Sometimes I had a companion in my fishing, who came through the village to my house from the other side of the town, and the catching of the dinner was as much a social exercise as the eating of it.
有时我在垂钓时会有个伙伴，他从镇的另一边经过村子来到我的家，捉到晚餐和吃晚餐一样，是一种社交活动。

Hermit. I wonder what the world is doing now. —
隐士。我想知道现在世界在做些什么。 —

I have not heard so much as a locust over the sweet-fern these three hours. —
我已经三个小时没听到甜蕨叶上的蝗虫声了。 —

The pigeons are all asleep upon their roosts – no flutter from them. —
鸽子都在它们的栖息地上睡着了——没有它们发出的拍打声。 —

Was that a farmer’s noon horn which sounded from beyond the woods just now? —
刚才从树林那边传来的是农民的午饭号吗？ —

The hands are coming in to boiled salt beef and cider and Indian bread. —
大家都在享用煮过的咸牛肉、苹果酒和玉米面包。 —

Why will men worry themselves so? He that does not eat need not work. —
为什么人们要如此忧虑？不吃东西的人就没必要工作。 —

I wonder how much they have reaped. Who would live there where a body can never think for the barking of Bose? —
我想知道他们收获了多少。谁愿意住在那里，那里人们永远都得为博斯(Bose)的狂吠而思考？ —

And oh, the housekeeping! to keep bright the devil’s door-knobs, and scour his tubs this bright day! Better not keep a house. —
做家务！为了保持家里光亮，要擦亮魔鬼的门把手，擦洗他的浴缸，在这样明媚的一天！还不如不要有个家呢。 —

Say, some hollow tree; and then for morning calls and dinner-parties! Only a woodpecker tapping. —
想象一棵空心的树；然后早上有人来拜访，晚上有人来参加晚宴！只有一只啄木鸟在啄击。 —

Oh, they swarm; the sun is too warm there; they are born too far into life for me. —
噢，它们成群了；太阳在那里太温暖了；它们诞生得太接近生活了，对我来说。 —

I have water from the spring, and a loaf of brown bread on the shelf. – Hark! —
我从泉水那取来水，架子上有一条黑面包——听！ —

I hear a rustling of the leaves. Is it some ill-fed village hound yielding to the instinct of the chase? —
我听到树叶的沙沙声。是一只未受良好喂养的村子里的猎犬在追逐的本能吗？ —

or the lost pig which is said to be in these woods, whose tracks I saw after the rain? —
或者是传说中迷路的猪，据说它在这片树林里，雨后我看到过它的足迹？ —

It comes on apace; my sumachs and sweetbriers tremble. —
这场景正快速逼近；我的酢浆草和香蔷薇树叶在颤抖。 —

– Eh, Mr. Poet, is it you? How do you like the world to-day?
– 嗯，诗人先生，是你吗？你觉得今天的世界如何？

Poet. See those clouds; how they hang! That’s the greatest thing I have seen to-day. —
诗人。看那些云，它们悬挂的姿态！那是我今天见过的最壮观的事物。 —

There’s nothing like it in old paintings, nothing like it in foreign lands – unless when we were off the coast of Spain. That’s a true Mediterranean sky. —
在老画作中找不到类似的，外国也找不到类似的 —— 除非我们在西班牙海岸附近。那是真正的地中海蓝天。 —

I thought, as I have my living to get, and have not eaten to-day, that I might go a-fishing. —
我想，既然我需要谋生，且今天还没吃东西，我可能去钓鱼。 —

That’s the true industry for poets. It is the only trade I have learned. Come, let’s along.
那是诗人真正熟悉的事业。那是我学会的唯一手艺。来，我们一起去吧。

Hermit. I cannot resist. My brown bread will soon be gone. —
隐士。我无法拒绝。我的黑面包很快就要吃完了。 —

I will go with you gladly soon, but I am just concluding a serious meditation. —
我会很快高兴地和你一起去，但我正在做一次认真的沉思。 —

I think that I am near the end of it. Leave me alone, then, for a while. —
我觉得我快结束了。给我一个独处的空间一段时间吧。 —

But that we may not be delayed, you shall be digging the bait meanwhile. —
但为了不耽搁我们，你可以同时挖泥鳅之前。 —

Angleworms are rarely to be met with in these parts, where the soil was never fattened with manure; —
这些地方很少能找到蚯蚓，这里的土地从未被施过肥料； —

the race is nearly extinct. The sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to that of catching the fish, when one’s appetite is not too keen; —
这个种族快要灭绝了。挖泥鳅的乐趣几乎与捕鱼一样，当一个人的食欲不是太旺盛时； —

and this you may have all to yourself today. —
今天你可以独享这种愉悦。 —

I would advise you to set in the spade down yonder among the ground-nuts, where you see the johnswort waving. —
我建议你把铁锹插在那边的土豆地里，你会看到旋花草在摇摆。 —

