瓦爾登湖:The Pond in Winter4

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　　If we knew all the laws of Nature， we should need only one fact，or the description of one actual phenomenon， to infer all the particular results at that point. Now we know only a few laws， and our result is vitiated， not， of course， by any confusion or irregularity in Nature， but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect； but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting， but really concurring， laws， which we have not detected， is still more wonderful. The particular laws are as our points of view， as， to the traveller， a mountain outline varies with every step， and it has an infinite number of profiles， though absolutely but one form. Even when cleft or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness.

　　What I have observed of the pond is no less true in ethics. It is the law of average. Such a rule of the two diameters not only guides us toward the sun in the system and the heart in man， but draws lines through the length and breadth of the aggregate of a man's particular daily behaviors and waves of life into his coves and inlets， and where they intersect will be the height or depth of his character. Perhaps we need only to know how his shores trend and his adjacent country or circumstances， to infer his depth and concealed bottom. If he is surrounded by mountainous circumstances，an Achillean shore， whose peaks overshadow and are reflected in his bosom， they suggest a corresponding depth in him. But a low and smooth shore proves him shallow on that side. In our bodies， a bold projecting brow falls off to and indicates a corresponding depth of thought. Also there is a bar across the entrance of our every cove，or particular inclination； each is our harbor for a season， in which we are detained and partially land-locked. These inclinations are not whimsical usually， but their form， size， and direction are determined by the promontories of the shore， the ancient axes of elevation. When this bar is gradually increased by storms， tides，or currents， or there is a subsidence of the waters， so that it reaches to the surface， that which was at first but an inclination in the shore in which a thought was harbored becomes an individual lake， cut off from the ocean， wherein the thought secures its own conditions ―― changes， perhaps， from salt to fresh， becomes a sweet sea， dead sea， or a marsh. At the advent of each individual into this life， may we not suppose that such a bar has risen to the surface somewhere？ It is true， we are such poor navigators that our thoughts， for the most part， stand off and on upon a harborless coast， are conversant only with the bights of the bays of poesy， or steer for the public ports of entry， and go into the dry docks of science， where they merely refit for this world， and no natural currents concur to individualize them.

　　As for the inlet or outlet of Walden， I have not discovered any but rain and snow and evaporation， though perhaps， with a thermometer and a line， such places may be found， for where the water flows into the pond it will probably be coldest in summer and warmest in winter. When the ice-men were at work here in '46-7， the cakes sent to the shore were one day rejected by those who were stacking them up there， not being thick enough to lie side by side with the rest； and the cutters thus discovered that the ice over a small space was two or three inches thinner than elsewhere， which made them think that there was an inlet there. They also showed me in another place what they thought was a "leach-hole，" through which the pond leaked out under a hill into a neighboring meadow， pushing me out on a cake of ice to see it. It was a small cavity under ten feet of water； but I think that I can warrant the pond not to need soldering till they find a worse leak than that. One has suggested，that if such a "leach-hole" should be found， its connection with the meadow， if any existed， might be proved by conveying some， colored powder or sawdust to the mouth of the hole， and then putting a strainer over the spring in the meadow， which would catch some of the particles carried through by the current.

　　如果我們知道大自然的一切規律，我們就只要明白一個事實，或者只要對一個現象作忠實描寫，就可以舉一反三，得出一切特殊的結論來了?，F在我們只知道少數的規律，我們的結論往往荒謬，自然羅，這并不是因為大自然不規則，或混亂，這是因為我們在計算之中，對于某些基本的原理，還是無知之故。我們所知道的規則與和諧，常常局限于經我們考察了的一些事物；可是有更多數的似乎矛盾而實在卻呼應著的法則，我們只是還沒有找出來而已，它們所產生的和諧卻是更驚人的。我們的特殊規律都出于我們的觀點，就像從一個旅行家看來，每當他跨出一步，山峰的輪廓就要變動一步，雖然絕對的只有一個形態，卻有著無其數的側頁。即使裂開了它，即使鉆穿了它，也不能窺見其全貌。

　　據我所觀察，湖的情形如此，在倫理學上又何嘗不如此。這就是平均律。這樣用兩條直徑來測量的規律，不但指示了我們觀察天體中的太陽系，還指示了我們觀察人心，而且就一個人的特殊的日常行為和生活潮流組成的集合體的長度和闊度，我們也可以畫兩條這樣的線，通到他的凹處和入口，那兩條線的交叉點，便是他的性格的最高峰或最深處了。也許我們只要知道這人的河岸的走向和他的四周環境，我們便可以知道他的深度和那隱藏著的底奧。如果他的周圍是多山的環境，湖岸險

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瓦爾登湖:The Pond in Winter4