瓦爾登湖：經濟篇2

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　　I see young men， my townsmen， whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms， houses， barns， cattle， and farming tools； for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf， that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil？ Why should they eat their sixty acres， when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt？ Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born？ They have got to live a man's life， pushing all these things before them， and get on as well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load， creeping down the road of life， pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty， its Augean stables never cleansed，and one hundred acres of land， tillage， mowing， pasture， and wood-lot！ The portionless， who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances， find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh.

　　But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate， commonly called necessity， they are employed， as it says in an old book， laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It is a fool's life， as they will find when they get to the end of it， if not before. It is said that Deucalion and Pyrrha created men by throwing stones over their heads behind them： ――

　　Inde genus durum sumus， experiensque laborum，Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati. Or， as Raleigh rhymes it in his sonorous way， ――

　　"From thence our kind hard-hearted is， enduring pain and care，Approving that our bodies of a stony nature are." So much for a blind obedience to a blundering oracle， throwing the stones over their heads behind them， and not seeing where they fell.

　　Most men， even in this comparatively free country， through mere ignorance and mistake， are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers， from excessive toil， are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. Actually， the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day； he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men； his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be any thing but a machine. How can he remember well his ignorance ―― which his growth requires ―― who has so often to use his knowledge？ We should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes， and recruit him with our cordials， before we judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature， like the bloom on fruits， can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.

　　我看見青年人，我的市民同胞，他們的不幸是，生下地來就繼承了田地、廬舍、谷倉、牛羊和農具；得到它們倒是容易，舍棄它們可困難了。他們不如誕生在空曠的牧場上，讓狼來給他們喂奶，他們倒能夠看清楚了，自己是在何等的環境辛勤勞動。誰使他們變成了土地的奴隸？為什么有人能夠享受六十英畝田地的供養，而更多人卻命定了，只能啄食塵土呢？為什么他們剛生下地，就得自掘墳墓？他們不能不過人的生活，不能不推動這一切，一個勁兒地做工，盡可能地把光景過得好些。我曾遇見過多少個可憐的、永生的靈魂啊，幾乎被壓死在生命的負擔下面，他們無法呼吸，他們在生命道上爬動，推動他們前面的一個七十五英尺長，四十英尺寬的大谷倉，一個從未打掃過的奧吉亞斯的牛圈，還要推動上百英畝土地，鋤地、芟草，還要放牧和護林！可是，另一些并沒有繼承產業的人，固然沒有這種上代傳下的、不必要的磨難，卻也得為他們幾立方英尺的血肉之軀，委屈地生活，拼性命地做工哪。

　　人可是在一個大錯底下勞動的啊。人的健美的軀體，大半很快地被犁頭耕了過去，化為泥土中的肥料。像一本經書里說的，一種似是而非的，通稱“必然”的命運支配了人，他們所積累的財富，被飛蛾和銹霉再腐蝕掉，并且招來了

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瓦爾登湖：經濟篇2