瓦尔登湖 - 第二章 第一部分

第二章 我生活的地方与生活的目的：在我们生命的某个季节，我们习惯于认为每一个地方都可能是建房的地点。

CHAPTER TWO WHERE I LIVED AND WHAT I LIVED FOR At a certain season of our lives, we are accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house.

因此，我曾在我居住地周围十几英里的范围内，对这片土地进行了全面的考察。

I have thus surveyed the country on every side within a dozen miles of where I live.

我想象着依次买下了所有农场，因为它们都待售，而且我知道它们的价格。

In imagination I have bought all the farms in succession, for all were to be bought, and I knew their price.

我走过每一位农夫的地产，品尝他的野苹果，与他谈论农事，按他的要价——无论多高——在心中抵押了农场，甚至出价更高，拿到了所有东西却唯独没拿产权契据，只凭他的口头承诺当作正式文件，因为我非常热爱交谈；我耕种了这片土地，也一定程度上耕种了农夫本人，我信任他，待我享受够了，便悄然离去，留下他继续经营。

I walked over each farmer's premises, tasted his wild apples, discoursed on husbandry with him, took his farm at his price, at any price, mortgaging it to him in my mind, even put a higher price on it, took everything but a deed of it, took his word for his deed, for I dearly love to talk, cultivated it, and him too, to some extent, I trust and withdrew when I had enjoyed it long enough, leaving him to carry it on.

这段经历使我的朋友们将我视为一种房地产经纪人。

This experience entitled me to be regarded as a sort of real estate broker by my friends.

无论我坐在哪里，哪里就是我可以生活的地方，风景也随之从我身上向外辐射。

Wherever I sat, there I might live, and the landscape radiated from me accordingly.

一座房子，不就是个住所、一个座位吗？

What is a house but a seds, a seat?

如果是乡间别墅，那就更好了。

Better if a country seat.

我发现了许多适合建房的地点，这些地方不太可能很快被改善，有些人或许觉得离村庄太远，但在我看来，反而是村庄离这些地方太远了。

I discovered many a sight for a house not likely to be soon improved, which some might have thought too far from the village but to my eyes the village was too far from it.

好吧，我就在这里生活，我说，而我确实在这里生活过，度过了一小时、一个夏天和一个冬天，看我如何让岁月流逝，熬过寒冬，迎接春天的到来。

Well, there I might live, I said, and there I did live, for an hour, a summer, and a winter life, saw how I could let the years run off, buffet the winter through, and see the spring come in.

未来这个地区的所有居民，无论把房子建在哪里，都可以确信自己早已被人抢先一步了。

The future inhabitants of this region, wherever they may place their houses, may be sure that they have been anticipated.

一个下午就足以把土地规划为果园、林地和牧场，并决定哪些高大的橡树或松树应该留在门前，以及每棵枯死的树从哪个角度观赏效果最佳。

An afternoon sufficed to lay out the land into orchard, wood lot, and pasture, and to decide what fine oaks or pines should be left to stand before the door, and whence each blasted tree could be seen to the best advantage.

然后，我或许就让它荒废一段时间。

And then I let it lie fallow perchance.

一个人的富有程度，取决于他能够放任不管的事物有多少。

For a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

我的想象力甚至让我获得了几块土地的优先购买权。

My imagination carried me so far that I even had the refusal of several farms.

我所需要的，只是拒绝而已。

The refusal was all I wanted.

但我从未因实际拥有而被灼伤。

But I never got my fingers burned by actual possession.

我最接近实际拥有的时候，是买下了霍洛韦尔庄园，开始分类我的种子，并收集材料制作一辆手推车，以便运进运出。

The nearest that I came to actual possession was when I bought the Hollowwell place, and had begun to sort my seeds, and collected materials with which to make a wheelbarrow to carry it on or off with.

但在主人给我产权证书之前，他的妻子——每个人都有这样的妻子——改变了主意，想留下它，于是他提出给我十美元，让我放弃。

But before the owner gave me a deed of it, his wife every man has such a wife, changed her mind and wished to keep it, and he offered me $10 to release him.

