I spent the autumn months with my family at our summer cottage, on a mountain about fourteen miles from Tuscumbia. It was called Fern Quarry, because near it there was a limestone quarry, long since abandoned. Three frolicsome little streams ran through it from springs in the rocks above, leaping here and tumbling there in laughing cascades wherever the rocks tried to bar their way. The opening was filled with ferns which completely covered the beds of limestone and in places hid the streams. The rest of the mountain was thickly wooded. Here were great oaks and splendid evergreens with trunks like mossy pillars, from the branches of which hung garlands of ivy and mistletoe, and persimmon trees, the odour of which pervaded every nook and corner of the wood — an illusive, fragrant something that made the heart glad. In places the wild muscadine and scuppernong vines stretched from tree to tree, making arbours which were always full of butterflies and buzzing insects. It was delightful to lose ourselves in the green hollows of that tangled wood in the late afternoon, and to smell the cool, delicious odours that came up from the earth at the close of day.
离塔斯坎比亚大约十四英里的山上，有我们家一座避暑小屋。那年秋季，我们一家就在那里度过。小屋附近有一座早已废弃的石灰石矿，所以，人们把这地方称为“蕨石矿”。三条欢快的小溪流经这里，它们从山上岩石中泉水处倾泻而下，东突西奔，遇到试图挡道的岩石，就会欢畅地形成瀑布下行。空地上长满蕨类植物，全然覆盖住石灰石矿层，在有些地方甚至盖住了溪流。山上树木茂密，有高大的橡树，也有枝繁叶茂的常青树，树干犹如布满苔藓的石柱，枝头则佩戴着常春藤与槲寄生交错而成的花环。这里还有很多柿子树，香气氤氲，直至树林的每一个角落。这是一种梦幻般的香味，沁人心脾。有些地方，野生圆叶葡萄和斯卡珀农葡萄从这棵树上攀附到那棵树上，形成许多藤架，总是引来蝴蝶飞舞与昆虫低吟。傍晚时分，密林深处绿影憧憧；日暮时分，泥土宜人的清芬逸出，令人沉醉其中，心旷神怡。
In the autumn I returned to my Southern home with a heart full of joyous memories. As I recall that visit North I am filled with wonder at the richness and variety of the experiences that cluster about it. It seems to have been the beginning of everything. The treasures of a new, beautiful world were laid at my feet, and I took in pleasure and information at every turn. I lived myself into all things. I was never still a moment; my life was as full of motion as those little insects that crowd a whole existence into one brief day. I met many people who talked with me by spelling into my hand, and thought in joyous sympathy leaped up to meet thought, and behold, a miracle had been wrought! The barren places between my mind and the minds of others blossomed like the rose.
那年秋天，我带着满心美好的回忆，回到了南方家乡。每当我回想起这次北方之旅，心中不禁诧异，此行经历竟然如此丰富多彩。它似乎是一切的开始。全新的美丽世界把它的宝藏置于我的脚下，我每一次俯身都会得到快乐与知识。我用整个身心来感受世间万物，一刻也不愿停住。我觉得自己的生命充满活力，一如那些小小的昆虫，与朝露降生，共薄暮长逝，将一生浓缩为短短一日。我遇到了许多人，他们在我手上写字来与我交谈，思想在欢乐祥和中得到碰撞，看啦，奇迹发生了。我与他人心灵之间本是一片荒原，如今竟盛开出玫瑰花。
Our cottage was a sort of rough camp, beautifully situated on the top of the mountain among oaks and pines. The small rooms were arranged on each side of a long open hall. Round the house was a wide piazza, where the mountain winds blew, sweet with all wood-scents. We lived on the piazza most of the time — there we worked, ate and played. At the back door there was a great butternut tree, round which the steps had been built, and in front the trees stood so close that I could touch them and feel the wind shake their branches, or the leaves twirl downward in the autumn blast.
我们的避暑屋坐落在山顶上高大的橡树和松树之中，虽然只是一个简陋的小营地，但环境着实优美。屋中间是一个敞开式长厅，两边排列着窄小的房间。房子四围是宽大的游廊，山风能送进来树木的清香。我们大部分时间在游廊上度过，在那里上课、吃饭、做游戏。后门边有一棵高大的胡桃树，周围砌着石阶。前门附近也有很多树，置身游廊之上，伸手就可以触摸到树干，感受风儿摇动树枝，感受叶儿在秋风中飘落。
Many visitors came to Fern Quarry. In the evening, by the campfire, the men played cards and whiled away the hours in talk and sport. They told stories of their wonderful feats with fowl, fish and quadruped — how many wild ducks and turkeys they had shot, what “savage trout” they had caught, and how they had bagged the craftiest foxes, outwitted the most clever possums and overtaken the fleetest deer, until I thought that surely the lion, the tiger, the bear and the rest of the wild tribe would not be able to stand before these wily hunters. “To-morrow to the chase!” was their good-night shout as the circle of merry friends broke up for the night. The men slept in the hall outside our door, and I could feel the deep breathing of the dogs and the hunters as they lay on their improvised beds.
