When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. —
当我写下以下文字时，或者说大部分文字时，我独自居住在马萨诸塞州康科德的瓦尔登湖边，距离任何邻居有一英里远，住在我自己动手建造的房子里，只靠自己的双手谋生。 —

I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again.
我在那里生活了两年零两个月。目前我再次是文明生活的过客。

I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent. —
如果我的乡亲们没有对我的生活方式提出非常具体的询问，我是不会如此过多地向读者透露我的私事的。他们或许会觉得这些问题有失礼，但在我看来并不无礼，反而考虑到情况，是十分自然和相关的。 —

Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I was not afraid; and the like. —
有些人问我吃什么；我是否感到孤独；我是否感到害怕等等。 —

Others have been curious to learn what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purposes; —
另一些人则想了解我收入中用于慈善用途的比例； —

and some, who have large families, how many poor children I maintained. —
还有一些人，有着众多子女的人，想知道我养了多少贫困儿童。 —

I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these questions in this book. —
因此，我希望我的读者中对我没有特别兴趣的人，请原谅我如果在这本书中试图回答其中一些问题。 —

In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; —
在大多数书籍中，我，或者说第一人称代词，会被省略；在这本书中将保留； —

that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. —
这在自我夸耀方面是主要的区别。 —

We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. —
我们常常忽略，毕竟总是第一人称在说话。 —

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. —
如果我既然还有其他人跟我一样了解透彻，我也不会那么多说自己。 —

Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. —
不幸的是，由于我的经历所限，我只能局限于这个主题。 —

Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men’s lives; —
此外，我希望每位作家，先或后，都能以简单真诚的方式讲述自己的生活，而不仅仅讲述他听说过的其他人的生活； —

some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; —
类似他远在他乡给亲人发来的信； —

for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me. —
因为如果他生活得真诚，那么他对我来说必然是在遥远的异乡。 —

Perhaps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. —
或许这些页面更特别地面向贫穷的学生。 —

As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. —
至于我的其他读者，他们将接受适用于他们的那些部分。 —

I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits.
我相信没有人会在穿上这件外衣时扯破缝线，因为它可能对适合的人起到很好的作用。

I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to live in New England; —
我宁愿说的是，不是关于中国人和三明治岛民，而是关于你们这些阅读这些页面的人，据说你们生活在新英格兰； —

something about your condition, especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether it cannot be improved as well as not. —
关于你们的状况，尤其是你们在这个世界中的外部状况或情况，关于这个城镇，这到底是什么，它是否有必要如此糟糕，是否不能被改善。 —

I have travelled a good deal in Concord; —
我在康科德周围旅行过很多次； —

and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways. —
到处，无论是商店、办公室还是田野，这里的居民对我来说都表现出以千奇百怪的方式在忏悔。 —

What I have heard of Bramins sitting exposed to four fires and looking in the face of the sun; —
我所听到的有关婆罗门人坐在暴露于四面火焰中并直视太阳的事情； —

or hanging suspended, with their heads downward, over flames; —
或者头朝下悬挂在火焰上方； —

or looking at the heavens over their shoulders “until it becomes impossible for them to resume their natural position, while from the twist of the neck nothing but liquids can pass into the stomach”; —
或者仰面长时间看天空“直至他们无法恢复自然姿势，因为脖子的扭曲使得只有液体能进入胃”； —

or dwelling, chained for life, at the foot of a tree; —
或者终生被锁在树下； —

or measuring with their bodies, like caterpillars, the breadth of vast empires; —
或者测量他们的身体，像毛虫一样，横跨广袤的帝国； —

or standing on one leg on the tops of pillars – even these forms of conscious penance are hardly more incredible and astonishing than the scenes which I daily witness. —
或者站在柱子顶端单腿站立——即使这些自觉的苦行形式几乎和我每天见到的场景一样不可思议和令人讶异。 —

The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; —
Hercules的十二项豪举相比于我的邻居们所承担的那些任务微不足道； —

for they were only twelve, and had an end; —
因为他们只有十二项任务，并且有个结束。 —

but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor. —
但我从未看到这些人杀死或俘虏过任何怪兽，完成过任何工作。 —

They have no friend Iolaus to burn with a hot iron the root of the hydra’s head, but as soon as one head is crushed, two spring up.
他们没有友人伊俄劳斯（Iolaus）来用热铁烧灭九头蛇头的根，一旦有一个头被打碎，就会长出两个头。

I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; —
我看到了年轻人，他们是我的同乡，不幸继承了农场、房屋、谷仓、牲畜和农具； —

for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. —
因为这些东西比获得起来更容易，但丢弃起来却更难。 —

Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. —
如果他们是在开阔的牧场上出生，并由狼哺育，也许会更清晰地看到他们被召唤去劳作的田野。 —

Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? —
谁使他们成为土地的奴隶？为什么他们要吃六十英亩的土地，而人类却只被判定吃自己一石的泥土？ —

Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? —
他们一出生就开始挖自己的坟墓是为什么？ —

They have got to live a man’s life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can. —
他们必须过一种男人的生活，把这一切随身搬运，在生活中尽可能地继续下去。 —

How many a poor immortal soul have I met well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and woodlot! —
我曾遇到许多贫困的不朽灵魂，几乎被压垮和窒息在自己的负担之下，在人生之路上匍匐而行，推着一座七十五英尺长、四十英尺宽的谷仓，里面的奥靫亚（Augean）牛圈从未被清理过，还有一百英亩的土地，耕种、刈割、牧场和林地！ —

The portionless, who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances, find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh.
那些没有遗传负担的人，发现征服和耕种自己几立方英尺的肉体已经足够劳累了。

But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon plowed into the soil for compost. —
但人们犯了一个错误。人的优秀部分很快就被犁进土壤中作为堆肥。 —

By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. —
凭着一种所谓的命运，通常被称为必要性，他们从事着，正如一本旧书中所说，储备能被蛀虫和锈蚀的宝藏，被贼挖到并偷走。 —

It is a fool’s life, as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before. —
若他们在结束之前没有意识到，那么到人生的尽头，他们将会发现这是愚蠢的生活。 —

It is said that Deucalion and Pyrrha created men by throwing stones over their heads behind them:–
据说德库卢安（Deucalion）和皮里亚（Pyrrha）通过向后扔石头创造了人类：–

Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum,
因此我们是坚强的种族，经历着劳苦，

Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati.
我们提供文件证明我们的身世。

Or, as Raleigh rhymes it in his sonorous way,–
或者用瑞利富韵的方式来说，

“From thence our kind hard-hearted is, enduring pain and care, Approving that our bodies of a stony nature are.”
“因此，我们的种族冷酷无情，忍受痛苦和忧虑，证明了我们的身体是一种多石的天性。”

So much for a blind obedience to a blundering oracle, throwing the stones over their heads behind them, and not seeing where they fell.
至于对一个犯错的神谕的盲从，他们将石头扔过自己的头顶，却不知道它们落在何处。

Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. —
即使在这个相对自由的国家，大多数人也是因为无知和错误，而被生活中虚构的忧虑和多余的粗重劳作所占据，无法享受生活的更高层次的果实。 —

Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. —
他们的手由于过度劳累而过于笨拙，过于震颤，根本无法做到那一点。 —

Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; —
实际上，工作的人没有时间每天保持真正的廉耻； —

he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; —
他无法维持与人之间最男子气概的关系； —

his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine. —
他的劳动会在市场中贬值。他没有时间做任何事情，只能成为一个机器。 —

How can he remember well his ignorance – which his growth requires – who has so often to use his knowledge? —
一个经常要使用自己知识的人，如何能记得自己的无知，而成长却需要这种无知呢？ —

We should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes, and recruit him with our cordials, before we judge of him. —
在我们评判他之前，我们有时应该无偿地给他提供食物和衣物，并用我们的酒助他恢复元气。 —

The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. —
我们的天性中最美好的特质，就像水果上的薄膜一样，需要最精细的处理才能保存。 —

Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.
然而我们对待自己和彼此却没有这样温柔。

Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. —
你们中的一些人，我们都知道，生活困难，有时几乎窒息。 —

I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour. —
我毫不怀疑，你们中一些人读这本书时无法为你们实际吃过的所有晚餐付款，或者为快要穿破或已经破旧的外套和鞋子付款，而是花时间看这一页，窃取你们债权人的一个小时。 —

It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; —
很明显，你们中的许多人过着卑鄙和隐秘的生活，我的视野已被经历磨砺； —

always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another’s brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; —
总是在边缘徘徊，试图着手经商，试图摆脱债务，一种非常古老的泥潭，拉丁文称之为aes alienum，即别人的黄铜，因为他们的一些硬币是用黄铜制成的； —

still living, and dying, and buried by this other’s brass; —
依然活着，死去，葬身于他人的黄铜之下； —

always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; —
总是承诺支付，承诺支付，明天再付，而今天却破产； —

seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offenses; —
寻求讨好，争取生意，通过多少方式，只是不会犯有关国家监狱的罪行； —

lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; —
撒谎，恭维，投票，将自己变得对他人客气到极致，或者扩张成薄弱而雾状的慷慨氛围，劝说邻居让你制作他的鞋子，或帽子，或外套，或马车，或替他进口杂货； —

making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; —
让自己生病，以便日后备用，留点东西以备不时之需，藏在旧箱子中，或在石膏板后的袜子内，或者更安全地，藏在砖银行里； —

no matter where, no matter how much or how little.
无论在哪里，无论多少或多少不足。

I sometimes wonder that we can be so frivolous, I may almost say, as to attend to the gross but somewhat foreign form of servitude called Negro Slavery, there are so many keen and subtle masters that enslave both North and South. It is hard to have a Southern overseer; —
我有时想知道我们怎么会如此轻浮，我几乎可以说，去关注所谓的奴隶制度中的外来形式，称之为黑奴奴隶制；北方和南方都有许多狡猾而微妙的奴隶主。拥有一个南方监工固然艰难； —

it is worse to have a Northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself. —
但拥有一个北方监工更糟糕；最糟糕的是当你成为自己的奴役者。 —

Talk of a divinity in man! Look at the teamster on the highway, wending to market by day or night; —
人类之神灵！看看那在公路上赶车到市场的车夫，无论白天还是黑夜； —

does any divinity stir within him? His highest duty to fodder and water his horses! —
他心中是否有神灵觉醒？他最重要的职责是给马驹喂草喝水！ —

What is his destiny to him compared with the shipping interests? —
对他来说，他的命运与他有什么关系？与航运利益相比？ —

Does not he drive for Squire Make-a-stir? How godlike, how immortal, is he? —
他难道不是在为Make-a-stir先生开车吗？他有多么神圣，多么不朽！ —

See how he cowers and sneaks, how vaguely all the day he fears, not being immortal nor divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a fame won by his own deeds. —
看他如何卑躬屈膝，如何整日胆怯，对自己没有不朽，也不神圣的恐惧模糊，而只是对自己的看法，一种通过自己行为赢得的名望的奴隶和囚犯。 —

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. —
公众舆论与我们自己的私人意见相比是一个虚弱的暴君。 —

What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate. —
一个人对自己的看法决定，或者说预示着他的命运。 —

Self-emancipation even in the West Indian provinces of the fancy and imagination – what Wilberforce is there to bring that about? —
即使在想象的西印度省份，自我解放又有谁能带来呢？ —

Think, also, of the ladies of the land weaving toilet cushions against the last day, not to betray too green an interest in their fates! —
想想这个国家的女士们在织制着厕所枕，以防止对自己命运表现出太浓烈的兴趣！ —

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
好像你可以杀死时间而不会伤害永恒。

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. —
大多数人过着平静绝望的生活。 —

What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. —
所谓的顺从其实是绝望的确认。 —

From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. —
从绝望之城走入绝望的乡村，只能安慰自己于水貂和麝鼠的勇敢。 —

A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. —
即使在所谓的人类游戏和娱乐活动中，还是隐藏着一种刻板而无意识的绝望。 —

There is no play in them, for this comes after work. —
在其中没有游戏的因素，因为这是在工作之后。 —

But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
但是智慧的特征之一就是不要做绝望的事情。

When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism, is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. —
当我们考虑到人类的主要目的，用信条的话说，以及真正的生活必需品和手段时，似乎人类是故意选择了普通的生活方式，因为他们更喜欢这种方式。 —

Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. —
然而，他们诚实地认为没有选择余地。 —

But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. —
但警觉和健康的天性会记得太阳升起明净。 —

It is never too late to give up our prejudices. —
放弃偏见永远不会太迟。 —

No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. —
无论多古老的思维或做法，如果没有证据支持，都不可信任。 —

What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields. —
今日被众人传颂或默默接受为真实的东西，明天可能变成谬误，只是一团意见之烟，有些人当作可以降下滋润雨露的云彩。 —

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. —
老人们说你做不到的事情，你去尝试就会发现自己能做到。 —

Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new. —
对老人而言，旧事属于他们，新事则属于新人。 —

Old people did not know enough once, perchance, to fetch fresh fuel to keep the fire a-going; —
老一辈曾经不懂得为了让火继续燃烧而取来新的燃料； —

new people put a little dry wood under a pot, and are whirled round the globe with the speed of birds, in a way to kill old people, as the phrase is. —
新一代在锅底下放点干木屑，便能如鸟能飞地穿越地球，这种速度足以让老人们望尘莫及。 —

Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost. —
年老之人并不比青年更称职作为教导者，因为他们失去的比获得的要多。 —

One may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute value by living. —
几乎可以怀疑，即便最智慧的人通过生活获得了什么绝对有价值的东西。 —

Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserable failures, for private reasons, as they must believe; —
实际上，老人没有什么重要的忠告可以给年轻人，因为他们的经验是如此片面，而他们的生活对于私人原因来说，是如此悲惨，以至于他们必须相信； —

and it may be that they have some faith left which belies that experience, and they are only less young than they were. —
也许他们仍对某些值得相信的经历持有一些信念，而他们只是比以前年轻一些。 —

I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. —
我在这个星球上生活了将近三十年，但我从未听到过我的前辈们提供过有价值甚至真诚的忠告。 —

They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose. —
他们没有告诉我任何事情，也许他们甚至不能告诉我任何有关的事情。 —

Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me; —
生活是一个大部分至今未经我尝试的实验； —

but it does not avail me that they have tried it. —
但他们尝试过对我并没有任何帮助。 —

If I have any experience which I think valuable, I am sure to reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about.
如果我有任何我认为有价值的经历，我肯定会反思到我的导师从未提过这些。

One farmer says to me, “You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with”; —
有位农夫对我说：“你不能完全靠蔬菜食物生活，因为它没有提供形成骨骼所需的任何营养”； —

and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; —
因此，他虔诚地把一部分时间用于为身体提供骨骼的原材料； —

walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle. —
一边走一边在牛背后谈话，这些用蔬菜形成的骨骼的牛，不顾一切障碍也能把他和他沉重的犁推动前进； —

Some things are really necessaries of life in some circles, the most helpless and diseased, which in others are luxuries merely, and in others still are entirely unknown.
一些在某些圈子里确实是生活必需品的东西，在其他圈子里只是奢侈品，而在另一些圈子里则是完全不知道的；

The whole ground of human life seems to some to have been gone over by their predecessors, both the heights and the valleys, and all things to have been cared for. —
对一些人来说，人类生活的整个基础似乎已经被他们的前辈走过，无论是登顶还是陷入低谷，一切都被照顾到； —

According to Evelyn, “the wise Solomon prescribed ordinances for the very distances of trees; —
根据伊夫林的说法，“智慧的所罗门规定了树木间的距离； —

and the Roman praetors have decided how often you may go into your neighbor’s land to gather the acorns which fall on it without trespass, and what share belongs to that neighbor.” —
罗马审判官甚至已经决定了你可以多少次进入邻居的土地上收集掉在上面的橡子而不构成侵犯，并且那部分归邻居所有； —

Hippocrates has even left directions how we should cut our nails; —
伊凡里斯甚至留下指导我们如何切割指甲的指南； —

that is, even with the ends of the fingers, neither shorter nor longer. —
就是，与指尖齐平，既不短也不长； —

Undoubtedly the very tedium and ennui which presume to have exhausted the variety and the joys of life are as old as Adam. But man’s capacities have never been measured; —
毫无疑问，那些自认为已经尽兴了生活的无聊和厌倦，自亚当以来就存在。但人类的潜力从未被衡量过； —

nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried. —
我们不能按任何先例来评判他能做到什么，因为尝试很少； —

Whatever have been thy failures hitherto, “be not afflicted, my child, for who shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone?”
无论你迄今为止失败了什么，“不要难过，我的孩子，因为谁会明确告诉你，你还有什么事情没做呢？”；

We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; —
我们可以通过上千个简单的测试来检验我们的生活； —

as, for instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once a system of earths like ours. —
比如，同一轮太阳一边熟成了我的豆子，同时照亮了一个与我们的地球系统相似的星球； —

If I had remembered this it would have prevented some mistakes. —
如果我记得这一点，就可以避免一些错误。 —

This was not the light in which I hoed them. The stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles! —
这不是我给他们锄地的心情。星星是构成多么奇妙的三角形的顶点！ —

What distant and different beings in the various mansions of the universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment! —
在宇宙的不同洞府中，有着不同的异质生命在同一时刻注视着同一个星球！ —

Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. —
大自然和人类生活与我们各自的构成一样多样。 —

Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? —
谁能说出生活对另一个人意味着什么样的前景呢？ —

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? —
还有比我们彼此看一眼彼此的眼睛更奇迹的事情吗？ —

We should live in all the ages of the world in an hour; ay, in all the worlds of the ages. —
我们应该在世界各个时代中生活一小时；是的，我们要在各个时代的世界中生活。 —

History, Poetry, Mythology! – I know of no reading of another’s experience so startling and informing as this would be.
历史、诗歌、神话！- 我认为没有比阅读他人经历更令人震撼和启发的事情了。

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. —
大多数邻居称之为美好的事物，我在心灵深处相信是糟糕的，如果我要忏悔些什么，很可能是我行为良善。 —

What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? —
什么恶魔附身让我表现得如此出色呢？ —

You may say the wisest thing you can, old man – you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind – I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that. —
你可能说的是你能说的最明智的话，老人家- 你已经活了七十年，也算不上没有某种荣誉- 我听到一股无法抗拒的声音邀请我远离这一切。 —

One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.
一代人放弃另一代人的事业，就像搁浅的船只一样。

I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do. —
我认为我们可以安全地信任比我们更多的东西。 —

We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere. —
我们可以放弃一部分照顾自己的时间，诚实地将关注投入到其他地方。 —

Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength. —
大自然既适应我们的软弱，也适应我们的力量。 —

The incessant anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh incurable form of disease. —
有些人的无尽忧虑和紧张几乎是难以治愈的疾病形式。 —

We are made to exaggerate the importance of what work we do; and yet how much is not done by us! —
我们被迫夸大我们所做工作的重要性；然而有多少事情并不是由我们完成的！ —

or, what if we had been taken sick? How vigilant we are! —
或者，如果我们生病了怎么办？我们是如此警惕！ —

determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it; —
决心尽量不凭信仰生活； —

all the day long on the alert, at night we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to uncertainties. —
整天保持警惕，晚上我们不情愿地祈祷，并把自己交托给不确定性。 —

So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. —
我们被迫如此彻底和真诚地生活，尊重我们的生命，并否认变化的可能性。 —

This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. —
我们说这是唯一的方式；但有无数种方式，就像可以从一个中心画出无数条半径一样。 —

All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant. —
所有的变化都是令人惊叹的奇迹；但这是一个每时每刻都在发生的奇迹。 —

Confucius said, “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” —
孔子说过: “知之为知之，不知为不知，是真正的知识。” —

When one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to his understanding, I foresee that all men at length establish their lives on that basis.
当一个人将想象中的事实归结为他理解的事实时，我预见到最终所有人都会以此为基础建立他们的生活。

Let us consider for a moment what most of the trouble and anxiety which I have referred to is about, and how much it is necessary that we be troubled, or at least careful. —
让我们考虑一下我提到的大部分麻烦和焦虑是关于什么，以及我们需要多么焦虑，或至少要小心。 —

It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them; —
如果能过着原始和前沿生活，尽管处于外在的文明之中，这将是一种优势，因为我们可以了解生活的粗糙必需品是什么，为获取这些必需品采取了哪些方法； —

or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants, to see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores, what they stored, that is, what are the grossest groceries. —
甚至翻阅商人的旧台帐，看看人们最常在商店买什么，他们储藏了什么，也就是说，什么是最基础的杂货。 —

For the improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.
千年来的进步对人类存在的基本规律几乎没有产生任何影响；因为我们的骨架可能与我们的祖先的骨架没有区别。

By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it. —
所谓生活的必需品，是指人类通过自身努力得到的一切中，从一开始，或者长期以来变得如此重要，以至于很少有人不管是因为野蛮、贫困还是哲学，都未尝试过没有它。 —

To many creatures there is in this sense but one necessary of life, Food. To the bison of the prairie it is a few inches of palatable grass, with water to drink; —
对很多生物来说，从这个角度看生命中只有一个必需品，食物。对大草原上的野牛来说，那是几英寸可口的草和水。 —

unless he seeks the Shelter of the forest or the mountain’s shadow. —
除非他寻求森林或山脉的阴影庇护。 —

None of the brute creation requires more than Food and Shelter. —
动物界中没有一个生物需要比食物和庇护更多。 —

The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel; —
在这种气候条件下，人类生活必需品可以准确地分为食物、庇护、衣物和燃料； —

for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success. —
因为只有在确保了这些之后，我们才能自由地并且有希望成功地去面对生活中真正的问题。 —

Man has invented, not only houses, but clothes and cooked food; —
人类不仅发明了房屋，还有衣服和熟食； —

and possibly from the accidental discovery of the warmth of fire, and the consequent use of it, at first a luxury, arose the present necessity to sit by it. —
而很可能从火的温暖的偶然发现开始，由此带来的首先是一种奢侈品，后来才演变成现在的旁边坐着的必要性。 —

We observe cats and dogs acquiring the same second nature. —
我们观察到猫和狗获得了同样的第二本能。 —

By proper Shelter and Clothing we legitimately retain our own internal heat; —
通过合适的庇护和衣物，我们合法地保留我们自己的内部热量； —

but with an excess of these, or of Fuel, that is, with an external heat greater than our own internal, may not cookery properly be said to begin? —
但如果有过多的这些，或者有过多的燃料，也就是说，外部热量大于我们自己的内部热量，烹饪不应该被说开始了吗？ —

Darwin, the naturalist, says of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, that while his own party, who were well clothed and sitting close to a fire, were far from too warm, these naked savages, who were farther off, were observed, to his great surprise, “to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting.” —
卡尔达尔文这位自然主义者说了库页岛的居民，当时他们自己的队伍穿着衣服、挨着火坐得还不算太暖和，这些赤身裸体的野蛮人则远在更远的地方，被观察到”出乎他的意料，竟然汗流浃背地忍受着这么一场烤火。 —

So, we are told, the New Hollander goes naked with impunity, while the European shivers in his clothes. —
据说，新几内亚人赤身裸体却可以免疫，而欧洲人则在衣服里发抖。 —

Is it impossible to combine the hardiness of these savages with the intellectualness of the civilized man? —
不可能将这些野蛮人的坚韧与文明人的智慧结合在一起吗？ —

According to Liebig, man’s body is a stove, and food the fuel which keeps up the internal combustion in the lungs. —
根据利比希的说法，人的身体就是一座火炉，而食物是维持肺部内部燃烧的燃料。 —

In cold weather we eat more, in warm less. —
在寒冷天气中，我们吃得更多，在温暖天气中吃得更少。 —

The animal heat is the result of a slow combustion, and disease and death take place when this is too rapid; —
动物热是慢燃烧的结果，当这种燃烧过快时，疾病和死亡就会发生； —

or for want of fuel, or from some defect in the draught, the fire goes out. —
或者因为燃料不足，或者因为通风不良，火就熄灭了。 —

Of course the vital heat is not to be confounded with fire; but so much for analogy. —
当然，重要的热量不应该与火混为一谈；但这就是类比的结果。 —

It appears, therefore, from the above list, that the expression, animal life, is nearly synonymous with the expression, animal heat; —
由上面的列表可以看出，动物生命这个词几乎可以和动物热量这个词划上等号； —

for while Food may be regarded as the Fuel which keeps up the fire within us – and Fuel serves only to prepare that Food or to increase the warmth of our bodies by addition from without – Shelter and Clothing also serve only to retain the heat thus generated and absorbed.
因为食物可以被看作是维持我们体内火焰的燃料 – 而燃料仅仅是用来准备食物或通过外部补充来增加我们体内的热量 – 住所和衣物也仅仅是为了保留这样生成和吸收的热量。

The grand necessity, then, for our bodies, is to keep warm, to keep the vital heat in us. —
所以，对我们的身体来说，主要的需求就是保持温暖，保持我们体内的生命热量。 —

What pains we accordingly take, not only with our Food, and Clothing, and Shelter, but with our beds, which are our night-clothes, robbing the nests and breasts of birds to prepare this shelter within a shelter, as the mole has its bed of grass and leaves at the end of its burrow! —
为此我们不辞辛劳，不仅囤积食物、衣物和住所，还囤积用以保持体内热量的床铺，这就是我们的睡衣，为此我们掠夺鸟儿的巢和胸膛，就像鼹鼠在它的洞穴尽头准备了一床草叶一样！ —

The poor man is wont to complain that this is a cold world; —
穷人常常抱怨这是一个冷酷的世界； —

and to cold, no less physical than social, we refer directly a great part of our ails. —
我们直接把大部分疾病的原因归结为冷，既包括身体的也包括社交的。 —

The summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian life. —
在一些气候中，夏天使得人类能够享受一种伊利西斯般的生活。 —

