英语经典美文诵读摘抄
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英语经典美文摘抄
Spell of the Rising Moon
月亮升起来
Peter Steinhart
〔美〕皮特·斯坦哈特
There is a hill near my home that I often climb at night. The noise of the city is a far-off murmur. In the hush of dark I share the cheerfulness of crickets and the confidence of owls. But it is the drama of the moonrise that I come to see. For that restores in me a quiet and clarity that the city spends too freely.
有一座小山就座落在家的附近，我常常会在夜间去爬山。到了山上，城市里的嘈杂就会变成远方的低语。在安静的黑夜里，我能够感觉到蟋蟀的欢乐和猫头鹰的自信。不过看月出才是我爬山的目的，重新找回在城市中轻易就迷失的那份宁静与纯真。
From this hill I have watched many moonsrises. Each one had its own mood. There have been broad，confident harvest moons in autumn;shy, misty moons in spring;lonely, winter moons rising into the utter silence of an ink-black sky and smoke-smudged orange moons over the dry fields of summer. Each，like fine music, excited my heart and then calmed my soul.
在小山上，我看过很多次月出。每次月出都是风情万种，不尽相同。秋日里，圆圆的月亮袒露出丰收的自信;春风中，月亮灰蒙蒙地表达着羞涩;冬日里，冰轮般的月亮孤独地悬在漆黑的空中;夏日中，橘黄色的月亮朦朦胧胧地俯瞰着干燥的田野。每一种月亮都似精美的音乐，感动我的心灵，抚慰我的灵魂。
Moon gazing is an ancient art. To prehistoric hunters the moon overhead was as unerring as heartbeat. They knew that every 29 days it becomes full-bellied and brilliant, then sickened and died，and then was reborn. They knew the waxing moon appeared larger and higher overhead after each succeeding sunset. They knew the waning moon rose later each night until it vanished in the sunrise. To have understood the moon's patterns from experience must have been a profound thing.
很久以前，人们就喜欢赏月。远古时代的猎人，对空中月亮的了解如同知晓自己心跳一样，丝毫不差。他们熟悉29天中的每个月亮，月亮会由明亮饱满变得萎缩，直至消失，然后再次复活;他们知道，月盈期间，每经日落，头顶的月亮就会显得更高更大;他们还知道，月亏期间，月出一日更比一日迟，直到有一天太阳升起时仍不见月亮的踪迹。古人能根据经验知道月亮的行踪变化，真是造诣颇深的事情。
But we，who live indoors，have lost contact with the moon. The glare of street lights and the dust of pollution veil the night sky. Though men have walked on the moon，it grows less familiar. Few of us can say when the moon will rise tonight.
但生活在室内的我们，已经失去了和月亮的联系。城市耀眼的街灯、污染的烟尘遮蔽了原本晴朗的夜空。人类虽已在月亮上迈出了第一步，反而对月亮变得更加陌生。没有几人能说得出今晚月亮何时升起。
Still, it tugs at our minds. If we unexpectedly encounter the full moon，huge and yellow over the horizon，we are helpless but to stare back at its commanding presence. And the moon has gifts to bestow upon those who watch.
但无论如何，月亮仍然牵挂着我们的心。如果不经意间看到刚刚升起的、大大的、黄澄澄的满月，谁都会情不自禁地停下来，一睹她高贵的姿容。而月亮也会赐予观看她的人礼物。
I learned about its gifts one July evening in the mountains. My car had mysteriously stalled, and I was stranded and alone. The sun had set, and I was watching what seemed to be the bright-orange glow of a forest fire beyond a ridge to the east. Suddenly, the ridge itself seemed to burst into flame. Then，the rising moon，huge and red and grotesquely mishappen by the dust and sweat of the summer atmosphere, loomed up out of the woods.
在山间七月的一个夜晚，我得到她的礼物。车子莫名其妙地熄了火，我束手无策一个人困在山中。太阳已经落山了，我看到东边山头闪出一团橘红色的光线，好像森林着火一样。刹那间，山头也被火焰吞噬。过了一会儿，月亮突然从密林中探出大大的涨红的脸，夏日空气中弥漫的尘雾与汗气，使月亮显得有些荒谬的变形。
Distorted thus by the hot breath of earth, the moon seemed ill-tempered and imperfect. Dogs at nearby farmhouses barked nervously, as if this strange light had wakened evil spirits in the weeds.
大地灼热的呼吸曲解了它，月亮变得格外暴躁，不再完美。不远处农舍里的狗紧张地乱叫起来，好像这奇怪的光亮唤醒了野草中的魔鬼。
But as the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. It's complexion changed from red， to orange, to gold,to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light ouf of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer.By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon，full chested and round and the color of ivory, the valleys were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured that this was the familiar moon，stopped barking. And all at once I felt a confidence and joy close to laughter.
