社交往往是很廉价的,我们相聚的时间是如此短暂,以至于来不及让彼此获得新的长处。我们在一日三餐的时间里见面。大家重新相互品尝我们这些陈腐乳酪的味道。我们必须一致同意若干条礼节习俗,这些是我们所谓的礼尚往来,能够使大家相安无事地相处,避免有失风度的争吵。我们在邮局碰面,在各种社交场合碰面,在每晚的火炉边碰面,我们的生活太拥挤,相互干扰,彼此牵扯到一起,因此我认为,我们之间已经太缺乏相互尊重了。当然,也有重要而热忱的聚会,次数少一点也足够。想想工厂中的女工们,生活中永远不会有自己独立的空间,甚至连做梦都不会是一个人。如果一个人能住上一平方英里,就像我住的地方一样,那情况就会好得多。人们交往的价值不在于有肌肤之亲,所以我们没有必要整日地待在一起。
……
我的房里有我很多伴儿,特别是早上没有人来访的时候。让我举例说明吧——也许用这种方式更能清楚地表达我的状况。我并不比湖中纵声高叫的潜水鸟寂寞,也不比瓦尔登湖本身寂寞。我倒是想获知有谁与这孤独的湖做伴?在它湛蓝的水波上,存在的不是蓝色的魔鬼,而是蓝色的天使。太阳是孤独的,除非天上布满了乌云,有时候看上去像有两个太阳,但其中一个是假的。上帝是孤独的,——但是魔鬼就决不会孤独,他看到许多同伙,他要拉帮结派。我并不比一朵毛蕊花或牧场上的一朵蒲公英孤独,我不比一片豆叶、一枝酢浆草,或一只马蝇、一只大黄蜂孤独。还有密尔溪、风信鸡、北极星或者南风,四月的暴雨、一月的冰雪消融,或者新屋里的第一只蜘蛛——所有这一切的一切,我都不比它们孤独、寂寞!
心灵小语
寂静中,享受孤独,享受一个人的狂欢。
记忆填空
1. My nearest neighbor is a mile__ , and no house is visible from any place__ the hill-tops within half a mile of my own.
2. I find it wholesome to be__ the greater part of the time. To be in__ , even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I__ to be alone.
3. Society is commonly too__ . We meet at very short intervals, not having had__ to acquire any new value for each other.
佳句翻译
1. 在瓦尔登湖,很显然他们只能钓到自己的本性,而鱼钩也只能钩起黑夜。
译__________________
2. 生活在大自然中,只要感官还在发挥作用,就不可能有太深重的忧郁。
译__________________
3. 人腿再努力也只能让人们走在一起,却无法使他们的心彼此靠近。
译__________________
短语应用
1. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?
separate from:(使)分离,(使)分开
造__________________
2. When he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts.
at the mercy of:在……支配下
造__________________
英国的农村生活
Rural Life in England
华盛顿·欧文/Washington Irving
华盛顿·欧文(1783—1859),享誉国际的文学家,也是19世纪最伟大的美国散文家之一。他生于纽约,在家中是11个孩子中最小的。欧文自幼聪颖,19岁攻读法律。1804年至1806年间游历欧洲,回国后取得律师资格。但是,他对当律师并不感兴趣,而且身体不太好。因此,他改变职业,以写作谋生,并进入仕途,曾任驻西班牙公使,旅居欧洲长达17年。他的杰作《见闻札记》就在这其间完成的,其中的《瑞普?凡?温克尔》已成为妇孺皆知的故事。总之,华盛顿?欧文在世界文学史上有着不可或缺的地位。
Nothing can be more imposing than the magnificence of English park scenery. Vast lawns that extend like sheets of vivid green, with here and there clumps of gigantic trees, heaping up rich piles of foliage. the solemn pomp of groves and woodland glades, with the deer trooping in silent herds across them; the hare, bounding away to the covert; or the pheasant, suddenly bursting upon the wing; the brook, taught to wind in natural meanderings or expand into a glassy lake—the sequestered pool, reflecting the quivering trees, with the yellow leaf sleeping on its bosom, and the trout roaming fearlessly about its limpid waters; while some rustic temple or sylvan statue, grown green and dank with age, gives an air of classic sanctity to the seclusion.
These are but a few of the features of park scenery; but what most delights me, is the creative talent with which the English decorate the unostentatious abodes of middle life. The rudest habitation, the most unpromising and scanty portion of land, in the hands of an Englishman of taste, becomes a little paradise.