I think that I may warrant you one worm to every three sods you turn up, if you look well in among the roots of the grass, as if you were weeding. —
我相信，如果你仔细看草根间，就像你正在除草一样，每翻三块泥土你就会找到一条蚯蚓。 —

Or, if you choose to go farther, it will not be unwise, for I have found the increase of fair bait to be very nearly as the squares of the distances.
或者，如果你选择走得更远，也不是不明智的，因为我发现，合适的鱼饵增加几乎与距离的平方成正比。

Hermit alone. Let me see; where was I? Methinks I was nearly in this frame of mind; —
孤独的隐士。让我想想，我是在哪里？我觉得我几乎是这种心境； —

the world lay about at this angle. Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? —
世界以这种角度摆放着。我要去天堂还是钓鱼呢？ —

If I should soon bring this meditation to an end, would another so sweet occasion be likely to offer? —
如果我很快结束这番冥想，是否会再次有如此甜蜜的机会？ —

I was as near being resolved into the essence of things as ever I was in my life. —
我几乎像从未有过的那样，融入事物的本质中。 —

I fear my thoughts will not come back to me. If it would do any good, I would whistle for them. —
我害怕我的思绪无法回到我这里。要是有用的话，我会为它们吹口哨。 —

When they make us an offer, is it wise to say, We will think of it? —
当他们给我们一个提议时，是否明智地说，我们会考虑一下？ —

My thoughts have left no track, and I cannot find the path again. —
我的思绪没有留下任何痕迹，我无法再次找到那条路径。 —

What was it that I was thinking of? It was a very hazy day. —
我在想什么？那是一个朦胧的日子。 —

I will just try these three sentences of Confutsee; they may fetch that state about again. —
我只是试一试这三句Confutsee的话；它们也许会再次唤起那种状态。 —

I know not whether it was the dumps or a budding ecstasy. —
我不知道那是郁闷还是即将来临的狂喜。 —

Mem. There never is but one opportunity of a kind.
注意，同一种机会从未超过一次。

Poet. How now, Hermit, is it too soon? I have got just thirteen whole ones, beside several which are imperfect or undersized; —
诗人。怎么了，隐士，是不是太早了？我有整整十三条鲜活的鱼饵，还有几条不太完整或太小； —

but they will do for the smaller fry; they do not cover up the hook so much. —
但它们足够小鱼品尝了；它们不会把钩子完全遮住。 —

Those village worms are quite too large; —
那些乡下的虫子太大了； —

a shiner may make a meal off one without finding the skewer.
一个小鲫鱼可能会一口吞掉其中一条，而不觉得有刺。

Hermit. Well, then, let’s be off. Shall we to the Concord? —
隐士。好的，那我们走吧。我们去康科德吗？ —

There’s good sport there if the water be not too high.
如果水不太深，那里有很好的娱乐。

Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world? —
我们看到的为什么恰恰是这些物体构成了一个世界呢？ —

Why has man just these species of animals for his neighbors; —
为什么人类的邻居恰好是这些动物物种； —

as if nothing but a mouse could have filled this crevice? —
仿佛只有一只老鼠才能填满这个裂缝？ —

I suspect that Pilpay & Co. have put animals to their best use, for they are all beasts of burden, in a sense, made to carry some portion of our thoughts.
我怀疑Pilpay ＆ Co已经把动物最好地利用了，因为它们都可以做为一部分我们思想的载体。

The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native kind not found in the village. —
在我的房子中游荡的老鼠并不是普通的那种，据说那些被引入这个国家的老鼠，而是村子里没有的一种野生本土种类。 —

I sent one to a distinguished naturalist, and it interested him much. —
我把其中一只送给了一位著名的自然学家，他对它很感兴趣。 —

When I was building, one of these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. —
当我在建房时，其中一只就在房子下面筑巢，还没铺二楼和清理碎屑之前，它就会在午餐时间准时出来，捡我脚边的碎屑。 —

It probably had never seen a man before; —
它也许以前从未见过人类； —

and it soon became quite familiar, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. —
很快就变得非常亲切，会爬上我的鞋子，顺着我的衣服上下爬。 —

It could readily ascend the sides of the room by short impulses, like a squirrel, which it resembled in its motions. —
它可以轻松地通过像松鼠一样的短推力攀爬房间的墙壁。 —

At length, as I leaned with my elbow on the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and round and round the paper which held my dinner, while I kept the latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep with it; —
最后，有一天当我用手肘搁在长凳上时，它爬上我的衣服，在我的袖子上转圈，绕着放午餐的纸张转，而我将后者紧紧握住，躲闪着跟它玩躲猫猫； —

and when at last I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it came and nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterward cleaned its face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.
最后，当我用拇指和食指之间夹一块奶酪时，它就过来啃了一口、坐在我的手中，然后擦洗它的脸和爪子，像一只苍蝇一样，然后走开了。

