《开朗的性情》，1852 年

A cheerful temper, 1852

我从父亲那里继承到了最好的遗产，那就是 “好脾气”。

From my father I received the best inheritance, namely a “good temper.”

“我父亲是谁呢？” 这和好脾气没什么关系；但我要说，他生性活泼，相貌英俊，圆滚滚且胖乎乎的；无论从外貌还是性格来看，他都和自己的职业完全相悖。

“And who was my father?” that has nothing to do with the good temper; but I will say he was lively, good-looking round, and fat; he was both in appearance and character a plete contradiction to his profession.

“那么请问，他的职业是什么，在体面的社会里又处于什么地位呢？” 嗯，或许吧，如果在一本书的开头就把这些写出来印出来，很多人读到的时候，就会把书放下，然后说：“在我看来这书名可真够惨的，我不喜欢这类东西。”

“And pray what was his profession and his standing in respectable society?” well, perhaps, if in the beginning of a book these were written and printed, many, when they read it, would lay the book down and say, “It seems to me a very miserable title, I don’t my things of this sort.”

然而我父亲既不是皮革匠也不是刽子手；恰恰相反，他的工作让他能走在城里最尊贵的人前面，而且这是他理所应当的位置。

And yet my father was not a skin-dresser nor an executioner; on the contrary, his employment placed him at the head of the grandest people of the town, and it was his place by right.

他得走在主教前面，甚至得走在王室成员前面；他总是走在最前面 —— 他是一名灵车车夫！好了，现在真相大白了。

he had to precede the bishop, and even the princes of the blood; he always went first, — he was a hearse driver! there, now, the truth is out.

我得承认，当人们看到我父亲高高地坐在那辆死亡之车 —— 灵车的前面，穿着他那件又长又宽的黑色披风，头上戴着镶着黑边的三角帽，然后再看一眼他那张圆滚滚、乐呵呵的脸，圆得像太阳一样，他们就不会把悲伤或者坟墓之类的事太当回事了。

And I will own, that when people saw my father perched up in front of the omnibus of death, dressed in his long, wide, black cloak, and his black-edged, three-cornered hat on his head, and then glanced at his round, jocund face, round as the sun, they could not think much of sorrow or the grave.

那张脸仿佛在说：“没什么大不了的，结局会比人们想象的要好。”

that face said, “It is nothing, it will all end better than people think.”

所以我不仅从他那里继承了好脾气，还继承了常去教堂墓地的习惯，要是心情合适的话，这习惯也不错；而且我也像他过去那样订阅《信使报》。

So I have inherited from him, not only my good temper, but a habit of going often to the churchyard, which is good, when done in a proper humor; and then also I take in the Intelligencer, just as he used to do.

我已不年轻了，我既没有妻子儿女，也没有藏书室，不过，就像我刚才说的，我读《信使报》，这对我来说就够了；它对我来说是一份令人愉快的报纸，对我父亲来说也是如此。

I am not very young, I have neither wife nor children, nor a library, but, as I said, I read the Intelligencer, which is enough for me; it is to me a delightful paper, and so it was to my father.

它很有用处，因为它包含了一个人需要了解的所有信息；教堂里传道者的名字，还有新出版的书籍；能找到房子、佣人、衣服和食物的地方。

It is of great use, for it contains all that a man requires to know; the names of the preachers at the church, and the new books which are published; where houses, servants, clothes, and provisions may be obtained.

此外，还有那么多慈善捐款的启事，还有那么多清新质朴的诗句！寻求会面和工作机会的人，所有这些都表述得如此直白自然。

And then what a number of subscriptions to charities, and what innocent verses! persons seeking interviews and engagements, all so plainly and naturally stated.

当然，订阅《信使报》的人可以活得快乐，死得安心，到生命尽头时还能积攒下那么多报纸，他可以躺在用报纸铺就的柔软床上，除非他更喜欢木屑做安息之所。

certainly, a man who takes in the Intelligencer may live merrily and be buried contentedly, and by the end of his life will have such a capital stock of paper that he can lie on a soft bed of it, unless he prefers wood shavings for his resting-place.

