L5 Love is a fallacy 1 Charles Lamb as merry and enterprising Showing initiative and willingness to undertake new projects 有事业心的 有进取心的 有魄力的 有胆量的 a fellow as you will meet in a month of Sundays a very long time unfettered 不受约束的To set free or keep free from restrictions or bonds to unchain to unshackle to liberate the informal essay with his memorable Old China and Dream s Children There follows an informal essay that ventures even beyond Lamb s frontier Consider this Metaphor comparing the limitations set by Lamb to a frontier limitations vs limits indeed informal may not be quite the right word to describe this essay limp or flaccid unpleasantly soft it cites instances it reaches a conclusion Could Carlyle do moreCould Ruskin 尽管很难说清这篇文章是属于哪一类 但可以肯定它是一篇散文小品文 它提出了论点 引用了许多例证 并得出了结论 卡菜尔能写得更好吗罗斯金呢 3 Read then the following essay which undertakes attempts担任 to demonstrate that logic far from being a dry pedantic 迂 腐 的 学 究 式 的academic over concerned with correctness discipline 有条理 is a living breathing thing full of beauty passion and trauma 创伤 Consider this Logic is not at all dry learned branch of learning It is like a living human being full of beauty passion and painful emotional shocks Author s Note 这篇文章意在论证逻辑学非但不枯燥乏味而且活泼 清新 富于关感和激情 并给人以启 迪 诸位不妨一读 作者注 4 Cool was I and logical Keen calculating perspicacious acute and astute I was all of these My brain was as powerful as a dynamo precise as a chemist s scales as penetrating as a scalpel And think of it I only eighteen 我这个人头脑冷静 逻辑思维能力强 敏锐 慎重 聪慧 深刻 机智一一这些就是我的特点 我的大脑像发电机一样发达 像化学家的天平一样精确 像手术刀一样锋利 一一你知道吗我才 十八岁呀 It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect Take for example Petey Bellows my roommate at the university Same age same background but dumb as an ox A nice enough fellow you understand but nothing upstairs Emotional type Unstable Impressionable Worst of all a faddist Fads I submit are the very negation of reason To be swept up in every new craze that comes along to surrender oneself to idiocy just because everybody else is doing it this to me is the acme of mindlessness Not however to Petey 年纪这么轻而智力又如此非凡的人并不常有 就拿在明尼苏达大学跟我同住一个房间的皮蒂 伯奇来说吧 他跟我年龄相仿 经历一样 可他笨得像头驴 小伙子长得年轻漂亮 可惜脑子 里却空空如也 他易于激动 情绪反复无常 容易受别人的影响 最糟的是他爱赶时髦 我认为 赶时髦就是最缺乏理智的表现 见到一种新鲜的东西就跟着学 以为别人都在那么干 自己也就 卷进去傻干 这在我看来 简直愚蠢至极 但皮蒂却不以为然 6 One afternoon I found Petey lying on his bed with an expression of such distress on his face that I immediately diagnosed appendicitis Don t move I said Don t take a laxative I ll get a doctor 7 Raccoon he mumbled thickly 8 Raccoon I said pausing in my flight 9 I want a raccoon coat he wailed 10 I perceived that his trouble was not physical but mental Why do you want a raccoon coat 一天下午我看见皮蒂躺在床上 脸上显露出一种痛苦不堪的表情 我立刻断定他是得了阑尾炎 别动 我说 别吃泻药 我就请医生来 浣熊 他咕哝着说 浣熊 我停下来问道 我要一件浣熊皮大衣 他痛苦地哭叫着 我明白了 他不是身体不舒服 而是精神上不太正常 你为什么要浣熊皮大衣 11 I should have known it he cried pounding his temples I should have known they d come back when the Charleston came back Like a fool I spent all my money for textbooks and now I can t get a raccoon coat 我本早该知道 他哭叫着 用拳头捶打着太阳穴 我早该知道查尔斯登舞再度流行时 浣熊皮大衣也会时兴起来的 我真傻 钱都买了课本 可现在不能买浣熊皮大衣了 12 Can you mean I said incredulously that people are actually wearing raccoon coats again 13 All the Big Men on Campus are wearing them Where ve you been 14 In the library I said naming a place not frequented by Big Men on Campus 15 He leaped from the bed and paced the room I ve got to have a raccoon coat he said passionately I ve got to 我带着 怀疑的 眼神问道 你是说人们真的又要穿浣熊皮大衣吗 校园里有身分的人哪个不穿你刚从哪儿来 图书馆 我说了一个有身分的人不常去的地方 他从床上一跃而起 在房间里踱来踱去 我一定要弄到一件浣熊皮大衣 他激动地说 非弄到不可 16 Petey why Look at it rationally Raccoon coats are unsanitary They shed They smell bad They weigh too much They re unsightly They 17 You don t understand he interrupted impatiently It s the thing to do Don t you want to be in the swim 18 No I said truthfully 19 Well I do he declared I d give anything for a raccoon coat Anything 20 My brain that precision instrument slipped intohigh gear Anything I asked looking at him narrowly 21 Anything he affirmed in ringing tones 皮蒂 你怎么啦冷静地想一想吧 浣熊皮大衣不卫生 掉毛 味道难闻 既笨重又不好看 而且 17 你不懂 他不耐烦地打断我的话 这就叫时髦 难道你不想赶时髦吗 Don t you want to be fashion wise chase fads and fashion追逐时尚与潮流 不想 我坦率地回答 好啦 我可想着呢 他肯定地说 只要有浣熊皮大衣 要我什么我都给 什么都行 我的大脑一一这件精密的仪器一一即刻运转起来 high gear 高档位 我仔细地打量着他 问道 什么都行 slipped into began to work very fast 什么都行 他斩钉截铁地说 22 I stroked my chin thoughtfully It so happened that I knew where to get my hands on a raccoon coat My father had had one in his undergraduate days it lay now in a trunk in the attic back home It also happened that Petey had something I wanted He didn t have it exactly but at least he had first rights on it I refer to his girl Polly Espy 我 若有所思地 抚着下巴 好极了 我知道哪儿能弄到浣熊皮大衣 我父亲在大学 读书时就穿 过一件 现在还放在家里顶楼 attic 的箱子里 恰好皮蒂也有我需要的东西 尽管他还没有弄到 手 但至少他有优先权 我说的是他的女朋友波利 埃斯皮 23 I had long coveted Polly Espy Let me emphasize that my desire for this young woman was not emotional in nature She was to be sure a girl who excited the emotions but I was not one to let my heart rule my head I wanted Polly for a sh