《瓦尔登湖·第一章·经济篇·Economy》第22节
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. 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—in a degree of cold which would extinguish the life of one exposed to it in any woollen clothing.” He had seen them asleep thus. Yet he adds, “They are not hardier than other people.” 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; 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. In our climate, in the summer, it was formerly almost solely a covering at night. 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. 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. 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. Adam and Eve, according to the fable, wore the bower before other clothes. Man wanted a home, a place of warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections.
注释摘要
梭罗在这一段里做了一件他经常做的事：他先承认某种东西的确是生活必需品，然后用一连串反例和追问，悄悄地松动那种“必不可少”的绝对性。他谈论住所，开头就说“我不否认这现在是生活必需品之一”，可紧接着就引用萨缪尔·莱恩在挪威北部和拉普兰地区的旅行见闻来制造悬念：那些穿着皮衣、钻进皮袋就睡在雪地里的拉普兰人，在足以冻死穿羊毛衣者的严寒中过夜，而莱恩偏偏补上一句“他…