【国外英文文学】Flatland.doc

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1、【国外英文文学】FlatlandFlatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsEdwin A. Abbott (1838-1926. English scholar, theologian, and writer.)-| O day and night, but this is wondrous strange | _ | / / /| - / /| /| / /-. | /- / /_| / / /_| / | / / / | / /_ / | / /_ / | / |/ /_.- | | No Dimensions One Dimension | . A RO

2、MANCE OF MANY DIMENSIONS - | POINTLAND LINELAND | | Two Dimensions Three Dimensions | _ _ | | | /_/| | |_| |_|/ | FLATLAND SPACELAND | Fie, fie, how franticly I square my talk! |-With Illustrations by the Author, A SQUARE (Edwin A. Abbott)欢迎访问 在线英语听力室 To The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL And H. C.

3、 IN PARTICULAR This Work is Dedicated By a Humble Native of Flatland In the Hope that Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries Of THREE Dimensions Having been previously conversant With ONLY TWO So the Citizens of that Celestial Region May aspire yet higher and higher To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE

4、OR EVEN SIX Dimensions Thereby contributing To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION And the possible Development Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY Among the Superior Races Of SOLID HUMANITYPreface to the Second and Revised Edition, 1884.By the EditorIf my poor Flatland friend retained th

5、e vigour of mind which heenjoyed when he began to compose these Memoirs, I should not now needto represent him in this preface, in which he desires, firstly,to return his thanks to his readers and critics in Spaceland,whose appreciation has, with unexpected celerity, required a secondedition of his

6、work; secondly, to apologize for certain errorsand misprints (for which, however, he is not entirely responsible);and, thirdly, to explain one or two misconceptions. But he is notthe Square he once was. Years of imprisonment, and the still heavierburden of general incredulity and mockery, have combi

7、ned withthe natural decay of old age to erase from his mind many ofthe thoughts and notions, and much also of the terminology,which he acquired during his short stay in Spaceland. He has,therefore, requested me to reply in his behalf to two specialobjections, one of an intellectual, the other of a m

8、oral nature.The first objection is, that a Flatlander, seeing a Line,sees something that must be THICK to the eye as well as LONGto the eye (otherwise it would not be visible, if it had notsome thickness); and consequently he ought (it is argued)to acknowledge that his countrymen are not only long a

9、nd broad,but also (though doubtless in a very slight degree) THICK or HIGH.This objection is plausible, and, to Spacelanders,almost irresistible, so that, I confess, when I first heard it,I knew not what to reply. But my poor old friends answerappears to me completely to meet it.I admit, said he - w

10、hen I mentioned to him this objection -I admit the truth of your critics facts, but I deny his conclusions.It is true that we have really in Flatland a Thirdunrecognized Dimension called height, just as it is also truethat you have really in Spaceland a Fourth unrecognized Dimension,called by no nam

11、e at present, but which I will call extra-height.But we can no more take cognizance of our height than you canof your extra-height. Even I - who have been in Spaceland,and have had the privilege of understanding for twenty-four hoursthe meaning of height - even I cannot now comprehend it,nor realize

12、 it by the sense of sight or by any process of reason;I can but apprehend it by faith.The reason is obvious. Dimension implies direction,implies measurement, implies the more and the less. Now,all our lines are EQUALLY and INFINITESIMALLY thick (or high,whichever you like); consequently, there is no

13、thing in themto lead our minds to the conception of that Dimension.No delicate micrometer - as has been suggested by one too hastySpaceland critic - would in the least avail us; for we should notknow WHAT TO MEASURE, NOR IN WHAT DIRECTION. When we see a Line,we see something that is long and BRIGHT;

14、 BRIGHTNESS,as well as length, is necessary to the existence of a Line;if the brightness vanishes, the Line is extinguished. Hence,all my Flatland friends - when I talk to them about the unrecognizedDimension which is somehow visible in a Line - say, Ah,you mean BRIGHTNESS: and when I reply, No, I m

15、eana real Dimension, they at once retort, Then measure it,or tell us in what direction it extends; and this silences me,for I can do neither. Only yesterday, when the Chief Circle(in other words our High Priest) came to inspect the State Prisonand paid me his seventh annual visit, and when for the s

16、eventh timehe put me the question, Was I any better? I tried to prove to himthat he was high, as well as long and broad, although he did notknow it. But what was his reply? You say I am high; measure myhigh-ness and I will believe you. What could I do? How could Imeet his challenge? I was crushed; a

17、nd he left the room triumphant.Does this still seem strange to you? Then put yourself ina similar position. Suppose a person of the Fourth Dimension,condescending to visit you, were to say, Whenever you open your eyes,you see a Plane (which is of Two Dimensions) and you INFERa Solid (which is of Thr

18、ee); but in reality you also see(though you do not recognize) a Fourth Dimension, which is not colournor brightness nor anything of the kind, but a true Dimension,although I cannot point out to you its direction, nor can youpossibly measure it. What would you say to such a visitor?Would not you have

19、 him locked up? Well, that is my fate:and it is as natural for us Flatlanders to lock up a Squarefor preaching the Third Dimension, as it is for you Spacelandersto lock up a Cube for preaching the Fourth. Alas, how stronga family likeness runs through blind and persecuting humanityin all Dimensions!

