瓦尔登湖(Walden)名句名言华章（英汉对照）

Walden, or, Life in the Woods

--- by Thoreau, H.D. (1817-1862)

《瓦尔登湖》名言、名句、华章（英汉对照）

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

不必给我爱,不必给我钱,不必给我名誉,给我真理吧.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

没有比善良走了味更坏的气味了

What you pay for is pain. At such times the pain itself is the reward of Labour.

当付出的劳动换来的只是痛苦，这种时候，痛苦本身就是劳动的报酬。

We should not care too much about ourselves, so that we can give these care to others sincerely.

我们不应该对自己过分关心，这样才可以把这些关心真诚地给予其他人。

A man's opinion of himself determines his own destiny, or his final destination.

一个人对自己的看法，就决定了他自己的命运，或者说，指明了他的最终归宿。

As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos (宇宙) out of Chaos ([ˈkeɪɒs] 混乱) and the realization of the Golden Age.

每一个季节，在我看来，对于我们都是各极其妙的；因此春天的来临，很像混饨初开，宇宙创始，黄金时代的再现。

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

使我们失去视觉的那种光明，对于我们是黑暗。只有我们睁开眼睛醒过来的那一天，天才亮了。天亮的日子多着呢。太阳不过是一个晓星。

I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.

但我心目之中还有一种人，这种人看来阔绰、实际却是所有阶层中贫困得最可怕的，他们固然已积蓄了一些闲钱，却不懂得如何利用它，也不懂得如何摆脱它，因此他们给自己铸造了一副金银的镣铐。

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

每一个早晨都是一个愉快的邀请，使得我的生活跟大自然自己同样地简单，也许我可以说，同样地纯洁无暇。

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

以富于弹性的和精力充沛的思想追随着太阳步伐的人，白昼对于他便是一个永恒的黎明。

Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

除了你自己的道路之外，条条路都是宿命的道路。那末，走你自己的路吧。

This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes ([ɪmˈbaɪb] 喝，饮；吸收) delight through every pore (孔隙).

这是一个愉快的傍晚，全身只有一个感觉，每一个毛孔中都浸润着喜悦。我在大自然里以奇异的自由姿态来去，成了她自己的一部分。

When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism ([ˈkætəkɪzəm] 教理问答), is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means (n. 方式，手段) of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear.

当我们用教义问答法的方式，思考着什么是人生的宗旨，什么是生活的真正的必需品与资料时，仿佛人们还曾审慎从事地选择了这种生活的共同方式，而不要任何别的方式似的。其实他们也知道，舍此而外，别无可以挑选的方式。但清醒健康的人都知道，太阳终古常新。

This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii ([ˈreɪdiaɪ] 半径，其单数形式是radius) from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate ([ˈkɒntəmpleɪt] 思考); but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant. Confucius ([kən'fjuːʃəs] 孔子) said, "To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." When one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to his understanding, I foresee that all men at length (最终) establish their lives on that basis.

我们说，只能这样子生活呵；可是从圆心可以画出多少条半径来，而生活方式就有这样的多。一切变革，都是值得思考的奇迹，每一刹那发生的事都可以是奇迹。孔子曰：“知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也。”当一个人把他想象的事实提炼为他的理论之时，我预见到，一切人最后都要在这样的基础上建筑起他们的生活来。

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable ([ˌɪndɪˈspensəbl] 必不可少的), but positive hindrances ([ˈhɪndrəns] 妨碍) to the elevation (提升) of mankind. With respect to (关于) luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre ([ˈmiːɡə] 微薄的，贫乏的) life than the poor. The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward.

大部分的奢侈品，大部分的所谓生活的舒适，非但没有必要，而且对人类进步大有妨碍。所以关于奢侈与舒适，最明智的人生活得甚至比穷人更加简单和朴素。中国、印度、波斯和希腊的古哲学家都是一个类型的人物，外表生活再穷没有，而内心生活再富不过。

Take some time to learn an ancient language when you're young—even if it's just a few words ... It is also valuable, since these words are distilled ([dɪˈstɪl] 提取；蒸馏) from the tedious ([ˈtiːdiəs] 冗长的，单调的) of the streets, and they have become the eternal inspiration and the power to lift people up.

