经典优美英语散文精选
A Winter Walk冬日漫步
-by Henry David Thoreau亨利•大卫•梭罗
本文选自梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》，译者夏济安。
The wind has gently murmured through the blinds, 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.
风轻轻地低声吹着，吹过百叶窗，吹在窗上，轻软得好像羽毛一般；有时候数声叹息，几乎叫人想起夏季长夜漫漫和风吹动树叶的声音。田鼠已经舒舒服服地在地底下的楼房中睡着了，猫头鹰安坐在沼地深处一棵空心树里面，兔子、松鼠、狐狸都躲在家里安居不动。看家的狗在火炉旁边安静地躺着，牛羊在栏圈里一声不响地站着。大地也睡着了——这不是长眠，这似乎是它辛勤一年以来的第一次安然入睡。时虽半夜，大自然还是不断地忙着，只有街上商店招牌或是木屋的门轴上，偶然轻轻地发出叽格的声音，给寂寥的大自然添一些慰藉。茫茫宇宙，在金星和火星之间，只有这些声音表示天地万物还没有全体入睡——我们想起了远处（就在心里头吧？）还有温暖，还有神圣的欢欣和友朋相聚之乐；可是这种境界是天神们互相往来时才能领略，凡人是不胜其荒凉的。天地现在是睡着了，可是空气中还是充满了生机，鹅毛片片，不断地落下，好像有一个北方的五谷女神，正在我们的田亩上撒下无数银色的谷粒。
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.
我们也睡着了，一觉醒来，正是冬天的早晨。万籁无声，雪厚厚的堆着，窗槛上像是铺了温暖的棉花或羽绒；窗格子显得加宽了，玻璃上结了冰纹，光线暗淡而隐秘，更加强了屋内的舒适愉快的感觉。早晨的安静咄咄逼人。我们走到窗口——脚下的地板在吱吱地响——挑了一处没有冰霜封住的地方，眺望田野的景色。窗外一幢幢的房子都是白雪盖顶；屋檐下、篱笆上都累累地挂满了钟乳石似的冰雪；院子里像石笋似站了很多雪柱，雪里藏的是什么东西，我们却看不出来。大树小树四面八方地伸出白色的手臂，指向天空；本来是墙壁和篱笆的地方，形状更是奇特，在昏暗的大地上，它们向左右延伸，如跳如跃，似乎一夜之间，大自然把田野风景重新设计过，好让人间的画师来临摹。
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.
我们稍稍地拔去了门闩，雪花飘飘，立刻落到屋子里来；走出屋外，寒风迎面扑来，利如刀割。晨光已经不那么闪烁光亮，地平线上面笼罩了一层沉重晦暗的薄雾。东方露出一种奇幻的古铜色的光彩，表示天快要亮了；可是西面的景物，还是模模糊糊，一片幽暗，寂静无声，恍如幽灵，到处阴光闪烁，鬼影幢幢，疑非人间。耳边的声音，也带鬼气——鸡啼狗吠，木柴的砍劈声，牛群的低鸣声——这一切都好像是阴阳河彼岸冥王的农场里所发出的声音；声音本身并没有特别凄凉之处，只是天色未明，这种种活动显得太庄重了，太神秘了，不像人间所有。院子里，雪地上，狐狸和水獭所留下的印迹犹新，这使我们想起：即使在冬夜最静寂的时候，自然界生物没有一个钟点不在活动，它们还在雪上留下痕迹。把院子门打开，我们以轻快的脚步，跨上寂寞的乡村公路，雪干而脆，脚踏上去发出破碎的声音；早起的农夫，驾了雪橇，到远处的市场去赶早集市。这辆雪橇一夏天都在农夫的门口閑放着，与木屑稻梗为伍，现在可有了用武之地。它的尖锐、清晰、刺耳的声音，对于早起赶路的人，也有提神醒脑的作用。农舍窗上虽然积雪很多，但是屋里的农夫早把蜡烛点起，孤独的烛光照射出来，像一颗暗淡的星，宛如某种淳朴的美德正在作着晨祷。树际和雪堆之间，炊烟也是一处处地依次从烟囱里开始升起。
We hear the sound of wood-chopping at the farmers’ doors, far over the frozen earth, the baying of the house dog, and the distant clarion of the cock,. The thin and frosty air conveys only the finer particles of sound to our ears, with short and sweet vibrations, as the waves subside soonest on the purest and lightest liquids, in which gross substances sink to the bottom. They come clear and bell-like, and from a greater distance in the horizon, as if there were fewer impediments than in summer to make them faint and ragged. The ground is sonorous, like seasoned wood, and even the ordinary rural