A LittlE HistoRy oF thE WoRlD世界小史

⊙By E. H. Gombrich翻譯：吳秀杰

A LittlE HistoRy oF thE WoRlD世界小史

⊙By E. H. Gombrich翻譯：吳秀杰

用今天的話(huà)來(lái)說(shuō)，《世界小史》是一本很“萌”的世界史通俗讀物。

盡管恩斯特·貢布里希爵士（Sir Ernst Gombrich，1909-2001）學(xué)富五車(chē)，才高八斗，在美學(xué)與藝術(shù)史領(lǐng)域取得了各種學(xué)術(shù)成就，是近代公認(rèn)的美學(xué)大師級(jí)人物，但他寫(xiě)的書(shū)可一點(diǎn)都不“高大上”——沒(méi)有賣(mài)弄學(xué)問(wèn)，沒(méi)有故弄玄虛，他的文字平實(shí)幽默、簡(jiǎn)明流暢，從最初的《世界小史》到代表作《藝術(shù)的故事》（The Story of Art），都被視為相關(guān)領(lǐng)域最通俗易懂的論述作品。哪怕你還是個(gè)學(xué)生，哪怕你只是個(gè)外行人，都能從他的書(shū)中享受到知識(shí)帶來(lái)的無(wú)窮樂(lè)趣。

他在《世界小史》土耳其版的前言中寫(xiě)道：“無(wú)論是現(xiàn)在還是過(guò)去，這本書(shū)都從來(lái)不能代替教科書(shū)。我希望我的讀者能夠放松，能夠追蹤歷史，不必去寫(xiě)筆記，不必去記住人名和年代。我也答應(yīng)你們，我是肯定不會(huì)拿這些東西考你們的。”

是的，這是一本你可以坐得安安穩(wěn)穩(wěn)，用看故事的心情去閱讀的小書(shū)。準(zhǔn)備好了嗎？我們就從“Once upon a time”說(shuō)起吧……

All stories begin with “Once upon a time.” And that’s just what this story is all about:what happened, once upon a time. Once you were so small that, even standing on1)tiptoes, you could barely reach your mother’s hand. Do you remember? Your own history might begin like this: “Once upon a time there was a small boy”—or a small girl—“and that small boy was me.” But before that you were a baby in a2)cradle. You won’t remember that, but you know it’s true. Your father and mother were also small once, and so was your grandfather, and your grandmother, a much longer time ago, but you know that too. After all,we say: “They are old.” But they too had grandfathers and grandmothers, and they, too,could say: “Once upon a time.” And so it goes on, further and further back. Behind every“Once upon a time” there is always another. Have you ever tried standing between two mirrors? You should. You will see a great long line of shiny mirrors, each one smaller than the one before,3)stretching away into the distance, getting fainter and fainter, so that you never see the last. But even when you can’t see them any more, the mirrors still go on.They are there, and you know it.

And that’s how it is with “Once upon a time.” We can’t see where it ends.Grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather…it makes your head spin. But say it again, slowly, and in the end you’ll be able to imagine it. Then add one more. That gets us quickly back into the past, and from there into the distant past. But you will never reach the beginning, because behind every beginning there’s always another “Once upon a time.”

It’s like a bottomless well. Does all this looking down make you dizzy? It does me. So let’s4)light a5)scrap of paper, and drop it down into that well. It will fall slowly, deeper and deeper. And as it burns it will light up the sides of the well. Can you see it? It’s going down and down. Now it’s so far down it’s like a tiny star in the dark depths. It’s getting smaller and smaller…and now it’s gone.

Our memory is like that burning scrap of paper.We use it to light up the past. First of all our own,and then we ask old people to tell us what they remember. After that we look for letters written by people who are already dead. And in this way we light our way back. There are buildings that are just for storing old scraps of paper that people once wrote on—they are called6)archives. In them you can find letters written hundreds of years ago. In an archive, I once found a letter which just said: “Dear Mummy, Yesterday we ate some lovely7)truffles,love from William.” William was a little Italian prince who lived four hundred years ago. Truffles are a special sort of mushroom.