年轻时用一些时间去学习一门古代语言——即使是只掌握一些词汇……也是有价值 的，因为这些词汇是从大街小巷的烦琐中提炼出来的，它们已经变成永恒的启示和使人振作的力量。

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in。

I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is。

Its thin current slides away, but eternity ([ɪˈtɜːnəti] 永恒) remains。

时间只是我垂钓的溪。

我喝溪水，喝水时候我看到它那沙底，它多么浅啊。

它的汨汨的流水逝去了，可是永恒留了下来。（注：此段为徐迟所译）

Walden is melting apace. There is a canal two rods wide along the northerly and westerly sides, and wider still at the east end. A great field of ice has cracked off from the main body.

瓦尔登湖迅速地溶化了。靠北，靠西有一道两杆阔的运河，流到了东边尽头更宽阔了。一大块儿冰从它的主体上裂开了。

It is unusually hard, owing to the recent severe but transient ([ˈtrænziənt] 短暂的，转眼即逝的) cold, and all watered or waved like a palace floor. But the wind slides eastward over its opaque ([əʊˈpeɪk] 不透明的，不透光的) surface in vain, till it reaches the living surface beyond. It is glorious to behold ([bɪˈhəʊld] 看到) this ribbon (缎带) of water sparkling (闪耀) in the sun!

这是出奇的坚硬，因为最近曾有一度短短的严寒时期，冰上都有着波纹，真像一个皇宫的地板。可是风徒然向东吹，拂过那不透明的表面，直到吹皱那远处活的水波。看这缎带似的水在阳光底下闪耀，真是辉煌灿烂!

The bare face of the pond full of glee and youth, as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it, and of the sands on its shore—a silvery sheen ([ʃiːn] 光泽) as from the scales (鱼鳞) of a leuciscus (雅罗鱼), as it were all one active fish. Such is the contrast between winter and spring. Walden was dead and is alive again. But this spring it broke up more steadily, as I have said.

湖的颜容上充满了快活和青春，似乎它讲述了游鱼之乐，以及岸边细沙的欢愉。这是银色的够鱼鱼鳞上的光辉，整个湖仿佛是一条活跃的鱼。冬天和春天的对比就是这样。瓦尔登死而复生了。可是我已经说过，这一个春天湖解冻得更为从容不迫。

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately ([dɪˈlɪbərətli] 从容地；故意地), to front (vt. 面对) only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation ([ˌrezɪɡˈneɪʃn] 辞职；隐退), unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck (吸吮) out all the marrow ([ˈmærəʊ] 精髓，精华) of life, to live so sturdily ([ˈstɜːdili] 刚毅地，) and Spartan-like as to put to rout ([raʊt] 击溃) all that was not life, to cut a broad swath ([swɒθ] [庄稼的]一条) and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

我去林中，希望如我所愿，只面对生活的本质，看我能否学到生活予我的教诲，以免临死之时，才发现我根本就没有生活过。生活十分可爱，我不想过那种不配叫生活的生活；除非万不得已，我也不想过那种的超凡脱俗的生活。我要汲取生活的全部精髓，生活得刚毅且斯巴达式地严律，消祛一切称不上叫做生活的杂物，就像划出一块地来，细细修剪，除莠存良，将生活驱至一隅，以寻求其最为基本的要义。 --- （注：此段为陈胜所译。）

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; 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. For the first week, whenever I looked out on the pond it impressed me like a tarn ([tɑːn] 山中小湖) 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 (薄雾), and here and there, by degrees, its soft ripples ([ˈrɪpl] 波纹，涟漪) or its smooth reflecting surface was revealed, while the mists, like ghosts, were stealthily (悄悄地) withdrawing in every direction into the woods, as at the breaking up of some nocturnal ([nɒkˈtɜːnl] 夜间发生的) conventicle (([kənˈventikl] 集会). The very dew seemed to hang upon the trees later into the day than usual, as on the sides of mountains.