然而，随着月亮慢慢爬上山头，它聚合了全身的坚定与威严;它的面孔也从红变成了橘黄，又变成金色，最后成为淡淡的黄。月亮不断地上升，下面的丘陵山谷逐渐暗淡朦胧，好像大地的光亮让月亮渐渐吸走了似的。待到皓月当空，圆圆的月亮洒下象牙般乳白的清辉，下面的山谷在这样的风景里，形成了一片片幽深的阴影。这时，那些乱叫的狗才打消了疑虑—原来那团光是它们熟悉的月亮—停止了吠叫。在那一刻，我忽然也觉得信心十足，心情欢畅，禁不住笑了起来。
The drama took an hour. A Moonrise is slow and serried with subtleties. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time. To watch the moon move inexorably higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distances of space, the immensity of the earth and huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.
整整一个小时，我都沉浸在这奇美的景观里。月出是缓缓的，而又充满惊喜的。想要欣赏月出，我们得退回到过去的时代，带着一种对时间有耐心的心态去欣赏。看着月亮毫无顾忌地不断攀升能使我们找到内心少有的宁静。我们的想象力能让我们感到宇宙的广阔和大地的无限，忘却自己的存在，感觉自我的渺小，却又深感自己的独特。
Moonlight shows us none of life's harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery, the oceans still and blue in its light.In moonlight we become less calculating，more drawn to our feelings.
月光从不向我们展示生活的艰辛。山坡好像让银色月光披上了柔和的轻纱。在月光的照耀下，海水显得碧蓝而静谧。沉浸在月光中，我们不再像白天那般精于算计，而是交融在自然的情感之中。
And odd things happen in such moments. On that July night,I watched the moon for an hour or two, and then got back into the car, turned the key in the ignition and heard the engine start,just as mysteriously as it had stalled a few hours earlier. I drove down from the mountains with the moon on my shoulder and peace in my heart.
正当我陶醉于月色之美时，奇妙的事情发生了。就是在七月的那个夜晚，我看了一两个小时的月景后，当我回到车里，再次转动钥匙发动汽车时，发动机出人意料地响了起来，和几个小时前熄火时一样蹊跷而神秘。我开着车沿着山路回家，月光洒在肩上，心中满是平静。
I return often to the rising moon. I am drawn especially when events crowd ease and clarity of vision into a small corner of my life. This happens often in the fall. Then I go to my hill and await the hunter's moon, enormous and gold over the horizon，filling，the night with vision.
从那以后，我常常会到山上看月出。当麻烦不断，尤其是在秋季感到身心疲惫、头晕眼花时，我就会爬上那座小山。我等着猎人之月的出现，等着金色丰盈的月亮俯照大地，给黑夜带来光明。
An owl swoops from the ridge top, noiseless but bright as flame. A cricket shrills in the grass. I think of poets and musicians.Of Beethoven's“Moonlight Sonata“and of Shakespeare，whose Lorenzo declaims in The Merchant of Venice，”How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! /Here will we sit and let the sounds of music/Creep in our ears." I wonder if their verse and music, like the music of crickets, are in some way voices of the moon. With such thoughts, my citified confusions melt into the quiet of the night.
一只猫头鹰静悄悄从山头俯冲而下，却在月色下如火光闪过。一只蟋蟀在草丛中尖声歌唱。我不由想起了诗人和音乐家，想起了贝多芬的《月光奏鸣曲》和莎士比亚笔下的《威尼斯商人》。如同《威尼斯商人》中洛伦左的话:“月光沉睡在这岸边多么迷人!/我们要坐在这里让音乐之声/潜入我们的耳内。”我不清楚他们的诗篇与音乐是否与蟋蟀的歌声相似，是否可以在某种程度上算作是月的声音。想到这些，城市生活带给我的混乱心绪，便在夜的宁静中消失了。
Lovers and poets find deeper meaning at night. We are all apt to pose deeper questions-about our origins and destinies. We indulge in riddles, rather than in the impersonal geometries that govern the daylight world. We become philosophers and mystics.
恋人和诗人在夜里能寻找到更深奥的生活意义。其实我们都爱问一些深奥的问题—关于我们的祖先，我们的命运。我们只想纵容这些永远找不到答案的谜团，而不喜欢那些主导着白天世界的没有情感的几何教科书。在夜里，我们都懂得了哲理和神秘。
At moonrise, as we slow our minds to the pace of the heavens, enchantment steals over us. We open the vents of feeling and exercise parts of our minds that reason locks away by day. We hear, across the distances, murmurs of ancient hunters and see a new the visions of poets and lovers of long ago.
