AEGIDIUS AUCUPIS, the Erasmus of the Penguins2, was not mistaken; his age was an age of free inquiry3. But that great man mistook the elegances4 of the humanists for softness of manners, and he did not foresee the effects that the awaking of intelligence would have amongst the Penguins. It brought about the religious Reformation; Catholics massacred Protestants and Protestants massacred Catholics. Such were the first results of liberty of thought. The Catholics prevailed in Penguinia. But the spirit of inquiry had penetrated5 among them without their knowing it. They joined reason to faith, and claimed that religion had been divested6 of the superstitious7 practices that dishonoured8 it, just as in later days the booths that the cobblers, hucksters, and dealers9 in old clothes had built against the walls of the cathedrals were cleared away. The word, legend, which at first indicated what the faithful ought to read, soon suggested the idea of pious10 fables11 and childish tales.
The saints had to suffer from this state of mind. An obscure canon called Princeteau, a very austere12 and crabbed13 man, designated so great a number of them as not worthy14 of having their days observed, that he was surnamed the exposer of the saints. He did not think, for instance, that if St. Margaret’s prayer were applied15 as a poultice to a woman in travail16 that the pains of childbirth would be softened17.
Even the venerable patron saint of Penguinia did not escape his rigid18 criticism. This is what he says of her in his “Antiquities of Alca”:
“Nothing is more uncertain than the history, or even the existence, of St. Orberosia. An ancient anonymous19 annalist, a monk20 of Dombes, relates that a woman called Orberosia was possessed21 by the devil in a cavern22 where, even down to his own days, the little boys and girls of the village used to play at a sort of game representing the devil and the fair Orberosia. He adds that this woman became the concubine of a horrible dragon, who ravaged23 the country. Such a statement is hardly credible24, but the history of Orberosia, as it has since been related, seems hardly more worthy of belief. The life of that saint by the Abbot Simplicissimus is three hundred years later than the pretended events which it relates and that author shows himself excessively credulous25 and devoid26 of all critical faculty27.”
Suspicion attacked even the supernatural origin of the Penguins. The historian Ovidius Capito went so far as to deny the miracle of their transformation28. He thus begins his “Annals of Penguinia”:
“A dense29 obscurity envelopes this history, and it would be no exaggeration to say that it is a tissue of puerile30 fables and popular tales. The Penguins claim that they are descended31 from birds who were baptized by St. Mael and whom God changed into men at the intercession of that glorious apostle. They hold that, situated32 at first in the frozen ocean, their island, floating like Delos, was brought to anchor in these heaven-favoured seas, of which it is today the queen. I conclude that this myth is a reminiscence of the ancient migrations33 of the Penguins.”
In the following century, which was that of the philosophers, scepticism became still more acute. No further evidence of it is needed than the following celebrated34 passage from the “Moral Essay.”
“Arriving we know not from whence (for indeed their origins are not very clear), and successively invaded and conquered by four or five peoples from the north, south, east, and west, miscegenated, inter-bred, amalgamated35, and commingled36, the Penguins boast of the purity of their race, and with justice, for they have become a pure race. This mixture of all mankind, red, black, yellow, and white, round-headed and long-headed, has formed in the course of ages a fairly homogeneous human family, and one which is recognisable by certain features due to a community of life and customs.
“This idea that they belong to the best race in the world, and that they are its finest family, inspires them with noble pride, indomitable courage, and a hatred37 for the human race.
“The life of a people is but a succession of miseries38, crimes, and follies39. This is true of the Penguin1 nation, as of all other nations. Save for this exception its history is admirable from beginning to end.”
The two classic ages of the Penguins are too well-known for me to lay stress upon them. But what has not been sufficiently40 noticed is the way in which the rationalist theologians such as Canon Princeteau called into existence the unbelievers of the succeeding age. The former employed their reason to destroy what did not seem to them essential to their religion; they only left untouched the most rigid article of faith. Their intellectual successors, being taught by them how to make use of science and reason, employed them against whatever beliefs remained. Thus rational theology engendered41 natural philosophy.
That is why (if I may turn from the Penguins of former days to the Sovereign Pontiff, who, today governs the universal Church) we cannot admire too greatly the wisdom of Pope Pius X. in condemning42 the study of exegesis43 as contrary to revealed truth, fatal to sound theological doctrine44, and deadly to the faith. Those clerics who maintain the rights of science in opposition45 to him are pernicious doctors and pestilent teachers, and the faithful who approve of them are lacking in either mental or moral ballast.