A phoebe soon built in my shed, and a robin for protection in a pine which grew against the house. —
很快，一只phoebe在我的棚子里筑巢，一只知更鸟在我家旁边的松树上为自己找个保护。 —

In June the partridge (Tetrao umbellus), which is so shy a bird, led her brood past my windows, from the woods in the rear to the front of my house, clucking and calling to them like a hen, and in all her behavior proving herself the hen of the woods. —
六月里，山鹧鸪（Tetrao umbellus），这种如此胆怯的鸟，领着她的孩子从我的窗前走过，从后面的树林来到我房子的前面，像母鸡一样咕咕叫着，并在她的所有行为中证明她是树林中的母鸡。 —

The young suddenly disperse on your approach, at a signal from the mother, as if a whirlwind had swept them away, and they so exactly resemble the dried leaves and twigs that many a traveler has placed his foot in the midst of a brood, and heard the whir of the old bird as she flew off, and her anxious calls and mewing, or seen her trail her wings to attract his attention, without suspecting their neighborhood. —
幼鸟在你接近时突然四散开来，母鸟的信号就像一阵旋风将它们卷走一样，它们和干枯的叶子和树枝非常相似，很多旅行者都曾把脚放在一群小鸟中间，听到老鸟飞走时的呼呼声和焦急的叫声，或者看到它摇动翅膀引起你的注意，而没有怀疑它们的附近。 —

The parent will sometimes roll and spin round before you in such a dishabille, that you cannot, for a few moments, detect what kind of creature it is. —
父母有时会在你面前滚来滚去，举止如此不羁，以至于你不能一时识别出是什么动物。 —

The young squat still and flat, often running their heads under a leaf, and mind only their mother’s directions given from a distance, nor will your approach make them run again and betray themselves. —
幼鸟会保持静止，并躺平，经常把头伸到叶子下面，只注意母亲从远处发出的指示，你靠近也不会使它们再次奔跑露出身形。 —

You may even tread on them, or have your eyes on them for a minute, without discovering them. —
你甚至可以不发现它们，或者用一分钟的时间盯着它们。 —

I have held them in my open hand at such a time, and still their only care, obedient to their mother and their instinct, was to squat there without fear or trembling. —
在这种时候，我曾经把它们放在手心里，它们唯一的照顾，顺从于它们的母亲和本能，就是平躺在那里，毫无恐惧或颤抖。 —

So perfect is this instinct, that once, when I had laid them on the leaves again, and one accidentally fell on its side, it was found with the rest in exactly the same position ten minutes afterward. —
如此完美的本能，一次，我把它们再次放在叶子上，其中一只意外摔倒，十分钟后发现它和其他几只的位置完全相同。 —

They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens. —
它们不像大多数鸟类的幼鸟那样羽翼未丰，而是更完全发育和早熟，甚至比小鸡还要早熟。 —

The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. —
它们那张明亮而清澈的眼睛中独特的成熟却又天真的表情令人难忘。 —

All intelligence seems reflected in them. —
所有的智慧似乎都在其中反映。 —

They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. —
它们不仅仅提示着婴儿时期的纯洁，而且还有着经验淬炼过的智慧。 —

Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. —
这样的眼睛并非与鸟类一同诞生，而是与它反射的天空同龄。 —

The woods do not yield another such a gem. —
树林中不再产生另一个如此宝贵的宝石。 —

The traveller does not often look into such a limpid well. —
旅行者很少会凝视到这样一口清澈的井。 —

The ignorant or reckless sportsman often shoots the parent at such a time, and leaves these innocents to fall a prey to some prowling beast or bird, or gradually mingle with the decaying leaves which they so much resemble. —
无知或鲁莽的猎人常常在这种时候射杀父母，留下这些无辜的孩子被游荡的野兽或鸟类掠食，慢慢地和它们如此相似的腐烂叶子混在一起。 —

It is said that when hatched by a hen they will directly disperse on some alarm, and so are lost, for they never hear the mother’s call which gathers them again. —
据说小鸡孵化后，一旦受到惊吓就会直接四散，因此会失散，因为它们永远听不到母亲的召唤，无法再次聚集在一起。 —

These were my hens and chickens.
这些是我的母鸡和小鸡。

It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free though secret in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of towns, suspected by hunters only. —
眾多生灵在密林中自由野生，并能在城镇附近自给自足，只受猎人怀疑。 —

How retired the otter manages to live here! —
水獭在这里是多么隐居啊！ —

He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy, perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. —
它长到四英尺长，相当于一个小男孩的大小，也许没有任何人能瞥见它。 —

I formerly saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and probably still heard their whinnering at night. —
以往我在我房子背后的树林里看到浣熊，也可能还听到它们在夜晚的呜哩呜哩声。 —

