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g20211209JY丨Walden, or Life in the Woods
g20211209JY丨Walden, or Life in the Woods
Tiger Times 01
瓦尔登湖畔的隐士
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散文集《瓦尔登湖》享誉全球,如同大多数畅销书一样,对他的评价也
两极分化。有人说梭罗是一个返璞归真、亲近自然的哲学家,也有人说作
者梭罗是个“伪善,厌世,自恋”的假隐士。你怎么看?
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狼在西方文化有何象征意义?梭罗为何将亚美利坚比作“shewolf”?
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如何理解超验主义,超验主义者在反对什么?
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为什么梭罗说“人类在过着静静的绝望的生活”? 扫码听课
听课笔记
Chapter I. Economy
inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these
are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born
in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen
with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made
them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when
man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they
begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to
live a man's life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as
well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met well
nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road
But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon
up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break
through and steal. It is a fool's life, as they will find when they get to
...
and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be
plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy
and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has not
has so often to use his knowledge? We should feed and clothe him
we judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on
...
go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the
despair is concealed even under what are called the games and
Tiger Times 03
things.
off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on
the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or breakfast, gently and without
perturbation; let company come and let company go, let the bells
should we knock under and go with the stream? Let us not be upset
situated in the meridian shallows. Weather this danger and you are
safe, for the rest of the way is down hill. With unrelaxed nerves, with
morning vigor, sail by it, looking another way, tied to the mast like
Ulysses. If the engine whistles, let it whistle till it is hoarse for its
pains. If the bell rings, why should we run? We will consider what
kind of music they are like. Let us settle ourselves, and work and
wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and
which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through New
York and Boston and Concord, through church and state, through
and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and
and frost and fire, a place where you might found a wall or a state,
shams and appearances had gathered from time to time. If you stand
Tiger Times 04
right fronting and face to face to a fact, you will see the sun glimmer
on both its surfaces, as if it were a cimeter, and feel its sweet edge
dividing you through the heart and marrow, and so you will happily
If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel
...
Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink
I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current
slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish in the
sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars. I cannot count one. I know
not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that
I was not as wise as the day I was born. The intellect is a cleaver; it
discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things. I do not wish to be
use their snout and fore-paws, and with it I would mine and burrow
my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is somewhere
词汇
inherit /ɪnˈherɪt/ v. 继承(金钱、财产等) ○ e.g. His stables are near Oxford. 他的养马场在牛津附近。
○ to receive money, property, etc. from sb. when they die
○ e.g. She inherited a fortune from her father. 她从她父亲那 tillage /ˈtɪlɪdʒ/ n. 耕地(包括整地和土壤中耕)
里继承了一大笔财富。 ○ (old-fashioned) the process of preparing and using land for
growing crops
pasture /ˈpɑːstʃə(r)/ n. 牧场,牧草地
○ land covered with grass that is suitable for feeding animals mow /məʊ/ v. 刈,割,修剪
on ○ to cut grass, etc. using a machine or tool with a special
○ e.g. The cattle were put out to pasture. 牛群放牧在牧场草 blade or blades
地上。 ○ e.g. I mow the lawn every week in summer. 夏天我每周都
要修剪草坪。
suckle /ˈsʌkl/ v.(妇女或雌兽)给 … 喂奶,给 … 哺乳
○ (of a woman or female animal) to feed a baby or young encumbrance /ɪnˈkʌmbrəns/ n. 妨碍者,累赘,障碍物
