、爱唱反调的人、热心人士。
我爱好散文，一向爱好，孩提时就动手写文章，试图把我年轻的思想与经历写在纸上，强加给别人。
我写的散文最早刊登在《圣尼古拉杂志》上。
当我突然有了一个想法时，我还是倾向于采用散文这种形式（或者可以说是，缺乏任何形式），不过我对于散文在二十世纪美国文坛上的地位并没有上当受骗。
——总的说来，散文地位偏低。
散文家不像小说家、诗人和剧作家，他必须满足于自己强加上身的二等公民的角色。
一个目光瞄准诺贝尔奖或是世上其他荣誉的作家，最好写一篇小说、一首诗或一部戏剧，撇下散文家四下漫游，满足于一种自由自在的生活，享受着一种或多或少散漫生活的种种快事。
（约翰逊博士把散文称为“一篇不合常规的、未经整理的文字”；我这个快乐的散文作者无意就那位好博士关于散文特性的描述进行指责。
）There is one thing the essayist cannot do, though-he cannot indulge himself in deceit or in concealment, for he will be found out in no time. Desmond MacCarthy, in his introductory remarks to the 1928 E.P. Dutton and company edition of Montaigne, observes that Montaigne”had the gift of natural of natural candour.... It is the basic ingredient. And even the essayist’s escape from discipline is only a partial escape: the essay, although a relaxed form, imposes its own disciplines, raises its own problems, and these disciplines and problems soon become apparent and (we all hope) act as a deterrent to anyone wielding a pen merely because he entertains random thoughts or is in a happy or wandering mood.不过有一件事是散文家所不能做的——他不能尽情欺骗或是隐瞒，因为那样一来，他很快就会被别人发觉。
德斯蒙德•麦卡锡在达顿公司一九二八年出版的《蒙田文集》的序言里说，蒙田“具有生性爽朗的天赋......”这是主要的成分。
就连散文家摆脱法则也只是部分摆脱：散文虽然形式松散，却订有自己的法则，提出自己的问题。
这些法则和问题不久就变得很明显，而且（我们全都希望）对任何一个仅仅因为自己浮想联翩或者因为心境快乐或胡思乱想而握起笔管来的人充当一种制约因素。
I think some people find the essay the last resort of the egoist, a much too self-conscious and self-serving form for their taste: they feel that it is presumptuous of a writer to assume that his little excursions or his small observations will interest the reader. There is some justice in their complaint. I have always been aware that I am by nature self-absorbed and egoistical; to write of myself to the extent I have done indicates a too great attention to my own life, not enough to the lives of others. I have worn many shirts, and not all of them have been a good fit. But when I am discouraged or downcast I need only fling open the door of my closet, and there, hidden behind everything else, hangs the mantle of Michel de Montaigne, smelling slightly of camphor.我想有些人认为散文是利己主义者的最后一招，是不合他们口味的一种过于扭捏作态，过于自私自利的形式。
他们觉得一个作家设想他的微不足道的游览或是他的琐细的观察会使读者感觉兴趣，这是十分荒谬的。
他们的抱怨中倒也有相当道理。
我一贯知道，我生性是自顾自和利己的；写我自己写到这样的地步，它表明我对自己的生活过分在意，而不太关心别人的生活。