Fuel, except to cook his Food, is then unnecessary; —
除了用来烹饪食物外，燃料在那时是不必要的； —

the sun is his fire, and many of the fruits are sufficiently cooked by its rays; —
太阳就是他的火源，很多水果都足够在其光芒下烹饪熟透； —

while Food generally is more various, and more easily obtained, and Clothing and Shelter are wholly or half unnecessary. —
而食物更为多样，更容易获得，衣物和住所则完全或部分不需要。 —

At the present day, and in this country, as I find by my own experience, a few implements, a knife, an axe, a spade, a wheelbarrow, etc. —
在当今和在这个国家，正如我根据自己的经验所发现的那样，一些工具，一把刀、一把斧头、一把铁锹、一辆手推车等，对于那些勤奋学习的人来说，灯光、文具和一些书籍的获取成本微不足道地居于必需的位置。 —

, and for the studious, lamplight, stationery, and access to a few books, rank next to necessaries, and can all be obtained at a trifling cost. —
然而，一些人不明智，却去往地球的另一端，去原始和不健康的地区，为了能够生存 – 也就是说，保持舒适地温暖 – 最终却在新英格兰死去。 —

Yet some, not wise, go to the other side of the globe, to barbarous and unhealthy regions, and devote themselves to trade for ten or twenty years, in order that they may live – that is, keep comfortably warm – and die in New England at last. —
Yet some, not wise, go to the other side of the globe, to barbarous and unhealthy regions, and devote themselves to trade for ten or twenty years, in order that they may live – that is, keep comfortably warm – and die in New England at last. —

The luxuriously rich are not simply kept comfortably warm, but unnaturally hot; —
富有奢华的人不仅仅是保持舒适的温暖，而是被无比炽热地加热； —

as I implied before, they are cooked, of course a la mode.
正如我之前暗示的那样，他们当然是被煮熟的，一如所愿；

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. —
大多数奢侈品，以及许多所谓的舒适品，不仅不是必需品，而且是人类提升的积极障碍； —

With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor. —
关于奢侈品和舒适品，智者始终过着比穷人更简朴贫瘠的生活； —

The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward. —
古代的哲学家，包括中国人、印度人、波斯人和希腊人，是一个外部贫穷内心丰富的群体； —

We know not much about them. It is remarkable that we know so much of them as we do. —
我们对他们知之甚少。我们如今了解的就很不寻常； —

The same is true of the more modern reformers and benefactors of their race. —
近代的改革者和公益人士也是如此； —

None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. —
任何人都无法做到对人类生活的客观和明智的观察，除非站在我们所谓的自愿贫困的有利地位； —

Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art. There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. —
在奢侈品的生活中，结果就是奢侈，无论是在农业、商业、文学还是艺术领域；如今有哲学教授，但没有真正的哲学家； —

Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live. —
然而，宣扬哲学是值得赞美的，因为曾经以过简朴的生活而令人敬佩； —

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. —
成为哲学家不仅仅是拥有微妙的思想，也不仅仅是建立一所学校，而是热爱智慧，按照智慧的指引生活，简朴、独立、宽宏大量和信任的生活； —

It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. —
要解决一些生活问题，不仅仅是从理论上，还要从实践上去做； —

The success of great scholars and thinkers is commonly a courtier-like success, not kingly, not manly. —
伟大学者和思想家的成功通常是一种效仿式的成功，而不是王者般、男子汉般的成功； —

They make shift to live merely by conformity, practically as their fathers did, and are in no sense the progenitors of a noble race of men. —
他们仅仅凭借顺从来维持生活，实际上与他们的祖辈一样，绝不是一个崇高人类的始祖； —

But why do men degenerate ever? What makes families run out? —
但是人们为什么会堕落呢？家族为何会消失？ —

What is the nature of the luxury which enervates and destroys nations? —
豪华品究竟是什么性质，它使国家变得软弱并走向灭亡呢？ —

Are we sure that there is none of it in our own lives? —
我们能确定我们的生活中完全没有任何豪华品吗？ —

The philosopher is in advance of his age even in the outward form of his life. —
哲学家即使在外表生活形态上也领先于他所处的时代。 —

He is not fed, sheltered, clothed, warmed, like his contemporaries. —
他的饮食、住所、衣着和取暖方式都不同于他的同代人。 —

How can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men?
一个人怎样才能成为哲学家，而不是像其他人一样通过更好的方式维持生命的热度呢？

When a man is warmed by the several modes which I have described, what does he want next? —
当一个人通过我所描述的几种方式得到了取暖，接下来他想要什么呢？ —

Surely not more warmth of the same kind, as more and richer food, larger and more splendid houses, finer and more abundant clothing, more numerous, incessant, and hotter fires, and the like. —
肯定不是同类的更多取暖，比如更好更丰盛的食物、更大更华丽的房屋、更精致更多的衣物、更多更热的火等。 —

When he has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; —
当他获得了生活所必需的东西，除了获取多余的东西之外，还有另一种选择； —

and that is, to adventure on life now, his vacation from humbler toil having commenced. —
这就是，现在冒险生活，他从更低微的辛劳中获得了假期。 —

The soil, it appears, is suited to the seed, for it has sent its radicle downward, and it may now send its shoot upward also with confidence. —
看来这块土地适合种子，因为它已经把根向下伸展，现在也可以充满信心地把茎向上伸展。 —

Why has man rooted himself thus firmly in the earth, but that he may rise in the same proportion into the heavens above? —
人为什么要在地球上扎根得如此坚固呢？难道不就是为了以同样的比例升入天空中吗？ —

– for the nobler plants are valued for the fruit they bear at last in the air and light, far from the ground, and are not treated like the humbler esculents, which, though they may be biennials, are cultivated only till they have perfected their root, and often cut down at top for this purpose, so that most would not know them in their flowering season.
–因为尊贵的植物最终要在空气和光明中结出果实，离开地面，不像不起眼的菜蔬，它们虽然可能是两年生的，却只被栽培到根茎完全成熟，为了这个目的，它们的茎往往在这个阶段被削减，所以多数人在这些植物开花季节可能都分不清。

I do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures, who will mind their own affairs whether in heaven or hell, and perchance build more magnificently and spend more lavishly than the richest, without ever impoverishing themselves, not knowing how they live – if, indeed, there are any such, as has been dreamed; —
我不是要给那些强大而勇敢的天性规定规则，他们不论在天堂还是地狱，都会管好自己的事务，也许会比最富有的人更宏伟地建筑更奢侈地消费，而且永远不会使自己贫穷，不知道自己是怎样生活的–如果真的有这样的人，如梦所想； —

nor to those who find their encouragement and inspiration in precisely the present condition of things, and cherish it with the fondness and enthusiasm of lovers – and, to some extent, I reckon myself in this number; —
也不是要对那些正找到鼓励和灵感的人说话，他们正是处于当前事物的现状之中，并用情人对待的热爱和热情珍惜着–在某种程度上，我认为自己也属于这一类人； —

I do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever circumstances, and they know whether they are well employed or not; —
我不是在对那些无论处在何种环境中都能充分利用的人说话，他们知道自己是否做得对或者不对； —

– but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented, and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times, when they might improve them. —
–但主要是在大多数不满现状，懒散地抱怨自己命运困难或时局不济的人中说话，当他们本可以加以改善。 —

There are some who complain most energetically and inconsolably of any, because they are, as they say, doing their duty. —
有些人最有活力和无法安慰地抱怨任何事，因为他们如他们所说正在尽自己的责任。 —

I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.
我还想起了那种表面上富有，但实际上最贫穷的阶层，他们积累了废物，却不知道如何利用它或如何摆脱它，因此他们锻造了自己的金银镣铐。

If I should attempt to tell how I have desired to spend my life in years past, it would probably surprise those of my readers who are somewhat acquainted with its actual history; —
如果我试图讲述我过去渴望如何度过我的生活，那很可能会令那些略知一二的读者感到惊讶； —

it would certainly astonish those who know nothing about it. —
对于那些对此一无所知的人，更是会感到惊讶。 —

I will only hint at some of the enterprises which I have cherished.
我只会简略提及一些我一直珍惜的事业。

In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; —
不管什么天气，在任何时间，我都急于改善时机，把它刻在我的手杖上； —

to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; —
站在两个永恒的交汇处，过去和未来，也就是现在这个瞬间； —

to toe that line. You will pardon some obscurities, for there are more secrets in my trade than in most men’s, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from its very nature. —
迈着那条线。你将原谅我的一些晦涩，因为我的行当中有更多的秘密，比大多数人的行当还多，然而这些秘密并非是自愿保留的，而是与其特性息息相关。 —

I would gladly tell all that I know about it, and never paint “No Admittance” on my gate.
我很愿意告诉所有我所知道的事情，永不在我的大门上刷上“禁止入内”。

I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and am still on their trail. —
我很久之前丢失了一只猎犬、一匹栗色马和一只山斑鸠，但我依然在追踪它们。 —

Many are the travellers I have spoken concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. —
有许多旅人我曾经与他们谈过这些事，描述它们的足迹和它们对什么声音作出回应。 —

I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves.
我曾经遇到一两个曾听到这只猎犬的人，和马蹄声，甚至看到山斑鸠消失在云层后，他们似乎也急切地想把它们找回。

To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! —
预料，不只是日出和黎明，而是，如果可能的话，预料自然本身！ —

How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! —
多少个早晨，无论是夏天还是冬天，在任何邻居还未开始忙碌自己工作之前，我都已经开始我的工作！ —

No doubt, many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight, or woodchoppers going to their work. —
毫无疑问，我的市民中有许多人曾经在我回来的路上遇见过我，农民们在黄昏时分前往波士顿，或者樵夫们去干活。 —

It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.
的确，我从未对太阳的升起提供实质的帮助，但别怀疑，只要能够亲眼见证那一刻对我而言就已经十分重要了。

So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express! —
多少个秋天，是的，还有冬天的日子，花费在城外，试图听清风声中蕴含着什么，试图聆听并传递出去！ —

I well-nigh sunk all my capital in it, and lost my own breath into the bargain, running in the face of it. —
我几乎把我所有的资本都投入其中，还溶入到那风里，承担了跑在风的面前的风险。 —

If it had concerned either of the political parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in the Gazette with the earliest intelligence. —
如果这与任一政党有关，可以肯定地说，它将会以最早的消息出现在报纸上。 —

At other times watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new arrival; —
在其他时候，站在悬崖或树木的观测台上，以便传递任何新到达的事物； —

or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall, that I might catch something, though I never caught much, and that, manna-wise, would dissolve again in the sun.
或者在黄昏时分等待在山顶以等待天空倾落，好让我能捕捉点什么，尽管我并没有捕捉到太多，而且那些，如同俄麦，会在太阳中又解零。

For a long time I was reporter to a journal, of no very wide circulation, whose editor has never yet seen fit to print the bulk of my contributions, and, as is too common with writers, I got only my labor for my pains. —
我曾长期为一份发行量不广的期刊撰稿，编辑从未认为值得刊登我大部分的作品，正如作家们常见的情况一样，我的辛勤劳动只换来微薄报酬。 —

However, in this case my pains were their own reward.
然而，在这种情况下，我的辛劳本身就是奖赏。

For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow-storms and rain-storms, and did my duty faithfully; —
多年来，我自任为暴风雪和雨雪的视察官，并忠实履行职责； —

surveyor, if not of highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where the public heel had testified to their utility.
我是森林小路和穿越土地的所有路径的检查员，保持它们的通畅，确保峡谷桥梁可通行，积雪时季也不遮阻。

I have looked after the wild stock of the town, which give a faithful herdsman a good deal of trouble by leaping fences; —
我照看过镇上的野生牲畜，它们常因跃过篱笆给忠实的牧人带来不少麻烦； —

and I have had an eye to the unfrequented nooks and corners of the farm; —
我也留意过农场中的偏僻角落和角落； —

though I did not always know whether Jonas or Solomon worked in a particular field to-day; —
尽管我并不总是知道今天是乔纳斯还是所罗门在一片特定的田地干活； —

that was none of my business. I have watered the red huckleberry, the sand cherry and the nettle-tree, the red pine and the black ash, the white grape and the yellow violet, which might have withered else in dry seasons.
那不关我的事。我浇灌过红越橘、沙樱桃和荨麻树、红松和黑榉、白提子和黄堇，它们在干旱季节否则可能会枯萎。

In short, I went on thus for a long time (I may say it without boasting), faithfully minding my business, till it became more and more evident that my townsmen would not after all admit me into the list of town officers, nor make my place a sinecure with a moderate allowance. —
简而言之，我这样做了很长时间（我可以毫不夸张地说），忠实地履行着我的职责，直到越来越明显，我的镇民们终究不会收纳我进入城镇官员名单，也不会把我的职位变成一个有适量津贴的闲职。 —

My accounts, which I can swear to have kept faithfully, I have, indeed, never got audited, still less accepted, still less paid and settled. —
我的账簿，我可以发誓一直都保持得准确，确实从来没有被审计，更不用说被接受，更不用说被支付并结清。 —

However, I have not set my heart on that.
然而，我并不寄望于这一点。

Not long since, a strolling Indian went to sell baskets at the house of a well-known lawyer in my neighborhood. —
不久前，一名流浪的印第安人去一位我邻近地区著名律师家里售卖篮子。 —

“Do you wish to buy any baskets?” he asked. “No, we do not want any,” was the reply. “What!” —
“您想买篮子吗？”他问道。“不，我们不需要任何东西，”回答道。“什么！” —

exclaimed the Indian as he went out the gate, “do you mean to starve us?” —
印第安人走出大门时惊呼道，“你们是不是想饿死我们？” —

Having seen his industrious white neighbors so well off – that the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and, by some magic, wealth and standing followed – he had said to himself: —
看到他勤劳的白人邻居过得很好，律师只需编织论点，然后通过某种魔法就能拥有财富和地位，他心想： —

I will go into business; I will weave baskets; it is a thing which I can do. —
我要开始做生意;我会编织篮子;这是我能做的事情。 —

Thinking that when he had made the baskets he would have done his part, and then it would be the white man’s to buy them. —
他认为，只要他编织了篮子，那么他就完成了自己的任务，接下来就是白人要来买。 —

He had not discovered that it was necessary for him to make it worth the other’s while to buy them, or at least make him think that it was so, or to make something else which it would be worth his while to buy. —
他没有意识到让对方觉得值得购买是必要的，或者至少要做出值得对方购买的东西，或者制造其他值得对方购买的东西。 —

I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture, but I had not made it worth any one’s while to buy them. —
我也编织过一种质地精致的篮子，但我没有让任何人觉得值得购买。 —

Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them, and instead of studying how to make it worth men’s while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them. —
即使如此，在我的情况下，我认为值得我编织它们，而不是研究如何让人们觉得值得购买我的篮子，我更倾向于研究如何避免卖掉它们的必要性。 —

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. —
人们赞美和认为成功的生活只是一种。 —

Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?
为什么我们要夸大某种类型，而牺牲其他类型呢？

Finding that my fellow-citizens were not likely to offer me any room in the court house, or any curacy or living anywhere else, but I must shift for myself, I turned my face more exclusively than ever to the woods, where I was better known. —
发现我的同胞们不太可能在法庭大楼里提供给我任何位置，或者在别的地方提供任何牧师职位或居住地，我必须自力更生，我更专注于树林，那里人们更了解我。 —

I determined to go into business at once, and not wait to acquire the usual capital, using such slender means as I had already got. —
我决定立即开始做生意，而不是等待获得通常的资本，利用我已经得到的稀少财产。 —

My purpose in going to Walden Pond was not to live cheaply nor to live dearly there, but to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles; —
我去瓦尔登池塘的目的不是为了便宜地生活，也不是为了昂贵地生活，而是要以最少的障碍完成一些私人事务； —

to be hindered from accomplishing which for want of a little common sense, a little enterprise and business talent, appeared not so sad as foolish.
由于缺乏一点常识，一点创业精神和商业才能，而受阻于此，似乎不是悲哀而是愚蠢。

I have always endeavored to acquire strict business habits; they are indispensable to every man. —
我一直努力培养严谨的商业习惯；这对每个人都是必不可少的。 —

If your trade is with the Celestial Empire, then some small counting house on the coast, in some Salem harbor, will be fixture enough. —
如果你的贸易对象是天朝帝国，那么海岸上的一家小清关，位于萨利姆港口，就足够了。 —

You will export such articles as the country affords, purely native products, much ice and pine timber and a little granite, always in native bottoms. —
你将出口本国所生产的产品，纯粹的本土产品，如冰和松木以及少量花岗岩，总是使用本国的船只。 —

These will be good ventures. To oversee all the details yourself in person; —
这将是不错的冒险。亲自监督所有细节； —

to be at once pilot and captain, and owner and underwriter; to buy and sell and keep the accounts; —
既是飞行员又是船长，既是所有者又是承保人；买卖货物并管理账目； —

to read every letter received, and write or read every letter sent; —
阅读每一封收到的信件，写或阅读每一封发送的信件； —

to superintend the discharge of imports night and day; —
负责日夜监督着进口货物的卸载； —

to be upon many parts of the coast almost at the same time – often the richest freight will be discharged upon a Jersey shore; —
几乎同时在海岸的多个地方活动 – 往往最丰厚的货物会在泽西岸卸载； —

– to be your own telegraph, unweariedly sweeping the horizon, speaking all passing vessels bound coastwise; —
– 成为自己的电报，不知疲倦地扫视地平线，与所有沿海船只交流； —

to keep up a steady despatch of commodities, for the supply of such a distant and exorbitant market; to keep yourself informed of the state of the markets, prospects of war and peace everywhere, and anticipate the tendencies of trade and civilization – taking advantage of the results of all exploring expeditions, using new passages and all improvements in navigation; —
保持持续的商品运输，为远隔千里的市场供应；时刻了解市场状况，世界各地的战争与和平前景，并预测贸易和文明的趋势 – 利用所有探险考察成果，利用新的航道和所有航海改进； —

– charts to be studied, the position of reefs and new lights and buoys to be ascertained, and ever, and ever, the logarithmic tables to be corrected, for by the error of some calculator the vessel often splits upon a rock that should have reached a friendly pier – there is the untold fate of La Prouse; —
– 需要研究海图，确定暗礁和新灯标浮标的位置，时时确认对数表的正确性，因为由于某些计算者的错误，船只经常会撞上本应抵达友好码头的礁石 – 拉普鲁斯的未知命运就在其中； —

– universal science to be kept pace with, studying the lives of all great discoverers and navigators, great adventurers and merchants, from Hanno and the Phoenicians down to our day; —
– 需要跟上通才的科学，研究所有伟大的发现者和航海家，伟大的探险家和商人，从汉诺和腓尼基人一直到我们的时代； —

in fine, account of stock to be taken from time to time, to know how you stand. —
总之，不时需要进行库存核对，了解自己的处境； —

It is a labor to task the faculties of a man – such problems of profit and loss, of interest, of tare and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it, as demand a universal knowledge.
这是一项考验一个人各种才能的劳动 – 利润和损失、利息、皮重和罐衡种种问题都需要具备全面的知识；

I have thought that Walden Pond would be a good place for business, not solely on account of the railroad and the ice trade; —
我曾认为瓦尔登湖会是一个进行生意的好地方，不仅仅因为有铁路和冰业； —

it offers advantages which it may not be good policy to divulge; —
它提供了可能不宜透露的优势； —

it is a good port and a good foundation. No Neva marshes to be filled; —
它是一个良好的港口和基地。不需要填补涅瓦沼泽； —

though you must everywhere build on piles of your own driving. —
尽管你必须到处建造在自己打桩的基础上； —

It is said that a flood-tide, with a westerly wind, and ice in the Neva, would sweep St. Petersburg from the face of the earth.
据说一次洪潮，配合从西方吹来的风，再加上涅瓦河的浮冰，就能把圣彼得堡从地球上抹平。

As this business was to be entered into without the usual capital, it may not be easy to conjecture where those means, that will still be indispensable to every such undertaking, were to be obtained. —
由于这家企业无需通常的资本就可进行，所以这些对每个这样的工程仍然至关重要的手段将会从何处获得，这可能并不容易推测。 —

As for Clothing, to come at once to the practical part of the question, perhaps we are led oftener by the love of novelty and a regard for the opinions of men, in procuring it, than by a true utility. —
至于服装，直奔问题的实际部分，也许我们在获取服装时更多地是被对新奇的追求和对他人意见的尊重所驱使，而非真正的实用。 —

Let him who has work to do recollect that the object of clothing is, first, to retain the vital heat, and secondly, in this state of society, to cover nakedness, and he may judge how much of any necessary or important work may be accomplished without adding to his wardrobe. —
有工作要做的人应该记住，服装的首要目的是保持体内的热量，其次，在这个社会状态下，是为了掩盖赤裸，他可以判断没有增加衣柜多少重要或必要的工作可以完成。 —

Kings and queens who wear a suit but once, though made by some tailor or dressmaker to their majesties, cannot know the comfort of wearing a suit that fits. —
那些只穿一次套装的国王和王后，尽管是由一些为他们陛下做的裁缝或女裝裁缝製作，也不能知道穿着合身套装的舒适。 —

They are no better than wooden horses to hang the clean clothes on. —
它们不过是木马，用来悬挂干净的衣服。 —

Every day our garments become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the impress of the wearer’s character, until we hesitate to lay them aside without such delay and medical appliances and some such solemnity even as our bodies. —
我们的衣服每天都越来越与自身相似，接受着穿着者性格的印记，直到我们不轻易放下它们，需要医疗救护和一些如我们身体一样的庄重仪式为止。 —

No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes; —
没有人因为衣服上有补丁而在我心目中降低了身价； —

yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience. —
然而我敢肯定，要求有时比要求时尚或至少清洁和无补丁的衣服更为焦虑，还能拥有健全的良心。 —

But even if the rent is not mended, perhaps the worst vice betrayed is improvidence. —
但即使裂痕未被修补，也许暴露出的最坏的恶习是不经济。 —

I sometimes try my acquaintances by such tests as this – Who could wear a patch, or two extra seams only, over the knee? —
有时我通过这样的测试来考验我的熟人 – 谁能在膝盖上穿一个补丁，或者只有两条额外的缝？ —

Most behave as if they believed that their prospects for life would be ruined if they should do it. —
大多数人行为好像他们相信，如果他们这样做的话，他们的一生前程就会被毁掉。 —

It would be easier for them to hobble to town with a broken leg than with a broken pantaloon. —
对他们来说，瘸着一条腿前往城镇要比穿着破裤子瘸着前往容易。 —

Often if an accident happens to a gentleman’s legs, they can be mended; —
如果一个绅士的腿遇到意外，可以修复； —

but if a similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons, there is no help for it; —
但如果他的裤子的腿遇到类似的事故，那就没希望了； —

for he considers, not what is truly respectable, but what is respected. —
因为他关心的不是什么才真正值得尊敬，而是什么被人尊重。 —

We know but few men, a great many coats and breeches. —
我们认识的人很少，衣服却很多。 —

Dress a scarecrow in your last shift, you standing shiftless by, who would not soonest salute the scarecrow? —
把一件破布衣裳穿在稻草人身上，你却站在一旁毫无作为，谁会不先向稻草人致意呢? —

Passing a cornfield the other day, close by a hat and coat on a stake, I recognized the owner of the farm. —
前几天经过一片玉米地时，看到一个插在桩子上的帽子和外套，我认出了农场的主人。 —

He was only a little more weather-beaten than when I saw him last. —
他只比上次见到他时，略显风吹日晒。 —

I have heard of a dog that barked at every stranger who approached his master’s premises with clothes on, but was easily quieted by a naked thief. —
我听说有只狗，对每个穿着衣服靠近主人住处的陌生人狂吠，但轻易地就被一个赤身裸体的贼安静下来了。 —

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes. —
如果男人们剥去他们的衣服，他们能够保持相对的地位引起了一个有趣的问题。 —

Could you, in such a case, tell surely of any company of civilized men which belonged to the most respected class? —
在这种情况下，你能确定文明社会中哪个团体属于最受尊敬的阶层吗? —

When Madam Pfeiffer, in her adventurous travels round the world, from east to west, had got so near home as Asiatic Russia, she says that she felt the necessity of wearing other than a travelling dress, when she went to meet the authorities, for she “was now in a civilized country, where . —
当皮菲尔夫人在周游世界时，从东到西，到了近乎家乡的亚洲俄罗斯，她说感觉到有必要在与当地官员会面时穿上不同于旅行服，因为她“现在身处一个文明社会，人们通过衣着评判他们。” —

.. people are judged of by their clothes.” —
即使在我们这些皿煮的新英格兰小镇，偶然拥有财富，以及表现在服饰和装备上，就能获得几乎普遍的尊重。 —

Even in our democratic New England towns the accidental possession of wealth, and its manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor almost universal respect. —
但是，尽管他们受到如此的尊重，犹如木偶一般，仍然是野蛮的，需要派遣传教士去向他们传道。 —

But they yield such respect, numerous as they are, are so far heathen, and need to have a missionary sent to them. —
此外，引入衣服还引入了缝纫，一种你可以称之为无穷无尽的工作； —

Beside, clothes introduced sewing, a kind of work which you may call endless; —
至少一件女人的衣服永远没有做完的时候。 —

a woman’s dress, at least, is never done.
一个最终找到事情可做的男人就不需要再买一套新衣服来穿；

A man who has at length found something to do will not need to get a new suit to do it in; —
对他来说，那些在阁楼上躺了很久灰尘了的旧衣服就足够了。 —

for him the old will do, that has lain dusty in the garret for an indeterminate period. —
当他最终找到事情做的时候，他就不需要再为此买一套新衣服；对他来说旧的那套就足够了，在阁楼里尘封了多年。 —

Old shoes will serve a hero longer than they have served his valet – if a hero ever has a valet – bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make them do. —
旧鞋子会为英雄效力更长的时间，比为他效力的侍从更久 —— 如果一个英雄真的有侍从的话 —— 赤脚比鞋子更古老，他可以让它们使用。 —