sounds are melodious, and the jingling of the ice on the trees is sweet and liquid. There is the least possible moisture in the atmosphere, all being dried up or congealed, and it is of such extreme tenuity and elasticity, that it becomes a source of delight. The withdrawn and tense sky seems groined like the aisles of a cathedral, and the polished air sparkles as if there were crystals of ice floating in it. Those who have resided in Greenland, tell us, that, when it freezes, the sea smokes like burning turf land, and a fog or mist arises, called frost smoke, "which" cutting smoke frequently raises blisters on the face and hands, and is very pernicious to the health. But this pure stinging cold is an elixir to the lungs, and not so much a frozen mist, as a crystallized mid-summer haze, refined and purified by cold.
大地冰冻，远处鸡啼狗吠；从各处农舍门口，不时传来丁丁劈柴的声音。空气稀薄干寒，只有比较纤细锋利的声音才能传入我们的耳朵，听来短促而悦耳地颤动；凡是至清至轻的流体，波动总是稍发即止，因为里面精粒硬块，早就沉到底下去了。声音从地平线的远处传来，激越清亮，犹如钟声，冬天的空气清明，不像夏天那样有众多杂质阻碍，因此声音听来也不像夏天那样的毛糙而模糊。脚下的土地，铿锵有声，如叩坚硬的古木；一切乡村间平凡的声音，此刻听来都美妙悦耳；树上的冰条，互相撞击，其声琤琮（chengcong），如流水，如妙乐。大气里面一点水分都没有，水蒸气不是干化，就是结成冰霜的了；空气十分稀薄而似有弹性，人呼吸其中，自觉心旷神怡。天似乎是绷紧了的，往后收缩，人从下上望，很像处身大教堂中，顶上是一块连一块弧状的屋顶；空气中闪光点点，好像有冰晶浮游其间。据在格陵兰住过的人告诉我们说，那边结冰的时候，“冰就冒烟，像大火燎原一般；而且有一种雾气上升，名叫烟雾；这种烟雾有害健康，伤人皮肤，能使人手脸等处，生疮肿胀。”我们这里的寒气，虽然其冷入骨，然而质地清纯可提神，可清肺；我们不能把它认为是冻结的雾，只能认为是仲夏的雾气的结晶，经过寒冬的洗练，越发变得清纯了。
The sun at length rises through the distant woods, as if with the faint clashing swinging sound of cymbals, melting the air with his beams, and with such rapid steps the morning travels, that already his rays are gilding the distant western mountains. We step hastily along through the powdery snow, warmed by an inward heat, enjoying an Indian summer still, in the increased glow of thought and feeling. Probably if our lives were more conformed to nature, we should not need to defend ourselves against her heats and colds, but find her our constant nurse and friend, as do plants and quadrupeds. If our bodies were fed with pure and simple elements, and not with a stimulating and heating diet, they would afford no more pasture for cold than a leafless twig, but thrive like the trees, which find even winter genial to their expansion.
