On Sunday I come down later than usual; I make a change of dress, for it is fitting that the day of spiritual rest should lay aside the livery of the laborious week. For me, indeed, there is no labour at any time, but nevertheless does Sunday bring me repose. I share in the common tranquillity; my thought escapes the workaday world more completely than on other days.
It is not easy to see how this house of mine can make to itself a Sunday quiet, for at all times it is well-nigh soundless; yet I find a difference. My housekeeper comes into the room with her Sunday smile; she is happier for the day, and the sight of her happiness gives me pleasure. She speaks, if possible, in a softer voice; she wears a garment which reminds me that there is only the lightest and cleanest housework to be done. She will go to church, morning and evening, and I know that she is better for it. During her absence I sometimes look into rooms which on other days I never enter; it is merely to gladden my eyes with the shining cleanliness, the perfect order I am sure to find in the good woman's domain. But for that spotless and sweet-smelling kitchen, what would it avail me to range my books and hang my pictures? All the tranquillity of my life depends upon the honest care of this woman who lives and works unseen. And I am sure that the money I pay her is the least part of her reward. She is such an old-fashioned person that the mere discharge of what she deems a duty is in itself an end to her, and the work of her hands in itself a satisfaction, a pride.
星期日,我下楼比平常晚了一些。我换了一套衣服,因为在精神的休息日这天,就应该将穿了一周的劳动装束丢到一边。虽然我实际上并没有进行过任何劳作,但无论怎样，星期日还是给我带来了安宁。我分享着这种共有的宁静;与其他日子相比,我的思想在这一天更加彻底地逃离了这个乏味的世界。
我的这所房子如何为它自己创造出一份属于星期日的安静，这一点并不容易看出来,因为它几乎在任何时候都是默默无闻的;但我还是发现了与众不同之处。我的女管家带着星期日特有的微笑走进了房间,这一天她显得格外快乐,我也会因为她的快乐而获得一份好心情。她尽可能以更加轻柔的声音说话;她的穿着告诉我,她今天只须做最轻松、最干净的家务。早晨和傍晚她都要去教堂,我知道她非常虔诚。我有时会在她不在的时候到平时从不进入的房间去看看。其实我只是想体会那种赏心悦目的感觉而已,因为我相信，在这个好女人的管理下,一切都必定是光亮洁净、井井有条的。如果没有那一尘不染、充溢着香气的厨房,我整理书籍、悬挂画作,又有什么用呢?这个女人一直默默无闻地生活、工作着,正是由于她的悉心照料,我的生活才能这般宁静美好。我确信,我所付给她的酬劳,只是她应得酬劳的最少的一部分。她是一个非常守旧的人,履行职责这件事本身就是她的人生目标,而她手中的工作对于她来说就是令她感到满足和自豪的事。
When a child, I was permitted to handle on Sunday certain books which could not be exposed to the more careless usage of common days; volumes finely illustrated, or the moгe handsome editions of familiar authors, or works which, merely by their bulk, demanded special care. Happily, these books were all of the higher rank in literature, and so there came to be established in my mind an association between the day of rest and names which are the greatest in verse and prose. Through my life this habit has remained with me; I have always wished to spend some part of the Sunday quiet with books which, at most times, it is fatally easy to leave aside, one's very knowledge and love of them serving as an excuse for their neglect in favour of print which has the attraction of newness. Homer and Virgil, Milton and Shakespeare; not many Sundays have gone by without my opening one or other of these. Not many Sundays? Nay, that is to exaggerate, as one has the habit of doing. Let me say rather that on many a rest day I have found mind and opportunity for such reading. Nowadays mind and opportunity fail me never. I may take down my Homer or my Shakespeare when I choose, but it is still on Sunday that I feel it most becoming to seek the privilege of their companionship. For these great ones, crowned with immortality, do not respond to him who approaches them as though hurried by temporal care. There befits the garment of solemn leisure, the thought attuned to peace. I open the volume somewhat formally; is it not sacred, if the word have any meaning at all? And, as I read, no interruption can befall me. The note of a linnet, the humming of a bee, these are the sounds about my sanctuary. The page scarce rustles as it turns.
当我还是个孩子的时候,在星期日,我被允许看一些在平常日子里不能随意翻阅的书。那些书或是配有精美的插图,或是著名作家作品的精装本,或仅仅因为是大部头而需要特别保存。幸运的是,这些书的水平都很高,正是因此,在我的心中,休息日与那些诗文中的伟大名字之间建立起了一种联系。我总是会利用星期日的一部分安静时间,来阅读那些大部分时间都被搁置一旁的书籍——我一生中都保持着这个习惯。一个人对这些书籍的了解和爱护，反而成为他平日里因阅读那些有新奇吸引力的出版物而忽视它们的借口。荷马和维吉尔,弥尔顿和莎士比亚一一在已经逝去的那些星期日中,我没有翻看他们之中某一位的作品的日子并不是很多。真的没有很多吗?不,那是言过其实的说法,因为那已经成为了人们的一种习惯。还是这样的说法更合适:我只有在那些休息日里,才有心情和机会来看这些书。现在,我再也不缺少这样的心情和机会了。我可以随时随地从书架上取下我的荷马,或者我的莎士比亚;但仍然只有在星期日,我才感到拥有让它们与我为伴的特权。因为这些不朽的伟大作家，是不会对那些只因一时兴起而匆匆走近他们的人给予回应的;只有在庄严且闲适的氛围中,带着一种宁静的心情,才能阅读他们的作品。我郑重其事地翻开书一一如果神圣这个词确实有意义的话,这难道不是最好的诠释吗?我在阅读的时候，不会受到任何干扰。在我的圣地周围,只有红雀的鸣啭和蜜蜂的低语;甚至连翻动书页,也很少发出沙沙声。
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