这一小段是欧文名篇《西敏大寺》的节选，欧文的文笔可谓独树一帜，
温雅可爱，感情充沛。节选更是反映了作者对文人地位的反思，
文章感人至深，两篇译文也堪称妙笔，一古一今，大家可对照着看。

Poet's Corner

I passed some time in Poet's Corner, which occupies an end of one of the transepts or cross aisles of the abbey. The monuments are generally simple, for the lives of literary men afford no striking themes for the sculptor. Shakespeare and Addison have statues erected to their memories, but the greater part have busts, medallions, and sometimes mere inscriptions. Notwithstanding the simplicity of these memorials, I have always observed that the visitors to the abbey remained longest about them. A kinder and fonder feeling takes place of that cold curiosity or vague admiration with which they gaze on the splendid monuments of the great and the heroic. They linger about these as about the tombs of friends and companions, for indeed there is something of companionship between the author and the reader. Other men are known to posterity only through the medium of history, which is continually growing faint and obscure; but the intercourse between the author and his fellowmen is ever new, active, and immediate. He has lived for them more than for himself; he has sacrificed surrounding enjoyments, and shut himself up from the delights of social life, that he might the more intimatelycommune with distant minds and distant ages. Well may the world cherish his renown, for it has been purchased not by deeds of violence and blood, but by the diligent dispensation of pleasure. Well may posterity be grateful to his memory, for he has left it an inheritance not of empty names and sounding actions, but whole treasures of wisdom, bright gems of thought, and golden veins of language.
From "Westminster Abbey" by Washington Irving

余此时迤逦至古诗人坟碣之下，盘桓久之。诗人遗事，至简而易读。惟莎士比、爱迭森两先生尚有小石像存焉，余人则半像粗记姓名而已。嗟夫！诗人固无勋荣，而吊古人来，往往于诗人断坟多增留恋。凡人之吊古英雄，但有骇叹，若诗家遗像，则绵绵然情动于中，即亦不知其所以然。以诗人感人之深，异代有同夙契。盖著书者之神，往往合于读书者，情丝蒙络，款款深深。余人则但凭历史为准，而史殊不足恃。诗人印人以心，每诵其诗，辄如新发诸硎，不斥为陈人屏之也。须知诗人为人多而为己少，以诗人生平去欢乐而即幽邃，闭户苦吟，取古人之心迹与今人粘合无间，而名誉又不从流血而来，一一本诸心思，以公道论之，后人宜有感戴之思。盖诗人之留贻，非属丰功伟烈，或徒托空名，直握其智珠，出其慧力，悉投诸后人，一无所吝也。

林纾 译

我在诗人祠里面逗留了一些时候，诗人祠者，只是寺内一个十字形侧堂的一隅。这儿的纪念碑，一般都很朴素；因为文人的生涯大多平凡，缺少可供雕刻的惊人题材。莎士比亚和艾迪生有全身的纪念雕像；其他诗人大多只有半身雕像或肖像牌，有些只有碑文。这些纪念碑虽然朴素无饰，我发现游客总是在这儿停留的时间最长。伟人和英雄的墓碑，华丽是华丽了，但只能引起他们冷淡的好奇心，或是模糊的羡慕之情；诗人的墓碑却勾起了他们一种更为亲切的情爱。他们留恋左右，就像置身于朋友和知己的墓旁；因为在作者和读者之间，的确存在着一种友情。别种人物之闻名后世，完全要靠历史的媒介，而历史总是变得愈来愈模糊，愈来愈隔膜；作家和他的读者之间却永远保持着新鲜、活泼和直接的交谊。作家与其说为了自己活在世上，不如说为了读者。他为了要和后世的人作更亲密的交谈．不惜牺牲他当时周遭的享受，自绝于社交生活的乐趣。但愿世人都珍重作家的声名，因为作家的声名并非用暴力和流血的手段攫取而得，而是以不断施与快乐的善行换来的。但愿后世能永远纪念他的恩赐，因为他所遗留下来的，并非空洞的名字和虚夸的行为，而是智慧的宝库，思想的结晶，和珠玑的文字。

夏济安 译