介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 197)
16. The Pond in Winter(6)
[7] A factory-owner, hearing what depth I had found, thought that it could not be true, for, judging from his acquaintance with dams, sand would not lie at so steep an angle. But the deepest ponds are not so deep in proportion to their area as most suppose, and, if drained, would not leave very remarkable valleys. They are not like cups between the hills; for this one, which is so unusually deep for its area, appears in a vertical section through its centre not deeper than a shallow plate. Most ponds, emptied, would leave a meadow no more hollow['hɒləʊ] than we frequently[ˈfriːkwənt] see. William Gilpin, who is so admirable in all that relates to landscapes, and usually so correct, standing at the head of Loch Fyne, in Scotland, which he describes as "a bay of salt water, sixty or seventy fathoms deep, four miles in breadth," and about fifty miles long, surrounded by mountains, observes, "If we could have seen it immediately after the diluvian[dɪ'luːvɪən] crash, or whatever convulsion of nature occasioned it, before the waters gushed[gʌʃ] in, what a horrid chasm[ˈkæzəm] must it have appeared!
"So high as heaved the tumid[ˈtjuːmɪd] hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious[kəˈpeɪʃəs] bed of waters."
But if, using the shortest diameter of Loch[lɒx] Fyne, we apply these proportions to Walden, which, as we have seen, appears already in a vertical section only like a shallow plate, it will appear four times as shallow. So much for the increased horrors of the chasm of Loch Fyne when emptied. No doubt many a smiling valley with its stretching cornfields occupies exactly such a "horrid chasm," from which the waters have receded, though it requires the insight and the far sight of the geologist to convince the unsuspecting inhabitants of this fact. Often an inquisitive eye may detect the shores of a primitive lake in the low horizon hills, and no subsequent elevation of the plain has been necessary to conceal their history. But it is easiest, as they who work on the highways know, to find the hollows by the puddles after a shower['ʃaʊə(r)]. The amount of it is, the imagination give it the least license[ˈlaɪsns], dives deeper and soars higher than Nature goes. So, probably, the depth of the ocean will be found to be very inconsiderable compared with its breadth[bredθ].
一个工厂主听说了我发现的深度，想着不可能是真的，因为，根据他对那些水坝的熟悉，沙子不可能堆积在这么陡的角度。但是最深的湖在大多数人眼中对他们面积都是不成比例地深，而且，如果淘干了，也不会留下非常出名的深谷，他们可不像是群山之间的杯子；因为这一个，对它的面积来说是如此异乎寻常地深，通过其中心在横断面里看上去就深不过一个浅盘。大多数的湖干了会留下一个草地，比我们平常经常见到的空旷不到哪里去。威廉•吉尔朋，他对于牵扯到风景的一切是如此的钦佩，通常也是如此正确，站在苏格兰法恩湾的顶端，把它描述成“一湾咸水，六十到七十英寻深，四英里宽，”而且约五十英里长，群山环抱，观察到，“如果我们在洪积层崩溃或任何自然的痉挛后立刻看到它，在水涌入以前，它看起来必定像多么可怕的一道裂口！
“如此高就像举起肿胀的山
落下而成宽阔深邃一个空谷底，
浩渺[miǎo]的水床。”
【原注：引自威廉.吉尔平的《苏格兰高地考察记》】
但是，如果用法恩湾最短的直径，这些比例到瓦尔登湖上来，那个我们已经看到，从一个横切面看上去像一个浅盘，将会四倍地更浅。当水被淘空了比起法恩湾的裂口也是四倍的可怕。毫无疑问很多被延伸的玉米田占据的微笑的山谷，恰恰就是一些这“可怕的裂口”，从那里大水已经退去，虽然要有洞察力和远见的地理学家去说服那些毫无察觉的居民这一事实。经常一只好奇的眼睛会在低矮地平线那些小山上，探知一个原始湖的岸；而且没有平原后续海拔的演变，巧妙地掩盖了它们的历史。但是那些在公路上工作过的人们知道，最容易的就是在一场雨后凭水的漩涡发现那些凹陷处。它的数量加起来就是，想象力给予最少的许可证，比大自然的行进潜得更深和飘飞得更高。于是，也许将会发现大洋的深度比起它的阔度非常地微不足道。
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