After a still winter night I awoke with the impression that some question had been put to me, which I had been endeavoring in vain to answer in my sleep, as what -- how -- when -- where? But there was dawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene1 and satisfied face, and no question on her lips. I awoke to an answered question, to Nature and daylight. The snow lying deep on the earth dotted with young pines, and the very slope of the hill on which my house is placed, seemed to say, Forward! Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution. "O Prince, our eyes contemplate2 with admiration3 and transmit to the soul the wonderful and varied4 spectacle of this universe. The night veils without doubt a part of this glorious creation; but day comes to reveal to us this great work, which extends from earth even into the plains of the ether."
Then to my morning work. First I take an axe5 and pail and go in search of water, if that be not a dream. After a cold and snowy night it needed a divining-rod to find it. Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, so that it will support the heaviest teams, and perchance the snow covers it to an equal depth, and it is not to be distinguished8 from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids9 and becomes dormant10 for three months or more. Standing11 on the snow-covered plain, as if in a pasture amid the hills, I cut my way first through a foot of snow, and then a foot of ice, and open a window under my feet, where, kneeling to drink, I look down into the quiet parlor12 of the fishes, pervaded13 by a softened14 light as through a window of ground glass, with its bright sanded floor the same as in summer; there a perennial15 waveless serenity16 reigns17 as in the amber18 twilight19 sky, corresponding to the cool and even temperament20 of the inhabitants. Heaven is under our feet is well as over our heads.
Early in the morning, while all things are crisp with frost, men come with fishing-reels and slender lunch, and let down their fine lines through the snowy field to take pickerel and perch6; wild men, who instinctively21 follow other fashions and trust other authorities than their townsmen, and by their goings and comings stitch towns together in parts where else they would be ripped. They sit and eat their luncheon22 in stout23 fear-naughts on the dry oak leaves on the shore, as wise in natural lore24 as the citizen is in artificial. They never consulted with books, and know and can tell much less than they have done. The things which they practice are said not yet to be known. Here is one fishing for pickerel with grown perch for bait. You look into his pail with wonder as into a summer pond, as if he kept summer locked up at home, or knew where she had retreated. How, pray, did he get these in midwinter? Oh, he got worms out of rotten logs since the ground froze, and so he caught them. His life itself passes deeper in nature than the studies of the naturalist25 penetrate26; himself a subject for the naturalist. The latter raises the moss27 and bark gently with his knife in search of insects; the former lays open logs to their core with his axe, and moss and bark fly far and wide. He gets his living by barking trees. Such a man has some right to fish, and I love to see nature carried out in him. The perch swallows the grub-worm, the pickerel swallows the perch, and the fisher-man swallows the pickerel; and so all the chinks in the scale of being are filled.
When I strolled around the pond in misty28 weather I was sometimes amused by the primitive29 mode which some ruder fisherman had adopted. He would perhaps have placed alder30 branches over the narrow holes in the ice, which were four or five rods apart and an equal distance from the shore, and having fastened the end of the line to a stick to prevent its being pulled through, have passed the slack line over a twig31 of the alder, a foot or more above the ice, and tied a dry oak leaf to it, which, being pulled down, would show when he had a bite. These alders32 loomed33 through the mist at regular intervals34 as you walked half way round the pond.
Ah, the pickerel of Walden! when I see them lying on the ice, or in the well which the fisherman cuts in the ice, making a little hole to admit the water, I am always surprised by their rare beauty, as if they were fabulous36 fishes, they are so foreign to the streets, even to the woods, foreign as Arabia to our Concord37 life. They possess a quite dazzling and transcendent beauty which separates them by a wide interval35 from the cadaverous cod38 and haddock whose fame is trumpeted39 in our streets. They are not green like the pines, nor gray like the stones, nor blue like the sky; but they have, to my eyes, if possible, yet rarer colors, like flowers and precious stones, as if they were the pearls, the animalized nuclei40 or crystals of the Walden water. They, of course, are Walden all over and all through; are themselves small Waldens in the animal kingdom, Waldenses. It is surprising that they are caught here -- that in this deep and capacious spring, far beneath the rattling41 teams and chaises and tinkling42 sleighs that travel the Walden road, this great gold and emerald fish swims. I never chanced to see its kind in any market; it would be the cynosure43 of all eyes there. Easily, with a few convulsive quirks44, they give up their watery45 ghosts, like a mortal translated before his time to the thin air of heaven.
As I was desirous to recover the long lost bottom of Walden Pond, I surveyed it carefully, before the ice broke up, early in '46, with compass and chain and sounding line. There have been many stories told about the bottom, or rather no bottom, of this pond, which certainly had no foundation for themselves. It is remarkable46 how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it. I have visited two such Bottomless Ponds in one walk in this neighborhood. Many have believed that Walden reached quite through to the other side of the globe. Some who have lain flat on the ice for a long time, looking down through the illusive47 medium, perchance with watery eyes into the bargain, and driven to hasty conclusions by the fear of catching48 cold in their breasts, have seen vast holes "into which a load of hay might be driven," if there were anybody to drive it, the undoubted source of the Styx and entrance to the Infernal Regions from these parts. Others have gone down from the village with a "fifty-six" and a wagon49 load of inch rope, but yet have failed to find any bottom; for while the "fifty-six" was resting by the way, they were paying out the rope in the vain attempt to fathom50 their truly immeasurable capacity for marvellousness. But I can assure my readers that Walden has a reasonably tight bottom at a not unreasonable51, though at an unusual, depth. I fathomed52 it easily with a cod-line and a stone weighing about a pound and a half, and could tell accurately53 when the stone left the bottom, by having to pull so much harder before the water got underneath54 to help me. The greatest depth was exactly one hundred and two feet; to which may be added the five feet which it has risen since, making one hundred and seven. This is a remarkable depth for so small an area; yet not an inch of it can be spared by the imagination. What if all ponds were shallow? Would it not react on the minds of men? I am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless.