太阳最后总算从远处的林间上升，阳光照处，空中的冰霜都融化，隐隐之中似乎有铙钹（naobo）伴奏，铙钹每响一次，阳光的威力逐渐增强；时间很快地从黎明变成早晨，早晨也越来越老，很快的把西面远处的山头，镀上一层金色。我们匆匆的踏着粉状的干雪前进，因为思想情感更为激动，内心发出一种热力，天气也好像变得像十月小阳春似的温暖。假如我们能改造我们的生活，和大自然更能配合一致，我们也许就无需畏惧寒暑之侵，我们将同草木走兽一样，认大自然为我们的保姆和良友，她是永远照顾着我们的。如果我们不是进食使人兴奋和富于热量的食物，而是洁净而单纯的基本要素，那么我们就会像一根无叶的小枝桠那样，丝毫不为寒冷提供它施展淫威的场地，却会如树木那样茁壮成长，即使冬天也会适宜于它们的欣欣向荣。
The wonderful purity of nature at this season is a most pleasing fact. Every decayed stump and moss-grown stone and rail, and the dead leaves of autumn, are concealed by a clean napkin of snow. In the bare fields and tinkling woods, see what virtue survives. In the coldest and bleakest places, the warmest charities still maintain a foot-hold. A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it; and accordingly, whatever we meet with in cold and bleak places, as the tops of mountains, we respect for a sort of sturdy innocence, a Puritan toughness. All things beside seem to be called in for shelter, and what stays out must be part of the original frame of the universe, and of such valor as God himself. It is invigorating to breathe the cleansed air. Its greater fineness and purity are visible to the eye, and we would fain stay out long and late, that the gales may sigh through us too, as through the leafless trees, and fit us for the winter; as if we hoped so to borrow some pure and steadfast virtue, which will stead us in all seasons.
在这个季节里，大自然显得特别纯洁，这是使我们觉得最为高兴的。残干枯木，苔迹斑斑的石头和栏杆，秋天的落叶，到现在被大雪淹没，好像上面盖了一块干净的手巾。在裸露的田野里和丁当作响的树林里，看看还剩下什么美德。在最冷和最凄惨的地方，最最温暖人心的善行犹自坚守阵地。寒风一吹，无孔不入，一切乌烟瘴气都一扫而光，凡是不能坚贞自守的，都无法抵御；因此凡是在寒冷最偏僻的地方（例如在高山之顶），我们所能看得见的东西，都值得我们尊敬，因为它们有一种坚强的纯朴的性格——一种清教徒式的坚韧。别的东西都寻求隐蔽保护去了，凡是能卓然独立于寒风之中者，一定是天地灵气之所钟，是自然界骨气的表现，和天神一般的勇敢坚毅。空气经过洗涤，呼吸进去特别有劲。空气的清明纯洁，甚至用眼睛都能看得出来；我们宁可整天待在户外，不到天黑不回家，我们希望朔风吹过光秃秃的大树一般的吹彻我们的身体，使我们更能适应寒冬的气候。我们希望藉此能从大自然借来一点纯洁坚定的力量，这种力量对于我们是一年四季都有用的。
There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature which never goes out, and which no cold can chill. It finally melts the great snow, and in January or July is only buried under a thicker or thinner covering. In the coldest day it flows somewhere, and the snow melts around every tree. This field of winter rye, which sprouted late last fall, and now speedily dissolves the snow, is where the fire is very thinly covered. We feel warmed by it. In the winter, warmth stands for all virtue, and we resort in thought to a trickling rill, with its bare stones shining in the sun, and to warm springs in the woods, with as much eagerness as rabbits and robins. The steam which rises from swamps and pools is as dear and domestic as that of our own kettle. What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter-day, when the meadow mice come out by the wallsides, and the chickadee lisps in the defiles of the wood? The warmth comes directly from the sun, and is not radiated from the earth, as in summer; and when we feel his beams on our backs as we are treading some snowy dell, we are grateful as for a special kindness, and bless the sun which has followed us into that by-place.
