《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 18的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

Somebody has been making a speech, reported at a couple of columns' length in the paper. As I glance down the waste of print, one word catches my eye again and again. It's all about "science"—and therefore doesn't concern me.

某人做了一次演讲，报纸用了几个栏目的篇幅来进行报道。我扫视这文章时，一个词频繁跳入我的眼帘，通篇都是关于“科学”的——所以与我无关。

I wonder whether there are many men who have the same feeling with regard to "science" as I have? It is something more than a prejudice; often it takes the form of a dread, almost a terror. Even those branches of science which are concerned with things that interest me—which deal with plants and animals and the heaven of stars—even these I cannot contemplate without uneasiness, a spiritual disaffection; new discoveries, new theories, however they engage my intelligence, soon weary me, and in some way depress. When it comes to other kinds of science—the sciences blatant and ubiquitous—the science by which men become millionaires—I am possessed with an angry hostility, a resentful apprehension. This was born in me, no doubt; I cannot trace it to circumstances of my life, or to any particular moment of my mental growth. My boyish delight in Carlyle10 doubtless nourished the temper, but did not Carlyle so delight me because of what was already in my mind? I remember, as a lad, looking at complicated machinery with a shrinking uneasiness which, of course, I did not understand; I remember the sort of disturbed contemptuousness with which, in my time of "examinations," I dismissed "science papers." It is intelligible enough to me, now, that unformed fear: the ground of my antipathy has grown clear enough. I hate and fear "science" because of my conviction that, for long to come if not for ever, it will be the remorseless enemy of mankind. I see it destroying all simplicity and gentleness of life, all the beauty of the world; I see it restoring barbarism under a mask of civilization; I see it darkening men's minds and hardening their hearts; I see it bringing a time of vast conflicts, which will pale into insignificance "the thousand wars of old,"11 and, as likely as not, will whelm all the laborious advances of mankind in blood-drenched chaos.

我不知道有许多人对“科学”抱有和我相同的感觉。这不只是偏见，还经常会表现为一种害怕，几乎就是恐惧。即使是以我感兴趣的事物为研究对象的科学分支——如研究植物、动物和天体的科学——即使是那些我想起来内心也会感到不安和反感；新发现，新理论，不管它们如何吸引我的智慧，我很快就会厌倦，并感到某种沮丧。而对于其他种类的科学——那种喧嚣和无所不在的科学——那种人们借以成为百万富翁的科学——我都有一种愤怒的敌意，一种厌恶的忧惧。无疑，这是与生俱来的。我不能将之归因于我的生活环境，或者思想成熟的某个特定时刻。无疑，少年时期对卡莱尔的喜爱助长了这一性情，但是我喜欢卡莱尔，不正是由于头脑中原本就有的东西吗？还记得在孩提时，看到复杂的机器，我不安地退缩，当时自己不理解这一点；我还记得，在应付“考试”的时候，我对待“科学试卷”的态度是慌乱和轻蔑。那种莫可名状的恐惧现在我足可以理解了，我反感的原因已经变得足够清晰。我痛恨和恐惧“科学”，因为我确信，在未来很长时间，如果不是永远的话，科学将是人类冷酷的敌人。我看到它毁灭了生活中所有的简朴和亲切，和世界所有的美丽；我看到它复苏了文明面具掩饰下的野蛮行径；我看到它让人们的思想变得黑暗，心灵变得冷酷；我看到它引领人类进入了一个充满争斗的时代，让“昔日的千年战争”变得不值一提，并且可能让人类辛苦取得的进步成果淹没在鲜血淋漓的混乱里。

Yet to rail against it is as idle as to quarrel with any other force of nature. For myself, I can hold apart, and see as little as possible of the thing I deem accursed. But I think of some who are dear to me, whose life will be lived in the hard and fierce new age. The roaring "Jubilee" of last summer was for me an occasion of sadness; it meant that so much was over and gone—so much of good and noble, the like of which the world will not see again, and that a new time of which only the perils are clearly visible, is rushing upon us. Oh, the generous hopes and aspirations of forty years ago! Science, then, was seen as the deliverer; only a few could prophesy its tyranny, could foresee that it would revive old evils and trample on the promises of its beginning. This is the course of things; we must accept it. But it is some comfort to me that I—poor little mortal—have had no part in bringing the tyrant to his throne.

但是对它进行严厉指责，就像与其他任何自然力量争吵，一样的无益。就我自己来说，我可以离得远远地，尽可能不看我厌恶的事物。但我想到我爱的那些人，他们将生活在一个冷酷狂热的新时代里。对我来说，这个夏天热闹的“六十周年纪念日”是一个悲伤的场合；它意味着许多已经结束并成为历史——许多美好和高尚的东西，世界再也看不到它们了，一个带着明显危险的崭新时代正向我们滚滚驶来。噢，四十年前那些慷慨的希望和抱负！那时候，科学被视为一个拯救者；几乎没人能预料到它的暴政，预见到它会让古老的邪恶复活，践踏它萌动的期待。这是事物的发展历程，我们必须接受。但我还有一丝安慰，那便是我——一个可怜而渺小的人——没有为这位暴君的登基提供任何帮助。