A factory-owner, hearing what depth I had found, thought that it could not be true, for, judging from his acquaintance with dams, sand would not lie at so steep an angle. But the deepest ponds are not so deep in proportion to their area as most suppose, and, if drained, would not leave very remarkable valleys. They are not like cups between the hills; for this one, which is so unusually deep for its area, appears in a vertical55 section through its centre not deeper than a shallow plate. Most ponds, emptied, would leave a meadow no more hollow than we frequently see. William Gilpin, who is so admirable in all that relates to landscapes, and usually so correct, standing at the head of Loch Fyne, in Scotland, which he describes as "a bay of salt water, sixty or seventy fathoms58 deep, four miles in breadth," and about fifty miles long, surrounded by mountains, observes, "If we could have seen it immediately after the diluvian crash, or whatever convulsion of nature occasioned it, before the waters gushed59 in, what a horrid60 chasm61 must it have appeared!
"So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters."
But if, using the shortest diameter of Loch Fyne, we apply these proportions to Walden, which, as we have seen, appears already in a vertical section only like a shallow plate, it will appear four times as shallow. So much for the increased horrors of the chasm of Loch Fyne when emptied. No doubt many a smiling valley with its stretching cornfields occupies exactly such a "horrid chasm," from which the waters have receded62, though it requires the insight and the far sight of the geologist63 to convince the unsuspecting inhabitants of this fact. Often an inquisitive64 eye may detect the shores of a primitive lake in the low horizon hills, and no subsequent elevation65 of the plain have been necessary to conceal66 their history. But it is easiest, as they who work on the highways know, to find the hollows by the puddles68 after a shower. The amount of it is, the imagination give it the least license69, dives deeper and soars higher than Nature goes. So, probably, the depth of the ocean will be found to be very inconsiderable compared with its breadth.
As I sounded through the ice I could determine the shape of the bottom with greater accuracy than is possible in surveying harbors which do not freeze over, and I was surprised at its general regularity70. In the deepest part there are several acres more level than almost any field which is exposed to the sun, wind, and plow71. In one instance, on a line arbitrarily chosen, the depth did not vary more than one foot in thirty rods; and generally, near the middle, I could calculate the variation for each one hundred feet in any direction beforehand within three or four inches. Some are accustomed to speak of deep and dangerous holes even in quiet sandy ponds like this, but the effect of water under these circumstances is to level all inequalities. The regularity of the bottom and its conformity72 to the shores and the range of the neighboring hills were so perfect that a distant promontory73 betrayed itself in the soundings quite across the pond, and its direction could be determined74 by observing the opposite shore. Cape57 becomes bar, and plain shoal, and valley and gorge75 deep water and channel.
When I had mapped the pond by the scale of ten rods to an inch, and put down the soundings, more than a hundred in all, I observed this remarkable coincidence. Having noticed that the number indicating the greatest depth was apparently76 in the centre of the map, I laid a rule on the map lengthwise, and then breadthwise, and found, to my surprise, that the line of greatest length intersected the line of greatest breadth exactly at the point of greatest depth, notwithstanding that the middle is so nearly level, the outline of the pond far from regular, and the extreme length and breadth were got by measuring into the coves77; and I said to myself, Who knows but this hint would conduct to the deepest part of the ocean as well as of a pond or puddle67? Is not this the rule also for the height of mountains, regarded as the opposite of valleys? We know that a hill is not highest at its narrowest part.
Of five coves, three, or all which had been sounded, were observed to have a bar quite across their mouths and deeper water within, so that the bay tended to be an expansion of water within the land not only horizontally but vertically78, and to form a basin or independent pond, the direction of the two capes56 showing the course of the bar. Every harbor on the sea-coast, also, has its bar at its entrance. In proportion as the mouth of the cove7 was wider compared with its length, the water over the bar was deeper compared with that in the basin. Given, then, the length and breadth of the cove, and the character of the surrounding shore, and you have almost elements enough to make out a formula for all cases.
In order to see how nearly I could guess, with this experience, at the deepest point in a pond, by observing the outlines of a surface and the character of its shores alone, I made a plan of White Pond, which contains about forty-one acres, and, like this, has no island in it, nor any visible inlet or outlet79; and as the line of greatest breadth fell very near the line of least breadth, where two opposite capes approached each other and two opposite bays receded, I ventured to mark a point a short distance from the latter line, but still on the line of greatest length, as the deepest. The deepest part was found to be within one hundred feet of this, still farther in the direction to which I had inclined, and was only one foot deeper, namely, sixty feet. Of course, a stream running through, or an island in the pond, would make the problem much more complicated.
If we knew all the laws of Nature, we should need only one fact, or the description of one actual phenomenon, to infer all the particular results at that point. Now we know only a few laws, and our result is vitiated, not, of course, by any confusion or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but really concurring81, laws, which we have not detected, is still more wonderful. The particular laws are as our points of view, as, to the traveller, a mountain outline varies with every step, and it has an infinite number of profiles, though absolutely but one form. Even when cleft82 or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness.
What I have observed of the pond is no less true in ethics83. It is the law of average. Such a rule of the two diameters not only guides us toward the sun in the system and the heart in man, but draws lines through the length and breadth of the aggregate84 of a man's particular daily behaviors and waves of life into his coves and inlets, and where they intersect will be the height or depth of his character. Perhaps we need only to know how his shores trend and his adjacent country or circumstances, to infer his depth and concealed85 bottom. If he is surrounded by mountainous circumstances, an Achillean shore, whose peaks overshadow and are reflected in his bosom86, they suggest a corresponding depth in him. But a low and smooth shore proves him shallow on that side. In our bodies, a bold projecting brow falls off to and indicates a corresponding depth of thought. Also there is a bar across the entrance of our every cove, or particular inclination87; each is our harbor for a season, in which we are detained and partially88 land-locked. These inclinations89 are not whimsical usually, but their form, size, and direction are determined by the promontories90 of the shore, the ancient axes of elevation. When this bar is gradually increased by storms, tides, or currents, or there is a subsidence of the waters, so that it reaches to the surface, that which was at first but an inclination in the shore in which a thought was harbored becomes an individual lake, cut off from the ocean, wherein the thought secures its own conditions -- changes, perhaps, from salt to fresh, becomes a sweet sea, dead sea, or a marsh91. At the advent92 of each individual into this life, may we not suppose that such a bar has risen to the surface somewhere? It is true, we are such poor navigators that our thoughts, for the most part, stand off and on upon a harborless coast, are conversant93 only with the bights of the bays of poesy, or steer94 for the public ports of entry, and go into the dry docks of science, where they merely refit for this world, and no natural currents concur80 to individualize them.
