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TRANSPORTATION AND PLANTING OF SEEDS
种子的传播与种植
Henry David Thoreau (b. 1817, d. 1862). This eccentric American author and naturalist was born at Concord, Mass. He graduated at Harvard University in 1837. He was a good English and classical scholar, and was well acquainted with the literature of the East. His father was a maker of lead pencils, and he followed the business for a time, but afterwards supported himself mainly by teaching, lecturing, land surveying, and carpentering. In 1845 he built himself a small wooden house near Concord, on the shore of Walden Pond, where he lived about two years. He was intimate with Hawthorne, Emerson, and other literary celebrities. His principal works are “Walden, or Life in the Woods,” “A Week on Concord and Merrimac Rivers,” “Excursions,” “Maine Woods,” “Cape Cod,” “A Yankee in Canada,” and “Letters to Various Persons.” In descriptive power Mr. Thoreau has few, if any, superiors.
In all the pines a very thin membrane[1], in appearance much like an insect’s wing, grows over and around the seed, and independent of it, while the latter is being developed within its base. In other words, a beautiful thin sack is woven around the seed, with a handle to it such as the wind can take hold of, and it is then committed to the wind, expressly that it may transport the seed and extend the range of the species; and this it does as effectually as when seeds are sent by mail, in a different kind of sack, from the patent office.
There is, then, no necessity for supposing that the pines have sprung up from nothing, and I am aware that I am not at all peculiar in asserting that they come from seeds, though the mode of their propagation[2] by Nature has been but little attended to. They are very extensively raised from the seed in Europe, and are beginning to be here.
When you cut down an oak wood, a pine wood will not at once spring up there unless there are, or have been quite recently, seed-bearing pines near enough for the seeds to be blown from them. But, adjacent to a forest of pines, if you prevent other crops from growing there, you will surely have an extension of your pine forest, provided the soil is suitable.
As I walk amid hickories, even in August, I hear the sound of green pignuts falling from time to time, cut off by the chickaree over my head. In the fall I notice on the ground, either within or in the neighborhood of oak woods, on all sides of the town, stout oak twigs three or four inches long, bearing half a dozen empty acorn cups, which twigs have been gnawed off by squirrels, on both sides of the nuts, in order to make them more portable[3]. The jays scream and the red squirrels scold while you are clubbing and shaking the chestnut trees, for they are there on the same errand, and two of a trade never agree.
I frequently see a red or a gray squirrel cast down a green chestnut burr, as I am going through the woods, and I used to think, sometimes, that they were cast at me. In fact, they are so busy about it, in the midst of the chestnut season, that you can not stand long in the woods without hearing one fall.
A sportsman told me that he had, the day before—that was in the middle of October—seen a green chestnut burr dropped on our great river meadow, fifty rods from the nearest wood, and much farther from the nearest chestnut tree, and he could not tell how it came there. Occasionally, when chestnutting in midwinter, I find thirty or forty nuts in a pile, left in its gallery just under the leaves, by the common wood mouse.
But especially, in the winter, the extent to which this transportation[4] and planting of nuts is carried on, is made apparent by the snow. In almost every wood you will see where the red or gray squirrels have pawed down through the snow in a hundred places, sometimes two feet deep, and almost always directly to a nut or a pine cone, as directly as if they had started from it and bored upward,—which you and I could not have done. It would be difficult for us to find one before the snow falls. Commonly, no doubt, they had deposited them there in the fall. You wonder if they remember the localities or discover them by the scent.
The red squirrel commonly has its winter abode in the earth under a thicket of evergreens, frequently under a small clump of evergreens in the midst of a deciduous[5] wood. If there are any nut trees, which still retain their nuts, standing at a distance without the wood, their paths often lead directly to and from them. We, therefore, need not suppose an oak standing here and there in the wood in order to seed it, but if a few stand within twenty or thirty rods of it, it is sufficient.
I think that I may venture to say that every white-pine cone that falls to the earth naturally in this town, before opening and losing its seeds, and almost every pitch-pine one that falls at all, is cut off by a squirrel; and they begin to pluck them long before they are ripe, so that when the crop of white-pine cones is a small one, as it commonly is, they cut off thus almost everyone of these before it fairly ripens.
I think, moreover, that their design, if I may so speak, in cutting them off green, is partly to prevent their opening and losing their seeds, for these are the ones for which they dig through the snow, and the only white-pine cones which contain anything then. I have counted in one heap the cores of two hundred and thirty-nine pitch-pine cones which had been cut off and stripped by the red squirrel the previous winter.
The nuts thus left on the surface, or buried just beneath it, are placed in the most favorable circumstances for germinating[6]. I have sometimes wondered how those which merely fell on the surface of the earth got planted; but, by the end of December, I find the chestnut of the same year partially mixed with the mold, as it were, under the decaying and moldy leaves, where there is all the moisture and manure they want, for the nuts fall fast. In a plentiful year a large proportion of the nuts are thus covered loosely an inch deep, and are, of course, somewhat concealed from squirrels.
One winter, when the crop had been abundant, I got, with the aid of a rake, many quarts of these nuts as late as the tenth of January; and though some bought at the store the same day were more than half of them moldy, I did not find a single moldy one among those which I picked from under the wet and moldy leaves, where they had been snowed on once or twice. Nature knew how to pack them best. They were still plump and tender. Apparently they do not heat there, though wet. In the spring they are all sprouting.
Occasionally, when threading the woods in the fall, you will hear a sound as if some one had broken a twig, and, looking up, see a jay pecking at an acorn, or you will see a flock of them at once about it, in the top of an oak, and hear them break it off. They then fly to a suitable limb, and placing the acorn under one foot, hammer away at it busily, making a sound like a woodpecker’s tapping, looking round from time to time to see if any foe is approaching, and soon reach the meat, and nibble at it, holding up their heads to swallow while they hold the remainder very firmly with their claws. Nevertheless, it often drops to the ground before the bird has done with it.
I can confirm what William Barton wrote to Wilson, the ornithologist[7], that “The jay is one of the most useful agents in the economy[8] of nature for disseminating[9] forest trees and other nuciferous[10] and hard-seeded vegetables on which they feed. In performing this necessary duty they drop abundance of seed in their flight over fields, hedges, and by fences, where they alight to deposit them in the post holes, etc. It is remarkable what numbers of young trees rise up in fields and pastures after a wet winter and spring. These birds alone are capable in a few years' time to replant all the cleared lands.”
I have noticed that squirrels also frequently drop nuts in open land, which will still further account for the oaks and walnuts which spring up in pastures; for, depend on it, every new tree comes from a seed. When I examine the little oaks, one or two years old, in such places, I invariably find the empty acorn from which they sprung.