Commonly I rested an hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch, and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a brook, oozing from under Brister’s Hill, half a mile from my field. —
通常我在中午在种植后的树荫下休息一两个小时，吃午餐，读一会书，坐在一个泉眼旁，这个泉眼是一片沼泽和一条小溪的源头，从布里斯特山下流出，离我田地大约半英里。 —

The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy hollows, full of young pitch pines, into a larger wood about the swamp. —
通往那里是通过一系列下降的草草草洼，到处都是年轻的松树，最后进入一个大沼泽附近的森林。 —

There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading white pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. —
在那里，一个非常隐蔽和阴凉的地方，在一棵扩展的白松树下，地面依然干净而坚实，可以坐在上面。 —

I had dug out the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. —
我已经挖出了泉眼，使之成为一个干净的灰色水井，在那里我可以舀出一桶水而不使其浑浊，所以每天夏季的时候，池塘最热的时候，我几乎每天都会去那里。 —

Thither, too, the woodcock led her brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; —
小鶴鹬会带领其幼崽来这里，探索泥浆寻找蠕虫，飞行时离地仅一尺，它们在银行下面成群奔跑； —

but at last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who would already have taken up their march, with faint, wiry peep, single file through the swamp, as she directed. —
但是最后，发现了我，它会离开自己的幼崽，绕着我打转，越来越近，直到四五英尺，假装破碎的翅膀和腿，吸引我的注意力，让它的幼崽逃脱，它们已经带着微弱、刺耳的啾啾声，在泥沼中单行列队，听从它的指挥。 —

Or I heard the peep of the young when I could not see the parent bird. —
或者我听到幼崽的叫声，而看不见父母鸟。 —

There too the turtle doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from bough to bough of the soft white pines over my head; —
鸽蛋跟着泉眼停在那里，或在我头顶的柔软白松枝间飞舞； —

or the red squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar and inquisitive. —
或者红松鼠顺着最近的树枝奔跑，特别熟悉而好奇。 —

You only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns.
你只需在森林里某个迷人的地方静坐足够长的时间，所有居民都会轮流向你展示自己。

I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. —
我目睹了一些不那么和平的事件。 —

One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly half an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with one another. —
有一天，当我去砍柴，或者说去砍树根的时候，我看到两只大蚂蚁，一只是红色的，另一只大得多，接近半英寸长，是黑色的，正在激烈地争斗。 —

Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. —
他们一旦抓住对方，就再也不放手，不停地搏斗、摔跤、在木屑上打滚。 —

Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black. —
往远处看，我惊讶地发现木屑上覆盖满了这样的战士，这不是一个私人决斗，而是一场战争，一场两个种族的蚂蚁之间的战争，红色蚂蚁总是与黑色蚂蚁对抗，而且经常是两只红蚂蚁对抗一只黑蚂蚁。 —

The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. —
这些蚂蚁大军遍布我木堆的丘陵和山谷，地面上已经散布着红色和黑色的死者和奄奄一息的人。 —

It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging; —
这是我见过的唯一一场战斗，我踏过的唯一一个在战斗正在进行时踩过的战场； —

internecine war; the red republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on the other. —
残杀战争；一方是红色共和党人，另一方是黑色皇室主义者。 —

On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely. —
他们从各个方向参与了致命的战斗，但是却没有我能听到的任何声音，人类士兵从未如此顽强地战斗过。 —

I watched a couple that were fast locked in each other’s embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out. —
我看着一对紧紧拥抱在一起的战士，在木屑间的一个小阳光明媚的山谷，现在已经中午，准备战斗直到太阳落下，或者生命耗尽。 —

The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary’s front, and through all the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by the board; —
较小的红色冠军把自己像一只老板一样紧贴在对手的前面，通过整个战场上的所有翻滚，始终没有停止咬住靠近根部的一根触须，已经导致另一根触须被取消； —

while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side, and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already divested him of several of his members. —
而更强壮的黑色蚂蚁把他从一边摔倒另一边，当我近距离观察时，已经剔除了他的几个部分。 —

They fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs. —
他们比斗牛犬更顽固。 —

Neither manifested the least disposition to retreat. —
他们都没有表现出丝毫退缩的意愿。 —

It was evident that their battle-cry was “Conquer or die.” —
显然他们的战斗口号是“征服或死亡”。 —

In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had despatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; —
与此山谷的山腰上出现了一只红蚂蚁，显然充满兴奋，它可能已经击败了敌人，或者还没有参与战斗； —

probably the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; —
很可能是后者，因为它没有失去任何肢体； —

whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it. —
他的母亲已经吩咐他要拿着盾牌回来，否则就是以盾入葬； —

Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus. —
或许他是某个阿喀琉斯，潜藏怒火，现在来为他的巴特洛克洛斯复仇或营救； —

He saw this unequal combat from afar – for the blacks were nearly twice the size of the red – he drew near with rapid pace till be stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; —
他从远处看到这场不公平的战斗 – 因为黑蚂蚁几乎比红蚂蚁大一倍 – 他快速走近，直到站到战斗者们距离自己只有半英寸的地方； —

then, watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and commenced his operations near the root of his right fore leg, leaving the foe to select among his own members; —
然后，找准时机，他跳到黑色战士身上，从他的右前腿根部开始动手，让敌人选择他自己的身体部位； —

and so there were three united for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all other locks and cements to shame. —
他们如此紧密地联合在一起，仿佛发明了一种新型吸引力，让其他锁链和胶水都相形见绌； —

I should not have wondered by this time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing their national airs the while, to excite the slow and cheer the dying combatants. —
到现在我不再感到惊讶，发现它们可能在某块高高的木屑上设立了他们各自的音乐队，同时演奏着他们的国歌，以激励缓慢的战士，安慰垂死的战斗者； —

I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men. —
我自己甚至有些激动，仿佛他们是人类； —

The more you think of it, the less the difference. —
你思考得越多，就越感觉它们之间的差距是越小； —

And certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed. —
而且肯定没有康科德历史上记录的战斗，至少在美国历史中没有，可以与这场相提并论，无论是参与战斗的人数，还是所展现的爱国主义和英雄主义； —

For numbers and for carnage it was an Austerlitz or Dresden. Concord Fight! —
就人数和血腥而言，这就像一场奥斯特里茨或德累斯顿。康科德之战！ —

Two killed on the patriots’ side, and Luther Blanchard wounded! —
爱国者方面有两人被杀，卢瑟·布兰查德受伤！ —

Why here every ant was a Buttrick – “Fire! for God’s sake fire!” —
这里每只蚂蚁都是一位巴特里克 – “开火！为了上帝的缘故开火！” —

– and thousands shared the fate of Davis and Hosmer. There was not one hireling there. —
– 成千上万的蚂蚁分享了戴维斯和霍斯默的命运。那里没有一个雇佣兵。 —

I have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for, as much as our ancestors, and not to avoid a three-penny tax on their tea; —
我毫不怀疑，他们所争取的是一个原则，正如我们的祖先一样，而不是为了避免茶叶三便士的税收； —

and the results of this battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker Hill, at least.
这场战斗的结果对于相关人士将是同样重要和难忘的，至少和邦克山之战一样；

I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly described were struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on my window-sill, in order to see the issue. —
我拾起那块上面三只我特别描述的蚂蚁在搏斗的木片，把它带进了我的房子，并把它放在窗台上一个玻璃杯底下，以便看到结果； —

Holding a microscope to the first-mentioned red ant, I saw that, though he was assiduously gnawing at the near fore leg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, his own breast was all torn away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black warrior, whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to pierce; —
拿着显微镜对准我刚提到的那只红蚂蚁，我看到，尽管他努力地啃咬着他敌人近前腿，已经切断了他剩下的触须，但他自己的胸部已经被撕裂，暴露出里面的器官受到了黑蚁战士的咬击； —

and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer’s eyes shone with ferocity such as war only could excite. —
而受伤者那黑暗的眼睛里闪烁着只有战争才能激起的凶猛； —

They struggled half an hour longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as ever, and he was endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, to divest himself of them; —
他们在玻璃杯下搏斗了半个小时，当我再次看时，黑蚁战士已经把他的敌人的头从身体上割了下来，而那些仍然生存的头就像恐怖的战利品一样挂在他的马鞍两侧，似乎和以前一样牢固地固定在那里，他正在努力挣扎，没有了触须，只剩下残留的一条腿，和我不知道多少其他伤口，试图摆脱它们； —

which at length, after half an hour more, he accomplished. —
就这样，在又过了半个小时之后，他终于成功了； —

I raised the glass, and he went off over the window-sill in that crippled state. —
我举起玻璃，他跛着离开了窗台； —

Whether he finally survived that combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some Hotel des Invalides, I do not know; —
他最终是否在那场战斗中幸存下来，度过余生，在一家伤兵旅馆里，我不知道； —

but I thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter. —
但我想他之后的劳动价值不会太高了； —

I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; —
我从来没有得知哪一方获得了胜利，战争的原因是什么； —

but I felt for the rest of that day as if I had had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a human battle before my door.
但我在那一天的剩余时间里感觉好像看到了在我家门前一场人类战斗的搏斗，凶残和杀戮，激起了我的感情；

Kirby and Spence tell us that the battles of ants have long been celebrated and the date of them recorded, though they say that Huber is the only modern author who appears to have witnessed them. —
柯比和斯彭斯告诉我们，蚂蚁之间的战斗早已经被广泛传颂，并且记录了它们的日期，尽管他们说，休伯似乎是唯一一个目睹过这些战斗的现代作者； —

