🔊 When the ponds were firmly frozen, they afforded not only new and shorter routes to many points, but new views from their surfaces of the familiar landscape around them. When I crossed Flint's Pond, after it was covered with snow, though I had often paddled about and skated over it, it was so unexpectedly wide and so strange that I could think of nothing but Baffin's Bay. The Lincoln hills rose up around me at the extremity of a snowy plain, in which I did not remember to have stood before; and the fishermen, at an indeterminable distance over the ice, moving slowly about with their wolfish dogs, passed for sealers or Esquimaux, or in misty weather loomed like fabulous creatures, and I did not know whether they were giants or pygmies. I took this course when I went to lecture in Lincoln in the evening, travelling in no road and passing no house between my own hut and the lecture room. In Goose Pond, which lay in my way, a colony of muskrats dwelt, and raised their cabins high above the ice, though none could be seen abroad when I crossed it. Walden, being like the rest usually bare of snow, or with only shallow and interrupted drifts on it, was my yard, where I could walk freely when the snow was nearly two feet deep on a level elsewhere and the villagers were confined to their streets. There, far from the village street, and except at very long intervals, from the jingle of sleigh-bells, I slid and skated, as in a vast moose-yard well trodden, overhung by oak woods and solemn pines bent down with snow or bristling with icicles.

当池沼牢牢封冻,它们不仅开辟了通往许多地方的全新捷径,也从冰面上为周遭熟稔的景致带来了全新的视角。当我穿过已覆白雪的弗林特湖时,尽管我曾常在此泛舟滑冰,它却显得如此出人意料地广阔与陌生,令我只想到巴芬湾。林肯的群山在雪原的尽头从我周围升起,那是我记忆中未曾伫立过的地方；渔夫们带着狼似的狗,在冰上渺不可辨的远处缓缓移动,看上去像是猎海豹者或爱斯基摩人,在雾霭天气里则如传说中的生灵若隐若现,我辨不清他们是巨人还是侏儒。我傍晚去林肯讲学时便走此路,从我的小屋到讲堂,不循道路,不经过屋舍。途中的鹅湖住着一群麝鼠,它们在冰上筑起高高巢穴,不过我穿越时未见其踪影。瓦尔登湖一如他处,通常积雪甚浅或断续,成了我的庭院,当别处平地积雪近两尺深、村民困守街巷时,我仍可自由漫步。那里远离村街,除了偶尔雪橇铃声悠扬,我滑行溜冰,宛如置身一片麋鹿踩实的广阔院落,橡木林荫蔽,肃穆松树压弯雪枝或挂满冰凌。

🔊

paddled /ˈpædəld/

v. （用桨）划（船）➕

🔊

skated /ˈskeɪtɪd/

v. 滑冰,溜冰➕

🔊

afforded /əˈfɔːrdɪd/

v. 提供,给予（机会、视野等）➕

🔊

unexpectedly /ˌʌnɪkˈspektɪdli/

adv. 出乎意料地,意外地➕

🔊

indeterminable /ˌɪndɪˈtɜːrmɪnəbl/

adj. 无法确定的,难以决定的➕

🔊

wolfish /ˈwʊlfɪʃ/

adj. 狼似的；贪婪凶残的➕

🔊

sealers /ˈsiːlərz/

n. 捕海豹者➕

🔊

Esquimaux /ˈeskɪmoʊ/

n. 爱斯基摩人（旧称,现多称 Inuit）➕

🔊

loomed /luːmd/

v. 隐约出现；赫然耸现➕

🔊

fabulous /ˈfæbjələs/

adj. 神话般的；难以置信的；极好的➕

🔊

pygmies /ˈpɪɡmiz/

n. 俾格米人；矮小的人或动物➕

🔊

muskrats /ˈmʌskræts/

n. 麝鼠➕

🔊

cabins /ˈkæbɪnz/

n. 小屋；（此处指）动物巢穴➕

🔊

interrupted /ˌɪntəˈrʌptɪd/

adj. 中断的,被打断的；不连贯的➕

🔊

drifts /drɪfts/

n. 雪堆；吹积物➕

🔊

sleigh-bells /ˈsleɪ ˌbelz/

n. 雪橇铃铛➕

🔊

icicles /ˈaɪsɪkəlz/

n. 冰柱➕

🔊 For sounds in winter nights, and often in winter days, I heard the forlorn but melodious note of a hooting owl indefinitely far; such a sound as the frozen earth would yield if struck with a suitable plectrum, the very lingua vernacula of Walden Wood, and quite familiar to me at last, though I never saw the bird while it was making it. I seldom opened my door in a winter evening without hearing it; Hoo hoo hoo, hoorer hoo, sounded sonorously, and the first three syllables accented somewhat like how der do; or sometimes hoo hoo only. One night in the beginning of winter, before the pond froze over, about nine o'clock, I was startled by the loud honking of a goose, and, stepping to the door, heard the sound of their wings like a tempest in the woods as they flew low over my house. They passed over the pond toward Fair Haven, seemingly deterred from settling by my light, their commodore honking all the while with a regular beat. Suddenly an unmistakable cat-owl from very near me, with the most harsh and tremendous voice I ever heard from any inhabitant of the woods, responded at regular intervals to the goose, as if determined to expose and disgrace this intruder from Hudson's Bay by exhibiting a greater compass and volume of voice in a native, and boo-hoo him out of Concord horizon. What do you mean by alarming the citadel at this time of night consecrated to me? Do you think I am ever caught napping? Do you think I am to be beaten with boo-hoo? Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo! It was one of the most thrilling discords I ever heard. And yet, if you had a discriminating ear, there were in it the elements of a concord such as these plains never saw nor heard.