Only they who go to soires and legislative balls must have new coats, coats to change as often as the man changes in them. —
只有那些参加晚会和立法聚会的人必须有新外套，外套要经常更换，与穿着者一样频繁变换。 —

But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; —
但是如果我的夹克、裤子、帽子和鞋子适合敬拜上帝，它们就够了；难道不是吗？谁曾见过他的旧衣服 —— 他的旧外套实际上穿破了，变回了最初的元素，所以将它赠送给某个可怜的男孩，也许再赠给某个更贫穷、或者我们说更富有的人，这并不算是一种善举吗？ —

will they not? Who ever saw his old clothes – his old coat, actually worn out, resolved into its primitive elements, so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow it on some poor boy, by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer still, or shall we say richer, who could do with less? —
我说，当心那些需要新衣服的所有事业，倒不如说，那些需要新衣服的新穿着者。 —

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. —
如果没有一个新的人，那么新衣服怎么能适应？ —

If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit? —
如果有什么事业正在你面前，试试穿着你的旧衣服。 —

If you have any enterprise before you, try it in your old clothes. —
所有人都想要的不是要有什么可以使用的东西，而是要做什么，或者更确切地说是要成为什么。 —

All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. —
也许我们在以前唯一情状的时候，甚至是有多么破旧或脏的旧衣服，都不应该新购置一套，直到我们已经进行了某种行为，某种创业或者某种航行，让我们感觉在旧的衣服里就像是新人，而保留它就像是将新酒装在旧瓶子里。 —

Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles. —
我们的换羽季节，就像禽类一样，必须是我们生活中的一个危机。 —

Our moulting season, like that of the fowls, must be a crisis in our lives. —
潜水鸟退到孤独的池塘中度过它。 —

The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it. —
蛇也蜕去它的皮，毛毛虫也放下它的虫蛹外衣，通过内在的努力和扩张； —

Thus also the snake casts its slough, and the caterpillar its wormy coat, by an internal industry and expansion; —
因为衣服只是我们最外层的角质层和致死的外壳。 —

for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil. —
否则我们将被发现冒充他人，最终无可避免地被我们自己的意见所迫走，也被人类的意见所解雇。 —

Otherwise we shall be found sailing under false colors, and be inevitably cashiered at last by our own opinion, as well as that of mankind.
我们穿上衣服，一件接一件，就好像我们像外生植物一样，通过不断添加而成长。

We don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous plants by addition without. —
Nous nous habillons couche après couche, comme si nous grandissions comme des plantes exogènes par ajout sans fin. —

Our outside and often thin and fanciful clothes are our epidermis, or false skin, which partakes not of our life, and may be stripped off here and there without fatal injury; —
我们的外在而常常薄且奇特的衣服就像我们的表皮，或者说是虚假的皮肤，它与我们的生命无关，可以随时脱掉一些而不会造成致命伤害； —

our thicker garments, constantly worn, are our cellular integument, or cortex; —
我们常穿的厚实衣物是我们的细胞外皮，或者说是皮层； —

but our shirts are our liber, or true bark, which cannot be removed without girdling and so destroying the man. —
但我们的衬衫是我们的内皮，或者说是真皮，取下后会直接导致人的死亡； —

I believe that all races at some seasons wear something equivalent to the shirt. —
我相信所有种族在某个季节都会穿类似衬衫的衣物； —

It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark, and that he live in all respects so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety. —
最好穿得简单，以至于在黑暗中能轻易摸到自己，生活方方面面都要整洁有序，如果有敌人来攻城，就像古代哲学家那样，能空着手走出城门而毫不担忧； —

While one thick garment is, for most purposes, as good as three thin ones, and cheap clothing can be obtained at prices really to suit customers; —
虽然一件厚衣服对大多数情况来说和三件薄衣服一样好，而且价格便宜的服装很容易买到； —

while a thick coat can be bought for five dollars, which will last as many years, thick pantaloons for two dollars, cowhide boots for a dollar and a half a pair, a summer hat for a quarter of a dollar, and a winter cap for sixty-two and a half cents, or a better be made at home at a nominal cost, where is he so poor that, clad in such a suit, of his own earning, there will not be found wise men to do him reverence?
一条厚外套只需五美元，可以穿多年，厚裤子两美元，牛皮靴一双只需一美元半，夏季帽子一刻钟，冬季帽六十二个半美分，或者也可以自己在家里做一件，成本低廉，那么即使穿着自己劳动赚来的这样一套衣服，哪有人会穷到没有睿智之士去尊敬他呢？

When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress tells me gravely, “They do not make them so now,” not emphasizing the “They” at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so rash. —
当我请求做一个特定形状的服装时，我的裁缝严肃地告诉我，“现在不再做这种衣服了”，并没有强调“现在”这个词，仿佛在引用一个和命运一样超然的权威，我很难得到想要的服装，仅仅因为她无法相信我说的是真心话，我如此大胆； —

When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; —
当我听到这个神谕般的句子时，我会陷入思考，注意每个词语独立来理解其含义，努力找出它们跟我之间是什么亲属关系，在影响我如此深刻的事务中，他们有什么权威； —

and, finally, I am inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more emphasis of the “they” – “It is true, they did not make them so recently, but they do now.” —
最终，我倾向于以同样神秘的语气回答她，不再强调“他们”这个词–“没错，不久前他们的确不再做这种衣服，但现在却在制作。” —

Of what use this measuring of me if she does not measure my character, but only the breadth of my shoulders, as it were a peg to bang the coat on? —
如果她只是按照自己的想法度量而不是度量我的品格，这个测量我的意义到底是什么，就像挂外套用的挂钩一样？ —

We worship not the Graces, nor the Parcae, but Fashion. —
我们崇拜的不是格雷斯，也不是调运三女神，而是时尚； —

She spins and weaves and cuts with full authority. —
她纺织、编织、剪裁，拥有充足的权威； —

The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveller’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same. —
巴黎的头猴子戴上一顶旅行帽，美洲所有的猴子也跟风效仿； —

I sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men. —
有时候我对在这个世界上通过人类的帮助实现任何完全简单和诚实的事情都感到绝望。 —

They would have to be passed through a powerful press first, to squeeze their old notions out of them, so that they would not soon get upon their legs again; —
他们必须首先通过一台强大的压榨机，把他们脑子里的陈旧观念挤出来，这样他们才不会很快重新站起来； —

and then there would be some one in the company with a maggot in his head, hatched from an egg deposited there nobody knows when, for not even fire kills these things, and you would have lost your labor. —
而且在公司里会有人头脑里有一个蛆虫，从不知道什么时候产下的卵孵化出来的，因为甚至火也不能杀死这些东西，你将白费力气。 —

Nevertheless, we will not forget that some Egyptian wheat was handed down to us by a mummy.
尽管如此，我们不会忘记一些古埃及小麦是由一具木乃伊传下来的。

On the whole, I think that it cannot be maintained that dressing has in this or any country risen to the dignity of an art. —
总的来说，我认为在这个国家或任何国家，衣着都不能升华为艺术。 —

At present men make shift to wear what they can get. —
目前的人们只能穿得到什么穿什么。 —

Like shipwrecked sailors, they put on what they can find on the beach, and at a little distance, whether of space or time, laugh at each other’s masquerade. —
像被困在沙滩上的水手，他们穿上能找到的东西，即使相隔一点距离，无论是空间还是时间，他们也会嘲笑对方的伪装。 —

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. —
每一代人都笑旧时装，但却笃信新时装。 —

We are amused at beholding the costume of Henry VIII, or Queen Elizabeth, as much as if it was that of the King and Queen of the Cannibal Islands. —
我们看到亨利八世或伊丽莎白女王的服装，就像看到食人岛国国王和王后的服装一样。 —

All costume off a man is pitiful or grotesque. —
一个人身上除了他的心灵和真正过的生活外，任何衣着都是可怜或怪诞的。 —

It is only the serious eye peering from and the sincere life passed within it which restrain laughter and consecrate the costume of any people. —
只有那认真的眼神和内心的诚实生活才能抑制笑声，神圣化任何民族的服装。 —

Let Harlequin be taken with a fit of the colic and his trappings will have to serve that mood too. When the soldier is hit by a cannonball, rags are as becoming as purple.
当哈利奎因患了结肠炎，他的装束也必须适应这种情况。士兵被炮弹击中时，破布和紫袍一样美丽。

The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires today. —
人们孩子气而野蛮的对于新图案的品味，让多少人透过万花筒摇摇晃晃，眯着眼睛，以寻找这一代今天所需的特殊图案。 —

The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. —
制造商已经学会了这种品味只是一时的怪癖。 —

Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable. —
两种图案只是在某种颜色上少了或多了几根线，其中一种会迅速售出，而另一种则会放在货架上，尽管经常出现的情况是，在一个季节过后，后者变得最时尚。 —

Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. —
相对比起来，纹身并不像它被称为的那样丑陋的习俗。 —

It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable.
这并不野蛮，仅仅因为印刷是表面的，不可改变的。

I cannot believe that our factory system is the best mode by which men may get clothing. —
我无法相信我们的工厂系统是人们获取服装的最佳方式。 —

The condition of the operatives is becoming every day more like that of the English; —
工人的状况每天都变得越来越像英国人的状况； —

and it cannot be wondered at, since, as far as I have heard or observed, the principal object is, not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but, unquestionably, that corporations may be enriched. —
这也不足为奇，因为据我所见或所闻，主要目的并不是让人们穿得体面和诚实，而无疑是让公司获利。 —

In the long run men hit only what they aim at. —
总归，人们只瞄准了目标才能打中。 —

Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.
因此，尽管他们可能立即失败，他们最好瞄准高点。

As for a Shelter, I will not deny that this is now a necessary of life, though there are instances of men having done without it for long periods in colder countries than this. —
至于住所，我不否认现在它已经成为一种必需品，尽管有些人在比这更寒冷的地方长时间没有它的例子。 —

Samuel Laing says that “the Laplander in his skin dress, and in a skin bag which he puts over his head and shoulders, will sleep night after night on the snow . —
Samuel Laing说：“拉普兰人穿着皮衣，在头和肩上套着一个皮袋，会在雪地上一夜又一夜地睡觉。 —

.. in a degree of cold which would extinguish the life of one exposed to it in any woollen clothing.” —
…在任何羊毛衣服下暴露的人都会在这种寒冷中丧失生命。” —

He had seen them asleep thus. Yet he adds, “They are not hardier than other people.” —
他见过他们这样熟睡。然而他补充道：“他们并不比其他人更坚强。” —

But, probably, man did not live long on the earth without discovering the convenience which there is in a house, the domestic comforts, which phrase may have originally signified the satisfactions of the house more than of the family; —
但很可能，人类在地球上没多久就发现了住房的便利，住房的满足，这个短语最初可能更多指的是住房的满足，而不是家庭的满足； —

though these must be extremely partial and occasional in those climates where the house is associated in our thoughts with winter or the rainy season chiefly, and two thirds of the year, except for a parasol, is unnecessary. —
尽管在那些以冬季或雨季与住所联系在一起的气候中，这些满足可能极为局部和偶尔，一年中约三分之二的时间，除了阳伞，都是不必要的。 —

In our climate, in the summer, it was formerly almost solely a covering at night. —
在我们的气候中，夏天几乎只是夜晚的覆盖物。 —

In the Indian gazettes a wigwam was the symbol of a day’s march, and a row of them cut or painted on the bark of a tree signified that so many times they had camped. —
在印度的新闻中，一个小帐篷是一天行军的象征，在树皮上剪下或涂上一排小帐篷表示他们的露营次数。 —

Man was not made so large limbed and robust but that he must seek to narrow his world and wall in a space such as fitted him. —
人并非生来就有如此强壮的四肢，以至于他必须努力缩小自己的世界，并用适合他的空间围住自己。 —

He was at first bare and out of doors; but though this was pleasant enough in serene and warm weather, by daylight, the rainy season and the winter, to say nothing of the torrid sun, would perhaps have nipped his race in the bud if he had not made haste to clothe himself with the shelter of a house. —
他起初赤裸着在户外；尽管在晴朗温暖的天气里这是相当愉快的，但是在白天的雨季和冬季，更不用说酷热的太阳，如果他不赶快穿上房屋的庇护，也许会让他的种族夭折。 —

Adam and Eve, according to the fable, wore the bower before other clothes. —
根据寓言，亚当和夏娃穿起树荫前穿着。 —

Man wanted a home, a place of warmth, or comfort, first of warmth, then the warmth of the affections.
人需要一个家，一个首先是温暖的地方，然后是温暖的情感。

We may imagine a time when, in the infancy of the human race, some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow in a rock for shelter. —
我们可以想象人类的婴儿时期曾有一段时间，一名有进取心的人躲进岩石的洞中避难。 —

Every child begins the world again, to some extent, and loves to stay outdoors, even in wet and cold. —
每个孩子在某种程度上都要重新开始世界，并且喜欢呆在室外，甚至在湿冷的天气里也是如此. —

It plays house, as well as horse, having an instinct for it. —
它玩家家酒，也会驾驭马，有一种本能. —

Who does not remember the interest with which, when young, he looked at shelving rocks, or any approach to a cave? —
谁不记得年轻时看到斜坡岩壁或靠近洞穴时的兴趣？ —

It was the natural yearning of that portion, any portion of our most primitive ancestor which still survived in us. —
那部分部分，我们最原始的祖先中依然存在于我们内心的那部分的自然渴望. —

From the cave we have advanced to roofs of palm leaves, of bark and boughs, of linen woven and stretched, of grass and straw, of boards and shingles, of stones and tiles. —
从洞穴中我们进展到了棕榈树叶的屋顶，树皮和树枝的屋顶，纺织并张紧的亚麻布的屋顶，草和稻草的屋顶，木板和木瓦的屋顶，石头和瓦片的屋顶. —

At last, we know not what it is to live in the open air, and our lives are domestic in more senses than we think. —
最后，我们不知道是什么样子在户外居住，我们的生活在更多方面是家庭化的. —

From the hearth the field is a great distance. —
从炉灶到田间有一段很远的距离. —

It would be well, perhaps, if we were to spend more of our days and nights without any obstruction between us and the celestial bodies, if the poet did not speak so much from under a roof, or the saint dwell there so long. —
或许，如果我们在天空和我们之间没有任何障碍的日夜里度过更多时间，那将是很好的，如果诗人并不总是在屋顶下说话，或者圣人不长期住在那里. —

Birds do not sing in caves, nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots.
鸟不会在洞穴中歌唱，鸽子也不会在鸽舍中珍视它们的清白.

However, if one designs to construct a dwelling-house, it behooves him to exercise a little Yankee shrewdness, lest after all he find himself in a workhouse, a labyrinth without a clue, a museum, an almshouse, a prison, or a splendid mausoleum instead. —
然而，如果有人打算建设一座住宅，他最好施展一些犹太人的精明才智，免得最终发现自己身处救济院、一个没有线索的迷宫、一个博物馆、一个救济院、一个监狱或者一个辉煌的陵墓内. —

Consider first how slight a shelter is absolutely necessary. —
首先考虑一下绝对必要的庇护有多么轻微。 —

I have seen Penobscot Indians, in this town, living in tents of thin cotton cloth, while the snow was nearly a foot deep around them, and I thought that they would be glad to have it deeper to keep out the wind. —
我曾见过佩诺布斯科特印第安人在这个城镇里住在薄棉布搭建的帐篷里，周围的积雪几乎有一英尺深，我想他们会很乐意让雪更深一些，以阻挡风。 —

Formerly, when how to get my living honestly, with freedom left for my proper pursuits, was a question which vexed me even more than it does now, for unfortunately I am become somewhat callous, I used to see a large box by the railroad, six feet long by three wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night; —
以前，当如何诚实谋生，同时留有自由去从事自己的事业，这个问题曾经比现在更加困扰我，不幸的是，我变得有些麻木，我曾看到铁路旁有一个大箱子，长六英尺、宽三英尺，工人们晚上把工具锁在里面； —

and it suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a one for a dollar, and, having bored a few auger holes in it, to admit the air at least, get into it when it rained and at night, and hook down the lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul be free. —
并且它让我想到，每个被逼得艰难的人都可能用一美元买到这样一个箱子，钻几个锥孔，至少让空气进来，下雨和晚上钻进去时，锁上盖子，这样就能拥有他的爱情自由，灵魂自由。 —

This did not appear the worst, nor by any means a despicable alternative. —
这似乎并不是最糟糕的，也绝非可鄙的选择。 —

You could sit up as late as you pleased, and, whenever you got up, go abroad without any landlord or house-lord dogging you for rent. —
你可以随意待到想要的时间，无论何时起床，都不会有房东或屋主纠缠你付房租。 —

Many a man is harassed to death to pay the rent of a larger and more luxurious box who would not have frozen to death in such a box as this. —
许多人被逼到忙得要死要活地付更大更奢华的房租，而这样一个箱子里冻死的人是不会的。 —

I am far from jesting. Economy is a subject which admits of being treated with levity, but it cannot so be disposed of. —
我绝非在开玩笑。经济是一个可以轻松对待的主题，但它不可以被随意处理。 —

A comfortable house for a rude and hardy race, that lived mostly out of doors, was once made here almost entirely of such materials as Nature furnished ready to their hands. —
一个适合粗野坚韧种族的舒适房子，曾经几乎完全由大自然供应的材料建成。 —

Gookin, who was superintendent of the Indians subject to the Massachusetts Colony, writing in 1674, says, “The best of their houses are covered very neatly, tight and warm, with barks of trees, slipped from their bodies at those seasons when the sap is up, and made into great flakes, with pressure of weighty timber, when they are green. —
古金，曾是马萨诸塞殖民地管辖下的印第安人监督，写于1674年，说：“他们最好的房子用树皮非常整洁、紧密、温暖，从树体上剥下来的，在这些树液上升的季节，制成大片，用沉重的木材压住，当它们还是翠绿的。 —

… The meaner sort are covered with mats which they make of a kind of bulrush, and are also indifferently tight and warm, but not so good as the former. —
… 较差的那些用他们制作的一种类似芦苇的垫子覆盖，也还算紧密、温暖，但不如前者那样好。 —

… Some I have seen, sixty or a hundred feet long and thirty feet broad. —
… 我见过一些，六十或一百英尺长，三十英尺宽。 —

… I have often lodged in their wigwams, and found them as warm as the best English houses.” —
… 我经常住在他们的维吾那，发现它们和最好的英国房子一样温暖。” —

He adds that they were commonly carpeted and lined within with well-wrought embroidered mats, and were furnished with various utensils. —
他补充说，他们的维吾那通常铺设地毯，内衬为精美的刺绣垫子，配备各种用具。 —

The Indians had advanced so far as to regulate the effect of the wind by a mat suspended over the hole in the roof and moved by a string. —
印第安人已经发展到通过悬挂在屋顶洞口上、通过绳子移动的垫子来调节风的效果。 —

Such a lodge was in the first instance constructed in a day or two at most, and taken down and put up in a few hours; —
这样的小屋在最初一两天内建成，然后在几小时内可拆卸、再次组装好。 —

and every family owned one, or its apartment in one.
每个家庭都拥有一座住所，或者是在那里的一套公寓。

In the savage state every family owns a shelter as good as the best, and sufficient for its coarser and simpler wants; —
在野蛮状态下，每个家庭拥有一座和最好的一样好，并且足够满足其更粗糙和更简单的需求的住所。 —

but I think that I speak within bounds when I say that, though the birds of the air have their nests, and the foxes their holes, and the savages their wigwams, in modern civilized society not more than one half the families own a shelter. —
但我认为当我说，尽管空中的鸟儿有自己的巢穴，狐狸有自己的洞穴，野蛮人有自己的帐篷，现代文明社会中不到一半的家庭拥有一座住所时，我说的不过是有节制的。 —

In the large towns and cities, where civilization especially prevails, the number of those who own a shelter is a very small fraction of the whole. —
在文明特别盛行的大城镇和城市，拥有住所的人数占整体的极小比例。 —

The rest pay an annual tax for this outside garment of all, become indispensable summer and winter, which would buy a village of Indian wigwams, but now helps to keep them poor as long as they live. —
其余的人为这属于一切人的外衣，无论是在夏天还是冬天都是必不可少的，支付年度税款，这些年度税款可以买到一个印第安帐篷村庄，但现在却帮助他们维持贫穷。 —

I do not mean to insist here on the disadvantage of hiring compared with owning, but it is evident that the savage owns his shelter because it costs so little, while the civilized man hires his commonly because he cannot afford to own it; —
我在这里并不是要坚持认为雇佣比拥有更不利，但很明显，野蛮人拥有他的住所是因为成本如此之低，而文明人则通常雇住所，因为他买不起。 —

nor can he, in the long run, any better afford to hire. —
他也无法在长远来看更好地负担得起。 —

But, answers one, by merely paying this tax, the poor civilized man secures an abode which is a palace compared with the savage’s. —
但是，有人会反驳，仅通过支付这种税款，这位可怜的文明人就能够获得与野蛮人相比就是宫殿般的住所。 —

An annual rent of from twenty-five to a hundred dollars (these are the country rates) entitles him to the benefit of the improvements of centuries, spacious apartments, clean paint and paper, Rumford fire-place, back plastering, Venetian blinds, copper pump, spring lock, a commodious cellar, and many other things. —
每年支付二十五到一百美元的租金（这些是乡村的标准），使他能够享受几个世纪以来的改进，宽敞的房间，干净的油漆和纸张，龙福特壁炉，背面灰泥，百叶窗，铜泵，弹簧锁，宽敞的地下室还有许多其他设施。 —

But how happens it that he who is said to enjoy these things is so commonly a poor civilized man, while the savage, who has them not, is rich as a savage? —
但是，如果有人断言文明是人类状况的真正进步–我认为是的，尽管只有聪明人利用他们的优势–必须证明它已经生产出了更好的住所，而不使它们变得更加昂贵。 —

If it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man – and I think that it is, though only the wise improve their advantages – it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; —
并且，一样物品的成本就是需要立刻或在长远内交换掉的我将称之为生活的数量。 —

and the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. —
这个地区普通房屋的平均成本可能是八百美元，为了攒够这笔钱，工人的生活将需要花费十到十五年的时间，即使他没有家庭拖累–估计每个人劳动的金钱价值为一美元一天，因为有些人收入更高，而有些人收入更低。 —

An average house in this neighborhood costs perhaps eight hundred dollars, and to lay up this sum will take from ten to fifteen years of the laborer’s life, even if he is not encumbered with a family – estimating the pecuniary value of every man’s labor at one dollar a day, for if some receive more, others receive less; —
– 这样，通常他必须在摆脱他的帐篷之前就度过了生命的一半以上。 —

– so that he must have spent more than half his life commonly before his wigwam will be earned. —
如果我们假设他选择支付租金，那么这只是一种两害相权取其轻的选择。 —

If we suppose him to pay a rent instead, this is but a doubtful choice of evils. —
但是如果有人说，这位被认为享有这些东西的人通常是一个贫穷的文明人，而他没有这些东西的野蛮人是一个富有的野蛮人，那又是怎么回事呢？ —

Would the savage have been wise to exchange his wigwam for a palace on these terms?
野蛮人是否明智地将他的帐篷换成一个宫殿呢？

It may be guessed that I reduce almost the whole advantage of holding this superfluous property as a fund in store against the future, so far as the individual is concerned, mainly to the defraying of funeral expenses. —
可以猜测我把拥有这种多余财产作为未来储备的优势几乎完全归因于支付丧葬费用。 —

But perhaps a man is not required to bury himself. —
可能一个人并不需要把自己埋葬。 —

Nevertheless this points to an important distinction between the civilized man and the savage; —
然而，这指向文明人和野蛮人之间的一个重要区别； —

and, no doubt, they have designs on us for our benefit, in making the life of a civilized people an institution, in which the life of the individual is to a great extent absorbed, in order to preserve and perfect that of the race. —
而且，毫无疑问，他们对我们有意图，希望通过使文明人的生活成为一个制度，从而在很大程度上吸收个人的生活，以此来保护和完善种族的生活。 —

But I wish to show at what a sacrifice this advantage is at present obtained, and to suggest that we may possibly so live as to secure all the advantage without suffering any of the disadvantage. —
但我希望表明，目前获得这种优势的代价是多么巨大，并且建议我们可能以不遭受任何不利情况的方式生活，从而获得所有的优势。 —

What mean ye by saying that the poor ye have always with you, or that the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
你们为什么说穷人永远与你们同在，或者说父亲吃了酸葡萄，儿子的牙齿也尖锐？

“As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
“主耶和华说，我指着我的永生起誓，以色列中不再有人再讲这句俗语。

“Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: —
“看哪，所有的灵魂都是属我的；父亲的灵魂，儿子的灵魂也是属我的： —

the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
犯罪的灵魂必要死亡。”

When I consider my neighbors, the farmers of Concord, who are at least as well off as the other classes, I find that for the most part they have been toiling twenty, thirty, or forty years, that they may become the real owners of their farms, which commonly they have inherited with encumbrances, or else bought with hired money – and we may regard one third of that toil as the cost of their houses – but commonly they have not paid for them yet. —
当我考虑我在康科德的邻居，那些农民，他们至少和其他阶层一样过得很好，我发现，他们大部分人挥洒了二十、三十或四十年的辛勤，以便成为他们农场的真正主人，而那些农场通常是被继承时带有负债，或者用借来的钱买的–我们可能认为其中三分之一的辛劳是他们房屋的成本–但通常他们还没有付清。 —

It is true, the encumbrances sometimes outweigh the value of the farm, so that the farm itself becomes one great encumbrance, and still a man is found to inherit it, being well acquainted with it, as he says. —
确实，负债有时超过农场的价值，以至于农场本身成为一大累赘，但仍然有人继承它，因为他对它很熟悉，他说。 —

