I sometimes think I will go and spend the sunny half of a twelvemonth in wandering about the British Isles. There is so much of beauty and interest that I have not seen, and I grudge to close my eyes on this beloved home of ours, leaving any coner of it unvisited. Often I wander in fancy over all the parts I know, and grow restless with desire at familiar names which bring no picture to memory. My array of county guidebooks (they have always been irresistible to me on the stalls) sets me roaming; the only dull pages in them are those that treat of manufacturing towns. Yet I shall never start on that pilgrimage. I am too old, too fixed in habits. I dislike the railway; I dislike hotels. I should grow homesick for my library, my garden, the view from my windows. And then --- I have such a fear of dying anywhere but under my own roof.
我有时会想,我要用一年中那晴朗的六个月去环游不列颠群岛。有那么多美丽和有趣的地方我还没有看到过,在我们这个可爱的家园中,如果遗留下任何一个我未曾去过的角落,我都将难以瞑目。我常常在幻想中去我所知道的那些地方游历;如果看到熟悉的地名,却没有画面可供回忆，我就会感到不安,并且心生渴望。我有许多各县郡的旅游指南(我在书摊上看到它们时，总忍不住要买下来),是它们让我产生漫游之心;在这些书中,只有那些介绍工业城镇的篇章是枯燥乏味的。然而,我是再也不会进行这样的远游了。我年纪大了，习惯了按部就班的生活;我不喜欢坐火车,也不喜欢住旅馆。我会思念我的图书室,我的花园,还有我窗外的风景。另外,我十分害怕会客死异乡。
As a rule, it is better to re-visit only in imagination the places which have greatly charmed us, or which, in the retrospect, seem to have done so. Seem to have charmed us, I say; for the memory we form, after a certain lapse of time, of places where we lingered often bears but a faint resemblance to the impression received at the time; what in truth may have been very moderate enjoyment, or enjoyment greatly disturbed by inner or outer circumstances, shows in the distance as a keen delight, or as deep, still happiness. On the other hand, if memory creates no illusion, and the name of a certain place is associated with one of the golden moments of life, it were rash to hope that another visit would repeat the experience of a bygone day. For it was not merely the sights that one beheld which were the cause of joy and peace; however lovely the spot, however gracious the sky, these things external would not have availed, but for contributory movements of mind and heart and blood, the essentials of the man as then he was.
通常,那些曾经非常吸引我们的地方,或是在回顾往事时似乎曾吸引我们的地方,最好只在想象中重游。我之所以说“似乎曾吸引我们”,是因为我们对那些流连过的地方形成的记忆，经过一段时间之后,与当时所获得的印象已大不相同。那些实际上很普通的乐趣,或是受到内心或外界环境强烈影响的乐趣，经过时间的沉淀,就会显得分外快乐,或是成为一种内心深处的宁静的幸福。另一方面,如果记忆没有创造出幻象,而某地的名字又与生命中的一个黄金时刻有所关联,这很可能使人产生再次去游历的希望，以期重温旧梦。当然，这也是一种轻率的想法。因为一个人所看到的景物，并不是令他感到快乐和安宁的唯一原因。无论景色多么优美，天空多么晴朗,如果这些外在的东西没有通过这个人本质的精神、心灵和血液的活动产生积极作用的话,是毫无用处的。
Whilst I was reading this afternoon my thoughts strayed, and I found myself recalling a hillside in Suffolk, where after a long walk I rested drowsily one midsummer day twenty years ago. A great longing seized me; I was tempted to set off at once, and find again that spot under the high elm trees, where, as I smoked a delicious pipe, I heard about me the crack, crack, crack of broom-pods bursting in the glorious heat of the noontide sun. Had I acted upon the impulse, what chance was there of my enjoying such another hour as that which my memory cherished? No, no; it is not the place that I remember, it is the time of life, the circunstances, the mood, which at that moment fell so happily together. Can I dream that a pipe smoked on that same hillside, under the same glowing sky, would taste as it then did, or bring me the same solace? Would the turf be so soft beneath me? Would the great elm branches temper so delightfully the noontide rays beating upon them? And, when the hour of rest was over, should I spring to my feet as then I did, eager to put forth my strength again? No, no; what I remember is just one moment of my earlier life, linked by accident with that picture of the Suffolk landscape. The place no longer exists; it never existed save for me. For it is the mind which creates the world about us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.
今天下午看书的时候，我走神了,不知不觉地回忆起了萨福克郡的一处山坡。二十年前,盛夏时节里的一天，我在徒步远行后曾在那里懒洋洋地休息过。我产生了一种强烈的渴望,很想立刻就动身,再去寻找高大的榆树下的那个地方。我曾在那里一边愉快地叼着烟斗吸烟，一边听着金雀花荚在正午的烈日下爆裂时发出的噼啪声。如果我在冲动之下贸然行事的话,还有什么机会重温记忆中珍藏的那一时刻呢?不,没有,留在我的记忆之中的并不是那个地方,而是生命中的那一时刻,那个环境,那种心境,以及这一切在那时那地的完美结合。我在同样的山坡上、同样的晴空下所吸的烟斗,也会有那时的滋味,或带给我同样的快慰吗?我身下的草皮还会那样柔软吗?那棵大榆树的树枝还会遮挡住直射其上的正午阳光、带给人阴凉和愉悦吗?还有,休息过后，我还能像当时那样精神百倍地跳起身来吗?不,不会了。我所记得的,只是生命中的那段时光,只不过偶然与萨福克郡的风景画面联系在一起罢了。那个地方再也不存在了;而且,它也只在我的眼中存在过。心灵是我们周身世界的创造者,因此,即使我们并肩站在同一片草地上,我的眼睛也决不会看到你眼中的事物，而那些触动了你心灵的情感也决不会在我的心中激起同样的涟漪。
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