《安徒生童话》英文版
  作者：安徒生[丹麦]
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  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  A CHEERFUL TEMPER
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  FROM my father I received the best inheritance, namely a "good
  temper." "And who was my father?" That has nothing to do with the good
  temper; but I will say he was lively, good-looking round, and fat;
  he was both in appearance and character a complete contradiction to
  his profession. "And pray what was his profession and his standing
  in respectable society?" Well, perhaps, if in the beginning of a
  book these were written and printed, many, when they read it, would
  lay the book down and say, "It seems to me a very miserable title, I
  don't like things of this sort." And yet my father was not a
  skin-dresser nor an executioner; on the contrary, his employment
  placed him at the head of the grandest people of the town, and it
  was his place by right. He had to precede the bishop, and even the
  princes of the blood; he always went first,- he was a hearse driver!
  There, now, the truth is out. And I will own, that when people saw
  my father perched up in front of the omnibus of death, dressed in
  his long, wide, black cloak, and his black-edged, three-cornered hat
  on his head, and then glanced at his round, jocund face, round as
  the sun, they could not think much of sorrow or the grave. That face
  said, "It is nothing, it will all end better than people think." So
  I have inherited from him, not only my good temper, but a habit of
  going often to the churchyard, which is good, when done in a proper
  humor; and then also I take in the Intelligencer, just as he used to
  do.
  I am not very young, I have neither wife nor children, nor a
  library, but, as I said, I read the Intelligencer, which is enough for
  me; it is to me a delightful paper, and so it was to my father. It
  is of great use, for it contains all that a man requires to know;
  the names of the preachers at the church, and the new books which
  are published; where houses, servants, clothes, and provisions may
  be obtained. And then what a number of subscriptions to charities, and
  what innocent verses! Persons seeking interviews and engagements,
  all so plainly and naturally stated. Certainly, a man who takes in the
  Intelligencer may live merrily and be buried contentedly, and by the
  end of his life will have such a capital stock of paper that he can
  lie on a soft bed of it, unless he prefers wood shavings for his
  resting-place. The newspaper and the churchyard were always exciting
  objects to me. My walks to the latter were like bathing-places to my
  good humor. Every one can read the newspaper for himself, but come
  with me to the churchyard while the sun shines and the trees are
  green, and let us wander among the graves. Each of them is like a
  closed book, with the back uppermost, on which we can read the title
  of what the book contains, but nothing more. I had a great deal of
  information from my father, and I have noticed a great deal myself.
  I keep it in my diary, in which I write for my own use and pleasure
  a history of all who lie here, and a few more beside.
  Now we are in the churchyard. Here, behind the white iron
  railings, once a rose-tree grew; it is gone now, but a little bit of
  evergreen, from a neighboring grave, stretches out its green tendrils,
  and makes some appearance; there rests a very unhappy man, and yet
  while he lived he might be said to occupy a very good position. He had
  enough to live upon, and something to spare; but owing to his
  refined tastes the least thing in the world annoyed him. If he went to
  a theatre of an evening, instead of enjoying himself he would be quite
  annoyed if the machinist had put too strong a light into one side of
  the moon, or if the representations of the sky hung over the scenes
  when they ought to have hung behind them; or if a palm-tree was
  introduced into a scene representing the Zoological Gardens of Berlin,
  or a cactus in a view of Tyrol, or a beech-tree in the north of
  Norway. As if these things were of any consequence!