第14届韩素音青年翻译比赛英译汉原文及参考译文
原文

An Experience of Aesthetics

Robert Ginsberg

I climbed the heights above Yosemite Valley, California in order to see the splendid granite mountain, Half Dome, in its fullest view. Approaching the edge through the woods I was filled with heightened expectation. I saw the ruin of a cabin and my approach caused the alignment of the chimney on this side of the valley with the shorn mountain across the valley. I stopped. Something happened. The stone verticals corresponded, one human-shaped, the other natural. The human site was still engaged in sightseeing. I was on its side. I saw the famous sight through the eyes of the ruin. I had come expecting beauty; I discovered an unexpected dimension to the beauty of the scene/seen.

In this experience I had been seeking the aesthetic. I knew I would find it, for I had seen post cards in advance and was following the trail map. The seeking took considerable effort and time. It was a heavy investment. I was not going for the scientific purpose of studying rock formation, nor was it for the recreational purpose of exercising my limbs in the fresh air, though that exertion added intensity to the experience and was its context. Primarily, I was going for the scenic wonders. No wonder that I would take delight in seeing Half Dome. The expectation elicited the outcome. I was suitably prepared. No distractions of practical consideration — or theoretic — detracted from my concentrated expectancy. Indeed, the world all around me on the climb contributed to the context for my goal. I was on the terrain of Nature in a national park, following the trail to a viewpoint upon a celebrated natural formation. Each step in the climb not only brought me closer but obliged me to sense the altitude. Moving through the thick woods was in anticipatory contrast to the great gap of the valley and the starkness of the treeless granite boulder.

My spirit and my senses were heightened. I was keenly aware of the world, eager to experience it. My senses were willing to be gratified by their fullest exercise. Hence my eye was sharp, but so was my ear and my nose, I was open to experiencing aesthetically. And on the way I did take minor pleasure in a bird's song, a tree's sway, and a cloud's contortion. I was in the world considered as potential aesthetic realm. Any pleasing feature that appeared would be welcomed. And that welcoming mode drew forth pleasing features. A tonic subjective at-homeness with the world pervaded my feelings. I was in the right mood to enjoy Nature.

Then the unexpected happened. I had no thought in reaching the natural heights that a human structure would be present. Normally, I would have avoided any such structure as I directed my steps toward the natural view. In retrospect it makes sense that a service building be present at the trail end. It may have had facilities for visitors and played an interpretive role. But the building was not present when I arrived. It was absent though its ruin was present. And that ruin spoke to my experience as related to what I had come to see. If I had been trudging on in a dulled state, passing the time in surroundings — like those of the railway station — that did not draw interest, I might well have missed the chimney, walked past it as if it were another tree on the way to the goal. The heightened intensity of my sensibility allowed the chimney to be integrated into the experiencing aesthetically. Readiness was all. The extraterrestrial aesthetician would explain that the creature it was observing on the trail was a specimen of an aesthetic being whose experiencing apparatus for the aesthetic was on full alert. The individual was completely given over to the enjoyment of its experience. And while headed in the direction of an anticipated goal it was nonetheless open to enjoying anything that came its way. Something quite unexpected came its way, and it was ready to attend to it, getting the maximum aesthetic value out of the encounter. The creature was embarked on an adventure in experience. Given the wide range of accessible natural wonders in the national park, the individual in the right mood was bound to make gratifying discoveries.

What are the contents of the aesthetic discovery? Formal properties of beauty may be pointed to in what I saw: the verticals as distinctively shaped and gathering space about them, and the interplay between the two kinds of vertical shapes over the enormous intervening space. The pleasure of perspective entered, for though the chimney is miniscule compared to Half Dome, my approaching it from the trail made it assume visual and spatial dignity equal to the mountain. Complexity of human meaning is encountered with poignant irony. The chimney is an enduring marker of the human value placed on the mountain visible from this point. Here human hands raised stones to shelter an experience of pure stone. So I have come to the right place; I am at home. But the human occupation has been lifted; our presence has turned to stone. Nature has reclaimed its elements. Half Dome presides over the petrifaction of the world. Chimney and mountain are in dialogue as I sense the switching between their perspectives. I am present in ruin and in unity.

