By+Italo+Calvino

From this period in the brigands（強(qiáng)盜）company Cosimo had acquired a passion for reading and study which remained with him for the rest of his life. The attitude in which we now usually found him was astride（兩腿分開跨在……上）a comfortable branch with a book open in his hand， or his back against a fork（枝杈）as if on a school bench， with a sheet of paper on a plank（厚木板）and an inkstand（墨水瓶）in a hole of the tree， writing with a long quill pen（羽管筆）.

Now it was he who would go and look for the Abbé（神父）Fauchelefleur to give him lessons， to explain Tacitus or Ovid and the celestial bodies（天體）and the laws of chemistry.1 But the old priest， apart from a bit of grammar and a scrap of theology（神學(xué)）， was foundering （沉沒）in a sea of doubts and rifts（裂縫）， and at his pupils questions he would open his arms and raise his eyes to the sky.

“Mon Abbé（my priest）， how many wives can one have in Persia？” “Mon Abbé， who is the Savoyard Vicar2？” “Mon Abbé， can you explain the systems of Linnaeus3？” “Alors…Maintenant…Voyons…（那么……現(xiàn)在……瞧……）” would begin the Abbé， then hesitate and go no further.

But Cosimo， who was devouring（如饑似渴地讀）books of every kind， and spending half his time in reading and half in hunting to pay the booksellers bills， always had some new story to tell him. Of Rousseau（盧梭，法國啟蒙思想家）botanizing（采集、研究植物）on his walks through the forests of Switzerland， or Benjamin Franklin（本杰明·富蘭克林，美國政治家及科學(xué)家）trying to capture lightning with an eagle， of the Baron de la Hontan（拉洪坦男爵，一位法國士兵、旅行家）living happily among the Indians of America.

Old Fauchelefleur seemed to listen to all this with surprised attention， whether from real interest or only from relief at not having to teach himself， I dont know； and he would nod and interject（突然插話）a “Non！ Dites-Moi?。ú唬∧愀嬖V我?。眞hen Cosimo turned to him and asked “Do you know how it is that…？” or with a“Tiens！ Cest bien epatant！”（??！太棒了?。﹚hen Cosimo gave him a reply； and sometimes a “Mon Dieu?。ㄎ业纳系郯。。?which could be either from exultation（狂喜）at this new revelation（啟示）of the greatness of God， or from regret at the omnipresence（無處不在）of Evil still rampant（猖獗的）in the world under so many guises（表現(xiàn)形式）.

To these sudden about-turns（觀點(diǎn)和看法交替轉(zhuǎn)換）of the Abbé， Cosimo did not dare say a word， for fear of being criticized for incoherence（無條理）and lack of rigor（嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)）， and his proliferating（激增的）thoughts would go arid（貧瘠的）as if they had suddenly wandered into some marble cemetery（墓地）. Luckily the Abbé would soon tire of these tensions of the will， and sit there looking exhausted， as if this whittling away（削弱）of every concept to its pure essence left him the prey（受害者）of impalpable（感觸不到的）shadows； he would blink， give a sigh， turn the sigh to a yawn（哈欠）， and go back into his nirvana（涅槃，這里指入睡）.

But between one and other of these habits of mind he was now spending his entire days following the studies being pursued by Cosimo， shuttlecocking（往返遞送）between the trees where Cosimo was perched（盤踞于樹枝上的）and Orbecches shop， ordering books from Amsterdam or Paris， and taking out those newly arrived. And thus came his disaster. For the rumor reached the Ecclesiastical Tribunal（教會法庭）that there was a priest at Ombrosa（翁布羅薩）who read all the most forbidden books in Europe. One afternoon the police appeared at our house with orders to inspect the Abbés cell. Among his breviaries（每日祈禱書）they found the works of Bayle4， still uncut（未拆封的）， but this was enough for them to put him between them and take him away.

Anyway， the Abbés arrest had no effects on the progress of Cosimos education. And from that period dates his correspondence with the major philosophers and scientists of Europe， to who he wrote in the hope of their resolving his queries（解決他的困惑）and objections， or perhaps just for the pleasure of discussion with superior minds and also the practice of foreign languages. It was a pity that all his papers， which he kept in a hollow（空心的）tree trunk known only to himself， have never been found and must certainly by now be mouldy（發(fā)霉的）or nibbled away（一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)地被咬）by squirrels； there would be letters among them in the handwriting of the most famous scholars of the century.

On the strongest of these bookcases were ranged the tomes（大部頭的書）of Diderot and DAlemberts Encyclopaedia5 as they reached him from a bookseller at Leghorn（意大利港口城市里窩那）. And though recently all his living with books had put his head rather in the clouds and made him less interested in the world around him， now on the other hand reading the Encyclopaedia， and beautiful words like Abeille（蜜蜂）， Arbre（樹）， Bois（樹林）， Jardin（花園）， made him rediscover everything around him as if seeing them for the first time.