On applying to the assessors, I am surprised to learn that they cannot at once name a dozen in the town who own their farms free and clear. —
当我向评估员询问时，我惊讶地得知他们不能立刻提出这个镇上拥有农场的清高清楚的人。 —

If you would know the history of these homesteads, inquire at the bank where they are mortgaged. —
如果你想了解这些居所的历史，去银行打听一下，那里有他们抵押的信息。 —

The man who has actually paid for his farm with labor on it is so rare that every neighbor can point to him. —
实际上用在农场上劳动付款的人是如此之稀少，以至于每个邻居都可以指出他。 —

I doubt if there are three such men in Concord. —
我怀疑康科德中有这样的三个人。 —

What has been said of the merchants, that a very large majority, even ninety-seven in a hundred, are sure to fail, is equally true of the farmers. —
对于农民来说，像有百分之九十七的商人注定要失败，同样如此。 —

With regard to the merchants, however, one of them says pertinently that a great part of their failures are not genuine pecuniary failures, but merely failures to fulfil their engagements, because it is inconvenient; —
然而，其中一位商人适切地说，很大一部分的失败并非真正的经济上的失败，而只是因为不方便履行承诺； —

that is, it is the moral character that breaks down. —
也就是说，是道德品质垮掉了。 —

But this puts an infinitely worse face on the matter, and suggests, beside, that probably not even the other three succeed in saving their souls, but are perchance bankrupt in a worse sense than they who fail honestly. —
但这让事情看上去更糟糕，还暗示着，或许连其他的三个也未能挽救灵魂，可能比诚实失败的人更糟糕。 —

Bankruptcy and repudiation are the springboards from which much of our civilization vaults and turns its somersets, but the savage stands on the unelastic plank of famine. —
破产和违约是我们许多文明跃起和翻转的跳板，但野蛮人站在饿荒的不弹性木板上。 —

Yet the Middlesex Cattle Show goes off here with eclat annually, as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were suent.
然而，Middlesex牲畜展在这里每年都举办，好像农业机器的所有关节都是顺滑的。

The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself. —
农民正试图通过一个比问题本身更复杂的公式来解决谋生问题。 —

To get his shoestrings he speculates in herds of cattle. —
为了得到鞋带，他参与牛群的投机。 —

With consummate skill he has set his trap with a hair spring to catch comfort and independence, and then, as he turned away, got his own leg into it. —
他巧妙地用一个细长弹簧设置陷阱来捕捉舒适和独立，然后当他转身时，却被自己的腿绊住了。 —

This is the reason he is poor; and for a similar reason we are all poor in respect to a thousand savage comforts, though surrounded by luxuries. As Chapman sings,
这就是他贫穷的原因；同样的原因，我们关于一千种野蛮的舒适都是贫穷的，尽管周围都是奢侈品。就像Chapman所唱的，

“The false society of men –
“人类的虚伪社会 –

– for earthly greatness
– 追求尘世的伟大

All heavenly comforts rarefies to air.”
将一切天上的慰藉变成空气。”

And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him. —
当农民有了自己的房子，他可能并不会更富有，反而更贫穷，而这栋房子已经俘虏了他。 —

As I understand it, that was a valid objection urged by Momus against the house which Minerva made, that she “had not made it movable, by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided”; —
依我所知，那是莫克斯对米涅瓦建造的房屋提出的一个有效反对意见，他认为”没有使它能够移动，以便可以避开糟糕的邻居”; —

and it may still be urged, for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them; —
这个反对意见仍然可以被提出，因为我们的房子是如此笨重的财产，我们往往被困在其中而非被住在其中; —

and the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves. —
而需要避免的糟糕邻居，其实是我们自己; —

I know one or two families, at least, in this town, who, for nearly a generation, have been wishing to sell their houses in the outskirts and move into the village, but have not been able to accomplish it, and only death will set them free.
我至少知道这个城镇中有一两个家庭，他们已经希望将位于郊区的房屋出售，搬到村庄里去将近一代了，但却未能实现，只有死亡才会让他们摆脱;

Granted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire the modern house with all its improvements. —
尽管大多数人最终可以拥有或租用现代化的房屋及其所有的改进; —

While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. —
虽然文明一直在改善我们的居所，但并没有同样地改善那些将要居住其中的人; —

It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings. —
文明创造了宫殿，但创建贵族和国王并不容易; —

And if the civilized man’s pursuits are no worthier than the savage’s, if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely, why should he have a better dwelling than the former?
如果文明人的追求不比野蛮人更有价值，如果他的一生很大一部分时间只是为了获得肮脏的必需品和舒适，那么他为什么应该拥有比前者更好的住所呢？

But how do the poor minority fare? Perhaps it will be found that just in proportion as some have been placed in outward circumstances above the savage, others have been degraded below him. —
但贫困的少数群体又会怎样呢？也许会发现，一些人因为外部环境优越而高于野蛮人，而另一些人却因此低于他们; —

The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another. —
一类人的奢华被另一类人的贫困所抵消; —

On the one side is the palace, on the other are the almshouse and “silent poor.” —
一边是宫殿，另一边则是救济院和”沉默的穷人”; —

The myriads who built the pyramids to be the tombs of the Pharaohs were fed on garlic, and it may be were not decently buried themselves. —
那些修筑金字塔作为法老陵墓的无数工人，却只靠大蒜为生，甚至可能连体面的葬礼都得不到; —

The mason who finishes the cornice of the palace returns at night perchance to a hut not so good as a wigwam. —
给宫殿打磨檐口的石匠，也许在夜晚回到比小屋还不如王母的地方; —

It is a mistake to suppose that, in a country where the usual evidences of civilization exist, the condition of a very large body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages. —
错误的认为，在一个拥有文明存在的国家里，大部分居民的境况可能不像野蛮人那样堕落。 —

I refer to the degraded poor, not now to the degraded rich. —
我所指的是下层贫困群体的堕落，而不是堕落的富人。 —

To know this I should not need to look farther than to the shanties which everywhere border our railroads, that last improvement in civilization; —
要知道这一点，我只需要看一下那些无处不在、与铁路毗邻的板房，那是文明的最后进步； —

where I see in my daily walks human beings living in sties, and all winter with an open door, for the sake of light, without any visible, often imaginable, wood-pile, and the forms of both old and young are permanently contracted by the long habit of shrinking from cold and misery, and the development of all their limbs and faculties is checked. —
在我的日常散步中，我看到人类住在猪圈里，整个冬天门户敞开，为了光线，看不到任何可见的、甚至能想象到的木料堆，老人和年轻人的身体都因长期逃避寒冷和痛苦而永久性地变形，他们的肢体和能力发育受到了制约； —

It certainly is fair to look at that class by whose labor the works which distinguish this generation are accomplished. —
确实，看看为完成这一代所做出劳动的那个阶层是公平的； —

Such too, to a greater or less extent, is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in England, which is the great workhouse of the world. —
英格兰的每个派别的工人，在不同程度上也是这种状况，那里是世界的大工场； —

Or I could refer you to Ireland, which is marked as one of the white or enlightened spots on the map. —
或者我可以指向被标记为地图上白色或开明地带之一的爱尔兰； —

Contrast the physical condition of the Irish with that of the North American Indian, or the South Sea Islander, or any other savage race before it was degraded by contact with the civilized man. —
对比一下爱尔兰人的身体状况和北美印第安人、南太平洋岛民或任何其他原始民族，在与文明人接触之前是多么自由自在； —

Yet I have no doubt that that people’s rulers are as wise as the average of civilized rulers. —
我毫无疑问，这些人的统治者和平均文明统治者一样明智； —

Their condition only proves what squalidness may consist with civilization. —
他们的状况只是证明了悲惨和文明可以并存； —

I hardly need refer now to the laborers in our Southern States who produce the staple exports of this country, and are themselves a staple production of the South. But to confine myself to those who are said to be in moderate circumstances.
我现在几乎不需要提及我们南方各州的劳工，他们生产这个国家的主要出口产品，也是南方的主要产品。但我只限于那些被认为是在中等状况中的人；

Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. —
大多数人似乎从未考虑过房子是什么，因为他们认为必须拥有和邻居一样的那种，整个人生都是多么贫困，但却是不必要的； —

As if one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for him, or, gradually leaving off palm-leaf hat or cap of woodchuck skin, complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him a crown! —
好像一个人会穿裁缝为他剪裁的任何一种外衣，或者逐渐不再戴椰子叶帽或土拨鼠皮帽，却抱怨生活困苦因为买不起皇冠！ —

It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have, which yet all would admit that man could not afford to pay for. —
有可能发明一个比我们拥有的还更方便、更奢华的房子，所有人都会承认，人类无法负担这种房子的。 —

Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less? —
我们总是追求更多这些东西，而不是有时知足少一些吗？ —

Shall the respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the necessity of the young man’s providing a certain number of superfluous glow-shoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for empty guests, before he dies? —
尊贵的市民难道要庄重地传授，言传身教，年轻人在去世前必须提供一定数量的多余的手套、雨伞和空客房给空客人吗？ —

Why should not our furniture be as simple as the Arab’s or the Indian’s? —
为什么我们的家具不能像阿拉伯人或印第安人那样简单？ —

When I think of the benefactors of the race, whom we have apotheosized as messengers from heaven, bearers of divine gifts to man, I do not see in my mind any retinue at their heels, any carload of fashionable furniture. —
当我想到种族的恩人，我们已经神化为来自天堂的使者，带着上帝赐予人类的神圣礼物，我脑海中并没有看到后面跟着仆人的身影，也没有任何一辆装满时尚家具的车。 —

Or what if I were to allow – would it not be a singular allowance? —
或者，如果我允许——这不是一个奇特的许可吗？ —

– that our furniture should be more complex than the Arab’s, in proportion as we are morally and intellectually his superiors! —
——我们的家具应该比阿拉伯人的更为复杂，因为在道德和智识上我们是他的上级！ —

At present our houses are cluttered and defiled with it, and a good housewife would sweep out the greater part into the dust hole, and not leave her morning’s work undone. —
目前我们的房子里被这些家具所淹没和污染，一个勤劳的家庭主妇会将大部分清扫出去，不会让晨间的工作未完成。 —

Morning work! By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man’s morning work in this world? —
晨间的工作！藉着曙光的微红和黎明的音乐，人类在这个世界上的早晨工作是什么呢？ —

I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out the window in disgust. —
我的桌子上有三块石灰石，但我惊恐地发现它们每天都需要擦灰，而我的心灵家具仍然未被打扫干净，于是厌倦地将它们扔出窗外。 —

How, then, could I have a furnished house? —
那么，我该怎么样享受有家具的房子呢？ —

I would rather sit in the open air, for no dust gathers on the grass, unless where man has broken ground.
我宁愿坐在户外，因为草地上不会有尘土，除非是人类打破了这片土地。

It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which the herd so diligently follow. —
奢侈和放纵者设定了潮流，而群众则勤奋地追随。 —

The traveller who stops at the best houses, so called, soon discovers this, for the publicans presume him to be a Sardanapalus, and if he resigned himself to their tender mercies he would soon be completely emasculated. —
停留在所谓的最好的房子里的旅行者很快就会发现这一点，因为旅店主人会认为他是一个桀骜不驯的人，如果他完全听凭他们的慈悲，很快就会完全变得软弱无能。 —

I think that in the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on safety and convenience, and it threatens without attaining these to become no better than a modern drawing-room, with its divans, and ottomans, and sun-shades, and a hundred other oriental things, which we are taking west with us, invented for the ladies of the harem and the effeminate natives of the Celestial Empire, which Jonathan should be ashamed to know the names of. —
我认为在火车车厢里，我们更倾向于在奢侈上花费更多，而不是在安全和便利上，但它却威胁着，却无法获得这些优点，很快变得不比现代客厅更好，充斥着长沙发、脚凳、遮阳伞和其他一百种东方物件，我们带着它们向西发展，这些都是为后宫的女性和天朝的阉人发明的，是乔纳森应该为知道它们的名字感到羞耻的。 —

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. —
我宁愿坐在一个南瓜上自得其乐，也不愿在绫锦垫子上被挤得水泄不通。 —

I would rather ride on earth in an ox cart, with a free circulation, than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe a malaria all the way.
我宁愿坐在牛车上在大地上行驶，享受自由的通风，也不愿坐在一辆观光列车的豪华车厢里去天堂，一路呼吸着疟疾。

The very simplicity and nakedness of man’s life in the primitive ages imply this advantage, at least, that they left him still but a sojourner in nature. —
人类在原始时代的生活之简单和贫瘠意味着这个好处，至少，那时他只是大自然中的一个过客。 —

When he was refreshed with food and sleep, he contemplated his journey again. —
在他享受了食物和睡眠后，他再次思考自己的旅程。 —

He dwelt, as it were, in a tent in this world, and was either threading the valleys, or crossing the plains, or climbing the mountain-tops. —
他在这个世界中，仿佛是住在一个帐篷里，要么穿越山谷，要么横跨平原，要么攀登山顶。 —

But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. —
但是人们已经变成了他们工具的工具。 —

The man who independently plucked the fruits when he was hungry is become a farmer; —
当他饥饿时独立采摘水果的人变成了农夫； —

and he who stood under a tree for shelter, a housekeeper. —
那些站在树下避难的人变成了家庭主妇。 —

We now no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven. —
我们现在不再像露宿一晚那样，而是在地球上安顿下来，忘记了天堂。 —

We have adopted Christianity merely as an improved method of agri-culture. —
我们只是将基督教作为一种改进的农业方法。 —

We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb. —
我们为这个世界建造了一个家庭住所，为来世建造了一个家族坟墓。 —

The best works of art are the expression of man’s struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten. —
最好的艺术作品表达了人类摆脱这种状况的奋斗，但我们的艺术作品只是让这种低境境变得舒适，并使更高的状态被遗忘。 —

There is actually no place in this village for a work of fine art, if any had come down to us, to stand, for our lives, our houses and streets, furnish no proper pedestal for it. —
在这个村庄中确实没有合适的地方可以容纳一件精美艺术作品，如果有人留下来的话，因为我们的生活，我们的房子和街道都没有适当的基座。 —

There is not a nail to hang a picture on, nor a shelf to receive the bust of a hero or a saint. —
没有一个钉子可以挂一副画，也没有一个架子可以放置一个英雄或圣者的半身像。 —

When I consider how our houses are built and paid for, or not paid for, and their internal economy managed and sustained, I wonder that the floor does not give way under the visitor while he is admiring the gewgaws upon the mantelpiece, and let him through into the cellar, to some solid and honest though earthy foundation. —
当我考虑我们的房子是如何建造和支付的，或者没有支付的，以及它们的内部管理和维持时，我惊讶于地板在游客欣赏壁炉台上的饰品时为何不让他掉入地下室，进入坚实而诚实但泥土的基础。 —

I cannot but perceive that this so-called rich and refined life is a thing jumped at, and I do not get on in the enjoyment of the fine arts which adorn it, my attention being wholly occupied with the jump; —
我不得不意识到，这种所谓富裕和精致的生活是一种冒险而来的事情，我并没有享受到装饰它的美术作品，因为我的注意力完全集中在这次冒险上； —

for I remember that the greatest genuine leap, due to human muscles alone, on record, is that of certain wandering Arabs, who are said to have cleared twenty-five feet on level ground. —
因为我记得有一群流浪的阿拉伯人，据说能在平地上完成纯靠人类肌肉的历史上最大的跳跃，一次跳跃就达到了25英尺。 —

Without factitious support, man is sure to come to earth again beyond that distance. —
没有虚假的支持，人肯定会在那个距离之后重新回到地球。 —

The first question which I am tempted to put to the proprietor of such great impropriety is, Who bolsters you? —
我对这种巨大不当行为的所有者想问的第一个问题是，谁支持你？ —

Are you one of the ninety-seven who fail, or the three who succeed? —
你是那97个失败者中的一个，还是那3个成功者？ —

Answer me these questions, and then perhaps I may look at your bawbles and find them ornamental. —
回答我的这些问题，也许我才会看看你的玩意儿，觉得它们是装饰品。 —

The cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful. —
车在马前面，既不漂亮也不实用。 —

Before we can adorn our houses with beautiful objects the walls must be stripped, and our lives must be stripped, and beautiful housekeeping and beautiful living be laid for a foundation: —
在我们可以用美丽的物品装饰我们的房屋之前，墙壁必须被剥离，我们的生活必须被脱掉，美丽的家务和美好的生活必须被放在基础上： —

now, a taste for the beautiful is most cultivated out of doors, where there is no house and no housekeeper.
现在，对美的品味是在户外培养得最好的，那里没有房子，也没有家务主妇。

Old Johnson, in his “Wonder-Working Providence,” speaking of the first settlers of this town, with whom he was contemporary, tells us that “they burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter under some hillside, and, casting the soil aloft upon timber, they make a smoky fire against the earth, at the highest side.” —
约翰逊在他的《奇妙的指引》中，谈到这个镇的第一批定居者，他和他们同时代，告诉我们说：“他们在某个山坡下，挖个坑，把自己埋在地下，然后用木头把土包起来，靠着土在最高处生起一团烟火。” —

They did not “provide them houses,” says he, “till the earth, by the Lord’s blessing, brought forth bread to feed them,” and the first year’s crop was so light that “they were forced to cut their bread very thin for a long season.” —
他说他们“没有为自己提供房子，直到土地，凭着上帝的祝福，生出面包来养活他们”，第一年的收成如此稀少，“他们被迫把面包切得很薄，过了很久。” —

The secretary of the Province of New Netherland, writing in Dutch, in 1650, for the information of those who wished to take up land there, states more particularly that “those in New Netherland, and especially in New England, who have no means to build farmhouses at first according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as long and as broad as they think proper, case the earth inside with wood all round the wall, and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; —
新尼德兰省的秘书，在1650年以荷兰语写道，为了提供给那些希望在那里定居的人更详细的信息，特别指出“那些在新尼德兰，尤其是在新英格兰，起初没有资金按照他们的愿望建造农舍的人，会挖个方坑，像地窖一样深六七英尺，长和宽都视他们认为适合为准； —

floor this cellar with plank, and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up, and cover the spars with bark or green sods, so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two, three, and four years, it being understood that partitions are run through those cellars which are adapted to the size of the family. —
用木头围住墙壁，再用树皮或其他物品沿着木头衬里面，防止土塌； —

The wealthy and principal men in New England, in the beginning of the colonies, commenced their first dwelling-houses in this fashion for two reasons: —
用木板铺这个地窖，顶上用板饰间来作天花板，搭起斜顶，用树皮或青草块覆盖这些椽子，这样他们和整个家庭可以在这些房子里干燥、温暖地生活两、三、四年，应当了解，对于合家大小有适配的区隔的地窖来说。 —

firstly, in order not to waste time in building, and not to want food the next season; —
新英格兰的富裕和重要人物，在殖民地的开始，以这种方式建造他们的第一所住宅，有两个原因： —

secondly, in order not to discourage poor laboring people whom they brought over in numbers from Fatherland. —
首先，为了不浪费时间在建筑上，也不至于下一季没有食物； —

In the course of three or four years, when the country became adapted to agriculture, they built themselves handsome houses, spending on them several thousands.”
其次，为了不使他们从祖国大批带来的穷苦劳动人民灰心。

In this course which our ancestors took there was a show of prudence at least, as if their principle were to satisfy the more pressing wants first. —
在三四年的过程中，当这个国家适应农业时，他们为自己盖了漂亮的房子，花费了几千的钱。” —

But are the more pressing wants satisfied now? —
在我们的祖先所采取的这个过程中，至少表现出了一种慎重的态度，仿佛他们的原则是首先要满足更迫切的需求。 —

When I think of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious dwellings, I am deterred, for, so to speak, the country is not yet adapted to human culture, and we are still forced to cut our spiritual bread far thinner than our forefathers did their wheaten. —
当我考虑要为自己买一栋奢华住宅时，我感到犹豫，因为可以说，这个国家仍未适应人类文明，我们不得不把精神面包切得比我们祖先面包的小麦还薄。 —

Not that all architectural ornament is to be neglected even in the rudest periods; —
并非所有的建筑装饰在最粗糙的时期都应该被忽视； —

but let our houses first be lined with beauty, where they come in contact with our lives, like the tenement of the shellfish, and not overlaid with it. —
但让我们的房子首先在与我们生活接触的地方，就像贝壳动物的住所一样，被美化，而不是覆盖在外面。 —

But, alas! I have been inside one or two of them, and know what they are lined with.
可惜的是！我曾进入其中的一两座，知道它们里面都衬着什么。

Though we are not so degenerate but that we might possibly live in a cave or a wigwam or wear skins today, it certainly is better to accept the advantages, though so dearly bought, which the invention and industry of mankind offer. —
虽然我们并非如此堕落，以至于今天可能生活在洞穴、帐篷中，或穿着兽皮，但接受人类发明和工业所提供，尽管代价昂贵，的优势显然更好。 —

In such a neighborhood as this, boards and shingles, lime and bricks, are cheaper and more easily obtained than suitable caves, or whole logs, or bark in sufficient quantities, or even well-tempered clay or flat stones. —
在这样一个邻里，木板和木瓦、石灰和砖比合适的洞穴、整根原木、够量的树皮，甚至是调和过的黏土或扁平石更便宜、更易得。 —

I speak understandingly on this subject, for I have made myself acquainted with it both theoretically and practically. —
我对这个问题有理论上和实践上的了解。 —

With a little more wit we might use these materials so as to become richer than the richest now are, and make our civilization a blessing. —
多加一些智慧，我们就可以利用这些材料，比当今最富有的人还要富有，并使我们的文明成为一种福祉。 —

The civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage. —
文明人是一个更有经验、更有智慧的野蛮人。 —

But to make haste to my own experiment.
但我现在就开始自己的实验。

Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber. —
在1845年3月底，我借了一把斧头，走到沃尔登池塘旁边的树林，就近我打算修建房子的地方，开始砍伐一些高大的、年轻的白松树，作为木材。 —

It is difficult to begin without borrowing, but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise. —
开始时很难不借用，但也许这是最慷慨的方式，让你的同胞对你的企业感兴趣。 —

The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; —
斧头的主人在松开时说这是他的掌上明珠； —

but I returned it sharper than I received it. —
但我比拿到时还要锋利地归还了。 —

It was a pleasant hillside where I worked, covered with pine woods, through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. —
我工作的地方是一个宜人的山坡，长满松树，在那里我可以俯瞰池塘，还有树林中一片小空地，松树和山核桃正在生长。 —

The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces, and it was all dark-colored and saturated with water. —
这个池塘里的冰还没有完全融化，虽然有一些开放的空间，整个冰面都是深色的，浸透着水。 —

There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there; —
在我在那里工作的日子里，会偶尔下一些小雪； —

but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun, and I heard the lark and pewee and other birds already come to commence another year with us. —
但大多数时候当我走出铁路，回家的路上，那沙堆在朦胧的空气中闪亮，而铁轨在春日的阳光中闪耀，我听到云雀和毛脚林鸟等其他鸟已经来到我们这里开始新的一年。 —

They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of man’s discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself. —
这是愉快的春天，这时冬日的不满正在融化，大地也是如此，沉睡的生命开始伸展自己。 —

One day, when my axe had come off and I had cut a green hickory for a wedge, driving it with a stone, and had placed the whole to soak in a pond-hole in order to swell the wood, I saw a striped snake run into the water, and he lay on the bottom, apparently without inconvenience, as long as I stayed there, or more than a quarter of an hour; —
有一天，当我的斧子脱落了，我为了当楔子砍了一根绿色的山核桃，用石头把它打进去，然后把整个木头放进一个池塘里浸泡，希望让木头膨胀，我看到一条有条纹的蛇跑进水里，它躺在水底，似乎毫不困扰，只要我在那里或者超过一个钟头； —

perhaps because he had not yet fairly come out of the torpid state. —
可能是因为它还没有完全从麻痹状态中恢复。 —

It appeared to me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive condition; —
我觉得人类之所以保持着目前这种低级和原始的状态，也许出于同样的原因； —

but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life. —
但如果他们感受到春天的力量唤醒他们，他们必然会迈向更高更纯粹的生活。 —

I had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them. —
我之前在霜冻的早晨见过蛇在我的路上，身体的某部分仍然麻木僵硬，等待太阳融化它们。 —

On the 1st of April it rained and melted the ice, and in the early part of the day, which was very foggy, I heard a stray goose groping about over the pond and cackling as if lost, or like the spirit of the fog.
4月1日下雨，融化了冰，而在这个非常雾蒙蒙的一天的早期，我听到一只迷失或者像雾的灵魂一样在池塘上方摸索并呱呱叫的迷路的雁。

So I went on for some days cutting and hewing timber, and also studs and rafters, all with my narrow axe, not having many communicable or scholar-like thoughts, singing to myself, –
所以我连续几天砍伐木材和修建横梁和竖梁，全都用我的窄斧头，我没有太多可以分享或像学者那样的思想，只是自言自语地唱着 -

Men say they know many things;
人们说他们懂得很多事情；

But lo! they have taken wings –
但看哪！他们已飞走；

The arts and sciences,
艺术和科学，

And a thousand appliances;
以及千千万万的用具；

The wind that blows
吹动的风

Is all that any body knows.
是所有人都知道的

I hewed the main timbers six inches square, most of the studs on two sides only, and the rafters and floor timbers on one side, leaving the rest of the bark on, so that they were just as straight and much stronger than sawed ones. —
我削平了主要横梁，每根方木都是六英寸见方，大部分支柱只削平了两面，而屋梁和地板的方木只削平了一面，剩下的树皮都留着，这样它们比锯成的更加笔直，也更加坚固。 —

Each stick was carefully mortised or tenoned by its stump, for I had borrowed other tools by this time. —
每根木棍都被榫榻巧妙地固定在锯木桩上，因为那时我已经借到了其他工具。 —