译文

审美的体验 罗伯特·金斯伯格

为了饱览壮丽的花岗岩山峰半穹顶的全景，我登上了加州约塞米蒂谷的高地。穿过树林，走近山沿，心中充满美的期盼。远远望见一处小屋的废墟，走到近前，只见山谷这边的烟囱与横穿山谷的陡峭山崖恰好连成一线。我停下脚步，奇观出现了：两道石壁遥相呼应，一边人工打造，一边浑然天成。人造景观这边仍供观光游览，我此时就身临其境。透过小屋的废墟，我看到了著名的景观。我怀着对美的期盼而来，不经意间却发现了美的另一番天地。

这次旅程中我一直在捕捉一种美感。我知道会如愿以偿，因为我事先看过一些有关的风景明信片，循着山路示意图一路找来。这样的寻找费时费力，投入颇大。我此行的目的既不是出于对科学的动机来研究岩石的结构，也不是出于娱乐消遣的考虑在清新的空气中舒展肢体——尽管这次跋涉加深了我对美的体验，而且是这番体验的不可或缺的环节。我来这主要是为了览胜，因此见到半穹顶自然欣喜不已。有什么样的期盼就有什么样的结果。我有备而来，心无旁骛，一心期盼着美景，不受任何实际或假设因素的干扰。真的，在攀登过程中，我周围的一切都为寻美营造了氛围。我登上了国家公园的天然山地，循着山道前来观赏闻名遐迩的大自然的鬼斧神工。攀登中的每一步不仅使我距目标越来越近，也使我感受到海拔越来越高。不出所料，穿行在茂密的树林中，登上大峡谷寸草不生的花岗岩巨石，两种不同境界给人以强烈的反差。

我精神抖擞，感官敏锐。我真切地感受到周围的一切，急于体验这一切，渴望在最充分的感官体验中得到最大满足。因此我不但目光敏锐，听觉和嗅觉也十分灵敏——我敞开心扉，尽情地体验着美的滋味。沿途所见所闻，哪怕是一点小小的愉悦，鸟雀鸣唱、树影婆娑、云卷云舒，都着实让我动情。置身于这样一个处处蕴含着美的王国，我随时准备接纳任何不期而至的景色。这样一种心态更促生了令人赏心悦目的景致，一种心旷神怡的回归自然之情在我心中油然而生。这样一种心情最适于欣赏自然美景不过了。

接着，出乎意料的景观出现了。我怎么也不曾想到，在抵达天然高地时竟然会出现一处人工建筑。在通常情况下，我要是徒步参观某处自然景点，一定会绕开这类建筑。回想起来，在山路尽头有一座服务性建筑也全在情理之中。这小屋也许曾为游客提供过方便，起过导游讲解作用。可我来到高地时，小屋不见了。虽有断垣残壁，房屋却荡然无存。而正是这片废墟使我体验到此行览胜的真正含义。如果我当时兴致索然地一路跋涉，比如像在火车站那样的地方消磨时光，周围的事物一点也不引人注意，那么我很可能会错过烟囱，只当它是沿途路过的又一棵树罢了。而现在，我的感悟力增强了，烟囱作为一道景观融入了审美体验的始终。一切取决于心态。如果一个天外美学家看到我这模样，可能会认为，它观察到的路上这个怪人准是个充满审美细胞的动物，其审美感官正处于极度警觉的状态。他已完全沉浸在审美体验所带来的愉悦之中。他朝着既定的目标行进，同时又不放过闯入视野的任何景致。奇观乍现，立即映入眼帘，他便从中发掘出最大的审美价值。此人正在经历一次美的历险。有国家公园这般天地，随处可见自然奇现，心境舒畅的游人必定会获得心满意足的发现。

这次审美体验的发现是什么？我所目睹的景致或许可以说明美的外在特征：悬崖峭壁，造型奇特，给人以强烈的空间感，两道石壁形状迥异，广袤交错，凌空矗立。此外，还有透视效果带来的愉悦：虽然与半穹顶相比石烟囱显得非常渺小，但我从山道这边靠近，看上去无论在视觉上还是空间上其气势都一点儿不亚于半穹顶。人类的复杂意图受到了辛辣的讽刺。从这一视点看过去，那烟囱是人的价值置于大山上的一道永久性标记。人类在那里垒石筑屋，以观苍石。这样看来，我来对了地方，我找到了归宿。不过人类对自然的占据被消除掉了，我们的存在与石头融为一体。大自然索回了自己的要素，半穹顶主宰着石头的世界。我感受到两种不同景致的交替，仿佛听见烟囱在和大山对话。我站在小屋废墟上，也置身于和谐统一中。