安全感及理性——欧洲的黄金时代生活的平淡烘托出使人流连忘返的人物与

The Golden Age of Security

By Stefan Zweig

∷蒋素华选注

斯蒂芬·茨威格

《昨日的世界》是奥地利著名作家斯蒂芬·茨威格的自传体回忆录，作者在书中回忆了第一次世界大战前欧洲各国秩序井然、从容淡定的生活，他的中学、大学岁月和他在世界各地的游学经历，以及他的艺术创作生涯。作者还记录了他与众多欧洲文化名人之间的真挚情谊，第一次世界大战爆发的真正原因，一战中人们失去理智的极端行为以及战后的道德和价值观的倒退与混乱，法西斯的崛起和一个时代的结束。此书可以使读者真实地了解上个世纪两次对人类文明尤其是欧洲造成摧毁性破坏的世界大战，使人在平静中感受震撼。斯蒂芬·茨威格的作品不企图以情节的曲折离奇去吸引读者，而是在生活的平淡中烘托出使人流连忘返的人物和场景。

本期节选《昨日的世界》中第一章的几个片段，在这些片段中读者可以领略到维也纳各个阶层的人们对音乐和歌剧的疯狂热爱，这种狂热还延伸到歌剧名演员的司机和裁缝。而维也纳人对政治却不热衷，如果你不热爱文化那你就算不上真正的维也纳人。

《昨日的世界》

If I try to find some useful phrase to sum up the time of my childhood and youth before the First World War, I hope I can put it most succinctly

（简明扼要地）

by calling it the Golden Age of Security. Everything in our Austrian Monarchy

（奥地利君主制）

, then almost a thousand years old, seemed built to last, and the state itself was the ultimate guarantor

（保证）

of durability

（持久性）

. The rights it gave its citizens were affirmed by our parliament

（议会）

, a freely elected assembly representing the people, and every duty was precisely defined. Our currency

（货币）

, the Austrian crown

（克朗）

,circulated

（流通）

in the form of shiny gold coins, thus vouching for

（担保）

its own immutability

（不变，永恒）

. Everyone knew how much he owned and what his income was, what was allowed and what was not. Every family had its own budget and knew how much could be spent on food and lodging

（住宿）

,summer holidays and social functions, and of course you had to put a small sum aside for unforeseen contingencies

（未预见到的意外）

such as illness and the doctor. If you owned a house you regarded it as a secure home for your children and grandchildren; property in town or country was passed on from generation to generation. While a baby was still in the cradle

（摇篮）

, you contributed the first small sums to its way through life, depositing them in a money box or savings account

（储蓄账号）

, a little reserve

（储备）

for the future. Anything radical or violent seemed impossible in such an age of reason.

This sense of security was an asset

（资产）

owned by millions, something desirable, an ideal of life held in common by all

（全体公认的）

. The era of security was also the golden age of the insurance industry

（保险业）

. You insured your house against fire and theft, your land against damage by storms and hail, your body against accidents and sickness; you bought annuities

（养老金

）

for your old age; you put insurance policies in your girl children’s cradles to provide their future dowries

（嫁妆）

. Only those who could look forward with confidence to the future enjoyed the present with an easy mind.

But for all the solidity and sobriety

（清醒）

of people’s concept of life at the time, there was a dangerous and overweening

（自负的）

pride in this touching belief that they could fence in their existence, leaving no gaps at all. In its liberal idealism, the nineteenth century was honestly convinced that it was on the direct and infallible

（绝对可靠的，不会犯错的）

road to the best of all possible worlds. The people of the time scornfully

（轻蔑地）

looked down on earlier epochs

（时代）

with their wars, famines

（饥荒）

and revolutions as periods when mankind had not yet come of age

（成熟期）

and was insufficiently enlightened. Now, however, it was a mere matter of decades before they finally saw an end to evil and violence, and in those days this faith in uninterrupted, inexorable

（不可阻挡的）

“progress” truly had the force of a religion. People believed in “progress” more than in the Bible, and its gospel message

（福音）

seemed incontestably

（无可置疑地）

proven by the new miracles of science and technology that were revealed daily.

In hardly any other European city was the urge towards culture as passionate as in Vienna. For the very reason that for centuries Austria and its monarchy had been neither politically ambitious nor particularly successful in its military ventures, native pride had focused most strongly on distinction in artistic achievement. The most important and valuable provinces of the old Habsburg empire

that once ruled Europe—German and Italian, Flemish

（弗兰德人的）

and Wallon

—had seceded

（分裂）

long ago, but the capital city was still intact

（完好无损的）

in its old glory as the sanctuary

（至圣所）

of the court, the guardian of a millennial

（千年的）

tradition. The Romans had laid the foundation stones of that city as a castrum

（古罗马兵营）

, a far-flung outpost

（偏远的前哨

）to protect Latin civilization from the barbarians

（蛮族）

, and over a thousand years later the Ottoman

（奥斯曼帝国）

attack on the West was repelled

（击退）

outside the walls of Vienna. The immortal Pleiades

（七巨头，七杰）

of music shone down on the world from this city, Gluck, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Johann Strauss

