Sometimes， after staying in a village parlor till the family had all retired， I have returned to the woods， and， partly with a view to the next day's dinner， spent the hours of midnight fishing from a boat by moonlight， serenaded by owls and foxes， and hearing， from time to time， the creaking note of some unknown bird close at hand. These experiences were very memorable and valuable to me ―― anchored in forty feet of water， and twenty or thirty rods from the shore，surrounded sometimes by thousands of small perch and shiners，dimpling the surface with their tails in the moonlight， and communicating by a long flaxen line with mysterious nocturnal fishes which had their dwelling forty feet below， or sometimes dragging sixty feet of line about the pond as I drifted in the gentle night breeze， now and then feeling a slight vibration along it， indicative of some life prowling about its extremity， of dull uncertain blundering purpose there， and slow to make up its mind.  At length you slowly raise， pulling hand over hand， some horned pout squeaking and squirming to the upper air.  It was very queer， especially in dark nights， when your thoughts had wandered to vast and cosmogonal themes in other spheres， to feel this faint jerk， which came to interrupt your dreams and link you to Nature again.  It seemed as if I might next cast my line upward into the air， as well as downward into this element， which was scarcely more dense.  Thus I caught two fishes as it were with one hook.

　　The scenery of Walden is on a humble scale， and， though very beautiful， does not approach to grandeur， nor can it much concern one who has not long frequented it or lived by its shore； yet this pond is so remarkable for its depth and purity as to merit a particular description.  It is a clear and deep green well， half a mile long and a mile and three quarters in circumference， and contains about sixty-one and a half acres； a perennial spring 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.  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， and at a great distance all appear alike.  In stormy weather they are sometimes of a dark slate-color.  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 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 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.  Some have referred this to the reflection of the verdure； but it is equally green there against the railroad sandbank， and in the spring， before the leaves are expanded， and it may be simply the result of the prevailing blue mixed with the yellow of the sand.  Such is the color of its iris. This is that portion， also， where in the spring， the ice being warmed by the heat of the sun reflected from the bottom， and also transmitted through the earth， melts first and forms a narrow canal about the still frozen middle.  Like the rest of our waters， when much agitated， in clear weather， so that the surface of the waves may reflect the sky at the right angle， or because there is more light mixed with it， it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself； and at such a time， being on its surface，and looking with divided vision， so as to see the reflection， I have discerned a matchless and indescribable light blue， such as watered or changeable silks and sword blades suggest， more cerulean than the sky itself， alternating with the original dark green on the opposite sides of the waves， which last appeared but muddy in comparison.  It is a vitreous greenish blue， as I remember it， like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas in the west before sundown. Yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air.  It is well known that a large plate of glass will have a green tint， owing， as the makers say， to its "body，" but a small piece of the same will be colorless.  How large a body of Walden water would be required to reflect a green tint I have never proved.  The water of our river is black or a very dark brown to one looking directly down on it， and， like that of most ponds， imparts to the body of one bathing in it a yellowish tinge；but this water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness， still more unnatural，which， as the limbs are magnified and distorted withal， produces a monstrous effect， making fit studies for a Michael Angelo.

　　有時，在村中一個客廳里待到他們一家子都要休息時，我就回到了森林里；那時，多少是為了明天的伙食，我把子夜的時辰消耗在月光之下的垂釣之上，坐在一條船里，聽梟鳥和狐貍唱它們的小夜曲，時時我還聽到附近的不知名的鳥雀發出尖厲的嘯聲。這一些經驗對我是很值得國憶和很寶貴的，在水深四十英尺的地方拋了錨，離岸約二三桿之遠，有時大約有幾千條小鱸魚和銀魚圍繞著我，它們的尾巴給月光下的水面點出了無數的水渦；用了一根細長的麻繩，我和生活在四十英尺深的水底的一些神秘的夜間的魚打交道了，有時我拖著長六十英尺的釣絲，聽憑柔和的夜風把我的船兒在湖上漂蕩，我時不時地感到了微弱的震動，說明有一個生命在釣絲的那一端徘徊，卻又愚蠢地不能確定它對這盲目撞上的東西怎樣辦，還沒有完全下決心呢。到后來，你一手又一手，慢慢地拉起釣絲，而一些長角的鳘魚一邊發出咯吱咯吱的聲音，一邊扭動著身子，給拉到了空中。特別在黑暗的夜間，當你的思想馳騁在廣大宇宙的主題上的時候，而你卻感到這微弱的震動，打斷了你的夢想，又把你和大自然聯結了起來，這是很奇怪的。我仿佛會接著把釣絲往上甩，甩到天空里去，正如我同時把釣絲垂人這密度未必更大的水的元素中去的情況一樣。這樣我像是用一只釣鉤而捉住了兩條魚。

