The Author's Account of Himself
作者自述
This rambling propensity strengthened with my years.
寒来暑往,年岁渐增,游兴愈浓。
Books of voyages and travels became my passion,and in devouring their contents,
我对游记类的书籍爱不释手,如饥似渴、狼吞虎咽地阅读这些书,
I neglected the regular exercises of the school.
使我荒废了学校的正常功课。
How wistfully would I wander about the pierheads in fine weather, and watch the parting ships,bound to distant climes-with what longing eyes would I gaze after their lessening sails,and waft myself in imagination to the ends of the earth!
在风和日丽的日子,我常若有所思地游荡在码头外边,望着轮船渐渐离港,驶往遥远的地方;我渴望的双眼注视着渐行渐远的点点风帆,任思绪将我带向天涯海角。
Further reading and thinking,
随着涉猎的书籍增多和思想的越发成熟,
though they brought this vague inclination into more reasonable bounds,only served to make it more decided.
这一懵懵懂懂的嗜好变得较为理智一些,但是也更为根深蒂固。
I visited various parts of my own country;
我踏遍了本国的山山水水;
and had I been merely a lover of fine scenery,I should have felt little desire to seek elsewhere its gratification,for on no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished.
倘若仅仅是喜爱美景佳色而已,我就不会有去异国他乡一饱眼福的欲望,因为没有哪个国度能像我的祖国那样得到大自然的垂青厚爱,处处皆是鬼斧神工的迷人风光。
Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver;
浩淼的湖泊,如同银色的海洋,浩浩荡荡;
her mountains, with their bright aerial tints;
逶迤的群山,高耸云霄、郁郁葱葱、光彩夺目;
her valleys, teeming with wild fertility;
幽幽的溪谷,草木丛生,飞禽走兽匿迹其间;
her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes;
宽阔的瀑布,飞流直下,发出孤寂的雷鸣;
her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure;
苍茫的原野,草青木翠、随风摇曳;
her broad deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean;
长江大川,水阔流深,肃穆无声,奔流入海;
her trackless forests,where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence;
人迹罕至的森林,各色植物争奇斗艳,蔚为大观;
her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine-no, never need an American look beyond his own countryfor the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.
夏日的长空,艳阳高照、云蒸霞蔚,变幻莫测—不,一个美国人根本无须远游故土之外去发现壮丽的自然风景。