《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 18的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

It is easy to understand that common judgment of foreigners regarding the English people. Go about in England as a stranger, travel by rail, live at hotels, see nothing but the broadly public aspect of things, and the impression left upon you will be one of hard egoism, of gruffness and sullenness; in a word, of everything that contrasts most strongly with the ideal of social and civic life. And yet, as a matter of fact, no nation possesses in so high a degree the social and civic virtues. The unsociable Englishman, quotha? Why, what country in the world can show such multifarious, vigorous and cordial co-operation, in all ranks, but especially, of course, among the intelligent, for ends which concern the common good? Unsociable! Why, go where you will in England you can hardly find a man—nowadays, indeed, scarce an educated woman—who does not belong to some alliance, for study or sport, for municipal or national benefit, and who will not be seen, in leisure time, doing his best as a social being. Take the so-called sleepy market-town; it is bubbling with all manner of associated activities, and these of the quite voluntary kind, forms of zealously united effort such as are never dreamt of in the countries supposed to be eminently "social." Sociability does not consist in a readiness to talk at large with the first comer. It is not dependent upon natural grace and suavity; it is compatible, indeed, with thoroughly awkward and all but brutal manners. The English have never (at all events, for some two centuries past) inclined to the purely ceremonial or mirthful forms of sociability; but as regards every prime interest of the community—health and comfort, well-being of body and of soul—their social instinct is supreme.

外国人对英国人的一般评价很容易理解。一个外国人，在英国四处走走，坐坐火车，住住旅馆，泛泛地看一下公共层面的东西，英国留给你的印象会是冷酷自我、粗鲁阴郁。总而言之，所有的一切显得与社会和公民理想相去甚远。而实际上，在人民拥有社会和公民美德方面，没有一个国家比得上英国这么高的程度。英国人不爱交际，真的吗？为达到涉及共同利益的目标，社会各个阶层尤其是有才智的人之间进行多层面和积极热情的合作，从这一点上说，世界哪个国家能比得上英国？什么不爱交际！随便你到英国哪个地方，你会很难找到一个男人—或是一个受过教育的女人，就现在来说—不是某个团体的成员，也许是学习团体，或是运动团体，又或是为了地方或国家利益组成的团体。而在闲暇时间里，他们每个人都在尽全力承担着服务社会的角色。就拿所谓的不活跃的市镇来说，其中组织着各式各样的团体活动，都是一些自愿性质的，有些形式的热忱社团的组成，恐怕在那些貌似极其“喜欢交际”的国家是做梦都想不到的。喜欢交际不是指第一次见面便无所不谈。它并不依赖于人们的自然风度和温文尔雅，其实，它与极其笨拙和彻底野蛮的举止是可以相容的。英国人从来都不喜欢纯粹仪式性或娱乐性的社交形式（至少在过去两个世纪如此），然而一旦涉及到社区的任何重要利益—比如健康舒适、身体和精神的福利等—他们便会表现出极强的社交能力。

Yet it is so difficult to reconcile this indisputable fact with that other fact, no less obvious, that your common Englishman seems to have no geniality. From the one point of view, I admire and laud my fellow countryman; from the other, I heartily dislike him and wish to see as little of him as possible. One is wont to think of the English as a genial folk. Have they lost in this respect? Has the century of science and money-making sensibly affected the national character? I think always of my experience at the English inn, where it is impossible not to feel a brutal indifference to the humane features of life; where food is bolted without attention, liquor swallowed out of mere habit, where even good-natured accost is a thing so rare as to be remarkable.

但是，还是很难调和这个无可辩驳的事实和另一个同样显而易见的事实，即你见过的普通英国人似乎并不友好。从一个角度来说，我欣赏并赞美我的同胞；从另一角度，我打心眼里不喜欢他，希望见他越少越好。人们习惯上认为英国人是友好的。他们什么时候丧失了这个品质？难道这个科学昌明和财富积累的世纪明显影响了国民的性格？我总会想起在英国客栈的经历，在那里，你不可能感受不到一种对生活中人情味的野蛮漠视；在那里，人们狼吞虎咽，对食物毫不在意，喝酒也只是习惯使然，好意的搭讪非常稀罕，会很引人注意。

Two things have to be borne in mind: the extraordinary difference of demeanour which exists between the refined and the vulgar English, and the natural difficulty of an Englishman in revealing his true self save under the most favourable circumstances.

但要记住两件事：第一，有教养的和粗俗的英国人之间，举止风度有天壤之别；第二，除非在极为适宜的环境下，英国人天生地很难将真正的自我显露出来。

So striking is the difference of manner between class and class that the hasty observer might well imagine a corresponding and radical difference of mind and character. In Russia, I suppose, the social extremities are seen to be pretty far apart, but, with that possible exception, I should think no European country can show such a gap as yawns to the eye between the English gentleman and the English boor. The boor, of course, is the multitude; the boor impresses himself upon the traveller. When relieved from his presence, one can be just to him; one can remember that his virtues—though elementary, and strictly in need of direction—are the same, to a great extent, as those of the well-bred man. He does not represent—though seeming to do so a nation apart. To understand this multitude, you must get below its insufferable manners, and learn that very fine civic qualities can consist with a personal bearing almost wholly repellent.

阶级之间在行为举止上有如此显著的差别，仓促的观察者可能得出结论认为，英国人在思想和性格上也相应地存在巨大差异。在俄国，我想，社会两极分化应该是相当严重的。但是除了这一个可能的例外，我想欧洲没有一个国家存在像英国的绅士和乡野鄙夫之间那样巨大的鸿沟。当然，乡下人是大多数，所以也容易给旅行者留下印象。等离开他时，我们便能公正地看待他，我们可以记起他的美德—虽然粗糙并需严格引导—和那些有教养的人在很大程度上是一样的。他并不代表—尽管表面如此—一个完全不同的国家。要了解这大多数人，你必须看透过他们俗不可耐的举止，才会发现那几乎令人厌恶的个人举止下掩藏着很好的公民品质。

Then, as to the dogged reserve of the educated man, why, I have only to look into myself. I, it is true, am not quite a representative Englishman; my self-consciousness, my meditative habit of mind, rather dim my national and social characteristics; but set me among a few specimens of the multitude, and am I not at once aware of that instinctive antipathy, that shrinking into myself, that something like unto scorn, of which the Englishman is accused by foreigners who casually meet him? Peculiar to me is the effort to overcome this first impulse—an effort which often enough succeeds. If I know myself at all, I am not an ungenial man; and yet I am quite sure that many people who have known me casually would say that my fault is a lack of geniality. To show my true self, I must be in the right mood and the right circumstances—which, after all, is merely as much as saying that I am decidedly English.

那么，说到有教养的人那份固执的内敛，我只要看看自己就知道了。我真的不算是一个典型的英国人，我拘谨腼腆，有沉思的习惯，这淡化了我身上民族和社会的特性。但是，把我和英国民众的几个代表放在一起，我会立刻感到本能的疏远，变得沉默内敛，几乎生出一种轻蔑，这不正是外国人对他们只有泛泛之交的英国人的指责吗？我有些与众不同，一直在努力克服这种第一反应—这种努力通常还很成功。如果我了解自己，那我不是一个不友好的人，但我肯定许多跟我交情浅的人都会认为我的缺点是缺乏友好的态度。要展现真正的自己，我需要恰当的情绪和适宜的环境—这也就几乎等于说，我是一个地地道道的英国人。