说实话，我身上只有十分钱，我甚至算不清自己到底是那个拥有十分钱的人，还是那个拥有农场的人，或是拥有十美元的人，抑或是三者兼有。

Now to speak the truth, I had but 10¢ in the world, and it surpassed my arithmetic to tell if I was that man who had 10¢ or who had a farm or $10 or altogether.

不过，我还是让他留下了那十美元和农场，因为我已经把它想得够远了。

However, I let him keep the $10 and the farm too, for I had carried it far enough.

或者更慷慨地说，我以买进的价格把农场卖给了他，由于他并不富裕，我还送了他十美元，而我自己仍保有那十分钱、种子和制作手推车的材料。

Or rather, to be generous, I sold him the farm for just what I gave for it, and, as he was not a rich man, made him a present of $10, and still had my 10¢, and seeds, and materials for a wheelbarrow left.

我发现，我早已是个富人，却丝毫没有损害我的贫穷。

I found thus that I had been a rich man without any damage to my poverty.

但我保留了这片风景，此后每年我都收获它的产出，而无需用手推车。

But I retained the landscape, and I have since annually carried off what it yielded without a wheelbarrow.

关于风景：我是我所见一切的君主。

With respect to landscapes: I am monarch of all I survey.

我的权利，无人能质疑。

My right, there is none to dispute.

我经常看到一位诗人离开，他已经享受了农场最珍贵的部分，而那位刻薄的农夫却以为他只得到了几颗野苹果。

I have frequently seen a poet withdraw, having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmer supposed that he had got a few wild apples only.

事实上，主人多年后才意识到，当一位诗人将这片农场写成诗歌——这种最令人赞叹的无形围栏——已经将它彻底圈占，挤了奶、撇了奶油，把所有精华都取走了，只留给农夫一点脱脂奶。

Why, the owner does not know it for many years, when a poet has put his farm in rhyme, the most admirable kind of an invisible fence, has fairly impounded it, milked it, skimmed it, and got all the cream, and left the farmer only the skimmed milk.

霍洛韦尔农场真正吸引我的地方，在于它的完全幽静：离村庄约两英里，离最近的邻居半英里，且隔着一片宽阔的田野，与公路相隔，其边界紧邻一条河流；主人说，这条河的雾气能在春天保护它免受霜冻，但这对我而言毫无意义。

The real attractions of the Hollowwell Farm to me were its complete retirement, being about two miles from the village, half a mile from the nearest neighbor, and separated from the highway by a broad field its bounding on the river, which the owner said protected it by its fogs from frosts in the spring, though that was nothing to me.

房屋和谷仓灰暗破败，围栏残破不堪，这些都在我与上一位居住者之间划出了遥远的距离。

The gray color and ruinous state of the house and barn, and the dilapidated fences, which put such an interval between me and the last occupant.

那些凹陷的、长满地衣的苹果树，被兔子啃咬过，显示出我将拥有怎样的邻居。

The hollow and lichen covered apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.

但最重要的是，我从最早沿河航行时就对它怀有回忆：那时房屋被一片茂密的红枫林遮蔽，我只能听到屋内狗的吠声。

But above all, the recollection I had of it from my earliest voyages up the river, when the house was concealed behind a dense grove of red maples, through which I heard the house dog bark.

我急于买下它，赶在主人挖出一些石头、砍掉那些空心的苹果树、铲除牧场上长出的一些幼白桦树之前，或者简而言之，在他做出更多改良之前。

I was in haste to buy it, before the proprietor finished getting out some rocks, cutting down the hollow apple trees, and grubbing up some young birches which had sprung up in the pasture, or, in short, had made any more of his improvements.

为了享受这些优势，我随时准备接手它。

To enjoy these advantages, I was ready to carry it on.

像阿特拉斯一样，把整个世界扛在肩上。

Like Atlas, to take the world on my shoulders.

我从未听说过他为此得到了什么补偿。

I never heard what compensation he received for that.

去做那些除了为了付清款项、确保我能安稳占有它之外别无其他动机或借口的事，因为我一直知道，只要我肯让它自然生长，它就会产出我最想要的最丰盛的收成。

And do all those things which had no other motive or excuse but that I might pay for it and be unmolested in my possession of it, for I knew all the while that it would yield the most abundant crop of the kind I wanted, if I could only afford to let it alone.

但结果正如我所说的那样。

But it turned out as I have said.

关于大规模耕种，我所能说的，就是我一直经营着一座菜园，而且我的种子早已备好。

All that I could say then with respect to farming on a large scale, I have always cultivated a garden, was that I had my seeds ready.

许多人认为种子会随年份增长而变得更好。

Many think that seeds improve with age.

我毫不怀疑，时间能够分辨好坏，当我最终开始种植时，我更不可能感到失望。

I have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad, and when at last I shall plant, I shall be less likely to be disappointed.

但我想对我的同伴们说，尽可能长久地过一种自由而无拘无束的生活。

But I would say to my fellows, once for all, as long as possible, live free and uncommitted.

你是否被束缚在农场或县监狱里，其实差别不大。

It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.

老加图，他的《农事论》是我耕作的指南，他说——我见过的唯一译本把这段话译得完全荒谬：'当你打算买一块地时，要这样反复思量：不要贪婪地购买，也不要吝惜精力去仔细查看，别以为只要绕着走一圈就够了；你去得越频繁，如果土地优良，它就会越让你满意。'

Old Cato, whose Dre Rustica is my cultivator, says, and the only translation I have seen makes sheer nonsense of the passage, Quote, When you think of getting a farm, turn it thus in your mind, not to buy greedily, nor spare your pains to look at it, and do not think it enough to go round at once, The oftener you go there, the more it will please you, if it is good.

我想我不会贪婪地购买，而会终生反复绕行，甚至愿先埋葬于此，好让最终它更令我心满意足。

I think I shall not buy greedily, but go round and round it as long as I live, and be buried in it first, that it may please me the more at last.

当前这次经历是我下一次类似的尝试，我本打算更详细地描述它，为方便起见，将两年的经验浓缩为一年来写。

The present was my next experiment of this kind, which I purposed to describe more at length, for convenience putting the experience of two years into one.

正如我所说，我无意写一首哀伤的颂歌，而要像公鸡清晨站在鸡架上一样，尽情高声鸣叫，哪怕只是为了唤醒我的邻居们。

As I have said, I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as Chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.

当我最初搬进树林，也就是开始在那里过夜兼过日时——这纯属巧合，恰好是独立日，即1845年7月4日。

When first I took up my abode in the woods, that is, began to spend my nights as well as my days there, which by accident was on Independence Day, or the 07/04/1845.

我的房子还没来得及完工过冬，只是个挡雨的遮蔽所，没有粉刷也没有烟囱，墙壁由粗糙的、经风雨浸染的木板搭建，缝隙宽大，因此夜里格外凉爽。

My house was not finished for winter, but was merely a defense against the rain without plastering or chimney, the walls being of rough weather stained boards with wide chinks, which made it cool at night.

竖立的白色砍削立柱和新刨光的门窗框让房子显得干净而通透，尤其在清晨，当木料被露水浸透时，我甚至幻想到了中午，会有某种甜美的树脂从木头中渗出。

The upright white hewn studs and freshly planed door and window casings gave it a clean and airy look, especially in the morning when its timbers were saturated with dew, so that I fancied that by noon some sweet gum would exude from them.

在我的想象中，这所房子一整天都或多或少保留着这种晨曦般的特质，让我想起一年前曾造访过的一座山上的房子。

To my imagination, it retained throughout the day more or less of this auroral character, reminding me of a certain house on a mountain, which I had visited a year before.

那是一座通风而未粉刷的小屋，适合接待一位漫游的神明，连女神都可以在其中拖曳她的长袍。

This was an airy and unplastered cabin, fit to entertain a traveling god, and where a goddess might trail her garments.

