[英国]威廉·科贝特/William Cobbett

　　THE“EDUCATION”CANTERS

　　Burghclere,

　　Monday Morning,31 Oct.，1825

　　But, the“education”canters are the most curious fellows of all. They have seen“graduation”as they call it, and crimes, go on increasing together, till the goal, though of six times their former dimensions, will hardly suffice;and yet, the canting creatures still cry, that crimes arise from want of what they call“education!”they see the FELON better fed and better clad than the HONEST LABOURER.They see this;and yet they continually cry, that the crimes arise from a want of“education!”What can be the cause of this perverseness?It is not perverseness:it is roguery corruption, and tyranny. The tyrant, the unfeeling tyrant, squeezes the labourers for gain's sake;and the corrupt politician and literary or tub rogue, find an excuse for him by pretending, that it is not want of food and clothing, but want of education, that makes the poor, starving wretches thieves and robbers.

　　If the press, if only the press, were to do its duty, or but a tenth part of its duty, this hellish system could not go on. But, it favours the system by ascribing the misery to wrong causes. The causes are these:the tax gatherer presses the landlord;And the farmer the labourer. Here it falls at last;and this class is make so miserable, that a felon's life is better than that of a labourer. Does there want any other cause to produce crimes?But, on these causes, so clear to the eye of reason so plain from experience, the press scarcely ever says a single word;while it keeps bothering our brains about education and morality;and about ignorance and immorality leading to felonies. To be sure, immorality leads to felonies. Who does not know that?But, who is to expect morality in a half-starved man, who is whipped if he do not work, though he has not, for his whole day's food, so much as if and my little boy snapped up in six or seven minutes upon Stoke-Charity down?Aye!But, if the press were to ascribe the increase of crimes to the true causes, it must go further back. It must go to the cause of the taxes. It must go to the debt, the dead-weight, the thundering standing army, the enormous sinecures pensions, and grants;and this would suit but a very small part of a press, which lives and thrives principally by one or the other of these.

　　REFLECTIONS IN AN ENGLISH INN

　　East Everley（Wiltshire）

　　Sunday Evening,27 Aug.1826

　　Everley is but about three miles from Udgarshall, so that we got here in the afternoon of Friday;and, in the evening a very heavy storm came and drove away all flies, and made the air delightful. This is a real Down-country. Here you see miles and miles square without a tree, or hedge, or brush. It is country of greensward. This is the most famous place in all England for coursing. I was here, at this very inn, with a party eighteen years ago;and, the landlord, who is still the same, recognize me as soon as he saw me. There were forty brace of grey-hounds taken out into the field on one of the days, and every brace had one curse, and some of them two. The ground is the finest in the world;from two to three miles for the hare to run to cover, and not a stone nor a bush nor a hillock. It was here proved to me, that the hare is, by far, the swiftest of all English animals;for I saw three hares, in one day run away from the dogs. To give dog and hare a fair trial, there should be but one dog. Then, if that dog got so close as to compel the hare to turn, that would be a proof that the dog ran fastest. When the dog, or dogs, never get near enough to the hare to induce her to turn, she is said, and very justly, to“run away”from them;and, as I saw three hares do this in one day, I conclude, that the hare is the swiftest animal of the two.

　　This inn is one of the nicest, and, in summer, one of the pleasantest, in England;for, I think, that my experience in this way will justify me in speaking thus positively. The house is large, the yard and the stables good, the landlord a farmer also, and, therefore, no cribbing your horses in hay or straw and yourself in eggs and cream. The garden, which adjoins the south side of the house, is large, of good shape, has a terrace on one side lies on the slope, consists of well-disposed clumps of shrubs and flowers, and of short-grass very neatly kept. In the lower part of the garden there are high trees, and, amongst these, the tulip-tree and the live-oak. Beyond the garden is a large clump of lofty sycamores, and, in these a most populous rookery, in which, of all things in the world, I delight. The village, which contains 301 souls, lies to the north of the inn, but adjoining its premises. All the rest, in every direction, is bare down or open arable. I am now sitting at one of the southern windows of this inn, looking across the garden towards the rookery. It is nearly sun-setting;the rooks are skimming and curving over the tops of the trees;while, under the branches, I see a flock of several hundred sheep, coming nibbling their way in from the Down, and going to their fold.

