介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 149)
12. Brute Neighbors (8)
[15] Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle[ˈtɜːtl] in a victualling cellar, sported his heavy quarters in the woods, without the knowledge of his master, and ineffectually smelled at old fox burrows and woodchucks' holes; led perchance by some slight cur which nimbly threaded the wood, and might still inspire a natural terror in its denizens[ˈdenɪzəns]; - now far behind his guide, barking like a canine[ˈkeɪnaɪn] bull toward some small squirrel which had treed itself for scrutiny, then, cantering off, bending the bushes with his weight, imagining that he is on the track of some stray member of the jerbilla family. Once I was surprised to see a cat walking along the stony shore of the pond, for they rarely wander[ˈwɒndə] so far from home. The surprise was mutual[ˈmjuːtʃʊəl]. Nevertheless the most domestic cat, which has lain on a rug all her days, appears quite at home in the woods, and, by her sly and stealthy behavior, proves herself more native there than the regular inhabitants. Once, when berrying, I met with a cat with young kittens in the woods, quite wild, and they all, like their mother, had their backs up and were fiercely spitting at me. A few years before I lived in the woods there was what was called a "winged cat" in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln nearest the pond, Mr. Gilian Baker's. When I called to see her in June, 1842, she was gone a-hunting in the woods, as was her wont (I am not sure whether it was a male or female, and so use the more common pronoun), but her mistress told me that she came into the neighborhood a little more than a year before, in April, and was finally taken into their house; that she was of a dark brownish-gray color, with a white spot on her throat, and white feet, and had a large bushy tail like a fox; that in the winter the fur grew thick and flatted out along her sides, forming stripes[straɪps] ten or twelve inches long by two and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff, the upper side loose, the under matted like felt, and in the spring these appendages dropped off. They gave me a pair of her "wings," which I keep still. There is no appearance of a membrane about them. Some thought it was part flying squirrel or some other wild animal, which is not impossible, for, according to naturalists, prolific hybrids have been produced by the union of the marten and domestic cat. This would have been the right kind of cat for me to keep, if I had kept any; for why should not a poet's cat be winged as well as his horse?
很多村子里的一般狗，都仅适合于在储备粮食的地窖追赶一只泥龟，在林子里拖着笨重的身子嬉戏，至于懂得的东西还不如他的主人，无效地去嗅那老狐狸的藏身处和土拨鼠洞；偶尔被某个纤小的杂种狗带领，它敏捷地穿过林子，很可能是对一些户外动物同类天然的恐惧刺激着——现在远远落后于他该进行的指导，叫得就像一头犬齿类公牛，冲着某个小松鼠，那不过是在树枝间进行它的巡游，然后，又慢跑开来，用身体的重量压弯那些灌木，想象着他已嗅上了某个流浪的跳鼠科成员的踪迹。有一次，我惊讶地看见一只猫在沿着瓦尔登湖的石岸散步，因为他们难得从家里漫游到这么远。这惊讶是相互的。无论如何再驯良的猫，哪怕就是成天躺在一张小毯子上度日，到了林间也和回了家一样自在，透过她那狡猾和偷偷摸摸的举止，证明她本身比这林子里的惯常居民更加土生土长。有一次采浆果，我碰见一只猫领着她的小崽子们在林中，相当野性，那些小崽子也像他们的母亲，弓起后背，冲着我凶猛地吐唾沫。在我住进这林中几年前，这一带有一只叫做“飞猫”，在最靠近这湖的林肯镇的一个农户家里，属于吉利安•贝克尔先生。当我在一八四二年六月拜访她，她到林中狩[shòu]猎去了，那是她的习惯（我不大能肯定它的公母，于是就用了这普通代称），可是她的女主人告诉我，她是最近一年多/才来到这一带，在四月里，最终被带进他们家；通体都是深灰褐色，在喉头那里有一个白斑点，白脚，一只大而茂密的尾巴，像狐狸，到了冬天毛/长zhang得很厚而且在身体两边摊开，形成两道十到十二英寸长，两英寸半宽的面儿，一直到下巴，就像一对儿暖手筒，上方蓬松，而里子暗淡如同毯子，到了春天这些附属物就脱落了。他们给了我/那猫褪下的一对儿“翅膀”，我现在还留着。看上去没有薄如蝉翼的样子。有人认为它是飞鼠的部分或其他野生动物，说那是不可能的，因为，根据自然学家说法，目前的杂交动物品种只有水貂和家猫联姻的产物。可这/是正适合我收藏的那种猫，如果我打算收藏什么猫；因为，为什么一只诗人的猫就不能长翅膀就像他的翼马？
大家还在听
