瓦爾登湖:The Pond in Winter5

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　　While I was surveying， the ice， which was sixteen inches thick，undulated under a slight wind like water. It is well known that a level cannot be used on ice. At one rod from the shore its greatest fluctuation， when observed by means of a level on land directed toward a graduated staff on the ice， was three quarters of an inch，though the ice appeared firmly attached to the shore. It was probably greater in the middle. Who knows but if our instruments were delicate enough we might detect an undulation in the crust of the earth？ When two legs of my level were on the shore and the third on the ice， and the sights were directed over the latter， a rise or fall of the ice of an almost infinitesimal amount made a difference of several feet on a tree across the pond. When I began to cut holes for sounding there were three or four inches of water on the ice under a deep snow which had sunk it thus far； but the water began immediately to run into these holes， and continued to run for two days in deep streams， which wore away the ice on every side， and contributed essentially， if not mainly， to dry the surface of the pond； for， as the water ran in， it raised and floated the ice. This was somewhat like cutting a hole in the bottom of a ship to let the water out. When such holes freeze， and a rain succeeds，and finally a new freezing forms a fresh smooth ice over all， it is beautifully mottled internally by dark figures， shaped somewhat like a spider's web， what you may call ice rosettes， produced by the channels worn by the water flowing from all sides to a centre. Sometimes， also， when the ice was covered with shallow puddles， I saw a double shadow of myself， one standing on the head of the other， one on the ice， the other on the trees or hillside.

　　While yet it is cold January， and snow and ice are thick and solid， the prudent landlord comes from the village to get ice to cool his summer drink； impressively， even pathetically， wise， to foresee the heat and thirst of July now in January ―― wearing a thick coat and mittens！ when so many things are not provided for. It may be that he lays up no treasures in this world which will cool his summer drink in the next. He cuts and saws the solid pond，unroofs the house of fishes， and carts off their very element and air， held fast by chains and stakes like corded wood， through the favoring winter air， to wintry cellars， to underlie the summer there. It looks like solidified azure， as， far off， it is drawn through the streets. These ice-cutters are a merry race， full of jest and sport， and when I went among them they were wont to invite me to saw pit-fashion with them， I standing underneath.

　　In the winter of '46-7 there came a hundred men of Hyperborean extraction swoop down on to our pond one morning， with many carloads of ungainly-looking farming tools ―― sleds， plows， drill-barrows，turf-knives， spades， saws， rakes， and each man was armed with a double-pointed pike-staff， such as is not described in the New-England Farmer or the Cultivator. I did not know whether they had come to sow a crop of winter rye， or some other kind of grain recently introduced from Iceland. As I saw no manure， I judged that they meant to skim the land， as I had done， thinking the soil was deep and had lain fallow long enough. They said that a gentleman farmer， who was behind the scenes， wanted to double his money，which， as I understood， amounted to half a million already； but in order to cover each one of his dollars with another， he took off the only coat， ay， the skin itself， of Walden Pond in the midst of a hard winter. They went to work at once， plowing， barrowing，rolling， furrowing， in admirable order， as if they were bent on making this a model farm； but when I was looking sharp to see what kind of seed they dropped into the furrow， a gang of fellows by my side suddenly began to hook up the virgin mould itself， with a peculiar jerk， clean down to the sand， or rather the water ―― for it was a very springy soil ―― indeed all the terra firma there was ――and haul it away on sleds， and then I guessed that they must be cutting peat in a bog. So they came and went every day， with a peculiar shriek from the locomotive， from and to some point of the polar regions， as it seemed to me， like a flock of arctic snow-birds. But sometimes Squaw Walden had her revenge， and a hired man， walking behind his team， slipped through a crack in the ground down toward Tartarus， and he who was so brave before suddenly became but the ninth part of a man， almost gave up his animal heat， and was glad to take refuge in my house， and acknowledged that there was some virtue in a stove； or sometimes the frozen soil took a piece of steel out of a plowshare， or a plow got set in the furrow and had to be cut out.

