Isaiah Berlin 最好看的一本书是Personal Impressions。Personal Impressions 里最好看的一篇文章是Meetings with Russian Writers in 1945 and 1946。昨天晚上我翻箱找书，找不到要找的那一本，却邂逅了这一本十几年前出版的老书。我二十几年前就喜欢读Berlin，这一本是一九八一年我重到伦敦的时候买的。旅行途中断断续续读完全书，回来不但经常重读，文章里也引用了书中一些资料。余英时先生熟读Berlin的着作，一眼认出出处，来信提到这位英国着名文化学者、着名教授的如椽大笔。Berlin这篇长文从一九四五年他在华盛顿英国大使馆短期工作写起。那年夏天，大使馆要临时调派他到英国驻莫斯科大使馆去工作几个月，理由是那边人手不足，而他又谙俄文，过去在美国参加过一些国际问题会议，了解美国对苏的各种不同看法。大使馆认为他可以暂时补一补缺，直到新年专人到任为止。当时二次大战已经结束了。Berlin的英文乾净利落，平实之中俱见学养和文采，读来舒服：
In the summer of 1945，while I was working as a temporary official in the British Embassy in Washington，I was informed that I was to be seconded to our Moscow Embassy for a few months:the reason given was that it was short-handed,and since I knew Russian,and had, at the San Francisco Conference （and long before it）, learnt something of official and unofficial American attitudes to the soviet Union, I might be of some use in filling a gap until the New Year when Someone less amateur would be free to come. The war was over...
Berlin在苏联所见的两位作家是Anna Akhmatova和Boris Pasternak。那时期，苏联人民刚刚遭受希特勒的蹂躏，史大林时代的极权专政方兴未艾，可是，苏联的文学艺术繁花似锦，不论创作不论理论都果实纍纍，继承二十世纪初的盛况发展延续。物质贫乏，思想蓬勃，文艺工作者在莫斯科的寒夜里为维护人性的尊严和创作的自由上下求索。政治的冷风吹乱了人的心绪。Berlin於是在这篇长文的文首引了女诗人Anna Akhmatova日记里的几句话：“记忆求连贯，每每弄真反假。人的记忆不能顺序逐一重温旧事。书信日记其实经常是无补於事的”（“Every attempt to produce Coherent memories amounts to falsification. No human memory is so arranged as to recollect everything in continuous sequence. Letters and diaries often turn out to be bad assistants”）。
Berlin小时候在俄国，一九一九年十岁跟家人出国之后没有回过故居。这次他在莫斯科、在列宁格勒跟这两位作家会面长谈，亲眼看到他们生活和写作的境遇，彼此由浅交变成深交，深深改变了他的人生观。他说：事后多年，只要看到他们的名字，听到人家说起他们，都会清楚记起他们脸上的表情，他们的手势、他们说的话。到今天，一读到他们写的东西，竟彷彿又听到他们的声音（“When I see their names in print, or hear them mentioned, I remember vividly the expressions on the their faces, their gestures and their words. When I read their writingsI can, to this day, hear the sound of their voices”）。