【正文】 n Experience of Aesthetics by Robert Ginsberg 審美的體驗 羅伯特金斯伯格I climbed the heights above Yosemite Valley, California in order to see the splendid granite mountain, Half Dome, in its fullest view. Approaching the edge through the woods I was filled with heightened expectation. I saw the ruin of a cabin and my approach caused the alignment of the chimney on this side of the valley with the shorn mountain across the valley. I stopped. Something happened. The stone verticals corresponded, one humanshaped, the other natural. The human site was still engaged in sightseeing. I was on its side. I saw the famous sight through the eyes of the ruin. I had e expecting beauty。 I discovered an unexpected dimension to the beauty of the scene/seen. 為了飽覽壯麗的花崗巖山峰半穹頂?shù)娜?，我登上了加州約塞米蒂谷的高地。穿過樹林，走近山沿，心中充滿美的期盼。遠遠望見一處小屋的廢墟，走到近前，只見山谷這邊的煙囪與橫穿山谷的陡峭山崖恰好連成一線。我停下腳步，奇觀出現(xiàn)了：兩道石壁遙相呼應，一邊人工打造，一邊渾然天成。人造景觀這邊仍供觀光游覽，我此時就身臨其境。透過小屋的廢墟，我看到了著名的景觀。我懷著對美的期盼而來，不經(jīng)意間卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了美的另一番天地。In this experience I had been seeking the aesthetic. I knew I would find it, for I had seen post cards in advance and was following the trail map. The seeking took considerable effort and time. It was a heavy investment. I was not going for the scientific purpose of studying rock formation, nor was it for the recreational purpose of exercising my limbs in the fresh air, though that exertion added intensity to the experience and was its context. Primarily, I was going for the scenic wonders. No wonder that I would take delight in seeing Half Dome. The expectation elicited the oute. I was suitably prepared. No distractions of practical consideration — or theoretic — detracted from my concentrated expectancy. Indeed, the world all around me on the climb contributed to the context for my goal. I was on the terrain of Nature in a national park, following the trail to a viewpoint upon a celebrated natural formation. Each step in the climb not only brought me closer but obliged me to sense the altitude. Moving through the thick woods was in anticipatory contrast to the great gap of the valley and the starkness of the treeless granite boulder. 這次旅程中我一直在捕捉一種美感。我知道會如愿以償，因為我事先看過一些有關的風景明信片，循著山路示意圖一路找來。這樣的尋找費時費力，投入頗大。我此行的目的既不是出于對科學的動機來研究巖石的結構，也不是出于娛樂消遣的考慮在清新的空氣中舒展肢體——盡管這次跋涉加深了我對美的體驗，而且是這番體驗的不可或缺的環(huán)節(jié)。我來這主要是為了覽勝，因此見到半穹頂自然欣喜不已。有什么樣的期盼就有什么樣的結果。我有備而來，心無旁騖，一心期盼著美景，不受任何實際或假設因素的干擾。真的，在攀登過程中，我周圍的一切都為尋美營造了氛圍。我登上了國家公園的天然山地，循著山道前來觀賞聞名遐邇的大自然的鬼斧神工。攀登中的每一步不僅使我距目標越來越近，也使我感受到海拔越來越高。不出所料，穿行在茂密的樹林中，登上大峽谷寸草不生的花崗巖巨石，兩種不同境界給人以強烈的反差。My spirit and my senses were heightened. I was keenly aware of the world, eager to experience it. My senses were willing to be gratified by their fullest exercise. Hence my eye was sharp, but so was my ear and my nose, I was open to experiencing aesthetically. And on the way I did take minor pleasure in a bird39。s song, a tree39。s sway, and a cloud39。s contortion. I was in the world considered as potential aesthetic realm. Any pleasing feature that appeared would be weled. And that weling mode drew forth pleasing features. A tonic subjective athomeness with the world pervaded my feelings. I was in the right mood to enjoy Nature. 