第一章 生活的开端1

I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called—nay we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe; and so my companions always called me.

我于一六三二年出生在约克市。我出身名门，但不是本地人。我父亲来自德国不来梅，来英国后起初定居在赫尔。他做生意发了一笔财，然后金盆洗手，在约克定居下来。在那里他和母亲结了婚。母亲的家族叫鲁滨孙，是当地的名门。我因此被称作鲁滨孙•克鲁伊茨内。但是由于英国人的德语发音常常不标准，我们被叫做克鲁索——而且干脆连我们自己也这么叫，这么写了，我的朋友也都这样称呼我。

I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother knew what became of me.

我有两个哥哥。一个是驻佛兰德的英国步兵团的中校，这支部队曾经由著名的洛克哈特上校领导。我的这个哥哥在敦刻尔克附近的一场与西班牙人的战事中身亡。我对二哥的境况一无所知，正同我父母不知道我之后的境况一样。

Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house education and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.

我是家中的第三个儿子，没有学习过什么手艺，我自小就喜欢胡思乱想。我年事已高的父亲让我接受了较好的教育，我曾经在寄宿学校和免费的乡村学校就读，他还想让我将来学习法律。但是我一心想要出海，其他任何事情都不能让我满足。对航海的爱好，使我十分抗拒父亲的意愿，我不顾他的命令，也不管母亲和朋友的劝告和恳求。我的天性中似乎蕴藏着一些致命的因素，注定了我将来悲苦的命运。

My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering inclination, I had for leaving father's house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were either too far above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle state; or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing—viz. that this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

我的父亲是个明智而沉稳的人，他预见到了我这种嗜好的后果，针对这后果严肃地给了我一些极有益的忠告。一天早上，他把我叫到他的房间里，那时候他因为痛风只能呆在那里。他很恳切地就这个问题规劝我。他问我，除了漫游的癖好之外，我还有什么理由离开自己的父母和祖国。我在家乡可以得到好的引荐，有望通过勤奋努力创造财富，生活得安稳快乐。他告诉我，一般出海冒险的人，不是穷困潦倒就是梦想一夜暴富，他们进取心强，想要通过不平凡的事业扬名。这些事情对我来说，要么不值得，要么不必要。我处在中间状态，属于平民中的上流人物。他凭他长期的经验发现，这是世界上最好的状态，它最容易让人幸福。处于这个状态的人，不像进行体力劳动的劳苦大众，要忍受艰难困苦，也不像上流社会的人那般骄奢淫逸，充满野心而彼此嫉妒。他告诉我，这种状态是所有人都羡慕的，通过一件事我就可以认识到中间状态的幸福。那就是，国王常常悲叹出身高贵带来的悲惨后果，希望自己处在贫贱与高贵的两级中间。智者也证明，中间状态的人能得到真正的幸福。他祈祷道： “使我既不贫穷也不富裕。”

He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasiness, either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances, sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's experience to know it more sensibly.

他让我留心观察，说那样我就总会发现上层和下层社会的生活都充满了灾难，只有中间阶层灾祸最少。中层阶级的人们不会像上层或下层的人那样经历如此多的波澜起伏。而且，一方面，他们不会像富人那样因挥霍无度、骄奢淫逸而急躁不安、身心俱疲；另一方面，他们也不会像劳动人民那样因缺衣少食，操劳不堪，以及这种穷苦生活自然而然带来的种种后果而忧心忡忡。中间状态的生活包含了世间的一切优点和幸福安乐。中层阶级的人们生活安稳富足，他们中庸节制，性情安宁，身体健康，参与社交娱乐活动，享受世人渴望的种种乐趣，这些都是中层阶级的福分。中层的人们能够平静安稳、舒适自得地度过人生，他们不用劳心劳力，不用每天为生计操劳，为困境所逼，以至于伤神劳身；也不会因妒火中烧，好大喜功而野心勃勃，不得安宁。相反地，他们生活富裕，可以安稳地度过一生，体验人生的甘甜滋味，避开艰难困苦。他们感受到幸福，并在自己的日常经历中更加切身地体会到这种幸福。

After this he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which nature, and the station of life I was born in, seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavor to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had just been recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world, it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it; and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me any encouragement to go away; and to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I should have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

然后，他非常慈爱而恳切地劝我不要耍小孩子脾气，不要急着自讨苦吃。自然常理和我的出身是都不会让我过苦日子的。我不用去为生计奔波忙碌，他会为我好好安排，努力让我过上他所说的中产阶级生活。如果我在这世上不能过上安逸幸福的生活，那肯定都是命运或者我自身的过错所致。他知道我要做的事情肯定会伤害自己，才这样尽责地警告我。如果我还是过上了苦日子，他也无计可施了。总之，他说如果我像他要求的那样，安心呆在家里的话，他会为我好好安排。他从没鼓励我离家出航，如果我将来遭遇不测，和他真是没什么太大关系。最后，他告诉我，我的大哥就是一个很好的例子。他曾同样恳切地劝导大哥不要去佛兰德打仗，但没能劝住血气方刚的大哥加入部队，结果大哥命丧黄泉。尽管他说他会不停地为我祈祷，他又说如果我迈出这愚蠢的一步，那么他敢说，上帝是不会保佑我的。将来在我孤身无援的时候，会为自己忽视他而悔恨良久。

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic, though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself—I say, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed: and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke off the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.

