A Winter Walk冬日漫步

-by Henry David Thoreau亨利·大衛·梭羅

梭羅的《瓦爾登湖》，夏濟安譯。

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The wind has gently murmured through the binds,or puffed with feathery softness against the windows, and occasionally sighed like a summer zephyr lifting the leaves along, the livelong night. The meadow mouse has slept in his snug gallery in the sod, the owl has sat in a hollow tree in the depth of the swamp, the rabbit, the squirrel, and the fox have all been housed. The watch-dog has lain quiet on the hearth, and the cattle have stood silent in their stalls.The earth itself has slept, as it were its first, not its last sleep,save when some street-sign or wood-house door has faintly creaked upon its hinge, cheering forlorn nature at her midnight work, - the only sound awake twixt Venus and Mars, - advertising us of a remote inward warmth, a divine cheer and fellowship, where gods are met together, but where it is very bleak for men to stand. But while the earth has slumbered, all the air has been alive with feathery flakes descending, as if some northern Ceres reigned, showering her silvery grain over all the fields.

風輕輕地低聲吹著，吹過百葉窗，吹在窗上，輕軟得好像羽毛一般；有時候數聲歎息，幾乎叫人想起夏季長夜漫漫和風吹動樹葉的聲音。田鼠已經舒舒服服地在地底下的樓房中睡著了，貓頭鷹安坐在沼地深處一棵空心樹裡面，兔子、松鼠、狐狸都躲在家裡安居不動。看家的狗在火爐旁邊安靜地躺著，牛羊在欄圈裡一聲不響地站著。大地也睡著了——這不是長眠，這似乎是它辛勤一年以來的第一次安然入睡。時雖半夜，大自然還是不斷地忙著，只有街上商店招牌或是木屋的門軸上，偶然輕輕地發出嘰格的聲音，給寂寥的大自然添一些慰藉。茫茫宇宙，在金星和火星之間，只有這些聲音表示天地萬物還沒有全體入睡——我們想起了遠處（就在心裡頭吧？）還有溫暖，還有神聖的歡欣和友朋相聚之樂；可是這種境界是天神們互相往來時才能領略，凡人是不勝其荒涼的。天地現在是睡著了，可是空氣中還是充滿了生機，鵝毛片片，不斷落下，好像有一個北方的五穀女神，正在我們的田畝上撒下無數銀色的穀種。 

We sleep, and at length awake to the still reality of a winter morning. The snow lies warm as cotton or down upon the window-sill; the broadened sash and frosted panes admit a dim and private light, which enhances the snug cheer within. The stillness of the morning is impressive. The floor creaks under our feet as we move toward the window to look abroad through some clear space over the fields.We see the roofs stand under their snow burden. From the eaves and fences hang stalactites of snow, and in the yard stand stalagmites covering some concealed core. The trees and shrubs rear white arms to the sky on every side;and where were walls and fences, we see fantastic forms stretching in frolic gambols. across the dusky landscape, as if Nature had strewn her fresh designs over the fields by night as models for man's art.

我們也睡著了，一覺醒來，正是冬天的早晨。萬籟無聲，雪厚厚的堆著，窗檻上像是鋪了溫暖的棉花；窗格子顯得加寬了，玻璃上結了冰紋，光線暗淡而靜，更加強了屋內的舒適愉快的感覺。早晨的安靜，似乎靜在骨子裡，我們走到視窗，挑了一處沒有冰霜封住的地方，眺望田野的景色；可是我們單是走這幾步路，腳下的地板已經在吱吱地響。窗外一幢幢的房子都是白雪蓋頂；屋簷下、籬笆上都累累地掛滿了雪條；院子裡像石筍似站了很多雪柱，雪裡藏的是什麼東西，我們卻看不出來。大樹小樹四面八方地伸出白色的手臂，指向天空；本來是牆壁籬笆的地方，形狀更是奇怪，在昏暗的大地上面，它們向左右延伸，如跳如躍，似乎大自然一夜之間，把田野風景重新設計過，好讓人間的畫師來臨摹。

     Silently we unlatch the door, letting the drift fall in, and step abroad to face the cutting air. Already the stars have lost some of their sparkle, and a dull leaden mist skirts the horizon. A lurid brazen light in the east proclaims the approach of day, while the western landscape is dim and spectral still, and clothed in a sombre Tartarean light, like the shadowy realms. They are Infernal sounds only that you hear, the crowing of cocks, the barking of dogs, the chopping of wood, the lowing of kine, all seem to come from Pluto’s barnyard and beyond the Styx; not for any melancholy they suggest, but their twilight bustle is too solemn and mysterious for earth. The recent tracks of the fox or otter, in the yard, remind us that each hour of the night is crowded with events, and the primeval nature is still working and making tracks in the snow. Opening the gate, we tread briskly along the lone country road, crunching the dry and crisped snow under our feet, or aroused by the sharp clear creak of the wood-sled, just starting for the distant market, from the early farmer's door, where it has lain the summer long, dreaming amid the chips and stubble. For through the drifts and powdered windows we see the farmer's early candle, like a paled star, emitting a lonely beam, as if some severe virtue were at its matins there. And one by one the smokes begin to ascend from the chimneys amid the trees and snows.

 

我們稍稍地拔去了門閂，雪花飄飄，立刻落到屋子裡來；走出屋外，寒風迎面撲來，利如刀割。星光已經不這麼閃爍光亮，地平線上面籠罩了一層昏昏的鉛狀的薄霧。東方露出一種奇幻的古銅色的光彩，表示天快要亮了；可是四面的景物，還是模模糊糊，一片幽暗，鬼影幢幢，疑非人間。耳邊的聲音，也帶一種鬼氣——雞啼狗吠，木柴的砍劈聲，牛群的低鳴聲——這一切都好像是陰陽河彼岸冥王的農場裡所發出的聲音；聲音本身並沒有特別淒涼之處，只是天色未明，這種種活動顯得太莊嚴了，太神秘了，不像人間所有的。院子裡雪地上，狐狸和水獺所留下的腳跡猶新，這使我們想起：即使在冬夜最靜寂的時候，自然界生物沒有一個鐘點不在活動，它們還在雪上留下痕跡。把院子門打開，我們以輕快的腳步，跨上寂寞的鄉村公路，雪乾而脆，腳踏上去發出破碎的聲音；早起的農夫，駕了雪橇，到遠處的市場去趕早市；這輛雪橇一夏天都在農夫的門口閒放著，與木屑稻梗為伍，現在可有了用武之地。它的尖銳、清晰、刺耳的聲音，對於早起趕路的人，也有提神醒腦的作用。農舍窗上雖然積雪很多，但是屋裡的農夫早把蠟燭點起，燭光孤寂的照射出來，像一顆暗淡的星。樹際和雪堆之間，炊煙也是一處處地依次從煙囪裡開始升起。

夏濟安(1916-1965)

梭羅筆下瓦爾登湖邊的冬天是另一番景致，字裡行間，感受到的是一個充滿活力的冬天。

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