《瓦尔登湖·第六章·访客·Visitors》第9节
I heard that a distinguished wise man and reformer asked him if he did not want the world to be changed; but he answered with a chuckle of surprise in his Canadian accent, not knowing that the question had ever been entertained before, “No, I like it well enough.” It would have suggested many things to a philosopher to have dealings with him. To a stranger he appeared to know nothing of things in general; yet I sometimes saw in him a man whom I had not seen before, and I did not know whether he was as wise as Shakespeare or as simply ignorant as a child, whether to suspect him of a fine poetic consciousness or of stupidity. A townsman told me that when he met him sauntering through the village in his small close-fitting cap, and whistling to himself, he reminded him of a prince in disguise.
注释摘要
这段逸事妙就妙在，梭罗让一个几乎不识字、日打五十根桩柱的加拿大樵夫，用最简单的回答击中了他那个时代最沉重的问题。 提问者被梭罗称为“distinguished wise man and reformer”——“杰出的智者兼改革家”。十九世纪四十年代的新英格兰，这类人物可不在少数。他们中有傅立叶主义的追随者，有主张废除奴隶制的激进派，有提倡素食、禁酒、服装改…