我坐在一片小湖的岸边。这里地处康科德村以南大约一英里半，地势比村子微高一些，位于城镇与林肯乡之间一大片树林的中间。我们那里只有一片广阔的田野，以康科德战场闻名，那片树林就在它以南大约两英里的地方。但是我在湖岸对面林中的地势很低，那里离湖边半英里，和其它地方一样都被茂密的树林覆盖，而这就是我最远的视野。第一个星期，无论我何时眺望窗外的湖面，它给我的印象都像是镶嵌在峰峦叠嶂之间的一泓清潭，地势高出半山腰，即便湖底也要远远高于其它湖面，真乃“高峡出平湖”也。一轮红日，冉冉升起，将夜间的云衣雾裳四散开来；湖面时而柔波细浪，涟漪轻泛；时而平静如镜，光洁可鉴；或隐或现，宛若幽灵，仿佛在宗教夜会开幕之时将那氤氲的山岚，偷偷地从四面八方拉拽进树林。露珠晶莹，悬于绿树，挂于高坡，步履逡巡，迟迟不敢进入光天化日之下。（注：此段为宋德利所译）

This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals ([ˈɪntəvl] 间隔，间歇) of a gentle rain-storm in August, when, both air and water being perfectly still, but the sky overcast (阴沉的), mid-afternoon had all the serenity ([sə'renəti] 宁静) of evening, and the wood thrush ([θrʌʃ] 鸫鸟) sang around, and was heard from shore to shore. 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. From a hill-top near by, where the wood had been recently cut off, there was a pleasing vista ([ˈvɪstə] 景色) southward across the pond, through a wide indentation ([ˌɪndenˈteɪʃn] 凹陷) in the hills which form the shore there, where their opposite sides sloping toward each other suggested (表明) a stream flowing out in that direction through a wooded valley, but stream there was none. That way I looked between and over the near green hills to some distant and higher ones in the horizon, tinged ([tɪndʒ] 着色) with blue. Indeed, by standing on tiptoe I could catch a glimpse (一瞥) 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 (造币厂), and also of some portion (部分) of the village. But in other directions, even from this point, I could not see over or beyond the woods which surrounded me. It is well to have some water in your neighborhood, to give buoyancy ([ˈbɔɪənsi] 浮力) to and float the earth. One value even of the smallest well (水井) is, that when you look into it you see that earth is not continent but insular ([ˈɪnsjələ] 岛状的). This is as important as that it keeps butter cool. When I looked across the pond from this peak toward the Sudbury meadows ([ˈmedəʊ] 草地，牧场), which in time of flood I distinguished elevated perhaps by a mirage ([ˈmɪrɑːʒ] 幻境，海市蜃楼) in their seething ([ˈsiːðɪŋ] 沸腾的，蒸腾的) valley, like a coin in a basin, all the earth beyond the pond appeared like a thin crust insulated ([ˈɪnsjuleɪt] 隔离，使绝缘) and floated even by this small sheet of intervening (intervene [ˌɪntəˈviːn] 阻隔；干预) water, and I was reminded that this on which I dwelt (居住) was but dry land.

八月里，雨暴轻柔，时而间歇，作为邻居，此时此刻，小湖极为珍贵。空气清新，湖水蒙蒙，天空阴翳，宁静异常，午后不久，犹如夜晚一般平静。画眉尽情吟唱，隔岸聆听，不觉欣欣然。一泓湖水如斯，从未像此时这般宁静。空气清新，云笼雾罩，湖光熠熠，倒影清晰，俨然一派下界天国的奇异景象，此情此景，弥足珍贵。附近的山顶，近日林木刚刚砍伐，从那里向南眺望，目光可以毫无遮拦地掠过湖面，穿过山间一片宽阔的锯齿状地带，那便是形成湖岸的所在。那里的山坡互相倾斜，似有一条小溪汩汩流出，继而穿过一片林木蓊郁的山谷，最后销声匿迹。峰峦叠嶂，翠绿欲滴，我的视线掠过山间，扫过峰巅，时而投向远方，时而投向高处，那里便是晕染蓝色的天际。我踮脚眺望，的确能瞥见西北方逶迤的山岭，以及更加遥远，更加湛蓝的山峰，那就是天国造币厂铸造的纯蓝色硬币，也是乡村的组成部分。然而从其它方向，即便从我眼前这里，我也看不到我周围树林以上，或以外的景致。在你的社区最好有一些水，它可以给大地一些浮力，甚至将大地漂浮起来。即便最小的水井也有价值，当你往里窥视的时候，你可以看到大地并不是大陆，而是与世隔绝的。这就好像使黄油保持凉爽一样重要。我的视线从这座山峰出发，越过湖面，投向加萨德伯里牧场，在洪涝季节，犹如脸盆中硬币一般的峡谷会出现海市蜃楼，我也许能依靠它将高地辨别出来。湖泊前面的大地看起来颇似一个薄薄的外壳，即便这一小片水也能渗入其中，甚至将其漂浮起来。这使我想起我居住的地方原来只是一片干地。（注：此段为宋德利所译）

