The Ponds（Excerpt）

                           Wr. By David Thoreau

The shore is irregular enough not to be monotonous. I have in my mind's eye the western， indented with deep bays，the bolder northern，and the beautifully scalloped southern shore， where successive capes overlap each other and suggest unexplored coves between. The forest has never so good a setting，nor is so distinctly beautiful，as when seen from the middle of a small lake amid hills which rise from the water's edge；for the water in which it is reflected not only makes the best foreground in such a case，but，with its winding shore，the most natural and agreeable boundary to it. There is no rawness nor imperfection in its edge there，as where the axe has cleared a part，or a cultivated field abuts on it. The trees have ample room to expand on the water side， and each sends forth its most vigorous branch in that direction. There Nature has woven a natural selvage， and the eye rises by just gradations from the low shrubs of the shore to the highest trees. There are few traces of man's hand to be seen. The water laves the shore as it did a thousand years ago.

A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye； looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. The fluviatile trees next the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it，and the wooded hills and cliffs around are its overhanging brows.

Standing on the smooth sandy beach at the east end of the pond，in a calm September afternoon， when a slight haze makes the opposite shore-line indistinct， I have seen whence came the expression_r_r_r_r，"the glassy surface of a lake." When you invert your head， it looks like a thread of finest gossamer stretched across the valley，and gleaming against the distant pine woods，separating one stratum of the atmosphere from another. You would think that you could walk dry under it to the opposite hills，and that the swallows which skim over might perch on it. Indeed， they sometimes dive below this line，as it were by mistake，and are undeceived. As you look over the pond westward you are obliged to employ both your hands to defend your eyes against the reflected as well as the true sun，for they are equally bright；and if，between the two，you survey its surface critically，it is literally as smooth as glass，except where the skater insects，at equal intervals scattered over its whole extent，by their motions in the sun produce the finest imaginable sparkle on it，or，perchance，a duck plumes itself，or，as I have said，a swallow skims so low as to touch it. It may be that in the distance a fish describes an arc of three or four feet in the air，and there is one bright flash where it emerges， and another where it strikes the water； sometimes the whole silvery arc is revealed；or here and there，perhaps，is a thistle-down floating on its surface，which the fishes dart at and so dimple it again. It is like molten glass cooled but not congealed，and the few motes in it are pure and beautiful like the imperfections in glass. You may often detect a yet smoother and darker water，separated from the rest as if by an invisible cobweb， boom of the water nymphs，resting on it. From a hilltop you can see a fish leap in almost any part； for not a pickerel or shiner picks an insect from this smooth surface but it manifestly disturbs the equilibrium of the whole lake. It is wonderful with what elaborateness this simple fact is advertised ——this piscine murder will out —— and from my distant perch I distinguish the circling undulations when they are half a dozen rods in diameter. You can even detect a water-bug （Gyrinus）ceaselessly progressing over the smooth surface a quarter of a mile off；for they furrow the water slightly，making a conspicuous ripple bounded by two diverging lines，but the skaters glide over it without rippling it perceptibly. When the surface is considerably agitated there are no skaters nor water-bugs on it，but apparently，in calm days，they leave their havens and adventurously glide forth from the shore by short impulses till they completely cover it. It is a soothing employment, on one of those fine days in the fall when all the warmth of the sun is fully appreciated, to sit on a stump on such a height as this, overlooking the pond, and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on its otherwise invisible surface amid the reflected skies and trees. Over this great expanse there is no disturbance but it is thus at once gently smoothed away and assuaged, as, when a vase of water is jarred, the trembling circles seek the shore and all is smooth again. Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples, in lines of beauty, as it were the constant welling up of its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving of its breast. The thrills of joy and thrills of pain are undistinguishable. How peaceful the phenomena of the lake! Again the works of man shine as in the spring. Ay, every leaf and twig and stone and cobweb sparkles now at mid-afternoon as when covered with dew in a spring morning. Every motion of an oar or an insect produces a flash of light; and if an oar falls, how sweet the echo!

