乐观勇敢逆境求生——《鲁滨逊漂流记》简介

文/余洁

乐观勇敢逆境求生
——《鲁滨逊漂流记》简介

文/余洁

责任编辑：李丁文

◆原作节选◆

Part 1

I was born in the year 1632,in the city of York,of a good family,though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen,who settled first at Hull.He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade,lived afterwards at York, fromwhencehehadmarriedmymother,whose relations were named Robinson,a very good family inthatcountry,andfromwhomIwascalled Robinson Kreutznaer；but,by the usual corruption of words in England,we are now called-nay we call ourselves and write our name–Crusoe；and so my companions always called me.

I had two elder brothers,one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders,formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart,and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards.What became of my secondbrother I never knew,any more than my father or mother knew what became of me.

Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade,my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts.My father,who was very ancient,had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free school generally go,and designed me for the law；but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea；and my inclination to this led me so strongly against thewill,nay,thecommandsofmyfather,and againstalltheentreatiesandpersuasionsofmy mother and other friends,that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature,tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.

My father,a wise and grave man,gave me seriousandexcellentcounselagainstwhathe foresaw was my design.He called me one morning into his chamber,where he was confined by the gout,and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject.He asked me what reasons,more than amerewanderinginclination,Ihadforleaving father’s house and my native country,where I might be well introduced,and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry,with a life of ease and pleasure.He told me it was men of desperatefortunesononehand,orofaspiring, superiorfortunesontheother,whowentabroad upon adventures,to rise by enterprise,and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road；that these things were all either too far above me or too far below me;that mine was the middle state,or what might be called the upper station of low life,which he had found,by long experience,was the best state in the world,the most suited to human happiness,not exposed to the miseries and hardships,the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind,and not embarrassedwith the pride,luxury,ambition,and envy of the upper part of mankind.He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing-viz, that this was the state of life which all other people envied;thatkingshavefrequentlylamentedthe miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes,between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this,as the standard of felicity,when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

第1章

1632年，我生在约克市一个上流社会的家庭。我们不是本地人。父亲是德国不来梅市人。他移居英国后，先住在赫尔市，经商发家后就收了生意，最后搬到约克市定居，并在那儿娶了我母亲。母亲娘家姓鲁滨逊，是当地的名门望族，因而给我取名叫鲁滨逊·克罗伊茨内。由于英国人一读“克罗伊茨内”这个德国姓，发音就走样，结果大家就叫我们“克罗索”，以至连我们自己也这么叫，这么写了。所以，我的朋友们都叫我克罗索。

我有两个哥哥。大哥是驻佛兰德的英国步兵团中校。著名的洛克哈特上校曾带领过这支部队。大哥是在敦刻尔克附近与西班牙人作战时阵亡的。至于二哥的下落，我至今一无所知，就像我父母对我后来的境况也全然不知一样。

我是家里的小儿子，父母亲没让我学谋生的手艺，因此从小只是喜欢胡思乱想，一心想出洋远游。当时，我父亲年事已高，但他还是让我受了相当不错的教育。他曾送我去寄宿学校就读，还让我上免费学校接受乡村义务教育，一心一意想要我将来学法律。但我对一切都没有兴趣，只是想航海。我完全不顾父愿，甚至违抗父命，也全然不听母亲的恳求和朋友们的劝阻。我的这种天性，似乎注定了我未来不幸的命运。

我父亲头脑聪明，为人谨慎。他预见到我的意图必然会给我带来不幸，就时常严肃地教导我，并给了我不少有益的忠告。一天早晨，他把我叫进他的卧室。因为，那时他正好痛风病发作，行动不便。他十分恳切地对我规劝了一番。他问我，除了为满足我自己漫游四海的癖好外，究竟有什么理由要离弃父母，背井离乡呢？在家乡，我可以经人引荐，在社会上立身。如果我自己勤奋努力，将来完全可以发家致富，过上安逸快活的日子。他对我说，一般出洋冒险的人，不是穷得身无分文，就是妄想暴富；他们野心勃勃，想以非凡的事业扬名于世。但对我来说，这样做既不值得，也无必要。就我的社会地位而言，正好介于两者之间，即一般所说的中间地位。从他长期的经验判断，这是世界上最好的阶层，这种中间地位也最能使人幸福。他们既不必像下层大众从事艰苦的体力劳动而生活依旧无着，也不会像那些上层人物因骄奢淫逸、野心勃勃和相互倾轧而弄得心力交瘁。他说，我自己可以从下面的事实中认识到，中间地位的生活确实幸福无比；这就是，人人羡慕这种地位，许多帝王都感叹其高贵的出身给他们带来的不幸后果，恨不得自己出生于贫贱与高贵之间的中间阶层。明智的人也证明，中间阶层的人能获得真正的幸福。就像《圣经》中的智者也曾祈祷：“使我既不贫穷，也不富裕。”