地层地下有大火，永远不息，酷寒天气也不能稍减其炎风。大雪虽厚，终究要被它所融化。此火终年如一，所不同者，只是正月里掩盖稍厚，热力难透，七月里掩盖稍薄，热力容易上达而已。在最冷的日子里，地火流动，其流动所经之处，树边上的雪就融化了。有一种黑麦，晚秋茁芽，入冬长成，它的热力很快把田里的积雪融化；黑麦田里，就是地火掩盖最薄的地方，我们看见了，心里都会觉得温暖。一到冬天，温暖就成了一切美德的代表；我们也像兔子和知更鸟一样，自然而然的追求温暖；大地已经冰冻，我们就想去看看森林里的温泉，或者是一条不冻的小溪，和在太阳底下闪闪发光的溪里光秃的石头。沼泽池塘里所冒起的蒸汽，我们看来，好像同家里水壶的蒸汽一样的亲爱，一样的有温暖之感。可是哪一种炉火可以比得上冬日的太阳呢？太阳一出，田鼠从墙边钻出来了，山雀也在树林的深处吱吱啁啁（zhaozhao）的叫起来了。夏天的热一半是地面上热气的反射，冬天的温暖，则直接来自太阳。我们在积雪的山凹里走着，觉得太阳的光线照在背上；地方是很偏僻的了，可是和熙的太阳，始终照顾着我们，我们对于这种特殊恩典，只有感激在心而已。
This subterranean fire has its altar in each man's breast; for in the coldest day, and on the bleakest hill, the traveler cherishes a warmer fire within the folds of his cloak than is kindled on any hearth. A healthy man, indeed, is the complement of the seasons, and in winter, summer is in his heart. There is the south. Thither have all birds and insects migrated, and around the warm springs in his breast are gathered the robin and the lark.
地火的圣坛，也筑在每一个人的心里；天不论怎么冷，山不论怎么荒凉，旅人大衣里面所包的火，比之人家壁炉里的火，更为温暖。一个健康的人，他正好补足季候的缺陷；外面是冬天，他心里就是夏天，人在北方，可是他的心就是南方。禽兽和昆虫都会迁移到他的心头来居住；他的心里就注着温泉，在他的身边知更鸟和百灵鸟一只一只飞下来栖息。
In this glade covered with bushes of a year’s growth see how the silvery dust lies on every seared leaf and twig, deposited in such infinite and luxurious forms as by their very variety atone for the absence of color. Observe the tiny tracks of mice around every stem, and the triangular tracks of the rabbit. A pure elastic heaven hangs over all, as if the impurities of the summer sky refined and shrunk by the chaste winter’s cold, had been winnowed from the heavens upon the earth.
森林里的空地上，长满了已有一年左右历史的灌木；叶都焦了，枝就枯了，但请看树上的雪多么美丽！雪像银粉似的堆在上面，姿态万千，形状无穷；冬天是看不见色彩的，但是银株玉叶无穷的形态似乎正可以补救色彩的缺乏。在树干的周围，请注意田鼠细碎的脚迹，还有兔子的三角形的脚迹。天空清明，好像有弹性似的挂在上面；看来夏天的天空，经过坚贞的寒冬加以提炼、加以收缩之后，所有的杂质都被筛到地上，现在的天空是经过净化的了。
Nature confounds her summer distinction at this season. The heavens seem to be nearer the earth. The elements are less reserved and distinct. Water turns to ice, rain to snow. The day is but a Scandinavian night. The winter is an arctic summer.
夏天里生物茂盛，庶类众多，到了冬天，一切区别，就不甚明显，成为混同一体。天似乎也更接近地面。宇宙各种元素并不像以前那么含蓄，也不像以前那么判然分明：水结成冰，雨化为雪，白天只是斯堪的纳维亚的黑夜，冬天只是北极的夏天。
How much more living is the life that is in nature, the furred life which still survives the stinging nights, and, from amidst fields and woods covered with frost and snow, sees the sun rise.
现在自然界的生命只有更趋活跃；披有皮毛的兽类虽经酷寒的黑恶，仍旧未被冻死；现在从霜雪掩盖着的田野树林里面，昂起头来看日出了：
The foodless wilds
Pour forth their brown inhabitants.
“无食物可寻的旷野里，
棕色的动物纷纷出动。”
The grey-squirrel and rabbit are brisk and playful in the remote glens, even on the morning of the cold Friday. Here is our Lapland and Labrador, and for our Esquimaux and Knistenaux, Dog-ribbed Indians, Novazemblaites, and Spitzbergeners, are there not the ice-cutter and woodchopper, the fox, muskrat, and mink?