在冬夜,乃至冬日白昼,我常听见远处猫头鹰凄清而悦耳的啼鸣,声音缥缈不定；那仿佛是冻土被合宜的拨子击响所发出的声响,正是瓦尔登湖林间的乡音,最终于我而言再熟悉不过,尽管我从未见过那鸟发声时的模样。冬夜我很少开门听不到它的声音:‘呼-呼-呼,呼噜儿-呼,’声音洪亮,前三个音节的重音有点像在说‘嚎-得儿-唷’；有时则只是‘呼-呼’两声。初冬一夜,池塘尚未封冻,约莫九点,我被一声雁鸣惊动,走到门口,听见它们低飞掠过我屋顶时,翅膀拍击声如林间风暴。它们越过池塘飞向费尔黑文,似乎被我屋里的灯光所阻,不敢降落,领头雁始终以规律的节奏鸣叫。突然,一只确定无疑的猫头鹰就在我近旁,以我从林间居民那儿听到过的最为粗粝骇人的嗓音,每隔固定的间隙回应着那只大雁,仿佛决心要以本地鸟更宽的音域和更洪亮的嗓门,来揭露和羞辱这位从哈德逊湾来的入侵者,将它‘唬-呼’出康科德的地平线。‘你怎敢在这属于我的夜晚时分惊扰这座城堡？你以为我会打盹吗？你以为能用“唬-呼”声把我吓倒？唬-呼！唬-呼！唬-呼！’这是我听过最惊心动魄的不谐之音。然而,若你耳朵灵敏,其中却蕴含着这些平原从未目睹或耳闻的和谐元素。

🔊

forlorn /fərˈlɔːrn/

adj. 孤苦伶仃的,凄凉的,被遗弃的➕

🔊

melodious /məˈloʊdiəs/

adj. 音调优美的,悦耳的➕

🔊

hooting /ˈhuːtɪŋ/

n./v. （猫头鹰的）叫声；鸣叫➕

🔊

indefinitely /ɪnˈdefɪnətli/

adv. 无限期地；不确定地➕

🔊

plectrum /ˈplektrəm/

n. （弹奏弦乐器用的）拨子,琴拨➕

🔊

lingua vernacula /ˈlɪŋɡwə vərˈnækjʊlə/

n. 方言,土语（拉丁语）➕

🔊

sonorously /ˈsɒnərəsli/

adv. 洪亮地,响亮地➕

🔊

startled /ˈstɑːrtld/

v. 使吃惊,使吓一跳➕

🔊

honking /ˈhɒŋkɪŋ/

n./v. （雁等）鸣叫；（汽车喇叭）鸣响➕

🔊

tempest /ˈtempɪst/

n. 暴风雨；骚动➕

🔊

deterred /dɪˈtɜːrd/

v. 阻止,威慑➕

🔊

commodore /ˈkɒmədɔːr/

n. 海军准将；（此处幽默用法）领头的（鹅）➕

🔊

unmistakable /ˌʌnmɪˈsteɪkəbl/

adj. 不会弄错的,清楚明白的➕

🔊

tremendous /trəˈmendəs/

adj. 巨大的；极好的➕

🔊

compass /ˈkʌmpəs/

n. 范围；界限；罗盘➕

🔊

consecrated /ˈkɒnsɪkreɪtɪd/

v. 奉献,献祭；使神圣化➕

🔊

discriminating /dɪˈskrɪmɪneɪtɪŋ/

adj. 有辨别力的；敏锐的➕

🔊

concord /ˈkɒŋkɔːd/

n. 和谐,一致；协定➕

🔊 I also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond, my great bed-fellow in that part of Concord, as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over, were troubled with flatulency and bad dreams; or I was waked by the cracking of the ground by the frost, as if some one had driven a team against my door, and in the morning would find a crack in the earth a quarter of a mile long and a third of an inch wide.

我还听见池塘中冰块的轰鸣,那是我在康科德这带的亲密床伴,仿佛在床上辗转难眠,亟欲翻身,受着胀气和噩梦的折磨；有时我被霜冻撕裂大地的脆响惊醒,好似有人驾车直撞我的门扉,待到清晨,便见地上裂开一道四分之一英里长、三分之一英寸宽的缝隙。

🔊

whooping /ˈhuːpɪŋ/

n./v. 高喊声；鸣叫声；此处形容冰裂的轰鸣声➕

🔊

fain /feɪn/

adv. （古语）乐意地,宁愿➕

🔊

flatulency /ˈflætʃələnsi/

n. 肠胃气胀➕

🔊

cracking /ˈkrækɪŋ/

n./v. 破裂声；开裂➕

🔊 Sometimes I heard the foxes as they ranged over the snow crust, in moonlight nights, in search of a partridge or other game, barking raggedly and demoniacally like forest dogs, as if laboring with some anxiety, or seeking expression, struggling for light and to be dogs outright and run freely in the streets; for if we take the ages into our account, may there not be a civilization going on among brutes as well as men? They seemed to me to be rudimental, burrowing men, still standing on their defence, awaiting their transformation. Sometimes one came near to my window, attracted by my light, barked a vulpine curse at me, and then retreated.