当月亮升起之时，我们放缓思想，让它追随天堂的脚步。不经意间，一种魔力就会遍布全身。我们会敞开情感之门，让白天被理智束缚的那部分思绪自由奔涌。我们能跨越遥远的时空，听见远古猎人的细语，看到久远时代恋人与诗人眼中的世界。
英语经典美文鉴赏
Nature
自然
Ralph Waldo Emerson
[美]拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生
To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst 1 read and write,though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds,will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man，in the heavenly bodies，the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years，how would men believe and adore;and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
一个想要追求孤独的人，不但要离开自己的卧室，还要离开社会。在我阅读和写作之时，尽管无人相伴，可我没有觉得孤独。然而，假如有谁用尽心思追求孤独，那就让他抬头凝望星空吧。那来自天国的光芒，能在他和他生活的天地之间分出一条界限。你也许会认为，如此的构想简直太棒了:空旷辽阔的大地之上，人们抬头仰视星空，仿佛从中领悟到某种崇高的永恒。从城市的街道看过去，那种场面的确令人恭敬!假设天上的星星一千年才出现一次，可想而知他们会对这上苍的显圣该是何等的崇敬，又该是如何仔细地将它收藏进记忆里好流芳百世啊!只可惜，这些美的使者夜夜都会带着劝诫式的微笑降临，将光辉普照整个宇宙。
The stars awaken a certain reverence，because though always present, they are inaccessible;but all natural objects make a kindred impression，when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit.The flowers，the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood. When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter,from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning，is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field，Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man，but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth，becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, he is my creature，and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece.
星星使我们产生敬畏之心，不是因为它常常高悬于空中，而是因为它的可望而不可即。然而，只要拥有一颗包容的心，你就会发现世间万物和人类其实都是心灵相通的。自然从不把它吝啬的一面显露出来，顶尖聪明之人也不会强求打开它全部的奥秘，而会保留好奇之心去探寻它所有的完美之处。在智者看来，自然永远不会是一个玩物。鲜花、动物、山脉—折射出他们的纯真童年—也是他最高智慈的体现。当我们以这种方式来谈论自然时，头脑中自然会产生一种清晰而又极富诗意的画面，这种画面是世间万物在我们的印象中留下印迹的总和。也正是在这种印象的指引下，才会有伐木工手中的是木头，而诗人笔下却是大树的区别。今天早上我所看到的那一片令人陶醉的景色，毫无疑问它是由二三十个农场组成的。米勒占有这一块土地，洛克是那一片田野的主人，树林外面的那一片则归曼宁所有……可是，他们谁都不能拥有这片风景。远处有一块土地，谁也不能将其划在自己的名下，唯有那个又能看见土地又看得见风景的人，才是它真正的主人，而诗人正符合这样的要求。这个地方是农场主所有财产中最值钱的一部分，但按照他们的担保契约却并不是这样。坦诚讲，现在没有多少成年人能真正看得见自然了。大多数人都不看太阳，至少，只是肤浅地看。对成人而言，太阳只照亮了他们的眼睛，对孩子来说，太阳却照进了他们的眼睛与心灵。一个自然爱好者，他外在的知觉和内心的感触是相互和谐的，甚至在他成年以后，依然拥有一颗童心。在他看来，与天地的接触，是日常生活中不可分割的一部分，只要身处大自然中，不管生活中遭遇多大的悲痛，但内心总会产生巨大的快乐。大自然说，他是我的杰作，不管他有多少没有缘由的悲伤，他都会同我一起快乐。自然赋予给我们不仅仅是阳光、夏日、四季的变换，她每时每刻都在给予我们快乐与欣喜。这是因为，每一刻、每一个变化，不管是压抑的中午还是黑暗的午夜，都意味着一种别样的心情。在自然的舞台上，不仅能上演喜剧，也能烘托悲剧。
英语经典美文赏析
On Tea and Friendship
茶和交友
Lin Yutang
林语堂
I do not think that，considered from the point of view of human culture and happiness，there have been more significant inventions in the history of mankind，more vitally important and more directly contributing to our enjoyment of leisure, friendship,sociability and conversation，than the inventions of smoking，drinking and tea. All three have several characteristics in common:first of all，that they contribute toward our sociability; secondly,that they do not fill our stomach as food does, and therefore can be enjoyed between meals;and thirdly, that they are all to be enjoyed through the nostrils by acting on our sense of smell. So great are their influences upon culture that we have smoking cars besides dining cars，and we have wine restaurants or taverns and tea houses. In China and England at least, drinking tea has become a social institution.
我以为从人类文化和快乐的观点论起来，人类历史中的杰出新发明，其能直接有力地有助于我们的享受空闲、友谊、社交和谈天者，莫过于吸烟、饮酒、饮茶的发明。这三件事有几样共同的特质:第一，它们有助于我们的社交;第二，这几件东西不至于一吃就饱，可以在吃饭的中间随时吸饮;第三。都是可以藉嗅觉去享受的东西。它们对于文化的影响极大，所以餐车之外另有吸烟车，饭店之外另有酒店和茶馆，至少在中国和英国，饮茶已经成为社交上一种不可少的制度。
The proper enjoyment of tobacco, drink and tea can only be developed in an atmosphere of leisure, friendship and sociability.For it is only with men gifted with the sense of comradeship，extremely select in the matter of forming friends and endowed with a natural love of the leisurely life, that the full enjoyment of tobacco and drink and tea becomes possible. Take away the element of sociability, and these things have no meaning. The enjoyment of these things，like the enjoyment of the moon，the snow and the flowers, must take place in proper company, for this I regard as the thing that the Chinese artists of life most frequently insist upon: that certain kinds of flowers must be enjoyed with certain types of persons, certain kinds of scenery must be associated with certain kinds of ladies, that the sound of raindrops must be enjoyed, if it is to be enjoyed fully, when lying on a bamboo bed in a temple deep in the mountains on a summer day; that, in short, the mood is the thing，that there is a proper mood for everything, and that wrong company may spoil the mood entirely. Hence the beginning of any artist of life is that he or anyone who wishes to learn to enjoy life must, as the absolutely necessary condition, find friends of the same type of temperament, and take as much trouble to gain and keep their friendship as wives take to keep their husbands，or as a good chess player takes a journey of a thousand miles to meet a fellow chess player.