對(duì)于科普類(lèi)讀物來(lái)說(shuō)，好的開(kāi)頭真可以說(shuō)是成功的關(guān)鍵。一位優(yōu)秀的作者會(huì)在開(kāi)篇頭幾頁(yè)迅速調(diào)動(dòng)起讀者的積極性，將讀者帶入文字的節(jié)奏里，從而吸引讀者一路往下看，在閱讀中不知不覺(jué)地學(xué)到新知識(shí)。本期選段就是一個(gè)非常經(jīng)典的科普“鳳頭”，從講故事最常見(jiàn)的once upon a time入手，再延伸到鏡子、深井、紙片、回憶、歷史……一步一步，層層遞進(jìn)，娓娓道來(lái)。貢布里希的語(yǔ)言隨性自然，帶有很強(qiáng)的互動(dòng)性，這種寫(xiě)法值得我們細(xì)細(xì)品讀，多加學(xué)習(xí)。

參考譯文

所有的故事都是以“從前……”來(lái)開(kāi)頭的。我們的故事也會(huì)這樣講：從前如何如何。從前你還那么小，哪怕踮起腳尖也很難夠到媽媽的手。你還記得嗎？如果你愿意的話(huà)，也可以用一個(gè)這樣的開(kāi)頭來(lái)講自己的故事：“從前，有個(gè)小男孩”——或者小女孩——“那個(gè)孩子就是我。”不過(guò)，在那之前，你曾經(jīng)是一個(gè)躺在搖籃里的嬰兒。這你肯定不記得了，但你知道這準(zhǔn)沒(méi)錯(cuò)。你的爸爸媽媽從前也是小孩。你的祖父祖母在更久以前也是小孩，你也知道這些事情。因?yàn)槲覀兛倳?huì)說(shuō)：“他們老了。”但他們也有祖父祖母，他們也會(huì)說(shuō)：“從前……”我們可以一直這樣追溯回去。在每一個(gè)“從前……”之前，還會(huì)有另一個(gè)“從前……”。你試過(guò)站在兩個(gè)鏡子之間嗎？真該試試！你會(huì)看到一排長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的、閃閃發(fā)光的鏡子，一個(gè)比一個(gè)小，越來(lái)越遠(yuǎn)，越來(lái)越模糊，你永遠(yuǎn)看不到盡頭。哪怕肉眼看不到，你也知道遠(yuǎn)處還有更多更多的鏡子。

這個(gè)“從前……”也和那鏡子里的鏡子一樣。我們無(wú)法看到它的盡頭。爺爺?shù)臓敔數(shù)臓敔數(shù)臓敔敗孀屓藭烆^轉(zhuǎn)向。但是，如果你再說(shuō)一遍，慢慢說(shuō)，你終歸可以想明白這是怎樣一種情形，然后再來(lái)一個(gè)鏡子。這樣，我們就可以迅速回到古代，再往后進(jìn)入遠(yuǎn)古。但你永遠(yuǎn)到不了歷史的開(kāi)端，因?yàn)樵诿總€(gè)開(kāi)端的前面，總有另外一個(gè)“從前……”。

這可是一個(gè)看不見(jiàn)底的深井！這樣一路往下看，你會(huì)感到頭暈嗎？我會(huì)！我們來(lái)點(diǎn)燃一張紙片，把它扔進(jìn)這個(gè)深深的井里吧。它慢慢地落下去，越來(lái)越深。下落的時(shí)候，火光就會(huì)照亮井壁。你能看到它嗎？越來(lái)越深——現(xiàn)在它已經(jīng)下落得太深了，就像黑暗深處的一顆小星星——越來(lái)越小……已經(jīng)看不到了。

回憶就像那張燃燒的紙片，我們用它來(lái)照亮過(guò)去。先是我們自己的過(guò)去，然后，我們請(qǐng)老人談?wù)勊麄冇浀玫氖虑椋辉偻螅覀內(nèi)フ夷切┰缫央x世的先人留下來(lái)的信稿文件。就這樣，我們照亮了回溯過(guò)去的道路。有些房子專(zhuān)門(mén)用來(lái)存放人們以前寫(xiě)東西的紙片——這地方叫檔案館。在那里，你可以找到好幾百年前的人們寫(xiě)的信。我在一所檔案館里看過(guò)一封信，上面寫(xiě)著：“親愛(ài)的媽咪！昨天我們吃到了好吃的松露，愛(ài)你的威廉上。”威廉是四百年前的一位意大利小王子，松露則是一種珍稀的蘑菇。

（節(jié)選自廣西師范大學(xué)出版社版本，有改動(dòng)）

1) tiptoe [?t?pt??] n. 腳尖，趾尖 2) cradle [?kre?d（?）l] n. 搖籃 3) stretch [stret?] v. 伸展，伸長(zhǎng)

4) light [la?t] v. 點(diǎn)燃，照亮

5) scrap [skr?p] n. 小片，小塊

6) archive [?ɑ?ka?v] n. 檔案館

7) truf fl e [?tr?f（?）l] n. 松露