有时在月夜,我听见狐狸在雪壳上巡游,寻觅山鹑或其他猎物,它们粗哑而狂野地吠叫,宛如林犬,似乎焦虑不安,或寻求表达,挣扎着获取光明,渴望成为彻底的犬类,在街上自由奔跑；因为若我们将岁月纳入考量,难道兽类之中不也进行着某种文明进程吗？它们在我眼中仿佛是原始穴居人,仍处于防卫状态,等待蜕变。偶尔一只被我的灯光吸引,靠近窗边,对我发出一声狐狸的咒骂,随即退去。

🔊

ranged /reɪndʒd/

v. 漫游,徘徊；在...范围内变化➕

🔊

crust /krʌst/

n. 外壳；硬外皮；（此处指）雪的表层硬壳➕

🔊

raggedly /ˈræɡɪdli/

adv. 破烂地；不整齐地；粗糙地➕

🔊

demoniacally /ˌdiːməˈnaɪəkli/

adv. 魔鬼般地,凶恶地➕

🔊

outright /ˈaʊtraɪt/

adv. 彻底地；完全地；直率地➕

🔊

brutes /bruːts/

n. 野兽；残忍的人➕

🔊

rudimental /ˌruːdɪˈmentl/

adj. 基本的；初步的；未发展的➕

🔊

burrowing /ˈbɜːroʊɪŋ/

v. 挖掘（洞穴）；钻入➕

🔊

vulpine /ˈvʌlpaɪn/

adj. 狐狸的；狡猾的➕

🔊 Usually the red squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius) waked me in the dawn, coursing over the roof and up and down the sides of the house, as if sent out of the woods for this purpose. In the course of the winter I threw out half a bushel of ears of sweet corn, which had not got ripe, on to the snow crust by my door, and was amused by watching the motions of the various animals which were baited by it. In the twilight and the night the rabbits came regularly and made a hearty meal. All day long the red squirrels came and went, and afforded me much entertainment by their manœuvres. One would approach at first warily through the shrub oaks, running over the snow crust by fits and starts like a leaf blown by the wind, now a few paces this way, with wonderful speed and waste of energy, making inconceivable haste with his "trotters," as if it were for a wager, and now as many paces that way, but never getting on more than half a rod at a time; and then suddenly pausing with a ludicrous expression and a gratuitous somerset, as if all the eyes in the universe were fixed on him - for all the motions of a squirrel, even in the most solitary recesses of the forest, imply spectators as much as those of a dancing girl - wasting more time in delay and circumspection than would have sufficed to walk the whole distance - I never saw one walk - and then suddenly, before you could say Jack Robinson, he would be in the top of a young pitch pine, winding up his clock and chiding all imaginary spectators, soliloquizing and talking to all the universe at the same time - for no reason that I could ever detect, or he himself was aware of, I suspect. At length he would reach the corn, and selecting a suitable ear, frisk about in the same uncertain trigonometrical way to the top-most stick of my wood-pile, before my window, where he looked me in the face, and there sit for hours, supplying himself with a new ear from time to time, nibbling at first voraciously and throwing the half-naked cobs about; till at length he grew more dainty still and played with his food, tasting only the inside of the kernel, and the ear, which was held balanced over the stick by one paw, slipped from his careless grasp and fell to the ground, when he would look over at it with a ludicrous expression of uncertainty, as if suspecting that it had life, with a mind not made up whether to get it again, or a new one, or be off; now thinking of corn, then listening to hear what was in the wind. So the little impudent fellow would waste many an ear in a forenoon; till at last, seizing some longer and plumper one, considerably bigger than himself, and skilfully balancing it, he would set out with it to the woods, like a tiger with a buffalo, by the same zigzag course and frequent pauses, scratching along with it as if it were too heavy for him and falling all the while, making its fall a diagonal between a perpendicular and horizontal, being determined to put it through at any rate; - a singularly frivolous and whimsical fellow; - and so he would get off with it to where he lived, perhaps carry it to the top of a pine tree forty or fifty rods distant, and I would afterwards find the cobs strewn about the woods in various directions.

通常,红松鼠（哈德逊红松鼠）在黎明时分将我唤醒,它在屋顶和房屋两侧奔跑穿梭,好似被特意从林间派遣而来。整个冬天,我将半蒲式耳未熟的甜玉米穗扔到门前的雪壳上,饶有兴致地观察各种被诱来的动物的举动。暮色与深夜,野兔定时前来饱餐一顿。红松鼠终日来来去去,它们的机巧动作给我带来不少乐趣。一只会先谨慎地穿过矮橡树丛,在雪壳上忽疾忽停地奔跑,如风中飘叶,时而以惊人速度和精力浪费朝这边跑几步,用它的‘蹄子’做出不可思议的匆忙姿态,仿佛在打赌,时而又朝那边跑几步,但每次前进不过半杆距离；然后突然停住,带着一副滑稽的表情,无缘无故来个侧手翻,仿佛宇宙万物的眼睛都聚焦在它身上--因为即便是森林最幽僻的深处,松鼠的一举一动也如同舞女一般,仿佛总有观众在场--它在拖延与审慎中浪费的时间,足以走完全程了--我从未见过它们走路--紧接着,还没等你反应过来,它已然跃上一棵小脂松的树梢,像上紧发条一样,斥责着所有假想的观众,同时既在自言自语,又在向全宇宙发表演说--我怀疑,这并无任何我能察觉或它自己意识到的理由。最终它会抵达玉米,选一穗合适的,以同样飘忽不定的三角轨迹蹦跳到柴堆最高处,就在我窗前,它直视我的脸,一坐数小时,不时换新穗子啃食,起初狼吞虎咽,将半裸玉米芯乱扔；直到后来变得更为挑剔,玩弄食物,只尝内核内部,而那穗玉米被它单爪平衡在木棍上,因疏忽滑落掉地,它会以不确定的滑稽表情看过去,仿佛怀疑它有生命,心思未定,不知该捡回旧穗、取新穗还是离开；时而想着玉米,时而倾听风声。这顽皮小家伙一上午会浪费许多穗子；直到最后,它抓住一穗更长更饱满、比它自己大得多的玉米,灵巧平衡着,启程返回树林,如老虎拖水牛,沿同样的之字路线频频停顿,拖拽前行仿佛太重,一路跌跌撞撞,让坠落轨迹在垂直与水平间斜向延伸,决心无论如何要拖过去--真是个异常轻浮古怪的家伙--就这样它带着玉米溜回住处,或许拖到四五十杆远的松树顶,我后来会在林中各处发现散落的玉米芯。