As for the inlet or outlet of Walden, I have not discovered any but rain and snow and evaporation95, though perhaps, with a thermometer and a line, such places may be found, for where the water flows into the pond it will probably be coldest in summer and warmest in winter. When the ice-men were at work here in '46-7, the cakes sent to the shore were one day rejected by those who were stacking them up there, not being thick enough to lie side by side with the rest; and the cutters thus discovered that the ice over a small space was two or three inches thinner than elsewhere, which made them think that there was an inlet there. They also showed me in another place what they thought was a "leach-hole," through which the pond leaked out under a hill into a neighboring meadow, pushing me out on a cake of ice to see it. It was a small cavity under ten feet of water; but I think that I can warrant the pond not to need soldering96 till they find a worse leak than that. One has suggested, that if such a "leach-hole" should be found, its connection with the meadow, if any existed, might be proved by conveying some, colored powder or sawdust to the mouth of the hole, and then putting a strainer over the spring in the meadow, which would catch some of the particles carried through by the current.
While I was surveying, the ice, which was sixteen inches thick, undulated under a slight wind like water. It is well known that a level cannot be used on ice. At one rod from the shore its greatest fluctuation97, when observed by means of a level on land directed toward a graduated staff on the ice, was three quarters of an inch, though the ice appeared firmly attached to the shore. It was probably greater in the middle. Who knows but if our instruments were delicate enough we might detect an undulation in the crust of the earth? When two legs of my level were on the shore and the third on the ice, and the sights were directed over the latter, a rise or fall of the ice of an almost infinitesimal amount made a difference of several feet on a tree across the pond. When I began to cut holes for sounding there were three or four inches of water on the ice under a deep snow which had sunk it thus far; but the water began immediately to run into these holes, and continued to run for two days in deep streams, which wore away the ice on every side, and contributed essentially98, if not mainly, to dry the surface of the pond; for, as the water ran in, it raised and floated the ice. This was somewhat like cutting a hole in the bottom of a ship to let the water out. When such holes freeze, and a rain succeeds, and finally a new freezing forms a fresh smooth ice over all, it is beautifully mottled internally by dark figures, shaped somewhat like a spider's web, what you may call ice rosettes, produced by the channels worn by the water flowing from all sides to a centre. Sometimes, also, when the ice was covered with shallow puddles, I saw a double shadow of myself, one standing on the head of the other, one on the ice, the other on the trees or hillside.
While yet it is cold January, and snow and ice are thick and solid, the prudent99 landlord comes from the village to get ice to cool his summer drink; impressively, even pathetically, wise, to foresee the heat and thirst of July now in January -- wearing a thick coat and mittens100! when so many things are not provided for. It may be that he lays up no treasures in this world which will cool his summer drink in the next. He cuts and saws the solid pond, unroofs the house of fishes, and carts off their very element and air, held fast by chains and stakes like corded wood, through the favoring winter air, to wintry cellars, to underlie101 the summer there. It looks like solidified102 azure103, as, far off, it is drawn104 through the streets. These ice-cutters are a merry race, full of jest and sport, and when I went among them they were wont105 to invite me to saw pit-fashion with them, I standing underneath.
In the winter of '46-7 there came a hundred men of Hyperborean extraction swoop106 down on to our pond one morning, with many carloads of ungainly-looking farming tools -- sleds, plows107, drill-barrows, turf-knives, spades, saws, rakes, and each man was armed with a double-pointed pike-staff, such as is not described in the New-England Farmer or the Cultivator. I did not know whether they had come to sow a crop of winter rye, or some other kind of grain recently introduced from Iceland. As I saw no manure108, I judged that they meant to skim the land, as I had done, thinking the soil was deep and had lain fallow long enough. They said that a gentleman farmer, who was behind the scenes, wanted to double his money, which, as I understood, amounted to half a million already; but in order to cover each one of his dollars with another, he took off the only coat, ay, the skin itself, of Walden Pond in the midst of a hard winter. They went to work at once, plowing109, barrowing, rolling, furrowing111, in admirable order, as if they were bent112 on making this a model farm; but when I was looking sharp to see what kind of seed they dropped into the furrow110, a gang of fellows by my side suddenly began to hook up the virgin113 mould itself, with a peculiar114 jerk, clean down to the sand, or rather the water -- for it was a very springy soil -- indeed all the terra firma there was -- and haul it away on sleds, and then I guessed that they must be cutting peat in a bog115. So they came and went every day, with a peculiar shriek116 from the locomotive, from and to some point of the polar regions, as it seemed to me, like a flock of arctic snow-birds. But sometimes Squaw Walden had her revenge, and a hired man, walking behind his team, slipped through a crack in the ground down toward Tartarus, and he who was so brave before suddenly became but the ninth part of a man, almost gave up his animal heat, and was glad to take refuge in my house, and acknowledged that there was some virtue117 in a stove; or sometimes the frozen soil took a piece of steel out of a plowshare, or a plow got set in the furrow and had to be cut out.
To speak literally118, a hundred Irishmen, with Yankee overseers, came from Cambridge every day to get out the ice. They divided it into cakes by methods too well known to require description, and these, being sledded to the shore, were rapidly hauled off on to an ice platform, and raised by grappling irons and block and tackle, worked by horses, on to a stack, as surely as so many barrels of flour, and there placed evenly side by side, and row upon row, as if they formed the solid base of an obelisk119 designed to pierce the clouds. They told me that in a good day they could get out a thousand tons, which was the yield of about one acre. Deep ruts and "cradle-holes" were worn in the ice, as on terra firma, by the passage of the sleds over the same track, and the horses invariably ate their oats out of cakes of ice hollowed out like buckets. They stacked up the cakes thus in the open air in a pile thirty-five feet high on one side and six or seven rods square, putting hay between the outside layers to exclude the air; for when the wind, though never so cold, finds a passage through, it will wear large cavities, leaving slight supports or studs only here and there, and finally topple it down. At first it looked like a vast blue fort or Valhalla; but when they began to tuck the coarse meadow hay into the crevices120, and this became covered with rime121 and icicles, it looked like a venerable moss-grown and hoary122 ruin, built of azure-tinted marble, the abode124 of Winter, that old man we see in the almanac -- his shanty125, as if he had a design to estivate with us. They calculated that not twenty-five per cent of this would reach its destination, and that two or three per cent would be wasted in the cars. However, a still greater part of this heap had a different destiny from what was intended; for, either because the ice was found not to keep so well as was expected, containing more air than usual, or for some other reason, it never got to market. This heap, made in the winter of '46-7 and estimated to contain ten thousand tons, was finally covered with hay and boards; and though it was unroofed the following July, and a part of it carried off, the rest remaining exposed to the sun, it stood over that summer and the next winter, and was not quite melted till September, 1848. Thus the pond recovered the greater part.
