瓦尔登湖三人行（140）《瓦尔登湖》第11章 更高法则（8）腾讯版

2021年12月22日 周三 晚8:00——9:00 瓦尔登湖三人行（140）直播实况录制 腾讯会议版 文本 Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 140) 11. Higher Laws (Part 8) [12] All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms; all purity is one. It is the same whether a man eat, or drink, or cohabit[kəʊˈhæbɪt], or sleep sensually[ˈsensjʊəlɪ]. They are but one appetite, and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist[ˈsensjʊəlɪst] he is. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. When the reptile is attacked at one mouth of his burrow, he shows himself at another. If you would be chaste[tʃeɪst], you must be temperate. What is chastity[ˈtʃæstɪtɪ]? How shall a man know if he is chaste? He shall not know it. We have heard of this virtue, but we know not what it is. We speak conformably[kənˈfɔːməblɪ]顺从地to the rumor which we have heard. From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth[sləʊθ] ignorance and sensuality[ˌsensjʊˈælɪtɪ]. In the student sensuality is a sluggish habit of mind. An unclean person is universally a slothful one, one who sits by a stove, whom the sun shines on prostrate[ˈprɒstreɪt] 一蹶不振的, who reposes歇息 without being fatigued[fəˈtiːɡd]. If you would avoid uncleanness, and all the sins, work earnestly, though it be at cleaning a stable. Nature is hard to be overcome, but she must be overcome. What avails it that you are Christian[ˈkrɪstʃən], if you are not purer than the heathen, if you deny yourself no more, if you are not more religious? I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts[ˈpriːsepts] fill the reader with shame, and provoke him to new endeavors[ɪn'devəs], though it be to the performance of rites merely. [13] I hesitate to say these things, but it is not because of the subject - I care not how obscene[əbˈsiːn] my words are - but because I cannot speak of them without betraying my impurity. We discourse freely without shame of one form of sensuality, and are silent about another. We are so degraded that we cannot speak simply of the necessary functions of human nature. In earlier ages, in some countries, every function was reverently spoken of and regulated by law. Nothing was too trivial[ˈtrɪvɪəl] for the Hindoo['hɪnduː]印度教教徒lawgiver, however offensive it may be to modern taste. He teaches how to eat, drink, cohabit[kəʊˈhæbɪt], void[vɔɪd] excrement[ˈekskrɪmənt] and urine[ˈjʊərɪn], and the like, elevating ['elɪveɪtɪŋ] what is mean, and does not falsely excuse himself by calling these things trifles[ˈtraɪfls]. 所有的***都是一个，虽然有许多形式；而所有的纯洁也是一个。都不会变，不管一个人是在色情地吃、或喝、或同居、或睡。它们都只有一个胃。我们只需要看一个人做这其中的任何一样就知道他有多***。不洁不会和纯洁同住。当这爬行纲动物在它的一个洞口遭攻击，它会在另一个洞口出现。//如果你是贞洁的，那你必然是节制的。什么是贞洁？一个男人如何知道他贞洁不贞洁。他不会知道。我们听说过这美德，但我们不了解它是什么。我们讲的是我们听说的关于它的传言。努力总让人得来纯洁和智慧；而懒惰总让人无知和好淫。学生的***就是心智的懒惰。一个不清洁的人，总体上就是懒惰的人，是那坐在壁炉边的人，太阳照着也歪歪扭扭，不困也在打盹儿的人。如果你想避免不清洁和所有罪过，那就努力去工作，哪怕是去清理马厩jiù。天性是难以克服的，但是她必须被克服。做基督徒有什么好处呢，如果你不能比异教徒更纯洁，如果你不再否定自身，如果你不能变得更虔诚[qián]？我知道好多体系的宗教，尊重那些会让读者难堪的异端训诫，那会刺激他从事新的努力，哪怕只是仪式上的表演。 我实在犹豫去说出这些事情，但绝不是因为话题本身——我不在乎我用的字眼多下流——而是因为我不能讲出它而不暴露我的不洁。我们放荡不羁地交谈，以一种方式的下流而且毫无羞耻，可是对另一种却保持沉默。我们是如此堕落，甚至不能简单讲出人类天性必不可少的器官。在早期，某些国家，任何器官都是被充满敬意地讲起，而且用法律的条文固定下来。对于印度立法者，没有什么东西是琐碎微不足道的，不管它们多么令现代口味反感。他教人们吃、喝、大便和便便之类，提升那低贱的，不会以虚假的理由替自己开脱说，这些事情不值一提。