　　Now, what ill-natured devil could bring Old Nic Grimshaw into my head in company with these innocent sheep?Why, the truth is this:nothing is so swift as thought:it runs over a life-time in a moment;and, while I was writing the last sentence of the foregoing paragraph, thought took me up at the time when I used to wear a smock-frock and to carry a wooden bottle like that shepherd's boy;and, in an instant, it hurried me along through my no very short life of adventure, of toil, of peril, of pleasure, of ardent friendship and not less ardent enmity;and after filling me with wonder, that a heart and mind so wrapped up in every thing belonging to the gardens, the field and the woods, should have been condemned to waste themselves away amidst the stench, the noise and the strife of cities, it brought me to the present moment, and sent my mind back to what I have yet to perform about Nicholas Grimshaw and his ditches!

　　My sons set off about three o'clock today, on their way to Heret fordshire, where I intend to join them, when I have had a pretty good ride in this country. There is no pleasure in traveling, except on horseback, or on foot. Carriages take your body from place to place;and, if you merely want to be conveyed, they are very good;but they enable you to see and to know nothing at all of the country.

　　INHERITANCE IN THE PUBLIC CARCASS

　　Heytesbury（Wilts），

　　Thursday,31 Aug.，1826

　　A little further on, however, I came to a very famous inn, called DEPTFORD INN, which is in the parish of Wyty. I stayed at this inn till about four o'clock in the afternoon. I remembered Wyly very well, and thought it a gay place when I was a boy. I remembered a very beautiful garden belonging to a rich farmer and miller. I went to see it;but, alas!Though the statues in the water and on the grass-plat were still remaining, every thing seemed to be in a state of perfect carelessness and neglect. The living of this parish of Wyly was lately owned by DAMPIER（a brother of the judge, who lived at, and I believe had the living of, MEON STOKE in Hampshire.）This fellow, I believe, never saw the parish of Wyly but once, though it must have yielded him a pretty good fleece. It is a Rectory, and the great tithes must be worth, I should think, six or seven hundred pounds a year, at the least.

　　It is a part of our system to have certain families, who have no particular merit;but who are to be maintained, without why or wherefore, at the public expense, in some shape, or under some name, or other, it matters not much what shape or what name. If you look through the old list of pensioners, sinecurists, parsons, and the like, you will find the same names everlastingly recurring. They seem to be sort of creatures that have an inheritance in the public carcass, like the maggots that some people have in their skins. This family of DAMPIER seems to be one of those. What, in God's name, should have made one of these a Bishop and the other a Judge!I never heard of the smallest particle of talent that either of them possessed. This Rector of Wyly was another of them. There was no harm in them that I know of, beyond that of living upon the public;but, where were their merits?They had none.