🔊

coursing /ˈkɔːrsɪŋ/

v. 快速跑过；追逐➕

🔊

manœuvres /məˈnuːvərz/

n. 策略；调动；军事演习（注意英式拼写）➕

🔊

warily /ˈweərəli/

adv. 谨慎地,小心地➕

🔊

fits and starts /fɪts ənd stɑːrts/

phrase. 一阵一阵地,间歇地➕

🔊

inconceivable /ˌɪnkənˈsiːvəbl/

adj. 难以想象的,不可思议的➕

🔊

ludicrous /ˈluːdɪkrəs/

adj. 荒唐可笑的,荒谬的➕

🔊

gratuitous /ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs/

adj. 免费的；无理由的,不必要的➕

🔊

somerset /ˈsʌməset/

n. 筋斗,空翻（古语或方言）➕

🔊

circumspection /ˌsɜːrkəmˈspekʃn/

n. 谨慎,小心➕

🔊

soliloquizing /səˈlɪləkwaɪzɪŋ/

v. 自言自语➕

🔊

voraciously /vəˈreɪʃəsli/

adv. 贪婪地,狼吞虎咽地➕

🔊

dainty /ˈdeɪnti/

adj. 精致的；娇小的；（指食物）美味的；（指人）挑剔的➕

🔊

impudent /ˈɪmpjədənt/

adj. 厚颜无耻的,放肆无礼的➕

🔊

forenoon /ˈfɔːrnuːn/

n. 上午➕

🔊

plumper /ˈplʌmpər/

adj. 更丰满的,更饱满的（plump的比较级）➕

🔊

zigzag /ˈzɪɡzæɡ/

n./adj. 之字形,曲折；之字形的➕

🔊

perpendicular /ˌpɜːrpənˈdɪkjələr/

adj. 垂直的,成直角的➕

🔊

horizontal /ˌhɔːrɪˈzɒntl/

adj. 水平的,与地面平行的➕

🔊

frivolous /ˈfrɪvələs/

adj. 轻浮的；琐碎的,无意义的➕

🔊

whimsical /ˈwɪmzɪkl/

adj. 异想天开的；反复无常的；古怪的➕

🔊 At length the jays arrive, whose discordant screams were heard long before, as they were warily making their approach an eighth of a mile off, and in a stealthy and sneaking manner they flit from tree to tree, nearer and nearer, and pick up the kernels which the squirrels have dropped. Then, sitting on a pitch pine bough, they attempt to swallow in their haste a kernel which is too big for their throats and chokes them; and after great labor they disgorge it, and spend an hour in the endeavor to crack it by repeated blows with their bills. They were manifestly thieves, and I had not much respect for them; but the squirrels, though at first shy, went to work as if they were taking what was their own.

终于松鸦到来,它们刺耳的尖叫声老远就能听见,谨慎地从八分之一英里外接近,鬼鬼祟祟地从一树飞向另一树,越来越近,捡起松鼠掉落的玉米粒。然后,坐在松树枝上,它们急于吞下一粒过大的玉米粒,卡住喉咙；费尽力气才吐出来,花一小时用喙反复敲击试图啄开。它们显然是贼,我对此不甚敬重；而松鼠虽起初羞怯,却如取回己物般投入工作。

🔊

discordant /dɪsˈkɔːrdənt/

adj. 不和谐的,刺耳的；不一致的➕

🔊

stealthy /ˈstelθi/

adj. 偷偷摸摸的,鬼鬼祟祟的➕

🔊

sneaking /ˈsniːkɪŋ/

adj. 偷偷的,鬼鬼祟祟的；私下的（如 sneaking suspicion）➕

🔊

disgorge /dɪsˈɡɔːrdʒ/

v. 吐出；被迫交出➕

🔊 Meanwhile also came the chickadees in flocks, which, picking up the crumbs the squirrels had dropped, flew to the nearest twig, and, placing them under their claws, hammered away at them with their little bills, as if it were an insect in the bark, till they were sufficiently reduced for their slender throats. A little flock of these titmice came daily to pick a dinner out of my woodpile, or the crumbs at my door, with faint flitting lisping notes, like the tinkling of icicles in the grass, or else with sprightly day day day, or more rarely, in spring-like days, a wiry summery phe-be from the woodside. They were so familiar that at length one alighted on an armful of wood which I was carrying in, and pecked at the sticks without fear. I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. The squirrels also grew at last to be quite familiar, and occasionally stepped upon my shoe, when that was the nearest way.