（格鲁克、海顿、莫扎特、贝多芬、舒伯特、勃拉姆斯和约翰·施特劳斯）

, all the currents of European culture had merged

（融合）

in this place. At court and among the nobility and the common people alike, German elements were linked with Slavonic

（斯拉夫民族的）

, Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, French and Flemish. It was the peculiar genius of Vienna, the city of music, to resolve

（溶解）

all these contrasts harmoniously in something new and unique, specifically Austrian and Viennese. Open-minded and particularly receptive

（善于接受的）

, the city attracted the most disparate

（不相同的，不相干的）

of forces, relaxed their tensions, eased and placated

（抚慰，使和解）

them. It was pleasant to live here, in this atmosphere of intellectual tolerance, and unconsciously every citizen of Vienna also became a supranational

（超国家的）

, cosmopolitan

（世界性的）

citizen of the world.

It was wonderful to live in this city, which hospitably welcomed strangers and gave of itself

（牺牲自己的时间和精力来帮助别人）

freely; it was natural to enjoy life in its light atmosphere, full of elation

（快乐）

and merriment like the air of Paris. Vienna, as everyone knew, was an epicurean

（享乐主义的）

city—however, what does culture mean but taking the raw material of life and enticing

（诱惑）

from it its finest, most delicate and subtle aspects by means of art and love? The people of Vienna were gourmets

（美食家）

who appreciated good food and good wine, fresh and astringent

（涩的）

beer, lavish

（丰富的）

desserts and tortes

（果子奶油蛋糕）

, but they also demanded subtler pleasures. To make music, dance, produce plays, converse

（交谈）

well, behave pleasingly and show good taste were arts much cultivated here. Neither military, political nor commercial matters held first place in the lives of individuals or society as a whole; when the average Viennese citizen looked at his morning paper, his eyes generally went first not to parliamentary debates or foreign affairs but to the theatrical repertory

（全部剧目）

, which assumed an importance in public life hardly comprehensible in other cities. For to the Viennese and indeed the Austrians the imperial theatre, the Burgtheater

, was more than just a stage on which actors performed dramatic works; it was a microcosm

（缩影，微观世界）

reflecting the macrocosm

（宏观世界）

, a bright mirror in which society could study itself. In an actor at the imperial theatre, spectators saw an example of the way to dress, enter a room, make conversation, were shown which words a man of taste might use and which should be avoided. The stage was not just a place of entertainment but a spoken, three-dimensional

（立体的、逼真的）

manual of good conduct and correct pronunciation, and an aura

（光环，气氛）

of esteem, rather like a saint’s halo

（光环）

, surrounded all who had even the faintest

（最小的）

connection with the court theatre. The Prime Minister, the richest magnate

（要人，大资本家）

, could walk through the streets of Vienna and no one would turn to stare, but every salesgirl and every cab driver would recognize an actor at the court theatre or an operatic diva

（歌剧女主角）

. When we boys had seen one of them pass by[we all collected their pictures and autographs

（亲笔签名）

] we proudly told each other, and this almost religious personality cult

（个人崇拜）

even extended to their entourages

（随从）

; Adolf von Sonnenthal’s barber, Josef Kainz’s cab driver were regarded with awe and secretly envied. Young dandies

（花花公子）

were proud to have their clothes made by the tailors patronized

（受到惠顾）

by those actors. A notable anniversary in a famous actor’s career, or a great actor’s funeral, was an event overshadowing

（使相形见绌）

all the political news. It was every Viennese dramatist’s dream to be performed at the Burgtheater, a distinction that mean a kind of ennoblement for life and brought with it a series of benefits such as free theatre tickets for life and invitations to all official occasions, because you had been a guest in an imperial house.

……

1. the old Habsburg empire: Habsburg等于Hapsburg，哈布斯堡王朝，欧洲最古老的王室家族，历史上统治领域最广，曾统治神圣罗马帝国、奥地利帝国、奥匈帝国、西班牙帝国。

2. Wallon: 瓦隆，比利时说法语的人居住的地区。

3. Burgtheater: 伯格剧院，维也纳的一所著名的剧院，也是欧洲第二古老的剧院。

以上内容选自《英语学习》杂志

读书吧，趁时光正好。

点我购买3月新刊

主编：侯毅凌

《英语学习》杂志创刊于1958年，由北京外国语大学主办，是一本集知识、学习和趣味于一体的英语文化综合性刊物，被评为“全国优秀外语教辅期刊”，一贯以“学习英语的终身益友，了解世界的精彩橱窗”为宗旨，在突出人文旨趣、深入介绍西方社会文化、增进阅读者的英语修养的理念指导下，坚持严谨而不失活泼、品位与趣味并重的办刊风格，凸显杂志的高等教育气质。

《英语学习》2018年第3期目录