Elwyn Brook White 是二十世纪最伟大的美国随笔作家，相当一段时间，他曾是New Yorker （纽约客）的主要撰稿人，写下了大量脍炙人口的文章，并一手奠定起自成一体的文风：温暖清丽，幽默辛辣，在文坛上影响深远。之后，他回到缅因州，在一个农场生活了五年。在这五年的时间里，他把他的所思所想，所见所闻，形成文字，编成了一本散文集，这就是One Man’s Meat （人各有异）。这本散文集所收录的几十篇文章都鲜明地表现出White 一贯的温润轻盈的文字风格以及内中闪烁的睿智的思想光辉，Once More to the Lake （重返湖畔）就是其中一篇令人著目的经典之作，全篇清新细腻而生动有趣的描写随处可见，让人充分体验到作者对大自然那种一往情深的眷念和挚爱。
White 几岁的时候父亲曾带全家到缅因州的一个湖畔去度夏，这是一个周围植被茂盛且杂有农舍的湖泊，虽非地处荒野，但其水波浩淼，幽静深邃，给人以强烈的原始古朴的印象。White 回忆到，当时除了从猫身上感染皮癣必须早晚涂擦油膏外，整个八月过得非常惬意，以至后来年年都要到这个湖畔来度夏，并认为世界上再也没有像缅因州湖这么美的地方了。到White 长大成人后，常常怀念密林中湖泊的那一份静谧（the placidity of a lake in the woods），终于，熬不住思念之苦，他带上自己的儿子，又回到了儿时到过的湖畔，开始一周消遣：钓鱼，并重访旧迹。
来的一路上，White都在想几十年的时间会怎样的改变这个地方，同时吃惊地发现以前的事情都接二连三地回忆起来，“I guess I remembered clearest of all the early mornings, when the lake was cool and motionless”，记得最清楚的是那些清晨，湖水清凉波澜不兴，甚至“how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and of the wet woods whose scent entered through the screen”，可见当时房间的木头气味以及室外飘进来的潮湿林木的香味在他童年的记忆里留下多么温馨的印痕。不仅如此，他还清晰地回忆起他当时是如何早起一个人跑去湖边划船的，“…and sneak out into the sweet outdoors and start out in the canoe, keeping close along the shore in the long shadows of the pines, … very careful never to rub my paddle against the gunwale for fear of disturbing the stillness of the cathedral.”一个“sneak out ”多么生动地表现出男孩清晨蹑手蹑脚地跑出帐篷的情景！他沿着湖岸在一长溜松树浓密的树荫里轻轻地划着，生怕惊了那教堂一般的宁静，多么让人有身临其境的感觉！
到了湖畔安顿下来，作者第一天早上躺在床上，当他闻着房间那熟悉的味道，听到自己的儿子轻手轻脚地溜出去划船，他感到一切都将会像从前一样。由于情景太过相似，以至于脑海里出现了幻觉，儿子成了自己，而自己则成了自己的父亲，好像生活在双重身份里（a dual existence），以至于有时候“I would be saying something, and suddenly it would be not I but my father who was saying the words or making the gesture.”时空交错，似昨非今，这是多么诡异的一种感觉！
和儿子在湖畔垂钓的时候，作者眼中的蜻蜓是生动有趣的，“…the dragonfly alight on the tip of my rod as it hovered a few inches from the surface of the water.” “飞落”在钓竿的端头，作者用了“alight on”十分传神。再看作者是怎样逗弄蜻蜓的，“I lowered the tip of mine into the water, tentatively, pensively dislodging the fly, which darted two feet away, poised, darted two feet back, and came to rest a little further up the rod ”，这里作者接连使用的几个词，如，darted, poised, darted two feet back 细致入微地刻画出蜻蜓被“惊飞……在空中停留……又一下飞回”的情景，这些都使作者感觉到时光依旧，恍然如昨，所以叹道，“There had been no years between the ducking of this dragonfly and the other one——the one that was part of memory.”作者观察细致入微，甚至发现连垂钓小船的地板下的那一汪残水和丢弃物都和从前毫无二致，“and under the floor boards the same fresh-water leavings and debris—— the dead helgramite, the wisps of moss, the rusty discarded fishhook, the dried blood from yesterday’s catch ”，因而看着旁边手持钓竿正在静静地注视着蜻蜓的儿子，双重身份再现：儿子手中的钓竿却掌在自己的手中，是自己的眼睛而不是儿子的在注视着蜻蜓！
