On Fear論恐懼

I am disposed to agree with Captain Dolbey that the man who knows no fear exists only in the imagination of the lady novelist or those who fight their battles at the base. He is invented because these na?ve people suppose that a hero who is conscious of fear ceases to be a hero. But the truth surely is that there would be no merit in being brave if you had no fear. The real victory of the hero is not over outward circumstance， but over himself. One of the bravest men of our time is a man who was born timid and nervous and suffered tortures of apprehension， and who set himself to the deliberate conquest of his fears by challenging every danger that crossed his path and even going out of his way to meet the things he dreaded. By sheer will he beat down the enemy within， and to the external world he seemed like a man who knew no fear. But the very essence of his heroism was that he had fought fear and won.

我傾向于同意道爾比上尉的觀點，他表示，不知恐懼為何物的人只存在于女性小說家的想象或在作戰(zhàn)基地打仗的人之中。這樣的人之所以被塑造出來，是因為天真的人們認為，一個英雄感覺到了恐懼便不再是英雄了。但真相肯定是，如果沒有恐懼，那么你就算是很勇敢也沒什么了不起。英雄真正的勝利不在于克服外在的困難，而是能戰(zhàn)勝自我。我們這個時代最勇敢的人之一，是一位生來就很膽怯的人，他深受憂懼之害。為了有意識地克服恐懼，他挑戰(zhàn)自己碰上的每一個危險，甚至還特意去接觸自己懼怕之事。他全憑意志力打敗了內(nèi)心的敵人，在世人眼中仿若不知恐懼為何物。然而其英雄氣概的本質(zhì)在于與恐懼搏斗并最終取勝。

It is time we got rid of the notion that there is anything discreditable in knowing fear. You might as well say that there is something discreditable in being tempted to tell a 1hood. The virtue is not in having no temptation to lie， but in being tempted to lie and yet telling the truth. And the more you are tempted the more splendid is the resistance. Without temptation you may make a plaster saint， but not a human hero. That is why the familiar story of Nelson when a boy—”Fear！ grandmother. I never saw fear. What is it？”—is so essentially 1. Nelson did some of the bravest things ever done by man. They were brave to the brink of recklessness. The whole episode of the battle of Copenhagen was a breathless challenge to all the dictates of prudence. On the facts one would be compelled to admit that it was an act of uncalculating recklessness， except for one incident which flashes a sudden light on the mind of Nelson and reveals his astonishing command of himself and of circumstance. When the issue was trembling in the balance1 and every moment lost might mean disaster， he prepared his audacious message of terms to the Crown Prince ashore. It was a magnificent piece of what， in these days， we should call camouflage. When he had written it， a wafer was given him， but he ordered a candle to be brought from the cockpit and sealed the letter with wax2， affixing a larger seal than he ordinarily used. “This，” said he， “is no time to appear hurried and informal.” With such triumphant self-possession could he trample on3 fear when he had a great end in view. But when there was nothing at stake he could be as fearful as anybody， as in the accident to his carriage， recorded， I think， in Southey’s “Life of Nelson.”

“心懷恐懼是不光彩的”——現(xiàn)在是時候擺脫這樣的觀念了。你還不如說，經(jīng)不住誘惑而說假話令人不齒。美德不在于沒有受到說謊的誘惑，而在于雖受到謊言的誘惑卻仍堅守真言。誘惑越強烈，抗拒就越非凡。沒有誘惑，你是個熟石膏做的圣人，但卻不是個有血有肉的英雄。這就是為何那個眾所周知的關(guān)于納爾遜小時候的故事讓人一聽就是假話了——“祖母，恐懼！我從未見過恐懼。它是什么？”納爾遜立下了人類史上最英勇的功績。他的英勇幾近魯莽，而哥本哈根海戰(zhàn)的全過程驚心動魄，更是對一切審慎準則的挑戰(zhàn)。根據(jù)事實，人們不得不承認，這是一次不計后果的魯莽之舉，但有一件事讓人們洞察到納爾遜的將才謀略，展現(xiàn)出他對自身和形勢驚人的掌控力。當(dāng)戰(zhàn)局懸于一線、分秒延誤皆可釀成大禍之際，他竟寫信給岸上的王儲談條件。這是在今天看來應(yīng)稱為偽裝的壯舉。待文書擬就，侍從呈上一張封緘膠紙，他卻命人從舵艙中拿來蠟燭，用火漆封了信，加蓋比平日更大的印章。“此刻，”他說，“絕不能顯得我們倉促失禮。”只有胸懷宏圖時，他才能以得勝的泰然睥睨恐懼。但是，在尋常境遇中，他跟其他人一樣遇到危險會害怕，在他的馬車出現(xiàn)意外時便是如此——我想，騷塞的《納爾遜傳》中記載了這件事。

That incident of young Swinburne’s climb of Culver Cliff， in the Isle of Wight， expresses the common-sense of the matter very well. At the age of seventeen he wanted to be a cavalry officer， and he decided to climb Culver Cliff， which was believed to be impregnable4， “as a chance of testing my nerve in the face of death which could not be surpassed.” He performed the feat， and then confessed his hardihood to his mother.