　　教育论客

　　博格克勒里

　　1825年10月31日 星期一 上午

　　不过，标榜“教育”的论客们是最古怪的了。他们已经看到，他们所说的“毕业”正同犯罪一起日益增长。尽管数量已是先前的六倍，可还是要发展到人满为患才行。然而，那些论客仍在叫喊，说犯罪事件的发生是由于缺乏教育造成的。他们看见罪大恶极之人享受着比诚实劳动者更好的物质生活。虽然他们都明白这些，却还是不停地叫喊，说犯罪事件的发生是因为缺少“教育”。那么，什么因素可诱发这种不正当行为呢？犯罪不是不正当的，它是流氓行为，是一种堕落和暴政。暴君——无情的暴君残酷地压榨他的子民以满足贪欲。而混沌的政客与文痞教氓则谎称不是因为缺衣少食，而是缺乏教育，为自己将穷困潦倒的人变成小偷和强盗找借口。如果新闻界——仅仅是新闻界能尽忠尽责，或者只是尽十分之一之责也好，这种恶劣的社会秩序也不会继续下去。但是，新闻界悲哀地将其归咎为错误的起因：收税人压榨地主，地主压榨农场主，农场主压榨劳动者。最后落得如此下场，而劳动者阶层的生活是如此的悲惨，以至于连重犯都不如。还有其他能导致犯罪的因素吗？但是对于这些因素，尽管在明眼人看来是如此清楚，可是新闻界从不提起；相反不停地叫嚣什么教育与道德，宣扬无知与不道德导致了重大犯罪。的确，不道德会导致犯罪，谁不知道？然而，谁会期待饿得半死的人会有道德？如果他们不工作就会受到鞭打，尽管他们一天的饭食都不及我小儿子在斯多克查勒地土丘六七分钟吃得多。啊！但是，如果新闻界能将犯罪率增加归咎到真正的原因上，那就要从远了说起。原因必须回到税收、国债，重负、数目庞大的常备军、不计其数的闲置职员的退休和补助金上。这些真正的因素也只适合很少的一部分出版单位，而他们就是靠以上其中的某一项得以存在和发展。

　　英国客栈沉思

　　东埃温雷（威尔特郡）

　　1826年8月27日 星期天 夜

　　埃温雷到幼德格霄大约不到三英里，周五下午我们去了那里。那天晚上下了一场很大的暴雨，所有的蚊虫都被赶走了，空气格外怡人。埃温雷是个名副其实的平原村庄。在这里，你放眼望去看不到一棵树木、一片树篱或是灌木丛。村庄到处是茵茵的绿草，而且这里是全英国最有名的赛狗场。18年前，我跟随一行人拜访这里时，就住在这家小客栈；直到现在，客栈仍没有易主，店主一眼就认出了我。在客栈居住期间，有一天，有人在田野上放出了40只猎狗，每条跑道上有一只，有的跑道上有两只。这片场地是世界上最平坦的，从这里到两三英里外野兔的藏身之处，没有石头、树丛，也没有土丘。有一天，我看到三只野兔居然在猎狗的追击下逃脱了。这恰恰向我证明了：就目前来说，野兔是英国最敏捷的动物。为了给狗和兔子一个公平的判定，这里应该是只有一条狗。然后，如果狗追得太紧以至于兔子不得不转向的话，那就证明狗跑得最快。狗或是狗群不能追得很紧而迫使兔子转向时，兔子就可以很公正地被称为“胜利逃脱”。而且，我有一天亲眼目睹三只兔子在猎狗的追赶下成功逃脱，因此我得出结论：兔子比狗跑得更快。

　　这家客栈是英国最好的一家，也是夏季居住最舒适的一家。我想，我的经历一定可以证明我的说法是正确的。客栈的房间很大，院落和马棚也都不错，而店主又是一位农民，因此，马儿可以尽情地享受草物，自己则尽情地享用鸡蛋和奶油。屋子南边是一个花园，很大，修饰也很别致。花园斜坡上有一排房屋，还有灌木丛和花，以及修剪得整齐的矮草。花园低处生长着高大的树木，百合与椰树点缀林间。花园之外有一大片梧桐树林，林中栖息着许多白嘴鸦。这里的一切都让我感到欣喜。客栈的北边紧临一个有着301口人的村庄。其余的地方就是空旷的草地或耕地了。我现在坐在客栈的一扇南窗前，视线越过了花园，眺望着林地。此刻太阳快要下山了，白嘴鸦正在枝头来回跳窜；我看到林间有一群大约有几百只羊正从草地返回羊圈，边走边吃着沿途的草。