吹过我居所的风，如同掠过山脊的风，只携带着大地音乐中破碎的旋律或天界的乐章。

The winds which passed over my dwelling were such as sweep over the ridges of mountains, bearing the broken strains, or celestial parts only, of terrestrial music.

晨风永远吹拂。

The morning wind forever blows.

创造的诗篇永不停息。

The poem of creation is uninterrupted.

但能听见它的耳朵却寥寥无几。

But few are the ears that hear it.

奥林匹斯山不过是地球表面的每一个地方。

Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere.

在我之前拥有的唯一住所，如果算上一艘船的话，是一顶帐篷，夏天外出探险时我偶尔会用它，如今它仍卷着收在我的阁楼上。

The only house I had been the owner of before, if I accept a boat, was a tent, which I used occasionally when making excursions in the summer, and this is still rolled up in my garret.

但那艘船在辗转多人之后，已随时间之流漂远。

But the boat, after passing from hand to hand, has gone down the stream of time.

有了这更坚固的庇护所，我在世间安顿下来已取得了一些进展。

With this more substantial shelter about me, I had made some progress toward settling in the world.

这层薄薄的框架，仿佛在我周围结晶，反过来也影响了建造者。

This frame, so slightly clad, was a sort of crystallization around me, and reacted on the builder.

它在某种程度上像一幅轮廓画一样富有启发性。

It was suggestive somewhat as a picture in outlines.

我不需要到户外去呼吸空气，因为室内的空气依然清新如初。

I did not need to go outdoors to take the air, for the atmosphere within had lost none of its freshness.

即使在最阴雨的天气里，我坐着的地方也不是在屋内，而是在门后。

It was not so much within doors as behind a door where I sat, even in the rainiest weather.

《哈拉万沙》说：‘没有鸟的居所，就像没有调味的肉。’

The Haravansha says, quote, an abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning, end quote.

我的居所并非如此，因为我发现自己突然成了鸟儿的邻居，不是因为我囚禁了其中一只，而是因为我把自己安置在了它们附近。

Such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds, not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them.

我不仅更接近那些常在花园和果园出没的鸟儿，还更接近那些更小、更动人的森林鸣禽，它们从不，或极少，为村民歌唱。

I was not only nearer to some of those which commonly frequent the garden and the orchard, but to those smaller and more thrilling songsters of the forest, which never, or rarely, serenade a villager.

有林莺、沼泽鸫、猩红丽唐纳雀、田雀、夜鹰，还有许多其他种类。

The wood thrush, the veery, the scarlet tanninger, the field sparrow, the whippoorwill, and many others.

我坐在一个小池塘边，这个池塘位于康科德村以南约一英里半，地势略高于村庄，坐落在该镇与林肯镇之间的一片广阔森林之中，距离著名的康科德战场——我们唯一闻名的田野——约两英里。

I was seated by the shore of a small pond, about a mile and a half south of the village of Concord, and somewhat higher than it, in the midst of an extensive wood between that town and Lincoln, and about two miles south of that, our only field known to fame, Concord Battle Ground.

但由于我身处森林低处，对面半英里外的河岸，和其他地方一样，被树林覆盖，成了我最远的地平线。

But I was so low in the woods that the opposite shore, half a mile off, like the rest, covered with wood, was my most distant horizon.

在第一周里，每当我眺望池塘，它都让我联想到高山之巅的一个高山湖，湖底远高于其他湖泊的水面。当太阳升起时，我看到它渐渐褪去夜晚的薄雾，湖面的涟漪一处接一处地显现，光滑如镜，而雾气则如幽灵般悄然向四面八方退入森林，仿佛一场夜间集会正在散去。

For the first week, whenever I looked out on the pond, it impressed me like a tarn high up on the side of a mountain, its bottom far above the surface of other lakes and as the sun arose, I saw it throwing off its nightly clothing of mist, and here and there by degrees, its soft ripples, where its smooth reflecting surface was revealed, while the mists, like ghosts, were stealthily withdrawing in every direction into the woods, as at the breaking up of some nocturnal conventicle.