【中文阅读】
亨利 · 大卫 · 梭罗（1817～1862），这位乖僻的美国作家与自然博物学家出生于美国马萨诸塞州康科德镇。1837年，梭罗毕业于哈佛大学，他精通英语与古典文化，对东方文学极为熟悉。梭罗父亲是一位铅笔制作商，他曾一度子承父业，后来主要以教学、演讲、土地勘察及木匠手艺为生。1845年，梭罗在瓦尔登湖边康科德附近独自搭建一座小木屋，并在木屋居住了两年。他与霍桑、爱默生以及其他文化名流交往甚密，其主要作品包括《瓦尔登湖或林间生活》、《康科德与梅里马克河上一周》、《远足》、《缅因森林》、《科德角》、《加拿大的一位美国佬》和《给不同人的信》。梭罗先生不擅描述，即便如此，亦足以在世界文坛鹤立鸡群。
1． 松树种子通常长有一层薄膜，形状酷似昆虫翅膀，独立的薄膜裹住并庇护种子生长，使种子得以在根基部孕育；换句话说，就像把种子裹护在漂亮细薄的网袋里，让风擎住从网袋里长出的一个小小把手，把种子命运交与风来主宰。未来的风儿就可裹带种子翱翔，为植物种群繁衍开拓疆土。与专利局袋装邮寄包裹相比，种子职能卓有成效，毫不逊色。
2．由此看来，人们完全毫无必要认定，松树凭空便可萌发成林；我相信，树木乃种子孕育而生，这一观点，绝非只是为我个人的玄思冥想，当然，大自然传播繁衍种子的方式向来鲜人关注。北美大多树种来自欧洲，并逐渐开始在此繁衍生息。
3．当你砍斫一片橡树林，北美油松林几乎不可能很快继之而起，除非原先就已成林，或已具相当规模，并且砍伐地带不远处还应长有结籽的松树，种子才有可能吹来萌发。不过，就松林周边而言，万一土壤适宜，同时确保其他作物无法生长，你也势必将会拥有一片扩展的松林。
4．甚至8月期间，当我走在山核桃林里，头顶上端不时传来山核桃被山雀啄落的声音，果子还绿茵茵的。秋天，在小镇周围橡树林里或树林附近，我留意到三四英寸长的粗短橡树枝，挂着七八个空空的橡实壳，松鼠咬断坚果两侧硬枝，完全出于搬运简单方便。每当人们敲打或摇晃栗树，便招来松鸦、红松鼠叽喳不停，它们，抑或我们，光顾森林的目的没什么不同，所谓同行冤家，一点不假。
5．行在树林中，我经常看见红松鼠或灰松鼠扔下带芒刺的绿色栗果，我总觉得，它们想必是冲我砸来的。栗子成熟季节，松鼠忙碌地奔跑，只需在树林中稍站片刻，便能清晰地听见栗子的落地声。
6．一位喜欢捕猎的朋友对我说，就在前一天，该是10月中旬吧，他还看见一颗绿色带芒刺的栗果，丢在小镇大河边的湿地草原上。那颗栗果离最近的林子有五十杆距离，距最近的栗树林就更远了，他实在想不出那粒栗子究竟从哪冒出来的。深冬季节，我有时去森林里采摘栗子，有时会发现三四十颗栗子聚拢成堆，裹藏在腐叶下森林里常见的林鼠洞边。
7．白雪皑皑的冬天，松鼠们忙碌搬运、种植松果的活动更为清晰可见。几乎每一片森林里，不难看见数以百计处红松鼠、灰松鼠扒拉雪地的痕迹。有时地面积雪甚至深达两英尺，沿雪洞径直伸手掏下去，坚果或松果每每手到擒来。这些洞穴布局精巧，洞口好像从地底向上挖掘，松鼠们那么得心应手，或许我们只有望洋兴叹。即便雪没下，我们要想找到一粒坚果也极为不易，更别提大雪封山了。当然，松鼠们秋天贮藏下果实，但它们怎样才能记牢那些储藏地，或仅凭气味找到果子，其中奥秘令人费解。
8．冬天，松鼠通常在常青林灌丛下安家筑穴，洞穴周围最好有落叶乔木小簇灌丛环绕左右，如果洞穴附近有橡树，甚至树上还挂着果，中途没有其他林木遮蔽，那么，松鼠只是在洞穴与挂果树间穿梭奔波，我们亦无须认为，森林里到处应长有橡树，二十到三十杆间隔有那么三两株，播种也就绰绰有余了。
9．我不妨大胆设想一下，果实尚未裂开或飞落前，就自然落地的小镇上几乎每一颗白松松果来说，全部拜赐松鼠的采摘；那时松果成熟还早，果实还小，松鼠们便早早开始动手了。一般来说，它们几乎不会错过秋天里每一粒珍贵收获。
10．此外，依据松鼠设想，我是否可以这么猜测，松树果实尚青嫩生涩，松鼠们便迫不及待地开始采摘，一方面在于它们唯恐裂落地，失却到嘴的美食；至于那些落地的白松松籽，或许直到冬天来临，松鼠才能从积雪里挖出，那可是漫长冬季里唯一贮有种子的活命粮。我曾发现一堆松果，那是上一个冬季红松鼠啮咬撕扯后藏匿下的，我数了数，竟有二百三十九颗松果。
11．坚果被丢弃地面或浅埋土壤，给种子提供了极易萌发的环境，但我有时还是无法明白，那些落到地表的种子如何就能发芽？12月末，我通过观察后发现，当年生栗子落地后，部分外壳已霉变，残枝颓叶混杂覆盖地层，落地栗子从而获得必需的湿濡与营养。挂果多的年头，大多落地坚果上覆盖着腐泥颓叶，深达一英寸，藏匿在稀疏软泥下的果实，起码可躲过松鼠一劫。
12．有年冬天，适逢栗树丰年，待到翌年1月10日，我用钉耙还从林子里挖出好几夸脱栗子，而恰好那天我从店里也买回一些栗子，可多半已霉坏变质。那年冬天，落过一两场雪了，从积雪覆盖的颓败叶泥下挖出的栗子，依然新鲜如初。栗子极易变质，大自然擅长保鲜之术，只要落叶濡湿，温度适宜，冬去春来，栗子便争先恐后露出胚芽。
13．秋季穿过树林，或许听见类似有人折断树枝的窸窣，抬头望去，原来是只正在啄食橡果的松鸦，可能亦有成群松鸦在树梢上下翻飞啄食，窸窣声声不断。倏尔，它们又飞到其他树梢，一只爪子踩着橡实不停敲打，发出类似啄木鸟的笃笃声，时而左顾右盼，留意是否有敌人悄悄逼近。鸟儿很快啄到了果肉，先是小口啄食，继尔仰头吞咽，爪子还紧紧抓着残剩果肉，尚有些橡实鸟喙未动，就已掉落地上。
14．依我来看，威廉 · 巴特拉姆写给鸟类学家威尔森信中这段话颇有道理：
在大自然经济活动中，松鸦是极有用的掮客。它以坚果为食，同时将结有坚果或硬籽的森林种子到处传播。为履行这一必要职责，松鸦在飞越田野，或驻脚树篱栅栏，或欲将粮食坚藏入洞而往返奔波时，遗落大量种子。历经连绵淫雨的冬春两季，田野或平原到处窜出无数树苗。单单这种能干的松鸦，无需几年，就能将所有垦荒地再度植被造林。
15．松鼠时常在空旷地丢弃坚果，这点，我一直注意观察，这种现象可进一步解释，橡树和核桃树为何在牧场上萌生而出，因此，每一棵新生树木的萌发皆来自种子。当我察看一两年生的小橡树时，总会在树木发芽的地方看到种子空壳，无一例外。
LESSON 92
SPRING AGAIN
又见春天
Celia Thaxter (b. 1836, d. 1894), whose maiden name was Laighton, was born in Portsmouth, N.H. Much of her early life was passed on White Island, one of a group of small islands, called the Isles of Shoals, about ten miles from the shore, where she lived in the lighthouse cottage. In 1867-68, she published, in the “Atlantic Monthly,” a number of papers on these islands, which were afterwards bound in a separate volume. Mrs. Thaxter was a contributor to several periodicals, and in strength and beauty of style has few equals among American writers. The following selection is from a volume of her poems entitled “Drift Weed.”
1. I stood on the height in the stillness
And the planet’s outline scanned,
And half was drawn with the line of sea
And half with the far blue land.
2. With wings that caught the sunshine
In the crystal deeps of the sky,
Like shapes of dreams, the gleaming gulls
Went slowly floating by.
3. Below me the boats in the harbor
Lay still, with their white sails furled;
Sighing away into silence,
The breeze died off the world.
4. On the weather-worn, ancient ledges
Peaceful the calm light slept;
And the chilly shadows, lengthening,
Slow to the eastward crept.
5. The snow still lay in the hollows,
And where the salt waves met
The iron rock, all ghastly white
The thick ice glimmered yet.
6. But the smile of the sun was kinder,
The touch of the air was sweet;
The pulse of the cruel ocean seemed
Like a human heart to beat.
7. Frost-locked, storm-beaten, and lonely,
In the midst of the wintry main,
Our bleak rock yet the tidings heard:
“There shall be spring again!”
8. Worth all the waiting and watching,
The woe that the winter wrought,
Was the passion of gratitude that shook
My soul at the blissful thought!
9. Soft rain and flowers and sunshine,
Sweet winds and brooding skies,
Quick-flitting birds to fill the air
With clear delicious cries;
10. And the warm sea’s mellow murmur
Resounding day and night;
A thousand shapes and tints and tones
Of manifold delight,
11. Nearer and ever nearer
Drawing with every day!
But a little longer to wait and watch
’Neath skies so cold and gray;
12. And hushed is the roar of the bitter north
Before the might of the spring,
And up the frozen slope of the world
Climbs summer, triumphing.
【中文阅读】
西莉亚 · 撒克斯特 (1836～1894)，结婚前名为莱顿，出生于美国新罕布什尔州普茨茅斯，早期大多时光在怀特岛度过，该岛隶属肖尔斯群岛，离陆地海岸约10英里，西莉亚住在一处灯塔小屋。1867～1868年间，西莉亚在《大洋月刊》出版了有关肖尔斯群岛的若干文章，这些文章后来被辑为单集出版。撒克斯特夫人还曾为数家期刊写过专稿，她的文体风格颇具冲击力与精美特质，在美国作家群中鲜人能及，下列段落选自她《漂浮的海草》诗歌集中一章。
1．静寂无声， 我站在高处云巅，
放眼望去， 脚下星球飞转，
一半海岸， 深邃蕴含着神秘，
一半陆地， 径直向远方伸展。
2．我以双翼， 扑向金色阳光 ，
急旋腾空， 融进绚丽苍穹，
梦幻缥缈， 星光云海里海鸥，
恍若仙境， 从我的衣袂飞过。
3．回眸脚下，海港里的小船，
静静停泊，卷起白色风帆，
缄默无声，长舒一声怅叹，
微风若许，不知所踪飘远。
4．古老暗礁，滚过多少风暴，
一道永恒，光明枕入睡眠，
愈见拉长阴影，寒寂苍凉，
缓慢滞重，潜行东方归去。
5．白雪皑皑，雍积在礁石凹穴，
海浪扑来，一次次冲刷炸裂，
巉岩耸立，惨白恐怖的嶙峋，
影影绰绰，厚实的冰凌覆现。
6．太阳笑脸，更为温柔清馨，
微风和煦，相逢甜蜜难言，
残暴大海，那摧毁一切的
跳动脉搏，心在滴血震颤。
7．风霜侵蚀，惯于孤独面对，
雨雪交加，矗立沧海横流，
擎天一柱，海潮已经听见，
又见春天，春天又绿人间。
8． 所有一切，值得耐心等待，
所有悲哀，冬天早已走远，
感恩的心，高亢跳跃激情，
我的灵魂，在春天韵律里放歌。
9．春雨潇潇，阳光下的花丛，
风和日丽，天空云层低垂，
铺天盖地，那飞掠的候鸟，
传来久违，声声清脆鸣啾。
10．低声细语，海洋中锦葵植物，
日夜不停，叙说着海底神奇，
姹紫嫣红，万般旖旎的美景，
水天一色，汇聚成欢乐颂歌。
11．脚步更近， 春天渐渐走进，
一天天呵， 希望即将来临，
姑且等待， 不过坚忍片刻，
长空万里， 阴霾终将远离。
12．终于抵达，三月风明媚春天，
北风停止，往昔肆虐的呼啸，
夏日冉冉，爬上那冰雪覆盖
高山之巅，抖落长久的欢欣。
LESSON 93
RELIGION THE ONLY BASIS OF SOCIETY
宗教——社会的唯一基石
William Ellery Channing (b. 1780, d. 1842), an eminent divine and orator, was born at Newport, R.I. He graduated from Harvard with the highest honors in 1798, and, in 1803, he was made pastor of the Federal Street Church, Boston, with which he maintained his connection until his death. Towards the close of his life, being much enfeebled, he withdrew almost entirely from his pastoral duties, and devoted himself to literature. Dr. Channing’s writings are published in six volumes, and are mainly devoted to theology.
Religion is a social concern; for it operates powerfully on society, contributing in various ways to its stability and prosperity. Religion is not merely a private affair; the community[11] is deeply interested in its diffusion[12]; for it is the best support of the virtues and principles, on which the social order rests. Pure and undefiled religion is to do good; and it follows, very plainly, that if God be the Author and Friend of society, then, the recognition of him must enforce all social duty, and enlightened[13] piety must give its whole strength to public order.
Few men suspect, perhaps no man comprehends, the extent of the support given by religion to every virtue. No man, perhaps, is aware how much our moral and social sentiments are fed from this fountain; how powerless conscience would become without the belief of a God; how palsied would be human benevolence, were there not the sense of a higher benevolence to quicken and sustain it; how suddenly the whole social fabric[14] would quake, and with what a fearful crash it would sink into hopeless ruin, were the ideas of a Supreme Being, of accountableness and of a future life to be utterly erased[15] from every mind.
And, let men thoroughly believe that they are the work and sport of chance; that no superior intelligence concerns itself with human affairs; that all their improvements perish forever at death; that the weak have no guardian, and the injured no avenger; that there is no recompense for sacrifices to uprightness and the public good; that an oath is unheard in heaven; that secret crimes have no witness but the perpetrator[16]; that human existence has no purpose, and human virtue no unfailing friend; that this brief life is everything to us, and death is total, everlasting extinction[17]; once let them thoroughly abandon religion, and who can conceive or describe the extent of the desolation which would follow?
We hope, perhaps, that human laws and natural sympathy would hold society together. As reasonably might we believe that were the sun quenched in the heavens, our torches would illuminate, and our fires quicken and fertilize[18] the creation. What is there in human nature to awaken respect and tenderness, if man is the unprotected insect of a day? And what is he more, if atheism[19] be true?
Erase all thought and fear of God from a community, and selfishness and sensuality[20] would absorb the whole man. Appetite, knowing no restraint, and suffering, having no solace or hope, would trample in scorn on the restraints of human laws. Virtue, duty, principle, would be mocked and spurned as unmeaning sounds. A sordid self-interest would supplant every feeling; and man would become, in fact, what the theory in atheism declares him to be,—a companion for brutes.
【中文阅读】
威廉 · 艾勒瑞 · 查宁(1780～1842) ，美国神学家兼演说家，出生于美国罗得岛纽波特。1798年，他以极为优异成绩从哈佛大学毕业，1803年被选为波士顿联邦街教堂牧师，随后一直担任该职务，直到离世。查宁博士生命晚期，身体极度衰弱，他几乎从宗教传道中全身而退，专心致力文学写作，他出版的文集达六卷之多，大多文章涉及神学。
1．宗教为一种社会关照，就维系社会稳定繁荣来说，宗教通过不同方式对社会影响甚大。宗教不仅为个体信仰，宗教传播更为引起社会公众的高度关注，因为，仁慈与信念才能维持社会秩序的正常运行，而宗教则为其提供最有力的支持。纯真虔诚的宗教旨在行善，显而易见，它所遵循的信条是，假如上帝缔造了社会，上帝是人类朋友，那么，对上帝认知势必强化社会的所有职能，知礼明义的诚信势必为社会公众秩序的坚韧基石。
2．鲜少有人质疑，或许无人意识到，就维系并推动人类每一善行来说，宗教究竟能走多远；人们可能无从获悉，人类道德与社会感知究竟从宗教精神源头撷取多少营养？假如，不再信奉上帝，人类良心将会变得极度脆弱；如果内心缺乏更为高尚的激励机制甚至维系向善，人类仁爱悲悯将会苟延残喘；社会构建系统无一避免随即产生动荡，从而引发整个系统的可怕崩溃毁灭：即至高无上的存在、责任担当意识，以及对未来生活的祈求展望将从每一个心灵完全抹去。
3．因此，不妨让人们由衷相信，他们才是向善机缘的实施与推动者，不会有先哲神明关注人类生活，他们所有努力身后已化为灰烬。弱者没有监护人，伤者无法讨还公道，为正义与公众事业奉献牺牲的人无法获取补偿。天空不再听到铿锵誓言，作恶多端者无人为其犯罪指证，人类生存没有目标，人类美德没有始终如一的支持，有信仰的生活对我们来说意味一切，然而死亡最终来临，象征永恒的万劫不归，一旦彻底放弃宗教，谁能想象抑或描述接踵而来孤独寂灭的人类精神荒原？
4．我们寄望，或许，人类法则和本性悲悯可以促进整个社会凝聚抱团。不妨合乎情理地设想一下，如果天空中太阳最终熄灭，人类火炬能否持久发光？人类光明能否孕育世间万物生长？如果，无神论确实可信，或者人类沦为不受保护的一介虫豸，那么，究竟什么可以唤醒人类本性或心底蛰伏的生命尊重与脉脉温情？
5．泯灭所有思想，消除社会群体对上帝的敬畏，沉溺于声色犬马的物质享受，整个人类离彻底堕落亦就为期不远。不知自我约束的贪婪欲望，毫无安慰祈盼的逆来顺受，势必轻蔑地践踏人类法律的底线。良好美德、责任担当以及普世原则将任由嘲弄蔑视并随意抛弃，肮脏卑劣地追求自身利益更是肆意剔除每一个体的真实情感，事实上，正如无神论理论公开宣称的，人类无疑终将沦与禽兽为伍。
LESSON 94
ROCK ME TO SLEEP
在摇篮中安睡
Elizabeth Akers Allen (b. 1832,—d.1911) was born at Strong, Maine, and passed her childhood amidst the picturesque scenery of that neighborhood. She lost her mother when very young, but inherited her grace and delicacy of thought. Shortly after her mother’s death, her father removed to Farmington, Maine, a town noted for its literary people. Mrs. Allen’s early pieces appeared over the pseudonym of “Florence Percy.” Her first verses appeared when she was twelve years old; and her first volume, entitled “Forest Buds from the Woods of Maine,” was Published in 1856. For some years she was assistant editor of the “Portland Transcript.” The following selection was claimed by five different persons, who attempted to steal the honor of its composition.
1. Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,
Make me a child again, just for to-night!
Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
Take me again to your heart as of yore;
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair;
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
2. Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears;
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain;
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay,—
Weary of flinging my soul wealth away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
3. Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!
Many a summer the grass has grown green,
Blossomed and faded, our faces between:
Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I to-night for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
4. Over my heart in the days that are flown,
No love like mother love ever has shone;
No other worship abides and endures,
Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:
None like a mother can charm away pain
From the sick soul, and the world-weary brain.
Slumber’s soft calms o’er my heavy lids creep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
5. Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
Fall on your shoulders again, as of old;
Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
For with its sunny-edged shadows once more,
Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
6. Mother, dear mother, the years have been long
Since I last listened your lullaby song;
Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem
Womanhood’s years have been only a dream!
Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just sweeping my face,
Never hereafter to wake or to weep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!
【中文阅读】
伊丽莎白 · 阿克斯 · 艾伦(1832～1911)，出生于美国缅因州斯特朗，在风景如画的家乡度过她的孩提时代。伊丽莎白年幼时，母亲便去世了，但她继承了母亲的优雅举止和缜密思想。母亲逝世不久，伊丽莎白父亲便举家搬迁到缅因州法明顿，那是一处因文学人士聚居而颇负名望的小镇。伊丽莎白早期作品以弗罗伦斯 · 珀西为笔名发表，12岁便出版了数篇诗歌。1856年，她的第一部题为《缅因森林里萌芽》诗集出版。伊丽莎白曾担任杂志《波特兰文字录》副总编辑，长达数年。下列章节曾有五人声称为个人独创，其实，皆为沽名钓誉之徒的妄言。
1．时光穿梭， 飞快地回到从前，
今晚星光，我变成可爱孩子，
妈妈，从无法应答的彼岸归来，
一如往昔，将我搂抱入怀。
轻轻地， 她吻着我的前额皱纹，
随后抚平，我鬓角上初现白发，
满心怜爱，默默地看我安睡——
妈妈呵，慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
2．时光穿梭， 追溯往昔岁月，
难以应对， 生活困厄操劳，
呕心沥血，汗水无法兑现，
不再忧伤， 今晚我又回到童年！
滚滚红尘，行尸走肉的皮囊，
迷惘不安，如何失去信念？
世事喧嚣，充满尔虞我诈，
妈妈呵，慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
3．我早已，厌倦世俗的虚伪卑鄙，
哦，妈妈， 我从心底呼唤你！
夏夜星落， 那片滴翠的草地，
母女笑容， 跌落在花开花落之间，
难以抑制， 我多年的思念苦楚，
哦，妈妈， 渴望你今晚出现。
回来吧， 你在寂寞黑暗消失很久，
妈妈呵， 慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
4．我的心里， 沉淀往日尘封，
世界上，没有比母爱更为温柔，
你毅力坚忍，承受着难言痛苦，
你耐心开导，教育我豁达快乐，
你慈祥宽容， 容忍我执拗任性，
你坦荡无私， 融尽我冥顽冰山。
你美丽笑容， 成就母亲伟大的包容，
妈妈呵，慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
5．妈妈，垂落你褐色头发，
阳光下， 金光飘逸地微笑走来，
你的长发， 今晚能否拂过我的前额，
为我再次， 遮挡那炫目的光线？
你的鬓发， 或许随艳阳周边阴影，
如梦幻觉，再度裹杂甜蜜而来，
潋滟的光， 那么温馨，扑面清新，
妈妈呵， 慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
6．亲爱的妈妈，多少风雨沧桑走过，
最后聆听， 你唱起醉人的摇篮曲，
那缕歌声， 心底萦绕已久，
尽管我，早已不再年轻！
光影迷乱， 你以如此方式与我相逢，
搂紧我， 用一腔浓浓挚爱，
今生今世， 我不愿醒来，不再哭泣，
妈妈呵， 慢慢荡起摇篮，让我入眠！
LESSON 95
MAN AND THE INFERIOR ANIMALS
人类与动物
The chief difference between man and the other animals consists in this, that the former has reason, whereas the latter have only instinct; but, in order to understand what we mean by the terms reason and instinct, it will be necessary to mention three things in which the difference very distinctly[21] appears.
Let us first, to bring the parties as nearly on a level as possible, consider man in a savage state, wholly occupied, like the beasts of the field, in providing for the wants of his animal nature; and here the first distinction that appears between them is the use of implements[22]. When the savage provides himself with a hut or a wigwam[23] for shelter, or that he may store up his provisions, he does no more than is done by the rabbit, the beaver, the bee, and birds of every species.
But the man can not make any progress in this work without tools; he must provide himself with an ax even before he can cut down a tree for its timber; whereas these animals form their burrows[24], their cells, or their nests, with no other tools than those with which nature has provided them. In cultivating the ground, also, man can do nothing without a spade or a plow; nor can he reap what he has sown till he has shaped an implement with which to cut clown his harvest. But the inferior animals provide for themselves and their young without any of these things.
Now for the second distinction. Man, in all his operations, makes mistakes; animals make none. Did you ever hear of such a thing as a bird sitting on a twig lamenting over her half-finished nest and puzzling her little head to know how to complete it? Or did you ever see the cells of a beehive in clumsy, irregular shapes, or observe anything like a discussion[25] in the little community, as if there were a difference of opinion among the architects?
The lower animals are even better physicians than we are; for when they are ill, they will, many of them, seek out some particular herb, which they do not, use as food, and which possesses a medicinal[26] quality exactly suited to the complaint; whereas, the whole college of physicians will dispute for a century about the virtues of a single drug.
Man undertakes nothing in which he is not more or less puzzled; and must try numberless experiments before he can bring his undertakings to anything like perfection; even the simplest operations of domestic life are not well performed without some experience; and the term of man’s life is half wasted before he has done with his mistakes and begins to profit by his lessons.
The third distinction is that animals make no improvements; while the knowledge, and skill, and the success of man are perpetually on the increase. Animals, in all their operations, follow the first impulse of nature or that instinct which God has implanted in them. In all they do undertake, therefore, their works are more perfect and regular than those of man.
But man, having been endowed[27] with the faculty[28] of thinking or reasoning about what he does, is enabled by patience and industry to correct the mistakes into which he at first falls, and to go on constantly improving. A bird’s nest is, indeed, a perfect structure; yet the nest of a swallow of the nineteenth century is not at all more commodious or elegant than those that were built amid the rafters of Noah’s ark. But if we compare the wigwam of the savage with the temples and palaces of ancient Greece and Rome, we then shall see to what man’s mistakes, rectified[29] and improved upon, conduct him.
- “When the vast sun shall veil his golden light
Deep in the gloom of everlasting night;
When wild, destructive flames shall wrap the skies,
When ruin triumphs, and when nature dies;
Man shall alone the wreck of worlds survive;
’Mid falling spheres, immortal man shall live.”