My days in the woods were not very long ones; —
我在树林里的日子并不长； —

yet I usually carried my dinner of bread and butter, and read the newspaper in which it was wrapped, at noon, sitting amid the green pine boughs which I had cut off, and to my bread was imparted some of their fragrance, for my hands were covered with a thick coat of pitch. —
但我通常会带着我的面包和黄油午餐，在中午时分坐在我砍下的翠翠松树丛中吃面包，用包裹面包的报纸阅读，我的手上沾满了密封。 —

Before I had done I was more the friend than the foe of the pine tree, though I had cut down some of them, having become better acquainted with it. —
在完成之前，我已经成为了松树的朋友而不是敌人，尽管我砍伐了一些，但我对它有了更深入的了解。 —

Sometimes a rambler in the wood was attracted by the sound of my axe, and we chatted pleasantly over the chips which I had made.
有时候森林漫步者会被我的斧子声吸引过来，我们坐在我制成的木屑旁愉快地聊天。

By the middle of April, for I made no haste in my work, but rather made the most of it, my house was framed and ready for the raising. —
四月中旬时，因为我并没有急于完成我的工作，而是充分利用它，我的房子已经被架好准备扶起。 —

I had already bought the shanty of James Collins, an Irishman who worked on the Fitchburg Railroad, for boards. —
我已经买了詹姆斯·柯林斯的棚屋，他是在菲奇堡铁路工作的爱尔兰人，用来做木板。 —

James Collins’ shanty was considered an uncommonly fine one. —
詹姆斯·柯林斯的棚屋被认为是非常精致的。 —

When I called to see it he was not at home. —
当我去看的时候，他不在家。 —

I walked about the outside, at first unobserved from within, the window was so deep and high. —
我先在外面走了一圈，一开始没有从内部被发现，因为窗户太深太高了。 —

It was of small dimensions, with a peaked cottage roof, and not much else to be seen, the dirt being raised five feet all around as if it were a compost heap. —
这间小屋尺寸不大，屋顶尖尖斜斜，除此之外别无可见，周围堆了五英尺高的泥土，就像是堆肥一样。 —

The roof was the soundest part, though a good deal warped and made brittle by the sun. —
屋顶是最结实的部分，虽然有些翘曲，并被阳光晒得很脆。 —

Doorsill there was none, but a perennial passage for the hens under the door board. —
门槛处并无门槛，只有鸡在门板下永恒地穿行。 —

Mrs. C. came to the door and asked me to view it from the inside. —
C太太来到门口，请我从里面观察。 —

The hens were driven in by my approach. It was dark, and had a dirt floor for the most part, dank, clammy, and aguish, only here a board and there a board which would not bear removal. —
鸡被我的靠近赶了进去。这里大部分都是泥土地，潮湿、冷冷的，并带着疟疾，只有零零散散几块板子支撑着。 —

She lighted a lamp to show me the inside of the roof and the walls, and also that the board floor extended under the bed, warning me not to step into the cellar, a sort of dust hole two feet deep. —
她点亮了灯，向我展示了屋顶和墙壁的内部，还有地板延伸到床下的情况，并提醒我不要踩进地下室，一个有两英尺深的枯坏洞。 —

In her own words, they were “good boards overhead, good boards all around, and a good window” – of two whole squares originally, only the cat had passed out that way lately. —
用她自己的话来说，屋顶都是“好板子，四四方方地，有个好窗户”–只是最近有只猫用那个窗户溜出去了。 —

There was a stove, a bed, and a place to sit, an infant in the house where it was born, a silk parasol, gilt-framed looking-glass, and a patent new coffee-mill nailed to an oak sapling, all told. —
有个炉子，一张床，一个坐的地方，还有一个出生这间房子的婴儿，还有一个桐花伞，镀金镜框，和一个新专利的咖啡磨坐落在橡树幼苗上，全部这些。 —

The bargain was soon concluded, for James had in the meanwhile returned. —
交易很快就完成了，因为詹姆斯此时已经回来了。 —

I to pay four dollars and twenty-five cents tonight, he to vacate at five tomorrow morning, selling to nobody else meanwhile: —
我今晚付四块二十五分，他明早五点撤离，期间不卖给其他任何人。 —

I to take possession at six. It were well, he said, to be there early, and anticipate certain indistinct but wholly unjust claims on the score of ground rent and fuel. —
我六点入住。他说最好早点去，预先避免某些不明确但完全不公正的关于地租和燃料的要求。 —

This he assured me was the only encumbrance. At six I passed him and his family on the road. —
他向我保证这是唯一的负担。六点时我在路上碰到了他和他的家人。 —

One large bundle held their all – bed, coffee-mill, looking-glass, hens – all but the cat; —
一个大捆绑起了他们所有的东西–床、咖啡磨、镜子、鸡–除了那只猫； —

she took to the woods and became a wild cat, and, as I learned afterward, trod in a trap set for woodchucks, and so became a dead cat at last.
她跑到树林里，变成了一只野猫，后来我得知，她踩到了为土拨鼠设的陷阱，最终成了只死猫。

I took down this dwelling the same morning, drawing the nails, and removed it to the pond-side by small cartloads, spreading the boards on the grass there to bleach and warp back again in the sun. —
早晨同一天，我拆下这栋房屋，拔掉了钉子，用小推车将它搬到池塘边，将板子摊在草地上晾晒，让它们再次在太阳下变白、翘曲。 —

One early thrush gave me a note or two as I drove along the woodland path. —
一只早起的画眉鸟在我沿着林间小道驾驶时唱了几个音符。 —

I was informed treacherously by a young Patrick that neighbor Seeley, an Irishman, in the intervals of the carting, transferred the still tolerable, straight, and drivable nails, staples, and spikes to his pocket, and then stood when I came back to pass the time of day, and look freshly up, unconcerned, with spring thoughts, at the devastation; —
我被一个年轻的帕特里克背叛，邻居西利，一个爱尔兰人，在拉运间隙将那些仍可用、笔直且可驾驶的钉子、铁箍和铁钉转移到口袋里，然后当我回来时又像往常一样站在那里，看着我，毫不在意地用春天的心思注视着这片破坏； —

there being a dearth of work, as he said. —
正如他所说，这里的工作稀少。 —

He was there to represent spectatordom, and help make this seemingly insignificant event one with the removal of the gods of Troy.
他在那里代表观众，并帮助使这个看似无关紧要的事件与特洛伊的神祇相提并论。

I dug my cellar in the side of a hill sloping to the south, where a woodchuck had formerly dug his burrow, down through sumach and blackberry roots, and the lowest stain of vegetation, six feet square by seven deep, to a fine sand where potatoes would not freeze in any winter. —
我在一个朝向南坡的小山一侧挖了一个地窖，在那里曾经有一只土拨鼠挖掘它的洞穴，一直向下穿过漆树和黑莓根部，最低处的植被，长方形，六英尺长，七英尺深，到一片细沙里，冬天里马铃薯不会冻结。 —

The sides were left shelving, and not stoned; —
墙壁是留在倾斜状态的，没有铺石； —

but the sun having never shone on them, the sand still keeps its place. It was but two hours’ work. —
但阳光从未照射在上面，沙子依然保持着它的位置。这只是两个小时的工作。 —

I took particular pleasure in this breaking of ground, for in almost all latitudes men dig into the earth for an equable temperature. —
我特别喜欢这个破土的过程，因为在几乎所有的纬度，人们都在地下挖掘，以寻找一个稳定的温度。 —

Under the most splendid house in the city is still to be found the cellar where they store their roots as of old, and long after the superstructure has disappeared posterity remark its dent in the earth. —
在城市最辉煌的房子下面，依然可以找到他们像以前一样储存根类食物的地窖，即使在那座建筑消失后，后人仍会注意到它在地面上留下的痕迹。 —

The house is still but a sort of porch at the entrance of a burrow.
这座房子只不过是一个洞穴入口处的一种门廊。

At length, in the beginning of May, with the help of some of my acquaintances, rather to improve so good an occasion for neighborliness than from any necessity, I set up the frame of my house. —
最终，在五月初的时候，借助一些熟人的帮助，我搭建起了我的房子的框架，倒不是因为有必要，而更多是为了增进邻里之间的友好。 —

No man was ever more honored in the character of his raisers than I. They are destined, I trust, to assist at the raising of loftier structures one day. —
没有任何人像我这样在他的建造者身份上受到如此尊敬。我相信他们注定有朝一日将协助修建更高的建筑物。 —

I began to occupy my house on the 4th of July, as soon as it was boarded and roofed, for the boards were carefully feather-edged and lapped, so that it was perfectly impervious to rain, but before boarding I laid the foundation of a chimney at one end, bringing two cartloads of stones up the hill from the pond in my arms. —
我7月4日开始入住我的房子，当时它已被板和盖好屋顶，因为板材都是小心处理过的，搭缝并重叠，使之完全防水，但在做板之前，我先在一端打了烟囱的地基，从池塘那里将两车石头扛上山。 —

I built the chimney after my hoeing in the fall, before a fire became necessary for warmth, doing my cooking in the meanwhile out of doors on the ground, early in the morning: —
我在秋天犁地后，就开始造烟囱，因为冬天需要取暖，但我同时在户外地面上煮饭，清晨： —

which mode I still think is in some respects more convenient and agreeable than the usual one. —
我至今仍认为这种方式在某些方面更方便和愉快。 —

When it stormed before my bread was baked, I fixed a few boards over the fire, and sat under them to watch my loaf, and passed some pleasant hours in that way. —
在我的面包烤好之前遇到暴风雨时，我在火上盖了几块板，坐在下面看着我的面包，度过了一些愉快的时光。 —

In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.
在那些日子里，我的手忙于工作，几乎没有时间阅读，但地上那些零碎的纸张，作为我的托盘或桌布，为我提供了同样的娱乐，实际上起到了《伊利亚特》相同的作用。

It would be worth the while to build still more deliberately than I did, considering, for instance, what foundation a door, a window, a cellar, a garret, have in the nature of man, and perchance never raising any superstructure until we found a better reason for it than our temporal necessities even. —
值得慎重些建造，考虑，比如，门、窗、地窖、阁楼在人类的本性中具有何种基础，也许在我们找到比我们的临时需要更好的理由之前，永远不要搭建任何楼层。 —

There is some of the same fitness in a man’s building his own house that there is in a bird’s building its own nest. —
一个人自己建造自己的房子和一只鸟建造自己的巢是有一定的合适之处。 —

Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be universally developed, as birds universally sing when they are so engaged? —
谁知道，如果人们亲手建造他们的住所，并简单诚实地为自己和家人提供食物，诗意的才能会普遍发展，就像鸟在忙于建巢时普遍歌唱一样？ —

But alas! we do like cowbirds and cuckoos, which lay their eggs in nests which other birds have built, and cheer no traveller with their chattering and unmusical notes. —
但遗憾的是！我们行事却像牛鸟和杜鹃，它们把卵放在其他鸟儿筑巢的地方，却不以自己的啃噪和不悦音符为行人带来欢乐。 —

Shall we forever resign the pleasure of construction to the carpenter? —
难道我们将永远把建筑的乐趣交给木匠吗？ —

What does architecture amount to in the experience of the mass of men? —
在大多数人的经历中，建筑意味着什么？ —

I never in all my walks came across a man engaged in so simple and natural an occupation as building his house. —
在我所有的散步中，我从未遇到过一个人从事像建造自己的房子这样简单而自然的职业。 —

We belong to the community. It is not the tailor alone who is the ninth part of a man; —
我们属于社区。裁缝并不是唯一的一个构成一个人的九分之一； —

it is as much the preacher, and the merchant, and the farmer. —
同样重要的是，传教士，商人和农民。 —

Where is this division of labor to end? and what object does it finally serve? —
这种分工何时结束？最终达到什么目的？ —

No doubt another may also think for me; but it is not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my thinking for myself.
没错，也许其他人可以替我考虑；但这并不意味着他应该完全替代我的思考。

True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. —
当然，在这个国家也有所谓的建筑师，我至少听说过一个人，他认为建筑装饰应该有一个真实的核心，一个必需性，从而拥有美丽，就像这对他来说是一种启示一样。 —

All very well perhaps from his point of view, but only a little better than the common dilettantism. A sentimental reformer in architecture, he began at the cornice, not at the foundation. —
也许从他的角度来看，一切都很好，但只是比普通的业余喜好稍好一点而已。作为建筑上的一个感性改革者，他是从饰面开始的，而不是从地基开始。 —

It was only how to put a core of truth within the ornaments, that every sugarplum, in fact, might have an almond or caraway seed in it – though I hold that almonds are most wholesome without the sugar – and not how the inhabitant, the indweller, might build truly within and without, and let the ornaments take care of themselves. —
他关注的只是如何在装饰品里放入真实的核心，事实上，每一个糖果，实际上可能都有一个杏仁或茴香籽，尽管我认为杏仁没有糖更加健康，但他没有考虑居住者，内部实质建设的真实性，而让装饰物自己去解决。 —

What reasonable man ever supposed that ornaments were something outward and in the skin merely – that the tortoise got his spotted shell, or the shell-fish its mother-o’-pearl tints, by such a contract as the inhabitants of Broadway their Trinity Church? —
有哪个理性的人认为装饰物是外部的，仅仅在皮肤上——甚至陆龟得到它的斑点壳，贝类获得母蛤贝色调，都是通过与百老汇的居民为他们的三一教堂达成的合同？ —

But a man has no more to do with the style of architecture of his house than a tortoise with that of its shell: —
一个人对于他的房子的建筑风格无能为力，就像陆龟对它的壳的风格一样； —

nor need the soldier be so idle as to try to paint the precise color of his virtue on his standard. —
士兵也没必要无所事事地试图在标志上描绘他的美德的确切颜色。 —

The enemy will find it out. He may turn pale when the trial comes. —
敌人会发现的。当试炼来临时，他们可能会变得苍白。 —

This man seemed to me to lean over the cornice, and timidly whisper his half truth to the rude occupants who really knew it better than he. —
这个人对我来说就像是俯身在檐口，小心翼翼地对那些真正比他更了解的粗鲁的居民耳语他的半个真理。 —

What of architectural beauty I now see, I know has gradually grown from within outward, out of the necessities and character of the indweller, who is the only builder – out of some unconscious truthfulness, and nobleness, without ever a thought for the appearance and whatever additional beauty of this kind is destined to be produced will be preceded by a like unconscious beauty of life. —
我现在看到的建筑美，我知道它逐渐从内而外发展，从居民的需要和性格，也就是唯一的建筑者，之中成长出来——某种无意识的真实性和高尚品质，从来没有为外表和任何附加的美丽而考虑过。 —

The most interesting dwellings in this country, as the painter knows, are the most unpretending, humble log huts and cottages of the poor commonly; —
在这个国家最引人入胜的住宅，正如画家所知，是最不起眼的、谦卑的普通人的小木屋和小屋； —

it is the life of the inhabitants whose shells they are, and not any peculiarity in their surfaces merely, which makes them picturesque; —
是这些建筑的主人的生活，而不仅仅是它们的表面上的特殊之处，使它们具有绘画般的风景； —

and equally interesting will be the citizen’s suburban box, when his life shall be as simple and as agreeable to the imagination, and there is as little straining after effect in the style of his dwelling. —
而同样有趣的将是市民郊区小屋，当他的生活将变得简单而符合想象，而在他的住所风格上不再追求夸张。 —

A great proportion of architectural ornaments are literally hollow, and a September gale would strip them off, like borrowed plumes, without injury to the substantials. —
构成建筑装饰的很大一部分实际上是空的，九月的狂风会把它们剥落下来，就像脱落的华丽羽毛一样，不会损害实质性的部分。 —

They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar. —
没有酒窖里的橄榄和葡萄酒的人是可以没有建筑的。 —

What if an equal ado were made about the ornaments of style in literature, and the architects of our bibles spent as much time about their cornices as the architects of our churches do? —
如果文学的风格装饰以及我们圣经的建筑师花费了像我们教堂的建筑师那么多的时间，会发生什么情况呢？ —

So are made the belles-lettres and the beaux-arts and their professors. —
文艺及美术和他们的教授就是这样制作出来的。 —

Much it concerns a man, forsooth, how a few sticks are slanted over him or under him, and what colors are daubed upon his box. —
对一个人来说，几根木棒是如何倾斜在他身上或底下的，他周围涂抹什么颜色没有太大影响。 —

It would signify somewhat, if, in any earnest sense, he slanted them and daubed it; —
如果在任何热切的意义上，他把它们倾斜了并涂抹了，这会有些意义。 —

but the spirit having departed out of the tenant, it is of a piece with constructing his own coffin – the architecture of the grave – and “carpenter” is but another name for “coffin-maker.” —
但是一旦灵魂离开了容器，就和盖自己的棺材一样了 – 坟墓的建筑 – “木匠”只是“棺材制造商”的另一个名称。 —

One man says, in his despair or indifference to life, take up a handful of the earth at your feet, and paint your house that color. —
一个人说，在他的绝望或对生活的漠不关心中，拿起你脚下的一把泥土，然后用那种颜色涂漆你的房子。 —

Is he thinking of his last and narrow house? Toss up a copper for it as well. —
他是在想着他的最后那狭小的房子吗？也剪个硬币吧。 —

What an abundance of leisure be must have! Why do you take up a handful of dirt? —
他一定有充裕的闲暇时间！你为什么要拿起一把泥土？ —

Better paint your house your own complexion; let it turn pale or blush for you. —
不如把你的房子涂成你自己的肤色；让它为你变得苍白或脸红。 —

An enterprise to improve the style of cottage architecture! —
一个改进小屋建筑风格的企业！ —

When you have got my ornaments ready, I will wear them.
当你把我的装饰物准备好了，我会戴上它们。

Before winter I built a chimney, and shingled the sides of my house, which were already impervious to rain, with imperfect and sappy shingles made of the first slice of the log, whose edges I was obliged to straighten with a plane.
冬天来临之前，我建了一个烟囱，并给我房子的侧面铺了屋顶，这些侧面已经对雨水不透，但用了边缘不平整的、由原木的第一层切片做成的不完美和多汁的木瓦。

I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long, and eight-feet posts, with a garret and a closet, a large window on each side, two trap doors, one door at the end, and a brick fireplace opposite. —
因此，我有一座紧凑的用木头瓦面和灰泥涂抹的房子，宽十英尺，长十五英尺,有八英尺高的立柱,有一个阁楼，一个壁橱，每侧都有一个大窗户，两个活板门，一个门在一端，另一个门在对面有一个砖烟囱。 —

The exact cost of my house, paying the usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work, all of which was done by myself, was as follows; —
我的房子的确切成本，按照我所使用的材料的通常价格来支付，但不计算人工费，所有的工作都是我自己完成的，具体如下; —

and I give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost, and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various materials which compose them:–
我提供细节是因为很少有人能准确知道他们的房子成本是多少，更少的是知道各种构成房子的材料的单独成本:–

Boards …………………….. $ 8.03+, mostly shanty boards.
木板……………………… $ 8.03+，主要是破烂木板。

Refuse shingles for roof sides … 4.00
头顶与侧边的废旧木瓦… 4.00

Laths ………………………. 1.25
竖条 ……………………. 1.25

Two second-hand windows
两扇二手窗户

with glass ……………….. 2.43
带玻璃 ……………….. 2.43

One thousand old brick ……….. 4.00
一千块旧砖 ………….. 4.00

Two casks of lime ……………. 2.40 That was high.
两桶石灰 …………….. 2.40 那花的有点多。

Hair ……………………….. 0.31 More than I needed.
发丝 ………………….. 0.31 比我需要的还多。

Mantle-tree iron …………….. 0.15
马刨头铁 …………… 0.15

Nails ………………………. 3.90
钉子 …………………… 3.90

Hinges and screws ……………. 0.14
铰链和螺丝 ………….. 0.14

Latch ………………………. 0.10
门闩 …………………. 0.10

Chalk ………………………. 0.01
粉笔……………………….0.01

Transportation ………………. 1.40 I carried a good part
交通………………. 1.40 我背负了很大一部分

——- on my back.
——– 在我背上。

In all …………………. $28.12+
总计 …………………. $28.12+

These are all the materials, excepting the timber, stones, and sand, which I claimed by squatter’s right. —
这些都是我通过抢地者权利声称的材料，不包括木材、石头和沙子。 —

I have also a small woodshed adjoining, made chiefly of the stuff which was left after building the house.
我还有一个毗邻的小木头棚，主要由建房后剩余的材料制成。

I intend to build me a house which will surpass any on the main street in Concord in grandeur and luxury, as soon as it pleases me as much and will cost me no more than my present one.
我打算建造一座房子，会比康科德主街上任何一栋房子都更豪华宏伟，只要我认为合适并且花费不比我现在的房子更多。

I thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than the rent which he now pays annually. —
我发现，希望有一处庇护的学生可以一生受益，花费不会超过他目前每年支付的租金。 —

If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself; —
如果我似乎自吹过度，我要说的是，我是为了人类而不是为了我自己而吹嘘； —

and my shortcomings and inconsistencies do not affect the truth of my statement. —
我的缺点和矛盾并不影响我的陈述的真实性。 —

Notwithstanding much cant and hypocrisy – chaff which I find it difficult to separate from my wheat, but for which I am as sorry as any man – I will breathe freely and stretch myself in this respect, it is such a relief to both the moral and physical system; —
尽管有很多虚伪的言辞和伪善——这些是我发现很难与我的真性分开的谷物，但我为此感到懊悔，和任何人一样——在这方面我会自由呼吸，放松身体，对于道德和身体系统来说这是一种释放； —

and I am resolved that I will not through humility become the devil’s attorney. —
我决心不让自己因为谦卑而成为魔鬼的律师。 —

I will endeavor to speak a good word for the truth. —
我将努力为真理说句好话。 —

At Cambridge College the mere rent of a student’s room, which is only a little larger than my own, is thirty dollars each year, though the corporation had the advantage of building thirty-two side by side and under one roof, and the occupant suffers the inconvenience of many and noisy neighbors, and perhaps a residence in the fourth story. —
在剑桥学院，一个学生宿舍的租金，只比我的房间稍大一点，每年是三十美元，尽管协会合建了三十二间隔壁宿舍，住户不得不忍受许多吵闹的邻居，也许还要住在四层。 —

I cannot but think that if we had more true wisdom in these respects, not only less education would be needed, because, forsooth, more would already have been acquired, but the pecuniary expense of getting an education would in a great measure vanish. —
我不禁思考如果我们在这些方面更有真正的智慧，不仅所需的教育会更少，因为更多的已经获得了，而且获取教育的金钱费用在很大程度上会消失。 —

Those conveniences which the student requires at Cambridge or elsewhere cost him or somebody else ten times as great a sacrifice of life as they would with proper management on both sides. —
剑桥或其他地方学生所需的便利设施，对他或其他人来说，付出的生命代价是正确管理双方情况下的十倍。 —

Those things for which the most money is demanded are never the things which the student most wants. Tuition, for instance, is an important item in the term bill, while for the far more valuable education which he gets by associating with the most cultivated of his contemporaries no charge is made. —
最需要的东西往往不是要求最高费用的东西。例如，学费是学期账单中的重要项目，而通过与同龄人中最有教养的人交往获得的更宝贵的教育则是免费的。 —

The mode of founding a college is, commonly, to get up a subscription of dollars and cents, and then, following blindly the principles of a division of labor to its extreme – a principle which should never be followed but with circumspection – to call in a contractor who makes this a subject of speculation, and he employs Irishmen or other operatives actually to lay the foundations, while the students that are to be are said to be fitting themselves for it; —
建立一所大学的常规方式是募集赞助金，然后盲目地遵循分工的极端原则 – 一种不应该盲目遵循的原则，然后请承包商进行投机，他雇用爱尔兰人或其他工人实际去打基础，而那些将来会成为学生们却被说成是在为此做准备； —

and for these oversights successive generations have to pay. —
为这些疏忽，后代需要付出代价。 —

I think that it would be better than this, for the students, or those who desire to be benefited by it, even to lay the foundation themselves. —
我认为，对于希望从中受益的学生，自己动手打好基础要比这个更好。 —

The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful. —
通过系统地逃避必要的劳动来获得自己渴望的空闲和隐居的学生，只获得了卑鄙而无益的空闲，剥夺了让空闲变得富有成果的唯一经验。 —

“But,” says one, “you do not mean that the students should go to work with their hands instead of their heads?” —
“但是，”有人说，“你不是指学生应该用手而不是用脑子工作吧？” —

I do not mean that exactly, but I mean something which he might think a good deal like that; —
我不完全是指那个，但我指的东西他可能会认为非常接近那个； —

I mean that they should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end. —
我是说他们不应该只是玩人生，或单纯地学习人生，而社会却在这个昂贵的游戏中支持他们，而是要真诚地从头到尾生活。 —

How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living? —
青年们怎样才能更好地学会生活呢？应该立刻尝试生活的实验。 —

Methinks this would exercise their minds as much as mathematics. —
我认为这将使他们的思维得到和数学一样多的锻炼。 —

If I wished a boy to know something about the arts and sciences, for instance, I would not pursue the common course, which is merely to send him into the neighborhood of some professor, where anything is professed and practised but the art of life; —
如果我希望一个男孩了解一些艺术和科学知识，例如，我不会走普通的路线，只是把他送到某个教授附近，那里任何东西都有人执教和实践，只是不教授生活的艺术； —

– to survey the world through a telescope or a microscope, and never with his natural eye; —
– 通过望远镜或显微镜观察世界，却从不用他的天然眼睛观察； —

to study chemistry, and not learn how his bread is made, or mechanics, and not learn how it is earned; —
学习化学，却不知道面包是如何制作的，或学机械，却不知道如何谋生； —

to discover new satellites to Neptune, and not detect the motes in his eyes, or to what vagabond he is a satellite himself; —
发现海王星的新卫星，却没有发现自己眼中的微尘，或自己是什么流浪者的卫星； —

or to be devoured by the monsters that swarm all around him, while contemplating the monsters in a drop of vinegar. —
或者被围绕在周围的怪兽吞噬，同时思考一滴醋中的怪兽。 —

