介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 183) 结束篇
14. Former Inhabitants; & Winter Visitors(14)
[22] Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them, trying our knives, and admiring the clear yellowish grain of the pumpkin pine. We waded[weɪd] so gently and reverently, or we pulled together so smoothly, that the fishes of thought were not scared from the stream, nor feared any angler on the bank, but came and went grandly, like the clouds which float through the western sky, and the mother-o'-pearl flocks which sometimes form and dissolve there. There we worked, revising mythology, rounding a fable here and there, and building castles in the air for which earth offered no worthy foundation. Great Looker! Great Expecter! to converse with whom was a New England Night's Entertainment. Ah! such discourse we had, hermit and philosopher, and the old settler I have spoken of - we three - it expanded and racked my little house; I should not dare to say how many pounds' weight there was above the atmospheric pressure on every circular inch; it opened its seams so that they had to be calked with much dulness thereafter to stop the consequent leak; - but I had enough of that kind of oakum already picked.
[23] There was one other with whom I had "solid seasons," long to be remembered, at his house in the village, and who looked in upon me from time to time; but I had no more for society there.
[24] There too, as everywhere, I sometimes expected the Visitor who never comes. The Vishnu Purana[pʊ'raːnə] says, "The house-holder is to remain at eventide in his courtyard as long as it takes to milk a cow, or longer if he pleases, to await the arrival of a guest." I often performed this duty of hospitality, waited long enough to milk a whole herd of cows, but did not see the man approaching from the town.
当晒干了思想的每一个细胞，我们就坐下来和砍削它们，试着用我们的刀子，去钦佩那清凉和黄澄澄的五叶松的果实。我们跋涉得如此温柔和虔敬，或我们如此顺顺地收集，以至于那些思想的鱼都不害怕它们畅游其中的溪水，也不怕任何岸边垂来的钓钩，于是堂皇地来去，像漂浮过西天的白云，而珍珠贝母状的羊群时而在那里形成和消解。我们在那里干，修改神话，时不时这里或那里围定一则寓言，在空中建楼阁，因为对于它大地提供不了什么有价值的基础。伟大的旁观者！伟大的期待者！和他交流的是一个新英格兰的天方夜谭。啊！这样的交谈，隐士和哲学家，还有那我提到的老移民——我们三个——它扩展和席卷了我的小屋；我都不敢说每一立方英寸那上方的空气都顶着多少磅的重量；——它都裂开缝儿来了，以至于以后不得不用好多玩意儿才能糊住以防止渗漏；——不过我已经采集到足够的那种麻絮来充填。
还有一个人我和他有“踏实的岁月”，会长久地记起，在村子里他的房子，他时不时地关照我；除此之外，在那里我再没有更多的社交了。
这里也和在任何地方一样，我有时期待那位访客，他从没有到来。那《毗湿奴往世书》上说“房屋的主人黄昏在自己的院落呆着，和挤牛奶的时间一样长，或更长如果他乐意，在等待一个客人的到来。”我经常行使这好客的职责，等的时间足够挤整整一群母牛的奶，但看不到从镇上那人影儿的到来。
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