But please do not be too sentimental about the "good old days". Many people who only see the beautiful churches and the great works of art which the Middle Ages have left behind grow quite eloquent when they compare our own ugly civilisation with its hurry and its noise and the evil smells of back-firing motor trucks with the cities of a thousand years ago. But these mediaeval churches were invariably surrounded by miserable hovels compared to which a modern tenement house stands forth as a luxurious palace. It is true that the noble Lancelot and the equally noble Parsifal, the pure young hero who went in search of the Holy Grail, were not bothered by the odor of gasoline. But there were other smells of the barnyard variety-odors of decaying refuse which had been thrown into the street-of pig-sties surrounding the Bishop's palace-of unwashed people who had inherited their coats and hats from their grandfathers and who had never learned the blessing of soap. I do not want to paint too unpleasant a picture. Butwhen you read in the ancient chronicles that the King of France, looking out of the windows of his palace, fainted at the stench caused by the pigs rooting in the streets of Paris, when an ancient manuscript recounts a few details of an epidemic of the plague or of smallpox, then you begin to understand that "progress" is something more than a catchword used by modern advertising men.
我想提醒你们，千万不要对所谓"古老的好时光"抱有过多的感伤之情。有许多人，他们的眼睛只看到中世纪留下的壮丽教堂和伟大的艺术作品，往往拿它们和我们时代的充斥着的噪音的喧嚣和汽车尾气的恶臭的丑陋文明相比较，得出今不如昔的结论。可这仅仅是事情的一个方面。要知道，在富丽宏伟的中世纪教堂边上，无一例外地布满了大量悲惨肮脏的贫民窟。与之相比，连现代最简陋的公寓也堪称豪华奢侈的宫殿。是的，高贵的朗斯洛特和同样高贵的帕尔齐法尔，当这些年轻纯洁的英雄上路去寻找圣杯时，他们当然用不着忍受汽油的臭味。可当时另外有着许许多多的其它臭味，谷仓牛栏的味道，扔到大街上的垃圾腐烂发酵的味道，包围着主教大人宫殿的猪圈的味道，还有那些穿戴祖父传下的衣服和帽子、一辈子没享受过擦肥皂的幸福、也绝少洗澡的人们发出的味道。我不愿意着力描绘出一副大煞风景、十分令人不快的画面。不过当你阅读古代编年史，看到法国国王在华丽高贵的皇宫内悠然眺望窗外，却被巴黎街头拱食的猪群发出的冲天臭气熏得昏倒时，当你看到某本稍稍记载了一些天花和鼠疫横行的惨状的古代手稿时，你才会真正明白"进步"一词绝非现代广告人使用的时髦话。