20、 Points, Lines, Squares, Cubes, Extra-Cubes -we are all liable to the same errors, all alike the Slavesof our respective Dimensional prejudices, as one of yourSpaceland poets has said - One touch of Nature makes all worlds akin.Note: The Author desires me to add, that the misconception of someof his

21、 critics on this matter has induced him to insert in hisdialogue with the Sphere, certain remarks which have a bearingon the point in question, and which he had previously omittedas being tedious and unnecessary.On this point the defence of the Square seems to me to be impregnable.I wish I could say

22、 that his answer to the second (or moral) objectionwas equally clear and cogent. It has been objected that he isa woman-hater; and as this objection has been vehemently urgedby those whom Natures decree has constituted the somewhat larger halfof the Spaceland race, I should like to remove it, so far

23、 as I canhonestly do so. But the Square is so unaccustomed to the useof the moral terminology of Spaceland that I should be doing himan injustice if I were literally to transcribe his defence againstthis charge. Acting, therefore, as his interpreter and summarizer,I gather that in the course of an i

24、mprisonment of seven yearshe has himself modified his own personal views, both as regards Womenand as regards the Isosceles or Lower Classes. Personally,he now inclines to the opinion of the Sphere that the Straight Linesare in many important respects superior to the Circles.But, writing as a Histor

25、ian, he has identified himself(perhaps too closely) with the views generally adopted by Flatland,and (as he has been informed) even by Spaceland, Historians;in whose pages (until very recent times) the destinies of Womenand of the masses of mankind have seldom been deemed worthy of mentionand never

26、of careful consideration.In a still more obscure passage he now desires to disavow the Circularor aristocratic tendencies with which some critics have naturallycredited him. While doing justice to the intellectual powerwith which a few Circles have for many generations maintainedtheir supremacy over

27、 immense multitudes of their countrymen,he believes that the facts of Flatland, speaking for themselveswithout comment on his part, declare that Revolutions cannot alwaysbe suppressed by slaughter, and that Nature, in sentencing the Circlesto infecundity, has condemned them to ultimate failure -and

28、herein, he says, I see a fulfilment of the great Lawof all worlds, that while the wisdom of Man thinks it is workingone thing, the wisdom of Nature constrains it to work another,and quite a different and far better thing. For the rest,he begs his readers not to suppose that every minute detailin the

29、 daily life of Flatland must needs correspond tosome other detail in Spaceland; and yet he hopes that,taken as a whole, his work may prove suggestive as well as amusing,to those Spacelanders of moderate and modest minds who -speaking of that which is of the highest importance,but lies beyond experie

30、nce - decline to say on the one hand,This can never be, and on the other hand, It must needs beprecisely thus, and we know all about it.CONTENTS:PART I: THIS WORLDSection 1. Of the Nature of Flatland 2. Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland 3. Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland 4. Concerning the

31、 Women 5. Of our Methods of Recognizing one another 6. Of Recognition by Sight 7. Concerning Irregular Figures 8. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting 9. Of the Universal Colour Bill 10. Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition 11. Concerning our Priests 12. Of the Doctrine of our PriestsPART II:

32、 OTHER WORLDS 13. How I had a Vision of Lineland 14. How I vainly tried to explain the nature of Flatland 15. Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland 16. How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland 17. How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to d

33、eeds 18. How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there 19. How, though the Sphere shewed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it 20. How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision 21. How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what succe

34、ss 22. How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the resultPART I: THIS WORLDBe patient, for the world is broad and wide.Section 1. Of the Nature of FlatlandI call our world Flatland, not because we call it so,but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy re

35、aders,who are privileged to live in Space.Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles,Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remainingfixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface,but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, ve

36、ry muchlike shadows - only hard and with luminous edges - and you will thenhave a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas,a few years ago, I should have said my universe: but now my mindhas been opened to higher views of things.In such a country, you will perceive at once that it is

37、 impossiblethat there should be anything of what you call a solid kind;but I dare say you will suppose that we could at leastdistinguish by sight the Triangles, Squares, and other figures,moving about as I have described them. On the contrary,we could see nothing of the kind, not at least so as to d

38、istinguishone figure from another. Nothing was visible, nor could be visible,to us, except Straight Lines; and the necessity of thisI will speedily demonstrate.Place a penny on the middle of one of your tables in Space;and leaning over it, look down upon it. It will appear a circle.But now, drawing

39、back to the edge of the table, gradually loweryour eye (thus bringing yourself more and more into the condition ofthe inhabitants of Flatland), and you will find the penny becomingmore and more oval to your view, and at last when you have placedyour eye exactly on the edge of the table (so that you

40、are,as it were, actually a Flatlander) the penny will then have ceasedto appear oval at all, and will have become, so far as you can see,a straight line.The same thing would happen if you were to treat in the same waya Triangle, or Square, or any other figure cut out of pasteboard.As soon as you loo

41、k at it with your eye on the edge on the table,you will find that it ceases to appear to you a figure,and that it becomes in appearance a straight line. Take for examplean equilateral Triangle - who represents with us a Tradesmanof the respectable class. Fig. 1 represents the Tradesmanas you would see him while you were bending over him from above;