“AEneas Sylvius,” say they, “after giving a very circumstantial account of one contested with great obstinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a pear tree,” adds that “this action was fought in the pontificate of Eugenius the Fourth, in the presence of Nicholas Pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who related the whole, history of the battle with the greatest fidelity.” —
“埃涅阿斯·西尔维乌斯”说他，“在详细描述了一场在一棵梨树树干上由一种大种类和小种类之间激烈争夺的战斗之后，”还补充说，“这场行动发生在尤金四世任教皇期间，尼古拉斯·皮斯托里亚西斯，一位著名的律师，亲眼见证了整个战斗的历史并最忠实地记录下来；” —

A similar engagement between great and small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus, in which the small ones, being victorious, are said to have buried the bodies of their own soldiers, but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds. —
一场类似的大蚂蚁与小蚂蚁的战斗被奥劳斯·马格努斯记载，在这场战斗中，小蚂蚁获胜，据说他们为自己的战士们埋葬了尸体，但把巨人敌人的尸体留给了鸟类作为食物。 —

This event happened previous to the expulsion of the tyrant Christiern the Second from Sweden.” —
这件事发生在独裁者克里斯蒂安二世被驱逐出瑞典之前。 —

The battle which I witnessed took place in the Presidency of Polk, five years before the passage of Webster’s Fugitive-Slave Bill.
我目睹的那场战斗发生在波尔克总统任期内，比韦伯斯特逃奴法案通过前五年。

Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle in a victualling cellar, sported his heavy quarters in the woods, without the knowledge of his master, and ineffectually smelled at old fox burrows and woodchucks’ holes; —
许多村庄里，那些只适合在补给室里追逐泥龟的Bose在树林中炫耀着它沉重的躯体，主人根本不知道，徒劳地嗅着老狐狸洞和土拨鼠洞； —

led perchance by some slight cur which nimbly threaded the wood, and might still inspire a natural terror in its denizens; —
他可能被一只敏捷地穿越树林的小狗引导着，这只小狗依然能够在树居动物中激起一种天生的恐惧； —

– now far behind his guide, barking like a canine bull toward some small squirrel which had treed itself for scrutiny, then, cantering off, bending the bushes with his weight, imagining that he is on the track of some stray member of the jerbilla family. —
现在他跟在向树林外的小松鼠叫喊，像一只公牛般咆哮，然后迈着马步离开，身体在树丛中弯曲，想象自己正在追寻松鼠家族中的一只迷路成员。 —

Once I was surprised to see a cat walking along the stony shore of the pond, for they rarely wander so far from home. —
有一次我看到一只猫在池塘的石滩上散步，因为它们很少远离家。 —

The surprise was mutual. Nevertheless the most domestic cat, which has lain on a rug all her days, appears quite at home in the woods, and, by her sly and stealthy behavior, proves herself more native there than the regular inhabitants. —
但惊讶是相互的。不过最温顺的家猫，平日里躺在地毯上，竟然在树林里表现得非常自然，通过她狡黠而偷偷的行为，证明她在那里比正常居民更有本土性。 —

Once, when berrying, I met with a cat with young kittens in the woods, quite wild, and they all, like their mother, had their backs up and were fiercely spitting at me. —
有一次采摘浆果时，我在树林里碰到了一只带着幼猫的野猫，它们都像它们的母亲一样野生，母猫鼓着背，凶猛地向我吐口水。 —

A few years before I lived in the woods there was what was called a “winged cat” in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln nearest the pond, Mr. Gilian Baker’s. —
在我居住在树林之前的几年里，林肯镇最近池塘边的一个农舍里有一只被称为“有翅膀的猫”，她是吉利安·贝克尔夫人的。 —

When I called to see her in June, 1842, she was gone a-hunting in the woods, as was her wont (I am not sure whether it was a male or female, and so use the more common pronoun), but her mistress told me that she came into the neighborhood a little more than a year before, in April, and was finally taken into their house; —
1842年6月我去看她时，她正在树林里狩猎，这是她的习惯（我不确定是雄性还是雌性，所以使用更常见的代词），但她的女主人告诉我，她在一年多前的4月来到附近，最终被收进他们家里； —

that she was of a dark brownish-gray color, with a white spot on her throat, and white feet, and had a large bushy tail like a fox; —
她是暗褐灰色的，喉咙上有一个白斑，脚上有白色，尾巴浓密像狐狸一样； —

that in the winter the fur grew thick and flatted out along her sides, forming stripes ten or twelve inches long by two and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff, the upper side loose, the under matted like felt, and in the spring these appendages dropped off. —
冬天毛发会密而沿着两侧伸展出成条状，每条长十到十二英寸宽两英寸半，下巴下方像一只口袋一样，上侧松散，下侧像毡毛一样，春天这些附件会脱落。 —