烟酒茶的适当享受，只能在空闲、友谊和乐于招待之中发展出来。因为只有富于交友心，择友极慎，天然喜爱闲适生活的人士，方有圆满享受烟酒茶的机会。如将乐于招待心除去，这三种东西便成毫无意义。享受这三件东西，也如享受雪月花草一般，须有适当的同伴。中国的生活艺术家最注意此点，例如:看花须和某种人为伴，赏景须有某种女子为伴，听雨最好须在夏日山中寺院内躺在竹榻上。总括起来说，赏玩一样东西时，最紧要的是心境。我们对每一种事物，各有一种不同的心境。不适当的同伴，常会败坏心境。所以生活艺术家的出发点就是:他如更想要享受人生，则第一个必要条件即是和性情相投的人交朋友，须尽力维持这友谊，如妻子要维持其丈夫的爱情一般，或如一个下棋名手宁愿跑一千里的长途去会见一个同志一般。
The atmosphere，therefore, is the thing. One must begin with the proper conception of the scholar's studio and the general environment in which life is going to be enjoyed. First of all，there are the friends with whom we are going to share this enjoyment.Different types of friends must be selected for different types of enjoyment. It would be as great a mistake to go horseback riding with a studious and pensive friend，as it would be to go to a concert with a person who doesn't understand music. Hence as a Chinese writer expresses it:
所以气氛是重要的东西。我们必须先对文士的书室的布呈，和它的一般的环境有了相当的认识，方能了解他怎样在享受生活。第一，他们必须有共同享受这种生活的朋友，不同的享受须有不同的朋友。和一个勤学而含愁思的朋友共去骑马，即属引非其类，正如和一个不懂音乐的人去欣赏一次音乐表演一般。因此，某中国作家曾说过:
For enjoying flowers, one must secure big-hearted friends For going to sing-song houses to have a look at sing-song girls，one must secure temperate friends. For going up a high mountain，one must secure romantic friends. For boating, one must secure friends with an expansive nature. For facing the moon，one must secure friends with a cool philosophy. For anticipating snow, one must secure beautiful friends. For a wine party, one must secure friends with flavor and charm.
赏花须结豪友，观枝须结淡友，登山须结逸友，泛舟须结旷友，对月须结冷友，捉酒须结韵友。
Having selected and formed friends for the proper enjoyment of different occasions, one then looks for the proper surroundings. It is not so important that one's house be richly decorated as that it should be situated in beautiful country, with the possibility of walking about on the rice fields, or lying down under shady trees on a river bank. The requirements for the house itself are simple enough. One can "have a house with several rooms, grain fields of several mow, a pool made from a basin and windows made from broken jars, with the walls coming up to the shoulders and a room the size of a rice bushel, and in the leisure time after enjoying the warmth of cotton beddings and a meal of vegetable soup, one can become so great that his spirit expands and fills the entire universe. For such a quiet studio, one should have wut'ung trees in front and some green bamboos behind. On the south of the house, the eaves will stretch boldly forward, while on the north side, there will be small windows, which can be closed in spring and winter to shelter one from rain and wind，and opened in summer and autumn for ventilation. The beauty of the wut'ung tree is that all its leaves fall off in spring and winter, thus admitting us to the full enjoyment of the sun's warmth, while in summer and autumn its shade protects us from the scorching heat”Or as another writer expressed it,one should "build a house of several beams, grow a hedge of chin trees and cover a pavilion with a hay-thatch. Three mow of land will be devoted to planting bamboos and flowers and fruit trees，while two mow will be devoted to planting vegetables. The four walls of a room are bare and the room is empty, with the exception of two or three rough beds placed in the pavilion.A peasant boy will be kept to water the vegetables and clear the weeds. So then one may arm one's self with books and a sword against solitude, and provide a chin (a stringed instrument) and chess to anticipate the coming of good friends.”
