《瓦尔登湖·第五章·寂寞·Solitude》第2节
There is commonly sufficient space about us. Our horizon is never quite at our elbows. The thick wood is not just at our door, nor the pond, but somewhat is always clearing, familiar and worn by us, appropriated and fenced in some way, and reclaimed from Nature. For what reason have I this vast range and circuit, some square miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by men? My nearest neighbor is a mile distant, and no house is visible from any place but the hill-tops within half a mile of my own. I have my horizon bounded by woods all to myself; a distant view of the railroad where it touches the pond on the one hand, and of the fence which skirts the woodland road on the other. But for the most part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself. At night there was never a traveller passed my house, or knocked at my door, more than if I were the first or last man; unless it were in the spring, when at long intervals some came from the village to fish for pouts,—they plainly fished much more in the Walden Pond of their own natures, and baited their hooks with darkness,—but they soon retreated, usually with light baskets, and left “the world to darkness and to me,” and the black kernel of the night was never profaned by any human neighborhood. I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced.
注释摘要
梭罗在这一段里做了一件很微妙的事：他并不是在描述周围空无一物，而是在描述一种精心布置过的空旷。他说“我们周围通常有足够的空间”，但接下来立刻补充，地平线并不紧贴着我们的手肘，密林和湖也不是直接逼到门口——中间总有那么一片已经被清理、被踩熟、被围起来、被从自然那里索回的空地。这种空间布局本身就是他那场实验的物质前提：孤独不是未经处理的蛮荒，而是被人的劳动和习…