介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 178)
14. Former Inhabitants; & Winter Visitors(9)
[14] But this small village, germ of something more, why did it fail while Concord keeps its ground? Were there no natural advantages - no water privileges, forsooth? Ay[aɪ], the deep Walden Pond and cool Brister's Spring - privilege to drink long and healthy draughts at these, all unimproved by these men but to dilute[daɪˈluːt] their glass. They were universally a thirsty race. Might not the basket, stable-broom, mat-making, corn-parching, linen[ˈlɪnɪn]-spinning, and pottery business have thrived here, making the wilderness to blossom like the rose, and a numerous posterity have inherited the land of their fathers? The sterile[ˈsteraɪl] soil would at least have been proof against a low-land degeneracy. Alas[əˈlæs]! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape! Again, perhaps, Nature will try, with me for a first settler, and my house raised last spring to be the oldest in the hamlet.
[15] I am not aware that any man has ever built on the spot which I occupy. Deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city, whose materials are ruins, whose gardens cemeteries. The soil is blanched and accursed there, and before that becomes necessary the earth itself will be destroyed. With such reminiscences[ˌremɪˈnɪsənsis] I repeopled the woods and lulled[lʌl] myself asleep.
可是这一小小的村落，胚芽或更甚的什么，为什么衰落而康科德立住了脚？真是因为这里没有自然的便利——水源不方便吗？唉，那深邃的瓦尔登湖和清凉的布里斯特泉——特许长久健康地畅饮它们，都没有被这些人们利用，只是稀释了他们的玻璃杯子。他们普遍意义上还是一个焦渴的民族。就不能让那篮子、马厩[jiù]扫帚、做垫子的、烤玉米的、纺麻线的都别在这里这么兴旺，让旷野开花如同玫瑰，就这样无数的后代来继承他们列祖之地？贫瘠[jí]的土壤[rǎng]将至少抵御一个低地的退化。哎呀！这些居民们对这美丽的土地风光的记忆多么少得可怜！再说了，也许，大自然会把我作为第一个定居者，尝试和我偕行，而我去年开春升起来的房子是小村落最古老的见证。
我没注意到任何人在我占据的这一带建房。让我脱离一个城市的诞生地去一个更古老的遗址，它的材料是废墟，花园是墓地。那里土地泛白和被诅咒，而在那之前大地本身都需要被摧毁。就凭着这些回忆我重新添加了这林子的人口和摇着自己酣[hān]然入眠。
大家还在听