这个星期五的早晨是多么的冷，可是远处的山谷里灰松鼠和兔子还是在那里活泼跳踉（liang）。这地方就是我们的寒带，至于我们的爱斯基摩人，我们的那些住居于冰天雪地之中的人呢？不是有碎冰的人，有伐木的樵夫，有狐狸、麝鼠和貂鼠吗？
Still, in the midst of the arctic day, we may trace the summer to its retreats, and sympathize with some contemporary life. Stretched over the brooks, in the midst of the frost-bound meadows, we may observe the submarine cottages of the caddice worms, the larva of the Plicipennes. Their small cylindrical cases built around themselves, composed of flags, sticks, grass, and withered leaves, shells, and pebbles, in form and color like the wrecks which strew the bottom now drifting along over the pebbly bottom, now whirling in tiny eddies and dashing down steep falls, or sweeping rapidly along with the current, or else swaying to and fro at the end of some grass blade or root. Anon they will leave their sunken habitations, and crawling up the stems of plants, or floating on the surface like gnats, as perfect insects, henceforth flutter over the surface of the water, or sacrifice their short lives in the flame of our candles at evening. Down yonder little glen the shrubs are drooping under their burden, and the red alder-berries contrast with the white ground. Here are the marks of a myriad feet which have already been abroad. The sun rises as proudly over such a glen, as over the valley of the Seine or the Tiber, and it seems the residence of a pure and self-subsistent valor, such as they never witnessed; which never knew defeat nor fear. Here reign the simplicity and purity of a primitive age, and a health and hope far remote from towns and cities. Standing quite alone, far in the forest, while the wind is shaking down snow from the trees, and leaving the only human tracks behind us, we find our reflections of a richer variety than the life of cities. The chicadee and nut-hatch are more inspiring society than statesmen and philosophers, and we shall return to these last, as to more vulgar companions. In this lonely glen, with its brook draining the slopes, its creased ice and crystals of all hues, where the spruces and hemlocks stand up on either side, and the rush and sere wild oats in the rivulet itself, our lives are more serene and worthy to contemplate.
天气虽然寒冷，夏天并没有全部消逝，有些地方我们还可以找到夏天的生活，心里因此可以其一种共鸣。霜封的草原上，我们会发现石蛾的幼虫石蚕的水底巢穴，横在溪涧之间。它们的巢穴是一只只小圆筒，就筑在它们身体的周围。构成的材料是芦苇、树枝、枯草、败叶、贝壳、和石子，其形状和颜色和水底下乱七八糟的垃圾相仿。这种巢穴有时候在水底的卵石上面飘流；有时候小小的漩涡一起，它们就跟着旋转，被急激的小瀑布冲向下流；它们有时候也被流水很快的带着走，有时候碰到一片草叶的尖端或者一块树根，它们就左右来回的摆动，趑趄（ziju）不前。不久之后，这些小虫就离开它们的水宅，爬上草茎，在水面上飘荡，如蚋（rui）子，从此成了长成的昆虫，在水面附近扑扑的飞，或者在晚上吧它们短促的生命，葬送在我们的蜡烛火焰之中。在那边小小山凹里，灌木已经累累结实，红色的浆果同白色的雪地相映成趣。这里你可以看见生命的活跃，千万只脚在雪地上走过的脚迹。山凹虽小，太阳照在上面，气概竟也不亚于当年的法国盛世时代的塞纳河河谷或是罗马盛世时的台伯河河谷；我们这些动植物不知失败或恐惧为何物，它们所表现的真正自求生存的勇气，实在是法兰西帝国或罗马帝国所从来没有看见过的。在我们这座山坳里，一切都是原始的，但是一切都是质朴单纯，这些动植物所过的是一种健康的生活，有希望的生活，一种在城市里看不到的生活。我们走入树林深处，远离人迹，遗世独立。微风过处，树上的雪纷纷落下，那时我们觉得我们的思想内涵丰富，远胜城市生活。我们和各种小鸟为伍，但是它们较之政治与哲学，更能启发我们的思想；假如我们再同那些政治家或哲学家在一起，我们觉得它们不过是一些俗物而已。在这静寂的山坳里，溪涧从山坡下流，多折纹的冰和雪晶幻化出各种色彩，两旁矗立的是云杉和铁杉，小河里长的是芦苇和干枯了的野燕麦——在这种地方，我们的生命是更为庄严肃穆，更值得低回思索。
As the day advances, the heat of the sun is reflected by the hillsides, and we hear a faint but sweet music, where flows the rill released from its fetters, and the icicles are melting on the trees; and the nut-hatch and partridge are heard and seen. The south wind melts the snow at noon, and the bare ground appears with its withered grass and leaves, and we are invigorated by the perfume which exhales from it, as by the scent of strong meats.