The scenery of Walden is on a humble scale, and, though very beautiful, does not approach to grandeur ([ˈgrændʒə] n. 宏伟，壮丽), nor can it much concern one who has not long frequented (vt. 常去；adj. 频繁的) it or lived by its shore; yet this pond is so remarkable for its depth and purity as to merit ([ˈmerɪt] vt. 值得；n. 优点，美德) a particular description.

瓦尔登的风景是卑微的，虽然很美，却并不是宏伟的，不常去游玩的人，不住在它岸边的人未必能被它吸引住：但是这一个湖以深邃和清澈著称，值得给予突出的描写。

It is a clear and deep green well, half a mile (一英里大约为1600米) long and a mile and three quarters in circumference, and contains about sixty-one and a half acres (英亩。一英亩≈6亩或4000平方米，差不多大半个足球场的面积); a perennial ([pəˈreniəl] 常年的，持续的) spring (泉) in the midst of pine and oak woods, without any visible inlet or outlet except by the clouds and evaporation. The surrounding hills rise abruptly from the water to the height of forty to eighty feet, though on the southeast and east they attain to about one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet respectively, within a quarter and a third of a mile. They are exclusively woodland.

它湖水清澈，呈深绿色，有半英里长，圆周约一英里又四分之三，面积约六十一英亩半；它是松树和橡树林中央的岁月悠久一泓清泉，除了雨和蒸发之外，还没有别的来龙去脉可寻。四周的山峰突然地从水上升起，到四十至八十英尺的高度，但在东南面高到一百英尺，而东边更高到一百五十英尺，其距离湖岸，不过四分之一英里及三分之一英里。山上全为森林覆盖。

All our Concord waters have two colors at least; one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand. The first depends more on the light, and follows the sky. In clear weather, in summer, they appear blue at a little distance, especially if agitated ([ˈædʒɪteɪt] 激发，搅动), and at a great distance all appear alike. In stormy weather they are sometimes of a dark slate-color (石板的颜色). The sea, however, is said to be blue one day and green another without any perceptible change in the atmosphere. I have seen our river, when, the landscape being covered with snow, both water and ice were almost as green as grass. Some consider blue "to be the color of pure water, whether liquid or solid". But, looking directly down into our waters from a boat, they are seen to be of very different colors. Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes ([pɑːˈteɪk] 享用；吃，喝) of the color of both. Viewed from a hilltop it reflects the color of the sky; but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint (色调) next the shore where you can see the sand, then a light green, which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond. In some lights, viewed even from a hilltop, it is of a vivid green next the shore.

