Nov 7 is lidong(立冬), one of the 24 solar terms, marking the beginning of winter. Descriptions of winter are normally quite downbeat for obvious reasons. Winter means strong winds and snow – an environment in which it is uncomfortable to be.

　　11月7日是二十四节气之一的立冬，标志着冬日之始。人们对于冬天的描述通常都比较悲观，原因显而易见：冬天意味着疾风寒雪，环境恶劣令人不适。

　　This unpleasant and even frightening aspect of winter is evident in literature. In Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606), the king has given away his kingdom and been rejected by two ungrateful daughters. He is out in the winter cold, suffering things that are usually reserved for the poorest and most wretched human beings.

　　冬天令人不快甚至有些可怕的一面在文学作品中可见一斑。在莎士比亚的戏剧《李尔王》(1606)中，国王放弃了他的王权，被两个忘恩负义的女儿拒之门外。他在冬季的严寒之中，遭受着最可怜、最不幸之人所经受的一切。

　　The winter is bad enough for Lear, but being abandoned by his family is worse. A song from another Shakespeare play, As You Like It (1599), is fitting for this poor old man’s situation: “Blow, blow, thou winter wind, / Thou art not so unkind / As man’s ingratitude”. Here, winter is used to bring out the ugliness of inhumanity. There aren’t many things that are worse than winter, according to Shakespeare.

　　冬天对于李尔而言已经够糟糕的了，但被家人抛弃无疑是雪上加霜。用莎翁另一部戏剧《皆大欢喜》(1599)中的一首歌来形容这位可怜老人的处境十分贴切：“不惧冬风凛冽，风威远难遽及，人世之寡情”。在这里，冬天揭示了无人性之丑陋。在莎翁看来，没有多少事能比冬天更糟的了。

　　Once winter became less of a threat to human beings, literary works featuring it became more positive. Since Charles Dickens, the representation of the season in literature has often featured happy Christmas celebrations.

　　当冬天对人们的威胁变小时，文学作品也将其刻画得更加积极。从查尔斯.狄更斯开始，冬日在文学作品中经常代表着欢乐的圣诞节庆。

　　The cold and bleak mood of the winter weather provides a contrast to the fun and feasting going on indoors.

　　冬日所带来的寒冷与萧瑟，和室内的欢乐与盛宴形成了鲜明的对比。

　　Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) was the start of this, but Christmas is still a common, cheery element in stories that feature winter scenes today. Consider the joy felt by Harry Potter and his friends in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) as they sit down for their festive meal:

　　狄更斯的小说《圣诞颂歌》开创了描绘这一冬日景象的先河，而如今，圣诞节依然是故事中描写冬日情景时常见而欢乐的元素。看看J.K.罗琳在小说《哈利波特与魔法石》(1997)中如何描写哈利.波特和他的朋友们坐在圣诞大餐旁所感受到的快乐，你就知道了：

　　“Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce”.

　　“哈利有生以来从未参加过这样的圣诞宴会。一百只胖墩墩的烤火鸡、堆成小山似的烤肉和煮土豆、一盘盘美味小香肠、一碗碗拌了黄油的豌豆、一碟碟浓稠的肉卤和蔓越莓酱”。

　　It is almost as much a pleasure to read about the meal as it might have been to eat it.

　　读到这些美食的片段几乎就和品尝到它们一样令人感到愉快。

　　Although winter still isn’t the most cheerful season in novels and poems, it’s safe to say that writers have certainly “warmed up” since Shakespeare’s days.

　　尽管冬天还不是小说和诗歌中最振奋人心的季节，但可以肯定的是，自莎士比亚时代以来，作家们笔下的冬天已经“温暖多了”。