Like the water, the Walden ice, seen near at hand, has a green tint123, but at a distance is beautifully blue, and you can easily tell it from the white ice of the river, or the merely greenish ice of some ponds, a quarter of a mile off. Sometimes one of those great cakes slips from the ice-man's sled into the village street, and lies there for a week like a great emerald, an object of interest to all passers. I have noticed that a portion of Walden which in the state of water was green will often, when frozen, appear from the same point of view blue. So the hollows about this pond will, sometimes, in the winter, be filled with a greenish water somewhat like its own, but the next day will have frozen blue. Perhaps the blue color of water and ice is due to the light and air they contain, and the most transparent126 is the bluest. Ice is an interesting subject for contemplation. They told me that they had some in the ice-houses at Fresh Pond five years old which was as good as ever. Why is it that a bucket of water soon becomes putrid127, but frozen remains128 sweet forever? It is commonly said that this is the difference between the affections and the intellect.
Thus for sixteen days I saw from my window a hundred men at work like busy husbandmen, with teams and horses and apparently all the implements129 of farming, such a picture as we see on the first page of the almanac; and as often as I looked out I was reminded of the fable130 of the lark131 and the reapers132, or the parable133 of the sower, and the like; and now they are all gone, and in thirty days more, probably, I shall look from the same window on the pure sea-green Walden water there, reflecting the clouds and the trees, and sending up its evaporations in solitude134, and no traces will appear that a man has ever stood there. Perhaps I shall hear a solitary135 loon136 laugh as he dives and plumes137 himself, or shall see a lonely fisher in his boat, like a floating leaf, beholding138 his form reflected in the waves, where lately a hundred men securely labored139.
Thus it appears that the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well. In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvat-Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny140 and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity141 from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Bramin, priest of Brahma and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water jug142. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled143 with the sacred water of the Ganges. With favoring winds it is wafted144 past the site of the fabulous islands of Atlantis and the Hesperides, makes the periplus of Hanno, and, floating by Ternate and Tidore and the mouth of the Persian Gulf145, melts in the tropic gales146 of the Indian seas, and is landed in ports of which Alexander only heard the names.
睡过了一个安静的冬天的夜晚，而醒来时，印象中伤佛有什么问题在问我，而在睡眠之中，我曾企图回答，却又回答不了——什么——如何——何时——何处？可这是黎明中的大自然，其中生活着一切的生物，她从我的大窗户里望进来，脸色澄清，心满意足，她的嘴唇上并没有问题。醒来便是大自然和天光，这便是问题的答案。雪深深地积在大地，年幼的松树点点在上面，而我的木屋所在的小山坡似乎在说：“开步走！”大自然并不发问，发问的是我们人类，而它也不作回答。它早就有了决断了。
“啊，王子，我们的眼睛察审而羡慕不置，这宇宙的奇妙而多变的景象便传到了我们的灵魂中。无疑的，黑夜把这光荣的创造遮去了一部分；可是，白昼再来把这伟大作品启示给我们，这伟大作品从地上伸展，直到太空中。”
于是我干我的黎明时的工作。第一，我拿了一把斧头和桶子找水去，如果我不是在做梦。过了寒冷的、飘雪的一夜之后，要一根魔杖才有办法找到水呢。水汪汪的微抖的湖水，对任何呼吸都异常地敏感，能反映每一道光和影，可是到了冬天，就冻结了一英尺，一英尺半，最笨重的牲畜它也承受得住，也许冰上还积了一英尺深的雪，使你分别不出它是湖还是平地。像周围群山中的土拨鼠，它阖上眼睛，要睡三个月或三个月不止。站在积雪的平原上，好像在群山中的牧场上，我先是穿过一英尺深的雪，然后又穿过一英尺厚的冰，在我的脚下开一个窗，就跪在那里喝水，又望入那安静的鱼的客厅，那儿充满了一种柔和的光，仿佛是透过了一层磨砂玻璃照进去的似的，那细沙的底还跟夏天的时候一样，在那里一个并无波涛而有悠久澄清之感的，像琥珀色一样的黄昏正统治着，和那里的居民的冷静与均衡气质却完全协调。天空在我脚下，正如它之又在我们头上。
每天，很早的时候，一切都被严寒冻得松脆，人们带了钓竿和简单的午饭，穿过雪地来钓鲜鱼和梭鱼；这些野性未驯的人们，并不像他们城里的人，他们本能地采用另外的生活方式，相信另外的势力，他们这样来来去去，就把许多城市部分地缝合在一起了，否则的话，城市之间还是分裂的。他们穿着结实的粗呢大衣坐在湖岸上，在干燥的橡树叶上吃他们的饭餐，他们在自然界的经验方面，同城里人在虚伪做作方面一样聪明。他们从来不研究书本，所知道和所能说的，比他们所做的少了许多。他们所做的事据说还没有人知道。这里有一位，是用大鲈鱼来钓梭鱼的。你看看他的桶子，像看到了一个夏天的湖沼一样，何等惊人啊，好像他把夏天锁在他的家里了，或者是他知道夏天躲在什么地方。你说，在仲冬，他怎么能捉到这么多？啊，大地冻了冰，他从朽木之中找出了虫子来，所以他能捕到这些鱼。他的生活本身，就在大自然深处度过的，超过了自然科学家的钻研深度；他自己就应该是自然科学家的一个研究专题。科学家轻轻地把苔藓和树皮，用刀子挑起，来寻找虫子；而他却用斧子劈到树木中心，苔藓和树皮飞得老远。他是靠了剥树皮为生的。这样一个人就有了捕鱼权了，我爱见大自然在他那里现身。鲈鱼吃了螬蛴，梭鱼吃了鲈鱼，而渔夫吃了梭鱼；生物等级的所有空位就是这样填满的。
当我在有雾的天气里，绕着湖阔步时，有时我很有兴味地看到了一些渔人所采取的原始的生活方式。也许他在冰上掘了许多距离湖岸相等的小窟窿，各自距离四五杆，把白杨枝横在上面，用绳子缚住了桠枝，免得它被拉下水去，再在冰上面一英尺多的地方把松松的钓丝挂在白杨枝上，还缚了一张干燥的橡叶，这样钓丝给拉下去的时候，就表明鱼已上钩了。这些白杨枝显露在雾中，距离相等，你绕湖边走了一半时，便可以看到。
啊，瓦尔登的梭鱼！当我躺在冰上看它们，或者，当我望进渔人们在冰上挖掘的井，那些通到水中去的小窟窿的时候，我常常给它们的稀世之美弄得惊异不止，好像它们是神秘的鱼，街上看不到，森林中看不到，正如在康科德的生活中看不到阿拉伯一样。他们有一种异常焰目、超乎自然的美，这使它们跟灰白色的小鳕鱼和黑线鳕相比，不啻天渊之别，然而后者的名誉，却传遍了街道。它们并不绿得像松树，也不灰得像石块，更不是蓝得像天空的；然而，我觉得它们更有稀世的色彩，像花，像宝石，像珠子，是瓦尔登湖水中的动物化了的核或晶体。它们自然是彻头彻尾的瓦尔登；在动物界之中，它们自身就是一个个小瓦尔登，这许多的瓦尔登啊！惊人的是它们在这里被捕到，——在这深而且广的水中，远远避开了瓦尔登路上旅行经过的驴马，轻便马车和铃儿叮当的雪车，这伟大的金色的翠玉色的鱼游泳着。这一种鱼我从没有在市场上看到过；在那儿，它必然会成众目之所瞩注。很容易的，只用几下痉挛性的急转，它们就抛弃了那水露露的鬼影，像一个凡人还没有到时候就已升上了天。
因为我渴望着把瓦尔登湖的相传早巳失去的湖底给予恢复，我在一八四六年初，在溶冰之前就小心地勘察了它，用了罗盘，绞链和测水深的铅锤。关于这个湖底，或者说，关于这个湖的无底，已经有许多故事传涌，那许多故事自然是没有根据的。
人们并不去探查湖底，就立刻相信它是无底之湖，这就奇怪极了。我在这一带的一次散步中曾跑到两个这样的无底湖边。许多人非常之相信，认为瓦尔登一直通到地球的另外一面。有的人躺卧在冰上，躺了很久，通过那幻觉似的媒介物而下瞰，也许还望得眼中全是水波，但是他们怕伤风，所以很迅速地下了结论，说他们看到了许多很大的洞穴，如果真有人会下去填塞干草，“其中不知道可以塞进多少干草”，那无疑是冥河的入口，从这些入口可以通到地狱的疆域里去。另外有人从村里来，驾了一头五十六号马，绳子装满了一车，然而找不出任何的湖底；因为，当五十六号在路边休息时，他们把绳子放下水去，要测量它的神奇不可测量，结果是徒然。可是，我可以确切地告诉读者，瓦尔登有一个坚密得合乎常理的湖底，虽然那深度很罕见，但也并非不合理。我用一根钩鳕鱼的钓丝测量了它，这很容易，只需在它的一头系一块重一磅半的石头，它就能很准确地告诉我这石头在什么时候离开了湖底，因为在它下面再有湖水以前，要把它提起来得费很大力气。最深的地方恰恰是一百零二英尺；还不妨加入后来上涨的湖水五英尺，共计一百零七英尺。湖面这样小，而有这样的深度，真是令人惊奇，然而不管你的想象力怎样丰富，你不能再减少它一英寸。如果一切的湖都很浅，那又怎么样呢？难道它不会在人类心灵上反映出来吗？我感激的是这一个湖，深而纯洁，可以作为一个象征。当人们还相信着无限的时候，就会有一些湖沼被认为是无底的了。