At the end of the age of philosophers, the ancient kingdom of Penguinia was utterly46 destroyed, the king put to death, the privileges of the nobles abolished, and a Republic proclaimed in the midst of public misfortunes and while a terrible war was raging. The assembly which then governed Penguinia ordered all the metal articles contained in the churches to be melted down. The patriots47 even desecrated48 the tombs of the kings. It is said that when the tomb of Draco the Great was opened, that king presented an appearance as black as ebony and so majestic49 that those who profaned50 his corpse51 fled in terror. According to other accounts, these churlish men insulted him by putting a pipe in his mouth and derisively52 offering him a glass of wine.
On the seventeenth day of the month of May-flowers, the shrine53 of St. Orberosia, which had for five hundred years been exposed to the veneration54 of the faithful in the Church of St. Mael, was transported into the town-hall and submitted to the examination of a jury of experts appointed by the municipality. It was made of gilded55 copper56 in shape like the nave57 of a church, entirely58 covered with enamels59 and decorated with precious stones, which latter were perceived to be false. The chapter in its foresight60 had removed the rubies61, sapphires62, emeralds, and great balls of rock-crystal, and had substituted pieces of glass in their place. It contained only a little dust and a piece of old linen63, which were thrown into a great fire that had been lighted on the Place de Greve to burn the relics64 of the saints. The people danced around it singing patriotic65 songs.
From the threshold of their booth, which leant against the town-hall, a man called Rouquin and his wife were watching this group of madmen. Rouquin clipped dogs and gelded cats; he also frequented the inns. His wife was a ragpicker and a bawd, but she had plenty of shrewdness.
“You see, Rouquin,” said she to her man, “they are committing a sacrilege. They will repent66 of it.”
“You know nothing about it, wife,” answered Rouquin; “they have become philosophers, and when one is once a philosopher he is a philosopher for ever.”
“I tell you, Rouquin, that sooner or later they will regret what they are doing today. They ill-treat the saints because they have not helped them enough, but for all that the quails67 won’t fall ready cooked into their mouths. They will soon find themselves as badly off as before, and when they have put out their tongues for enough they will become pious again. Sooner than people think the day will come when Penguinia will again begin to honour her blessed patron. Rouquin, it would be a good thing, in readiness for that day, if we kept a handful of ashes and some rags and bones in an old pot in our lodgings68. We will say that they are the relics of St. Orberosia and that we have saved them from the flames at the peril69 of our lives. I am greatly mistaken if we don’t get honour and profit out of them. That good action might be worth a place from the Cure to sell tapers70 and hire chairs in the chapel71 of St. Orberosia.”
On that same day Mother Rouquin took home with her a little ashes and some bones, and put them in an old jam-pot in her cupboard.
点击收听单词发音
1 penguin | |
n.企鹅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 penguins | |
n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 elegances | |
n.高雅( elegance的名词复数 );(举止、服饰、风格等的)优雅;精致物品;(思考等的)简洁 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 penetrated | |
adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 divested | |
v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 );脱去(衣服);2。从…取去…;1。(给某人)脱衣服 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 dishonoured | |
a.不光彩的,不名誉的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 dealers | |
n.商人( dealer的名词复数 );贩毒者;毒品贩子;发牌者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 fables | |
n.寓言( fable的名词复数 );神话,传说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 austere | |
adj.艰苦的;朴素的,朴实无华的;严峻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 crabbed | |
adj.脾气坏的;易怒的;(指字迹)难辨认的;(字迹等)难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 travail | |
n.阵痛;努力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 anonymous | |
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 ravaged | |
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 credible | |
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 credulous | |
adj.轻信的,易信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 transformation | |
n.变化;改造;转变 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 puerile | |
adj.幼稚的,儿童的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 migrations | |
n.迁移,移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 amalgamated | |
v.(使)(金属)汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)合并;联合;结合 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 commingled | |
v.混合,掺和,合并( commingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 follies | |
罪恶,时事讽刺剧; 愚蠢,蠢笨,愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 engendered | |
v.产生(某形势或状况),造成,引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 condemning | |
v.(通常因道义上的原因而)谴责( condemn的现在分词 );宣判;宣布…不能使用;迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 exegesis | |
n.注释,解释 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 desecrated | |
毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 profaned | |
v.不敬( profane的过去式和过去分词 );亵渎,玷污 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 derisively | |
adv. 嘲笑地,嘲弄地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 veneration | |
n.尊敬,崇拜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 copper | |
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 nave | |
n.教堂的中部;本堂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 enamels | |
搪瓷( enamel的名词复数 ); 珐琅; 釉药; 瓷漆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 foresight | |
n.先见之明,深谋远虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 rubies | |
红宝石( ruby的名词复数 ); 红宝石色,深红色 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 sapphires | |
n.蓝宝石,钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 );蔚蓝色 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 repent | |
v.悔悟,悔改,忏悔,后悔 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 quails | |
鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 ); 鹌鹑肉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 tapers | |
(长形物体的)逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 ); 微弱的光; 极细的蜡烛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |