大学英语四六级经典阅读：Hour in the Sun 阳光下的时光

 

"...I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days."---- Henry David Thoreau 

 

"我是富足的，即使没有万贯家产，却也拥有无数个艳阳天与夏日。"--梭罗 

 

When Thoreau wrote that line, he was thinking of the Walden. Pond he knew as a boy. Woodchoppers and the Iron Horse had not yet greatly damaged the beauty of its setting. A boy could go to the pond and lie on his back against the seat of a boat, lazily drifting from shore while the loons dived and the swallows dipped around him. Thoreau loved to recall such sunny hours and summer days "when idleness was the most attractive and productive business." 

 

当梭罗写下这句话时，他正想起从儿时起就相识的瓦尔登湖。那时，伐木者与火车还未严重破坏湖畔美丽的景色。小男孩可以走向湖边，仰卧小舟，悠闲地游荡在两岸之间。在他周围，潜水鸟在戏水，还有燕子轻盈地掠过湖面。梭罗喜欢回忆这样明媚的时光与夏日。"此时，悠闲也便成为最具有魅力且颇有裨益的事情。" 

 

I too was once a boy in love with a pond, rich in sunny hours and summer days. Sun and summer are still what they always were, but the boy and the pond changed. The boy, who is now a man, no longer find much time for idle drifting. The pond has been annexed by a great city. The swamps where herons once hunted are now drained and filled with houses. The bay where water lilies quietly floated is now a harbor for motor boats. In short, everything that the boy loved no longer exists----except in the man's memory of it. 

 

我也曾经是个热爱湖泊的小男孩.也拥有无数个明媚的阳光与夏日。阳光与夏日依旧.而小男孩与湖泊却已改变，小男孩已长大成人，再也没有时间去湖上悠闲玩乐。而湖泊已被大城市所吞并。苍鹭曾经觅食的沼泽，也己干涸，上面盖满了房舍。睡莲漂浮的湖湾，也成了汽艇停泊的港口。总之，小男孩所喜爱的都已不复存在，一切只停留在他的记忆里。 

 

Some people insist that only today and tomorrow matter. But how much poorer we would be if we really lived by that rule! So much of what we do today is frivolous and futile and soon forgotten. So much of what we hope to do tomorrow never happens. 

 

一些人坚持认为只有今日与明日最重要。可如按此规则来说，我们的生活将会变得更加贫瘩。今天我们所做之事有多少是琐碎无功的。很快就会被遗忘。而且又有多少我们明天所 

 

期望的将化为泡影。 

 

The past is the bank in which we store our most valuable possession: the memories that give meaning and depth to our lives. Those who truly treasure the past will not bemoan the passing of the good old days, because days enshrined in memory are never lost. Death itself is powerless to still a remembered voice or erase a remembered smile. And for one boy who is now a man, there is a pond which neither time nor tide can change, where he can still spend a quite hour in the sun. 

 

过去犹如一所银行，我们将最可贵的财富-记忆珍藏其中。这些记忆赋予我们生命的意义和深度。那些真正珍惜过去的人不会为美好时光的流逝而哀叹，因为那些珍藏于记忆的时光是永远不会消失的。死亡本身也无法止住记忆中的声音；或磨灭掉记忆中的微笑。对于已经长大成人的小男孩来说。那儿将会有一个池塘。它不会因时间和潮汐而改变，可以让他继续在阳光下享受静谧的时光。 

 

词汇注释 

 

swallow n. 燕子 

 

annex vt. 吞并，盖 

 

swamp n. 沼泽，湿地 

 

heron n. 苍鹭 

 

drain vt. 耗尽，排出沟外 

 

frivolous adj. 妄动的，琐碎的 

 

bemoan vt. 惋惜，认为遗憾 

 

enshrine vt. 铭记