Tips for learning:

1.He got a good estate by merchandise,and leaving off his trade,lived afterwards at York,from whence he had married my mother,whose relations were named Robinson,a very good family in that country,and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer。（翻译见原文）

1）leave off意为“停止”，常见的与leave有关的短语包括：leave for动身去……；leave on留住……；leave over剩下；留下。如：Tom and Sam are leaving for next destination the following morning.（第二天早上汤姆和山姆准备动身去下一个目的地。）

2）whose relations were named Robinson是一个由“whose+名词”引导的定语从句，whose是关系代词，指my mother，作定语。如：It’s said that there is a boy whose father is a famous actor in our class.（据说，班上有个男孩的父亲是一位著名的演员。）

2.I had two elder brothers,one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders,formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart,and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards.（翻译见原文）

1）elder是old的比较级，仅用于同一家庭成员的比较。作名词，有“长者；长辈”等意思。作形容词，意为“年长的”。如：I am six years elder than my brother.

2）one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders中，one of whom表示所属关系。在定语从句中表示所属关系，先行词为人时，用“名词／代词／数词＋of＋whom”结构；先行词为物时，用“名词／代词／数词＋of＋which”结构，of前表示部分，of后表示整体。如：There are 20 teachers in this school,five of whom are women teachers./The book contains 50 poems,most of which were written in the 1930’s.

3.I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea.（翻译见原文）

1）satisfied是形容词，意为“感到满意的”，常用搭配有：be satisfied with。With是介词，可接名词、代词或动名词。如：Though he lived in the hotel for the first time,he was satisfied with their service.

2）but除了“但是”之外，还有“除……以外”的意思。

◆内容简介◆

《鲁滨逊漂流记》（Robinson Crusoe）为英国启蒙时期现实主义小说的奠基人、被誉为欧洲“小说之父”“英国小说之父”和“英国报纸之父”的丹尼尔·笛福所著。在其代表作《鲁滨逊漂流记》中，乐观又勇敢的鲁滨逊通过努力，靠智慧和勇气战胜了困难，表现了当时追求冒险、倡导个人奋斗的社会风气。

鲁滨逊·克罗索出生于一个体面的商人家庭，渴望航海，一心想去海外见识一番。他偷偷瞒着父亲出海，到了伦敦，从那购买了一些假珠子、玩具等到非洲做生意。第四次航海时，船在途中遇到风暴触礁，船上同伴全部遇难，唯有鲁滨逊幸存，只身漂流到一个荒无人烟的孤岛上。他用沉船的桅杆做了木筏，一次又一次地把船上的食物、衣服、枪支弹药等运到岸上，并在小山边搭起帐篷，定居下来。接着他用削尖的木桩在帐篷周围围上栅栏，在帐篷后挖洞居住。他用简单的工具制作桌、椅等家具，猎野味为食，饮溪里的淡水，度过了最初遇到的困难。

他开始在岛上种植大麦和稻子，自制木臼、木杵、筛子，加工面粉，烘出了粗糙的面包。他捕捉并驯养野山羊，让其繁殖。还在荒岛的另一端建了乡间别墅和养殖场。即使如此，鲁滨逊也一直没有放弃寻找离开孤岛的机会。他砍倒一棵大树，花了五六个月的时间做成了一只独木舟。但船实在太重，无法拖下海去，他前功尽弃，只好重新另造一只小船。鲁滨逊在岛上独自生活了15年后，一天，他发现岛边海岸上有一个脚印。不久，他又发现人骨和生过火的痕迹，原来外岛的一群野人曾在这里举行过人肉宴。鲁滨逊惊愕万分。此后，他便一直保持警惕，更加留心周围的事物。直到第24年，岛上又来了一群野人，带着准备杀死并吃掉的俘虏。鲁滨逊发现后，救出了其中的一个。因为那一天是星期五，所以鲁滨逊把被救的俘虏取名为“星期五”。此后，星期五成了鲁滨逊忠实的仆人和朋友。接着，鲁滨逊带着星期五救出了一个西班牙人和星期五的父亲。不久，有条英国船在岛附近停泊，船上水手叛乱，把船长等三人抛弃在岛上。鲁滨逊与星期五帮助船长制服了那帮叛乱水手，夺回了船只。他把那帮水手留在岛上，自己带着星期五和船长等离开荒岛回到英国。此时鲁滨逊已离家35年（在岛上住了28年）。他在英国结了婚，生了三个孩子。妻子死后，鲁滨逊又一次出海经商，路经他住过的荒岛，这时留在岛上的水手和西班牙人都已安家，繁衍生息。鲁滨逊又送去一些新的移民，将岛上的土地分给他们，并留给他们各种日用必需品，满意地离开了小岛。

余洁：毕业于中南大学，获管理学学士学位、英语语言文学学士学位和英语语言文学硕士学位。现于武汉大学外国语学院攻读博士学位。