Thoughts in Westminster Abbey
在威斯敏斯特教堂的沉思

生活中，我们总是探讨着如何活得更精彩，而很少去谈及死亡，或许是它太过严肃和令人伤感，但死亡确实是任何生命最终都无法逃避的宿命。在英国著名的威斯敏斯特大教堂，除了英国王室成员，还有很多领域的知名人物也长眠于此，例如英国诗人乔叟、布朗宁，小说家哈代和现实主义作家狄更斯等。

Joseph Addison
约瑟夫·艾迪生

I endeavored to form some arrangement in my mind of the objects I had been contemplating, but found they were already falling into indistinctness and confusion. Names, inscriptions, trophies, had all become confounded in my recollection, though I had scarcely taken my foot from off the threshold. What, thought I, is this vast assemblage of sepulchres but a treasury of humiliation; a huge pile of reiterated homilies on the emptiness of renown and the certainty of oblivion? It is, indeed, the empire of death; his great shadowy palace where he sits in state mocking at the relics of human glory and spreading dust and forgetfulness on the monuments of princes. How idle a boast, after all, is the immortality of a name! Time is ever silently turning over his pages; we are too much engrossed by the story of the present to think of the characters and anecdotes that gave interest to the past; and each age is a volume thrown aside to be speedily forgotten. The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection, and will in turn be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow. “Our fathers,” says Sir Thomas Browne, “find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how we may be buried in our survivors.” History fades into fable; fact becomes clouded with doubt and controversy; the inscription moulders from the tablet; the statue falls from the pedestal. Columns, arches, pyramids, what are they but heaps of sand, and their epitaphs but characters written in the dust?

What then is to ensure this pile which now towers above me from sharing the fate of mightier mausoleums? The time must come when its gilded vaults, which now spring so loftily, shall lie in rubbish beneath the feet; when, instead of the sound of melody and praise the wind shall whistle through the broken arches, and the owl hoot from the shattered tower, —when the garish sunbeam shall break into these gloomy mansions of death, and the ivy twine round the fallen column; and the fox-glove hang its blossoms about the nameless urn, as if in mockery of the dead. Thus man passes away; his name passes from record and recollection; his history is as a tale that is told, and his very monument becomes a ruin.

我努力将大脑中一直沉思的事物理出头绪，但却发现它们已经变得混淆不清。名字、碑文、纪念品，在我的记忆里，这些东西都混在了一起，虽然我只是刚刚迈出教堂的大门。我在想，这么多的人被葬在这里，使这里变成了一座警世的宝藏，是要反复强调声名是多么虚无，且必定会被遗忘吗？事实上，这里更是死神的帝国，他庄重地坐在恢宏阴暗的皇宫里，嘲笑着人类功名的遗物，并让达官显贵的纪念碑上布满尘埃，使其被忘却。英名永垂不朽是多么地没有意义！岁月的书悄然地翻着页，我们满心关注当下发生的事情，而无暇去想那些过去有名的人和事。每一个时代都是岁月这本书的一个分册，注定了很快就会被人抛诸脑后。今日的偶像将昨日的偶像驱赶出我们的记忆，最后也会被明日后继的偶像所取代。“我们的祖辈，”托马斯布朗爵士曾经说到，“发现他们的陵墓只是短暂地存在于我们的记忆，悲哀地告诉我们以后自己可能会如何被后人遗忘。”历史终会褪变成传说，事实终会被质疑和争论蒙上阴影，雕像终会脱离基座而倒塌。圆柱、拱门、金字塔不过只是一堆沙土，而它们上面的碑文不过是写在沙土上的文字罢了。

以往比威斯敏斯特教堂还要宏伟壮丽的教堂都没有逃过这样的厄运，那么，又有什么能保证我眼前这座教堂能够幸免呢？今日高高耸立的镀金拱顶总有一天会变成踩在脚底下的垃圾，那个时候，围绕它的不再是美妙的乐曲和赞美，断壁残垣之间只有大风呼啸而过，猫头鹰站在支离破碎的塔顶，——刺眼的阳光照射进阴暗的墓穴，倾倒的圆柱被常春藤缠绕，无名的骨灰盒上面垂吊着盛开的毛地黄花，就像在嘲笑这骨灰的主人。人终究会逝去，他的名字也会从记录与回忆中消失，他的一生将会化为未必真实的故事流传，他的纪念碑也终会变成一片废墟。

巧记词汇

indistinctness [ˌɪndɪˈstɪŋktnəs] n. 模糊

【拓】distinct [dɪˈstɪŋkt] a. 清楚的

inscription [ɪnˈskrɪpʃn] n. 铭文，碑文

【拓】inscribe [ɪnˈskraɪb] v. 题（名字等）

trophy [ˈtrəʊfi] n. 纪念品；奖品

【拓】souvenir [ˌsuːvəˈnɪə(r)] n. 纪念品

confounded [kənˈfaʊndɪd] a. 混乱的

【拓】confound [kənˈfaʊnd] v. 使混淆

assemblage [ˈsemblɪdʒ] n. 聚集，集合

【拓】assemble [əˈsembl] v. 聚集，集合

sepulchre [ˈseplkə(r)] n. 坟墓

【拓】grave [ɡreɪv] n. 坟墓

reiterate [riˈɪtəreɪt] v. 重申，反复讲

【拓】repeat [rɪˈpiːt] v. 重做，重复

homily [ˈhɒməli] n. 说教，训诫

【拓】homely [ˈhəʊmli] a. 简单舒适的

renown [rɪˈnaʊn] n. 名誉，声誉

【拓】reputation [ˌrepjuˈteɪʃn] n. 名声

oblivion [əˈblɪviən] n. 遗忘

【拓】oblivious [əˈblɪviəs] a. 忘记的

immortality [ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti] n. 不朽

【拓】immortal [ɪˈmɔːtl] a. 不朽的

engross [ɪnˈɡrəʊs] v. 使全神贯注

【拓】interest [ˈɪntrəst] v. 使感兴趣

anecdote [ˈænɪkdəʊt] n. 轶事

【拓】tale [teɪl] n. 故事；传闻

supplant [səˈplɑːnt] v. 取代，代替

【拓】replace [rɪˈpleɪs] v. 取代，代替

moulder [ˈməʊldə(r)] v. 腐烂，腐朽

【拓】decay [dɪˈkeɪ] v. 腐烂，腐朽

pedestal [ˈpedɪstl] n. 基架，基座

【拓】petal [ˈpetl] n. 花瓣

epitaph [ˈepɪtɑːf] n. 碑文

【拓】episode [ˈepɪsəʊd] n. 一集

mausoleum [ˌmɔːsəˈliːəm] n. 陵墓

【拓】tomb [tuːm] n. 坟墓

garish [ˈɡeərɪʃ] a. 过于艳丽的

【拓】dazzle [ˈdæzl] v. 使眼花缭乱

fox-glove ['fɒksglʌv] n. 毛地黄

【拓】glove [ɡlʌv] n. 手套

urn [ɜːn] n. 骨灰盒

【拓】container [kənˈteɪnə(r)] n. 容器

趣学短语

mock at 嘲笑

【例】When she first arrived here, everyone mocked at her accent. However, several months later, she speaks English like a native. 她初到这里的时候，所有人都嘲笑她的口音。然而，几个月之后，她就能说一口地道的英语了。