他对各种享受已选定了不同的适当游伴之后，还须去找寻适当的环境。所住的房屋，布里不必一定讲究，地点也不限于风景优美的乡间，不必一定需一片稻田方足供他的散步，也不必一定有曲折的小溪以供他在溪边的树下小憩。他所需的房屋极其简单，只需:“有屋数间，有田数亩，用盆为池，以瓮为牌，墙高于肩，室大于斗，布被暖余，攀龚饱后，气吐胸中，充塞宇宙。凡静室，须前栽碧梧，后种翠竹。前檐放步，北用暗窗，春冬闭之，以避风雨，夏秋可开，以通凉爽。然碧梧之趣，春冬落叶，以舒负喧融和之乐，夏秋交荫，以蔽炎烁蒸烈之威。”或如另一位作家所说，一个人可以“筑室数楹，编模为篱，结茅为亭。以三亩荫竹树栽花果，二亩种蔬菜。四壁清旷，空诸所有。蓄山童灌园雄草，置二三胡床着亭下。挟书剑，伴孤寂，携琴奕，以迟良友。”
An atmosphere of familiarity will then invest the place.
到处充满着亲热的空气。
"In my studio, all formalities will be abolished，and only the most intimate friends will be admitted. They will be treated with rich or poor fare such as I eat, and we will chat and laugh and forget our own existence. We will not discuss the right and wrong of other people and will be totally indifferent to worldly glory and wealth. In our leisure we will discuss the ancients and the moderns, and in our quiet, we will play with the mountains and rivers. Then we will have thin，clear tea and good wine to fit into the atmosphere of delightful seclusion. That is my conception of the pleasure of friendship.”
吾斋之中，不尚虚礼。凡入此斋，均为知己。随分款留，忘形笑语。不言是非，不侈荣利。闲谈古今，静玩山水。清茶好酒，以适幽趣。臭味之交，如斯而已。
"In such a congenial atmosphere, we are then ready to gratify our senses, the senses of color and smell and sound. It is then that one should smoke and one should drink. We then transform our bodies into a sensory apparatus for perceiving the wonderful symphony of colors and sounds and smells and tastes provided by Nature and by culture. We feel like good violins about to be played on by master violinists. And thus "we burn incense on a moonlight night and play three stanzas of music from an ancient instrument, and immediately the myriad worries of our breast are banished and all our foolish ambitions or desires are forgotten. We will then inquire, what is the fragance of this incense, what is the color of the smoke, what is that shadow that comes through the white papered windows, what is this sound that arises from below my fingertips, what is this enjoyment which makes us so quietly happy and so forgetful of everything else, and what is the condition of the infinite universe?"
在这种同类相引的气氛中，我们方能满足色香声的享受，吸烟饮酒也在这个时候最为相宜。我们的全身便于这时变成一种盛受器械，能充分去享受大自然和文化所供给我们的色声香味。我们好像已变为一把优美的小提琴，正待由一位大音乐家来拉奏名曲了。于是我们“月夜焚香，古桐三弄，便觉万虑都忘，妄想尽绝。试看香是何味，烟是何色，穿窗之白，是何影，指下之余是何音，恬然乐之，而悠然忘之者，是何趣，不可思量处是何境?”
Thus chastened in spirit, quiet in mind and surrounded by proper company, one is fit to enjoy tea. For tea is invented for quiet company as wine is invented for a noisy party. There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life. It would be as disastrous to drink tea with babies crying around，or with loud-voiced women or politics-talking men, as to pick tea on a rainy or a cloudy day. Picked at early dawn on a clear day, when the morning air on mountain top was clear and thin，and the fragrance of dews was still upon the leaves, tea is still associated with the fragrance and refinement of the magic dew in its enjoyment. With the Taoist insistence upon return to nature, and with its conception that the universe is kept alive by the interplay of the male and female forces, the dew actually stands for the "juice of heaven and earth" when the two principles are united at night, and the idea is current that the dew is a magic food, fine and clear and ethereal, and any man or beast who drinks enough of it stands a good chance of being immortal. De Quincey says quite correctly that tea "will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual，” but the Chinese seem to go further and associate it with the high-minded recluse.
一个人在这种神清气爽、心气平静、知己满前的境地中，方真能领略到茶的滋味。因为茶须静品，而酒则须热闹。茶之为物，性能引导我们进入一个默想人生的世界。饮茶之时而有儿童在旁哭闹，或粗蠢妇人在旁大声说话，或自命通人者在旁高谈国是，即十分败兴，也正如在雨天或阴天去采茶一般的糟糕。因为采茶必须天气清明的清早，当山上的空气极为清新，露水的芬芳尚留于叶上时，所采的茶叶方称上品。照中国人说起来，露水实在具有芬芳和神秘的功用，和茶的优劣很有关系。照道家的返自然和宇宙之能生存全恃阴阳二气交融的说法，露水实在是天地在夜间和融后的精英。至今尚有人相信露水为清鲜神秘的琼浆，多饮即能致人兽长生。特昆雪所说的话很对，他说:“茶永远是聪慧的人们的饮料。”但中国人则更进一步，而视它为风雅隐士的珍品。
Tea is then symbolic of earthly purity, requiring the most fastidious cleanliness in its preparation，from picking，frying and preserving to its final infusion and drinking, easily upset or spoiled by the slightest contamination of oily hands or oily cups.Consequently, its enjoyment is appropriate in an atmosphere where all ostentation or suggestion of luxury is banished from one's eyes and one's thoughts. After all，one enjoys sing-song girls with wine and not with tea，and when sing-song girls are fit to drink tea with，they are already in the class that Chinese poets and scholars favor. Su Tungp'o once compared tea to a sweet maiden，but a later critic, T' ten Yiheng，author of Chuch’u an Hsiaop’in (Essay On Boiling Spring Water)immediately qualified it by adding that tea could be compared, if it must be compared to women at all, only to the Fairy Maku，and that, "as for beauties with peach-colored faces and willow waists, they should be shut up in curtained beds，and not be allowed to contaminate the rocks and springs.”For the same author says, "One drinks tea to forget the world's noise;it is not for those who eat rich food and dress in silk pyjamas."
