《瓦尔登湖·第九章·湖·The Ponds》第9节
The pond was my well ready dug. For four months in the year its water is as cold as it is pure at all times; and I think that it is then as good as any, if not the best, in the town. In the winter, all water which is exposed to the air is colder than springs and wells which are protected from it. The temperature of the pond water which had stood in the room where I sat from five o’clock in the afternoon till noon the next day, the sixth of March, 1846, the thermometer having been up to 65° or 70° some of the time, owing partly to the sun on the roof, was 42°, or one degree colder than the water of one of the coldest wells in the village just drawn. The temperature of the Boiling Spring the same day was 45°, or the warmest of any water tried, though it is the coldest that I know of in summer, when, beside, shallow and stagnant surface water is not mingled with it. Moreover, in summer, Walden never becomes so warm as most water which is exposed to the sun, on account of its depth. In the warmest weather I usually placed a pailful in my cellar, where it became cool in the night, and remained so during the day; though I also resorted to a spring in the neighborhood. It was as good when a week old as the day it was dipped, and had no taste of the pump. Whoever camps for a week in summer by the shore of a pond, needs only bury a pail of water a few feet deep in the shade of his camp to be independent of the luxury of ice.
注释摘要
梭罗在这一小段里回到一个极为具体的日常事实：他不需要打井，瓦尔登湖本身就是他现成的水源。这句话的语调是志得意满的，仿佛整个自然秩序都在配合他的独居实验。他把湖水称为“我的井”，这个比喻从紧接着的测温实验中获得了某种近乎科学报告式的支撑。他记录的是1846年3月6日，从下午五点存放到次日正午的湖水，室温一度被屋顶的日照推到华氏六十五到七十度之间，而湖水只升到…