青年斯溫伯恩攀登懷特島卡爾弗懸崖的軼事恰為此事作了絕妙注解。他17歲時想成為騎兵軍官，就決定去爬世人眼中不可征服的卡爾弗懸崖，“借此考驗我在面對不可逾越的死亡時的勇氣”。他完成了這項壯舉，后來向母親坦白自己的大無畏。

“Of course，” he said， “she wanted to know why I had done such a thing， and when I told her she laughed a short sweet laugh， most satisfactory to the young ear， and said， ‘Nobody ever thought you were a coward， my boy.’ I said that was all very well， but how could I tell till I tried？ ‘But you won’t do it again？’ she said. I replied， ‘Of course not—where would be the fun？’”

他說：“當(dāng)然，她想知道我為何要做這樣的事。我解釋了，她和藹地輕輕一笑，讓年輕的我頓感安心。她說：‘孩子，從沒有人認為你是懦夫。’我說，那很好啊，但我不試一試的話，又怎么知道自己是不是懦夫呢？她問：‘你不會再做這樣的事吧？’我答道：‘當(dāng)然不會了，再做還有什么樂趣呢？’”

It was not that he had no fear： it was that he wanted to convince himself that he was able to master his fear when the emergency came. Having discovered that he had fear under his control there was no sense in taking risks for the mere sake of taking them.

他并非無所畏懼。他只是想讓自己相信：當(dāng)緊急情況發(fā)生時，他能夠主宰自己的恐懼。當(dāng)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己能夠控制恐懼時，便沒有理由為了冒險而去冒險了。

Most fears are purely subjective， the phantoms of a too vivid mind. I was looking over a deserted house situated in large grounds in the country the other day. It had been empty since the beginning of the war. Up to then it had been occupied by a man in the shipping trade. On the day that war was declared he rushed into the house and cried， “We have declared war on Germany; I am ruined.” Then he went out and shot himself. Had his mind been disciplined against panic he would have mastered his fears， and would have discovered that he had the luck to be in a trade which has benefited by the war more， perhaps， than any other.

多數(shù)恐懼純屬主觀感受，不過是大腦過于活躍而產(chǎn)生的幻象。前些日子，我察看了一處坐落于鄉(xiāng)間廣闊莊園內(nèi)的廢棄宅邸。自戰(zhàn)爭開始時，它就是空著的了。在那之前，它的主人是一位從事航運的人。在宣戰(zhàn)的那一天，他沖進房子里，喊道：“我們向德國宣戰(zhàn)了。我完蛋了。”然后他走了出去，飲彈自盡。如果他可以沉著應(yīng)對恐慌，他就能掌控住自己的恐懼，也會發(fā)現(xiàn)其實自己運氣很好，因為航運業(yè)或許比其他任何行業(yè)從戰(zhàn)爭中獲益都多。

In this case it was the sudden impact of fear that overthrew reason from its balance， but in other cases fear is a maggot in the brain that grows by brooding. There is a story of Maupassant’s， which illustrates how a man who is not a coward may literally die of fright， by dwelling upon fear. He had resented5 the conduct of a man in a restaurant， who had stared insolently6 at a lady who was with him. His action led to a challenge from the offender， and an arrangement to meet next morning. When he got home， instead of going to bed， he began to wonder who his foe was， to hunt for his name in directories， to recall the cold assurance of his challenge， and to invest him with all sorts of terrors as a marksman. As the night advanced he passed through all the stages from anxious curiosity to panic， and when his valet called him at dawn he found a corpse. Like the shipowner， he had shot himself to escape the terrors of his mind.

在這種情況下，突如其來的恐懼擊潰了理智的天平，但在其他情況下，恐懼猶如腦中蛆蟲，在反復(fù)思慮中滋長。莫泊桑有一個故事，描寫了一個并不懦弱、卻沉湎于恐懼的人是如何驚懼而亡的。在餐廳里他不滿一個男子無禮地盯著自己的女伴。他的行為招致對方的決斗挑戰(zhàn)，雙方約定第二天早晨一決高下。他到家后沒有去睡覺，而是開始琢磨自己的敵手是什么人。他在電話簿里搜尋這個人的姓名，回想那冰冷倨傲的挑戰(zhàn)語氣，更將對方幻想成百發(fā)百中的神槍手，令自己膽戰(zhàn)心驚。隨著時間的推移，他經(jīng)歷了從焦急好奇到恐慌不已的所有階段。清晨時，貼身男仆來喚他起床，看到的卻是一具尸體。他就像那位船主，為了逃離心中的恐懼而飲彈自盡。

It is the imaginative people who suffer most from fear. Give them only a hint of peril， and their minds will explore the whole circumference of disastrous consequences. It is not a bad thing in this world to be born a little dull and unimaginative. You will have a much more comfortable time. And if you have not taken that precaution， you will do well to have a prosaic person handy to correct your fantasies. Therein Don Quixote showed his wisdom. In the romantic theatre of his mind perils rose like giants on every horizon; but there was always Sancho Panza on his donkey， ready to prick the bubbles of his master with the broadsword of his incomparable stupidity.

富于想象力的人是最受恐懼之苦的。只給他們一點點關(guān)于危險的暗示，他們便會聯(lián)想到災(zāi)難性后果的方方面面。在這世上，生來就有點無趣、缺乏想象力并不是件壞事——那樣會過得舒服得多。倘若未得此先天庇佑，最好身邊備個乏味之人來糾正你的幻想。就這一點來說，堂吉訶德展現(xiàn)了他的智慧。在他充滿奇思異想的大腦中，危險從四面八方像巨人一樣出現(xiàn)，但總有騎著驢的桑丘·潘沙隨時準備用無與倫比的愚蠢之劍刺破他主人的幻想泡沫。

1 in the balance懸而未決；結(jié)果未定。

2 wax火漆；封蠟。" 3 trample on輕視，看不起。" 4 impregnable不可戰(zhàn)勝的。

5 resent感到憤恨；不滿。" 6 insolently無禮地，侮慢地。