与此同时,山雀也成群飞来,啄食松鼠掉落的碎屑,飞到最近的细枝上,用爪按住,以小喙啄击,好似树皮里的昆虫,直到碎屑适合它们纤细的喉咙。一小群山雀每日来我的柴堆或门口觅食,发出轻微飘忽的啁啾声,如草间冰凌叮咚,或活泼的‘日日日’声,在春日般天气里,偶尔从林边传来一丝如夏日‘菲比’声的金属质感,更添诗意。它们如此熟悉,终于一只落在我怀中的柴捆上,毫无畏惧地啄食木棍。一次我在村中园子锄地,一只麻雀停在我肩头片刻,我觉得这比佩戴任何肩章更显荣耀。松鼠也终变得十分亲近,偶尔踏过我的鞋,如果那是最近的路。

🔊

flitting /ˈflɪtɪŋ/

v. 轻快地飞过；掠过➕

🔊

lisping /ˈlɪspɪŋ/

adj./v. 咬舌的（发音不清）；口齿不清地说➕

🔊

sprightly /ˈspraɪtli/

adj. 活泼的,精力充沛的➕

🔊

alighted /əˈlaɪtɪd/

v. 降落；下车➕

🔊

epaulet /ˈepəlet/

n. （军服上的）肩章➕

🔊 When the ground was not yet quite covered, and again near the end of winter, when the snow was melted on my south hillside and about my wood-pile, the partridges came out of the woods morning and evening to feed there. Whichever side you walk in the woods the partridge bursts away on whirring wings, jarring the snow from the dry leaves and twigs on high, which comes sifting down in the sunbeams like golden dust, for this brave bird is not to be scared by winter. It is frequently covered up by drifts, and, it is said, "sometimes plunges from on wing into the soft snow, where it remains concealed for a day or two." I used to start them in the open land also, where they had come out of the woods at sunset to "bud" the wild apple trees. They will come regularly every evening to particular trees, where the cunning sportsman lies in wait for them, and the distant orchards next the woods suffer thus not a little. I am glad that the partridge gets fed, at any rate. It is Nature's own bird which lives on buds and diet drink.

当地面尚未完全覆盖积雪,或冬末雪在我南山坡和柴堆旁融化时,山鹑早晚从林间出来觅食。无论你在林中哪边走,山鹑都会振翅惊飞,摇落高处长在枯叶细枝上的雪,雪屑在阳光中如金尘飘洒,因为这勇敢的鸟儿不为冬季所吓。它常被雪堆掩埋,据说‘有时从飞行中扎入软雪,藏匿一两天。’我过去也在开阔地惊起它们,它们日落时从林中出来‘啄食’野苹果树芽。它们每晚定时来到特定树木,狡猾的猎人埋伏于此,邻近树林的远处果园因此颇受损失。无论如何,我很高兴山鹑得以饱食。它是自然之鸟,以嫩芽和清露为生。

🔊

jarring /ˈdʒɑːrɪŋ/

v. 震动；使感到不快；不和谐➕

🔊

sifting /ˈsɪftɪŋ/

v. 筛；细查；纷落➕

🔊

bud /bʌd/

v. 发芽；此处指（鸟）吃嫩芽➕

🔊

sportsman /ˈspɔːrtsmən/

n. 运动员；爱好野外运动（尤指打猎、钓鱼）的人➕

🔊

orchards /ˈɔːrtʃərdz/

n. 果园➕

🔊 In dark winter mornings, or in short winter afternoons, I sometimes heard a pack of hounds threading all the woods with hounding cry and yelp, unable to resist the instinct of the chase, and the note of the hunting horn at intervals, proving that man was in the rear. The woods ring again, and yet no fox bursts forth on to the open level of the pond, nor following pack pursuing their Actæon. And perhaps at evening I see the hunters returning with a single brush trailing from their sleigh for a trophy, seeking their inn. They tell me that if the fox would remain in the bosom of the frozen earth he would be safe, or if he would run in a straight line away no foxhound could overtake him; but, having left his pursuers far behind, he stops to rest and listen till they come up, and when he runs he circles round to his old haunts, where the hunters await him. Sometimes, however, he will run upon a wall many rods, and then leap off far to one side, and he appears to know that water will not retain his scent. A hunter told me that he once saw a fox pursued by hounds burst out on to Walden when the ice was covered with shallow puddles, run part way across, and then return to the same shore. Ere long the hounds arrived, but here they lost the scent. Sometimes a pack hunting by themselves would pass my door, and circle round my house, and yelp and hound without regarding me, as if afflicted by a species of madness, so that nothing could divert them from the pursuit. Thus they circle until they fall upon the recent trail of a fox, for a wise hound will forsake everything else for this. One day a man came to my hut from Lexington to inquire after his hound that made a large track, and had been hunting for a week by himself. But I fear that he was not the wiser for all I told him, for every time I attempted to answer his questions he interrupted me by asking, "What do you do here?" He had lost a dog, but found a man.

