After my first visit to Boston, I spent almost every winter in the North. Once I went on a visit to a New England village with its frozen lakes and vast snow fields. It was then that I had opportunities such as had never been mine to enter into the treasures of the snow.
第一次波士顿之行后，我几乎每年冬天都在北方度过。有一次，我到新英格兰一个小村庄去拜访，在那里，我见到了冰封的湖泊和白雪皑皑的广袤原野，有生以来第一次领略到冰雪世界无穷的奥秘。
I recall my surprise on discovering that a mysterious hand had stripped the trees and bushes, leaving only here and there a wrinkled leaf. The birds had flown, and their empty nests in the bare trees were filled with snow. Winter was on hill and field. The earth seemed benumbed by his icy touch, and the very spirits of the trees had withdrawn to their roots, and there, curled up in the dark, lay fast asleep. All life seemed to have ebbed away, and even when the sun shone the day was shrunk and cold, as if her veins were sapless and old, and she rose up decrepitly for a last dim look at earth and sea.
我惊讶地发现，大自然的神秘之手剥去了树木和灌木的外衣，只留下零星的几片枯叶。鸟儿飞走了，光秃秃的树上只留下堆满积雪的空巢。冬天来到了山冈，来到了原野。大地似乎因冬天寒气的侵袭而变得僵直，树木的精灵已退缩到根部，蜷缩在黑乎乎的地下睡熟了。一切生命似乎都已消失，甚至当太阳大放光明时，白天却仍然是萎缩寒冷的，仿佛它的血管已经枯萎衰老，它软弱无力地爬起来，只是为了朦胧地看一眼大地与海洋。
The withered grass and the bushes were transformed into a forest of icicles. Then came a day when the chill air portended a snowstorm. We rushed out of doors to feel the first few tiny flakes descending. Hour by hour the flakes dropped silently, softly from their airy height to the earth, and the country became more and more level. A snowy night closed upon the world, and in the morning one could scarcely recognize a feature of the landscape. All the roads were hidden, not a single landmark was visible, only a waste of snow with trees rising out of it.
枯萎的青草和灌木变成了林立的冰柱。有一天，寒风萧萧，预示着暴风雪即将来临。初雪飘落时，我们跑到屋外，用手去接那小小的雪花。一连几个小时，雪花纷纷扬扬，从天空中无声无息地飘落到地面，原野变得平整，白茫茫的一片。一夜大雪，清早起来，人们几乎分辨不出村庄的原貌。道路被白雪覆盖，看不到一个路标，唯见雪野里矗立着树木。
Narrow paths were shoveled through the drifts. I put on my cloak and hood and went out. The air stung my cheeks like fire. Half walking in the paths, half working our way through the lesser drifts, we succeeded in reaching a pine grove just outside a broad pasture. The trees stood motionless and white like figures in a marble frieze. There was no odour of pine-needles. The rays of the sun fell upon the trees, so that the twigs sparkled like diamonds and dropped in showers when we touched them. So dazzling was the light, it penetrated even the darkness that veils my eyes.
我们在雪地里铲出一条条窄道，我披上头巾和斗篷走出来。空气冷飕飕的，脸颊被风刺得生疼。我和沙利文老师踩着厚厚的积雪，深一脚浅一脚地来到了一片松林旁，再过去是一大片宽阔的草场。松树矗立在雪地中，披着银装，像是大理石雕成一样，闻不到松叶的芬芳。阳光照在树上，树枝就好像钻石般熠熠闪光，轻轻一碰，积雪就像雨点一样洒落下来。雪地上强烈的阳光反射，甚至穿透了蒙在我眼睛上的那一层黑暗。
On the third day after the beginning of the storm the snow ceased. The sun broke through the clouds and shone upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds, pyramids heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable drifts lay scattered in every direction.
一直到第三天，大雪才停了下来。太阳从云层中探出头来，照耀在起伏的白色平原上，四周到处是白雪堆积而成的奇形怪状的雪丘。
In the evening a wind from the northeast sprang up, and the flakes rushed hither and thither in furious melee. Around the great fire we sat and told merry tales, and frolicked, and quite forgot that we were in the midst of a desolate solitude, shut in from all communication with the outside world. But during the night the fury of the wind increased to such a degree that it thrilled us with a vague terror. The rafters creaked and strained, and the branches of the trees surrounding the house rattled and beat against the windows, as the winds rioted up and down the country.
傍晚，突然刮起了一阵东北风，狂风把积雪卷起，雪花四处飞扬。我们围坐在熊熊的炉火旁，兴高采烈地讲故事、做游戏，完全忘却了自己正处于与外界隔绝的孤独之中。夜里，风越刮越猛，我们渐渐地产生了一种无名的惊恐。狂风在乡村大地上肆虐时，屋檐因重压而吱嘎作响，屋外大树左右摇摆，树枝敲打着窗户。
Our favourite amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly from the water’s edge. Down these steep slopes we used to coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off we went! Plunging through drifts, leaping hollows, swooping down upon the lake, we would shoot across its gleaming surface to the opposite bank. What joy! What exhilarating madness! For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!
那年冬天，我们最喜欢玩的是滑雪橇。湖岸上有些地方非常陡峭，我们就从坡度很大的地方往下滑。大家在雪橇上坐好，一个男孩使劲一推，雪橇便往下猛冲，穿过积雪，跃过洼地，径直向下面的湖泊冲去，一下子穿过闪闪发光的湖面，滑到湖的对岸。真是好玩极了！多么有趣的游戏！在那风驰电掣的一刹那，我们似乎与世界脱了节，御风而驰，飘飘欲仙。
As the days wore on, the drifts gradually shrunk, but before they were wholly gone another storm came, so that I scarcely felt the earth under my feet once all winter. At intervals the trees lost their icy covering, and the bulrushes and underbrush were bare; but the lake lay frozen and hard beneath the sun.
日子一天天过去，积雪逐渐融化。然而，没等它完全消失，另一场暴风雪又来了。整个冬天，我的脚几乎没有踩到土地。有时，树木会脱去冰雪外衣，芦苇和矮草丛也会探出身来，但是，阳光下的湖面却一直冻得十分结实。
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