1 Kant the Man 康德其人.doc

Kant the Man William Somerset Maugham Punctually at five minutes to five Lampe, his servant, waked Professor Kant and by five, in his slippers, dressing-gown and night-cap, over which he wore his three-corned hat, he seated himself in his study ready for breakfast. This consisted of a cup of weak tea and a pipe of tobacco. The next two hours he spent thinking over the lecture he was to deliver that morning. The he dressed. The lecture room was on the ground floor of his house. He lectured from seven till nine and so popular were his lectures that if you wanted a good seat you had to be there at six-thirty Kant, seated behind a little desk, spoke in a conversational tone, in a low voice, and very rarely indulged in gesture, but he enlivened his discourse with humor and abundant illustrations. His aim was to teach his students to think for themselves and he did not like it when they busied themselves with their quills to write down his every word. “Gentlemen, do not scratch so,” he said once. “I am not oracle.” It was his custom to fix his eyes on a student who sat close to him and judge by the look on his face whether or not he understood what he said. But a very small thing distracted him. On one occasion he lost the thread of his discourse because a button was wanting on the coat of one of the students, and on another, when a sleepy youth persistently yawned, he broke off to say: “If one cannot avoid yawning, good manners require that the hand should be placed before the mouth.” At nine oclock Kant returned to his room, once more put on his dressing-gown, his night-cap, his three-corned hat and his slippers and studied till exactly a quarter to one. Then he called down to his cook, told her the hour, dressed and went back to his study to await the guests he expected to dinner. He could not bear to eat alone, and there were always guests, never less than two nor more than five. As soon as they were assembled Kant told his servant to bring the dinner and himself went to fetch the silver spoons which he kept locked up with his money in a bureau in the parlour The party seated themselves in the dining-room and with the words “Now, gentlemen,” Kant set to. The meal was substantial. It was the only one he ate in the day, and consisted of soup, dried pulse with fish, roast, cheese to end with and fruit when in season. Before each guest was placed a pint bottle of red wine and a pint bottle of white so that he could drink whichever he liked. Kant was fond of talking, but preferred to talk alone, and if interrupted or contradicted was apt to show displeasure; his conversation, however, was so agreeable that none minded if he monopolized it. He would also tell humorous stories, of which he had a rich supply and which he told uncommonly well, so, he said, “that the repast may end with laughter, which is calculated to promote digestion.” He like to linger over dinner and the guests did not rise from table till late. He would not sit down after they had left in case he fell asleep, and this he would not permit himself to do since he was of opinion that sleep should be enjoyed sparingly, for thus time was saved and so life lengthened. He set out on his afternoon walk. He was a little man, barely five feet tall, with a narrow chest and one shoulder higher than the other, and he was thin almost to emaciation. He had a crooked nose, but a fine brow and his color was fresh. His eyes, though small, were blue, lively and