阿兰·德波顿: 《旅行的艺术》2-8

儒琴英语咀嚼阿兰·德波顿的《旅行的艺术》(The Art of Travel) 英语用词。阿兰·德波顿(Alain de Botton)是一位出生于瑞士的英国哲学家和作家。他写的散文式的书被称为“日常生活哲学”。他的作品涉及爱情、旅行、建筑和文学,包括小说《爱情笔记》(1993)、《爱上浪漫》(1994)、《亲吻与诉说》(1995)及散文作品《拥抱逝水年华》(1997 )、《哲学的慰藉》(2000)、《旅行的艺术》(2002)、《写给无神论者》(2012)。他的书在30个国家畅销。

Departure : II On Travelling Places 8
出发:第2章: 旅行中的特定场所 第8节

第8节

The value we ascribe to the process of travelling, to wandering without reference to a destination, connects us, the critic Raymond Williams once proposed, to a broad shift in sensibilities dating back some 200 years, whereby the outsider came to seem morally superior to the insider:

From the late 18th century onwards, it is no longer from the practice of community but from being a wanderer that the instinct of fellow feeling is derived. Thus an essential isolation and silence and loneliness become the carriers of nature and community against the rigours, the cold abstinence, the selfish ease of ordinary society.

Raymond Williams, The Country and the City

If we find poetry in the service station and motel, if we are drawn to the airport or train carriage, it is because, in spite of their architectural compromises and discomforts, in spite of their garish colours and harsh lighting, we implicitly feel that these isolated places offer us a material setting for an alternative to the selfish ease, the habits and confinement of the ordinary, rooted world.

重点用词注解

ascribe to: to say or think that (something) is caused by, comes from, or is associated with (something or someone) 说或认为(某物)由(某物或某人)引起
whereby: adverb, conjunction /werˈbaɪ/, by which way or method 由此,从而;借以
abstinence: noun [ U ] formal /ˈæb.stə.nəns/, not doing something, such as drinking alcohol or having sex
节制;戒绝
rigour: noun [ U ] UK (US rigor) /ˈrɪɡ.ɚ/ the fact that people are made to follow rules in a very severe way
严厉;严格;苛严
garish: adjective, disapproving /ˈɡer.ɪʃ/ unpleasantly bright 过分鲜艳的;花哨的;炫目的
implicitly: adverb, /ɪmˈplɪs.ɪt.li/ implicitly adverb (NOT DIRECTLY) in a way that is suggested but not communicated directly 含蓄地; 暗中地; 不明显地

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