《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 - 冬 12的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

The good S- writes me a kindly letter. He is troubled by the thought of my loneliness. That I should choose to live in such a place as this through the summer, he can understand; but surely I should do better to come to town for the winter? How on earth do I spend the dark days and the long evenings?

善良的S先生给我写来一封亲切的信，想到我孤身一人，让他很是忧虑。他能理解我选择这样一个地方度夏，但是冬天到城里住不是更好一些吗？我究竟要怎样捱过那些阴郁的白天和漫长的夜晚呢？

I chuckle over the good S-'s sympathy. Dark days are few in happy Devon, and such as befall have never brought me a moment's tedium. The long, wild winter of the north would try my spirits; but here, the season that follows autumn is merely one of rest, Nature's annual slumber. And I share in the restful influence. Often enough I pass an hour in mere drowsing by the fireside; frequently I let my book drop, satisfied to muse. But more often than not the winter day is blest with sunshine—the soft beam which is Nature's smile in dreaming. I go forth, and wander far. It pleases me to note changes of landscape when the leaves have fallen; I see streams and ponds which during summer were hidden; my favourite lanes have an unfamiliar aspect, and I become better acquainted with them. Then, there is a rare beauty in the structure of trees ungarmented; and if perchance snow or frost have silvered their tracery against the sober sky, it becomes a marvel which never tires.

善良的S先生的同情让我轻声笑了。在快乐的德文郡，阴郁的白天几乎是没有的，就算有那么几天，我也没感到一刻的乏味。在北方，漫长严酷的冬天会摧残我的精神；但在这里，跟随秋天到来的只是一个休憩的季节，是大自然每年一度的睡眠期。这种安歇的气氛也影响到我，我经常会在壁炉旁打瞌睡，不知不觉一小时就过去了。我常常任由手中的书掉在地上，在冥思中感到满足。很多时候，这里的冬日都是阳光普照的——那温和的阳光是大自然在睡梦中的微笑。我走出门去，漫步到很远的地方。在树叶纷纷落下时，我欣赏着景色的变化，很开心。我看到了夏天隐蔽起来的河流和池塘，我最喜欢的小路也呈现出新奇的景致，让我对它更加熟悉了。还有，那些褪去衣装的树木也有了一种少见的美丽，如果雪或霜给它披上一层银装，在清凉的天空下，那真是百看不厌的奇景。

Day by day I look at the coral buds on the lime-tree. Something of regret will mingle with my joy when they begin to break.

我每天都会观察酸橙树上的珊瑚状花蕾，在它们开始绽开时，我会感到一种怅惘和快乐掺杂的情绪。

In the middle years of my life—those years that were the worst of all—I used to dread the sound of a winter storm which woke me in the night. Wind and rain lashing the house filled me with miserable memories and apprehensions; I lay thinking of the savage struggle of man with man, and often saw before me no better fate than to be trampled down into the mud of life. The wind's wail seemed to me the voice of a world in anguish; rain was the weeping of the feeble and the oppressed. But nowadays I can lie and listen to a night-storm with no intolerable thoughts; at worst, I fall into a compassionate sadness as I remember those I loved and whom I shall see no more. For myself, there is even comfort in the roaring dark; for I feel the strength of the good walls about me, and my safety from squalid peril such as pursued me through all my labouring life. "Blow, blow, thou winter wind!" Thou canst not blow away the modest wealth which makes my security. Nor can any "rain upon the roof" put my soul to question; for life has given me all I ever asked—infinitely more than I ever hoped—and in no corner of my mind does there lurk a coward fear of death.

在中年时候——那是最糟糕的岁月——我常常会憎恶在冬夜把我惊醒的暴风雨声。狂风暴雨摇撼着屋子，让我的脑海忽然涌上很多痛苦的回忆和忧惧的情绪；我躺在床上，想到人与人之间野蛮的争斗，看到摆在我面前的只有被践踏到生活的泥泞中的命运。风的哀号在我听来就像世界痛苦的声音，雨就像是脆弱和受压迫的人的哭泣。但现在，我躺着听暴风雨的声音时，心里已经没有那些无法忍受的想法了；最坏的情况，想起那些我爱的但再也看不到的人，我会感到一种同情和悲伤。就我自己来说，听着黑暗中的呼啸声，我甚至会感到一种安慰；并且我感觉到周围坚实的墙壁的力量，获得一种安全感，因为我不必再受多年来如影随形的困窘的威胁了。“吹吧，吹吧，你这冬日的风！”你不能吹走带给我安全感的少量财富。任何“打在屋顶上的雨”也不会让我质疑自己的灵魂；因为生活已经赐予了我所有我要求的——比我希望的要多得多——在我脑海的任何一个角落也不会藏着一个害怕死亡的胆小鬼。