论懒散(上) | 双语散文阅读

冬日里，你是不是变得越来越懒？一时的懒散似乎会让人感觉舒适，但当它成为习惯，一切美好都将会离你远去，或许未来的某一天你就需要为此付出代价。

今天一起来听听英国作家塞缪尔•约翰逊的哲理散文《论懒散》，或许会对你有所启发。

On Idleness

Many moralists have remarked, that Pride has of all human vices the widest dominion, appears in the greatest multiplicity of forms, and lies hid under the greatest variety of disguises; of disguises, which, like the moon's veil of brightness, are both its luster and its shade, and betray it to others, tho' they hide it from ourselves.

It is not my intention to degrade Pride from this preeminence of mischief, yet I know not whether Idleness may not maintain a very doubtful and obstinate competition.

There are some that profess Idleness in its full dignity, who call themselves the Idle, as Busiris in the play calls himself the Proud; who boast that they do nothing, and thank their stars that they have nothing to do; who sleep every night till they can sleep no longer, and rise only that exercise may enable them to sleep again; who prolong the reign of darkness by double curtains, and never see the sun but to tell him how they hate his beams; whose whole labor is to vary the postures of indulgence, and whose day differs from their night but as a couch or chair differs from a bed.

These are the true and open votaries of Idleness, for whom she weaves the garlands of poppies, and into whose cup she pours the waters of oblivion; who exist in a state of unruffled stupidity, forgetting and forgotten; who have long ceased to live, and at whose death the survivors can only say, that they have ceased to breathe.

But Idleness predominates in many lives where it is not suspected; for being a vice which terminates in itself, it may be enjoyed without injury to others; and is therefore not watched like Fraud, which endangers property, or like Pride, which naturally seeks its gratifications in another's inferiority. Idleness is a silent and peaceful quality, that neither raises envy by ostentation, nor hatred by opposition; and therefore no body is busy to censure or detect it.

As Pride sometimes is hid under humility, Idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his known duty and real employment, naturally endeavors to crowd his mind with something that may bar out the remembrance of his own folly, and does any thing but what he ought to do with eager diligence, that he may keep himself in his own favor.

Some are always in a state of preparation, occupied in previous measures, forming plans, accumulating materials, and providing for the main affair. These are certainly under the secret power of Idleness. Nothing is to be expected from the workman whose tools are forever to be sought. I was once told by a great master, that no man ever excelled in painting, who was eminently curious about pencils and colors.

There are others to whom Idleness dictates another expedient, by which life may be passed unprofitably away without the tediousness of many vacant hours. The art is, to fill the day with petty business, to have always something in hand which may raise curiosity, but not solicitude, and keep the mind in a state of action, but not of labor.

本文由沈汀和Bob Jones为您朗读，中文版本由王义国翻译。

注释：Busiris 布里西斯，希腊神话中的埃及国王，海神波塞东（Poseidon）和吕西亚那撒（Lyssianassa，传说中的埃及国王厄帕福斯[Epaphus]的女儿）的儿子。

周六的此刻，你是不是还赖在床上呢？自认是懒人的你，快来签到留言；自认为不懒的请点赞，身边有不少懒人的还可以将此文转发给他们。

快点让小编看看我大英语环球的粉丝当中懒人到底多不多？

往期精彩：

我的父母之乡

黎明前的北京

落花生

匆匆

荷塘月色

古都的秋

差不多先生

    悄悄告诉你，如果你热爱Bob Jones的声音，这里还有更多精品：

济慈：《人生的四季》 

《凌乱的房间》

《你的长夏永远不会凋谢》

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