Which would have advanced the most at the end of a month – the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted, reading as much as would be necessary for this – or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a Rodgers’ penknife from his father? —
在一个月结束时，哪个男孩进步最大—一个男孩自己制作了自己从挖掘和冶炼的矿石中制作的小刀，并阅读了必要的内容—还是那个男孩在此期间参加了学院的冶金讲座，并从父亲那里收到了一把罗杰斯的小刀？ —

Which would be most likely to cut his fingers?. —
哪个人最有可能割伤手指呢？ —

.. To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college that I had studied navigation! —
令我惊讶的是，离开大学时，我被告知我学习了航海术！ —

– why, if I had taken one turn down the harbor I should have known more about it. —
——为什么，如果我在港口转了一个弯我就会对它更了解。 —

Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. —
即使贫穷的学生也只学习和被教授政治经济学，而与哲学同义的生活经济学在我们的学院里甚至没有真诚地被表达。 —

The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.
结果是，虽然他在读亚当·斯密、李嘉图和塞伊的书，他却让他的父亲债台高筑。

As with our colleges, so with a hundred “modern improvements”; there is an illusion about them; —
像我们的学院一样，还有许多“现代改进”是一种错觉； —

there is not always a positive advance. The devil goes on exacting compound interest to the last for his early share and numerous succeeding investments in them. —
它们并不总是积极进步。魔鬼继续要求对他们早期的份额和许多随后的投资进行复利。 —

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. —
我们的发明往往是漂亮的玩具，他们使我们的注意力从严肃的事情上分散了。 —

They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; —
它们只是未经改进的终点的改进手段，一个本来已经很容易到达的终点； —

as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; —
如同铁路通往波士顿或纽约一样。我们急于建造一条从缅因州到德克萨斯的磁电报； —

but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. —
但也许缅因州和德克萨斯没有重要的信息要传达。 —

Either is in such a predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to a distinguished deaf woman, but when he was presented, and one end of her ear trumpet was put into his hand, had nothing to say. —
就像一个渴望与一位杰出的聋女交往的人，但当他被引见时，把她的耳喇叭的一端放在他手里后，却无话可说。 —

As if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. —
好像主要目的是快速交谈而不是明智交谈。 —

We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New; —
我们渴望在大西洋下面打隧道，将旧世界拉近几个星期到新世界； —

but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough. —
但也许第一个传入宽阔的、拍动的美国耳朵的消息将是 Adelaide 公主得了百日咳； —

After all, the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages; —
毕竟，马匹在一分钟内可以跑一英里的人并不传递最重要的消息； —

he is not an evangelist, nor does he come round eating locusts and wild honey. —
他不是布道者，也不是到处吃蝗虫和野蜜的人； —

I doubt if Flying Childers ever carried a peck of corn to mill.
我怀疑“飞行者”契尔德斯曾经扛过一石玉米到磨坊；

One says to me, “I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; —
有人对我说：“我惊讶于你为什么不积蓄；你喜欢旅行； —

you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country.” But I am wiser than that. —
你可以乘火车今天去费奇堡看看那里的风景。” 但我比那聪明； —

I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. —
我已经知道了，最快的旅行者就是徒步旅行的人； —

I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; —
我对我的朋友说，假设我们看看谁会先到那里。 距离是三十英里； —

the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day’s wages. —
费用九十美分。那几乎是一天的工资。 —

I remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road. —
我记得当时这条路上的劳动者工资是每天六十美分。 —

Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; —
好吧，我现在开始徒步旅行，并且在天黑之前到达那里； —

I have travelled at that rate by the week together. —
我一直以这个速度连续一周地旅行。 —

You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time tomorrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. —
与此同时，你将赚到你的车费，并且明天某个时候到达那里，或者幸运的话今晚到达。 —

Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. —
与其去费奇堡，你将在这里工作大部分时间的一天内。 —

And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; —
因此，如果铁路能通达世界各地，我认为我应该领先于你； —

and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should have to cut your acquaintance altogether.
至于看看国家，积累那种经验，我就不得不断绝与你的交往。

Such is the universal law, which no man can ever outwit, and with regard to the railroad even we may say it is as broad as it is long. —
这就是无法超越的普遍法则，关于铁路，我们可以说，长短皆广。 —

To make a railroad round the world available to all mankind is equivalent to grading the whole surface of the planet. —
使全世界的铁路对全人类开放，等于级平整整个地球的表面。 —

Men have an indistinct notion that if they keep up this activity of joint stocks and spades long enough all will at length ride somewhere, in next to no time, and for nothing; —
人们模糊地认为，如果他们坚持这种股份和铁锹的活动足够长时间，最终所有人都会在转瞬之间免费乘车； —

but though a crowd rushes to the depot, and the conductor shouts “All aboard!” —
但虽然人群涌向车站，售票员大喊”上车！” —

when the smoke is blown away and the vapor condensed, it will be perceived that a few are riding, but the rest are run over – and it will be called, and will be, “A melancholy accident.” —
烟雾散去，蒸汽凝结，就会发现少数人在乘车，其他人被撞倒——这将被称之为，也的确是”一桩悲惨的事故”。 —

No doubt they can ride at last who shall have earned their fare, that is, if they survive so long, but they will probably have lost their elasticity and desire to travel by that time. —
毫无疑问，最终能乘车的人将是那些挣到车费的人，也就是说，如果他们活到那时的话，但到时候他们可能已经失去了弹性和旅行的愿望。 —

This spending of the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. —
把生命中最宝贵的时间用来赚钱，以便在最不值钱的时间享受一种可疑的自由，这种情况让我想起了一个英国人，他去印度首先是为了发财，以便回到英国过诗人的生活。 —

He should have gone up garret at once. “What!” —
他应该立刻上楼阁。”什么！” —

exclaim a million Irishmen starting up from all the shanties in the land, “is not this railroad which we have built a good thing?” —
整个土地上所有的小棚屋里都起身的一百万爱尔兰人高呼道，”我们修建的这条铁路难道不是一件好事吗？” —

Yes, I answer, comparatively good, that is, you might have done worse; —
是的，我回答，相对来说，算不错了，也许你们做得更糟； —

but I wish, as you are brothers of mine, that you could have spent your time better than digging in this dirt.
但是作为我的兄弟，我希望你们能把时间用在比挖这土更好的事情上。

Before I finished my house, wishing to earn ten or twelve dollars by some honest and agreeable method, in order to meet my unusual expenses, I planted about two acres and a half of light and sandy soil near it chiefly with beans, but also a small part with potatoes, corn, peas, and turnips. —
在完成我的房子之前，为了通过一种诚实而令人愉快的方法赚取十到十二美元，以支付我不寻常的开支，我在附近种植了大约两英亩半的轻沙土地，主要种植豆类，还有一小部分种植土豆、玉米、豌豆和萝卜。 —

The whole lot contains eleven acres, mostly growing up to pines and hickories, and was sold the preceding season for eight dollars and eight cents an acre. —
整个地块有十一英亩，大部分都是松树和山核桃，前一季度以每英亩八美元八分的价格卖出。 —

One farmer said that it was “good for nothing but to raise cheeping squirrels on.” —
一个农民说这块土地”养不了别的，只能用来饲养叽叽喳喳的松鼠。” —

I put no manure whatever on this land, not being the owner, but merely a squatter, and not expecting to cultivate so much again, and I did not quite hoe it all once. —
我在这块土地上完全没有施肥，因为我不是土地的主人，只是一个占地者，也不指望再耕种这么多，我也没完全锄过一遍。 —

I got out several cords of stumps in plowing, which supplied me with fuel for a long time, and left small circles of virgin mould, easily distinguishable through the summer by the greater luxuriance of the beans there. —
我在耕种时挖出了好几张树桩，供我很长一段时间使用燃料，并留下了一些小圈圈的新鲜泥土，整个夏天都能通过那里豌豆的更加茂盛来轻松辨识。 —

The dead and for the most part unmerchantable wood behind my house, and the driftwood from the pond, have supplied the remainder of my fuel. —
我家后面的枯死大部分没有价值的木材，以及池塘里的漂木，供应了我其余的燃料。 —

I was obliged to hire a team and a man for the plowing, though I held the plow myself. —
我不得不雇一个队和一个人来耕种，虽然我自己拉着犁。 —

My farm outgoes for the first season were, for implements, seed, work, etc. —
第一个季度我农场的支出为工具、种子、劳动等共计 —

, $14.72+. The seed corn was given me. This never costs anything to speak of, unless you plant more than enough. —
14.72美元。玉米种子是给我的。这几乎不用花多少钱，除非你种的比需要的多。 —

I got twelve bushels of beans, and eighteen bushels of potatoes, beside some peas and sweet corn. —
我收获了十二蒲式耳的豆子，十八蒲式耳的土豆，还有一些豌豆和甜玉米。 —

The yellow corn and turnips were too late to come to anything. —
黄玉米和萝卜太晚才长成。 —

My whole income from the farm was
我从农场获得的整体收入为

$ 23.44
23.44美元

Deducting the outgoes ………… 14.72+
扣除支出 ………… 14.72美元

——-

There are left ……………… $ 8.71+
剩下 …………… 8.71美元

beside produce consumed and on hand at the time this estimate was made of the value of $4.50 – the amount on hand much more than balancing a little grass which I did not raise. —
加上消费和当时估计价值为4.50美元的存货 – 手头存货的金额远远超过一点我没有种植的草。 —

All things considered, that is, considering the importance of a man’s soul and of today, notwithstanding the short time occupied by my experiment, nay, partly even because of its transient character, I believe that that was doing better than any farmer in Concord did that year.
综合考虑，也就是考虑到一个人的灵魂的重要性和当下的情况，尽管我的实验所花的时间很短，甚至部分是因为其瞬时的特性，我相信那年我比康科德的任何农民都做得更好。

The next year I did better still, for I spaded up all the land which I required, about a third of an acre, and I learned from the experience of both years, not being in the least awed by many celebrated works on husbandry, Arthur Young among the rest, that if one would live simply and eat only the crop which he raised, and raise no more than he ate, and not exchange it for an insufficient quantity of more luxurious and expensive things, he would need to cultivate only a few rods of ground, and that it would be cheaper to spade up that than to use oxen to plow it, and to select a fresh spot from time to time than to manure the old, and he could do all his necessary farm work as it were with his left hand at odd hours in the summer; —
第二年，我做得更好，因为我锄平了所有我需要的土地，大约三分之一英亩，我从这两年的经验中学到，完全没有被许多著名的农业著作所吓倒，包括亚瑟·扬在内，只要一个人简单地生活，只吃自己种的庄稼，种自己吃的，不为更奢侈、更昂贵的东西交换它，他只需要耕种几杆地，用铁锹翻地要比用牛犁地更便宜，时不时选择新地比施肥于旧地更好，夏天随时都可用边工作边完成所有必要的农场工作； —

and thus he would not be tied to an ox, or horse, or cow, or pig, as at present. —
因此，他将不会被束缚在牛、马、奶牛或猪身上。 —

I desire to speak impartially on this point, and as one not interested in the success or failure of the present economical and social arrangements. —
我希望在这一点上说得公正，作为一个对当前经济和社会安排的成功或失败不感兴趣的人。 —

I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment. —
我比康科德的任何农夫都更独立，因为我没有被锚定在房屋或农场上，而是可以追随我那颇弯曲的天赋的倾向，每时每刻都可以。 —

Beside being better off than they already, if my house had been burned or my crops had failed, I should have been nearly as well off as before.
如果我的房子被烧毁，我的庄稼歉收，我几乎可以和之前一样好。

I am wont to think that men are not so much the keepers of herds as herds are the keepers of men, the former are so much the freer. —
我倾向认为人们不是牲畜的看守者，而是牲畜的看守者，前者要自由得多。 —

Men and oxen exchange work; but if we consider necessary work only, the oxen will be seen to have greatly the advantage, their farm is so much the larger. —
人和牛互相交换劳动；但是如果我们只考虑必要的工作，那么牛显然有很大的优势，因为它们的农场要大得多。 —

Man does some of his part of the exchange work in his six weeks of haying, and it is no boy’s play. —
人在六周的草料收获中也做了一部分交换工作，那可不是小孩子的游戏。 —

Certainly no nation that lived simply in all respects, that is, no nation of philosophers, would commit so great a blunder as to use the labor of animals. —
肯定没有一个完全以简朴方式生活的国家，也就是说，没有一个哲学家国家，会犯下这样大的错误，去使用动物的劳动。 —

True, there never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be. —
当然，从来没有一个、也不太可能很快会有一个哲学家国家，我也不确定有这样的国家是值得的。 —

However, I should never have broken a horse or bull and taken him to board for any work he might do for me, for fear I should become a horseman or a herdsman merely; —
但是，我绝不会去驯服马或公牛，让它们为我工作，因为我担心自己会变成骑马者或牧人； —

and if society seems to be the gainer by so doing, are we certain that what is one man’s gain is not another’s loss, and that the stable-boy has equal cause with his master to be satisfied? —
如果利益看起来在这样做时是社会的，那么我们是否确定一个人的得益丧失不是另一个人的，马房小伙子是否和他的主人一样满意？ —

Granted that some public works would not have been constructed without this aid, and let man share the glory of such with the ox and horse; —
假设一些公共工程如果没有这种帮助将不会建成，让人与牛、马分享这样的荣耀； —

does it follow that he could not have accomplished works yet more worthy of himself in that case? —
难道接下来就是说，他们在这种情况下不可能完成更值得自己的工作吗？ —

When men begin to do, not merely unnecessary or artistic, but luxurious and idle work, with their assistance, it is inevitable that a few do all the exchange work with the oxen, or, in other words, become the slaves of the strongest. —
当人们开始做的不仅仅是不必要或艺术性的工作，而是奢侈和闲逸的工作时，他们势必会有一些人用牛来做所有的交换工作，换句话说，成为最强者的奴隶。 —

Man thus not only works for the animal within him, but, for a symbol of this, he works for the animal without him. —
因此，人不仅为他内在的动物而工作，还为此象征，他为他外在的动物也在工作。 —

Though we have many substantial houses of brick or stone, the prosperity of the farmer is still measured by the degree to which the barn overshadows the house. —
尽管我们有许多砖石建成的牢固房屋，但农民的繁荣仍然以谷仓遮蔽房屋的程度来衡量。 —

This town is said to have the largest houses for oxen, cows, and horses hereabouts, and it is not behindhand in its public buildings; —
这座城镇据说拥有这一带最大的牛、奶牛和马的房屋，且在公共建筑方面毫不逊色； —

but there are very few halls for free worship or free speech in this county. —
但是这个县里很少有自由敬拜或自由言论的大厅。 —

It should not be by their architecture, but why not even by their power of abstract thought, that nations should seek to commemorate themselves? —
民族应该寻求通过抽象思维的力量，而不仅仅是依靠其建筑来纪念自己。 —

How much more admirable the Bhagvat-Geeta than all the ruins of the East! —
比起东方的所有废墟，宝歌塔吠陀更加令人钦佩！ —

Towers and temples are the luxury of princes. —
塔楼和寺庙是王侯们的奢侈品。 —

A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince. —
一个简单独立的心灵不会为任何王侯工作。 —

Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, nor is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling extent. —
天才不是任何皇帝的仆人，它的材质也不是金银、大理石，仅有少量。 —

To what end, pray, is so much stone hammered? —
那么，那么多石头为了何故而敲打？ —

In Arcadia, when I was there, I did not see any hammering stone. —
在我到过的阿卡迪亚，我没有见到任何人在敲打石头。 —

Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. —
民族被疯狂的野心所控制，想通过留下的敲打的石头数量来永恒地纪念自己。 —

What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners? —
如果花同样的力气来改进和提升他们的礼仪，会更有意义吗？ —

One piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon. —
一片良知比一个能触及月亮高度的纪念碑更加难以忘怀。 —

I love better to see stones in place. The grandeur of Thebes was a vulgar grandeur. —
我更喜欢看到石头安放在原处。底比斯的壮丽是一种庸俗的壮丽。 —

More sensible is a rod of stone wall that bounds an honest man’s field than a hundred-gated Thebes that has wandered farther from the true end of life. —
比较明智的是一根石墙，界定了一个诚实人的田地，而不是一个有着百座城门的底比斯，它已经偏离了生命的真正目标。 —

The religion and civilization which are barbaric and heathenish build splendid temples; —
那些野蛮和异教的宗教和文明兴建了辉煌的庙宇； —

but what you might call Christianity does not. —
但可以称作基督教的并没有。 —

Most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself alive. —
一个国家凿出的大部分石头，只是用来建造自己的坟墓。它活埋了自己。 —

As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs. —
至于金字塔，其中让人惊讶的是，竟然有这么多人愿意花费一生的时间为某个野心勃勃的蠢货建造陵墓，而更明智、更男子气的做法应该是把他淹死在尼罗河中，然后将他的尸体扔给狗。 —

I might possibly invent some excuse for them and him, but I have no time for it. —
我也许会为他们和他编造一些借口，但我没有时间这样去做。 —

As for the religion and love of art of the builders, it is much the same all the world over, whether the building be an Egyptian temple or the United States Bank. It costs more than it comes to. —
至于建造者的宗教和对艺术的热爱，无论是埃及寺庙还是美国银行，都大同小异。它的成本超出了价值。 —

The mainspring is vanity, assisted by the love of garlic and bread and butter. —
主要动力是虚荣，再加上对大蒜、面包和黄油的爱。 —

Mr. Balcom, a promising young architect, designs it on the back of his Vitruvius, with hard pencil and ruler, and the job is let out to Dobson & Sons, stonecutters. —
有前途的年轻建筑师巴尔康在他的维特鲁威手册上设计了它，用硬铅笔和尺子，这个任务交给了石匠多布森父子。 —

When the thirty centuries begin to look down on it, mankind begin to look up at it. —
当三千年开始俯视它时，人类开始仰望它。 —

As for your high towers and monuments, there was a crazy fellow once in this town who undertook to dig through to China, and he got so far that, as he said, he heard the Chinese pots and kettles rattle; —
至于你们的高塔和纪念碑，在这个城镇里曾经有个疯子尝试挖通道通往中国，他挖得很深，据说他听到了中国的锅碗瓢盆响声； —

but I think that I shall not go out of my way to admire the hole which he made. —
但我想我不会刻意去欣赏他挖出的洞。 —

Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East – to know who built them. —
很多人关心西方和东方的纪念碑 – 想知道是谁建造了它们。 —

For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them – who were above such trifling. —
就我而言，我想知道在那些日子里没有建造它们的人 – 是谁高于这种琐事。 —

But to proceed with my statistics.
但是要继续我的统计数据。

By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in the village in the meanwhile, for I have as many trades as fingers, I had earned $13.34. The expense of food for eight months, namely, from July 4th to March 1st, the time when these estimates were made, though I lived there more than two years – not counting potatoes, a little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor considering the value of what was on hand at the last date – was
通过在村里进行调查、木工工作以及其他各种类型的临时工，与此同时，因为我掌握了与手指一样多的技能，我已经挣了13.34美元。食物费用为八个月，即从7月4日到3月1日，这些估算是在那时做出的，尽管我在那里住了两年多——不包括土豆、一点青玉米和一些豌豆，这些是我自己种的，并且不考虑最后一个日期时手头上的价值——总共是

Rice ……………….. $ 1.73 ¹⁄₂
米饭……………….. $ 1.73 ¹⁄₂

Molasses …………….. 1.73 Cheapest form of the
糖蜜 …………….. 1.73 最便宜的形式

saccharine.
糖精。

Rye meal …………….. 1.04 ³⁄₄
黑麦面粉 …………….. 1.04 ³⁄₄

Indian meal ………….. 0.99 ³⁄₄ Cheaper than rye.
印度餐 0.99 ³⁄₄ 比黑麦便宜。

Pork ………………… 0.22
猪肉 0.22

All experiments which failed:
所有失败的实验：

Flour ……………….. 0.88 Costs more than Indian meal,
面粉……………….. 0.88 比印第安玉米面贵，

both money and trouble.
无论是钱还是麻烦。

Sugar ……………….. 0.80
糖……………….. 0.80

Lard ………………… 0.65
猪油………………… 0.65

Apples ………………. 0.25
苹果………………. 0.25

Dried apple ………….. 0.22
干苹果………….. 0.22

Sweet potatoes ……….. 0.10
红薯……….. 0.10

One pumpkin ………….. 0.06
一个南瓜………….. 0.06

One watermelon ……….. 0.02
一个西瓜……….. 0.02

Salt ………………… 0.03
盐………………… 0.03

Yes, I did eat $8.74, all told; but I should not thus unblushingly publish my guilt, if I did not know that most of my readers were equally guilty with myself, and that their deeds would look no better in print. —
是的，我吃了8.74美元，尽管有些虚荣，但我知道我的大部分读者和我一样有罪，他们的行为在纸上看起来并不好。 —

The next year I sometimes caught a mess of fish for my dinner, and once I went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck which ravaged my bean-field – effect his transmigration, as a Tartar would say – and devour him, partly for experiment’s sake; —
第二年，我有时也能捕到一些鱼来当午餐，有一次我甚至屠杀了一只肆虐我的豆田的土拨鼠 – 这是一种转移，一个鞑靼人会这样说 – 然后吃掉他，部分出于实验的目的; —

but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notwithstanding a musky flavor, I saw that the longest use would not make that a good practice, however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready dressed by the village butcher.
尽管给了我一时的享受，尽管有一种麝香味道，我看到最长时间的使用也不会使这成为一个好习惯，无论看起来你的土拨鼠被村里的屠夫已经处理好了。

Clothing and some incidental expenses within the same dates, though little can be inferred from this item, amounted to
在同一时间段额外的一些衣物和开支，虽然从这一项没有太多表达，总计为

$ 8.40-³⁄₄
$ 8.40-³⁄₄

Oil and some household utensils …….. 2.00
油和一些家庭器具 …….. 2.00

So that all the pecuniary outgoes, excepting for washing and mending, which for the most part were done out of the house, and their bills have not yet been received – and these are all and more than all the ways by which money necessarily goes out in this part of the world – were
所有的金钱支出，除了洗涤和修补之外，大部分都是在外面做的，他们还没有收到账单 – 这些是这个世界这个地方金钱必然会流出的所有方式，甚至更多 –

House …………………………… $ 28.12+
房子 …………………………… $ 28.12+

Farm one year ……………………… 14.72+
农场一年 ……………………… 14.72+

Food eight months ………………….. 8.74
食物八个月 ………………….. 8.74

Clothing, etc., eight months ………… 8.40-³⁄₄
服装等，八个月 ………… 8.40-³⁄₄

Oil, etc., eight months …………….. 2.00
油等，八个月 …………….. 2.00

———–

In all ………………………. $ 61.99-³⁄₄
总计 ………………………. $ 61.99-³⁄₄

I address myself now to those of my readers who have a living to get. —
现在我要对那些需要谋生的读者说话了。 —

And to meet this I have for farm produce sold
为了应对这个，我卖出了农产品

$ 23.44
$ 23.44

Earned by day-labor ……………….. 13.34
通过临时工赚取 ……………….. 13.34

——-

In all ………………………. $ 36.78,
总计 ………………………. $ 36.78,

which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a balance of $25.21 ³⁄₄ on the one side – this being very nearly the means with which I started, and the measure of expenses to be incurred – and on the other, beside the leisure and independence and health thus secured, a comfortable house for me as long as I choose to occupy it.
从支出的总和中减去$25.21 3/4，余额为一边，这几乎是我开始时的手段，也是将要发生的开支的衡量标准，并且另一边，除了自由和健康，还有一个对我来说足够舒适的房子，只要我选择居住。

These statistics, however accidental and therefore uninstructive they may appear, as they have a certain completeness, have a certain value also. —
然而，尽管这些统计数据显得偶然而且可能看似毫不具有教育意义，它们具有一定的完整性和价值。 —

Nothing was given me of which I have not rendered some account. —
没有给过我任何东西，我没有给出某种说明。 —

It appears from the above estimate, that my food alone cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week. —
从上面的估计来看，仅我的食物就需要花费大约27美分一周。 —

It was, for nearly two years after this, rye and Indian meal without yeast, potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, molasses, and salt; —
在此后近两年的时间里，我的食物主要是黑麦和印第安玉米面，不加酵母，土豆，大米，一点咸肉，糖浆和盐； —

and my drink, water. It was fit that I should live on rice, mainly, who love so well the philosophy of India. To meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out occasionally, as I always had done, and I trust shall have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements. —
我喝的是水。作为一个热爱印度哲学的人，我几乎只能主要以大米为主。为了回应一些顽固的挑剔者的异议，我也要声明一下，如果我偶尔外出吃饭，就像以前一直做的那样，而且我相信以后还会有机会，那就会经常影响到我家庭的安排。 —

But the dining out, being, as I have stated, a constant element, does not in the least affect a comparative statement like this.
但是外出吃饭这一点，正如我所说，是一个不断变化的因素，它完全不会影响这样一个比较性的陈述。

I learned from my two years’ experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain one’s necessary food, even in this latitude; —
从我两年的经验中得知，在这个纬度，获得自己所需的食物并不需要太多的麻烦； —

that a man may use as simple a diet as the animals, and yet retain health and strength. —
一个人可以像动物一样使用如此简单的饮食，同时保持健康和力量。 —

I have made a satisfactory dinner, satisfactory on several accounts, simply off a dish of purslane (Portulaca oleracea) which I gathered in my cornfield, boiled and salted. —
有一顿令人满意的晚餐，这几个方面都很满意，只靠我在玉米地里捡来的一盘马齿苋（Portulaca oleracea），煮熟并加盐。 —

I give the Latin on account of the savoriness of the trivial name. —
我提供拉丁名称是因为这个普通名称的味道很好。 —