甚至露水似乎也比平时更久地悬挂在树梢上，就像挂在山腰一样。

The very dew seemed to hang upon the trees later into the day than usual, as on the sides of mountains.

这个小湖在八月温和的阵雨间隙中，作为邻居的价值最为突出；那时，空气和水面都异常平静，天空阴沉，正午时分竟有傍晚般的宁静，林莺在四周鸣唱，从这一岸到那一岸都能听见。

This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rainstorm in August, when, both air and water being perfectly still but the sky overcast, midafternoon had all the serenity of evening, and the wood thrush sang round, and was heard from shore to shore.

这样的湖泊在这样的时刻从不曾如此平静，而湖面上方清澈的空气因云层而显得浅暗，湖水却充满光影与倒影，俨然成为更低一层的天空，因而愈发重要。

A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time, and the clear portion of the air above it, being shallow and darkened by clouds, the water, full of light and reflections, becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important.

从附近一座山丘上，那里森林刚被砍伐过，向南眺望，穿过山丘形成的宽阔缺口，可以欣赏到湖对岸的美景；那里的山体两侧斜坡相向，仿佛有一条溪流从这片林木覆盖的山谷中流出，但实际上并无溪流。

From a hill top near by, where the wood had been recently cut off, there was a pleasing vista southward across the pond, through a wide indentation in the hills, which form the shore there, where their opposite sides, sloping toward each other, suggested a stream flowing out in that direction, through a wooded valley, but stream there was none.

我透过近处的绿色山丘，凝望远方更高、被淡淡蓝色勾勒的山峦。

That way I looked between and over the near green hills to some distant and higher ones in the horizon tinged with blue.

事实上，只要踮起脚尖，我就能瞥见西北方向更远、更湛蓝的山脉峰顶——那些真正来自天堂铸币厂的蓝色硬币——也能看到村庄的一角。

Indeed, by standing on tiptoe, I could catch a glimpse of some of the peaks of the still bluer and more distant mountain ranges in the Northwest, those true blue coins from heaven's own mint, and also of some portion of the village.

但在其他方向，即使从这个高点，我也无法越过或看穿环绕我的森林。

But in other directions, even from this point, I could not see over or beyond the woods which surrounded me.

在附近拥有水源是很好的，它能赋予大地浮力，使其如舟般漂浮。

It is well to have some water in your neighborhood, to give buoyancy to and float the earth.

即使是最小的水井，也有其价值：当你俯视井中，你会明白，大地并非大陆，而是孤岛。

One value, even of the smallest well, is that when you look into it, you see that earth is not continent, but insular.

这和保持黄油凉爽一样重要。

This is as important as that it keeps butter cool.

当我从这座山峰眺望苏德伯里沼泽时，在洪水季节，我曾看到那片沸腾的山谷中仿佛因海市蜃楼而抬升，如同盆中的硬币，池塘彼岸的整片大地仿佛一层薄壳，被这片微小的水域所托浮，这让我想起，我所栖居的不过是干涸的土地。

When I looked across the pond from this peak toward the Sudbury Meadows, which in time of flood I distinguished elevated perhaps by a mirage in their seething valley, like a coin in a basin, all the earth beyond the pond appeared like a thin crust, insulated and floated even by this small sheet of interverting water, and I was reminded that this on which I dwelt was but dry land.

尽管从我家门口望去视野更加狭窄，但我丝毫没有感到拥挤或压抑。

Though the view from my door was still more contracted, I did not feel crowded or confined in the least.

这片土地足以供我的想象力驰骋。

There was pasture enough for my imagination.

对面岸上延伸而起的低矮橡树灌木高原，向西方的草原和塔塔里的阶梯绵延而去，为所有游牧民族提供了充足的空间。

The low shrub oak plateau, to which the opposite shore arose, stretched away toward the prairies of the West and the steps of Tartary, affording ample room for all the roving families of men.