因此，茶是凡间纯洁的象征，在采制烹煮的手续中，都须十分清洁。采摘烘焙，烹煮取饮之时，手上或土壶中略有油腻不洁，便会使它丧失美味。所以也只有在眼前和心中毫无富丽繁华的景象和念头时，方能真正地享受它。和妓女作乐时，当然用酒而不用茶。但一个妓女如有了品茶的资格，则她便可以跻于诗人文士所欢迎的妙人儿之列了。苏东坡曾以美女喻茶，但后来，另一个持论家，‘.煮泉小品”的作者田艺恒即补充说，如果定要以茶去拟女人，则唯有麻姑仙子可做比拟。至于“必若桃脸柳腰，宜巫屏之销金慢中，无俗我泉石。”又说:“吸茶 忘喧，谓非裔梁纹绮可语。”
It must be remembered that, according to Ch'alu，"the essence of the enjoyment of tea lies in .appreciation of its color,fragrance and flavor，and the principles of preparation are refinement, dryness and cleanliness." An element of quiet is therefore necessary for the appreciation of these qualities, an appreciation that comes from a man who can "look at a hot world with a cool head." Since the Sung Dynasty, connoisseurs have generally regarded a cup of pale tea as the best, and the delicate flavor of pale tea can easily pass unperceived by one occupied with busy thoughts，or when the neighborhood is noisy, or servants are quarreling，or when served by ugly maids. The company, too, must be small. For, "it is important in drinking tea that the guests be few. Many guests would make it noisy, and noisiness takes away from its cultured charm. To drink alone is called secluded;to drink between two is called comfortable;to drink with three or four is called charming, to drink with five or six is called common;and to drink with seven or eight is called [contemptuously]philanthropic." As the author of Ch'asu said,"to pour tea around again and again from a big pot, and drink it up at a gulp, or to warm it up again after a while, or to ask for extremely strong taste would be like farmers or artisans who drink tea to fill their belly after hard work;it would then be impossible to speak of the distinction and appreciation of flavors.”
据(茶录》所说:“其旨归于色香味，其道归于精燥洁。”所以如果要体味这些质素，静默是一个必要的条件;也只有“以一个冷静的头脑去看忙乱的世界”的人，才能够体味出这些质素。自从宋代以来，一般喝茶的鉴赏家认为一杯淡茶才是最好 的东西，当一个人专心思想的时候，或是在邻居嘈杂、仆人争 吵的时候，或是由面貌丑陋的女仆侍候的时候，当会很容易地忽略了淡茶的美妙气味。同时，喝茶的友伴也不可多，”因为饮茶以客少为贵。客众则喧，喧则雅趣乏矣。独吸曰幽;二客曰胜;三四曰趣;五六日泛;七八日施。”《茶蔬)的作者说:“若巨器屡巡，满中泻饮，待停少温，或求浓苦，何异农匠作劳，但需涓滴;何论品赏?何知风味乎?”
For this reason，and out of consideration for the utmost rightness and cleanliness in preparation，Chinese writers on tea have always insisted on personal attention in boiling tea，or since that is necessarily inconvenient, that two boy servants be specially trained to do the job. Tea is usually boiled on a separate small stove in the room or directly outside，away from the kitchen. The servant boys must be trained to make tea in the presence of their master and to observe a routine of cleanliness, washing the cups every morning (never wiping them with a towel)，washing their hands often and keeping their fingernails clean. "When there are three guests, one stove will be enough,but when there are five or six persons，two separate stoves and kettles will be required, one boy attending to each stove,for if one is required to attend to both，there may be delays or mix-ups." True connoisseurs，however, regard the personal preparation of tea as a special pleasure. Without developing into a rigid system as in Japan，the preparation and drinking of tea is always a performance of loving pleasure，importance and distinction. In fact, the preparation is half the fun of the drinking,as cracking melon-seeds between one's teeth is half the pleasure of eating them.
