第 6 节
作者:匆匆      更新:2024-04-07 11:54      字数:9322
  1。 From any given essay; group together sentences which are long;
  short; loose; periodic; balanced; simple; compound; note those
  peculiar; for any reason; to Huxley。
  2。 Stevenson says; 〃The one rule is to be infinitely various; to
  interest; to disappoint; to surprise and still to gratify; to be
  ever changing; as it were; the stitch; and yet still to give the
  effect of ingenious neatness。〃
  Do Huxley's sentences conform to Stevenson's rule?  Compare
  Huxley's sentences with Stevenson's for variety in form。  Is there
  any reason for the difference between the form of the two writers?
  3。 Does this quotation from Pater's essay on Style describe
  Huxley's sentences?  〃The blithe; crisp sentence; decisive as a
  child's expression of its needs; may alternate with the long…
  contending; victoriously intricate sentence; the sentence; born
  with the integrity of a single word; relieving the sort of sentence
  in which; if you look closely; you can see contrivance; much
  adjustment; to bring a highly qualified matter into compass at one
  view。〃
  4。 How do Huxley's sentences compare with those of Ruskin; or with
  those of any author recently studied?
  5。 Are Huxley's sentences musical?  How does an author make his
  sentences musical?
  C。 Questions on words。
  1。 Do you find evidence of exactness; a quality which Huxley said
  he labored for?
  2。 Are the words general or specific in character?
  3。 How does Huxley make his subject…matter attractive?
  4。 From what sources does Huxley derive his words?  Are they every…
  day words; or more scholarly in character?
  5。 Do you find any figures?  Are these mainly ornamental or do they
  re…enforce the thought?
  8。 Are there many allusions and quotations?  Can you easily
  recognize the source?
  7。 Pater says in his essay on Style that the literary artist
  〃begets a vocabulary faithful to the colouring of his own spirit;
  and in the strictest sense original。〃  Do you find that Huxley's
  vocabulary suggests the man?
  8。 Does Huxley seem to search for 〃the smooth; or winsome; or
  forcible word; as such; or quite simply and honestly; for the
  word's adjustment to its meaning〃?
  9。 Make out a list of the words and proper names in any given essay
  which are not familiar to you; write out the explanation of these
  in the form of notes giving any information which is interesting
  and relevant。
  D。 General questions on style。
  1。 How is Huxley's style adapted to the subject…matter?
  2。 Can you explain the difference in style of the different essays
  by the difference in purpose?
  3。 Compare Huxley's way of saying things with some other author's
  way of saying things。
  4。 Huxley says of his essays to workingmen; 〃I only wish I had had
  the sense to anticipate the run these have had here and abroad; and
  I would have revised them properly。  As they stand they are
  terribily in the rough; from a literary point of view。〃
  Do you find evidences of roughness?
  THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
  AUTOBIOGRAPHY '1'
  And when I consider; in one view; the many things 。 。 。 which I
  have upon my hands; I feel the burlesque of being employed in this
  manner at my time of life。  But; in another view; and taking in all
  circumstances; these things; as trifling as they may appear; no
  less than things of greater importance; seem to be put upon me to
  do。Bishop Butler to the Duchess of Somerset。
  The 〃many things〃 to which the Duchess's correspondent here refers
  are the repairs and improvements of the episcopal seat at Auckland。
  I doubt if the great apologist; greater in nothing than in the
  simple dignity of his character; would have considered the writing
  an account of himself as a thing which could be put upon him to do
  whatever circumstances might be taken in。  But the good bishop
  lived in an age when a man might write books and yet be permitted
  to keep his private existence to himself; in the pre…Boswellian '2'
  epoch; when the germ of the photographer lay concealed in the
  distant future; and the interviewer who pervades our age was an
  unforeseen; indeed unimaginable; birth of time。
  At present; the most convinced believer in the aphorism 〃Bene qui
  latuit; bene vixit;〃'3' is not always able to act up to it。  An
  importunate person informs him that his portrait is about to be
  published and will be accompanied by a biography which the
  importunate person proposes to write。  The sufferer knows what that
  means; either he undertakes to revise the 〃biography〃 or he does
  not。  In the former case; he makes himself responsible; in the
  latter; he allows the publication of a mass of more or less fulsome
  inaccuracies for which he will be held responsible by those who are
  familiar with the prevalent art of self…advertisement。  On the
  whole; it may be better to get over the 〃burlesque of being
  employed in this manner〃 and do the thing himself。
  It was by reflections of this kind that; some years ago; I was led
  to write and permit the publication of the subjoined sketch。
  I was born about eight o'clock in the morning on the 4th of May;
  1825; at Ealing; which was; at that time; as quiet a little country
  village as could be found within a half…a…dozen miles of Hyde Park
  Corner。  Now it is a suburb of London with; I believe; 30;000
  inhabitants。  My father was one of the masters in a large semi…
  public school which at one time had a high reputation。  I am not
  aware that any portents preceded my arrival in this world; but; in
  my childhood; I remember hearing a traditional account of the
  manner in which I lost the chance of an endowment of great
  practical value。  The windows of my mother's room were open; in
  consequence of the unusual warmth of the weather。  For the same
  reason; probably; a neighbouring beehive had swarmed; and the new
  colony; pitching on the window…sill; was making its way into the
  room when the horrified nurse shut down the sash。  If that well…
  meaning woman had only abstained from her ill…timed interference;
  the swarm might have settled on my lips; and I should have been
  endowed with that mellifluous eloquence which; in this country;
  leads far more surely than worth; capacity; or honest work; to the
  highest places in Church and State。  But the opportunity was lost;
  and I have been obliged to content myself through life with saying
  what I mean in the plainest of plain language; than which; I
  suppose; there is no habit more ruinous to a man's prospects of
  advancement。
  Why I was christened Thomas Henry I do not know; but it is a
  curious chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual
  denomination upon the name of that particular Apostle with whom I
  have always felt most sympathy。  Physically and mentally I am the
  son of my mother so completelyeven down to peculiar movements of
  the hands; which made their appearance in me as I reached the age
  she had when I noticed themthat I can hardly find any trace of my
  father in myself; except an inborn faculty for drawing; which
  unfortunately; in my case; has never been cultivated; a hot temper;
  and that amount of tenacity of purpose which unfriendly observers
  sometimes call obstinacy。
  My mother was a slender brunette; of an emotional and energetic
  temperament; and possessed of the most piercing black eyes I ever
  saw in a woman's head。  With no more education than other women of
  the middle classes in her day; she had an excellent mental
  capacity。  Her most distinguishing characteristic; however; was
  rapidity of thought。  If one ventured to suggest she had not taken
  much time to arrive at any conclusion; she would say; 〃I cannot
  help it; things flash across me。〃  That peculiarity has been passed
  on to me in full strength; it has often stood me in good stead; it
  has sometimes played me sad tricks; and it has always been a
  danger。  But; after all; if my time were to come over again; there
  is nothing I would less willingly part with than my inheritance of
  mother wit。
  I have next to nothing to say about my childhood。  In later years
  my mother; looking at me almost reproachfully; would sometimes say;
  〃Ah! you were such a pretty boy!〃 whence I had no difficulty in
  concluding that I had not fulfilled my early promise in the matter
  of looks。  In fact; I have a distinct recollection of certain curls
  of which I was vain; and of a conviction that I closely resembled
  that handsome; courtly gentleman; Sir Herbert Oakley; who was vicar
  of our parish; and who was as a god to us country folk; because he
  was occasionally visited by the then Prince George of Cambridge。 '4'
  I remember turning my pinafore wrong side forwards in order to
  represent a surplice; and preaching to my mother's maids in the
  kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's manner one Sunday
  morning when the rest of the family were at church。  That is the
  earliest indication I can call to mind of the strong clerical
  affinities wh