Remembrance Of Things Past (Excerpt) Many years had elapsed(时间的消逝时间的消逝)during which nothing of Combray(贡布雷贡布雷-作者笔下的作者笔下的一座小城一座小城),save what was comprised in the theater and the drama of my going to bed there, had any existence for me, when one day in winter, as I came home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first ,and then, for no particular reason ,changed my mind. She sent out for one of those short plump little cakes called “petites madeleines(玛德琳玛德琳蛋糕蛋糕)” which look as though they had been moulded(形成形成) in the fluted scallop(有凹槽的有凹槽的扇贝扇贝) of a pilgrim(朝圣者朝圣者)s shell. And soon ,mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid and the crumbs with it, touched my palate(上腭上腭) a shudder ran though my whole body and I stopped intent upon(下定下定决心要实行决心要实行) the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, but individual, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes(变化变化) of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous(无害的无害的), its brevity illusory-this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence ,Or rather this essence was not in me ,it was myself . I had ceased now to feel mediocre, accidental(次要的次要的) mortal(凡人的凡人的). Whence(从哪里从哪里) could it have come to me ,this all-powerful joy ? I was conscious that it was connected with the taste of tea and cakeBut that it infinitely transcended those savours(味道味道), could not ,indeed, be of the same nature as theirs. Whence did it come? What did it signify? How could I seize upon and define it? I drink a second mouthful, in which I find nothingmore than in the first a third ,which gives me rather less than the second. It is time to stop. The potion is losing the magic. It is plain that the object of my quest, the truth, lies not in the cup but in myself.Undoubtedly what is thus palpitating in the depths of my being must be the image. The visual memory which ,being linked to the taste, has tried to follow it into my conscious mind. And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray( because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Leonie used to give me, dipping it first, in her own cup of real or of lime-flower tea. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it; perhaps because I had so often seen such things in the interval Without tasting them , on the trays in pastry-cooks(糕点师傅糕点师傅) windows, that their image had dissociated itself from those Combray days to take its place among others more recent; perhaps because of those memories , so long abandoned and put out of the mind ,nothing now survived, everything was scattered; the forms of things, including that of the little scallop-shell of pastry, so richly sensual under its severe ,religious folds ,were either obliterated(使被忘却使被忘却) or had beenso long dormant(隐匿的隐匿的) as to have lost the power of expansion which would have allowed them to resume their place in my consciousness.But when from a long distant past nothing subsists(存在存在), after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, still, alone, more fragile, but with more vitality, more unsubstantial, more persistent , more faithfulMadeleine 玛德琳蛋糕玛德琳蛋糕玛德琳蛋糕,又称贝壳蛋糕又称贝壳蛋糕,是法国风味十是法国风味十足且历史悠久的小点心足且历史悠久的小点心.将其推上美食殿堂将其推上美食殿堂的功臣要算是法国大文豪马塞尔普鲁斯特的功臣要算是法国大文豪马塞尔普鲁斯特.因为对它的味觉回忆因为对它的味觉回忆,普鲁斯特写出了长篇普鲁斯特写出了长篇文学巨著追忆似水年华文学巨著追忆似水年华,从而将玛德琳蛋糕从而将玛德琳蛋糕推上了世界舞台推上了世界舞台.Madeleine 玛德琳蛋糕据传据传,贝壳蛋糕又称贝壳蛋糕又称Medeleine Commercy, 原本是法国小镇原本是法国小镇Commercy的的一种家庭风味十足的小点心一种家庭风味十足的小点心.1730年年,美食美食家波兰王雷古成斯基流亡在家波兰王雷古成斯基流亡在Commercy,有有一天一天,他带的私人主厨竟然在快上甜点时他带的私人主厨竟然在快上甜点时,溜掉不见了溜掉不见了,这时有个女仆临时烤了她的拿这时有个女仆临时烤了她的拿手小点心送出去应急手小点心送出去应急,没想到竟然很得雷古没想到竟然很得雷古成斯基的欢心成斯基的欢心,于是就将女仆的名字于是就将女仆的名字Medeleines用在小点心的名字上用在小点心的名字上.Thank you !