animal with milk from the breast or udder ○ a person or thing that prevents sb. from moving easily or
○ e.g. a cow suckling her calves 给小牛喂奶的母牛 from doing what they want
○ e.g. I felt I was being an encumbrance to them. 我感到自
serf /sɜːf/ n.(旧时的)农奴 己成了他们的累赘。
○ (in the past) a person who was forced to live and work on
land that belonged to a landowner whom they had to obey subdue /səbˈdjuː/ v. 使某块土地适合种植
○ to bring (land) under cultivation
peck /pek/ n. 许多,大量
○ a large quantity or number cubic /ˈkjuːbɪk/ adj. 立方的;用立方单位度量(或表示)
○ e.g. The actor disappeared leaving a peck of unpaid bills. 的
那个演员消失了,留下了一大堆没支付的账单。 ○ used to show that a measurement is the volume of sth, that
○ a peck of dirt 一抔土 is the height multiplied by the length and the width
○ e.g. Every man must eat a peck of dirt before he dies. 每个 ○ e.g. cubic centimetres/inches/metres 立方厘米/英寸/米
人在死去之前都必须经历无数苦难。 ○ measured or expressed in cubic units
○ e.g. the cubic capacity of a car's engine 汽车发动机汽缸
immortal /ɪˈmɔːtl/ adj. 长生的,永世的,不朽的 的容量
○ that lives or lasts for ever
○ e.g. The soul is immortal. 灵魂不灭。 plough /plaʊ/ v. 犁(地),耕(地)
○ (= plow) to turn over the earth using a plough so that seeds
nigh /naɪ/ adv. 几乎,差不多 can be planted
○ (old-fashioned) almost; nearly ○ e.g. In those days the land was ploughed by oxen. 在那个
○ e.g. They've lived in that house for nigh on 30 years. 他们 年代是用公牛来犁地的。
在那所房子里住了差不多 30 年了。
○ well nigh 非常接近,几乎,基本上 compost /ˈkɒmpɒst/ n. 混合肥料,堆肥
○ e.g. Recovery will be well nigh impossible. 这人基本上不 ○ a mixture of decayed plants, food, etc. that can be added to
可能痊愈了。 soil to help plants grow
○ e.g. a jacket of coarse wool 粗羊毛夹克衫 ○ a place in a river or the sea where currents of water spin
round very fast
pluck /plʌk/ v. 摘,掐,采摘 ○ e.g. She felt she was being dragged into a whirlpool of
○ (old-fashioned or literary) to pick a fruit, flower, etc. from emotion. 她觉得自己被卷入了感情的旋涡。
where it is growing
○ e.g. I plucked an orange from the tree. 我从树上摘了一个 meridian /məˈrɪdiən/ n. 子午线,经线
橙子。 ○ one of the lines that is drawn from the North Pole to the
South Pole on a map of the world
depreciate /dɪˈpriːʃieɪt/ v. 贬低,轻视
○ to make sth. seem unimportant or of no value wedge /wedʒ/ v. 将 … 挤入(或塞进、插入)
○ e.g. I had no intention of depreciating your contribution. ○ to put or squeeze sth. tightly into a narrow space, so that it
我并不想贬低你的贡献。 cannot move easily
○ e.g. The boat was now wedged between the rocks. 船卡在
gratuitous /ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs/ adj. 无正当理由的,无端的 了岩石之间。
○ said or done without a good reason, in a way that offends
someone slush /slʌʃ/ n. 半融的雪,雪泥
○ e.g. children's books which include gratuitous violence 包 ○ partly melted snow
含无谓暴力内容的儿童书籍 ○ e.g. Children were sliding around in the snow and slush. 孩
○ gratuitously /ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəsli/ adv. 无正当理由地,无偿地, 子们在尚未化尽的雪地上到处滑行。
无端地
○ e.g. There is no point in gratuitously antagonizing people. alluvion /əˈluːvɪən/ n. 沙洲
没有必要无故与人为敌。 ○ the wash of the sea or of a river
今日习题
1. 根据英文释义写出文中出现的对应单词
_________: not genuine but created deliberately and made to appear to be true
_________: technical a small change in the movement, quality, or behaviour of something
2. 一词多义
Which of the following underlined words is closest in meaning to the one in the sentence "How many a
poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of
life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred
acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and wood-lot!"? ____
A. In the immortal words of Henry Ford, ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it.’
B. She is one of the Hollywood immortals.
C. Why have not we an immortal soul?
D. The players are considered to be the immortals of the game.
3. 翻译:根据给定中文回译英文
那些没有继承产业的人,虽不必受这类继承的牵累,但为了安抚和养育他们几立方英尺的血肉之躯,
也足够辛苦了。
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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习题答案
背景一点点
亨利 · 戴维 · 梭罗(1817-1862 年)出生于马萨诸塞州的康科德小镇,是美国哲学家、诗人和作家,
也是自然主义者和超验主义代表人物之一。1837 年,梭罗从哈佛大学毕业后,重新回到了康科
德小镇,在一所私立学校任教,并与当时的美国思想家拉尔夫 · 沃尔多 · 爱默生(Ralph Waldo
Emerson,1803-1882 年)建立了深厚的友谊。虽然梭罗和爱默生常常由于不同的观点而发生争执,
但是两人对彼此产生的影响是深远而持久。1841 年,梭罗辞去了教师的工作,开始写作。他一
生只出版过两本书:《康科德河和梅里马克河上的一周》(A Week on the Concord and Merrimack
Rivers,1849 年)和《瓦尔登湖》(Walden,1854 年),以及许多作为讲座发表的短文。
梭罗一生过着简单而相对平静的生活。除教书外,他还做过铅笔制造、土地勘察等工作。在
爱默生的支持下,梭罗也开始了一些超验主义实践。1845 年,在美国独立日那天,梭罗前往瓦尔
登湖畔的森林,住了两年零两个月。对梭罗来说,这种在郊区生活的 “ 实验 ” 是一次考验。因为
他接近自然,思考着自己生命的最终结局。梭罗将他的存在主义探索视为古希腊哲学意义上的冒险。
因为它的动机是迫切需要找到对现实的反思性理解,从而为智慧的人生提供启迪。按照哲学作为
一种生活方式的观点,这种生活方式 “ 必然是深思熟虑的 ”。因此,梭罗曾写道:“ 我到树林里去,
因为我希望活得有意义,只面对生活的基本事实,看看我是否能学到生活必须教给我的东西;而
不是在我死的时候,发现我没有活过。”
编辑丨雨洁