And pray what more can a reasonable man desire, in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of ears of green sweet corn boiled, with the addition of salt? —
请问，在和平时期，在普通的中午，除了一足够数量的煮过的青甜玉米加点盐，一个理智的人还能想要什么？ —

Even the little variety which I used was a yielding to the demands of appetite, and not of health. —
即使我用的这么少的变化也只是为了满足胃口的需求，而非健康的需要。 —

Yet men have come to such a pass that they frequently starve, not for want of necessaries, but for want of luxuries; —
然而，人们已经陷入这样一种境地，经常因为缺乏奢侈品而饥饿； —

and I know a good woman who thinks that her son lost his life because he took to drinking water only.
我认识一个好女人认为她的儿子因为只喝水而丧命。

The reader will perceive that I am treating the subject rather from an economic than a dietetic point of view, and he will not venture to put my abstemiousness to the test unless he has a well-stocked larder.
读者将会感觉我更多地是从经济而不是饮食的角度来处理这个主题，并且他不会冒险考验我的节制，除非他的食品储备充足。

Bread I at first made of pure Indian meal and salt, genuine hoe-cakes, which I baked before my fire out of doors on a shingle or the end of a stick of timber sawed off in building my house; —
面包，我起初用纯正的印第安玉米面和盐做，制作了真正的锄饼，我在户外在火前烤在一块木瓦或用来建造房子的木材的一端； —

but it was wont to get smoked and to have a piny flavor, I tried flour also; —
但它经常会被熏黑和带有松树味，我也尝试面粉； —

but have at last found a mixture of rye and Indian meal most convenient and agreeable. —
但最后发现混合黑麦和印第安玉米面最方便和可口。 —

In cold weather it was no little amusement to bake several small loaves of this in succession, tending and turning them as carefully as an Egyptian his hatching eggs. —
在寒冷的天气里，烤几个小面包接连不断地给了我不少乐趣，像一个埃及人孵化鸡蛋一样细心地照料和翻转它们。 —

They were a real cereal fruit which I ripened, and they had to my senses a fragrance like that of other noble fruits, which I kept in as long as possible by wrapping them in cloths. —
它们是我成熟的一种真正的谷类水果，它们对我的感官有着其他高贵水果的香气，我把它们用布包好，尽可能地保留。 —

I made a study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making, consulting such authorities as offered, going back to the primitive days and first invention of the unleavened kind, when from the wildness of nuts and meats men first reached the mildness and refinement of this diet, and travelling gradually down in my studies through that accidental souring of the dough which, it is supposed, taught the leavening process, and through the various fermentations thereafter, till I came to “good, sweet, wholesome bread,” the staff of life. —
我研究了古老而必不可少的面包制作艺术，咨询了提供的所有权威，回溯到未经发酵时代和第一次无酵种的发明，当时从坚果和肉类的野性开始，人们首次达到了这种饮食的温和和精致，逐渐在我的研究中向下转移，通过那个被认为教会了发酵过程的面团意外酸化，以及随后的各种发酵，直到我来到”好的，甜的，健康的面包”，生命之杖。 —

Leaven, which some deem the soul of bread, the spiritus which fills its cellular tissue, which is religiously preserved like the vestal fire – some precious bottleful, I suppose, first brought over in the Mayflower, did the business for America, and its influence is still rising, swelling, spreading, in cerealian billows over the land – this seed I regularly and faithfully procured from the village, till at length one morning I forgot the rules, and scalded my yeast; —
有些人认为酵母是面包的灵魂，填充它的细胞组织的精神，像被尊重地保存着的维斯塔尔火一样 – 我想第一瓶珍贵的种子可能是搭乘五月花号带来的，它为美洲做了这件事，并且它的影响仍在上升、膨胀、在整个土地上扩展 – 我定时忠实地从村里获得这种种子，直到有一天早晨我忘记了规则，烫坏了我的酵母； —

by which accident I discovered that even this was not indispensable – for my discoveries were not by the synthetic but analytic process – and I have gladly omitted it since, though most housewives earnestly assured me that safe and wholesome bread without yeast might not be, and elderly people prophesied a speedy decay of the vital forces. —
在这个意外事故中，我发现即使这也不是必需的 – 因为我的发现不是通过综合而是分析过程 – 自那时起，我从未想起过它，尽管大多数主妇确保我没有酵母无法制作安全和健康的面包，年长者预言活力的迅速衰退。 —

Yet I find it not to be an essential ingredient, and after going without it for a year am still in the land of the living; —
然而我发现它并不是一个必备的原料，经过一年没有酵母仍旧健在; —

and I am glad to escape the trivialness of carrying a bottleful in my pocket, which would sometimes pop and discharge its contents to my discomfiture. —
我很高兴不用携带瓶装酵母在口袋里这种琐碎的事情，有时瓶子可能会爆炸，倒出其内容让我尴尬。 —

It is simpler and more respectable to omit it. —
不用它更简单、更有尊严。 —

Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances. —
人类是一个比任何其他动物更能适应所有气候和环境的动物。 —

Neither did I put any sal-soda, or other acid or alkali, into my bread. —
我在面包里也没有放苏打粉或其他酸碱物。 —

It would seem that I made it according to the recipe which Marcus Porcius Cato gave about two centuries before Christ. —
我似乎是根据公元前两个世纪马尔库斯·波西乌斯·卡图给出的食谱来制作的。 —

“Panem depsticium sic facito. Manus mortariumque bene lavato. —
“按照这种方式制作揉面包。把双手和槽洗干净。 —

Farinam in mortarium indito, aquae paulatim addito, subigitoque pulchre. —
把面粉放入槽中，逐渐加水，揉匀。 —

Ubi bene subegeris, defingito, coquitoque sub testu.” —
当揉匀后，塑造形状，在罩子下烤制。” —

Which I take to mean, – “Make kneaded bread thus. Wash your hands and trough well. —
这意味着–“按照这样的方式制作揉面包。把双手和槽洗干净。 —

Put the meal into the trough, add water gradually, and knead it thoroughly. —
把面粉放入槽中，逐渐加水，揉匀。 —

When you have kneaded it well, mould it, and bake it under a cover,” that is, in a baking kettle. —
当揉匀后，塑造形状，在一个烤锅下烤制。” —

Not a word about leaven. But I did not always use this staff of life. —
没有提到发酵。但我并不总是使用这种主要食物。 —

At one time, owing to the emptiness of my purse, I saw none of it for more than a month.
有一段时间，由于钱包空空，我一个多月没有吃到它。

Every New Englander might easily raise all his own breadstuffs in this land of rye and Indian corn, and not depend on distant and fluctuating markets for them. —
每个新英格兰人都很容易在这个黑麦和玉米之地种植自己的面包食物，不去依赖遥远和波动的市场。 —

Yet so far are we from simplicity and independence that, in Concord, fresh and sweet meal is rarely sold in the shops, and hominy and corn in a still coarser form are hardly used by any. —
然而，我们离简单和独立还有很远，在康科德，新鲜和甜美的面粉很少在商店里出售，而烧玉米和玉米还有一种更粗糙的形式几乎没有人使用。 —

For the most part the farmer gives to his cattle and hogs the grain of his own producing, and buys flour, which is at least no more wholesome, at a greater cost, at the store. —
大部分农民会把自己种植的粮食喂给自家的牲畜和猪，然后购买面粉，至少在价格上更贵，在商店购买。 —

I saw that I could easily raise my bushel or two of rye and Indian corn, for the former will grow on the poorest land, and the latter does not require the best, and grind them in a hand-mill, and so do without rice and pork; —
我发现我可以很容易地种植一筐或两筐黑麦和玉米，因为前者可以在最贫瘠的土地上生长，而后者并不需要最好的土地，并且用手磨磨碎它们，所以不用用大米和猪肉； —

and if I must have some concentrated sweet, I found by experiment that I could make a very good molasses either of pumpkins or beets, and I knew that I needed only to set out a few maples to obtain it more easily still, and while these were growing I could use various substitutes beside those which I have named. —
如果我必须要一些浓缩型的甜，我通过实验发现我可以用南瓜或甜菜制作出非常好的糖浆，而我知道我只需要种植几棵枫树就可以更容易地获得，而在这些树长大时，我可以使用各种替代品，除了我提到的那些。 —

“For,” as the Forefathers sang,–
“因为，”像祖先们唱道，

“we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
“我们可以酿酒来使我们的嘴唇甜美。”

Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips.”
南瓜、防风草和胡桃树木屑。

Finally, as for salt, that grossest of groceries, to obtain this might be a fit occasion for a visit to the seashore, or, if I did without it altogether, I should probably drink the less water. —
最后，至于盐，这种最粗糙的调料，要获取它可能就需要到海滩去，或者如果干脆不要它，那我可能会喝的水就少些。 —

I do not learn that the Indians ever troubled themselves to go after it.
我没有发现印第安人费心去追逐它。

Thus I could avoid all trade and barter, so far as my food was concerned, and having a shelter already, it would only remain to get clothing and fuel. —
这样，我就可以避免所有的贸易和交换，就我食物而言，得到衣服和燃料就行了。 —

The pantaloons which I now wear were woven in a farmer’s family – thank Heaven there is so much virtue still in man; —
我现在穿的裤子是一个农家织的——感谢上帝，在人类还是有如此多的美德； —

for I think the fall from the farmer to the operative as great and memorable as that from the man to the farmer; —
因为我认为从农夫到工人的跌落和值得铭记，和从人变成农夫一样值得。 —

– and in a new country, fuel is an encumbrance. —
—— 而在一个新国家，燃料是一种累赘。 —

As for a habitat, if I were not permitted still to squat, I might purchase one acre at the same price for which the land I cultivated was sold – namely, eight dollars and eight cents. —
至于居所，如果我不被允许继续蹲下，我可能以相同价格购买一英亩土地——也就是，八美元八分。 —

But as it was, I considered that I enhanced the value of the land by squatting on it.
但如今，我认为通过蹲在上面，我提高了这块土地的价值。

There is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me such questions as, if I think that I can live on vegetable food alone; —
有一类不信神的人会问我诸如我是否认为自己只能靠素食为生； —

and to strike at the root of the matter at once – for the root is faith – I am accustomed to answer such, that I can live on board nails. —
并一下子就点中问题的关键——因为关键是信仰——我习惯回答他们，我能靠钉子为生。 —

If they cannot understand that, they cannot understand much that I have to say. —
如果他们不明白这一点，那么他们可能不会理解我有很多话要说。 —

For my part, I am glad to bear of experiments of this kind being tried; —
至于我，我很高兴听说有人试验这种事； —

as that a young man tried for a fortnight to live on hard, raw corn on the ear, using his teeth for all mortar. —
就像一个年轻人试着活了两周只靠硬生生的玉米籽，在嘴里使劲嚼成浆。 —

The squirrel tribe tried the same and succeeded. —
松鼠族也试了同样的方法，并成功了。 —

The human race is interested in these experiments, though a few old women who are incapacitated for them, or who own their thirds in mills, may be alarmed.
人类对这些实验很感兴趣，虽然一些无法进行这些实验的老妇人，或者在磨坊拥有自己的三分之一的人可能感到惊慌。

My furniture, part of which I made myself – and the rest cost me nothing of which I have not rendered an account – consisted of a bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a japanned lamp. —
我的家具，部分是我自己做的 – 其余我没有花一分钱，我也已经做了账 – 包括一张床，一张桌子，一张写字台，三把椅子，直径三英寸的一面镜子，一个火钳和铁器，一个水壶，一个煎锅，一个勺子，一个洗脸盆，两把刀叉，三个盘子，一个杯子，一个勺子，一个装油的壶，一个装糖浆的壶，和一个漆黑的灯笼。 —

None is so poor that he need sit on a pumpkin. That is shiftlessness. —
没有人会贫困到需要坐在南瓜上。那就是懒散。 —

There is a plenty of such chairs as I like best in the village garrets to be had for taking them away. —
村子里有很多我最喜欢的椅子，可以从阁楼搬出来。 —

Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. —
家具！感谢上帝，我坐着，我站着都不需要家具仓库的帮助。 —

What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of empty boxes? —
除了哲学家，谁看到自己的家具被装在车子里运往乡下，暴露在天地之间和人们的眼前会不感到羞耻呢，一车空箱子看不出是所谓的富人还是穷人的。 —

That is Spaulding’s furniture. I could never tell from inspecting such a load whether it belonged to a so-called rich man or a poor one; —
那是斯波尔丁的家具。看着这么一大堆，我无法判断它是属于所谓的富人还是穷人； —

the owner always seemed poverty-stricken. —
主人看起来总是贫困潦倒。 —

Indeed, the more you have of such things the poorer you are. —
实际上，你拥有的这些东西越多，你就越贫穷。 —

Each load looks as if it contained the contents of a dozen shanties; —
每一车看起来似乎装满了十几座简陋小屋的内容； —

and if one shanty is poor, this is a dozen times as poor. —
如果其中一座小屋贫瘠，那么这就是十二倍的贫穷。 —

Pray, for what do we move ever but to get rid of our furniture, our exuvioe: —
请问，我们究竟为了什么而搬迁，不就是为了摆脱我们的家具、我们的外壳： —

at last to go from this world to another newly furnished, and leave this to be burned? —
最终离开这个世界，到一个新装修的地方去，留下这些东西被烧毁？ —

It is the same as if all these traps were buckled to a man’s belt, and he could not move over the rough country where our lines are cast without dragging them – dragging his trap. —
这就好像所有这些陷阱都被扣在一个人的腰带上，他无法在我们选择的崎岖地方行走，而不拖着它们–拖着自己的陷阱。 —

He was a lucky fox that left his tail in the trap. —
离开他的尾巴陷在陷阱里的狡猾的狐狸是幸运的。 —

The muskrat will gnaw his third leg off to be free. No wonder man has lost his elasticity. —
麝鼠会啃掉第三条腿来获得自由。难怪人类已经失去了弹性。 —

How often he is at a dead set! “Sir, if I may be so bold, what do you mean by a dead set?” —
他多么经常处于死死的困境！“先生，如果我可以如此大胆，您所说的死死的困境是什么意思？” —

If you are a seer, whenever you meet a man you will see all that he owns, ay, and much that he pretends to disown, behind him, even to his kitchen furniture and all the trumpery which he saves and will not burn, and he will appear to be harnessed to it and making what headway he can. —
如果你是一个先知，无论何时遇到一个人，你都会看到他所有的东西，是的，甚至他假装不拥有的东西，就在他身后，甚至他的厨房家具和所有他留着不肯烧掉的废物，他似乎被摆布其中并努力前行。 —

I think that the man is at a dead set who has got through a knot-hole or gateway where his sledge load of furniture cannot follow him. —
我认为那个已经通过一个树洞或门口的人是处于死死的困境，他的那车装满家具却无法跟上他。 —

I cannot but feel compassion when I hear some trig, compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready, speak of his “furniture,” as whether it is insured or not. —
每当听到一个看起来整洁、紧凑的自由自在的人开始谈及他的“家具”，是否保险之类的时候，我禁不住感到同情。 —

“But what shall I do with my furniture?” – My gay butterfly is entangled in a spider’s web then. —
“但是我该怎么处理我的家具呢？”– 我那只欢快的蝴蝶被纠缠在蜘蛛网中了。 —

Even those who seem for a long while not to have any, if you inquire more narrowly you will find have some stored in somebody’s barn. —
即使是那些好像很长一段时间没有任何家具的人，如果你更仔细地打听，你会发现他们在某人的谷仓里存放了一些。 —

I look upon England today as an old gentleman who is travelling with a great deal of baggage, trumpery which has accumulated from long housekeeping, which he has not the courage to burn; —
我今天认为英格兰就像一位年迈的绅士，背负着一大堆的行李，长年累月积累的无用之物，他没有勇气去烧掉； —

great trunk, little trunk, bandbox, and bundle. Throw away the first three at least. —
大衣箱、小行李箱、帽盒和捆扎物。至少扔掉前三样； —

It would surpass the powers of a well man nowadays to take up his bed and walk, and I should certainly advise a sick one to lay down his bed and run. —
现在一个健康的人恐怕也难以拿起他的床行走，如果是生病的人，我肯定会建议他放下床铺，然后奔跑； —

When I have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all – looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck – I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because he had all that to carry. —
当我看到一个移民拖着包裹前行，包裹里装着他所有的一切 —— 看起来像是长在脖子后的一个巨大肿瘤 —— 我曾心怀怜悯，不是因为那是他所有的一切，而是因为他必须承担所有的重负； —

If I have got to drag my trap, I will take care that it be a light one and do not nip me in a vital part. —
如果我必须拖着我的陷阱，那么我会确保它轻盈且不会在重要部位勒伤我； —

But perchance it would be wisest never to put one’s paw into it.
但或许凡事最明智的做法是永远不要把自己的爪子伸进去；

I would observe, by the way, that it costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and I am willing that they should look in. —
顺便说一句，对我来说不用花钱来挂窗帘，因为我没有什么窥视者，只有太阳和月亮，我允许它们随意张望； —

The moon will not sour milk nor taint meat of mine, nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade my carpet; —
月亮不会使牛奶变酸，也不会污染我的肉类，太阳也不会损害我的家具或使我的地毯褪色； —

and if he is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided, than to add a single item to the details of housekeeping. —
即使他有时候过于热情，我仍然认为比起增加家务的细节，撤退到大自然提供的某些幕帘背后更为经济实惠； —

A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. —
曾经有位女士曾给我一个垫子，但由于我屋内没有空间存放，屋外没有时间晾晒，我婉言谢绝，宁愿在家门前的草地上擦拭我的脚； —

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.
防微杜渐是最好的；

Not long since I was present at the auction of a deacon’s effects, for his life had not been ineffectual:–
不久之前，我参加了一个埃尔德的拍卖会，因为他的一生并不毫无成就：——

“The evil that men do lives after them.”
“人们所做的恶行久留不忘”；

As usual, a great proportion was trumpery which had begun to accumulate in his father’s day. —
像往常一样，其中很大一部分是从他父亲那时开始积累的无用之物； —

Among the rest was a dried tapeworm. And now, after lying half a century in his garret and other dust holes, these things were not burned; —
在其他物品中，还有一根干枯的绦虫。现在，这些东西在他的阁楼和其他角落里躺了半个世纪，却没有被烧掉； —

instead of a bonfire, or purifying destruction of them, there was an auction, or increasing of them. The neighbors eagerly collected to view them, bought them all, and carefully transported them to their garrets and dust holes, to lie there till their estates are settled, when they will start again. —
相对于篝火，或者消毁他们的净化，这是一个拍卖，或者增加它们的数量。 邻居们迫不及待地聚集在一起观看它们，买下了它们所有，并小心地把它们搬到自己的阁楼和脏角落，让它们待在那里，直到他们的遗产被分配，然后它们将重新开始。 —

When a man dies he kicks the dust.
当一个人死去时，他会踢起尘土。

The customs of some savage nations might, perchance, be profitably imitated by us, for they at least go through the semblance of casting their slough annually; —
有些野蛮国家的风俗或许值得我们效仿，因为他们至少会每年蜕皮一次； —

they have the idea of the thing, whether they have the reality or not. —
他们有这个概念，无论实际上是否有这个现实。 —

Would it not be well if we were to celebrate such a “busk,” or “feast of first fruits,” as Bartram describes to have been the custom of the Mucclasse Indians? —
如果我们庆祝这样一个“新果庆典”或“初秋盛会”会不会更好呢，正如巴特勒姆描述的Mucclasse印第安人的习俗？ —

“When a town celebrates the busk,” says he, “having previously provided themselves with new clothes, new pots, pans, and other household utensils and furniture, they collect all their worn out clothes and other despicable things, sweep and cleanse their houses, squares, and the whole town of their filth, which with all the remaining grain and other old provisions they cast together into one common heap, and consume it with fire. —
“当一个城镇庆祝新果庆典时，”他说，“他们之前准备好新衣服、新锅、平底锅和其他家庭用具和家具，他们收集所有破旧的衣服和其他令人厌恶的东西，清扫和清洁他们的房子、广场以及整个城镇的污垢，将其连同所有剩余的谷物和其他陈旧的食品一起堆放在一起，用火焚烧了它。 —

After having taken medicine, and fasted for three days, all the fire in the town is extinguished. —
在服药后，进行为期三天的禁食期间，整个城镇的所有火都被熄灭了。 —

During this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and passion whatever. —
在这段禁食期间，他们放弃一切欲望和激情的满足。 —

A general amnesty is proclaimed; all malefactors may return to their town.”
一纸大赦被宣布；所有罪犯都可以返回他们的城镇。”

“On the fourth morning, the high priest, by rubbing dry wood together, produces new fire in the public square, from whence every habitation in the town is supplied with the new and pure flame.”
“第四天早晨，高祭司通过摩擦干木产生了新的火焰，这个公共广场传来了新而纯洁的火焰，随后每个住所都被提供这种新火焰。”

They then feast on the new corn and fruits, and dance and sing for three days, “and the four following days they receive visits and rejoice with their friends from neighboring towns who have in like manner purified and prepared themselves.”
然后他们享用新鲜水果和玉米，跳舞、歌唱三天，“而在接下来的四天，他们接待并在与邻近城镇的朋友一起庆祝，这些朋友同样也已经进行了净化和准备。”

The Mexicans also practised a similar purification at the end of every fifty-two years, in the belief that it was time for the world to come to an end.
墨西哥人也在每五十二年末实行类似的净化，因为他们相信世界该毁灭了。

I have scarcely heard of a truer sacrament, that is, as the dictionary defines it, “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,” than this, and I have no doubt that they were originally inspired directly from Heaven to do thus, though they have no Biblical record of the revelation.
我几乎没有听说过比这更真实的圣礼，就像字典定义的那样，“内心和精神优雅的外在和可见的迹象”，我毫无疑问它们最初是直接从天堂得到启示而这样做的，尽管他们没有《圣经》中的记载。

For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that, by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. —
超过五年的时间，我完全靠自己的双手维持生计，并发现通过一年中工作大约六个星期，我可以支付所有的生活费用。 —

The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear for study. —
我的整个冬天，以及大部分夏天，我都有充足的时间专心学习。 —

I have thoroughly tried school-keeping, and found that my expenses were in proportion, or rather out of proportion, to my income, for I was obliged to dress and train, not to say think and believe, accordingly, and I lost my time into the bargain. —
我曾经尝试过当老师，发现我的支出与收入成比例，甚至更多，因为我不得不进行衣着和训练，更不用说思考和相信，而且我还浪费了时间。 —

As I did not teach for the good of my fellow-men, but simply for a livelihood, this was a failure. —
由于我教书并不是为了造福他人，而仅仅是为了生计，所以这是一个失败。 —

I have tried trade but I found that it would take ten years to get under way in that, and that then I should probably be on my way to the devil. —
我试过做生意，但发现要花十年时间才能展开，而且到那时我很可能已经在走向毁灭之路。 —

I was actually afraid that I might by that time be doing what is called a good business. —
我实际上担心到那时我可能正在进行所谓的好生意。 —

When formerly I was looking about to see what I could do for a living, some sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends being fresh in my mind to tax my ingenuity, I thought often and seriously of picking huckleberries; —
以前我在寻找谋生之道时，心中忧虑着顺应朋友的愿望时的一些悲伤经历，我常常认真考虑摘越橘子； —

that surely I could do, and its small profits might suffice – for my greatest skill has been to want but little – so little capital it required, so little distraction from my wonted moods, I foolishly thought. —
我可以做到，也许它的小利润就足够了–因为我的最大技能就是很少的要求–需要的资本很少，要求很少的注意力，我愚蠢地认为。 —

While my acquaintances went unhesitatingly into trade or the professions, I contemplated this occupation as most like theirs; —
当我的熟人毫不犹豫地涉足贸易或从事专业工作时，我把这种职业看为最像他们的； —

ranging the hills all summer to pick the berries which came in my way, and thereafter carelessly dispose of them; —
整个夏天漫山遍野地摘采我遇到的越橘，然后随意处理它们； —

so, to keep the flocks of Admetus. I also dreamed that I might gather the wild herbs, or carry evergreens to such villagers as loved to be reminded of the woods, even to the city, by hay-cart loads. —
也可以担当亚德米托斯的牧群。我还梦想着采集野草药，或者给那些喜欢被提醒起原野的村民们运送常青树，甚至是通过干草车负载运送到城市。 —

But I have since learned that trade curses everything it handles; —
但我后来了解到，贸易会诅咒它接触到的一切； —

and though you trade in messages from heaven, the whole curse of trade attaches to the business.
即使你从天上传递信息，贸易的整个诅咒也会落在这项业务上。

As I preferred some things to others, and especially valued my freedom, as I could fare hard and yet succeed well, I did not wish to spend my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture, or delicate cookery, or a house in the Grecian or the Gothic style just yet. —
由于我更喜欢某些东西，尤其珍视我的自由，因为我可以吃苦耐劳，并且取得成功，我不想花时间去赚取豪华地毯或其他精美家具，精致烹饪，或者希腊或哥特式风格的房子。 —

If there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire these things, and who know how to use them when acquired, I relinquish to them the pursuit. —
如果有人不介意获取这些东西，而且知道在获取后如何使用它们，我会放弃追求这些东西。 —

Some are “industrious,” and appear to love labor for its own sake, or perhaps because it keeps them out of worse mischief; —
有些人“勤劳”，似乎热爱劳动本身，或许是因为劳动让他们远离更糟糕的罪过； —

to such I have at present nothing to say. —
对于这样的人，我目前没有任何话要说。 —

Those who would not know what to do with more leisure than they now enjoy, I might advise to work twice as hard as they do – work till they pay for themselves, and get their free papers. —
如果有人不知道如何应对比他们现在享受的更多闲暇时间，我可能会建议他们工作两倍辛苦–工作直到他们为自己付账，并获得自由。 —

