《四季随笔》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中对隐士赖克罗夫特醉心于书籍、自然景色与回忆过去生活的描述，其实是吉辛的自述，作者以此来抒发自己的情感，因而本书是一部富有自传色彩的小品文集。
吉辛穷困的一生，对文学名著的爱好与追求，以及对大自然恬静生活的向往，在书中均有充分的反映。本书分为春、夏、秋、冬四个部分，文笔优美，行文流畅，是英国文学中小品文的珍品之一。
以下是由网友分享的《四季随笔》节选 - 夏 14的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!
Vituperation of the English climate is foolish. A better climate does not exist—for healthy people; and it is always as regards the average native in sound health that a climate must be judged. Invalids have no right whatever to talk petulantly of the natural changes of the sky; Nature has not THEM in view; let them (if they can) seek exceptional conditions for their exceptional state, leaving behind them many a million of sound, hearty men and women who take the seasons as they come, and profit by each in turn. In its freedom from extremes, in its common clemency, even in its caprice, which at the worst time holds out hope, our island weather compares well with that of other lands. Who enjoys the fine day of spring, summer, autumn, or winter so much as an Englishman? His perpetual talk of the weather is testimony to his keen relish for most of what it offers him; in lands of blue monotony, even as where climatic conditions are plainly evil, such talk does not go on. So, granting that we have bad days not a few, that the east wind takes us by the throat, that the mists get at our joints, that the sun hides his glory too often and too long, it is plain that the result of all comes to good, that it engenders a mood of zest under the most various aspects of heaven, keeps an edge on our appetite for open-air life.
咒骂英国的气候是愚蠢的。对于健康人而言，没有比这里更好的气候了，而对天气的评价应该总是站在健康的当地普通人的角度上。病弱者无权恼怒地谈论天空的自然变化，他们不在大自然的考虑范围内。让他们（如果他们有能力的话）为自己的特殊状况找寻特殊的气候条件吧，留下成千上万健康强壮的男男女女，坦然迎接四季更迭，并依次从中获益。我们岛屿的天气从来不走极端，通常都是温和的，甚至在它反复无常的最坏时候，都依然让人存有希望，它和别处相比毫不逊色。有谁能像英国人这样，享受着春夏秋冬里良辰佳日呢？总把天气的话题挂在嘴边，正表明了他大多数时候都非常享受这里的天气。在终年只有单调蓝天的地方，甚至是气候极端恶劣的地方，天气的话题都不是很多。所以，尽管我们的坏天气不少，东风会扼住我们的咽喉，大雾让我们关节隐隐作痛，太阳太频繁太长久地藏匿了自己的光辉，但这一切明显都产生了一个好的结果，在变化多端的苍穹下，人们因此生发出一种热情的心境，对户外生活总保持着浓厚的兴趣。
I, of course, am one of the weaklings who, in grumbling at the weather, merely invite compassion. July, this year, is clouded and windy, very cheerless even here in Devon; I fret and shiver and mutter to myself something about southern skies. Pshaw! Were I the average man of my years, I should be striding over Haldon, caring not a jot for the heavy sky, finding a score of compensations for the lack of sun. Can I not have patience? Do I not know that, some morning, the east will open like a bursting bud into warmth and splendour, and the azure depths above will have only the more solace for my starved anatomy because of this protracted disappointment?
我嘛，当然是那些抱怨天气只是为博取同情的弱者之一。今年的七月多云又多风，即便在德文郡，天气也让人不快。我心情焦躁，浑身哆嗦，喃喃自语着南方的天空有多美好。唉！如果我是这个年岁的普通健康人，我一定会跨过哈尔登山，毫不在意阴沉的天空，为长期不见阳光找到许多种补偿。我怎能没有耐心呢？我难道不知道，某天早晨，东方会豁然开朗犹如百花绽放，天空会既温暖又辉煌，深蓝的苍穹因为这迟到的约会，将为我形销骨立的身躯带来更大的慰藉？