一个工厂主，听说了我所发现的深度之后，认为这不是真实的，因为根据他熟悉水闸的情况而言，细沙不能够躺在这样峻削的角度上。可是最深的湖，按它的面积的比例来看，也就不像大多数人想象的那么深了，如果抽干了它的水来看一看，留下的并不是一个十分深透的山谷。它们不是像山谷似的杯形，因为这一个湖，就它的面积来说已经深得出奇了，通过中心的纵切面却只是像一只浅盘子那样深。大部分湖沼抽干了水，剩下来的是一片草地，并不比我们时常看到的低洼。威廉·吉尔平在描写风景时真是出色，而且总是很准确的，站在苏格兰的费因湖湾的尖端上，他描写道，“这一湾盐水，六七十英寻深，四英里阔，”约五十英里长，四面全是高山，他还加以评论：“如果我们能在洪水泛滥，或者无论大自然的什么痉挛造成它的时候，在那水流奔湍人内以前，这一定是何等可怕的缺口啊！”“高耸的山峰升得这高，
低洼的湖底沉得这低，
阔而广，好河床——。”可是，如果我们把费因湖湾的最短一条直径的比例应用在瓦尔登上，后者我们已经知道，纵切面只不过是一只浅盘形，那末，它比瓦尔登还浅了四倍。要是费因湖湾的水一古脑儿倒出来，那缺口的夸大了的可怕程度就是这样。无疑问的，许多伸展着玉米田的笑眯眯的山谷，都是急流退去以后露出的“可怕的缺口”，虽然必须有地质学家的洞察力与远见才能使那些始料所未及的居民们相信这个事实。在低低的地平线上的小山中，有鉴识力的眼睛可以看出一个原始的湖沼来，平原没有必要在以后升高，来掩盖它的历史。但是像在公路上做过工的人一样，都很容易知道，大雨以后，看看泥水潭就可以知道哪里是洼地。这意思就是说，想象力，要允许它稍稍放纵一下，就要比自然界潜下得更低，升起得更高。所以，海洋的深度，要是和它的面积一比，也许是浅得不足道也。
我已经在冰上测量了湖的深度，现在我可以决定湖底的形态了，这比起测量没有冻冰的港湾来要准确得多，结果我发现它总的说来是规则的，感到吃惊。在最深的部分，有数英亩地是平坦的，几乎不下于任何阳光下、和风中那些被耕植了的田野。有一处，我任意地挑了一条线，测量了三十杆，可是深浅的变化不过一英尺；一般他说来，在靠近湖心的地方，向任何方向移动，每一百英尺的变化，我预先就可以知道，不过是三四英寸上下的深浅。有人惯于说，甚至在这样平静的、沙底的湖中有着深而危险的窟窿，可是若有这种情况，湖水早把湖底的不平一律夷为平底了。湖底的规则性，它和湖岸以及邻近山脉的一致性，都是这样地完美，远处的一个湖湾，从湖的对面都可以测量出来，观察一下它的对岸，已可以知道它的方向。岬角成了沙洲和浅滩，溪谷和山峡成了深水与湖峡。
当我以十杆比一英寸的比例画了湖的图样，在一百多处记下了它们的深度，我更发现了这惊人的一致性了。发现那记录着最大深度的地方恰恰在湖心，我用一根直尺放在最长的距离上画了一道线，又放在最宽阔的地方画了一道线，真使人暗暗吃惊，最深处正巧在两线的交点，虽然湖的中心相当平坦，湖的轮廓却不很规则，而长阔的悬殊是从凹处量出来的，我对我自己说道，谁知道是否这暗示了海洋最深处的情形之正如一个湖和一个泥水潭的情形一样呢？这一个规律是否也适用于高山，把高山与山谷看作是相对的？我们知道一个山的最狭的地方并不一定是它的最高处。
五个凹处中有三个，我全去测量过，口上有一个沙洲，里面却是深水，可是那沙洲的目的，不仅是为了面积上扩张，也为了向深处扩张，形成一个独立的湖沼似的盆地，而两个岬角正表明了沙洲的方位。海岸上的每一个港埠的入口处也都有一个沙洲。正如凹处的口上，阔度大于它的长度，沙洲上的水，在同比例度内，比盆地的水更深。所以把凹处的长阔数和周遭的湖岸的情形告诉给你之后，你就几乎有充分的材料，可以列出公式，凡是这一类情况都用得上它。
我用这些经验来测量湖的最深处，就凭着观察它的平面轮廓和它的湖岸的特性，为了看看我测量的准确程度如何，我画出了一张自湖的平面图，白湖幅员占四十一英亩左右，同这个湖一样，其中没有岛，也没有出入口：因为最阔的一道线和最狭的一道线相当接近，就在那儿，两个隔岸相望的岬角在彼此接近，而两个相对的沙洲彼此远距，我就在最狭的线上挑了一个点，却依然交叉在最长的一条线上的，作为那里是最深处。最深处果然离这一个点不到一百英尺，在我定的那个方向再过去一些的地方，比我预测的深一英尺，也就是说，六十英尺深。自然，要是有泉水流入，或者湖中有一个岛屿的话，问题就比较复杂了。
如果我们知道大自然的一切规律，我们就只要明白一个事实，或者只要对一个现象作忠实描写，就可以举一反三，得出一切特殊的结论来了。现在我们只知道少数的规律，我们的结论往往荒谬，自然罗，这并不是因为大自然不规则，或混乱，这是因为我们在计算之中，对于某些基本的原理，还是无知之故。我们所知道的规则与和谐，常常局限于经我们考察了的一些事物；可是有更多数的似乎矛盾而实在却呼应着的法则，我们只是还没有找出来而已，它们所产生的和谐却是更惊人的。我们的特殊规律都出于我们的观点，就像从一个旅行家看来，每当他跨出一步，山峰的轮廓就要变动一步，虽然绝对的只有一个形态，却有着无其数的侧页。即使裂开了它，即使钻穿了它，也不能窥见其全貌。
据我所观察，湖的情形如此，在伦理学上又何尝不如此。这就是平均律。这样用两条直径来测量的规律，不但指示了我们观察天体中的太阳系，还指示了我们观察人心，而且就一个人的特殊的日常行为和生活潮流组成的集合体的长度和阔度，我们也可以画两条这样的线，通到他的凹处和入口，那两条线的交叉点，便是他的性格的最高峰或最深处了。也许我们只要知道这人的河岸的走向和他的四周环境，我们便可以知道他的深度和那隐藏着的底奥。如果他的周围是多山的环境，湖岸险巇，山峰高高耸起，反映在胸际，他一定是一个有着同样的深度的人。可是一个低平的湖岸，就说明这人在另一方面也肤浅。在我们的身体上，一个明显地突出的前额，表示他有思想的深度。在我们的每一个凹处的入口，也都有一个沙洲的，或者说，我们都有特殊的倾向；每一个凹处，都在一定时期内，是我们的港埠，在这里我们特别待得长久，几乎永久给束缚在那里。这些倾向往往不是古怪可笑的，它们的形式、大小、方向，都取决于岸上的岬角，亦即古时地势升高的轴线。当这一个沙洲给暴风雨，潮汐或水流渐渐加高，或者当水位降落下去了，它冒出了水面时，起先仅是湖岸的一个倾向，其中隐藏着思想，现在却独立起来了，成了一个湖沼，和大海洋隔离了，在思想获得它自己的境界之后，也许它从咸水变成了淡水，也许成了一个淡海，死海，或者一个沼泽。而每一个人来到尘世，我们是否可以说，就是这样的一个沙洲升到了水面上？这是真的，我们是一些可怜的航海家，我们的思想大体说来都有点虚无缥缈，在一个没有港口的海岸线上，顶多和有诗意的小港汊有些往还，不然就驶入公共的大港埠，驶进了科学这枯燥的码头上，在那里他们重新拆卸组装，以适应世俗，并没有一种潮流使它们同时保持其独立性。
至于瓦尔登湖水的出入口呢，除了雨雪和蒸发，我并没有发现别的，虽然用一只温度表和一条绳子也许可以寻得出这样的地点来，因为在水流入湖的地方在夏天大约是最冷而冬天大约最温暖。一八四六——一八四七年派到这里来掘冰块的人，有一天，他们正在工作，把一部分的冰块送上岸去，而囤冰的商人拒绝接受，因为这一部分比起其他的来薄了许多，挖冰的工人便这样发现了，有一小块地区上面的冰比其余的冰都薄了两三英寸，他们想这地方一定有一个入口了。另外一个地方他们还指给我看过，他们认为那是一个“漏洞”，湖水从那里漏出去，从一座小山下经过，到达邻近的一处草地，他们让我待在一个冰块上把我推过去看。在水深十英尺之处有一个小小的洞穴；可是我敢保证，不将它填补都可以，除非以后发现更大的漏洞。有人主张，如果确有这样的大 “漏洞”，如果它和草地确有联系的话，这是可以给予证明的，只要放下一些有颜色的粉末或木屑在这个漏洞口，再在草地上的那些泉源口上放一个过滤器，就一定可以找到一些被流水夹带而去的屑粒了。
当我勘察的时候，十六英寸厚的冰层，也像水波一样，会在微风之下有些波动。大家都知道在冰上，酒精水准仪是不能用的。在冰上，摆一根刻有度数的棒，再把酒精水准仪放在岸上，对准它来观察，那未离岸一杆处，冰层的最大的波动有四分之三英寸，尽管冰层似乎跟湖岸是紧接着的。在湖心的波动，恐怕更大。谁知道呢？如果我们的仪器更精密的话，我们还可以测出地球表面的波动呢。当我的水准仪的三只脚，两只放在岸上，一只放在冰上，而在第三只脚上瞄准并观察时，冰上的极微小的波动可以在湖对岸的一棵树上，变成数英尺的区别。当我为了测量水深，而开始挖洞之时，深深的积雪下面，冰层的上面有三四英寸的水，是积雪使冰下沉了几英寸；水立刻从窟窿中流下去，引成深深的溪流，一连流了两天才流完，把四周的冰都磨光了，湖面变得干燥，这虽然不是主要的，却也是很重要的原因；因为，当水流下去的时候，它提高了，浮起了冰层。这好像是在船底下挖出一个洞，让水流出去，当这些洞又冻结了，接着又下了雨，最后又来了次新的冰冻，全湖上都罩上一层新鲜光滑的冰面，冰的内部就有了美丽的网络的形状，很像是黑色的蜘蛛网，你不妨称之为玫瑰花形的冰球，那是从四方流到中心的水流所形成的。也有一些时候，当冰上有浅浅的水潭时，我能看到我自己的两个影子，一个重叠在另一个上面，一个影子在冰上，一个在树木或山坡的倒影上。
还在寒冷的一月份中，冰雪依然很厚很坚固的时候，一些精明的地主老爷已经从村中来拿回冰去，准备冰冻夏天的冷饮了；现在只在一月中，就想到了七月中的炎热和口渴了，这样的聪明给人留下深刻的印象，甚至使人觉得可悲，——现在，他还穿着厚大衣，戴着皮手套呢！况且有那么多的事情，他都没有一点儿准备。他也许还没有在这个世界上准备了什么可贵的东西，让他将来在另一世界上可以作为夏天的冷饮的。他砍着锯着坚固的冰，把鱼住宅的屋顶给拆掉了，用锁链把冰块和寒气一起，像捆住木料一样地捆绑了起来，用车子载走，经过有利的寒冷的空气，运到了冬天的地窖中，在那里，让它们静待炎夏来临。当它们远远地给拖过村子的时候，看起来仿佛是固体化的碧空。这些挖冰的都是快活的人，充满了玩笑和游戏精神，每当我来到他们中间的时候，他们常常请求我站在下面，同他们一上一下地用大锯来锯冰。
在一八四六——一八四七年的冬季，来了一百个出身于北极的人，那天早晨，他们涌到了这湖滨来，带来了好几车笨重的农具，雪车，犁耙，条播机，轧草机，铲子，锯子，耙子，每一个人还带着一柄两股叉，这种两股叉，就是《新英格兰农业杂志》或《农事杂志》上都没有描写过的。我不知道他们的来意是否为了播种冬天的黑麦，或是播种什么新近从冰岛推销过来的新种子。由于没有看到肥料，我判断他们和我一样，大约不预备深耕了，以为泥土很深，已经休闲得够久了。他们告诉我，有一位农民绅士，他自己没有登场，想使他的钱财加一倍，那笔钱财，据我所知，大约已经有五十万了；现在为了在每一个金元之上，再放上一个金元起见，他剥去了，是的，剥去了瓦尔登湖的唯一的外衣，不，剥去了它的皮，而且是在这样的严寒的冬天里！他们立刻工作了，耕着，耙着，滚着，犁着，秩序井然，好像他们要把这里变成一个模范的农场：可是正在我睁大了眼睛看他们要播下什么种子的时候，我旁边的一群人突然开始钩起那处女地来了，猛的一动，就一直钩到沙地上，或者钩到水里，因为这是一片很松软的土地，——那儿的一切的大地都是这样，——立刻用一辆雪车把它载走了，那时候我猜想，他们一定是在泥沼里挖泥炭吧。他们每天这样来了，去了，火车发出了锐叫声，好像他们来自北极区，又回到北极区，我觉得就像一群北冰洋中的雪鹀一样的。有时候，瓦尔登这印第安女子复仇了，一个雇工，走在队伍后面的，不留神滑入了地上一条通到冥府去的裂缝中，于是刚才还勇敢无比的人物只剩了九分之一的生命，他的动物的体温几乎全部消失了，能够躲入我的木屋中，算是他的运气，他不能不承认火炉之中确有美德；有时候，那冰冻的土地把犁头的一只钢齿折断了；有时，犁陷在犁沟中了，不得不把冰挖破才能取出来。
