介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 165)
13. House-Warming (12)
[13] Gilpin, in his account of the forest borderers of England, says that "the encroachments of trespassers, and the houses and fences thus raised on the borders of the forest," were "considered as great nuisances[ˈnjuːsnsis] by the old forest law, and were severely punished under the name of purprestures[pɜːˈprestʃəs], as tending ad terrorem ferarum - ad nocumentum forestæ, etc.," to the frightening of the game and the detriment[ˈdetrɪmənt] of the forest. But I was interested in the preservation of the venison[ˈvenɪsn] and the vert生材;绿色more than the hunters or woodchoppers, and as much as though I had been the Lord Warden himself; and if any part was burned, though I burned it myself by accident, I grieved with a grief that lasted longer and was more inconsolable[ˌɪnkənˈsəʊləbl] than that of the proprietors[prəˈpraɪətəs]; nay, I grieved when it was cut down by the proprietors themselves. I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe[ɔː]敬畏which the old Romans did when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare), that is, would believe that it is sacred to some god. The Roman made an expiatory[ˈekspɪətərɪ] offering, and prayed, Whatever god or goddess thou art to whom this grove is sacred, be propitious[prəˈpɪʃəs] to me, my family, and children, etc (Et cetera).
[14] It is remarkable what a value is still put upon wood even in this age and in this new country, a value more permanent and universal than that of gold. After all our discoveries and inventions no man will go by a pile of wood. It is as precious to us as it was to our Saxon[ˈsæksn] and Norman ancestors. If they made their bows of it, we make our gun-stocks of it. Michaux, more than thirty years ago, says that the price of wood for fuel in New York and Philadelphia "nearly equals, and sometimes exceeds, that of the best wood in Paris, though this immense capital annually requires more than three hundred thousand cords, and is surrounded to the distance of three hundred miles by cultivated plains." In this town the price of wood rises almost steadily, and the only question is, how much higher it is to be this year than it was the last. Mechanics[mɪˈkænɪks] and tradesmen who come in person to the forest on no other errand, are sure to attend the wood auction, and even pay a high price for the privilege of gleaning after the woodchopper. It is now many years that men have resorted to the forest for fuel and the materials of the arts: the New Englander and the New Hollander, the Parisian[pə'rizjən] and the Celt, the farmer and Robin Hood, Goody Blake and Harry Gill[gɪl]; in most parts of the world the prince and the peasant, the scholar and the savage, equally require still a few sticks from the forest to warm them and cook their food. Neither could I do without them.
吉尔朋在他关于英格兰森林边地居民的描述里说到“入侵者的侵占，房子和篱笆就在森林的边界升起来，”被“古来的森林法看做是极讨厌的作为，以侵占公产的名义将会受到严惩，作为维护和圣化森林，等等，”来对付那可怕的游戏和对森林的损害。不过我感兴趣于对野物和绿色的保护，而不是猎人和伐木人，就算我是阿瓦隆领主本人，如果森林的一部分被焚毁了，哪怕就是我本人由于意外毁了它，我也会更长久地陷入悲痛而且比那拥有者更伤心不已；不仅如此，哪怕就是拥有者本人砍伐它，我也会悲伤。我但愿我们的农夫[fū]们当他们砍倒一片森林的时候能感到那种敬畏，像过去的那些罗马人，当他们想弄薄，或让光线射入，一片神圣的小树林（lucum conlucare，)那就是，他们信奉它是献给某个神的。那罗马人总会做补偿性祭品和祈祷，不管你是什么神或女神，这片树林献给你，请赐福给我、我的家人及孩子，等等。
值得注意的是即便在我们这个时代这个新国家，我们仍然赋予木材的价值，这种价值比黄金更普遍和更久远。在我们所有的发现和发明之后，没有人能走过一堆木头。它对于我们仍然和我们的撒克逊和诺曼祖先一样珍贵。如果他们曾用它做他们的弓箭，我们也在用它做我们的枪托。米修早在三十年前就说，在纽约和费城两地燃料木材的价格“几乎相同，而且有时候超过巴黎最好的木头，虽然这一行当的巨额利润年年要求三十万考特木头，那些都在三百英里之外被农田包围着。”在这个镇子，木材的价格几乎是在稳步上涨，可唯一的问题是，今年比去年到底涨了多少。技师和商人亲自来这里没有别的目的，就是加入木材交易，甚至紧随伐木人之后付出高昂代价的采伐特权。已经过去好多年了，自从人们去森林采取燃料木材和艺术品原料：新英格兰人和新荷兰人，巴黎人和凯尔特人，农夫和罗宾汉，古迪•布莱克和哈里•吉尔；在这世界的大多地区国君和农民，学者和野人，同样在向森林要求几根树枝取暖和煮饭。我也同样离不了它们。
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