《瓦尔登湖·第六章·访客·Visitors》第15节
but they did not know that the third line was,— These are the folks that worry the man / That lives in the house that I built. I did not fear the hen-harriers, for I kept no chickens; but I feared the men-harriers rather. I had more cheering visitors than the last. Children come a-berrying, railroad men taking a Sunday morning walk in clean shirts, fishermen and hunters, poets and philosophers; in short, all honest pilgrims, who came out to the woods for freedom’s sake, and really left the village behind, I was ready to greet with,—“Welcome, Englishmen! welcome, Englishmen!” for I had had communication with that race.
注释摘要
这段文字出自《瓦尔登湖》访客一节的末尾，梭罗在这里用两首戏仿的童谣把一整节关于来访者的叙述收拢为一个尖锐的分类。前一首童谣的原始版本是英国民间故事里不断累积的套句，梭罗在前面已经写过那些自以为是的改革者总爱对他念叨某种版本的“这就是我建造的房屋，这是住在我建造的房屋里的人”。他借这个句式翻出一层新的意思：这些人不知道，接下来还有第三句——“这些就是折磨那个…