介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 151)
12. Brute Neighbors (10)
[17] As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon, suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. I pursued with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than before. He dived again, but I miscalculated the direction he would take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this time, for I had helped to widen the interval; and again he laughed long and loud, and with more reason than before. He manoeuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen rods of him. Each time, when he came to the surface, turning his head this way and that, he cooly surveyed[ˈsɜːveɪ] the water and the land, and apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his resolve into execution[ˌeksɪˈkjuːʃən]. He led me at once to the widest part of the pond, and could not be driven[ˈdrɪvn] from it. While he was thinking one thing in his brain, I was endeavoring[ɪn'devə] to divine his thought in mine. It was a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against a loon. Suddenly your adversary's checker disappears beneath the board, and the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again. Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me, having apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was he and so unweariable, that when he had swum[swʌm] farthest he would immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons have been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface, with hooks set for trout - though Walden is deeper than that. How surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another sphere speeding his way amid their schools!
当我在一个非常宁静的十月的下午沿着北岸划船，因为像这样的日子他们会特别地在湖上安顿，就像那扯下来的马利筋漂浮，就在我徒劳地看遍了湖上找一只潜水鸟，猛然发现了一只，驶出了岸到中央就在我前面几码远，扯起嗓子狂野地大笑暴露了他自己。我划起桨就追，他潜下去了，可是当他再一次上来，我离他比先前更近了。他又潜下去，可是我计算错了他水下的路线，再一次升上水面，我们离了五十码远，是我帮助扩大了间距；他又一次长长地大笑，这次比先前有了更多理由。他如此狡猾地使出招数，总把我和他距离保持在五六码之间。每次他在水上现身，把头这边那边转转，冷静测量水和陆地，显然是在选择他的路线以便下次露头的地方是一片最辽阔的水域和离小船最远的距离。他拿定主意和付诸实施的时间快得令人吃惊。他很快就把我领到湖最宽的地方，而且还把他从那里赶不跑。当他在自己脑袋里琢磨一件事情，我也就尽量在我的思想里揣测他的。这真是在这湖上玩儿的一场相当棒的游戏，一个人对一只潜水鸟。猛然你的对手检验员在水上消失，麻烦是确定下一次他出现最近的位置。有时他会出乎我意料在相反的方向露头，显然是直接经过了船的下方。他绕了这么大弯子而且如此不知疲倦，以至于当他已经游得足够远他将立刻再投入，就是这样；没有什么智慧能够预测在那湖的深处，在光滑的水面之下，他是如何加速赶路像一条鱼，因为他有的是时间和能力去光顾湖底，它最深的部分。据说在纽约的湖里八十英尺的水下曾钓上来潜水鸟，那些钩子是用来钓鳟鱼的——虽然瓦尔登湖比那更深。那些鱼类会感到多么奇怪呀，看见这难看的访客来自另一片天空在他们中间匆匆把路赶！
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