我注意到，他的最后一部分讲话预言成真，尽管我认为我父亲自己当时并没有料到将来会真的变成这样。我观察到，他一直老泪纵横，尤其是在他说到大哥阵亡的时候；说到以后我会在孤身无援之时悔不当初，他因过于悲伤而不能言语，不得不中断了谈话。

I was sincerely affected with this discourse, and, indeed, who could be otherwise? And I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father's desire. But alas! A few days wore it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father's further importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I did not act quite so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted; but I took my mother at a time when I thought her a little more pleasant than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did I should never serve out my time, but I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad, if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more; and I would promise, by a double diligence, to recover the time that I had lost.

我被谈话深深地感动了。而且说真的，谁又能无动于衷？我下定决心，不再考虑出航之事，而是顺从父意，留在家中。但是天哪！几天之后我就决心全无。简单来说，为了防止父亲继续对我纠缠不休，在接下来的几周里我下定了决心，要从他身边逃得远远的。然而，我并不是刚下定决心就头脑发热地仓促行事。我在母亲心情比平常好些的时候去找了她，告诉她我决心已定，一定要出去见世面，除了这个以外我没有足够的决心去做任何事。父亲最好答应我，而不是逼得我不经他同意就离家出走。我都十八岁了，去当学徒或者律师助手都为时已晚。我肯定我永远不会期满出师了。在我出师之前，我就会从师傅那里逃走出海。如果她能够和我父亲谈谈，让他同意我出海一次，如果我回来以后觉得自己不喜欢，以后就再也不去了。而且我保证会加倍努力以补偿被我浪费的时间。

This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after the discourse I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and I should never have it to say that my mother was willing when my father was not.

这让我母亲勃然大怒。她告诉我，她知道对我父亲说这件事是徒劳的。他十分清楚什么对我来说才是好的，因而不会答应我去做如此伤害自己的事情。她还说，实在不能理解为什么我在和父亲谈话之后还想着这件事情，况且这次谈话中父亲还是如此温和而慈爱地开导我。简言之，如果我一定要自我毁灭的话，没人会帮助我。她告诉我，他们永远不会同意我出海的事情。

Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet I heard afterwards that she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after showing a great concern at it, said to her, with a sigh, "That boy might be happy if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that ever was born: I can give no consent to it. "

虽然母亲拒绝向父亲转达我的意思，但我后来听说她把整个谈话过程都告诉了父亲。父亲听了很担心，叹息着对母亲说： “如果这孩子呆在家里的话，还有可能会幸福。但是假如他出海的话，就会成为全世界最悲惨的人，我绝对不能同意。”

It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business, and frequently expostulated with my father and mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to. But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement at that time; but, I say, being there, and one of my companions being about to sail to London in his father's ship, and prompting me to go with them with the common allurement of seafaring men, that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God's blessing or my father's, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the 1st of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner; and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father's house, and abandoning my duty. All the good counsels of my parents, my father's tears and my mother's entreaties, came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since, reproached me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father.

将近一年之后，我才逃出了家门。在这一年当中，父母亲劝我做正经事，我却一直固执地置若罔闻，还经常和父母争执，怪他们如此断然地反对我的真实意愿。一天，我出于偶然到了赫尔市，那时我还没有偷偷出海的想法。但是我在那里遇到一个朋友，他将乘坐他父亲的船去往伦敦。他用水手惯用的鼓动别人出海的办法，怂恿我和他们一道出海。他说我连船费都不必付。我没有找父母商量，也没有托人传话。我认为他们迟早会听到我离开的消息。我没有祈祷，也没有让父亲为我祝福，对具体情况和后果也没多想。谁知道我会在一个不吉利的时辰——一九六五年九月一日——登上了一艘开往伦敦的船。我相信，没有一个年轻的冒险家能像我这般厄运如此之早地开始，还持续了如此之长的时间。船刚开出亨伯河口天就刮起风来，海水暴涨，令人恐惧。因为我以前从没出过海，身体感到非常不适，心里又极度害怕。我现在开始严肃地反思我所做的一切了，我背弃了家庭和责任，真是罪过，现在老天惩罚我了，正义也算得到了伸张。父母的忠告，父亲的泪水和母亲的恳求都生动地浮现在我脑中，我的良心尚存，不像后来那样铁石心肠，于是不由自责起来。我不该不听劝告，违背对上帝和父亲的责任。