所有我们康科德地方的水波，至少有两种颜色，一种是站在远处望见的，另一种，更接近本来的颜色，是站在近处看见的。第一种更多地靠的是光，根据天色变化。在天气好的夏季里，从稍远的地方望去，它呈现了蔚蓝颜色，特别在水波荡漾的时候，但从很远的地方望去，却是一片深蓝。在风暴的天气下，有时它呈现出深石板色。海水的颜色则不然，据说它这天是蓝色的，另一天却又是绿色了，尽管天气连些微的可感知的变化也没有。我们这里的水系中，我看到当白雪覆盖这一片风景时，水和冰几乎都是草绿色的。有人认为，蓝色“乃是纯洁的水的颜色，无论那是流动的水，或凝结的水”。可是，直接从一条船上俯看近处湖水，它又有着非常之不同的色彩。甚至从同一个观察点，看瓦尔登是这会儿蓝，那忽儿绿。置身于天地之间，它分担了这两者的色素。从山顶上看，它反映天空的颜色，可是走近了看，在你能看到近岸的细砂的地方，水色先是黄澄澄的，然后是淡绿色的了，然后逐渐地加深起来，直到水波一律地呈现了全湖一致的深绿色。却在有些时候的光线下，便是从一个山顶望去，靠近湖岸的水色也是碧绿得异常生动的。

Already, by the first of September, I had seen two or three small maples ([ˈmeɪpl] 枫树) turned scarlet ([ˈskɑːlət] 腥红的) across the pond, beneath where the white stems of three aspens ([ˈæspən] 大齿杨) diverged ([daɪˈvɜːdʒ] 分叉，岔开), at the point of a promontory ([ˈprɒməntri] 岬), next the water. Ah, many a tale (故事) their color told! And gradually from week to week the character of each tree came out, and it admired itself reflected in the smooth mirror of the lake. Each morning the manager of this gallery substituted ([ˈsʌbstɪtjuːt] 替换) some new picture, distinguished by more brilliant or harmonious ([hɑːˈməʊniəs] 和谐的) coloring, for the old upon the walls.

九月一日，我就看到三两株小枫树的树叶已经红了，隔湖，就在三株岔开的白杨之下，在一个湖角上，靠近着水。啊！它们的颜色诉说着如许的故事。慢慢地，一个又一个星期，每株树的性格都显露了，它欣赏着照鉴在湖的明镜中的自己的倒影。每个早晨，这一画廊的经理先生取下墙上的旧画，换上一些新的画幅，新画更鲜艳或者色彩更和谐，非常出色。

Like the water, the Walden ice, seen near at hand, has a green tint (色调), but at a distance is beautifully blue, and you can easily tell (区分) it from the white ice of the river, or the merely greenish ice of some ponds, a quarter of a mile off. Sometimes one of those great cakes slips (滑) from the ice-man's sled (雪橇，雪橇车) into the village street, and lies there for a week like a great emerald ([ˈemərəld] 绿宝石，翡翠), an object of interest to all passers. I have noticed that a portion of Walden which in the state of water was green will often, when frozen, appear from the same point of view blue. So the hollows (低洼地，凹陷处) about this pond will, sometimes, in the winter, be filled with a greenish water somewhat like its own, but the next day will have frozen blue. Perhaps the blue color of water and ice is due to the light and air they contain, and the most transparent is the bluest. Ice is an interesting subject for contemplation. They told me that they had some in the ice-houses at Fresh Pond five years old which was as good as ever. Why is it that a bucket of water soon becomes putrid, but frozen remains sweet forever? It is commonly said that this is the difference between the affections and the intellect.

像湖水一样，瓦尔登的冰，近看是绿的，可是从远处望去，它蓝蓝的很美，你很容易就辨别出来了，那是河上的白冰，或是四分之一英里外的湖上的只是微绿的冰，而这是瓦尔登的冰。有时候，从挖冰人的雪车上，有一大块冰掉在村中街道上，躺在那里有一星期，像一块很大的翡翠，引起所有过路人的兴趣。我注意到瓦尔登的一个部分，它的水是绿的，一俟冻结之后，从同一观察点望去，它成了蓝色。所以在湖边的许多低洼地，有时候，在冬天，充满了像它一样的绿色的水，可是到了第二天，我发现它们已冻成了蓝色的冰。也许水和冰的蓝色是由它们所包含的光和空气造成的，最透明的，也就是最蓝的。冰乃是沉思的一个最有趣的题目。他们告诉我，他们有一些冰，放在富莱喜湖的冰栈中已有五年，还是很好的冰。为什么一桶水放久了要臭，而冻冰以后，却永远甘美呢？一般人说这正如情感和理智之间的不同。

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