常有很多人来蕨石矿。晚上，男人们在篝火旁打牌、聊天、做运动打发时光。他们夸耀自己捕野禽、捉鱼、打野兽的高超本领，描述打了多少只野鸭和火鸡，捉住多少“凶猛的鳟鱼”，怎样用计谋捉住狡猾透顶的狐狸、灵敏的负鼠与敏捷如飞的鹿。我心想，在这些足智多谋的猎人面前，豺狼虎豹简直是没法容身了。这些快乐的朋友们分手去睡觉时，总是以“明天猎场见！”互道晚安。这些人就睡在我们房间门外大厅里临时搭起的床铺上，我可以听到猎人及其猎犬深沉的呼吸声。
Later in the morning we made preparations for a barbecue. A fire was kindled at the bottom of a deep hole in the ground, big sticks were laid crosswise at the top, and meat was hung from them and turned on spits. Around the fire squatted negroes, driving away the flies with long branches. The savoury odour of the meat made me hungry long before the tables were set.
将近中午时分，我们准备露天烧烤。我们在地上掘出的深坑里点上火，上面交叉地架上粗大的树枝，把肉挂上去烤，在咝咝声中翻转。几个黑人蹲在火堆旁，挥动长长的枝条赶苍蝇。烤肉飘出诱人香味，没等餐桌布置好，我的肚子就咕咕叫了起来。
At dawn I was awakened by the smell of coffee, the rattling of guns, and the heavy footsteps of the men as they strode about, promising themselves the greatest luck of the season. I could also feel the stamping of the horses, which they had ridden out from town and hitched under the trees, where they stood all night, neighing loudly, impatient to be off. At last the men mounted, and, as they say in the old songs, away went the steeds with bridles ringing and whips cracking and hounds racing ahead, and away went the champion hunters “with hark and whoop and wild halloo!”
破晓时分，我便被咖啡的香味、猎枪的撞击声以及猎人来回走动的沉重脚步声唤醒，他们正整装待发，去寻找狩猎季节的好运。我还可以感觉到马蹄的声音，这些马是猎人们从城里骑来的，拴在树上过了一整夜，到早晨便发出阵阵嘶鸣，迫不及待地想要脱缰奔跑。猎人们终于一个个纵身上马，正如民歌里所唱的那样：“缰绳一松鞭儿响，猎犬疾跑在前方，嗷嗷嗬嗬声声响，骏马猎手齐出发。纵马飞奔手扬缰，狗儿领路鞭儿响！猎手们啊！出发！”
When the bustle and excitement of preparation was at its height, the hunting party made its appearance, struggling in by twos and threes, the men hot and weary, the horses covered with foam, and the jaded hounds panting and dejected — and not a single kill! Every man declared that he had seen at least one deer, and that the animal had come very close; but however hotly the dogs might pursue the game, however well the guns might be aimed, at the snap of the trigger there was not a deer in sight. They had been as fortunate as the little boy who said he came very near seeing a rabbit — he saw his tracks. The party soon forgot its disappointment, however, and we sat down, not to venison, but to a tamer feast of veal and roast pig.
正当大家热火朝天地准备野餐时，猎人们也三三两两陆续出现了。他们个个满头大汗、疲惫不堪，马儿们也冒着汗，筋疲力尽的猎犬则垂头丧气，喘个不停——什么猎物也没打到。每个人都自称说看见了一只以上的鹿，而且已经离得很近，眼看猎犬就要追上了，枪已经瞄准目标，可偏偏就在要扣动扳机的当口却突然不见了鹿的踪影。听他们说的，都好像是童话里说是发现了一只兔子的小孩子——其实他只是看到了兔子的脚印儿。很快，猎人们便把不愉快的事统统丢到了脑后，大家围桌而坐，一起享受端上来的美食。不过那可不是鹿肉，而是烤牛肉和烤猪肉。
One summer I had my pony at Fern Quarry. I called him Black Beauty, as I had just read the book, and he resembled his namesake in every way, from his glossy black coat to the white star on his forehead. I spent many of my happiest hours on his back. Occasionally, when it was quite safe, my teacher would let go the leading-rein, and the pony sauntered on or stopped at his sweet will to eat grass or nibble the leaves of the trees that grew beside the narrow trail.
