The Pilgrim's Progress 天路历程

[英]约翰·班扬（John Bunyan）

《天路历程》开始是作者的一个梦，梦中有个“基督徒”在诵读《圣经》，当他从书中得知他的城市将要毁于大火时，他将这个灾难告知别人，但是人们都不予理睬。最后他和“柔顺”先行逃走，在路上，他们跌入“绝望深渊”。“柔顺”无法坚持，打道回府了。后来，“基督徒”被“万事通”误导，被“福音传道”带回正路。后来他又与“忠诚”一同前行。在经历一番激烈的搏斗后，他们来到了名利场，在这里“忠诚”被判处死刑，“基督徒”想办法逃了出来，并得到“希望”的帮助，由于厌倦了艰辛的旅途，他们选择了一条轻松的路，却不幸落入“绝望”之手。最后他们终于抵达天国，永享长生不老和上帝的福音。

Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity;and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair;it is kept all the year long;it bearth the name of Vanity Fair because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity;and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity. As is the saying of the wise,“All that cometh is vanity”.

This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient standing;I will show you the original of it.

Almost five thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are;and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived to set up a fair;a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.

And, moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.

And as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets, under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended;so here likewise you have the proper places, rows, streets（viz. countries and kingdoms），where the wares of this fair are soonest to be found.Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of vanities are to be sold.But, as in other fairs, some one commodity is as the chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair;only our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.

Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town where this lusty fair is kept;and he that will go to the city, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world. The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to his own country, and that upon a fair-day, too, yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebup, the chief lord of this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities;yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went through the town.Yea, because he was such a man of honour, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure the Blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities;but he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying so much as one farthing upon these vanities.This fair, therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.

Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through the fair. Well, so they did;but behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town itself as it were in a hubbub about them;and that for several reasons:for First, The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in the fair.The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them:some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, and some they were outlandish men.

Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at their speech;for few could understand what they said;they naturally spoke the language of Canaan, but they that kept the fair were the men of this world;so that, from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other.

Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares;they cared not so much as to look upon them;and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears, and cry,“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity,”and look upwards, signifying that their trade and traffic was in heaven.

One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriages of the men, to say unto them, What will ye buy?But they, looking gravely upon him, said,“We buy the truth.”At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more;some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them. At last things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded.Now was word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly came down, and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take these men into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned.So the men were brought to examination;and they that sat upon them asked whence they came, whither they went, and what they did there, in such an unusual garb?The men told them that they were pilgrims and strangers in the world, and that they were going to their own country, which was the Heavenly Jerusalem;and that they had given no occasion to the men of the town, nor yet to the merchandisers, thus to abuse them, and to let them in their journey, except it was for that, when one asked them what they would buy, they said they would buy the truth.But they that were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into a confusion in the fair.Therefore they took them and beat them, and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage, that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair.

接着，我在梦境中看到他们走出荒原。不久，他们就看到了前面的一个小镇，小镇的名字叫浮华镇。在这个小镇，有个常年不散的集市，名为“浮华集市”。起此名字，是由于这个小镇比浮华还要轻浮，同时，也是由于集市上所买卖的东西都是奢侈浮华的东西。正如智者所言：“所要来的都是虚空的。”

这个集市并不是刚刚建立的，而是由来已久了；接下来，我就给你讲一讲它的由来。

大约五千年前，有一批朝圣者，就像这两个忠实的人一样，要到天国去朝拜。恶魔亚玻伦、魔鬼别卜西以及众喽啰们，对朝觐者去天国的路进行了研究后发现，他们在朝觐的途中，必然要取道浮华镇，于是他们谋划在这里建立一个集市；在这个集市上出卖各种浮华的东西，并常年开放。因此，在这个集市上所经营的商品就包括房子、土地、职业、地盘、荣耀、特权、名位、国家、王国、欲望、幸福以及各种快乐；比如，妓院、老鸨、老婆、丈夫、孩子、主人、奴仆、生命、血液、肉体、灵魂、银子、金子、珍珠、宝石等。

而且，在这个集市上，你不时地会看到变戏法的人、骗子、比赛者、游戏者、傻子、模仿者及各色人等。在这儿，不用花一个子儿，你就会看到偷盗、谋杀、通奸、虚假的宣誓，每一样都令人触目惊心。

有一些不是很重要的集市也有大大小小的各种街道，通过名字就知道他们所经营的东西，这个集市和其他集市一样，也有自己固有的地方、道路和街市（比如，国家街市或王国街市），在这儿，这些东西更容易被找到。这个集市里有英国街、法国街、意大利街、西班牙街，还有德国街，这些街上卖好多种浮华的东西。但是，正如在其他街上看到的一样，这条街上也有某种商品特别畅销，比如，罗马的货物及其商品在这里就备受推崇，仅有英国人和少数几个国家的人不太喜欢它们。

