《瓦尔登湖·第一章·经济篇·Economy》第47节
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 plough 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; and thus he would not be tied to an ox, or horse, or cow, or pig, as at present. 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. 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. 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.
注释摘要
梭罗在这一段里把他在瓦尔登湖畔的种植实验推到了第二年，并且从中得出了经济原则上的一个更彻底的结论。第一年他用了两英亩半，还雇了人来犁地；第二年他只翻掘了大约三分之一英亩，全部用铲子完成，产出反而更令他满意。他说自己不被亚瑟·扬等人的农学名著所震慑，这句看似轻松的话，其实发生在梭罗思想的核心位置：他对书本权威的怀疑，和他对亲身经验的信赖，是同一件事的两面。亚…