因为这个理由，因为要顾到烹时的合度和洁净，有茶癖的中国文士都主张烹茶须自己动手。如嫌不便，可用两个小童为助。烹茶须用小炉，烹煮的地点须远离厨房，而近饮处。茶童须受过训练，当主人的面前烹煮。一切手续都须十分洁净，茶杯须每晨洗涤，但不可用布揩擦。童儿的两手须常洗，指甲中的污腻须剔干净。“三人以上，止燕一炉，如五六人，便当两鼎，炉用一童，汤方调适，若令兼作，恐有参差。”真正鉴赏家常以亲自烹茶为一种殊乐。中国的烹茶饮茶方法不像日本那么过分严肃和讲规则，而仍属一种富有乐趣而又高尚重要的事情。实在说起来，烹茶之乐和饮茶之乐各居其半，正如吃西瓜子，用牙齿咬瓜子壳之乐和吃瓜子肉之乐实各居其半。
Usually a stove is set before a window，with good hard charcoal burning. A certain sense of importance invests the host,who fans the stove and watches the vapor coming out from the kettle. Methodically he arranges a small pot and four tiny cups, usually smaller than small coffee cups, in a tray. He sees that they are in order, moves the pewter-foil pot of tea leaves near the tray and keeps it in readiness, chatting along with his guests,but not so much that he forgets his duties. He turns round to look at the stove，and from the time the kettle begins to sing，he never leaves it, but continues to fan the fire harder than before.Perhaps he stops to take the lid off and look at the tiny bubbles，technically called "fish eyes" or "crab froth，”appearing on the bottom of the kettle, and puts the lid on again. This is the "first boil." He listens carefully as the gentle singing increases in volume to that of a "gurgle,”with small bubbles coming up the sides of the kettle, technically called the "second boil." It is then that he watches most carefully the vapor emitted from the kettle spout, and just shortly before the "third boil" is reached, when the water is brought up to a full boil, "like billowing waves,”he takes the kettle from the fire and scalds the pot inside and out with the boiling water, immediately adds the proper quantity of leaves and makes the infusion. Tea of this kind, like the famous "Iron Goddess of Mercy,”drunk in Fukien，is made very thick. The small pot is barely enough to hold four demi-tasses and is filled one-third with leaves. As the quantity of leaves is large,the tea is immediately poured into the cups and immediately drunk. This finishes the pot, and the kettle，filled with fresh water, is put on the fire again，getting ready for the second pot. Strictly speaking, the second pot is regarded as the best; the first pot being compared to a girl of thirteen，the second compared to a girl of sweet sixteen，and the third regarded as a woman. Theoretically, the third infusion from the same leaves is disallowed by connoisseurs, but actually one does try to live on with the "woman.”
茶炉大都置在窗前，用硬炭生火。主人很郑重地扇着炉火，注视着水壶中的热气。他用一个茶盘，很整齐地装着一个泥茶壶和四个比咖啡杯小一些的茶杯。再将贮茶叶的锡罐安放在茶盘的旁边，随口和来客谈着天，但并不忘了手中所应做的事。他时时顾看炉火，等到水壶中渐发沸声后，他就立在炉前不再离开，更加用力地扇火，还不时要揭开壶盖望。那时壶底已有小泡，名为“鱼眼”或“蟹沫”，这就是“初滚”。他重新盖上壶盖，再煽上几扇，壶中的沸声渐大，水面也渐起泡，这名为“二滚”。这时已有热气从壶口喷出来，主人也就格外注意。到将届“三滚”，壶水已经沸透之时，他就提起水壶，将小泥壶里外一浇.赶紧将茶叶加入泥壶，泡出茶来。这种茶如福建人所饮的“铁观音”，大都泡得很浓。小泥壶中只可容水四小杯，茶叶占去其三分之一的容隙。因为茶叶加得很多，所以一泡之后即可倒出来喝了。这一道茶已将壶水用尽，于是再灌入凉水，放到炉上去煮，以供第二泡之用。严格地说起来，茶在第二泡时为最妙。第一泡苦如一个十二三岁的幼女，第二泡为年龄恰当的十六女郎，而第三泡则已是少妇了。照理论上说起来，鉴赏家认第三泡的茶为不可复饮，但实际上，则享受这个“少妇”的人仍很多。
The above is a strict description of preparing a special kind of tea as I have seen it in my native province, an art generally unknown in North China. In China generally, tea pots used are much larger, and the ideal color of tea is a clear, pale, golden yellow, never dark red like English tea.