               瓦尔登湖（节译）

                                 梭罗/文

                               颜林海/译

    湖岸蜿蜒曲折，千娇百媚。即或闭目，亦能详数：西面深水湖湾，犬牙交错；北面悬崖峭壁，雄伟恢宏；南面扇贝湖岸，玲珑剔透；湖岸岬角，层见叠出，恍如有人工未施之处；湖心四周，群山涉水，森然耸立。水映森林，卓然可见；湖岸蜿蜒曲折，天造草昧，令人怡悦。湖岸森林藏于如此背景，且如此俊秀，实为罕见。此处既非斧头砍伐之林中空地，亦非人工开垦之田地。水边树木，莽莽榛榛，枝蔓汲水。如此织锦，挥洒自如，乃造化鬼斧神工所致。湖畔灌木，低矮丛生，由低高望，远处乔木，人工痕迹，依稀可见。湖水拍岸，千年未息。

     瓦尔登湖，婀娜多姿，撩人心魄，实乃至美至情之景。宛若大地之灵眸，透过灵眸，可窥其心灵深处；湖岸树木，犹似大地之睫毛；四周群山峭壁，草木蓊郁，悬垂而下，犹似大地之眉蛾。

     时值九月，一日午后，恬然静谧，湖东沙滩，平坦柔滑。我驻足远望，湖之对岸，薄雾缭绕，时隐时现；让人想起“湖面如镜”一词。回头顾眄，湖面恍如几痕纱幔，清莹秀澈，铺于山谷之间，在远处松林映衬下，光彩熠熠，将大气层层隔开。此时，禁不住遐想，走过湖底而身不湿衣，可直达对面山脚；燕燕于飞，掠过湖面，欲栖息其上，偶尔因生错觉，而潜入纱幔，继而恍然大悟，振翅而出。循湖西望，禁不住伸手护眼，以档上下阳光炫晃，皆因空中太阳和水中太阳令人目眩。若细察湖面，说其“光滑如镜”，可谓名副其实。阳光之下，偶有水虫掠过水面，泛起粼粼波光，错落均匀散开。时而见水鸭梳理翎羽，时而如上所言，燕燕于飞，掠过湖面。时而远处鱼跃湖面，三四英尺，阳光之下，划出一道弧光，继而窜入湖中，荡起另一道银光。有时整个弧光银星闪烁。时而鱼嬉戏湖面蓟草，突然跃起，激起片片涟漪；恍如玻璃溶液，冷却而未凝结；纵有几许尘垢，亦不失纯净美丽，恰似镜面气泡。时时还可见到一片湖水，平静色深，恍如无形之中，蜘蛛织网，将之隔断，形成水栅，以供水中仙女歇息。若从山顶俯瞰，湖中鱼跃，处处可见；湖面凝滑，不见梭鱼或银鱼捕杀水虫，若有必将打破整个湖面寂静。水族谋杀，亦会真相大白，如此举动，尽览无遗，令人叹为观止！即或处于居所，亦能看见远处涟漪，层出叠现，径直五六杆。甚至可以看见，湖面凝滑，有水蝎滑过，一滑可达四分之一英里；滑过之处，生出两道水纹，渐渐扩散开来，惹人瞩目。水虫即或来回飘滑，亦难以激起波纹。水虫水蝎，湖水激荡时，难见踪迹，风和日丽时，方驶离港埠，涉险短滑，一段一段渡过湖面。秋日天气，如此晴朗，坐在高处树墩，尽享日照，湖之全景，尽收眼底；水中涟漪绵绵，蓝天树木倒映湖水，宛如雕刻在水面。如此美景，仔细品味，何等快事。水面如此宽阔，毫无扰动，即使稍有扰动，即刻归于平静，悄无声息，宛如水边用瓶汲水，湖水颤起阵阵涟漪，波及岸边，即刻恢复平静。鱼跃水面，虫落湖心，都会荡起涟漪阵阵，那秀美之水纹，彷佛是泉源之喷涌不息，彷佛是生命之轻柔搏动，彷佛是胸膛之呼吸起伏。这是欢乐之震颤，还是痛苦之痉挛，断难分辨。如是湖光水色，安详而宁静! 而人类之杰作，如春天闪烁光辉。瞧，树叶，桠枝，石子，蜘丝，午茶之时，无不发光，如春天晨露浸润一般。船桨昆虫，稍有动静，无不使湖水闪出道道光辉；桨声回荡，何等甜美！

                                     摘自 颜林海《美文雅译》