《1-Kant-the-Man-康德其人》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《1-Kant-the-Man-康德其人（4页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、 Kant the Man William Somerset Maugham Punctually at five minutes to five Lampe, his servant, waked Professor Kant and by five, in his slippers, dressing-gown and night-cap, over which he wore his three-corned hat, he seated himself in his study ready for breakfast. This consisted of a cup of weak t
2、ea and a pipe of tobacco. The next two hours he spent thinking over the lecture he was to deliver that morning. The he dressed. The lecture room was on the ground floor of his house. He lectured from seven till nine and so popular were his lectures that if you wanted a good seat you had to be there
3、at six-thirty Kant, seated behind a little desk, spoke in a conversational tone, in a low voice, and very rarely indulged in gesture, but he enlivened his discourse with humor and abundant illustrations. His aim was to teach his students to think for themselves and he did not like it when they busie
4、d themselves with their quills to write down his every word. “Gentlemen, do not scratch so,” he said once. “I am not oracle.” It was his custom to fix his eyes on a student who sat close to him and judge by the look on his face whether or not he understood what he said. But a very small thing distra
5、cted him. On one occasion he lost the thread of his discourse because a button was wanting on the coat of one of the students, and on another, when a sleepy youth persistently yawned, he broke off to say: “If one cannot avoid yawning, good manners require that the hand should be placed before the mo
6、uth.” At nine oclock Kant returned to his room, once more put on his dressing-gown, his night-cap, his three-corned hat and his slippers and studied till exactly a quarter to one. Then he called down to his cook, told her the hour, dressed and went back to his study to await the guests he expected t
7、o dinner. He could not bear to eat alone, and there were always guests, never less than two nor more than five. As soon as they were assembled Kant told his servant to bring the dinner and himself went to fetch the silver spoons which he kept locked up with his money in a bureau in the parlour The p
8、arty seated themselves in the dining-room and with the words “Now, gentlemen,” Kant set to. The meal was substantial. It was the only one he ate in the day, and consisted of soup, dried pulse with fish, roast, cheese to end with and fruit when in season. Before each guest was placed a pint bottle of
9、 red wine and a pint bottle of white so that he could drink whichever he liked. Kant was fond of talking, but preferred to talk alone, and if interrupted or contradicted was apt to show displeasure; his conversation, however, was so agreeable that none minded if he monopolized it. He would also tell
10、 humorous stories, of which he had a rich supply and which he told uncommonly well, so, he said, “that the repast may end with laughter, which is calculated to promote digestion.” He like to linger over dinner and the guests did not rise from table till late. He would not sit down after they had lef
11、t in case he fell asleep, and this he would not permit himself to do since he was of opinion that sleep should be enjoyed sparingly, for thus time was saved and so life lengthened. He set out on his afternoon walk. He was a little man, barely five feet tall, with a narrow chest and one shoulder high
12、er than the other, and he was thin almost to emaciation. He had a crooked nose, but a fine brow and his color was fresh. His eyes, though small, were blue, lively and penetrating. He was natty I his dress. He wore a small blond wig, a black tie, and a shirt with ruffles round the throat and wrists;
13、a coat, breeches and waistcoat of fine cloth, gray silk stockings and shoes with silver buckles. He carried his three-cornered hat under his arm and in his hand a gold-headed cane. He walked every day, rain or fine, for exactly one hour, but if the weather was threatening, his servant walked behind
14、him with a big umbrella. The only occasion on which he is known to have omitted his walk is when he received Rousseaus Emile, and then, unable to tear himself away from it, he remained indoors for three days. He walked very slowly because he thought it was bad for him to sweat, and alone because he
15、had formed the habit of breathing through his nostrils, since thus he thought to avoid catching cold and, had he had a companion with whom courtesy would obliged him to speak, he would have been constrained to breathe through his mouth. He invariably took the same walk, along the Linden Alley, and t
16、his, according to Heine, he strolled up and down eight times. He issued from his house at precisely the same hour so that the people of the town could set their clocks by it. When he came home he returned to his study and read and wrote letters till the light failed. Then, as was his habit, fixing his eyes on the tower of a neighboring church, he pondered over the problems that just then occupied him. A