世上没有真正快乐的人，除非能自由地享受辽阔的地平线。

There are none happy in the world but beings who enjoy freely a vast horizon.

引述结束，”达莫达拉说，当他的牛群需要更广阔牧场时。

End quote, said Damodara, when his herds required new and larger pastures.

地点与时间都已改变，我更贴近了那些最吸引我的宇宙角落与历史时期。

Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.

我居住的地方，与天文学家每晚观测的许多区域一样遥远。

Where I lived was as far off as many a region viewed nightly by astronomers.

我们常幻想在宇宙某个遥远而更神圣的角落，比如仙后座的宝座之后，远离喧嚣与纷扰，存在着稀有而美妙的地方；而我却发现，我的屋子实际上正俯瞰着这样一片隐秘、却永远崭新且未被玷污的宇宙角落。

We are won't to imagine rare and delectable places in some remote and more celestial corner of the system, behind the constellation of Cassiopeia's chair, far from noise and disturbance, I discovered that my house actually had its sight in such a withdrawn, but forever new and unprofaned part of the universe.

如果值得在靠近昴星团或毕星团，或毕宿五、牛郎星的地方安家，那么我确实就在那里，或与我所抛下的生活保持着同等的遥远距离——那生活微小而闪烁，与我最近的邻居一样遥远，只有在无月的夜晚，他才能看见。

If it were worth the while to settle in those parts near to the Pleiades or the Hyades or to Aldebaran or Altair, then I was really there, or at an equal remoteness from the life which I had left behind, dwindled and twinkling, with as fine array to my nearest neighbor, and to be seen only in moonless nights by him.

这就是我栖身的那片天地。

Such was that part of creation where I had squatted.

曾有一位牧羊人，他的思想与他羊群每日放牧的山峦一样高远。

There was a shepherd that did live and held his thoughts as high as were the mounts whereon his flocks did hourly feed him by.

如果牧羊人的羊群总是游荡到比他的思想更高的牧场，我们又该如何看待他的生活呢？

What should we think of the shepherd's life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts?

每一天早晨都是一个愉快的邀请，让我以与自然本身同等的简朴，甚至可以说纯真，来生活。

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with nature herself.

我像希腊人一样，真诚地崇拜着黎明。

I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks.

我早起并在池塘里洗澡。

I got up early and bathed in the pond.

那是一种宗教仪式，也是我做过最好的事情之一。

That was a religious exercise and one of the best things which I did.

据说，秦襄王的浴缸上刻有这样的文字。

They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of king Qingfang to this effect.

每天彻底地更新自己。

Quote, renew thyself completely each day.

一遍又一遍，永远不断地重复。

Do it again and again and forever again.

结束引用。

End quote.

我能理解这一点。

I can understand that.

清晨唤回了英雄的时代。

Morning brings back the heroic ages.

当我坐在敞开的门窗旁，清晨时分，一只蚊子在我公寓里进行着它那无形而难以想象的飞行时，我所感受到的触动，丝毫不亚于任何一首歌颂荣耀的号角。

I was as much affected by the faint of a mosquito making its invisible and unimaginable tour through my apartment at early as dawn, when I was sitting with door and windows open, as I could be by any trumpet that ever sang of fame.

那是荷马的安魂曲，本身就在空气中演绎着一部《伊利亚特》与《奥德赛》，吟唱着它自己的愤怒与漂泊。

It was Homer's requiem, itself an Iliad and odyssey in the air, singing its own wrath and wanderings.

这其中蕴含着某种宇宙般的意味，是一则永恒活力与世界丰饶的广告，直到被禁止为止。

There was something cosmical about it, a standing advertisement, till forbidden, of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world.

早晨，作为一天中最令人难忘的时刻，是觉醒的时刻。

The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour.

那时，我们最少昏昏欲睡，至少在一个小时内，我们的一部分会苏醒，而其余的白天和黑夜，这部分都在沉睡。

Then there is least somnolence in us, and for an hour at least, some part of us awakes, which slumbers all the rest of the day and night.