老老实实他说，是一百个爱尔兰人，由北方佬监工带领，每天从剑桥来这里挖冰。他们把冰切成一方块一方块，那方法是大家都知道的，无须描写的了，这些冰块放在雪车上，车到了岸边，迅疾地拖到一个冰站上，那里再用马匹拖的铁手、滑车、索具搬到一个台上，就像一桶一桶面粉一样，一块一块排列着，又一排一排地叠起来，好像他们要叠一个耸入云霄的方塔的基础一样。他们告诉我，好好地工作一天，可以挖起一千吨来，那是每一英亩地的出产数字。深深的车辙和安放支架的摇篮洞，都在冰上出现，正如在大地上一样，因为雪车在上面来回的次数走得多了，而马匹就在挖成桶形的冰块之中吃麦子。他们这样在露天叠起了一堆冰块来，高三十五英尺，约六七杆见方，在外面一层中间放了干草，以排除空气；因为风虽然空前料峭，还可以在中间找到路线，裂出很大的洞来，以致这里或那里就没有什么支撑了，到最后会全部倒翻。最初，我看这很像一个巨大的蓝色的堡垒，一个伐尔哈拉殿堂；可是他们开始把粗糙的草皮填塞到隙缝中间去了，于是上面有了白霜和冰柱，看起来像一个古色古香的，生满了苔藓的灰白的废墟，全部是用蓝色大理石构成的冬神的住所，像我们在历本上看到的画片一样， ——他的陋室，好像他计划同我们一起度过夏季。据他们的估计，这中间百分之二十五到不了目的地，百分之二、三将在车子中损失。然而这一堆中，更大的一部分的命运和当初的原意不同；因为这些冰或者是不能保藏得像意想的那么好，它里面有比之一般更多的空气，或者是由于另外的原因，这一部分冰就一直没能送到市场上。这一堆，在一八四六——一八四七年垒起来的，据估计共有一万吨重，后来用于草和木板钉了起来，第二年七月开了一次箱，一部分拿走了，其余的就曝露在太阳底下，整个夏天，站着度过去了，这年的冬天，也还是度过去了，直到一八四八年的九月，它还没有全部溶化掉。最后，湖还是把它们的一大部分收了回来。
像湖水一样，瓦尔登的冰，近看是绿的，可是从远处望去，它蓝蓝的很美，你很容易就辨别出来了，那是河上的白冰，或是四分之一英里外的湖上的只是微绿的冰，而这是瓦尔登的冰。有时候，从挖冰人的雪车上，有一大块冰掉在村中街道上，躺在那里有一星期，像一块很大的翡翠，引起所有过路人的兴趣。我注意到瓦尔登的一个部分，它的水是绿的，一俟冻结之后，从同一观察点望去，它成了蓝色。所以在湖边的许多低洼地，有时候，在冬天，充满了像它一样的绿色的水，可是到了第二天，我发现它们已冻成了蓝色的冰。也许水和冰的蓝色是由它们所包含的光和空气造成的，最透明的，也就是最蓝的。冰乃是沉思的一个最有趣的题目。他们告诉我，他们有一些冰，放在富莱喜湖的冰栈中已有五年，还是很好的冰。为什么一桶水放久了要臭，而冻冰以后，却永远甘美呢？一般人说这正如情感和理智之间的不同。
所以一连十六天，我从我的窗口，看到一百个人，忙忙碌碌，像农夫一样地工作，成群结队，带着牲口和显然一应俱全的农具，这样的图画我们常常在历书的第一页上看到的；每次从窗口望出去，我常常想到云雀和收割者的寓言，或者那撒播者的譬喻，等等；现在，他们都走掉了，大约又过了三十天之后，我又从这同一窗口，眺望纯粹的海绿色的瓦尔登湖水了，它反映着云和树木，把它蒸发的水汽寂寥地送上天空，一点也看不出曾经有人站在它的上面。也许我又可以听到一只孤独的潜水鸟钻入水底，整理羽毛，放声大笑，或许我可以看到一个孤独的渔夫坐在船上，扁舟一叶，而他的形态倒映在这一面水波上，可是不久以前就在这里，有一百个人安全地站着工作过呢。
似乎紧跟着将要有查尔斯顿和新奥尔良，马德拉斯，孟买和加尔各答的挥汗如雨的居民，在我的井中饮水。在黎明中我把我的智力沐浴在《对话录》的宏伟宇宙的哲学中，自从这一部史诗完成了之后，神仙的岁月也不知已逝去了多少，而和它一比较，我们的近代世界以及它的文学显得多么地猥琐而藐小啊；我还怀疑，这一种哲学是否不仅仅限于从前的生存状态，它的崇高性，距离着我们的观点是这样地遥远啊！我放下了书本，跑到我的井边去喝水。瞧啊！在那里，我遇到了婆罗门教的仆人，梵天和毗瑟奴和因陀罗的僧人，他还是坐在恒河上，他的神庙中，读着他们的吠陀经典，或住在一棵树的根上，只有一些面包屑和一个水钵。我遇到他的仆人来给他的主人汲水，我们的桶子好像在同一井内碰撞。瓦尔登的纯粹的水已经和恒河的圣水混合了。柔和的风吹送着，这水波流过了阿特兰蒂斯和海斯贝里底斯这些传说中的岛屿，流过饭能，流过特尔纳特，蒂达尔和波斯湾的入口，在印度洋的热带风中汇流，到达连亚历山大也只听到过名字的一些港埠。
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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alder
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| n.赤杨树 | |
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twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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alders
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| n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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34
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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35
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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36
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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37
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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38
cod
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| n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗 | |
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39
trumpeted
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| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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40
nuclei
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| n.核 | |
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41
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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42
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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43
cynosure
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| n.焦点 | |
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44
quirks
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| n.奇事，巧合( quirk的名词复数 )；怪癖 | |
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45
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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46
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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47
illusive
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| adj.迷惑人的，错觉的 | |
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48
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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49
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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50
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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51
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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52
fathomed
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| 理解…的真意( fathom的过去式和过去分词 )； 彻底了解； 弄清真相 | |
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53
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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54
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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55
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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56
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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57
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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58