This last story shows that the people of Ombrosa， who before had been teeming with（充滿）gossip about my brothers love life， now， faced with this passion exploding as it were right above their heads， maintained a dignified reserve（有尊嚴(yán)的緘默）， as towards something bigger than themselves. Not that they did not criticize the Marchesas（公爵夫人，即指貴族女孩薇莪拉，她曾嫁給公爵，但很快成了寡婦）conduct； but more for its exterior（外表的）aspects， such as that breakneck（極快的，非常危險(xiǎn)的）galloping（疾馳）of hers （“Where can she be going， at such a pace？”） and that continual hoisting（抬升）of furniture on to tree-tops. There was already an air among them of considering it all just as one of the nobles（貴族）ways， one of their many extravaganzas（張揚(yáng)的言行）.（“All up trees， nowadays； women， men. Whatll they think of next？”） In fact， times were coming that were to be more tolerant， but also more hypocritical（虛偽的）.

Now the Baron would only show himself at rare intervals on the ilexes（冬青樹）in the square， and when he did it was a sign that she had left. For Viola was sometimes away months seeing to her properties scattered all over Europe， though these departures of hers always corresponded to moments of shock in their relationship， when the Marchesa had been offended with Cosimos not understanding what she wanted him to understand about love. Not that Viola left in this state of mind： they always managed to make it up before， though there remained the suspicion in him that she had decided on this particular journey from tiredness with him， because he could not prevent her going， perhaps she was already breaking away from him， perhaps some incident on the journey or a pause for reflection would decide her not to return. So my brother would live in a state of anxiety. He would try to go back to the habitual life he led before meeting her， to hunt and fish， follow the work in the fields， his studies， the gossip in the square， as if he had never done anything else （there persisted in him the stubborn youthful pride of refusing ever to admit himself under anyone elses influence）； and at the same time he would congratulate himself on how much love was giving， the alacrity（敏捷）， the pride； but on the other hand he noticed that so many things no longer mattered to him， that without Viola life had no savor（滋味）， that his thoughts were always following her. The more he tried， away from the whirlwind（一片忙亂）of Violas presence， to reacquire command of passions and pleasures in a wise economy of mind， the more he felt the void（空虛）left by her or the fever for her return. In fact his love was just what Viola wanted it to be， not as he pretended it was； it was always the women who triumphed， even from a distance， and Cosimo， in spite of himself， ended by enjoying it.

Suddenly the Marchesa would return. Once again the season of love on the trees began but also that of jealousy. Where had Viola been？ What had she done？ Cosimo was longing to know but at the same time afraid of how she answered his inquiries all by hints， and every hint seemed to insinuate（含沙射影）itself as a suspicion and he realized that though she was doing this to torment（折磨）him， it could all be quite true； and in this uncertain state of mind he would mask his jealousy at one moment then let it break out violently the next， and Viola would reply in a way that was always different and always unforeseeable（不可預(yù)見的）， and at one moment seem more tied to him than ever， at another to be beyond any fanning of the flame（把愛情之火扇得更旺）.

1. Tacitus： 塔西佗（55—AD120），古羅馬元老院議員、歷史學(xué)家，曾任行政長官，“塔西佗陷阱”（Tacitus Trap）即得名于此，指當(dāng)政府部門失去公信力時(shí)，無論說真話還是假話，做好事還是壞事，都會被認(rèn)為是說假話、做壞事；Ovid： 奧維德（43BC—AD17/18），古羅馬詩人，代表作有《變形記》、《愛的藝術(shù)》和《愛情三論》，后因得罪奧古斯都（古羅馬開國皇帝）而遭流放。

2. Savoyard Vicar： 薩瓦牧師，出自法國啟蒙思想家盧梭代表作《愛彌兒》中的“一個(gè)薩瓦牧師的信仰自白”。忘記宗教、逃離異鄉(xiāng)的少年盧梭被薩瓦省一個(gè)品格高尚的牧師搭救，牧師向他講述了自己的宗教與信仰觀念。

3. Linnaeus： 卡爾·馮·林奈（1707—1778），瑞典生物學(xué)家，奠定了現(xiàn)代生物學(xué)命名法“二名法”的基礎(chǔ)，是現(xiàn)代生物分類學(xué)之父。他首先提出界、門、綱、目、科、屬、種的物種分類法，至今被人們采用。

4. Bayle： 皮爾·拜爾（Pierre Bayle， 1647—1706），法國哲學(xué)家和評論家，主張把信仰和理性完全分開，被認(rèn)為是18世紀(jì)理性主義的先驅(qū)。

5. Diderot and DAlemberts Encyclopaedia： 18世紀(jì)法國啟蒙思想家編纂的《百科全書》，由狄德羅和達(dá)朗貝爾主編。他們反對封建特權(quán)制度和天主教會，向往合理的社會，認(rèn)為迷信、成見、愚昧無知是人類的大敵，主張一切制度和觀念要在理性的審判庭上受到批判和衡量。