Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
本文作者阿爾德斯·赫胥黎為英國維多利亞朝思想家赫胥黎（T. H. Huxley）之孫，家學淵源，才氣縱橫，為本世紀文壇一大怪傑。論學問之淵博，文思之敏捷，當世恐罕有其匹。識者論其為才華有餘，深沉不足，晚年潛心宗教，作風亦漸從絢爛歸於平淡。著作極多：長篇小說有Point Counter Point, Brave New World等十一種；大半短篇小說已集於Collected Short Stories（1957）；Collected Essays（1959）則為其散文選集。
本文選自1953年12月份美國Esquire雜誌，原題「The Fresh of Paris」，所談皆有關法國歷史文化，讀來似親聆一文壇前輩之閒話家常也。此處所錄數段，似可獨立成一小品文字。
As a child, as a schoolboy, I knew only the physical appearance of Paris and the Parisians. But as my knowledge of French increased, I became aware of other, less obvious aspects of the city. By the time I was eighteen I had developed a passion for French literature. But literature implies books and books imply bookshops, and there are more bookshops to the square mile in Paris than in any other city with which I am acquainted.
● physical appearance：物質方面的外表，指街道房屋等。Parisians：巴黎人。
● aware of：從耳目方面覺察而知。obvious：明顯。aspects：方面。我的法文程度漸漸進步，我覺察出來巴黎城還有比較少受人注意的別的種種方面。
● passion：強烈愛好。
● implies：關聯。文學一定牽連到書本，說到文學，便不得不說到書本。to the square mile in Paris：巴黎每平方里上面書店之多，勝過我所見識過的任何城市。注意介詞to的用法。
These bookshops! What an immense profusion! What a blessed cheapness! In those days there were reprints of practically everything at ninety-five centimes. And the latest novel or volume of essays cost only three francs fifty. Except for collectors\' items, the price of secondhand books was no less reasonable. In their brown calfskin, if they were of the seventeenth or eighteenth century, in paper or in mottled boards, if they had been published after 1820, they stood there in the deliciously smelly twilight, shelf above shelf, from floor to ceiling. Those dim caverns of forgotten literature, of dead philosophy and superannuated science, were earthly paradises. And when their darkness became a little oppressive, there were the open-air markets on the Quais. Half a mile of books and old engravings, with the river immediately behind and below them, and the Louvre rising majestically in the background.
● 第一段文字甚簡單，本段則於選字造句，多用功夫。
● 一起頭連用三個驚歎句：第一句呼應上段，引起「書店」正文。第二句道書店之多，英文關於「多」這一個概念，可用之字甚多，作者拈出profusion一字，則表示「觸目皆是，多不勝收」，再加上形容詞immense，則多之極矣。第三句說書店售價之低廉，用一形容詞blessed，則有「為寒士造福」之意。
● reprints of practically everything：幾乎什麼樣的書都有翻印本。reprint常指已喪失版權或得原版權持有人同意後複印之書。centime和franc（法郎）皆法國貨幣，I franc=100 centimes。
● collectors\' items：藏書家的（珍）品。secondhand books：舊書，（轉讓的書）；它們的價錢和新書（包括reprints和latest novel等），一樣地「合理」（reasonable）。
● 講起舊書，作者的興致又提起來了。文章至此，辭藻轉趨華麗，作者要把巴黎淘舊書的樂趣，形諸筆墨，非盡力描寫，恐不足道出當年情景也。
● 他舉了兩種舊書，一種是出版於十七八世紀，書皮用棕色犢皮（calfskin）；另一種於1820年以後出版，書皮用軟紙，或用有斑紋圖案的硬紙（mottled board）。作者所以只描寫書皮而不及內容者，因為淘舊書的人第一眼所注意的應該只是書的外表。
