Chapter One
第一章 寫傳緣由
WYFORD， at the Bishop of St. Asaph.s， 1771.
1771年寫于都維夫圣·阿薩福教堂的主教家中。
Dear son，
I have ever had a pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the remains of my relations when you were with me in England， and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life， many of which you are yet unacquainted with， and expecting the enjoyment of a week.s uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement，I sit down to write them for you， to which I have besides some other inducements. Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred， to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world， and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity， the conducing means I made use of， which with the blessing of God so well succeeded， my posterity may like to know， as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations， and therefore fit to be imitated.
That felicity， when I reflected on it， has induced me sometimes to say， that were it offered to my choice， I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning， only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first. So I might， besides correcting the faults， change some sinister accidents and events of it for others more favorable. But though this were denied， I should still accept the offer. Since such a repetition is not to be expected， the next thing most like living one’s life over again seems to be a recollection of that life， and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing.
吾兒：
我一貫喜歡搜集自己祖上哪怕是點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴的珍聞逸事。你可能還記得，為此我曾特意去過英格蘭，跟那些依舊健在的族中老人們打聽這些事，當(dāng)時(shí)你也隨我一同前往。想到你可能也同樣樂于了解我一生的境遇，而且，有許多的經(jīng)歷是你不曾知曉的，加之在現(xiàn)住的鄉(xiāng)間別墅里，我恰好有大概整整一個(gè)星期不受任何人打擾的悠閑時(shí)光，于是坐下來，想把這些事情記述出來給你看。除此之外，之所以寫這些東西，我還有一些別的目的。我出身低微，幼年在貧寒的家庭中長大，后來竟能夠生活優(yōu)裕，并在世界上贏得了些許的聲名，迄今為止我的一生總是好運(yùn)相伴。我的為人處世之道，承蒙上帝恩惠，讓我有了今天這些成就。我的后代子孫們可能想了解這些處世之道是什么，也許他們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)其中的某些情況跟他們的情形有相似之處，因此可以用于借鑒和模仿。
每次回想起自己一生中碰到的好運(yùn)氣，我總是忍不住感慨，如果再給我一次重新選擇人生的機(jī)會(huì)，我也不會(huì)反對將自己的人生從頭到尾再重演一次，只希望能像作家們在作品再版時(shí)會(huì)校正初版的錯(cuò)誤一樣，可以對人生做一些小小的修正。除了能改正其中的一些錯(cuò)誤以外，我可能還會(huì)把人生中的某些不好的事情和事件做一些變動(dòng)以利于他人。但是，即便沒有這種修正的機(jī)會(huì)，我仍然愿意將自己的人生重新過一遍。當(dāng)然，人生是不可能重復(fù)去過的，那么最接近于重演人生的方式莫過于回憶自己的一生，將這些回憶盡可能地付諸筆端了。
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