在黑暗的冬日清晨或短暂午后,我有时听见一队猎犬穿行所有树林,发出追猎的吠叫与嚎声,无法抗拒追逐的本能,间歇传来猎号声,证明人在后跟随。树林再次回响,却不见狐狸冲上池塘开阔冰面,也无追猎的犬群追随它们的阿克特翁。或许傍晚我看见猎人归来,雪橇后拖着一根孤零零的尾巴作为战利品,寻找客栈。他们告诉我,若狐狸留在冻土深处便安全,或若直线奔逃,猎狐犬无法追上；但它将追兵远远甩开后,会停下休息倾听直至它们赶上,奔跑时绕回旧巢,猎人便在此等候。然而有时,它会在墙头跑上许多杆,然后向一侧远跳,似乎知道水不留其气味。一位猎人告诉我,他曾见一只狐狸被猎犬追逼,冲上瓦尔登湖冰面,当时冰上覆着浅水洼,它跑到半途又折返原岸。不久猎犬赶到,却在此失去气味。有时一队独自狩猎的猎犬会经过我门口,绕我屋子转圈,吠叫追踪而不理我,仿佛染上某种疯狂,无物能令它们分心。它们如此转圈直到嗅到狐狸的新鲜踪迹,因为聪明的猎犬会为此舍弃一切。一天,一人从列克星敦来我小屋询问他的猎犬,那犬留下大足迹,已独自狩猎一周。但我恐怕我所言未能使他更明事理,因每当我试图回答,他便打断问:‘你在此做甚？’他丢了狗,却找到了人。

🔊

threading /ˈθredɪŋ/

v. 穿线于；穿过（如同穿针引线）➕

🔊

yelp /jelp/

n./v. （狗等因痛或兴奋的）短促尖叫➕

🔊

Actæon /ækˈtiːən/

n. 阿克泰翁（希腊神话中因偷窥狩猎女神沐浴而被变成鹿,并被自己的猎犬咬死的猎人）➕

🔊

trophy /ˈtroʊfi/

n. 战利品；奖品,奖杯➕

🔊

overtake /ˌoʊvərˈteɪk/

v. 追上,超过；突然降临➕

🔊

haunts /hɔːnts/

n. 常去的地方➕

🔊

scent /sent/

n. 气味,香味；（动物的）遗臭,踪迹➕

🔊

divert /daɪˈvɜːrt/

v. 使转向；转移（注意力等）；使得到消遣➕

🔊 One old hunter who has a dry tongue, who used to come to bathe in Walden once every year when the water was warmest, and at such times looked in upon me, told me, that many years ago he took his gun one afternoon and went out for a cruise in Walden Wood; and as he walked the Wayland road he heard the cry of hounds approaching, and ere long a fox leaped the wall into the road, and as quick as thought leaped the other wall out of the road, and his swift bullet had not touched him. Some way behind came an old hound and her three pups in full pursuit, hunting on their own account, and disappeared again in the woods. Late in the afternoon, as he was resting in the thick woods south of Walden, he heard the voice of the hounds far over toward Fair Haven still pursuing the fox; and on they came, their hounding cry which made all the woods ring sounding nearer and nearer, now from Well Meadow, now from the Baker Farm. For a long time he stood still and listened to their music, so sweet to a hunter's ear, when suddenly the fox appeared, threading the solemn aisles with an easy coursing pace, whose sound was concealed by a sympathetic rustle of the leaves, swift and still, keeping the ground, leaving his pursuers far behind; and, leaping upon a rock amid the woods, he sat erect and listening, with his back to the hunter. For a moment compassion restrained the latter's arm; but that was a short-lived mood, and as quick as thought can follow thought his piece was levelled, and whang! - the fox, rolling over the rock, lay dead on the ground. The hunter still kept his place and listened to the hounds. Still on they came, and now the near woods resounded through all their aisles with their demoniac cry. At length the old hound burst into view with muzzle to the ground, and snapping the air as if possessed, and ran directly to the rock; but, spying the dead fox, she suddenly ceased her hounding, as if struck dumb with amazement, and walked round and round him in silence; and one by one her pups arrived, and, like their mother, were sobered into silence by the mystery. Then the hunter came forward and stood in their midst, and the mystery was solved. They waited in silence while he skinned the fox, then followed the brush a while, and at length turned off into the woods again. That evening a Weston squire came to the Concord hunter's cottage to inquire for his hounds, and told how for a week they had been hunting on their own account from Weston woods. The Concord hunter told him what he knew and offered him the skin; but the other declined it and departed. He did not find his hounds that night, but the next day learned that they had crossed the river and put up at a farmhouse for the night, whence, having been well fed, they took their departure early in the morning.

一位舌干的老猎人,过去每年水温最暖时来瓦尔登湖沐浴,那时会顺道看我,他告诉我,多年前一个下午,他带枪外出巡航瓦尔登湖林；走在韦兰路上时,听见猎犬叫声逼近,不久一只狐狸跃墙入路,又迅如闪电跃出另一侧墙,他的快枪未及触它。后面不远,一只老母犬和三只幼崽全力追赶,自主狩猎,再次消失在林中。傍晚,他在瓦尔登湖南面密林休息时,听见猎犬声从远方向费尔黑文而去,仍在追捕狐狸；它们渐近,追猎声令整个树林回响,时而来自韦尔草地,时而来自贝克农场。他久立静听这猎人耳中的甜美音乐,突然狐狸出现,以轻松奔跑步态穿行庄严林径,脚步声被同情的树叶沙沙掩盖,迅捷而静默,贴地而行,将追兵远甩身后；它跃上林间一块岩石,挺坐倾听,背对猎人。刹那间怜悯攫住了猎人的手臂；但那情绪转瞬即逝,一念方生,一念即随,他的枪已然举起瞄准,‘嘡！’--狐狸从岩石上滚落,毙命于地。猎人仍守原地倾听猎犬声。它们继续逼近,此刻近处树林所有小径回荡着它们狂野的吠叫。最终老母犬闯入视线,鼻贴地面,如着魔般咬啮空气,直冲向岩石；但瞥见死狐狸,她突然止吠,仿佛惊愕得哑口无言,只是绕着它默默地一圈圈打转；幼崽逐一抵达,和母亲一样,被这神秘震慑得肃静。然后猎人上前站在它们中间,谜团就此解开。它们静候他剥狐狸皮,随后跟了尾巴一阵,最终转身重返树林。那晚,一位韦斯顿乡绅来康科德猎人的小屋询问猎犬,诉说它们如何从韦斯顿林区自主狩猎了一周。康科德猎人告知所知并奉上皮毛；但对方谢绝离去。他那夜未找到猎犬,次日得知它们已过河,在一农舍过夜,饱食后清晨早早离去。