以上所说是我本乡中一种泡茶方法的实际素描。这个艺术是中国的北方人所不晓的。在中国一般的人家中，所用的茶壶大都较大。至于一杯茶，最好的颜色是清中带微黄，而不是英国茶那样的深红色。
Of course, we are speaking of tea as drunk by connoisseurs and not as generally served among shopkeepers. No such nicety can be expected of general mankind or when tea is consumed by the gallon by all comers. That is why the author of Ch'asu, Hs u Ts'eshu, says, "When there is a big party, with visitors coming and coming, one can only exchange.with them cups of wine, and among strangers who have just met or among common friends, one should serve only tea of the ordinary quality. Only when our intimate friends of the same temperament have arrived,and we are all happy, all brilliant in conversation and all able to lay aside the formalities, then may we ask the boy servant to build a fire and draw water, and decide the number of stoves and cups to be used in accordance with the company present." It is of this state of things that the author of Ch'achieh says, "We are sitting at night in a mountain lodge, and are boiling tea with water from a mountain spring. When the fire attacks the water, we begin to hear a sound similar to the singing of the wind among pine trees. We pour the tea into a cup, and the gentle glow of its light plays around the place. The pleasure of such a moment cannot be shared with vulgar people”
我们所描写的当然是指鉴赏家的饮茶，而不是像店铺中的以茶奉客。这种雅举不是普通人所能办到，也不是人来人往，论碗解渴的地方所能办到。(茶蔬》的作者许次纤说得好:“宾朋杂沓，止堪交钟肤筹;乍会泛交，仅须常品酬醉。惟素心同调，彼此畅适，清言雄辩，脱略形骸，始可呼童簧火，吸水点汤，量客多少，为役之烦简。”而《茶解》作者所说的就是此种情景:“山堂夜坐，汲泉煮茗。至水火相战，如听松涛。倾泻入杯，云光瀚徽。此时幽趣，故难与俗人言矣。”
In a true tea lover, the pleasure of handling all the paraphernalia is such that it is enjoyed for its own sake, as in the case of Ts'ai Hsiang，who in his old age was not able to drink, but kept on enjoying the preparation of tea as a daily habit. There was also another scholar, by the name of Chou Wenfu，who prepared and drank tea six times daily at definite hours from dawn to evening, and who loved his pot so much that he had it buried with him when he died.
凡真正爱茶者，单是摇摩茶具，已经自有其乐趣。蔡襄年老时已不能饮茶，但他每天必烹茶以自娱，即其一例。又有一个文士名叫周文甫，他每天自早至晚，必在规定的时刻自烹自饮六次。他极宝爱他的茶壶，死时甚至以壶为殉。
The art and technique of tea enjoyment, then，consists of the following: first，tea，being most susceptible to contamination of flavors, must be handled throughout with the utmost cleanliness and kept apart from wine，incense，and other smelly substances and people handling such substances Second, it must be kept in a cool，dry place, and during moist seasons，a reasonable quantity for use must be kept in special small pots, best made of pewterfoil, while the reserve in the big pots is not opened except when necessary, and if a collection gets moldy, it should be submitted to a gentle roasting over a slow fire，uncovered and constantly fanned, so as to prevent the leaves from turning yellow or becoming discolored. Third，half of the art of making tea lies in getting good water with a keen edge;mountain spring water comes first, river water second，and well water third; water from the tap, if coming from dams, being essentially mountain water and satisfactory. Fourth，for the appreciation of rare cups, one must have quiet friends and not too many of them at one time. Fifth, the proper color of tea in general is a pale golden yellow, and all dark red tea must be taken with milk or lemon or peppermint, or anything to cover up its awful sharp taste. Sixth，the best tea has a "return flavor"(hueiwei)，which is felt about half a minute after drinking and after its chemical elements have had time to act on the salivary glands. Seven，tea must be freshly made and drunk immediately, and if good tea is expected, it should not be allowed to stand in the pot for too long, when the infusion has gone too far. Eight, it must be made with water just brought up to a boil. Nine，all adulterants are taboo, although individual differences may be allowed for people who prefer a slight mixture of some foreign flavor (e.g.，jasmine, or cassia). Eleven, the flavor expected of the best tea is the delicate flavor of "baby's flesh.”
因此，茶的享受技术包括下列各节:第一，茶味娇嫩，茶易败坏，所以整治时，须十分清洁，须远离酒类香类一切有强味的事物，和身带这类气息的人;第二，茶叶须贮藏于冷燥之处，在潮湿的季节中，备用的茶叶须贮于小锡罐中，其余则另贮大罐，封固藏好，不取用时不可开启，如若发霉，则须在文火上微烘，一面用扇子轻轻挥扇，以免茶叶变黄或变色;第三，烹茶的艺术一半在于择水，山泉为上，河水次之，井水更次，水槽之水如来自堤堰，因为本属山泉，所以很可用得;第四，客不可多，且须文雅之人，方能鉴赏土壶之美;第五，茶的正色是清中带微黄，这浓的红茶即不能不另加牛奶、柠橡、薄荷或他物以调和其苦味;第六，好茶必有回味，大概在饮茶半分钟后，当其化学成分和津液发生作用时，即能觉出;第七，茶须现泡现饮，泡在壶中稍稍过候，即会失味;第八，泡茶必须用刚沸之水;第九，一切可以混杂真味的香料，须一概摒除，至多只可略加些桂皮或花，以合有些爱好者的口味而已;第十，茶味最上者，应如婴孩身上一般的带着“奶花香”。