在作者眼中，湖水一如既往的幽深静谧清澈，请看这一段他对湖边浅水带的描写：“In the shallows, the dark, water- soaked sticks and twigs, smooth and old, were undulating in clusters on the bottom against the clean ribbed sand, and the track of the mussel was plain。”你不觉得作者精彩的描写使我们也“亲眼”看见了在浅浅水底棱纹清晰的沙地上，那一绺一绺随着水波摇曳荡漾的树桠枝条之类，以及贝类那清晰可见的爬痕？湖水之清亮可见一斑。“A school of minnows swam by, each minnow with its small individual shadow, doubling the attendance, so clear and sharp in the sunlight.” 多么生动细致的描写！仿佛看见一群鱼儿从我们眼前无声无息地游过，那“individual shadow, doubling the attendance, so clear and sharp in the sunlight” 使我们蓦然想起柳宗元《小石潭记》里句子：潭中鱼可百许头，皆若空游无所依。日光下彻，影布石上……两者其形其神何其相似乃尔！
从前的时光在作者心中是十分宝贵而值得珍惜的，他把它归结成“jollity and peace and goodness”。 在他看来，一家人八月初抵达湖畔的时刻本身就是一个重大事件（so big a business in itself），“at the railway station the farm wagon drawn up, the first smell of the pine- laden air, the first glimpse of the smiling farmer, and the great importance of the trunks and your father’s enormous authority in such matters, and the feel of the wagon under you for the long ten-mile haul, and at the top of the last long hill catching the first view of the lake after eleven months of not seeing this cherished body of water.”这一段一家人下了火车又上了来接站的农夫的车子翻过丛丛山头来到湖畔的描写，使我们的感官也都不由分说地浸淫在那“jollity and peace and goodness”的氛围中了。首先我们一下车就闻到了那充满松树清香的空气，一眼就瞥见了笑容可掬的农夫以及搬动行李的忙乱和父亲指挥若定的风度，感觉到了一路上农夫车的颠簸，以及终于爬到最后一座小山的山顶，又一次一眼看见了那隔了11个月不见的朝思暮想的湖水。 还有，“the shouts and cries of the other campers when they saw you, and the trunks to be unpacked, to give up their rich burden”，其他先到的露营者看见新来的人那种欢喜，又叫又嚷的，好不让人兴奋！接着又忙着打开皮箱，取出里面的东西，那种刚到营地的忙乱透露出了一种多么欢快的信息！可是，作者笔锋一转，如今初到营地的情景已经没有当年那种令人激动的氛围了，“when you sneaked up into your car and parked it under a tree near the camp and took out the bags and in five minutes it was all over, no fuss, no loud wonderful fuss about trunks”短短几分钟，一切便都已静悄悄地结束了，那种欢快忙乱搬动行李的场景早已不再，一句“no loud wonderful fuss about trunks”揭示了作者若有所失的寂寞心情。
去农舍就餐时，作者发现可供选择的甜品依然是蓝莓和苹果，女招待也一样的是15岁的乡下小姑娘，“there having been no passage of time, only the illusion of it as in a dropped curtain”，一切都是原样，时间仿佛没有流逝，但作者还是看出了唯一的变化：小姑娘的头发已经洗得干干净净了（their hair had been washed, that was the only difference），时间停滞的错觉恰如舞台上垂下的幕布遮住了变化的过程一样。
