Silently we unlatch the door, letting the drift fall in, and step abroad to face the cutting air. Already the stars have lost some of their sparkle, and a dull, leaden mist skirts the horizon. A lurid brazen light in the east proclaims the approach of the day, while the western landscape is dim and spectral still, and clothed in a somber Tartarean light, like the shadowy realms. They are Infernal sounds only that you hear—the crowing of cocks, the barking of dogs, the chopping of wood, the lowing of kine, all seem to come from Pluto’s barnyard and beyond the Styx—not for any melancholy they suggest, but their twilight bustle is too solemn and mysterious for earth. The recent tracks of the fox or otter, in the yard, reminds us that each hour of the night is crowded with events, and primeval nature is still working and making tracks in the snow. Opening the gate, we tread briskly the country road, crunching the dry and crisped snow under our feet, or aroused by the sharp, clear creak of the wood sled, just starting for the distant market, from the early famer’s door, where it has lain the summer long, dreaming amid the chips and stubble: while far through the drifts and powdered windows we see the farmer’s early candle. Like a paled star, emitting a lonely beam, as if some severe virtue were at its matins there. And one by one the smokes begin to ascend from the chimneys amid the trees and snows.
譯文
我們靜靜地拔去了門閂，雪花飛舞，立刻落到屋子里來;走出屋外，寒風迎面撲來，好像刀割。星光已不再那么閃爍明亮，地平線上隆回早了一層深重晦暗的薄霧。東方露出一片奇妙的古銅色的光彩，表示天快要亮了;可是西邊的景物，還是一片模糊，一片幽暗，杳然無聲，好像幽靈，到處銀陰光閃爍，鬼影重重，不像是人間。耳邊的聲響，也帶鬼氣—雞鳴狗吠，木柴的斷裂聲，牛群的呼叫聲—這一切好像陰陽河兩岸冥王的農場里發(fā)出的聲響。聲音本身并沒有什么凄慘之處，致使天色未明，這種活動顯的太嚴肅了，太神奇了，不像人間所有。院子里，雪地上，狐貍和水獺所留下的印跡尤新，這是我們想起：即使在冬夜最安靜的時候，自然界生物沒有一個鐘點不在活動，他們還在雪上留下足印。把院子門打開，我們以輕快的腳步，跨上干凈的鄉(xiāng)間小路，雪干而脆，腳踏上去發(fā)出吱吱的聲音;早起的農夫，駕著雪橇，到遠處的集市去趕早市。這輛雪橇一夏天都在農夫的家門口閑著，與木屑稻梗作伴，現在可有了用武之地。它的清晰尖銳地聲音，對于早起趕路的人，也有提神醒腦的效果。農舍窗上雖然積雪豐厚，但是屋里的農夫早把蠟燭點起，孤寂的燭光照射進來，像一顆晦暗的星，宛如某種樸素的美德正在作著晨禱。樹際和雪堆之間，炊煙也是一處處的依次從屋頂里開始升起。
作者簡介：
亨利·戴維·梭羅(Henry David Thoreau，1817年7月12日-1862年5月6日)，美國作家、哲學家、廢奴主義者。他最著名的作品有散文集《瓦爾登湖》(又譯為《湖濱散記》)和《公民不服從》(又譯為《消極抵抗》、《論公民抗命》、《公民不服從論》)。《瓦爾登湖》記載了他在瓦爾登湖的隱逸生活，而《公民不服從》則討論面對政府和強權的不義，為公民主動拒絕遵守若干法律提出辯護。梭羅一生都是廢奴主義者，他到處演講倡導廢奴，并抨擊逃亡奴隸法。他對公民不服從的見解影響了托爾斯泰、圣雄甘地和馬丁·路德·金。
《瓦爾登湖》記錄了作者隱居瓦爾登湖畔，與大自然融為一體，在田園生活中感知自然、重塑自我的奇妙歷程。本書是梭羅在瓦爾登湖林中兩年零兩個月又兩天的生活和思想記錄。這是一本清新、健康、引人向上的書，它向世人揭示了作者在回歸自然的生活實驗中所發(fā)現的人生真諦—如果一個人能滿足于基本的生活所需，其實便可以更從容、更淡定地享受人生。
