To speak literally， a hundred Irishmen， with Yankee overseers，came from Cambridge every day to get out the ice.  They divided it into cakes by methods too well known to require description， and these， being sledded to the shore， were rapidly hauled off on to an ice platform， and raised by grappling irons and block and tackle，worked by horses， on to a stack， as surely as so many barrels of flour， and there placed evenly side by side， and row upon row， as if they formed the solid base of an obelisk designed to pierce the clouds.  They told me that in a good day they could get out a thousand tons， which was the yield of about one acre.  Deep ruts and "cradle-holes" were worn in the ice， as on terra firma， by the passage of the sleds over the same track， and the horses invariably ate their oats out of cakes of ice hollowed out like buckets.  They stacked up the cakes thus in the open air in a pile thirty-five feet high on one side and six or seven rods square， putting hay between the outside layers to exclude the air； for when the wind， though never so cold， finds a passage through， it will wear large cavities，leaving slight supports or studs only here and there， and finally topple it down.  At first it looked like a vast blue fort or Valhalla； but when they began to tuck the coarse meadow hay into the crevices， and this became covered with rime and icicles， it looked like a venerable moss-grown and hoary ruin， built of azure-tinted marble， the abode of Winter， that old man we see in the almanac ――his shanty， as if he had a design to estivate with us.  They calculated that not twenty-five per cent of this would reach its destination， and that two or three per cent would be wasted in the cars.  However， a still greater part of this heap had a different destiny from what was intended； for， either because the ice was found not to keep so well as was expected， containing more air than usual， or for some other reason， it never got to market.  This heap，made in the winter of '46-7 and estimated to contain ten thousand tons， was finally covered with hay and boards； and though it was unroofed the following July， and a part of it carried off， the rest remaining exposed to the sun， it stood over that summer and the next winter， and was not quite melted till September， 1848.  Thus the pond recovered the greater part.

　　Like the water， the Walden ice， seen near at hand， has a green tint， but at a distance is beautifully blue， and you can easily tell 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 from the ice-man's sled into the village street， and lies there for a week like a great emerald， 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 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.

　　Thus for sixteen days I saw from my window a hundred men at work like busy husbandmen， with teams and horses and apparently all the implements of farming， such a picture as we see on the first page of the almanac； and as often as I looked out I was reminded of the fable of the lark and the reapers， or the parable of the sower， and the like； and now they are all gone， and in thirty days more，probably， I shall look from the same window on the pure sea-green Walden water there， reflecting the clouds and the trees， and sending up its evaporations in solitude， and no traces will appear that a man has ever stood there.  Perhaps I shall hear a solitary loon laugh as he dives and plumes himself， or shall see a lonely fisher in his boat， like a floating leaf， beholding his form reflected in the waves， where lately a hundred men securely labored.

　　Thus it appears that the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans， of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta， drink at my well.  In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvat-Geeta， since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed， and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial； and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence， so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions.  I lay down the book and go to my well for water， and lo！ there I meet the servant of the Bramin， priest of Brahma and Vishnu and Indra， who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas， or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water jug.  I meet his servant come to draw water for his master， and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well.  The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.  With favoring winds it is wafted past the site of the fabulous islands of Atlantis and the Hesperides， makes the periplus of Hanno， and， floating by Ternate and Tidore and the mouth of the Persian Gulf， melts in the tropic gales of the Indian seas， and is landed in ports of which Alexander only heard the names.

　　老老實(shí)實(shí)他說，是一百個(gè)愛爾蘭人，由北方佬監(jiān)工帶領(lǐng)，每天從劍橋來這里挖冰。

　　他們把冰切成一方塊一方塊，那方法是大家都知道的，無須描寫的了，這些冰塊放在雪車上，車到了岸邊，迅疾地拖到一個(gè)冰站上，那里再用馬匹拖的鐵手、滑車、索具搬到一個(gè)臺(tái)上，就像一桶一桶面粉一樣，一塊一塊排列著，又一排一排地疊起來，好像他們要疊一個(gè)聳入云霄的方塔的基礎(chǔ)一樣。他們告訴我，好好地工作一天，可以挖起一千噸來，那是每一英畝地的出產(chǎn)數(shù)字。深深的車轍和安放支架的搖籃洞，都在冰上出現(xiàn)，正如在大地上一樣，因?yàn)檠┸囋谏厦鎭砘氐拇螖?shù)走得多了，而馬匹就在挖成桶形的冰塊之中吃麥子。他們這樣在露天疊起了一堆冰塊來，高三十五英尺，約六七桿見方，在外面一層中間放了干草，以排除空氣；因?yàn)轱L(fēng)雖然空前料峭，還可以在中間找到路線，裂出很大的洞來，以致這里或那里就沒有什么支撐了，到最后會(huì)全部倒翻。最初，我看這很像一個(gè)巨大的藍(lán)色的堡壘，一個(gè)伐爾哈拉殿堂；可是他們開始把粗糙的草皮填塞到隙縫中間去了，于是上面有了白霜和冰柱，看起來像一個(gè)古色古香的，生滿了苔蘚的灰白的廢墟，全部是用藍(lán)色大理石構(gòu)成的冬神的住所，像我們?cè)跉v本上看到的畫片一樣，――他的陋室，好像他計(jì)劃同我們一起度過夏季。據(jù)他們的估計(jì)，這中間百分之二十五到不了目的地，百分之二、三將在車子中損失。然而這一堆中，更大的一部分的命運(yùn)和當(dāng)初的原意不同；因?yàn)檫@些冰或者是不能保藏得像意想的那么好，它里面有比之一般更多的空氣，或者是由于另外的原因，這一部分冰就一直沒能送到市場(chǎng)上。這一堆，在一八四六――一八四七年壘起來的，據(jù)估計(jì)共有一萬噸重，后來用于草和木板釘了起來，第二年七月開了一次箱，一部分拿走了，其余的就曝露在太陽底下，整個(gè)夏天，站著度過去了，這年的冬天，也還是度過去了，直到一八四八年的九月，它還沒有全部溶化掉。最后，湖還是把它們的一大部分收了回來。

