Walden 节选(美国语文)

本来应该开始哈利波特4来着,受到宁萌同学的鼓励书都找了出来,还是轻轻放在了一边。不读完手边的书心里不踏实。

今天选择的是梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》选段,之前出过一篇,是在另一本散文集中。第二章from Where I lived, and What I Lived for的开头。本书中的这篇节选特别长,包括此片段以及后续外还有最后一章的结论。但是选的片段太碎了,是跳着节选的。豹豹读的是原版,对照的时候发现描述湖的部分已经读完了,美国语文中已经跳到第二章的感悟了…

除了这篇选段外,还有一篇Civil Disobedince,其实是梭罗对于mei mo的批评,有兴趣的友友可以自行查询,历史真得像面镜子,多少客观反应了真实。想起昨天大伦敦的消息,以及今天很多声音要求B下课的事情,莫名叹息。真是自己挖坑往里跳。

这一章节的笔记估计会出2-3篇,看情况吧。

以下正文

特别注明:文中部分释义出自许乃夫老师版本的《瓦尔登湖》纯英解析版,推荐此书。中文参考徐迟老先生的译本。侵删



Old Cato, whose 'De Re Rustica' is my 'Cultivator,' says -- and the only translation I have seen makes sheer nonsense of the passage -- 'When you think of getting a farm turn it thus in your mind, not to buy greedily; nor spare your pains to look at it, and do not think it enough to go round it once. The oftener you go there the more it will please you, if it is good.' I think I shall not buy greedily, but go round and round it as long as I live, and be buried in it first, that it may please me the more at last.

Old Cato是古罗马政治家(大)加图,De Re Rustica《农书》是他的重要著作之一。

梭罗很认同这一段话,当你想买下一片农场,宁愿常念着它不要贪得无厌买下它,更不要嫌麻烦不去看它,或者干脆只看一遍就够了。如果这是不错的地方,去的次数越多越会更喜爱这个地方。

至于梭罗后面说的想法不现实,没有所有权嘛…

这一段多少有些对待事物的关系,想了几种说法都不合适,就不写了。



The present was my next experiment of this kind, which I purpose to describe more at length(eventually),  for convenience putting the experience of two years into one. As I have said, I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag(自夸,吹嘘) as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.

梭罗要写的,是这类实验中的一次(应该是住在瓦尔登湖两年又两个月的事,全书未读不大清楚),他为了详细描写,将两年合并为一年,以春天复苏为终章。他不是要写一首沮丧的颂诗,而是像清晨站在栖木上打鸣的雄鸡一样,叫醒他的邻居们。

An ode is a poem, especially one that is written in praise of a particular person, thing, or event. 颂诗; 颂歌

chanticleer: a name for a cock, used esp in fables (尤指寓言中的)雄鸡,法语词汇,来自法国寓言故事《列那狐的故事》,也可写作chantecler



When first I took up my abode in the woods, that is, began to spend my nights as well as days there, which, by accident, was on Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, 1845, my house was not finished for winter, but was merely a defence against the rain, without plastering or chimney, the walls being of rough, weather-stained boards, with wide chinks, which made it cool at night.

这一段很长,分成三节。主要讲了他的住所,abode其实就是梭罗的cabin。

我住在林子里小屋第一天,很巧合是7.14。房子还没有盖好,过冬够呛,勉强遮风避雨。没有灰泥墁也没有烟囱,墙壁用的饱经风雨的木板,有着宽宽的裂缝,到了晚上挺凉快。

chink: a narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall.缝隙


The upright white hewn studs and freshly planed door and window casings gave it a clean and airy look, especially in the morning, when its timbers were saturated with dew, so that I fancied that by noon some sweet gum would exude from them. To my imagination it retained throughout the day more or less of this auroral character, reminding me of a certain house on a mountain which I had visited a year before.

笔直的、砍伐得来的、白色的间柱,新近才刨得平坦的门户和窗框,使屋子具有清洁和通凤的景象,特别在早晨,木料里饱和着露水的时候,总使我幻想到午间大约会有一些甜蜜的树胶从中渗出。这房间在我的想象中,一整天里还将多少保持这个早晨的情调,这使我想起了上一年我曾游览过的一个山顶上的一所房屋。(偷懒贴一段中文版原文)

hewn原形hew v.砍伐

A casing is a substance or object that covers something and protects it. 罩; 管; 套; 盒

be saturated with 常用搭配"浸透"exude渗出,淅出


This was an airy and unplastered cabin, fit to entertain a travelling god, and where a goddess might trail her garments. The winds(主语)  which passed over my dwelling were (谓语) such as sweep over the ridges of mountains,(后面ving状语)  bearing the broken strains, or celestial parts only, of terrestrial music. The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere.

这是一所通风良好,没有涂灰泥的房子。适合接待旅行的神,还可以让仙女走动,曳裙而过。掠过住处的风,和扫过山脊的风一样,夹杂着断断续续的曲调,犹如天籁带向大地。晨风不断吹拂,创造的诗篇不被打断,却鲜少有人听见。

这一段描写很美。反复读了几遍。

entertain v.招待

strains: . N-PLURAL  [usually N of n]

literary If you hear the strains of music, you hear music being played. 旋律; 曲调

celestial: 天上的

terrestrial: 地上的,与celestial形成对比



The only house I had been the owner of before, if I except a boat, was a tent, which I used occasionally when making excursions in the summer, and this is still rolled up in my garret; but the boat, after passing from hand to hand, has gone down the stream of time. With this more substantial shelter about me, I had made some progress toward settling in the world. This frame, so slightly clad, was a sort of crystallization around me, and reacted on the builder. It was suggestive somewhat as a picture in outlines.

梭罗说他以前的住所,不过是一条船,那条船还是自己造的,后来船卖掉了。还有一顶帐篷,出去郊游用过。不过现在在阁楼里卷了起来。那条小船,几经易手已泯灭在时光的小溪中了。这间更实质的屋子,虽然简单搭建,却让他有一种结晶了的东西,如同绘画中的一幅素描。

这一段的描写实在太细致入微,字里行间跳动的情感慢慢涌现。特别喜欢but the boat, after passing from hand to hand, has gone down the stream of time.



I did not need to go outdoors to take the air, for the atmosphere within had lost none of its freshness. It was not so much within doors as behind a door where I sat, even in the rainiest weather. The Harivansa says, 'An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning.' Such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them.

对于"我"来说,出门根本没必要,因为屋内的气息同样清新,坐在一扇门后和不坐在门里压根没什么区别,即使在下着瓢泼大雨的天。如同哈利梵萨说的:“一座没有鸟儿啾啾的居所如同一块没有调味料的烤肉寡然无味。"

The Harivansa says, 'An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning.' 出自印度史诗《摩词婆罗多》的附诗《哈利梵萨》

后文描述了当地的一些鸟,个人不大喜欢花草鸟,生词忒多,就不提了。不过里面有一种北美夜鹰whip-poor-will,在爱德华奇幻旅行中提到过,有一首同名歌曲很好听。因为这种鸟叫起来就像是whip-poor-will这种发音,很忧伤。



原版书后面还有一节讲湖泊,节选并没有。就暂且这样。不过再次翻开《瓦尔登湖》这本书,又想开始看了,读完心太静了。不过还是先按原计划进行。

英文部分注释出自柯林斯

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