对于湖区原本那种宁静友善和欢乐的气氛，作者认为唯一不对劲的地方是出现了一种陌生的令人神经紧张的声音——这就是湖上游艇外置马达的声音。“This was the note that jarred, the only thing that would sometimes break the illusion and set the years moving.”这声音恰似一个不协和音符！而且它有时候会粉碎你时间停滞的错觉，使你觉得岁月又流动起来。这里，作者的遗憾之情跃然纸上！之所以如此，是因为在作者的记忆里，当年的游艇马达都是内置的，所以“…when they were at a little distance, the noise they made was a sedative, an ingredient of summer sleep.”好一剂镇静剂！那摩托艇的声音哪里是什么噪音，简直就是夏夜睡梦的催眠曲，不仅丝毫不吵人，而且已经成为人们睡眠的一部分了。可是现在，所有游艇的马达都是外置的，这样，在白日，在热烘烘的清晨，人们都能听见“these motors made a petulant, irritable sound”，夜晚呢，“they whined about one’s ears like mosquitoes.”从前摩托艇的声音是仲夏夜梦中的呢喃，温馨而怡人，而现在的摩托艇发出的声音让人烦躁不安，两相对照，不难看出，如今湖区的宁静受到了摩托艇噪声的影响，作者心中的失落感可想而知。
而湖上的一场暴风雨从孕育到形成在作者的笔下是如此的栩栩如生，“In midafternoon ( it was all the same) a curious darkening of the sky, and a lull in everything that had made life tick”，才半下午的时候（从前和现在都是这个时候），天竟然黑下来，这当然是古怪的了，而时间流逝的滴答之声怎不能使人感觉到一种渗透一切的寂静？“ and then the way the boats suddenly swung the other way at their moorings with the coming of a breeze out of the new quarter, and the premonitory rumble,”接下来，一阵风使泊船齐齐转了方向，天空中响起了隆隆声的雷声，预示暴风雨的来临。再接下来是金鼓齐鸣，黑暗中闪电劈啪作声，雨下起来了，“Then the kettle drum, then the snare, then the bass drum and cymbals, then crackling light against the dark, and the gods grinning and licking their chops in the hills.”当雨“沙沙”地倾泻到湖面，天空又恢复了明亮，人们是怎样表现的呢？“…and the campers running out in joy and relief to go swimming in the rain, their bright cries perpetuating the deathless joke about how they were getting simply drenched, and the children screaming with delight at the new sensation of bathing in the rain, and the joke about getting drenched linking the generations in a strong indestructible chain.”人们兴高采烈地冲入雨中游泳，因为在雨中成了落汤鸡而互相打趣，而孩子们在雨中因狂喜而尖叫，这些（including thunder, rain, the return of light ）对一代又一代的人们而言是太熟悉不过的事情，过去和现在已经连为一体。而当儿子嚷着也要去游泳，并从晾衣绳上扯下湿漉漉的泳衣时，作者注视着他，“I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.”儿子的感受已然被父亲顷刻之间感受到了，作者始终生活在双重身份中不能自拔，再一次验证过去的历史和现实生活在Maine 州的这个令人神往的湖泊已经相汇交融，分不清彼此了。
读Once More to the Lake，让人不时想起梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》，两者都展示了大自然的美和人们对这种自然之美的深情向往。在Once More to the Lake 中，White 的清丽细致温婉的文风展露无遗，对湖泊和与湖泊有关的一切，包括小路，农舍，码头，蜻蜓，游鱼，雷暴雨，晨间和傍晚，他都倾注了满腔热情，给予了深刻细致的描绘，使我们眼前目不暇接地出现了一幅又一幅温馨动人而又美不胜收的画面，仿佛我们已亲临位于缅因州密林中的那一汪清澈宁静的湖水，体验着作者身不由己的徘徊于过去和现今双重存在的心理纠结，以及对自然和生命，时间与永恒的哲学思考。