报纸和教堂墓地对我来说一直都是很有意思的事物。我去教堂墓地散步就如同去能让我心情愉悦的浴场。

the newspaper and the churchyard were always exciting objects to me. my walks to the latter were like bathing-places to my good humor.

每个人都可以自己看报纸，但是在阳光明媚、绿树成荫的时候，跟我一起到教堂墓地来吧，让我们在坟墓间漫步。

Every one can read the newspaper for himself, but e with me to the churchyard while the sun shines and the trees are green, and let us wander among the graves.

每一座坟墓就像一本合上的书，书脊朝上，我们能读到书里内容的标题，但仅此而已。

Each of them is like a closed book, with the back uppermost, on which we can read the title of what the book contains, but nothing more.

我从父亲那里了解到很多情况，我自己也留意到很多事情。我把这些都记在日记里，在日记里我为自己的使用和消遣写下了躺在这里的所有人的故事，还有其他一些人的故事。

I had a great deal of information from my father, and I have noticed a great deal myself. I keep it in my diary, in which I write for my own use and pleasure a history of all who lie here, and a few more beside.

现在我们来到了教堂墓地。在这里，白色的铁栏杆后面，曾经长着一棵玫瑰树；现在它已经不在了，但从旁边一座坟墓上伸过来一小片常青植物，它伸出绿色的卷须，还能看出点样子来；这里安息着一个非常不幸的人，然而在他活着的时候，可以说他所处的地位很不错。

Now we are in the churchyard. here, behind the white iron railings, once a rose-tree grew; it is gone now, but a little bit of evergreen, from a neighboring grave, stretches out its green tendrils, and makes some appearance; there rests a very unhappy man, and yet while he lived he might be said to occupy a very good position.

他有足够的钱维持生活，还有余钱；但由于他品味高雅，世上哪怕最微不足道的事情也会惹他心烦。

he had enough to live upon, and something to spare; but owing to his refined tastes the least thing in the world annoyed him.

要是他晚上去剧院，他不但不会自得其乐，要是机械师把月亮的一侧灯光打得太强，或者舞台布景中天空的呈现本该挂在后面却挂在了前面；或者在表现柏林动物园的场景里出现了一棵棕榈树，或者在描绘蒂罗尔的景色中出现了一棵仙人掌，或者在挪威北部的场景里出现了一棵山毛榉树，他就会非常恼火。

If he went to a theatre of an evening, instead of enjoying himself he would be quite annoyed if the machinist had put too strong a light into one side of the moon, or if the representations of the sky hung over the scenes when they ought to have hung behind them; or if a palm-tree was introduced into a scene representing the Zoological Gardens of berlin, or a cactus in a view of tyrol, or a beech-tree in the north of Norway.

好像这些事情有什么要紧似的！他为什么不放过它们呢？谁会为这种琐事操心呢？尤其是在喜剧演出的时候，大家都指望能在那儿得到娱乐呢。

As if these things were of any consequence! why did he not leave them alone? who would trouble themselves about such trifles? especially at a edy, where every one is expected to be amused.

有时观众的掌声太多或太少，也会让他不高兴。“他们就像湿木头，” 他会环顾四周看看在场的都是些什么人，然后说，“今晚，什么都激不起他们的热情。”

then sometimes the public applauded too much, or too little, to please him. “they are like wet wood,” he would say, looking round to see what sort of people were present, “this evening; nothing fires them.”

然后他会因为观众不在该笑的时候笑，或者在不该笑的地方笑而烦恼生气；就这样，他烦恼忧虑，直到最后这个不幸的人把自己烦进了坟墓里。

then he would vex and fret himself because they did not laugh at the right time, or because they laughed in the wrong places; and so he fretted and worried himself till at last the unhappy man fretted himself into the grave.