介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 157)
13. House-Warming (4)
[5] When I came to build my chimney I studied masonry[ˈmeɪsnrɪ]. My bricks, being second-hand ones, required to be cleaned with a trowel, so that I learned more than usual of the qualities of bricks and trowels[ˈtraʊəls]. The mortar on them was fifty years old, and was said to be still growing harder; but this is one of those sayings which men love to repeat whether they are true or not. Such sayings themselves grow harder and adhere more firmly with age, and it would take many blows with a trowel to clean an old wiseacre[ˈwaɪzˌeɪkə] of them. Many of the villages of Mesopotamia[ˌmesəpəˈteɪmiə] are built of second-hand bricks of a very good quality, obtained from the ruins of Babylon, and the cement[sɪˈment] on them is older and probably harder still. However that may be, I was struck by the peculiar toughness of the steel which bore so many violent blows without being worn out. As my bricks had been in a chimney before, though I did not read the name of Nebuchadnezzar[ˌnebjʊkəd'nezə(r)] on them, I picked out its many fireplace bricks as I could find, to save work and waste, and I filled the spaces between the bricks about the fireplace with stones from the pond shore, and also made my mortar with the white sand from the same place. I lingered most about the fireplace, as the most vital part of the house. Indeed, I worked so deliberately, that though I commenced at the ground in the morning, a course of bricks raised a few inches above the floor served for my pillow at night; yet I did not get a stiff neck for it that I remember; my stiff neck is of older date. I took a poet to board for a fortnight about those times, which caused me to be put to it for room. He brought his own knife, though I had two, and we used to scour them by thrusting them into the earth. He shared with me the labors of cooking. I was pleased to see my work rising so square and solid by degrees, and reflected, that, if it proceeded slowly, it was calculated to endure a long time. The chimney is to some extent an independent structure, standing on the ground, and rising through the house to the heavens; even after the house is burned it still stands sometimes, and its importance and independence are apparent. This was toward the end of summer. It was now November.
当我开始造我的烟囱，我研究了泥瓦术。我的砖头都是些二手货，需要用一把泥瓦刀清理，于是我就比平时学到更多关于砖和泥瓦刀质地的知识。那上面的灰泥已有五十年，据说还在变硬；但这只不过是人们总爱重复的不究真假的传闻之一。这传闻本身就越来越硬和更加顽固地附着在岁月身上，要用泥瓦刀敲打好多次才能打掉那古老的自负。美索不达米亚的很多村子是用优质的二手砖建的，来自巴比伦的废墟，那上面的水泥更老也许更硬。无论如何，我还是折服于这块儿钢出奇的硬度，它经过了那么多猛烈地锻打而没有筋疲力尽。鉴于我的砖头以前曾在烟囱里呆过，虽然我在那上面读不出尼布甲尼撒 的名字。我挑出了好多我能发现的壁炉砖，为了省工和少浪费，在壁炉周围砖与砖之间的空间我填满了来自那湖岸的石头，也取同样地方的白沙做了我的灰泥。我在壁炉的周围逗留的时间最长，因为它是那屋子最有活力的部分。真的，我干得如此谨慎，以至于虽然我在早上就开始干了，才砌出高出地板几英寸只够我晚上当枕头的部分；可是我记得晚上没有睡落枕；我落枕是更早时有过。那些日子我和一个诗人同住了两周，由于地方挤就落过那毛病。他带着自己的刀子，虽然我本人已经有两把，而我们经常插入土里来清理它们。烟囱从某种程度是一种独立建构，屹立于大地，从房子里穿出直指天堂；即便房屋被焚毁它仍会站立一段时间。它的重要性和独立性是显而易见的。这已是快接近夏末的事了。现在是十一月。
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