● 書架上一層一層（shelf）地站滿了舊書，下起地板，上迄天花板。書店內部情形怎麼樣呢？作者只用三個字來描寫：deliciously smelly twilight。幽暗之中，有異香焉。此處筆墨所以能如此經濟，全仗用了twilight（朦朧）這樣一個名詞；只說「幽暗」，而不說「幽暗的地方」，這是文章功力所在，善文者當能深體此意。smelly應該是「臭」，（《綜合英漢大辭典》即直稱之為「臭」），至少是有怪味，然而前面加了個副詞deliciously，只好說是「異香神怡」了。
● 次句用兩個字dim cavern（幽暗的洞穴），又是說書店裡的光線不佳。那樣的環境裡藏著文學、哲學、科學三科的舊書；作者用了三個形容詞forgotten, dead, superannuated（逾齡的，老朽的），三字除末字稍僻外，首兩字均普通，意義均相仿，然在此處用來，似乎個個皆見功夫。被人遺忘了的文學書，喪失了生命的哲學書，老朽無用的科學書。讀者細心體會，當可覺得作者選用這三個字的苦心也。earthly paradise：人間天堂。
● their darkness之their指caverns。oppressive：悶人，使人覺得氣悶。open-air：露天的。Quai（法文）：碼頭，指巴黎塞納（Seine）河畔的碼頭。
● engravings：版畫（石印、木刻等）。Louvre：盧浮宮，巴黎著名博物院。majestically：巍然。河畔書攤林立，舊書古書，連綿不絕，長達半里；塞納河即緊靠其後，自下流過；稍遠而雄峙於後方者，則Louvre博物院是也。形容博物院的形勢，不說standing，而說rising，文章即更見活潑，本來死的靜的東西，被作者說成活的動的了。
Then came the Deluge. When the tide of blood had withdrawn, when, in 1919, it became possible once more to travel on the Continent, the franc was a thing of paper, worth only a fifth of its gold-based predecessor. But the bookstalls along the river, the secondhand shops around Saint-Sulpice, the huge emporium under the arcades of the Odeon, the specialists in erudition of the Boulevard Saint-Michel—they were all there, as though nothing had happened.
● Deluge：洪水；尤指《舊約·創世紀》所記之洪水。相傳法王路易十五曾有言曰：「朕死之後，洪水任其氾濫可也。」（After me, the deluge!）後法國大革命果於路易十六王朝發生。此處恐指第一次歐戰而言，觀第二句自明。
● the tide of blood had withdrawn：血潮退盡。按：第一次歐戰於1918年結束，1919年召開巴黎和會。
● a fifth：五分之一。predecessor：前身，戰前的法郎。gold-based：黃金本位的。
● bookstalls：書攤。Saint-Sulpice：教堂名。emporium：市場。arcades：環廊。Odeon：巴黎有名之劇院。specialists：專家。erudition：學問，尤指博聞強記的學問。那些書店掌櫃學識都很淵博。Boulevard Saint-Michel：路名，為巴黎不甚高貴的繁華區域。塞納河畔，Saint-Sulpice教堂的四周，Odeon劇院廊下的市場，Saint-Michel大道，都是巴黎書店書攤薈萃之區，猶如談起北平的舊書來，不得不提廠甸、東安市場、隆福寺等地也。
● as though nothing had happened：好像沒有打過仗，法郎也沒有貶值一般。
Meanwhile, though the economic handicaps are daily increasing, a torrent of new volumes continues to pour from the presses of France. The bookshops are still in business, not merely in Paris, but throughout the provinces. Traveling through the United States, I have found myself in cities of fifty thousand inhabitants, where it was impossible to buy a book. In France you can buy Gide at most railway stations and Valery practically everywhere.
● economic handicaps：經濟上的阻礙，書的成本貴了，買書的人經濟力量差了。torrent：洶湧激流。presses：印刷機。此字也可轉作印刷廠解，但這裡如作印刷機解，似乎更生動，更可傳神。經濟困難雖與日俱增，但新書還是源源不斷地出版。
● still in business：照常營業。provinces：巴黎以外的各外省。
● inhabitants：居民（人口數）。
● Gide即Andre Gide（1869—1951）：普通譯作紀德，法國小說家、批評家。Valery即Paul Ambroise Valery（1871—1945），普通譯作梵樂希，法國詩人、哲學家。英文慣例，作家之名即可代表其著作，故不必說「you can buy Gide\'s works」。紀德和梵樂希都是所謂高級趣味（highbrow）的作家，而其作品在法國幾乎可以到處購得，足見法國文風之盛，迄未稍衰焉。