They gave me a pair of her “wings,” which I keep still. —
他们给了我一对她的“翅膀”，我至今还留着。 —

There is no appearance of a membrane about them. —
它们看起来没有膜状物质。 —

Some thought it was part flying squirrel or some other wild animal, which is not impossible, for, according to naturalists, prolific hybrids have been produced by the union of the marten and domestic cat. —
有人认为它可能是部分飞鼠或其他野生动物，这也不是不可能的，据自然学家说，松鼠和家猫的交配可能产生多产的杂交后代。 —

This would have been the right kind of cat for me to keep, if I had kept any; —
如果我养猫，这种猫才是我应该养的那种猫； —

for why should not a poet’s cat be winged as well as his horse?
诗人的猫为何不能像他的马一样有翅膀呢？

In the fall the loon (Colymbus glacialis) came, as usual, to moult and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild laughter before I had risen. —
秋天，潜鸟如往常一样来到池塘脱毛和洗澡，在我起床前，用他狂野的笑声使树林回荡。 —

At rumor of his arrival all the Mill-dam sportsmen are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two and three by three, with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses. —
一听到他到来的传闻，所有的水坝猎人都警觉起来，乘坐马车或徒步，两人或三人结伴，手持专利步枪和圆锥形弹丸以及望远镜。 —

They come rustling through the woods like autumn leaves, at least ten men to one loon. —
他们像秋叶一样在树林里沙沙作响，至少十个人对一个潜鸟。 —

Some station themselves on this side of the pond, some on that, for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent; —
有些人站在池塘这边，有些人在那边，因为可怜的鸟不能无处不在； —

if he dive here he must come up there. But now the kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling the surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound with their discharges. —
如果他在这里潜下去，他必须在那里浮出水面。但现在十月的温柔风吹起，树叶沙沙作响，水面泛起涟漪，起风浪，以至即使敌人们用望远镜搜寻池塘，用枪声使树林回响，也看不到或听不到任何潜鸟。 —

The waves generously rise and dash angrily, taking sides with all water-fowl, and our sportsmen must beat a retreat to town and shop and unfinished jobs. —
波浪慷慨地起伏，愤怒地拍打，支持着所有水鸟，我们的猎人只能撤退回城镇和店铺，回去做未完成的工作。 —

But they were too often successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the morning I frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few rods. —
但他们太成功了。清早去打一桶水时，我经常看到这只高贵的鸟从我的小海湾里飞出，离我仅几码远。 —

If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in order to see how he would manoeuvre, he would dive and be completely lost, so that I did not discover him again, sometimes, till the latter part of the day. —
如果我试图乘船追赶他，看看他会如何操纵，他会潜下去，全然消失，以至我有时要到稍晚时分才再次发现他。 —

But I was more than a match for him on the surface. —
但在水面上我胜过他。 —

He commonly went off in a rain.
他通常在雨中离开。

As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon, suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. —
当我在一个十月的非常宁静的下午划桨沿着北岸时，特别是在这样的日子里，他们像蒲公英轻飘飞至湖面，我在池塘上徒然寻找鸬鹚，突然，一只鸬鹚从岸边航向中间，在我前方几码处飞了出来，发出他那狂野的笑声，露出了自己。 —

I pursued with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than before. —
我追随着桨，他潜下去，但当他再次浮出水面时，我比之前更近了。 —

He dived again, but I miscalculated the direction he would take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this time, for I had helped to widen the interval; —
他再次潜下去，但我错估了他会采取的方向，这次我们相隔五十码，因为我帮助拉大了这一间隔； —

and again he laughed long and loud, and with more reason than before. —
而且他又长时间地、大声地笑了起来，比之前更有理由。 —

He manoeuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen rods of him. —
他操纵得如此狡猾，我无法靠近他半打竿子的距离。 —

Each time, when he came to the surface, turning his head this way and that, he cooly surveyed the water and the land, and apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the boat. —
每次他浮出水面，转动着头这边那边，他冷静地审视着水和陆地，显然选择他的路线，以便他在水域最宽广、距离船最远的地方浮出水面。 —

It was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his resolve into execution. —
他做决定并迅速将其执行的速度令人惊讶。 —

He led me at once to the widest part of the pond, and could not be driven from it. —
他立刻引导我到池塘最宽的部分，而且无法被驱赶。 —

While he was thinking one thing in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine. —
他脑中想着一件事的时候，我则竭力推测他的想法。 —

It was a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against a loon. —
这是在池塘的平滑表面上进行的有趣游戏，一个人对一个潜鸟。 —

Suddenly your adversary’s checker disappears beneath the board, and the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again. —
突然间，你对手的棋子消失在棋盘下面，问题是把你的棋子尽可能靠近他将再次出现的地方。 —

Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me, having apparently passed directly under the boat. —
他有时会出乎意料地在我对面的地方浮出水面，显然直接从船底下穿过。 —

