介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 144)
12. Brute Neighbors (3)
[8] Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world? Why has man just these species of animals for his neighbors; as if nothing but a mouse could have filled this crevice[ˈkrevɪs]? I suspect that Pilpay & Co. have put animals to their best use, for they are all beasts of burden, in a sense, made to carry some portion of our thoughts.
[9] The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native kind (Mus leucopus) not found in the village. I sent one to a distinguished naturalist, and it interested him much. When I was building, one of these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. It probably had never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. It could readily ascend the sides of the room by short impulses, like a squirrel['skwɪrəl], which it resembled in its motions. At length, as I leaned with my elbow on the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and round and round the paper which held my dinner, while I kept the latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep with it; and when at last I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it came and nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterward cleaned its face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.
为什么就正好是我们看到的这些物体组成了一个世界？为什么人就正好有这么一些动物物种来做自己的邻居；仿佛是只有一只老鼠能塞填这一裂隙[liè xì]？我怀疑皮尔贝公司出的寓言已经把动物做了最好的利用，因为它们都是些负荷的野兽，从某种意义，编它们出来承载我们的一部分思想。
在我房里出没的这些老鼠不是常见品种，据说是国外引进的，但是本地野生的村子里也见不到。我给一个著名的自然学家送了一只，他很感兴趣。当我还在建房，这其中的一只就在我的房下做起窝来，在我垒第二层还没完成，和扫除那些刨花[bào huā]，它就通常午餐时间出来，捡起我脚边的那些面包屑xiè。它以前也许从没见过人；而很快就相当熟悉了，会爬上我的鞋并顺势上了衣服。它会通过短暂猛冲，欣然顺着房子的周边攀登，像一只松鼠，那动作很像。终于有一天，当我的肘子倚在凳子上，它跑上我的衣服，沿着我的袖子，顺着我的放了午餐的纸一圈儿一圈儿绕，而我把后者封住、躲闪并和它玩藏猫猫[māo māo]游戏；当最后我在拇指和食指间还夹着一块奶酪，它过来啃，坐在我的手心里，后来像一只苍蝇一样，洗了洗爪子和脸，走开了。
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