《瓦尔登湖·第十章·贝克农场·Baker Farm》第2节
Once it chanced that I stood in the very abutment of a rainbow’s arch, which filled the lower stratum of the atmosphere, tinging the grass and leaves around, and dazzling me as if I looked through colored crystal. It was a lake of rainbow light, in which, for a short while, I lived like a dolphin. If it had lasted longer it might have tinged my employments and life. As I walked on the railroad causeway, I used to wonder at the halo of light around my shadow, and would fain fancy myself one of the elect. One who visited me declared that the shadows of some Irishmen before him had no halo about them, that it was only natives that were so distinguished. Benvenuto Cellini tells us in his memoirs, that, after a certain terrible dream or vision which he had during his confinement in the castle of St. Angelo, a resplendent light appeared over the shadow of his head at morning and evening, whether he was in Italy or France, and it was particularly conspicuous when the grass was moist with dew. This was probably the same phenomenon to which I have referred, which is especially observed in the morning, but also at other times, and even by moonlight. Though a constant one, it is not commonly noticed, and, in the case of an excitable imagination like Cellini’s, it would be basis enough for superstition. Beside, he tells us that he showed it to very few. But are they not indeed distinguished who are conscious that they are regarded at all? I set out one afternoon to go a-fishing to Fair-Haven, through the woods, to eke out my scanty fare of vegetables. My way led through Pleasant Meadow, an adjunct of the Baker Farm, that retreat of which a poet has since sung, beginning,— “Thy entry is a pleasant field, / Which some mossy fruit trees yield / Partly to a ruddy brook, / By gliding musquash undertook, / And mercurial trout, / Darting about.”
注释摘要
梭罗在这一段里记录了三件彼此呼应的事：站在彩虹的拱脚处、在铁路路基上看见自己影子的光晕、以及本韦努托·切利尼自传中类似的幻象。彩虹一节写得极为感官化——他不是远远望见一道虹，而是站进了“彩虹拱的支座”，也就是虹与地面相接的那一点。那光是弥漫在低层大气里的，把草和叶子都染了色，他自己则像透过彩色水晶看世界。海豚的比喻不是随便用的：海豚在光的水域里游，暗示那一…