For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of any, especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one. —
就我自己而言，我发现打工的职业是最独立的，尤其是因为只需要一年里30或40天的工作来维持生计。 —

The laborer’s day ends with the going down of the sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit, independent of his labor; —
劳动者的一天在太阳落山时结束，然后他可以自由地专注于自己选择的追求，独立于他的劳动； —

but his employer, who speculates from month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the other.
但他的雇主，从一个月到另一个月不停地投机，一年到头都没有歇息。

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; —
简而言之，我确信，无论是凭信仰还是经验，要在地球上维持生计并不是一种苦难而是一种消遣，只要我们简单而明智地生活； —

as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial. —
因为简单民族的追求仍然是更加人工的娱乐。 —

It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.
一个人不必靠流汗谋生，除非他比我更容易出汗。

One young man of my acquaintance, who has inherited some acres, told me that he thought he should live as I did, if he had the means. —
我认识的一个年轻人，继承了一些土地，告诉我他认为如果有能力的话，他会像我一样生活。 —

I would not have any one adopt my mode of living on any account; —
我不想让任何人出于任何原因采用我的生活方式； —

for, beside that before he has fairly learned it I may have found out another for myself, I desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible; —
因为在他真正学会之前，我可能已经为自己找到了另一种方式，我希望世界上有尽可能多不同的人； —

but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father’s or his mother’s or his neighbor’s instead. —
但我希望每个人都要非常小心地找出并追寻自己的方式，而不是他父亲的、母亲的或邻居的方式。 —

The youth may build or plant or sail, only let him not be hindered from doing that which he tells me he would like to do. —
年轻人可以建筑、种植或航行，只要他不被阻碍做他告诉我的他想做的事情。 —

It is by a mathematical point only that we are wise, as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; —
我们之所以明智，仅仅是因为一个数学上的点，就像水手或逃亡的奴隶把北极星放在眼里； —

but that is sufficient guidance for all our life. —
但那已经足够指引我们整个生命。 —

We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course.
我们可能无法在可计算的时间内到达目的地，但我们会保持正确的航向。

Undoubtedly, in this case, what is true for one is truer still for a thousand, as a large house is not proportionally more expensive than a small one, since one roof may cover, one cellar underlie, and one wall separate several apartments. —
毫无疑问，在这种情况下，对于一个人而言是真实的，对于一千个人而言更加真实，因为一座大房子并不比一座小房子昂贵，因为一片屋顶可以覆盖，一个地下室可以支撑，一堵墙可以隔离几间公寓。 —

But for my part, I preferred the solitary dwelling. —
但就我而言，我更喜欢独自居住。 —

Moreover, it will commonly be cheaper to build the whole yourself than to convince another of the advantage of the common wall; —
而且，通常来说，自己建造整个房屋比说服他人共建更便宜； —

and when you have done this, the common partition, to be much cheaper, must be a thin one, and that other may prove a bad neighbor, and also not keep his side in repair. —
当你这样做时，共同的隔墙必须更为薄弱，以便更为经济，另一个可能会是一个糟糕的邻居，并且也不会维修他那边的部分。 —

The only co-operation which is commonly possible is exceedingly partial and superficial; —
最常见的合作通常是非常局限和肤浅的； —

and what little true co-operation there is, is as if it were not, being a harmony inaudible to men. —
而真正的合作很少，仿佛不存在，这是一种对人类无声的和谐。 —

If a man has faith, he will co-operate with equal faith everywhere; —
如果一个人有信念，他将在任何地方以同样的信念合作； —

if he has not faith, he will continue to live like the rest of the world, whatever company he is joined to. —
如果他没有信念，他将继续像世界上其他人一样生活，无论他与何种公司在一起。 —

To co-operate in the highest as well as the lowest sense, means to get our living together. —
在最高与最低层面上共同生活，意味着我们一起谋生。 —

I heard it proposed lately that two young men should travel together over the world, the one without money, earning his means as he went, before the mast and behind the plow, the other carrying a bill of exchange in his pocket. —
最近我听说有人提议两个年轻人一起环游世界，一个没有钱，靠着劳动赚取旅行费用，一个口袋里带着一张汇票。 —

It was easy to see that they could not long be companions or co-operate, since one would not operate at all. —
很容易看出他们不能长时间成为同伴或合作，因为其中一个根本不会合作。 —

They would part at the first interesting crisis in their adventures. —
他们会在他们冒险的第一个有趣的危机中分道扬镳。 —

Above all, as I have implied, the man who goes alone can start today; —
最重要的是，就像我提到的，独自前行的人今天就可以出发； —

but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off.
但与他人一起旅行的人必须等到另一个人准备好，也许他们要等很长时间才能启程。

But all this is very selfish, I have heard some of my townsmen say. —
但我听到一些我的镇民说，这一切都非常自私。 —

I confess that I have hitherto indulged very little in philanthropic enterprises. —
我坦白地说，我迄今为止几乎没有过多参与慈善事业。 —

I have made some sacrifices to a sense of duty, and among others have sacrificed this pleasure also. There are those who have used all their arts to persuade me to undertake the support of some poor family in the town; —
我已经为了责任感做出了一些牺牲，其中包括放弃这种乐趣。有人曾用尽各种手段说服我去支援镇上的某个贫困家庭; —

and if I had nothing to do – for the devil finds employment for the idle – I might try my hand at some such pastime as that. —
如果我无事可做–因为空闲时魔鬼会找事给忙–我或许会尝试类似的消遣。 —

However, when I have thought to indulge myself in this respect, and lay their Heaven under an obligation by maintaining certain poor persons in all respects as comfortably as I maintain myself, and have even ventured so far as to make them the offer, they have one and all unhesitatingly preferred to remain poor. —
然而，每当我想在这方面放纵一下自己，像照顾穷人一样照顾他们，使他们在各方面与我自己一样舒适，甚至曾大胆地向他们提出这个提议，他们始终毫不犹豫地更愿意保持贫穷。 —

While my townsmen and women are devoted in so many ways to the good of their fellows, I trust that one at least may be spared to other and less humane pursuits. —
当我的镇上的男女在许多方面都全心全意地奉献于他们的同胞时，我相信至少有一个人可能会被保留到其他更不人道的事业中。 —

You must have a genius for charity as well as for anything else. —
你必须对慈善具有天赋，就像对其他事情一样。 —

As for Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are full. —
至于行善，那是一个职业，人们都很充满。 —

Moreover, I have tried it fairly, and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution. —
另外，我尝试过了，尽管看起来很奇怪，我却满意地认为这不适合我的体质。 —

Probably I should not consciously and deliberately forsake my particular calling to do the good which society demands of me, to save the universe from annihilation; —
或许我不会有意识地和刻意地抛弃我的特定职业去做社会需要我做的善事，去拯救宇宙免于毁灭; —

and I believe that a like but infinitely greater steadfastness elsewhere is all that now preserves it. —
我相信某处有同等但无限更大的坚定，现在正是在其他地方保持着这种坚定。 —

But I would not stand between any man and his genius; —
但我不会站在任何人与他的天赋之间; —

and to him who does this work, which I decline, with his whole heart and soul and life, I would say, Persevere, even if the world call it doing evil, as it is most likely they will.
对于那些专心致志于这项工作的人，我不愿做的工作，用他们的全部心灵和生命，我会说，坚持下去，即使世界可能称其为恶，他们也会这样认为。

I am far from supposing that my case is a peculiar one; —
我远非认为我的情况是独特的; —

no doubt many of my readers would make a similar defence. —
毫无疑问，我读者中许多人会做出类似的辩护。 —

At doing something – I will not engage that my neighbors shall pronounce it good – I do not hesitate to say that I should be a capital fellow to hire; —
在做点什么方面–我不敢保证我的邻居会称之为好–我毫不犹豫地说我会是一个绝佳的雇员。 —

but what that is, it is for my employer to find out. —
但是这是我的雇主去发现的。 —

What good I do, in the common sense of that word, must be aside from my main path, and for the most part wholly unintended. —
我所做的善事，通常是在我主要的道路之外，大部分都是完全无意的。 —

Men say, practically, Begin where you are and such as you are, without aiming mainly to become of more worth, and with kindness aforethought go about doing good. —
人们实际上说，从你所处的位置和你所拥有的条件开始，而不主要旨在变得更有价值，在善意之前开始行善。 —

If I were to preach at all in this strain, I should say rather, Set about being good. —
如果我要以这种方式传教，我会说，开始成为善良的人。 —

As if the sun should stop when he had kindled his fires up to the splendor of a moon or a star of the sixth magnitude, and go about like a Robin Goodfellow, peeping in at every cottage window, inspiring lunatics, and tainting meats, and making darkness visible, instead of steadily increasing his genial heat and beneficence till he is of such brightness that no mortal can look him in the face, and then, and in the meanwhile too, going about the world in his own orbit, doing it good, or rather, as a truer philosophy has discovered, the world going about him getting good. —
就好像太阳在点燃了月亮或六等星的光辉后停止，像罗宾·古德费洛一样四处窥视每一个小屋窗户，激发疯子，污染食物，使黑暗可见，而不是稳定增加他的温暖和恩惠，直到他有如此的光辉，没有凡人能看得见他的脸。而在同时，以自己的轨道围绕着地球，带来好处。 —

When Phaeton, wishing to prove his heavenly birth by his beneficence, had the sun’s chariot but one day, and drove out of the beaten track, he burned several blocks of houses in the lower streets of heaven, and scorched the surface of the earth, and dried up every spring, and made the great desert of Sahara, till at length Jupiter hurled him headlong to the earth with a thunderbolt, and the sun, through grief at his death, did not shine for a year.
当菲顿希望通过他的善行证明他的天上的出生时，获得了太阳的驾车权只有一天，就偏离了常规轨道，将天堂下层街道的几个街区烧毁，烧灼了地球表面，干涸了每一个泉眼，创造了撒哈拉大沙漠，最终朱庇特用雷电将他从天上打落到地球上，太阳因为对他的死感到悲伤，一年内都没有发光。

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. —
没有比善行所带来的气味更难闻的了。 —

It is human, it is divine, carrion. If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me – some of its virus mingled with my blood. —
人性的，神圣的，腐肉。如果我确切地知道有个人前来我家，意识到要对我施以善行，我会逃生，就像从那叫作西姆姆的非洲沙漠的干燥和烈热的风中逃离一样，这种风填满口鼻和耳朵和眼睛，直到你窒息，因为我害怕有人为我做些好事，让它的毒素与我的血混在一起。 —

No – in this case I would rather suffer evil the natural way. —
不，在这种情况下，我宁愿正常地遭受邪恶。 —

A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. —
一个人对我来说不是一个好人，因为如果我饥饿，他会喂我，如果我冷冻，他会温暖我，如果我跌入沟渠，他会把我拉出来。 —

I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much. —
我可以给你找一只纽芬兰狗来做同样的事。 —

Philanthropy is not love for one’s fellow-man in the broadest sense. —
慈善不是最广义上对人类的爱。 —

Howard was no doubt an exceedingly kind and worthy man in his way, and has his reward; —
豪华无疑在他的方式上是一个极其善良和高尚的人，他有他的回报； —

but, comparatively speaking, what are a hundred Howards to us, if their philanthropy do not help us in our best estate, when we are most worthy to be helped? —
但是，相对而言，一百个豪华对我们来说有什么用，如果他们的慈善事业不在我们最好的状态时帮助我们，当我们最值得被帮助的时候呢？ —

I never heard of a philanthropic meeting in which it was sincerely proposed to do any good to me, or the like of me.
我从未听说过一场真诚地希望对我或类似我的人做任何善事的慈善会议。

The Jesuits were quite balked by those Indians who, being burned at the stake, suggested new modes of torture to their tormentors. —
耶稣会士很困惑，那些被绑在柴堆上的印第安人会向他们的折磨者建议新的折磨方式。 —

Being superior to physical suffering, it sometimes chanced that they were superior to any consolation which the missionaries could offer; —
他们有时比身体上的痛苦更加优越，使传教士们所能提供的任何安慰都显得无能为力； —

and the law to do as you would be done by fell with less persuasiveness on the ears of those who, for their part, did not care how they were done by, who loved their enemies after a new fashion, and came very near freely forgiving them all they did.
对于那些对敌人有一种新式的爱，对那些无论如何对待他们都不在意，对于对待别人如何对待你这一法则，他们的耳朵可能不太买账。

Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it be your example which leaves them far behind. —
请确保给予穷人他们最需要的帮助，尽管你的榜样可能远远超越了他们。 —

If you give money, spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them. —
如果你给钱，就把自己也花在上面，而不仅仅把钱扔给他们。 —

We make curious mistakes sometimes. Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. —
我们有时会犯奇怪的错误。穷人通常不是因为冷和饥饿，而是因为脏乱和破旧。 —

It is partly his taste, and not merely his misfortune. —
这在一定程度上是他的品味，而不仅仅是他的不幸。 —

If you give him money, he will perhaps buy more rags with it. —
如果你给他钱，他或许会用它买更多破烂。 —

I was wont to pity the clumsy Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged clothes, while I shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him, and I saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin, though they were dirty and ragged enough, it is true, and that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered him, he had so many intra ones. —
我曾经怜悯那些在池塘上切冰的笨拙的爱尔兰劳工，他们穿着破旧的衣服，而我在更整洁、略微时髦的衣服里发抖，直到有一天寒冷的天气，一个滑进水里的人来我家取暖，我看到他把三条裤子和两双袜子脱掉才露出皮肤，尽管它们确实又脏又破旧，他却有足够的内裤来拒绝我提供给他的额外衣物。 —

This ducking was the very thing he needed. —
这种浸泡正是他所需要的。 —

Then I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him. —
然后我开始怜惜我自己，我意识到给我一件法兰绒衬衣比给他一整家杂货店更为慈善。 —

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve. —
有一千人在削减罪恶的枝条，只有一个人直捣罪恶的根源，也许那些在照顾贫困者方面花费最多时间和金钱的人，通过自己的生活方式正在产生无力逆转的悲惨。 —

It is the pious slave-breeder devoting the proceeds of every tenth slave to buy a Sunday’s liberty for the rest. —
这就像信心甚笃的奴隶主，用每十个奴隶的收益来为其余的买来一个周日的自由。 —

Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens. —
有些人通过在自己厨房雇用穷人来展现他们对穷人的善意。 —

Would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there? —
如果他们自己在那里工作是否更有益？ —

You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; —
你夸口说你的十分之一收入花在慈善上； —

maybe you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it. —
也许你应该把九分之一都花了，这样就完了。 —

Society recovers only a tenth part of the property then. —
社会只能收回财产的十分之一。 —

Is this owing to the generosity of him in whose possession it is found, or to the remissness of the officers of justice?
这是因为拥有者的慷慨，还是司法人员的懈怠？

Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. —
仁爱几乎是人类唯一足够被重视的美德。 —

Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our selfishness which overrates it. —
不，它被高估了；我们的自私才是高估它的原因。 —

A robust poor man, one sunny day here in Concord, praised a fellow-townsman to me, because, as he said, he was kind to the poor; —
一位强壮的穷人在康科德一个阳光明媚的日子里夸赞一个同乡对穷人好； —

meaning himself. The kind uncles and aunts of the race are more esteemed than its true spiritual fathers and mothers. —
指的是他自己。种族中好心的叔叔阿姨比真正的精神父母更受人尊敬。 —

I once heard a reverend lecturer on England, a man of learning and intelligence, after enumerating her scientific, literary, and political worthies, Shakespeare, Bacon, Cromwell, Milton, Newton, and others, speak next of her Christian heroes, whom, as if his profession required it of him, he elevated to a place far above all the rest, as the greatest of the great. —
我曾经听过一位在英格兰讲演的敬虔学者，一位学识渊博的人，在列举她的科学、文学和政治伟人后，莎士比亚、培根、克伦威尔、弥尔顿、牛顿等，接着说起她的基督教英雄，仿佛他的职业要求他这样做，他把他们抬得高高的，远超过其他所有人，作为伟大者中的伟大者。 —

They were Penn, Howard, and Mrs. Fry. Every one must feel the falsehood and cant of this. —
他们是宾、霍华德和弗莱夫人。每个人都感觉到这种虚伪和虚伪。 —

The last were not England’s best men and women; —
后者不是英格兰最好的男人和女人； —

only, perhaps, her best philanthropists.
只是，也许，她最好的慈善家。

I would not subtract anything from the praise that is due to philanthropy, but merely demand justice for all who by their lives and works are a blessing to mankind. —
我不是贬低对慈善的赞美，只是为那些以他们的生活和工作给人类带来祝福的人们要求公平。 —

I do not value chiefly a man’s uprightness and benevolence, which are, as it were, his stem and leaves. —
我并不主要看重一个人的正直和仁慈，这些就像是他的茎和叶。 —

Those plants of whose greenness withered we make herb tea for the sick serve but a humble use, and are most employed by quacks. —
那些绿意凋谢的植物，我们为病人熬的草药茶所用，只服务于卑微之用，多被江湖郎中使用。 —

I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse. —
我想要一个人的花朵和果实；希望他身上有些芬芳飘过来，我们的交往里带点成熟的味道。 —

His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious. —
他的善行不能是偶然和短暂的，而应是一种持续的溢出，对他来说毫不费力而且毫不自觉。 —

This is a charity that hides a multitude of sins. —
这种慈善可以掩盖许多罪过。 —

The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own castoff griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. —
慈善家往往让人类被他抛弃的痛苦所包围，称之为同情。 —

We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion. —
我们应该传播勇气，而不是绝望，传递健康与舒适，而不是疾病，务必小心不要通过传染传播。 —

From what southern plains comes up the voice of wailing? —
从哪片南方平原传来悲鸣声？ —

Under what latitudes reside the heathen to whom we would send light? —
在哪些纬度生活着我们希望照亮的异教徒？ —

Who is that intemperate and brutal man whom we would redeem? —
我们希望拯救的那个荒唐暴戾的人是谁？ —

If anything ail a man, so that he does not perform his functions, if he have a pain in his bowels even – for that is the seat of sympathy – he forthwith sets about reforming – the world. —
如果一个人有任何不适，以至于无法履行其职责，即使他的肠胃疼痛 – 因为那是同情之处 – 他立即着手改革 – 世界。 —

Being a microcosm himself, he discovers – and it is a true discovery, and he is the man to make it – that the world has been eating green apples; —
他觉得自己是一个小宇宙，他发现 – 而这是一个真实的发现，他正是发现者 – 世界一直在吃青苹果； —

to his eyes, in fact, the globe itself is a great green apple, which there is danger awful to think of that the children of men will nibble before it is ripe; —
对他来说，事实上，地球本身就是一个巨大的青苹果，令人惧怕的事情是人类的子孙在果实未成熟之前咬一口； —

and straightway his drastic philanthropy seeks out the Esquimau and the Patagonian, and embraces the populous Indian and Chinese villages; —
于是，他猛烈的慈善活动寻找到了爱斯基摩人和巴塔哥尼亚人，并拥抱繁华的印度和中国村庄； —

and thus, by a few years of philanthropic activity, the powers in the meanwhile using him for their own ends, no doubt, he cures himself of his dyspepsia, the globe acquires a faint blush on one or both of its cheeks, as if it were beginning to be ripe, and life loses its crudity and is once more sweet and wholesome to live. —
这样，通过几年的慈善活动，与此同时，权力利用他达到自己的目的，毫无疑问，他治愈了自己的胃灼热，地球的脸颊上泛起淡淡的红晕，仿佛开始成熟，生活失去了粗糙感，再次变得甜美宜人。 —

I never dreamed of any enormity greater than I have committed. —
我从未梦到过比我犯的更大的罪。 —

I never knew, and never shall know, a worse man than myself.
我从未认识，也永远不会认识，比我更坏的人。

I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of God, is his private ail. —
我相信改革者内心真正让他悲伤的不是与那些受苦受难的人同情，即使他是上帝最圣洁的儿子，真正让他伤心的是他个人的痛苦。 —

Let this be righted, let the spring come to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his generous companions without apology. —
让这种痛苦得到解脱，让春天来临，让清晨升起在他的床前，他会毫不犹豫地离开他的慷慨的伙伴，也不再需要解释。 —

My excuse for not lecturing against the use of tobacco is, that I never chewed it, that is a penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay; —
我没有讲述反对吸烟的原因是因为我从来没有嚼过烟草，这是改过自新的烟草嚼者必须付出的代价； —

though there are things enough I have chewed which I could lecture against. —
尽管还有很多我曾经尝试过的事情可以谴责。 —

If you should ever be betrayed into any of these philanthropies, do not let your left hand know what your right hand does, for it is not worth knowing. —
如果你要被任何慈善行为所出卖，不要让你的左手知道右手所做的事情，因为这并不值得知道。 —

Rescue the drowning and tie your shoestrings. —
拯救溺水者，系好你的鞋带。 —

Take your time, and set about some free labor.
从容地开始一些自由的劳动。

Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints. —
我们的举止已经被与圣人交往而腐化。 —

Our hymn-books resound with a melodious cursing of God and enduring Him forever. —
我们的赞美诗与对上帝的咒骂和永恒不离不弃的感激声响彻亮。 —

One would say that even the prophets and redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of man. —
人们会说，甚至先知和拯救者更倾向于安慰人的恐惧，而不是坚定人们的希望。 —

There is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible satisfaction with the gift of life, any memorable praise of God. All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn it may appear; —
赞美生命的礼物从未被简单而无法抑制的满足所记录，也没有对上帝的值得回忆的赞美。任何健康和成功对我都有益，无论它看起来有多遥远和隐匿； —

all disease and failure helps to make me sad and does me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it. —
任何疾病和失败都会让我变得悲伤，并给我带来危害，无论它对我有多么多情，或者我对它多么怜悯。 —

If, then, we would indeed restore mankind by truly Indian, botanic, magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows, and take up a little life into our pores. —
因此，如果我们真的想通过印度，植物学，磁力学或自然方法来恢复人类，首先要让自己变得像大自然一样简单和健康，驱散笼罩在我们额头上的阴霾，并将一些生命注入我们的毛孔。 —

Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world.
不要留下来监管穷人，而努力成为世界上值得尊崇的人中的一员。

I read in the Gulistan, or Flower Garden, of Sheik Sadi of Shiraz, that “they asked a wise man, saying: —
我在设拉子的谢赫萨迪的《花园》中读到，有人问一位智者说： —

Of the many celebrated trees which the Most High God has created lofty and umbrageous, they call none azad, or free, excepting the cypress, which bears no fruit; —
至高真神创造了许多值得赞美的高大阴凉的树木，他们称其中没有一个树为azad，即自由，除了柏树，它不结果实； —

what mystery is there in this? He replied, Each has its appropriate produce, and appointed season, during the continuance of which it is fresh and blooming, and during their absence dry and withered; —
这其中有什么奥秘？他回答说，每种树木都有其适当的产物和指定的季节，在这种季节持续期间，它们是鲜绿繁茂的，而在它们不在的时候，就会干枯； —

to neither of which states is the cypress exposed, being always flourishing; —
柏树不会暴露在这两种状态之一中，它永远繁茂； —

and of this nature are the azads, or religious independents. —
这类似于azads，或宗教独立者。 —

– Fix not thy heart on that which is transitory; —
– 不要把心思寄托于那些转瞬即逝的事物； —

for the Dijlah, or Tigris, will continue to flow through Bagdad after the race of caliphs is extinct: —
因为底格里斯河将在哈里发之后继续流经巴格达； —

if thy hand has plenty, be liberal as the date tree; —
如果你手头充裕，就像棕榈树一样慷慨； —

but if it affords nothing to give away, be an azad, or free man, like the cypress.”
但是如果没有多余的东西可施舍，那就像柏树一样作为自由者。

COMPLEMENTAL VERSES
补充诗句

The Pretensions of Poverty
穷困虚伪的自尊

Thou dost presume too much, poor needy wretch,
你这个穷困的可怜虫，竟然有如此大的自尊心，

To claim a station in the firmament
去主张占据星际中的一席之地，

Because thy humble cottage, or thy tub,
因为你那卑微的小屋，或者你那木桶，

Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue
滋养着一些懒散或学究式的美德

In the cheap sunshine or by shady springs,
在廉价的阳光里或者在阴凉的泉水旁。

With roots and pot-herbs; where thy right hand,
带着根和野菜；在那里你的右手，

Tearing those humane passions from the mind,
从头脑中拔除那些人性的激情，

Upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish,
在其干上美好盛开的美德茁壮，

Degradeth nature, and benumbeth sense,
降低了自然，使感官麻痹，

And, Gorgon-like, turns active men to stone.
就像蛇发女妖一样，把活跃的人凝固成石头。

We not require the dull society
我们不需要你们那些迟钝的伴侣，

Of your necessitated temperance,
在你们所需的节制中，

Or that unnatural stupidity
或者那些不自然的愚钝

That knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forc’d
不懂快乐也不懂忧愁；也不要你们那种

Falsely exalted passive fortitude
虚假夸张的被动坚韧

Above the active. This low abject brood,
高于积极的。这种低贱的雏类，

That fix their seats in mediocrity,
安家落户于平庸之地的，

Become your servile minds; but we advance
成为你们奴性的心灵；但我们提倡

Such virtues only as admit excess,
只接受过度的美德，

Brave, bounteous acts, regal magnificence,
勇敢、慷慨的行为，皇家的宏伟壮丽。

All-seeing prudence, magnanimity
善判断力，宽宏大量

That knows no bound, and that heroic virtue
不设界限，英雄般的美德

For which antiquity hath left no name,
古代没有留下名字

But patterns only, such as Hercules,
只有模范，如赫拉克勒斯，

Achilles, Theseus. Back to thy loath’d cell;
阿喀琉斯，忒修斯。回到你讨厌的牢房；

And when thou seest the new enlightened sphere,
当你看到新启明的天球时，

Study to know but what those worthies were.
试着去了解那些英勇者究竟是谁。

T. CAREW
T. CAREW