🔊

compassion /kəmˈpæʃn/

n. 同情,怜悯➕

🔊

short-lived /ˌʃɔːrt ˈlɪvd/

adj. 短暂的➕

🔊

levelled /ˈlevəld/

v. 使平坦；瞄准；夷平（level 的过去式）➕

🔊

whang /wæŋ/

n. 重击声；砰的一声（拟声词）➕

🔊

muzzle /ˈmʌzl/

n. （动物的）鼻口部；枪口；口套➕

🔊

sobered /ˈsoʊbərd/

v. 使清醒；使严肃➕

🔊

squire /ˈskwaɪər/

n. 乡绅；骑士的随从➕

🔊 The hunter who told me this could remember one Sam Nutting, who used to hunt bears on Fair Haven Ledges, and exchange their skins for rum in Concord village; who told him, even, that he had seen a moose there. Nutting had a famous foxhound named Burgoyne - he pronounced it Bugine - which my informant used to borrow. In the "Wast Book" of an old trader of this town, who was also a captain, town-clerk, and representative, I find the following entry. Jan. 18th, 1742-3, "John Melven Cr. by 1 Grey Fox 0-2-3"; they are not now found here; and in his ledger, Feb. 7th, 1743, Hezekiah Stratton has credit "by 1/2 a Catt skin 0-1-4 1/2"; of course, a wild-cat, for Stratton was a sergeant in the old French war, and would not have got credit for hunting less noble game. Credit is given for deerskins also, and they were daily sold. One man still preserves the horns of the last deer that was killed in this vicinity, and another has told me the particulars of the hunt in which his uncle was engaged. The hunters were formerly a numerous and merry crew here. I remember well one gaunt Nimrod who would catch up a leaf by the roadside and play a strain on it wilder and more melodious, if my memory serves me, than any hunting horn.

告诉我此事的猎人记得一位萨姆·纳廷,他过去常在费尔黑文岩架猎熊,在康科德村以熊皮换朗姆酒；那人甚至告诉他曾在那里见过麋鹿。纳廷有只著名的猎狐犬名叫伯戈因--他发音作布金--我的线人常借来用。在本镇一位老商人的‘废账本’中,他也是船长、镇文书和代表,我找到如下条目。1742-3年1月18日,‘约翰·梅尔文贷记 1灰狐 0-2-3’；如今此地已不见灰狐；在他账本中,1743年2月7日,希西家·斯特拉顿贷记‘1/2野猫皮 0-1-4 1/2’；当然是野猫皮,因斯特拉顿是旧法战争中的中士,不会因猎低等猎物获贷记。鹿皮也有贷记,且每日出售。一人仍保存着附近最后被猎杀的鹿角,另一人曾告诉我他叔叔参与狩猎的详情。猎人昔日在此是众多欢乐的一群。我清楚记得一个憔悴的宁录,他会拾起路边树叶,吹奏出一段比任何猎号更狂野悦耳的旋律--如果记忆无误。

🔊

gaunt /ɡɔːnt/

adj. 憔悴的,枯瘦的➕

🔊

Nimrod /ˈnɪmrɒd/

n. 宁录（圣经中的英勇猎手）；泛指猎人➕

🔊

strain /streɪn/

n. 拉紧；压力；血统；（此处指）曲调,旋律➕

🔊 At midnight, when there was a moon, I sometimes met with hounds in my path prowling about the woods, which would skulk out of my way, as if afraid, and stand silent amid the bushes till I had passed.

午夜有月时,我有时在路上遇见猎犬在林间潜行,它们会畏缩避让,仿佛害怕,静立灌木丛中直至我走过。

🔊

prowling /ˈpraʊlɪŋ/

v. 潜行,悄悄巡行（以觅食或偷窃）➕

🔊

skulk /skʌlk/

v. 鬼鬼祟祟地走,躲藏➕

🔊 Squirrels and wild mice disputed for my store of nuts. There were scores of pitch pines around my house, from one to four inches in diameter, which had been gnawed by mice the previous winter - a Norwegian winter for them, for the snow lay long and deep, and they were obliged to mix a large proportion of pine bark with their other diet. These trees were alive and apparently flourishing at midsummer, and many of them had grown a foot, though completely girdled; but after another winter such were without exception dead. It is remarkable that a single mouse should thus be allowed a whole pine tree for its dinner, gnawing round instead of up and down it; but perhaps it is necessary in order to thin these trees, which are wont to grow up densely.