如果一天不是被我们的天启唤醒，而是被某个仆役机械的推搡所惊醒；如果不是被我们内心新获得的力量与抱负，伴随着天籁般的旋律，而非工厂的汽笛，以及弥漫在空气中的芬芳，唤醒我们走向比入睡时更高的生命，那么这一天不值得期待。

Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are not awakened by our genius, but by the mechanical nudgings of some servitor, are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the undulations of celestial music instead of factory bells, and a fragrance filling the air, to a higher life than we fell asleep from.

于是，黑暗结出果实，证明自己与光明一样美好。

And thus the darkness bear its fruit, and prove itself to be good, no less than the light.

若一个人不相信每一天都包含着比他此前亵渎过的更早、更神圣、更曙光初现的时刻，那么他已对生命绝望，正走向一条下行且日益黑暗的道路。

That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way.

在感官生活暂时停歇之后，人的灵魂——更准确地说，是其感官器官——每天都会重新焕发活力，而他的天赋也会再次尝试创造一种崇高的生活。

After a partial cessation of his sensuous life, the soul of man, or its organs rather, are reinvigorated each day, and his genius tries again what noble life it can make.

我认为，所有值得铭记的事件都发生在清晨，伴随着清晨的氛围。

All memorable events, I should say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere.

《吠陀经》说：‘所有智慧都在清晨苏醒。’

The Vedas say, quote, all intelligences awake with the morning, end quote.

诗歌、艺术，以及人类最美好、最令人难忘的行动，都源于这样的时刻。

Poetry and art and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men date from such an hour.

所有的诗人和英雄，如同门农一样，都是黎明之子，在日出时发出他们的音乐。

All poets and heroes, like Memnon, are the children of Aurora and emit their music at sunrise.

对于那些思想敏捷有力、能跟上太阳步伐的人来说，每一天都是永恒的清晨。

To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning.

时钟如何报时，或人们的态度与劳作，都无关紧要。

It matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men.

清晨是我清醒的时刻，而我内心也正迎来黎明。

Morning is when I am awake, and there is a dawn in me.

道德改革就是努力摆脱睡眠。

Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep.

如果人们没有昏昏欲睡，为什么他们对自己的日子却描述得如此糟糕呢？

Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering?

他们并不是如此糟糕的计算者。

They are not such poor calculators.

如果他们没有被困倦压倒，本可以做出一些成就。

If they had not been overcome with drowsiness, they would have performed something.

数百万人足以应付体力劳动，但每一百万人中只有一个人足以进行有效的脑力劳动。

The millions are awake enough for physical labor, but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion.

每亿人中才有一人能过上诗意或神圣的生活。

Only one in a 100 millions to a poetic or divine life.

清醒就是活着。

To be awake is to be alive.

我从未遇见过一个完全清醒的人。

I have never yet met a man who was quite awake.

我怎么可能直视他的眼睛？

How could I have looked him in the face?

我们必须学会重新觉醒并保持清醒，不是依靠机械的帮助，而是凭借对黎明无穷无尽的期待，这种期待不会在我们最深沉的睡眠中抛弃我们。

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.

我所知道的最鼓舞人心的事实，莫过于人类通过自觉的努力提升自己生活的不可否认的能力。

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.

能够画出一幅特定的画作或雕刻一座雕像，从而使一些物体变得美丽，这已经很不错了。

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful.

但更辉煌的是，去雕刻和描绘我们赖以观察的氛围与媒介——这在道德上是我们可以做到的。

But it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do.

影响一天的品质，这才是最高尚的艺术。

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

每个人都有责任让自己的生活，乃至每一个细节，都配得上他最崇高、最审慎时刻的审视。

Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.

如果我们拒绝，或者说耗尽了所获得的那些微不足道的信息，神谕就会明确地告诉我们该如何做到这一点。

If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.

第二章结束。

End of chapter two.

LibriVox 第一部分。

LibriVox part one.