—Jane Taylor.
【中文阅读】
1．人类与动物区别在于：前者具有理性，而后者唯有本能，不过为了弄清我们所说的理性与本能的定义，在此，有必要阐述三点人与动物之间的显见差异。
2．首先，让我们将人类与动物尽可能置于同一范畴比较，与兽类雷同，完全处于野蛮状态下的人类，就动物生存性需要而言，人类与动物无异；这里，人类与动物关键差异在于工具的使用。当原始人出于自身考虑，搭建茅舍或者棚屋以遮风避雨，甚至存贮食物，其实，人类行为绝非具有超越野兔、海狸、蜜蜂或任何鸟类的本能意义。
3．如果没有工具，在原始生存环境下，人类不会获取任何进步；当原始人为获取木头而砍伐树木前，他必须准备刀斧之类工具；而动物打算挖建洞穴、筑造蜂巢、或垒搭鸟窝，无法利用自然界物件造出可供自己使用的工具。如果没有木锹或铧犁，人类无法耕作或翻整土地；甚而无法收获播种的庄稼，除非他事先做出某种可以收割庄稼的工具。然而，低级动物无法为自己或后代制造任何劳动工具。
4．现在，我们来谈谈第二个差异。就人类行为举止而言，凡夫俗子错误在所难免；而动物不会犯错误。你是否听说栖息树枝上的小鸟哀叹自己尚未完工的巢穴，或是不知所措怎样将巢穴建好？你是否观察过那些拙笨、不规则的蜂房巢室，是否留意在筑造蜂巢时，蜜蜂群体成员存在不同意见从而进行讨论？
5．与人类相比，低级动物不愧是更好的医生。动物生病时，它们大多寻找某些特殊药草，这类药草并非食用，而是专门用作治病养伤，并且确实具有某种药物疗效；相反，就医用疗效来说，哪怕一种药物，整个医学院专家医生们完全可以喋喋不休地辩论上百年。
6．人类做事总喜欢瞻前顾后，他必须无数次躬身亲为，试图将事情做到近乎完善，然而，哪怕最简单的家庭生活缺乏实践，他亦无法做到称心如意。人类初涉某一事物，错误过失在所难免，每每开始从自身经验教训里终有所得，他的人生时光早已挥霍过半。
7．人类与动物的第三点差异在于：动物本身绝不存在任何改进或进步；而人类知识、技能以及成功终将不断地推进自己完善。大凡动物的行为举止，不过遵循生物的最初欲望或上帝嵌入生物的不同本能需求。因此，不管它们从事任何事情，其结果总会比人类所做的更为有序完美。
8．然而，由于其行为举止被赋予思考与推理的能力，人类通过耐心勤奋可以纠正最初错误，并且不断地加以调整。的确，一只鸟窝构造完美，但十九世纪燕子的巢穴完全不会比用椽木建造的诺亚方舟更为舒适漂亮。不过，当我们将原始人窝棚与古希腊或古罗马的庙宇宫殿进行比较，我们不难看出，一个持续绵延的纠偏改进过程，引导人类走向完美。
9．“当庞大太阳收敛金色阳光，
世界进入永恒无边的黑夜，
毁灭火焰呼啸着卷过天空，
到处在坍塌，自然走向濒亡，
目睹无数星体纷纷坠落消逝，
人类在宇宙残骸中孤独伫立。”
（简 · 泰勒）
LESSON 96
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
盲人摸象
John Godfrey Saxe (b. 1816, d.1887), an American humorist, lawyer, and journalist, was born at Highgate, Vt. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1839; was admitted to the bar in 1843; and practiced law until 1850, when he became editor of the “Burlington Sentinel.” In 1851, he was elected State’s attorney. “Progress, a Satire, and Other Poems,” his first volume, was published in 1849, and several other volumes of great merit attest his originality. For genial humor and good-natured satire, Saxe’s writings rank among the best of their kind, and are very popular.
1. It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant,
(Though all of them were blind,)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
2. The first approached the elephant,
And, happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the elephant
Is very like a wall!”
3. The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: “Ha! what have we here,
So very round, and smooth, and sharp?
To me ’t is very clear,
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!”
4. The third approached the animal,
And, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up he spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the elephant
Is very like a snake!”
5. The fourth reached out his eager hand,
And fell about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like,
Is very plain,” quoth he;
“ ’T is clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree!”
6. The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most:
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!”
7. The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the elephant
Is very like a rope!”
8. And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
【中文阅读】
约翰 · 戈德弗瑞 · 萨克斯（1816～1887），美国幽默作家、律师兼记者，出生于美国佛蒙特州海格特。1839年，萨克斯毕业于米德伯里学院；1843年，他获取资格进入律师界，直到1850年，萨克斯成为《伯林顿的铁卫军》杂志编辑后，他才不再任职律师。1851年，他被选为州检察官。1849年，他的首部作品集《进步，一个嘲讽，及其他诗歌》出版，加上另外数部作品集表现了他原创的惊人才华。萨克斯先生文章温和幽默，不乏本性向善的讥讽，在世界幽默文学中极具声誉，广受欢迎。
1. 从前，有六个印度人，
他们想了解外面世界，
于是，相约一起去看大象，
（虽然，他们都是盲人，）
每人都想通过自己的触觉，
满足抑制不住的好奇心。
2. 第一个盲人，走上前，
碰巧摸到，大象宽厚的腹部，
他立刻，朗声叫道：
“我的天呀！这大象，
它，确实像是一堵墙！”
3. 第二个盲人，抱住象牙，
他也随即高喊：“哈！
原来这又圆、又滑、尖尖的，
今天，我终于明白，
这只大象，不过是支长矛。”
4. 第三个盲人走上前，没想到，
竟然抓到，大象扭动的长鼻，
于是，兴奋异常地叫唤，
“我看呀，这，这大象
好像，一条粗长的蟒蛇！”
5. 第四位盲人，性子忒急，
急不可耐中，他伸出双手，
猛然间，摸到大象的粗腿，
忙不迭地高声反驳，“所有这些，
再清楚不过，这只大象，
想必，你们应该明白，
与大树，肯定分毫不差。”
6. 接下来，第五人凑巧拽住
大象的耳朵，“哪怕最瞎的人，
也能知道，大象的明显特征，
你们怎能，罔顾事实说话，
至于，这头大象的样子，
它压根嘛，就像一把蒲扇。
7. 第六个盲人，迈步过来，
伸手一把，突然抓到
空中晃悠的，大象尾巴，
他仔细摸索一番，开口叫喊，
“我清楚了，大象呀，
太像是，一条细长的绳子。”
8. 可怜，那六位印度盲人，
针尖麦芒，长时间争吵不停，
他们愚蠢固执，坚信不疑，
谁都认为，自己完全正确，
尽管， 每人描述的细节不错，
但那狭隘眼光，徒留世人笑话！
LESSON 97
A HOME SCENE
家庭场景
Donald Grant Mitchell (b. 1822,—d.1908). This popular American writer was born in Norwich, Conn. He graduated at Yale in 1841. In 1844 he went to England, and, after traveling through that country on foot, spent some time on the continent. His first volume, “Fresh Gleanings, or a New Sheaf from the Old Fields of Continental Europe, by Ik Marvel,” was published in 1847, soon after his return home. He revisited Europe in 1848. On his return, he published “The Battle Summer.” Mr. Mitchell has contributed to the “Knickerbocker Magazine,” the “Atlantic Monthly,” and several agricultural journals. His most popular works are “The Reveries of a Bachelor,” 1850, and “Dream Life,” 1851. Besides these, he has written “My Farm of Edgewood,” “Wet Days at Edgewood,” “Doctor Johns,” a novel “Rural Studies,” and other works. He is a charming writer. In 1853 he was appointed United States consul at Venice. In 1855 he settled on a farm near New Haven, Conn., where he now resides. The following selection is from “Dream Life.”
Little does the boy know, as the tide of years drifts by, floating him out insensibly from the harbor of his home, upon the great sea of life,—what joys, what opportunities, what affections, are slipping from him into the shades of that inexorable[30] Past, where no man can go, save on the wings of his dreams.