　　瓦爾登的風景是卑微的，雖然很美，卻并不是宏偉的，不常去游玩的人，不住在它岸邊的人未必能被它吸引住：但是這一個湖以深邃和清澈著稱，值得給予突出的描寫。

　　這是一個明亮的深綠色的湖，半英里長，圓周約一英里又四分之三，面積約六十一英畝半；它是松樹和橡樹林中央的歲月悠久的老湖，除了雨和蒸發之外，還沒有別的來龍去脈可尋。四周的山峰突然地從水上升起，到四十至八十英尺的高度，但在東南面高到一百英尺，而東邊更高到一百五十英尺，其距離湖岸，不過四分之一英里及三分之一英里。

　　山上全部都是森林。所有我們康科德地方的水波，至少有兩種顏色，一種是站在遠處望見的，另一種，更接近本來的顏色，是站在近處看見的。第一種更多地靠的是光，根據天色變化。在天氣好的夏季里，從稍遠的地方望去，它呈現了蔚藍顏色，特別在水波蕩漾的時候，但從很遠的地方望去，卻是一片深藍。在風暴的天氣下，有時它呈現出深石板色。海水的顏色則不然，據說它這天是藍色的，另一天卻又是綠色了，盡管天氣連些微的可感知的變化也沒有。我們這里的水系中，我看到當白雪覆蓋這一片風景時，水和冰幾乎都是草綠色的。有人認為，藍色“乃是純潔的水的顏色，無論那是流動的水，或凝結的水”。可是，直接從一條船上俯看近處湖水，它又有著非常之不同的色彩。甚至從同一個觀察點，看瓦爾登是這會兒藍，那忽兒綠。置身于天地之間，它分擔了這兩者的色素。從山頂上看，它反映天空的顏色，可是走近了看，在你能看到近岸的細砂的地方，水色先是黃澄澄的，然后是淡綠色的了，然后逐漸地加深起來，直到水波一律地呈現了全湖一致的深綠色。卻在有些時候的光線下，便是從一個山頂望去，靠近湖岸的水色也是碧綠得異常生動的。有人說，這是綠原的反映；可是在鐵路軌道這兒的黃沙地帶的襯托下，也同樣是碧綠的，而且，在春天，樹葉還沒有長大，這也許是太空中的蔚藍，調和了黃沙以后形成的一個單純的效果。這是它的虹色彩圈的色素。也是在這一個地方，春天一來，冰塊給水底反射上來的太陽的熱量，也給土地中傳播的太陽的熱量溶解了，這里首先溶解成一條狹窄的運河的樣子，而中間還是凍冰。在晴朗的氣候中，像我們其余的水波，激湍地流動時，波平面是在九十度的直角度里反映了天空的，或者因為太光亮了，從較遠處望去，它比天空更藍些；而在這種時候，泛舟湖上，四處眺望倒影，我發現了一種無可比擬、不能描述的淡藍色，像浸水的或變色的絲綢，還像青鋒寶劍，比之天空還更接近天藍色，它和那波光的另一面原來的深綠色輪番地閃現，那深綠色與之相比便似乎很混濁了。這是一個玻璃似的帶綠色的藍色，照我所能記憶的，它仿佛是冬天里，日落以前，西方烏云中露出的一角晴天。可是你舉起一玻璃杯水，放在空中看，它卻毫無顏色，如同裝了同樣數量的一杯空氣一樣。眾所周知，一大塊厚玻璃板便呈現了微綠的顏色，據制造玻璃的人說，那是“體積”的關系，同樣的玻璃，少了就不會有顏色了。瓦爾登湖應該有多少的水量才能泛出這樣的綠色呢，我從來都無法證明。一個直接朝下望著我們的水色的人所見到的是黑的，或深棕色的，一個到河水中游泳的人，河水像所有的湖一樣，會給他染上一種黃顏色；但是這個湖水卻是這樣地純潔，游泳者會白得像大理石一樣，而更奇怪的是，在這水中四肢給放大了，并且給扭曲了，形態非常夸張，值得讓米開朗琪羅來作一番研究。

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