一年夏天，我在蕨石矿养了一匹小马，给它取名为“黑美人”。这个名字来自我刚刚读完的一本书，我的小马与书里的那匹马像极了，都是一身雪亮的黑毛，额上点着一点白色。我在马背上度过了许多快乐的时光。偶尔，在很安全的情况下，沙利文小姐会把缰绳松开，让马自由漫步。马儿随心所欲地停下脚步吃草，或者去咬小径旁小树上的叶子。
Sometimes I would go with Mildred and my little cousins to gather persimmons. I did not eat them; but I loved their fragrance and enjoyed hunting for them in the leaves and grass. We also went nutting, and I helped them open the chestnut burrs and break the shells of hickory-nuts and walnuts — the big, sweet walnuts!
有时候，我会和米尔德丽德及其他小亲戚去摘柿子。我不爱吃柿子，但喜欢柿子的香味儿，喜欢在草丛和树叶里找柿子的感觉。我们还去采山果，我帮她们剥栗子壳儿，或者砸开山核桃和胡桃的硬壳，里边的果仁真是又大又甜！
On mornings when I did not care for the ride, my teacher and I would start after breakfast for a ramble in the woods, and allow ourselves to get lost amid the trees and vines, with no road to follow except the paths made by cows and horses. Frequently we came upon impassable thickets which forced us to take a round about way. We always returned to the cottage with armfuls of laurel, goldenrod, ferns and gorgeous swamp-flowers such as grow only in the South.
上午我不想骑马时，早餐后就和沙利文小姐到树林中散步。有时候一时兴起，便故意在树林与葡萄藤之间乱窜，那里平时没有人走，只有牛马踏出的小路。遇到灌木丛挡路，就绕道而行。每次归来时，我们都满满地抱着几大束桂花、黄花、蕨类植物和美丽的药属葵等等南方特有的花草。
At the foot of the mountain there was a railroad, and the children watched the trains whiz by. Sometimes a terrific whistle brought us to the steps, and Mildred told me in great excitement that a cow or a horse had strayed on the track. About a mile distant there was a trestle spanning a deep gorge. It was very difficult to walk over, the ties were wide apart and so narrow that one felt as if one were walking on knives. I had never crossed it until one day Mildred, Miss Sullivan and I were lost in the woods, and wandered for hours without finding a path.
山脚下有一条铁路，孩子们常常观看火车疾驶而过。有时候，汽笛凄厉的长鸣声把我们吓得连忙往屋里跑。米尔德丽德兴奋地告诉我，有一头牛或一匹马还在铁路上晃悠呢。离铁路大约一英里外的深谷之上，有一座高架桥。桥很窄，枕木间的距离却又很大，走在桥上提心吊胆，如履刀尖。我从来没有想过要去走这座桥，直到有一天，沙利文小姐带着我和米尔德丽德在树林中迷失了方向，转了好几个小时也没有找到路。
Suddenly Mildred pointed with her little hand and exclaimed,”There’s the trestle!” We would have taken any way rather than this; but it was late and growing dark, and the trestle was a short cut home. I had to feel for the rails with my toe; but I was not afraid, and got on very well, until all at once there came a faint ” puff, puff ” from the distance.
突然，米尔德丽德用她那小手指着前面喊道：“有桥，有桥！”其实，走什么路都好，只要不走这座桥我都是愿意的，可天色已经暗了，这还是离家最近的一条路。没有办法，我只好用脚尖小心翼翼试探着前进。起初还不害怕，走得也还稳，猛然间，从远处隐隐约约地传来了“轰隆轰隆”的声音。
“I see the train!” cried Mildred, and in another minute it would have been upon us had we not climbed down on the crossbraces while it rushed over our heads. I felt the hot breath from the engine on my face, and the smoke and ashes almost choked us. As the train rumbled by, the trestle shook and swayed until I thought we should be dashed to the chasm below. With the utmost difficulty we regained the track. Long after dark we reached home and found the cottage empty; the family were all out hunting for us.
“火车来了！”米尔德丽德大喊。要不是我们连忙爬到下面的十字撑上，很可能就要被轧得粉身碎骨。火车头喷出的热气迎面扑来，煤烟和煤灰呛得我们几乎透不过气。火车从我们身边轰鸣而过，高架桥震个不停，好像要把我们抛进下面的深谷。我们紧紧抓住栏杆，使出吃奶的力气才终于又爬了上来。等我们回到家时天早已经黑透，屋里空无一人，原来他们全都出门找我们去了。
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