　　當我勘察的時候，十六英寸厚的冰層，也像水波一樣，會在微風之下有些波動。大家都知道在冰上，酒精水準儀是不能用的。在冰上，擺一根刻有度數的棒，再把酒精水準儀放在岸上，對準它來觀察，那未離岸一桿處，冰層的最大的波動有四分之三英寸，盡管冰層似乎跟湖岸是緊接著的。在湖心的波動，恐怕更大。誰知道呢？如果我們的儀器更精密的話，我們還可以測出地球表面的波動呢。當我的水準儀的三只腳，兩只放在岸上，一只放在冰上，而在第三只腳上瞄準并觀察時，冰上的極微小的波動可以在湖對岸的一棵樹上，變成數英尺的區別。當我為了測量水深，而開始挖洞之時，深深的積雪下面，冰層的上面有三四英寸的水，是積雪使冰下沉了幾英寸；水立刻從窟窿中流下去，引成深深的溪流，一連流了兩天才流完，把四周的冰都磨光了，湖面變得干燥，這雖然不是主要的，卻也是很重要的原因；因為，當水流下去的時候，它提高了，浮起了冰層。

　　這好像是在船底下挖出一個洞，讓水流出去，當這些洞又凍結了，接著又下了雨，最后又來了次新的冰凍，全湖上都罩上一層新鮮光滑的冰面，冰的內部就有了美麗的網絡的形狀，很像是黑色的蜘蛛網，你不妨稱之為玫瑰花形的冰球，那是從四方流到中心的水流所形成的。也有一些時候，當冰上有淺淺的水潭時，我能看到我自己的兩個影子，一個重疊在另一個上面，一個影子在冰上，一個在樹木或山坡的倒影上。

　　還在寒冷的一月份中，冰雪依然很厚很堅固的時候，一些精明的地主老爺已經從村中來拿回冰去，準備冰凍夏天的冷飲了；現在只在一月中，就想到了七月中的炎熱和口渴了，這樣的聰明給人留下深刻的印象，甚至使人覺得可悲，――現在，他還穿著厚大衣，戴著皮手套呢！況且有那么多的事情，他都沒有一點兒準備。他也許還沒有在這個世界上準備了什么可貴的東西，讓他將來在另一世界上可以作為夏天的冷飲的。他砍著鋸著堅固的冰，把魚住宅的屋頂給拆掉了，用鎖鏈把冰塊和寒氣一起，像捆住木料一樣地捆綁了起來，用車子載走，經過有利的寒冷的空氣，運到了冬天的地窖中，在那里，讓它們靜待炎夏來臨。當它們遠遠地給拖過村子的時候，看起來仿佛是固體化的碧空。

　　這些挖冰的都是快活的人，充滿了玩笑和游戲精神，每當我來到他們中間的時候，他們常常請求我站在下面，同他們一上一下地用大鋸來鋸冰。

　　在一八四六――一八四七年的冬季，來了一百個出身于北極的人，那天早晨，他們涌到了這湖濱來，帶來了好幾車笨重的農具，雪車，犁耙，條播機，軋草機，鏟子，鋸子，耙子，每一個人還帶著一柄兩股叉，這種兩股叉，就是《新英格蘭農業雜志》或《農事雜志》上都沒有描寫過的。我不知道他們的來意是否為了播種冬天的黑麥，或是播種什么新近從冰島推銷過來的新種子。由于沒有看到肥料，我判斷他們和我一樣，大約不預備深耕了，以為泥土很深，已經休閑得夠久了。他們告訴我，有一位農民紳士，他自己沒有登場，想使他的錢財加一倍，那筆錢財，據我所知，大約已經有五十萬了；現在為了在每一個金元之上，再放上一個金元起見，他剝去了，是的，剝去了瓦爾登湖的唯一的外衣，不，剝去了它的皮，而且是在這樣的嚴寒的冬天里！他們立刻工作了，耕著，耙著，滾著，犁著，秩序井然，好像他們要把這里變成一個模范的農場：可是正在我睜大了眼睛看他們要播下什么種子的時候，我旁邊的一群人突然開始鉤起那處女地來了，猛的一動，就一直鉤到沙地上，或者鉤到水里，因為這是一片很松軟的土地，――那兒的一切的大地都是這樣，――立刻用一輛雪車把它載走了，那時候我猜想，他們一定是在泥沼里挖泥炭吧。他們每天這樣來了，去了，火車發出了銳叫聲，好像他們來自北極區，又回到北極區，我覺得就像一群北冰洋中的雪

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瓦爾登湖:The Pond in Winter5