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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59
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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60
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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61
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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62
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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63
geologist
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| n.地质学家 | |
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64
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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65
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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66
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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67
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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68
puddles
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| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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69
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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70
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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71
plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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72
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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73
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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74
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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75
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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76
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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77
coves
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| n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 )；家伙 | |
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78
vertically
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| adv.垂直地 | |
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79
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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80
concur
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| v.同意，意见一致，互助，同时发生 | |
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81
concurring
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| 同时发生的，并发的 | |
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82
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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83
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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84
aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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85
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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86
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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87
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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88
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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89
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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90
promontories
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| n.岬，隆起，海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
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91
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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92
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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93
conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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94
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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95
evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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96
soldering
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| n.软焊；锡焊；低温焊接；热焊接v.（使）焊接，焊合( solder的现在分词 ) | |
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97
fluctuation
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| n.(物价的)波动，涨落；周期性变动；脉动 | |
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98
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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99
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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100
mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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101
underlie
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| v.位于...之下，成为...的基础 | |
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102
solidified
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| （使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化 | |
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103
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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104
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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105
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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106
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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107
plows
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| n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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108
manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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109
plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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110
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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111
furrowing
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的现在分词 ) | |
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112
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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113
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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114
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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115
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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116
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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117
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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118
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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119
obelisk
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| n.方尖塔 | |
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120
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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121
rime
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| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
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122
hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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123
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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124
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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125
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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126
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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127
putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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128
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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129
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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130
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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131
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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132
reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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133
parable
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| n.寓言，比喻 | |
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134
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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135
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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136
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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137
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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138
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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139
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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140
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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141
sublimity
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| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
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142
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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143
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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144
wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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146
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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