时近中午，太阳的热量从四周山上反射过来，树上的冰条开始融解。流水解冻，琤琮的声音虽然轻微，却甜美如音乐，我们也可听见。鳾（shi）鸟和鹧鸪非但鸣声可闻，也让我们看见它们的活动。中午时分，南风一吹，地上雪融，枯草落叶，纷纷呈现眼前。雪化以后的地面露出枯枝败叶，地上所发出的香气使人精神倍增，其作用实不亚于煮肉的浓郁之味。
Let us go into this deserted woodman's hut, and see how he has passed the long winter nights and the short and stormy days. For here man has lived under this south hill-side, and it seems a civilized and public spot. We have such associations as when the traveller stands by the ruins of Palmyra or Hecatompolis. Singing birds and flowers perchance have begun to appear here, for flowers as well as weeds follow in the footsteps of man. These hemlocks whispered over his head, these hickory logs were his fuel, and these pitch-pine roots kindled his fire; yonder foaming rill in the hollow, whose thin and airy vapor still ascends as busily as ever, though he is far off now, was his well. These hemlock boughs, and the straw upon this raised platform, were his bed, and this broken dish held his drink. But he has not been here this season, for the phoebes built their nest upon this shelf last summer. I find some embers left, as if he had but just gone out, where he baked his pot of beans; and while at evening he smoked his pipe, whose stemless bowl lies in the ashes, chatted with his only companion, if perchance he had any, about the depth of the snow on the morrow, already falling fast and thick without, or disputed whether the last sound was the screech of an owl, or the creak of a bough, or imagination only; and through his broad chimney-throat, in the late winter evening, ere he stretched himself upon the straw, he looked up to learn the progress of the storm, and seeing the bright stars of Cassiopeia's Chair shining brightly down upon him, fell contentedly asleep.
那边有一座樵夫的小屋。樵夫不在，但我们不妨进去看看，看他如何度过漫长的冬夜和短暂而风雪连连的白天。这儿的人住在山的南麓。在一片荒野之中，那个地方比较有人来往，可算是荒野里的一个享有文明和公众活动的处所。到叙利亚和波斯去的游客，站在帕米拉或海克通帕立斯的废墟之前，抚今思昔，那时他心头的联想，大约同我们现在这个时候差不多。花花草草一般总是逐人迹而生，这里既有人烟，我想鸟应该歌唱，花也已经开放了。铁杉在他头上窃窃私语，胡桃木是樵夫的燃料，含有松脂的松根替他引火；樵夫虽然已去远方，他平常汲水的泉水，还是在山洼里兀自急急忙忙地冒汽——汽还是那么稀薄，同空气也差不了多少。屋子里有平台一方，上铺松枝稻草，这就是樵夫的眠床；这些破碎的碗盏，就是他饮食的器皿。可是今年的冬天，他出门去了，木架子上的京燕的巢还是去年夏天筑在那里的呢。屋子里还有一点柴火的死灰，又好像屋主人离屋不久，灰里搁了一支缺了咬嘴的烟斗；我们可以想象，他在火上煮了一锅豆子，晚上衔了烟斗，同他唯一的伴侣（假如他有伴侣的话），谈谈明天的雪可能积得多深（外面正在大雪纷飞），或者讨论刚才一声怪声是猫头鹰的叫声，是树枝的摇摆声，还是自己的想象而已。冬夜已深的时候，他在草堆上伸展四肢躺下以前，先到粗大的烟囱底下张望一下，看看外面的风雪停了没有，却看见仙后星座正明亮地照在他身上。他心满意足，很快就睡着了。
（待续）