正如刚才我所提到的，通往天国的道路恰恰要穿过这个拥有浮华集市的小镇。那些想要到天国朝觐却又不经过这个小镇的人是必须“离开这个世界的”。当初，耶稣本人也是取道此镇而回到自己的国家。耶稣到的那一天，正是赶集的日子。是的，我想，是这个集市的主要创办人，魔鬼别卜西，邀请耶稣去购买他的浮华商品；他还许诺，只要耶稣在路过集市的时候，向他表示敬意，他就会让耶稣成为集市的主人。当时，魔鬼带他走遍了集市所有的街道，不一会儿的工夫，就向他展示了世界各国的领土。是的，耶稣是一个如此荣耀的人，倘若可能的话，魔鬼就会引诱他同自己讨价还价，并买走他的某些浮华商品；但是耶稣并没有把这些放在心上，一分钱没花便离开了那个小镇。由此可见，这个古老的集市，可谓由来已久，规模庞大。

正如刚才我说的，现在，这两个朝觐者必须要穿过这个集市。而且，他们也这样做了。但是，当他们走进集市的时候，集市上所有人都骚动了起来，整个小镇也好像因他们的到来而开始了一片喧哗！这是为什么呢？

第一，两位朝圣者身上穿的衣物和集市上所卖的任何一件都不同。因而，集市上的人便盯着他们看，有人说他们是傻子，有人说他们是疯子，也有人说他们简直就是外地来的怪人。

第二，当他们在大街上闲逛的时候，他们不仅服饰奇异，而且他们的语言也与集市上的人不同；因为几乎没人能够听懂他们的话。他们很自然地操着应许之地的迦南语，但是，集市上的经营者，他们却是生活在这个凡俗的世界，根本听不懂这两个人的话。因而，当这两个人从这个集市走向另一个集市时，他们在这些经营者眼里，仿佛都是蛮荒之人。

第三，不过，令那些商人所不高兴的是，这两位朝觐者对他们所卖的物品并不感兴趣；这两人在看那些商人的时候，也是不屑一顾的样子。假若商人要招呼他们买东西，他们便用手指堵住自己的耳朵，喊道：“我们不看虚假的东西。”然后，便抬头看天，好像他们的生意是在天上。

一个商人看着朝觐者手里的烟卷，想碰碰运气，便操着愚弄的口气对他们说：“你们想要买什么？”他们却表情严肃地看着他说：“我们要买真理。”这好像又给了商人们嘲笑他们的机会，有人讥讽他们，有人奚落他们，有人责备他们，甚至有人招呼别人来揍他们一顿。终于，集市上突然一阵喧哗，因为他们想要的东西实在是令人迷惑不解。很快这些话就传到了集市首领的耳朵里了，他立刻赶了过来，并委托他最信任的几个朋友对这两人进行了审问。因为正是他们使整个集市几乎闹翻了天。于是，这两人就被带去接受审问。审问他们的人问他们从哪里来，要到哪里去，穿着这种奇怪的服饰在那里做什么。他们回答，他们是朝觐者，是寄居在这俗世上的，他们要回自己的国家去，他们的国家是天上的耶路撒冷；他们还说，镇上的人和集市上的人没有理由这么羞辱他们，还妨碍他们的旅程。在有人问他们想买什么的时候，他们说要买真理。但是，审问他们的人根本就不相信这些，认为他们不是疯子就是傻子，抑或，他们根本就是存心来捣乱的。于是，他们逮捕了这两个朝觐者，还殴打了他们，给他们身上涂满脏兮兮的泥土，还把他们关进笼子里，让集市上所有人都来羞辱他们。

Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.

——Euripides

上帝要谁灭亡，必先让他疯狂。

——欧里庇得斯

实战提升

作者介绍

约翰·班扬（1628—1688），他于1647年加入了不奉国教的新教，开始传教生涯，因在传教时没有获得国教教会的批准，先后两次入狱。他的代表作、英文作品中最成功的宗教寓言《天路历程》就是在狱中完成的。班扬的语言具体生动，情节鲜明真实，简单易懂。

单词注解

ancient[5einFEnt]adj.古代的

perceive[pE5si:v]v.察觉；感知

commodity[kE5mCditi]n.商品；日用品

gravely[5greivli]adv.严肃地，庄重地

confusion[kEn5fju:VEn]n.混乱；骚动

名句大搜索

通往天国的道路恰恰要穿过这个拥有浮华集市的小镇。

我们要买真理。

于是，这两人就被带去接受审问。