松鼠和野鼠争夺我的坚果储备。我屋周有数十棵松树,直径一至四英寸,被老鼠在上个冬季啃噬--对它们而言那是个挪威式的严冬,因雪深久积,它们被迫在食物中混入大量松树皮。这些树在仲夏时仍活着且显然茂盛,许多虽被完全环剥却长高一尺；但再过一冬,无一例外皆死。值得注意的是,一只老鼠竟被允许以整棵松树为餐,环啃而非上下啃噬；但这或许有必要,以稀疏这些惯于密集生长的树木。

🔊

disputed /dɪˈspjuːtɪd/

v. 争论；争夺➕

🔊

gnawed /nɔːd/

v. 咬,啃；使烦恼（gnaw 的过去式）➕

🔊

Norwegian /nɔːrˈwiːdʒən/

adj. 挪威的；挪威人的➕

🔊

girdled /ˈɡɜːrdld/

v. 环绕；束紧；环切（树皮）（girdle 的过去分词）➕

🔊

densely /ˈdensli/

adv. 密集地,稠密地➕

🔊 The hares (Lepus Americanus) were very familiar. One had her form under my house all winter, separated from me only by the flooring, and she startled me each morning by her hasty departure when I began to stir - thump, thump, thump, striking her head against the floor timbers in her hurry. They used to come round my door at dusk to nibble the potato parings which I had thrown out, and were so nearly the color of the ground that they could hardly be distinguished when still. Sometimes in the twilight I alternately lost and recovered sight of one sitting motionless under my window. When I opened my door in the evening, off they would go with a squeak and a bounce. Near at hand they only excited my pity. One evening one sat by my door two paces from me, at first trembling with fear, yet unwilling to move; a poor wee thing, lean and bony, with ragged ears and sharp nose, scant tail and slender paws. It looked as if Nature no longer contained the breed of nobler bloods, but stood on her last toes. Its large eyes appeared young and unhealthy, almost dropsical. I took a step, and lo, away it scud with an elastic spring over the snow crust, straightening its body and its limbs into graceful length, and soon put the forest between me and itself - the wild free venison, asserting its vigor and the dignity of Nature. Not without reason was its slenderness. Such then was its nature. (Lepus, levipes, light-foot, some think.)

野兔（美洲野兔）十分亲近。一只整个冬季在我屋下筑窝,仅隔地板,每早我稍一动它便匆忙离去,惊我一下--砰,砰,砰,匆忙中头撞地板梁。它们常于黄昏绕我门边,啃食我扔出的土豆皮,颜色几与地面同,静时难辨。有时暮色中,我时而失去时而复见一只静坐窗下的身影。晚间我开门时,它们会吱一声蹦跳逃走。近处它们只激起我的怜悯。一晚一只坐在我门边两步外,初时恐惧颤抖,却不愿移动；可怜的小东西,瘦骨嶙峋,破耳尖鼻,短尾细爪。它看似自然已不再孕育高贵血统,而踮着最后的脚尖站立。它的大眼显得幼弱而不健康,几乎水肿。我迈一步,瞧,它弹性一跃掠过雪壳,伸直身躯四肢成优雅长线,很快将森林隔在我与它之间--这野性而自由的精灵,彰显着自然的活力与尊严。它的纤细不无道理。那便是它的天性。（兔属,轻足,有人如此认为。）

🔊

Lepus Americanus /ˈliːpəs əˌmerɪˈkeɪnəs/

n. 美洲兔（拉丁学名）➕

🔊

timbers /ˈtɪmbərz/

n. 木材,木料（尤指建筑用）➕

🔊

parings /ˈpeərɪŋz/

n. 削下的皮；剪下的东西（paring 的复数）➕

🔊

scant /skænt/

adj. 不足的,缺乏的；刚刚够的➕

🔊

dropsical /ˈdrɒpsɪkl/

adj. 水肿的,浮肿的➕

🔊

scud /skʌd/

v. 疾行,飞奔；掠过➕

🔊

elastic /ɪˈlæstɪk/

adj. 有弹性的；灵活的➕

🔊

venison /ˈvenɪsn/

n. 鹿肉；此处比喻野兔➕

🔊

asserting /əˈsɜːrtɪŋ/

v. 断言；维护,坚持（权利等）➕

🔊

slenderness /ˈslendərnəs/

n. 苗条,纤细➕

🔊

levipes /ˈlevɪpiːz/

n. （拉丁词）轻足➕

🔊 What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground - and to one another; it is either winged or it is legged. It is hardly as if you had seen a wild creature when a rabbit or a partridge bursts away, only a natural one, as much to be expected as rustling leaves. The partridge and the rabbit are still sure to thrive, like true natives of the soil, whatever revolutions occur. If the forest is cut off, the sprouts and bushes which spring up afford them concealment, and they become more numerous than ever. That must be a poor country indeed that does not support a hare. Our woods teem with them both, and around every swamp may be seen the partridge or rabbit walk, beset with twiggy fences and horse-hair snares, which some cow-boy tends.

一个没有兔子和山鹑的乡野算什么？它们是最朴素本土的动物产物；古今皆知的古老尊贵家族；拥有自然的色调与质地,最亲近枝叶与土地--也彼此相亲；或具翼或生腿。当一只兔子或山鹑惊飞时,你几乎不似见到野物,只见一自然之物,如树叶沙沙般理所当然。山鹑与兔子仍必兴旺,如土地的真子民,无论发生何变革。若森林砍伐,新生的嫩枝灌丛为它们提供藏身所,它们会比以往更繁盛。那必是贫瘠之地,竟养不活一只野兔。我们的森林两者丰盈,每个沼泽周围皆可见山鹑或兔子的步道,设满细枝栅栏和马鬃套索,由某个牧童照看。

🔊

teem /tiːm/

v. 充满,有很多➕

🔊

beset /bɪˈset/

v. 困扰；围攻➕

🔊

snares /sneərz/

n. 陷阱,圈套➕

🔊

cow-boy /ˈkaʊ bɔɪ/

n. 牛仔➕

Chapter fifteen: Winter Animals (第十五章:冬日的生灵)

🔒 使用该功能需要授权码