Little does he think, as he leans upon the lap of his mother, with his eye turned to her, in some earnest pleading for a fancied pleasure of the hour, or in some important story of his griefs, that such sharing of his sorrows, and such sympathy with his wishes, he will find nowhere again.
Little does he imagine that the fond sister Nelly, ever thoughtful of his pleasures, ever smiling away his griefs, will soon be beyond the reach of either; and that the waves of the years which come rocking so gently under him will soon toss her far away, upon the great swell of life.
But now, you are there. The fire light glimmers upon the walls of your cherished home. The big chair of your father is drawn to its wonted[31] corner by the chimney side; his head, just touched with gray, lies back upon its oaken top. Opposite sits your mother: her figure is thin, her look cheerful, yet subdued;—her arm perhaps resting on your shoulder, as she talks to you in tones of tender admonition[32], of the days that are to come.
The cat is purring on the hearth; the clock that ticked so plainly when Charlie died is ticking on the mantel still. The great table in the middle of the room, with its books and work, waits only for the lighting of the evening lamp, to see a return to its stores of embroidery and of story.
Upon a little stand under the mirror, which catches now and then a flicker of the fire light, and makes it play, as if in wanton, upon the ceiling, lies that big book, reverenced of your New England parents—the Family Bible. It is a ponderous[33], square volume, with heavy silver clasps, that you have often pressed open for a look at its quaint[34], old pictures, for a study of those prettily bordered pages, which lie between the Testaments, and which hold the Family Record.
There are the Births;—your father’s and your mother’s; it seems as if they were born a long time ago; and even your own date of birth appears an almost incredible[35] distance back. Then there are the Marriages;—only one as yet; and your mother’s name looks oddly to you: it is hard to think of her as anyone else than your doting [36]parent.
Last of all come the Deaths;—only one. Poor Charlie! How it looks!—“ Died, 12 September, 18—, Charles Henry, aged four years.” You know just how it looks. You have turned to it often; there you seem to be joined to him, though only by the turning of a leaf.
And over your thoughts, as you look at that page of the Record, there sometimes wanders a vague[37], shadowy fear, which will come,—that your own name may soon be there. You try to drop the notion, as if it were not fairly your own; you affect to slight it, as you would slight a boy who presumed[38] on your acquaintance, but whom you have no desire to know.
Yet your mother—how strange it is!—has no fears of such dark fancies. Even now, as you stand beside her, and as the twilight deepens in the room, her low, silvery voice is stealing upon your ear, telling you that she can not be long with you;—that the time is coming, when you must be guided by your own judgment, and struggle with the world unaided by the friends of your boyhood.
There is a little pride, and a great deal more of anxiety, in your thoughts now, as you look steadfastly into the home blaze, while those delicate fingers, so tender of your happiness, play with the locks upon your brow. To struggle with the world,—that is a proud thing; to struggle alone,—there lies the doubt! Then crowds in swift upon the calm of boyhood the first anxious thought of youth.
The hands of the old clock upon the mantel that ticked off the hours when Charlie sighed and when Charlie died, draw on toward midnight. The shadows that the fireflame makes grow dimmer and dimmer. And thus it is, that Home,—boy home, passes away forever,—like the swaying of a pendulum,—like the fading of a shadow on the floor.
【中文阅读】
唐纳德 · 格兰特 · 米切尔(1822～1908)，这位美国流行作家出生于美国康涅狄格州诺维奇，1841年毕业于耶鲁大学。1844年，米切尔先生前去英国，在徒步旅行穿越英国本土后，他一度在欧洲滞留。1847年，米切尔返回美国不久，他的第一部作品集《新鲜拾遗，或伊克 · 马维尔来自欧洲大陆古老大地的新札》得以出版。1848年，他再度访问欧洲，他的《夏天的战役》一书亦在返美后问世。米切尔为《尼克博克杂志》、《大西洋月刊》以及数本农业期刊写过大量文章，1850年，他发表《一位单身汉的遐想》，1851年，他推出《梦幻生活》，两部作品皆备受公众推崇。除此之外，这位极富魅力的作家还写了《我的埃奇伍德农场》、《埃奇伍德阴雨的日子》、《琼斯医生》、小说《乡村研究》及其他作品。1853年，米切尔先生被任命为美国驻威尼斯领事。1855年，他在康涅狄格州纽黑文附近建造一家农场，随后定居。以下段落来自他的《梦幻生活》。
1．男孩很少知道，随着岁月潮水的流逝，不知不觉间，他已从家乡的港口离开，驶入生活的浩瀚海洋。所有快乐、机遇和钟情正在悄然溜走，宛如进入无法改变的过去，除非展开梦幻的双翼，没有任何人能够抵达那一深邃时光。
2．男孩很少想到，当他倚靠在母亲身边，眼巴巴地望着母亲，急切地恳求母亲为他讲述精彩虚幻的岁月，或者哀怨难过的故事，那些故事里流泻出他的忧愁感伤，寄寓了他的美好愿景，在母亲娓娓动听的故事里，他再次发现无路可逃。
3．男孩很少考虑，那位可爱的耐莉妹妹对他那么体贴备至，总是笑语盈盈地化解他的哀愁。然而，不久两人便渐离渐远。曾经在他心底激起的温柔涟漪，时光旋即那个美丽身影远远抛开，他不得不面对现实的无端残酷。
4．现在，你又回到家乡。心里珍藏的家舍墙壁上火光闪烁，父亲那把宽大椅子依旧摆放在烟囱边往日角落，他的头倚靠在座椅的橡木椅顶，已是发须皆白。母亲坐在对面，她身材瘦削，神色开心，笑得有点儿勉强，或许她的胳膊搭在你的肩上，一边轻声叮咛，嘱你不要荒废时日的家常道理。
5．猫咪在灶台上打着呼噜，沉寂的壁炉架上那台挂钟滴答走着，一如既往地走着，与查理死时毫无两样。房间中央的那张大桌上摆摞着书籍及物件，默默等待夜晚降临的灯光。唯有置身在这熟悉的光影流泻里，才能恍然依稀回到昔日尘嚣。
6．一个矮小身影站着镜子下，眼光不时荒唐地追逐镜面里亮光闪烁，那团映射到天花板上的摇曳火苗，曾是你自寻其乐的玩耍；翻动家庭《圣经》，那本迁居新大陆后父母敬畏的经书。那本圣经笨重，方形版面装帧，配有厚实的银色搭扣，你经常将大书轻轻摊开，饶有兴致地翻阅书中趣闻，浏览那些古老泛黄的画面，好奇地琢磨镶有彩框的书页，镶嵌在整套《新约全书》中的彩色插图，以及家族传承的相关记载。
7．上面记录着家族成员的出生日期——包括你父母诞日，他们来到这个世界的日子仿佛那么久远，接着你又找到自己生辰，几乎难以相信的遥远昨天。书中还记有家庭婚姻——不过仅仅一次，母亲名字在你眼里显得颇为古怪，除去那副极为慈爱的面孔，很难想象母亲的其他模样。
8．所有人最终都离开了这个世界，唯独一人属于非正常死亡，可怜的查理！这究竟怎么回事？家庭圣经里记载：“查理•亨利卒于18××年，9月12日，时年4岁。”你只知道世事无常，当年还时常翻动那本《圣经》，不过轻轻将书翻动一页，似乎也随早殇的查理而去。
9．翻阅浏览着家庭记载，你的思绪翻腾不安，模糊可怖的阴影不时无端闯入——很快，你的名字将会赫然出现在那本书上。你试图挥去那团荒谬念头，好像那完全不是你的真实想法，你假装不去想那满心惊悚，好像路上走来个孩子，与你套近乎说是你的熟人，而你压根不动声色。
10．可是，你的妈妈，看来不可思议！你好像丝毫没有黑暗虚妄的恐惧。即便现在，暮色使房间更为昏暗，你伫立她的身边，她那银铃般声音轻轻在你耳边响起，她告诉你，不能长久与你生活一起，离别的时刻已经来临，今后闯荡社会只能依靠你自己判断，独自一人在这个世界打拼，别再指望孩提时代所有的外来肩膀。
11．你目光坚毅地看着家里壁炉里恍惚光焰，思绪万千的心里或许存有些许骄傲，更多的则是忧虑。那些精致手指打开了你眉间心结，你的幸福刹那间变得旖旎温柔。在世打拼，毕竟引以为豪；独自一人打拼，困惑不安郁闷！青春时代第一次忧心忡忡，就这样急遽闯入童年的静穆安宁。
12．查理在叹息，查理已死去，壁炉架上古老壁钟仍然滴答不停，时针现在指向午夜。炉火阴影变得愈加黯淡，模糊不清。这就是家，男孩的家，永远消逝不再的家，好像钟摆不停摇动中，地面阴影随之一点点烟消云散。
LESSON 98
THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS
昔日的光辉
Thomas Moore (b. 1779. d. 1852) was born in Dublin, Ireland, and he was educated at Trinity College in that city. In 1799, he entered the Middle Temple, London, as a student of law. Soon after the publication of his first poetical productions, he was sent to Bermuda in an official capacity. He subsequently visited the United States. Moore’s most famous works are: “Lalla Rookh,” an Oriental romance, 1817; “The Loves of the Angels,” 1823; and “Irish Melodies,” 1834; a “Life of Lord Byron,” and “The Epicurean, an Eastern Tale.” “Moore’s excellencies,” says Dr. Angus, “consist in the gracefulness of his thoughts, the wit and fancy of his allusions and imagery, and the music and refinement of his versification.”
1. Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
2. When I remember all
The friends so linked together
I’ve seen around me fall
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
【中文阅读】
托马斯 · 摩尔(1779～1852)，出生于爱尔兰都柏林，毕业于都柏林三一学院。1799年进入伦敦中殿律师学院专攻法律。摩尔先生在首批诗歌作品出版不久，便以官方身份被派往百慕大，随后游览美国。他的著名作品包括1817年出版的《拉拉罗克》，讲述一个东方的浪漫故事，1823年问世的《天使的爱情》，1834年推出的《爱尔兰曲调》，以及《贵族拜伦的生活》、《享乐主义，东方的传说》和《摩尔的美德》。安格斯博士如此评价摩尔：“摩尔作品在于思想的优雅，典故赋有智慧，意象充满幻觉，他的诗律富有音乐性，蕴藉优美。”
1．大地融入万籁寂静，
夜半灯火辗转难眠，
美好眷念泛起温馨，
孩提往事幕幕浮现。
追溯以往悲情难抑，
天真笑语眼泪在飞，
难以启口温情脉脉，
海誓山盟爱意缠绵，
光影黯淡青涩走远，
肝胆欲裂知音何处？
大地融入万籁寂静，
夜半灯火辗转难眠，
欢乐悲哀镌刻心间，
历历在目难以复现。
2．昔日如梦呼啸闪回，
把盏唤友激情岁月，
知心伙伴渐次离去，
萧瑟寒冬风起落叶，
如今唯有孑身一人，
形单影只凄凉难奈，
盛装舞会兀自嗟叹，
谁的青春年华流逝？
谁的花朵芬芳凋谢？
唯我依然苟存于世，
孤独徜徉红尘世间，
夜半灯火辗转难眠，
往事如歌沧桑难诉，
天高地阔回眸走远。
LESSON 99
A CHASE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
英吉利海峡追逐战
James Fenimore Cooper (b. 1789, d. 1851). This celebrated American novelist was born in Burlington, N.J. His father removed to the state of New York about 1790, and founded Cooperstown, on Otsego Lake. He studied three years at Yale, and then entered the navy as a common sailor. He became a midshipman in 1806, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of lieutenant; but he left the service in 1811. His first novel, “Precaution,” was published in 1819; his best work, “The Spy,” a tale of the Revolutionary War, in 1821. The success of “The Spy” was almost unprecedented, and its author at once took rank among the most popular writers of the day. “The Pilot” and “The Red Rover” are considered his best sea novels. “The Pioneers,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Prairie,” “The Pathfinder,” and “The Deerslayer” are among the best of his tales of frontier life. The best of his novels have been translated into nearly all of the European languages, and into some of those of Asia. “The creations of his genius,” says Bryant, “shall survive through centuries to come, and only perish with our language.” The following selection is from “The Pilot.”
The ship which the American frigate[39] had now to oppose, was a vessel of near her own size and equipage[40]; and when Griffith looked at her again, he perceived that she had made her preparations to assert her equality in manful fight.
Her sails had been gradually reduced to the usual quantity, and, by certain movements on her decks, the lieutenant and his constant attendant, the Pilot, well understood that she only wanted to lessen the distance a few hundred yards to begin the action.
“Now spread everything,” whispered the stranger.
Griffith applied the trumpet to his mouth, and shouted, in a voice that was carried even to his enemy, “Let fall—out with your booms—sheet home—hoist away of everything!”
The inspiring cry was answered by a universal bustle. Fifty men flew out on the dizzy heights of the different spars, while broad sheets of canvas rose as suddenly along the masts, as if some mighty bird were spreading its wings. The Englishman instantly perceived his mistake, and he answered the artifice[41] by a roar of artillery. Griffith watched the effects of the broadside[42] with an absorbing interest as the shot whistled above his head; but when he perceived his masts untouched, and the few unimportant ropes, only, that were cut, he replied to the uproar with a burst of pleasure.
A few men were, however, seen clinging with wild frenzy to the cordage, dropping from rope to rope, like wounded birds fluttering through a tree, until they fell heavily into the ocean, the sullen ship sweeping by them in a cold indifference. At the next instant, the spars and masts of their enemy exhibited a display of men similar to their own, when Griffith again placed the trumpet to his mouth, and shouted aloud, “Give it to them; drive them from their yards, boys; scatter them with your grape; unreeve their rigging!”
The crew of the American wanted but little encouragement to enter on this experiment with hearty good will, and the close of his cheering words was uttered amid the deafening roar of his own cannon. The Pilot had, however, mistaken the skill and readiness of their foe; for, notwithstanding the disadvantageous circumstances under which the Englishman increased his sail, the duty was steadily and dexterously performed.
The two ships were now running rapidly on parallel lines, hurling at each other their instruments of destruction with furious industry, and with severe and certain loss to both, though with no manifest[43] advantage in favor of either. Both Griffith and the Pilot witnessed, with deep concern, this unexpected defeat of their hopes; for they could not conceal from themselves that each moment lessened their velocity through the water, as the shot of the enemy stripped the canvas from the yards, or dashed aside the lighter spars in their terrible progress.
“We find our equal here,” said Griffith to the stranger. “The ninety is heaving up again like a mountain; and if we continue to shorten sail at this rate, she will soon be down upon us!”
“You say true, sir,” returned the Pilot, musing, “the man shows judgment as well as spirit; but—”
- He was interrupted by Merry, who rushed from the forward part of the vessel, his whole face betokening the eagerness of his spirit and the importance of his intelligence.—
“The breakers!” he cried, when nigh enough to be heard amid the din; “we are running dead on a ripple, and the sea is white not two hundred yards ahead.”
- The Pilot jumped on a gun, and, bending to catch a glimpse through the smoke, he shouted, in those clear, piercing tones, that could be even heard among the roaring of the cannon,—
“Port, port your helm! we are on the Devil’s Grip! Pass up the trumpet, sir; port your helm, fellow; give it to them, boys—give it to the proud English dogs!”
Griffith unhesitatingly relinquished the symbol of his rank, fastening his own firm look on the calm but quick eye of the Pilot, and gathering assurance[44] from the high confidence he read in the countenance of the stranger. The seamen were too busy with their cannon and the rigging to regard the new danger; and the frigate entered one of the dangerous passes of the shoals, in the heat of a severely contested battle.
The wondering looks of a few of the older sailors glanced at the sheets of foam that flew by them, in doubt whether the wild gambols of the waves were occasioned by the shot of the enemy, when suddenly the noise of cannon was succeeded by the sullen wash of the disturbed element, and presently the vessel glided out of her smoky shroud, and was boldly steering in the center of the narrow passages.
For ten breathless minutes longer the Pilot continued to hold an uninterrupted sway[45], during which the vessel ran swiftly by ripples and breakers, by streaks of foam and darker passages of deep water, when he threw down his trumpet and exclaimed—
“What threatened to be our destruction has proved our salvation.—Keep yonder hill crowned with wood one point open from the church tower at its base, and steer east and by north; you will run through these shoals on that course in an hour, and by so doing you will gain five leagues of your enemy, who will have to double their trail.”