　　此刻，面对这些无辜的羊，我的脑海中闪出一个念头：什么恶魔能让我想起尼科·格林肖？然而，事实上，没有什么可以超越思想的速度，它能瞬间飞越整个生命历程。就在我写下上面一段文字最后一句时，思维带我回到过去的一个瞬间。那时，我身穿一件长外套，手里提着一只木瓶，像个牧童。倏地，思绪又催促着我记起了那段并不短暂的生命。那段时光充满了冒险、艰辛、危险、快乐、真挚友谊和浓烈的憎恨。看到如此多的奇妙，我的心智都沉浸在花园、田间和树林的一草一木之中。我们的心智浪费在肮脏、嘈杂和充满冲突的城市里，它们应当受到责难。我又回到现在，我的思绪又回到了我要去完成的任务——对付格林肖和他的诡计。

　　今天大约三点钟，我的儿子们就动身去了赫特福德郡，我在这个村里好好地享受骑马的乐趣后，再赶过去与他们会合。除了骑马或步行，旅游就没有乐趣可言了。马车载着你的身体从一个地方到另一个地方，如果你仅仅是想被搬运，这样的旅游还是很不错的。不过，这样你就失去了观察、了解整个国家的机会。

　　公共寄生虫

　　海特斯堡（威尔茨）

　　1826年8月31日 星期四

　　然而，再往前不远，我来到威利亚区，看到一个非常有名的客栈，名字叫戴普特伏特。我在这家客栈一直待到了下午四点钟。对于威利的记忆还很清晰，小的时候我就觉得它是个乐园。我还记得有一个很漂亮的花园，那是一位富有的农场主、磨坊主的财产。我走上前去看它，唉！尽管水中与草坪上的塑像仍在，但是似乎每一件事物都是一幅被荒废的画面。最近，威利牧区归为达姆匹尔管辖（法官的一个弟弟，住在汉普郡的缅恩·斯托克。我相信他拥有掌管当地职位和收入的权力）。我相信，尽管威利区为这个家伙带来了无数不义之财，但他从来也没到过那里。我有理由认为，这个管区每年的什一税至少是六七百英镑。在我们的制度体系中，有一些家庭，他们没有特别的德行，却毫无缘由地以某种形式、某种名义，或其他什么借口靠公共费用生存。这是我们体制的一部分。如果你去查阅那些领取养老金、挂名领干薪者、牧师等类似者的名单，你就会发现一直都是相同的名字在重复出现。他们就像是公众身上的寄生虫，就像某些人皮肤上生的蛆。达姆匹尔家族似乎就是这样的寄生虫。以上帝的名义，到底是什么原因使这样的一个人成为主教或大法官！我从没有听说过这些人有一点点智慧。

　　词汇笔记

　　corruption[k?'r?p??n]n.腐败，堕落，贪污

　　Their actions reek of corruption.

　　他们的举动显然有贪污之嫌。

　　misery['miz?ri]n.痛苦，悲惨

　　He looked the personification of misery.

　　他那副样子可谓是苦难的化身。

　　hedge[hed?]n.树篱，障碍

　　There is an opening in the hedge.

　　这篱笆上有个洞。

　　ardent['ɑ：d?nt]adj.热心的，激烈的，燃烧般的

　　He is at heart an ardent reformer.

　　他实际上是个极热心的改革者。

　　小试身手

　　不过，标榜“教育”的论客们是最古怪的了。

　　译______________________________

　　那天晚上下了一场很大的暴雨，所有的蚊虫都被赶走了，空气格外怡人。

　　译______________________________

　　除了骑马或步行，旅游就没有乐趣可言了。

　　译______________________________

　　短语家族

　　……that crimes arise from want of what they call“education!”……

　　want of：缺少，缺乏，需要

　　造______________________________

　　While it keeps bothering our brains about education and morality;

　　and about ignorance and immorality leading to felonies.

　　lead to：导致，引起，通向，通往

　　造______________________________