　　像湖水一樣，瓦爾登的冰，近看是綠的，可是從遠(yuǎn)處望去，它藍(lán)藍(lán)的很美，你很容易就辨別出來了，那是河上的白冰，或是四分之一英里外的湖上的只是微綠的冰，而這是瓦爾登的冰。有時(shí)候，從挖冰人的雪車上，有一大塊冰掉在村中街道上，躺在那里有一星期，像一塊很大的翡翠，引起所有過路人的興趣。我注意到瓦爾登的一個(gè)部分，它的水是綠的，一俟凍結(jié)之后，從同一觀察點(diǎn)望去，它成了藍(lán)色。所以在湖邊的許多低洼地，有時(shí)候，在冬天，充滿了像它一樣的綠色的水，可是到了第二天，我發(fā)現(xiàn)它們已凍成了藍(lán)色的冰。也許水和冰的藍(lán)色是由它們所包含的光和空氣造成的，最透明的，也就是最藍(lán)的。冰乃是沉思的一個(gè)最有趣的題目。他們告訴我，他們有一些冰，放在富萊喜湖的冰棧中已有五年，還是很好的冰。為什么一桶水放久了要臭，而凍冰以后，卻永遠(yuǎn)甘美呢？一般人說這正如情感和理智之間的不同。

　　所以一連十六天，我從我的窗口，看到一百個(gè)人，忙忙碌碌，像農(nóng)夫一樣地工作，成群結(jié)隊(duì)，帶著牲口和顯然一應(yīng)俱全的農(nóng)具，這樣的圖畫我們常常在歷書的第一頁上看到的；每次從窗口望出去，我常常想到云雀和收割者的寓言，或者那撒播者的譬喻，等等；現(xiàn)在，他們都走掉了，大約又過了三十天之后，我又從這同一窗口，眺望純粹的海綠色的瓦爾登湖水了，它反映著云和樹木，把它蒸發(fā)的水汽寂寥地送上天空，一點(diǎn)也看不出曾經(jīng)有人站在它的上面。也許我又可以聽到一只孤獨(dú)的潛水鳥鉆入水底，整理羽毛，放聲大笑，或許我可以看到一個(gè)孤獨(dú)的漁夫坐在船上，扁舟一葉，而他的形態(tài)倒映在這一面水波上，可是不久以前就在這里，有一百個(gè)人安全地站著工作過呢。

　　似乎緊跟著將要有查爾斯頓和新奧爾良，馬德拉斯，孟買和加爾各答的揮汗如雨的居民，在我的井中飲水。在黎明中我把我的智力沐浴在《對(duì)話錄》的宏偉宇宙的哲學(xué)中，自從這一部史詩完成了之后，神仙的歲月也不知已逝去了多少，而和它一比較，我們的近代世界以及它的文學(xué)顯得多么地猥瑣而藐小?。晃疫€懷疑，這一種哲學(xué)是否不僅僅限于從前的生存狀態(tài)，它的崇高性，距離著我們的觀點(diǎn)是這樣地遙遠(yuǎn)啊！我放下了書本，跑到我的井邊去喝水。瞧啊！在那里，我遇到了婆羅門教的仆人，梵天和毗瑟奴和因陀羅的僧人，他還是坐在恒河上，他的神廟中，讀著他們的吠陀經(jīng)典，或住在一棵樹的根上，只有一些面包屑和一個(gè)水缽。我遇到他的仆人來給他的主人汲水，我們的桶子好像在同一井內(nèi)碰撞。瓦爾登的純粹的水已經(jīng)和恒河的圣水混合了。柔和的風(fēng)吹送著，這水波流過了阿特蘭蒂斯和海斯貝里底斯這些傳說中的島嶼，流過飯能，流過特爾納特，蒂達(dá)爾和波斯灣的入口，在印度洋的熱帶風(fēng)中匯流，到達(dá)連亞歷山大也只聽到過名字的一些港埠。

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