So long-winded was he and so unweariable, that when he had swum farthest he would immediately plunge again, nevertheless; —
他是如此长气和不知疲倦，以至于当他游得最远时，他会立刻再次潜下去，尽管； —

and then no wit could divine where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the bottom of the pond in its deepest part. —
因此，没有智慧可以揣摩他可能在深池塘底部的平滑表面下速度快如鱼儿般前行的方向。 —

It is said that loons have been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface, with hooks set for trout – though Walden is deeper than that. —
据说潜鸟曾经被捕获在纽约湖泊的80英尺深处，那里设置了鳟鱼的钩子–尽管瓦尔登湖比那更深。 —

How surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another sphere speeding his way amid their schools! —
鱼儿一定很惊讶地看到这个来自另一个世界的笨拙访客在它们的群中迅速前行！ —

Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the surface, and swam much faster there. —
然而，他似乎在水下就像在水面上那样清楚自己的航线，并且在水下游得更快。 —

Once or twice I saw a ripple where he approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre, and instantly dived again. —
一两次我看到他靠近水面的地方有涟漪，他刚刚探出头察看，立刻又潜入水中。 —

I found that it was as well for me to rest on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where he would rise; —
我发现，对我来说，更好的办法是靠在桨上等他重新出现，而不是试图计算他会在哪里浮出水面； —

for again and again, when I was straining my eyes over the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly laugh behind me. —
因为一次又一次，当我用力地朝着水面的某个方向凝视时，他突然发出那种超自然的笑声，让我吓了一跳； —

But why, after displaying so much cunning, did he invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh? —
但为什么，在展现了这么多狡猾之后，他每次浮出水面时都会通过那声震耳欲聋的笑声爆露自己呢？ —

Did not his white breast enough betray him? He was indeed a silly loon, I thought. —
难道他白色的胸膛还不足以让他暴露吗？我认为他实在是个愚蠢的潜鸟； —

I could commonly hear the splash of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. —
每次他浮出水面时，我通常都能听到水花的扑打声，因此也就发现了他； —

But after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly, and swam yet farther than at first. —
但一小时过后，他似乎一点也不疲惫，愿意潜水，游得比一开始还远； —

It was surprising to see how serenely he sailed off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface, doing all the work with his webbed feet beneath. —
当他浮出水面时，看着他沉着地划动水面，令人惊讶，所有的工作都是由他脚下的蹼来完成的； —

His usual note was this demoniac laughter, yet somewhat like that of a water-fowl; —
他通常发出这种魔幻般的笑声，但有点像水鸟的声音； —

but occasionally, when he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off, he uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf than any bird; —
但偶尔，当他成功地躲避了我，并在很远的地方浮出水面时，他发出一声长长的、超自然的嚎叫，可能更像狼而不是任何鸟类； —

as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and deliberately howls. —
就像一只野兽把鼻子搁在地上然后故意嚎叫一样； —

This was his looning – perhaps the wildest sound that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. —
这就是他的嚎叫声 —— 也许是这里听到的最野性的声音，让林间回响不已； —

I concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his own resources. —
我得出结论，他笑来嘲笑我的努力，对他自己的资源充满信心； —

Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth that I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him. —
尽管此时天空已经乌云密布，池塘仍然平静得我可以看见他浮出水面的地方，即使听不见他； —

His white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of the water were all against him. —
他的白色胸膛、空气的寂静和水面的平静都不利于他； —

At length having come up fifty rods off, he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his god was angry with me; —
最终他在五十码远的地方浮出水面时，发出了一声持续的长嚎，仿佛在呼唤潜鸟之神的帮助，立刻就有一阵从东边吹过来的风把水面吹起波纹，整个空气都弥漫着薄雾的雨，我好像被印象深刻，仿佛是潜鸟的祈祷得到了回应，而他的神对我生气了； —

and so I left him disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface.
于是我离开了他，在那喧嚣的水面上慢慢消失。

For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; —
秋天的几个小时，我看着鸭子狡猾地转向和维持在池塘中央，远离猎人； —

tricks which they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. —
这些把戏它们在路易斯安那州的泻湖中就不需要练习了。 —

When compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over the pond at a considerable height, from which they could easily see to other ponds and the river, like black motes in the sky; —
当它们被迫起飞时，有时会在池塘上空高高盘旋，从那里它们可以轻易地看到其他池塘和河流，就像天空中的黑点； —

and, when I thought they had gone off thither long since, they would settle down by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which was left free; —
当我以为它们早就飞到那边去了，它们却会以倾斜的飞行方式飞行四分之一英里，落在一个自由的远处； —

but what beside safety they got by sailing in the middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the same reason that I do.
但是除了安全之外，它们在瓦尔登湖中央帆行得到了什么，我不知道，除非它们像我一样热爱它的水。