Every officer in the ship, after the breathless suspense of uncertainty had passed, rushed to those places where a view might be taken of their enemies. The ninety was still steering boldly onward, and had already approached the two thirds, which lay a helpless wreck, rolling on the unruly seas that were rudely tossing her on their wanton billows. The frigate last engaged was running along the edge of the ripple, with her torn sails flying loosely in the air, her ragged spars tottering in the breeze, and everything above her hull exhibiting the confusion of a sudden and unlooked-for check to her progress.
The exulting taunts and mirthful congratulations of the seamen, as they gazed at the English ships, were, however, soon forgotten in the attention that was required to their own vessel. The drums beat the retreat, the guns were lashed, the wounded again removed, and every individual able to keep the deck was required to lend his assistance in repairing the damages to the frigate, and securing her masts.
The promised hour carried the ship safely through all the dangers, which were much lessened by daylight; and by the time the sun had begun to fall over the land, Griffith, who had not quitted the deck during the day, beheld his vessel once more cleared of the confusion of the chase and battle, and ready to meet another foe.
【中文阅读】
詹姆士 · 费尼莫尔 · 库珀(1789～1851)，这位著名的美国小说家出生于美国新泽西州伯林顿。大约在18世纪90年代，他的父亲举家搬迁到纽约州，在奥特希哥湖畔创办了库珀斯敦镇。库珀在耶鲁大学学习3年后，作为一位普通水手进入海军服役。1806年，他成为一名见习船员，后提升为中尉，然而他于1811年退役。1819年，他的首部小说《百般提防》出版；1821年，他的最好作品《间谍》问世，那是，一篇描述独立战争的小说；《间谍》续集极为精彩，几乎无与伦比，库珀很快便被推崇为当时最负声望的作家。他的《领航员》与《红罗孚》被公认为他最优异的海洋题材小说；《先驱者》、《最后的莫西干人》、《大草原》，《开拓者》与《猎鹿人》则为他边陲题材的优秀作品。他的优秀小说几乎翻译成欧洲所有语言推出，其中一些被译成亚洲语言出版。布莱恩特做出如此评价：“库珀的天才创造，将会穿越数百年时光，陪伴我们的语言留世珍藏。”以下段落来自他的《领航员》。
1．这艘美国防卫舰此刻的对手，为一艘与其体积配置所差无几的英国战舰，格里菲斯船长再度打量了自己舰艇，意识到准备工作已经就绪，完全可以投入即将到来的激烈战斗。
2．护卫舰航行速度缓慢地减到正常时速后，随同一直左右的领航员，上尉船长登上甲板观察后发现，只要将两舰距离减少数百码，便可即刻发动攻击。
“进入战斗状态，”那位新来的领航员低声说道。
3．格里菲斯船长扬起喇叭，他的声音洪亮，在空中炸响，甚至敌舰亦能听见，“士兵们，各就各位投入战斗，做好炮击准备，立即升起风帆！”
4．船舰上顿时一团喧嚣忙乱。五十位军人如离弦的箭般飞奔爬向高低不同的大小桅杆，数张宽阔的船帆顷刻间沿着桅杆嗖嗖地升起展开，宛如巨鸟霎时打开宽阔双翼。英国人旋即意识到自己的失策，很快用一通轰鸣火炮回应美舰的袭击。当炮弹呼啸着从格里菲斯头顶掠过，船长急切地察看隆隆炮声后的船舷，防卫舰上所有桅杆毫发无伤，不过只是炸断几根不甚紧要的绳索，他的心头不禁泛起一阵狂喜。
5．然而，就在那时，桅杆上端有几位水兵拼命想抓住绳索，却接二连三地急遽掉落，“嘭”“嘭”地重重地摔进大海，犹如受伤鸟儿胡乱拍打颤抖的双翼，从树丛高处跌落下来，尽管满腔掠过不悦的神情，但官兵们只能束手无策。紧接着，敌舰甲板的桅杆上亦有士兵陆续掉进海里，重复再现美舰甲板上的场景。这时，格里菲斯船长再次拿起喇叭高声叫喊，“士兵们！开始炮击！将敌人从桅杆上轰下来！连续炮击，炸掉他们的桅杆！咬死他们！”
6．微不足道的战场煽情，一丁点由衷的热切鼓励，美军防卫舰上士兵们顿时群情激奋，勇气倍增，船长激昂的话音未落，全船随即淹没在舰船发出一连串震耳欲聋的炮声轰鸣。然而，敌舰迅速敏捷的应变能力，还是超出了领航员的估计与判断，尽管面对英国人加大航速的不利局面，美军防卫舰并未乱了阵脚，船舰仍然正常有序行进。
7．两艘战舰互为平行地快速行驶，双方猛烈地互相开炮攻击，短兵相接，炸弹纷飞，交火双方损失惨重，但尚未有任何一方明显占有上风。格里菲斯与领航员忧心忡忡地望着两舰惨烈厮杀，这场未曾料想的海上激战使他们原以为胜劵在握的希望落空，因为敌方炮火猛烈，疯狂肆虐的轮番进攻，倾泻不断的炮火，接二连三地炸断防卫舰甲板桅杆，造成多处桅杆毁损严重，船长和领航员清醒地意识到，乘风破浪中的防卫舰速度愈来愈慢。
8．“我们遇到对手了，”格里菲斯船长对新来的领航员说，“九十根桅杆重新拉好了，风帆立起像座山；如果我们仍以目前速率持续减速，英国战舰会嘲笑我们的！”
“说得不错，先生，”领航员回答，内心暗自思忖，“船长眼光敏锐，犹如神助，但是——”
9．领航员思绪突然被打断，原来，水手梅里从船的前舷飞跑过来，满脸焦急万分，像有重大事情要报。
“船，就要搁浅了！”他高声喊叫着，即使在两舰对决的炮火纷飞中，梅里的话依然清晰真切地在空中炸响，“我们身陷绝境，前方不到两百码已见大片滩涂。”
10．领航员迅速爬上炮管，透过浓密的炮火硝烟，躬身往前仔细察看，不过迅速瞥看一眼，他随即高喊起来，如此尖利刺耳的声音，在炮声轰鸣中愈发瘆人。
“快，左满舵！左满舵！我们马上就要玩完了。船长先生，请把喇叭递给我，伙计，劳驾，左满舵！快点！让英国佬撞上去，让那些英国猪去死吧！”
11．格里菲斯船长毫不犹豫地将他权力象征的喇叭递给领航员，一个目光坚毅，一个冷静急切，双方刹那间眼神在对视交流，格里菲斯觉得内心力量的聚集，从那个陌生的面容上，他清楚地看到力挽狂澜以拯救全船危难的坚定信心。此刻甲板上忙乱成团，有的水兵在发射炮弹，有的在桅杆上扯拉风帆索具，在战事最为白热化阶段，水兵们全然不知美军防卫舰已驶入最危险的滩涂地带，一场灭顶之灾咫尺之遥。
12．炮声间隙中，突然船底水流清晰不安的冲刷声，让几位老水手好生疑惑，他们匆忙中发现，军舰疾驶过的水域几乎无法激起涌浪，不由心中疑惑，是否敌舰炮弹造成海浪的消失？此刻，炮声歇息了但海浪的冲刷声令人令严躁不安。不一会，军舰悄悄地驶出那片烟雾缭绕、充满裹尸布气息的恐怖海域，终于，在那条极为狭窄的通道中勇敢地转舵成功。
13．十分钟窒息时光，似乎如此漫长，领航员冷静沉着地指挥，军舰迅速地转向，一路上浪花不惊，危机四伏，渐渐地浪花变大，最后驶入海水颜色渐深的海域，领航员突然扔下喇叭，发出大声尖叫，说，“拯救顺利啦！我们终于将要摆脱死亡的魔爪！注意那边林木茂密的山顶，就是那处冒出教堂塔尖的地方，注意转舵，保持朝东偏北的航线方向，一小时后，我们就能穿过这片危险的滩涂地带。这样看来，我舰就会比敌舰快五海里，他们路程肯定会增倍。”