我精神抖擻，感官敏銳。我真切地感受到周圍的一切，急于體驗這一切，渴望在最充分的感官體驗中得到最大滿足。因此我不但目光敏銳，聽覺和嗅覺也十分靈敏——我敞開心扉，盡情地體驗著美的滋味。沿途所見所聞，哪怕是一點小小的愉悅，鳥雀鳴唱、樹影婆娑、云卷云舒，都著實讓我動情。置身于這樣一個處處蘊含著美的王國，我隨時準備接納任何不期而至的景色。這樣一種心態(tài)更促生了令人賞心悅目的景致，一種心曠神怡的回歸自然之情在我心中油然而生。這樣一種心情最適于欣賞自然美景不過了。 Then the unexpected happened. I had no thought in reaching the natural heights that a human structure would be present. Normally, I would have avoided any such structure as I directed my steps toward the natural view. In retrospect it makes sense that a service building be present at the trail end. It may have had facilities for visitors and played an interpretive role. But the building was not present when I arrived. It was absent though its ruin was present. And that ruin spoke to my experience as related to what I had e to see. If I had been trudging on in a dulled state, passing the time in surroundings — like those of the railway station — that did not draw interest, I might well have missed the chimney, walked past it as if it were another tree on the way to the goal. The heightened intensity of my sensibility allowed the chimney to be integrated into the experiencing aesthetically. Readiness was all. The extraterrestrial aesthetician would explain that the creature it was observing on the trail was a specimen of an aesthetic being whose experiencing apparatus for the aesthetic was on full alert. The individual was pletely given over to the enjoyment of its experience. And while headed in the direction of an anticipated goal it was nonetheless open to enjoying anything that came its way. Something quite unexpected came its way, and it was ready to attend to it, getting the maximum aesthetic value out of the encounter. The creature was embarked on an adventure in experience. Given the wide range of accessible natural wonders in the national park, the individual in the right mood was bound to make gratifying discoveries. 接著，出乎意料的景觀出現(xiàn)了。我怎么也不曾想到，在抵達天然高地時竟然會出現(xiàn)一處人工建筑。在通常情況下，我要是徒步參觀某處自然景點，一定會繞開這類建筑?；叵肫饋恚谏铰繁M頭有一座服務性建筑也全在情理之中。這小屋也許曾為游客提供過方便，起過導游講解作用?？晌襾淼礁叩貢r，小屋不見了。雖有斷垣殘壁，房屋卻蕩然無存。而正是這片廢墟使我體驗到此行覽勝的真正含義。如果我當時興致索然地一路跋涉，比如像在火車站那樣的地方消磨時光，周圍的事物一點也不引人注意，那么我很可能會錯過煙囪，只當它是沿途路過的又一棵樹罷了。而現(xiàn)在，我的感悟力增強了，煙囪作為一道景觀融入了審美體驗的始終。一切取決于心態(tài)。如果一個天外美學家看到我這模樣，可能會認為，它觀察到的路上這個怪人準是個充滿審美細胞的動物，其審美感官正處于極度警覺的狀態(tài)。他已完全沉浸在審美體驗所帶來的愉悅之中。他朝著既定的目標行進，同時又不放過闖入視野的任何景致。奇觀乍現(xiàn)，立即映入眼簾，他便從中發(fā)掘出最大的審美價值。此人正在經(jīng)歷一次美的歷險。有國家公園這般天地，隨處可見自然奇現(xiàn)，心境舒暢的游人必定會獲得心滿意足的發(fā)現(xiàn)。 What are the contents of the aesthetic discovery? Formal properties of beauty may be pointed to in what I saw: the verticals as distinctively shaped and gathering space about them, and the interplay between the two kinds of vertical shapes over the enormous intervening space. The pleasure of perspective entered, for though the chimney is miniscule pared to Half Dome, my approaching it from the trail made it assume visual and spatial dignity equal to the mountain. Complexity of human meaning is encountered with poignant irony. The chimn