penetrating. He was natty I his dress. He wore a small blond wig, a black tie, and a shirt with ruffles round the throat and wrists; a coat, breeches and waistcoat of fine cloth, gray silk stockings and shoes with silver buckles. He carried his three-cornered hat under his arm and in his hand a gold-headed cane. He walked every day, rain or fine, for exactly one hour, but if the weather was threatening, his servant walked behind him with a big umbrella. The only occasion on which he is known to have omitted his walk is when he received Rousseaus Emile, and then, unable to tear himself away from it, he remained indoors for three days. He walked very slowly because he thought it was bad for him to sweat, and alone because he had formed the habit of breathing through his nostrils, since thus he thought to avoid catching cold and, had he had a companion with whom courtesy would obliged him to speak, he would have been constrained to breathe through his mouth. He invariably took the same walk, along the Linden Alley, and this, according to Heine, he strolled up and down eight times. He issued from his house at precisely the same hour so that the people of the town could set their clocks by it. When he came home he returned to his study and read and wrote letters till the light failed. Then, as was his habit, fixing his eyes on the tower of a neighboring church, he pondered over the problems that just then occupied him. At a quarter to ten he suspended his arduous labor and by ten was safely tucked up in bed. Though he lived to be eighty, he never went more than sixty miles away from the town in which he was born. He suffered from frequent indispositions and was seldom free from pain, but he was able by the exertion of his will to turn his attention away from his feelings just as though they did not concern him. He was neither impulsive nor demonstrative, but he was kindly, within his scanty means generous. His intelligence was great, his power of reasoning impressive, but his emotional nature was meagre. Twice he thought seriously of marrying, but he took so long to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the step he had in mind that in the interval one of the young women he had his eye on married somebody else and the other left Konigsberg before he reached a decision.1 威廉萨默赛特毛姆（1874-1970），英国小说家，剧作家，散文家。出生于巴黎。幼年时父母双亡，回到英国后寄居在叔父家中。患有先天性口吃，内向寡言。热爱法国文学，受莫泊桑影响很大，一生著述颇丰，虽大多失之严肃深邃，但却轻松流转，睿智明慧，因而自称为“二流作家中的佼佼者”。其散文简洁明晰，朗朗上口。主要作品有长篇小说人性的枷锁、月亮与六便士，短篇小说雨，散文写作生活回忆、作家手记、随心所至等。 本篇运用简明优雅的文字，描述了伟大哲学家狼的的日常生活，使我们对他的性情习惯等有了一个比较清晰的认识，缩短了这位伟人与我们常人之间的距离。2 Heine: 海因（1797-1856），德国诗人、记者、作家。3 Konigsberg：康德的别称。 康德其人 毛姆 四点五十五分，康德的仆人兰佩准时叫醒他。五点，他穿着拖鞋、晨衣，戴着睡帽，又在睡帽上加一顶三角帽，坐在书房准备吃早饭。他的早餐包括一杯淡茶和一烟斗烟。接下来的两小时他准备早晨的讲课。然后他更衣。他讲课的课堂就在他家的底楼。他的讲课从七点开始，一直到九点结束。他的课大受欢迎，如果你想抢个好位置，非得六点半到课堂不可 康德坐在一张小书桌后面，以谈话的语气讲课，声音很轻，很少用手势，但他讲话幽默，旁征博引，使他的讲课富有生气。他的目标是培养学生进行自我思考，他不喜欢他的学生忙忙碌碌地记下他说的每一句话。 “先生们，不要忙着写，”又一次他说，“我不是在宣读神谕。” 他习惯于把目光投向坐在他旁边的学生，通过观察其表情来判断他是否已听懂。但一件小小的琐事往往会分散他的注意力。有一次，他注意到一个学生的纽扣掉了，他的思路因此而被打断。另一次，有一个学生昏昏欲睡，连连打哈欠，他打断自己的讲演。说道：“如果有人一定得打哈欠，礼貌的方法是用手捂住嘴巴。” 九点钟康德回到他的书房，又穿上晨衣、拖鞋，戴上睡帽和三角帽，一直学习到十二点三刻。然后，他把厨师叫下来，告诉她吃饭的时间。然后他更衣，回到书房，等着客人一同进餐。 他不能忍受一个人吃饭的寂寞，因此，总是有客人和他一同进餐，客人少则两人，多则五人。客人一到，康德吩咐佣人把饭端上，他自己则去取银匙，银匙跟钱一起被锁在客厅的橱柜里。 客人们在餐厅就座后，康德说声“先生们，请，”便开始用餐。这一餐的食物非常丰盛，因为这是康德白天唯一的一餐，通常有汤、干豆烧鱼、烤肉，最后是奶酪和时令水果。每位客人前放一品脱红葡萄酒和一品脱白葡萄酒，客人们想喝什么就喝什么。 康德喜欢谈话，但他喜欢一个人说，如果有人打断或反驳，就会显得不快；但他的谈话总是令人愉快，就是他一个人独说，也没人介意。 他还会讲一些幽默的故事，这些故事有很多，他讲得非常出色。他说：“据说饭后笑一笑有助于消化。” 吃饭的时候他喜欢慢慢享受，客人们一直到很晚才起身。客人们走后，他不再坐下，以免睡着。