A line from Walden hangs over one of my desks: I love a broad margin to my life.
瓦尔登湖中的一句话挂在我书桌的上方:"我热爱宽广的生活"。
Sitting here at this sidewalk cafe with Mary,
和玛丽坐在街边的咖啡馆里,
deliberately taking time off from writing and teaching duties,
故意从写作以及教书中逃脱出来,
I am making a broad margin to my life.
我的生活变得更为开阔。
The margin will be broader when we part, and I am alone.
分离时,生活的边界会更宽广,而我又只身一人。
Thoreau swam, then sat in the doorway of his "Shelter", "large box", "dwelling-house,"
梭罗游完泳,坐在他的“庇护地”,“大盒子”,“栖息住所”的门廊边,
alone all the summer morning, rapt in the sunlight and the trees and the stillness.
整个夏天的早晨都是如此,专注地沐浴在阳光,树木和寂静之中。
Birds flitted through the house.
鸟儿从旁边掠过。
Until by the sun falling in at my west window,
直到太阳东斜,照射到我西边的窗户,
or the noise of some traveller's wagon on the distant highway,
或者远处高速公路上传来一些旅途者马车的声响,
I was reminded of the lapse of time."
我才会想起时光从缝隙中流失。"
I have a casita of my own, built instead of a garage after the big fire.
我自己有间小屋,由大火后的车库改装而来。
Its width is the same as Thoreau's (10 feet), its length a yard longer.
宽度和梭罗的小屋一样(10英尺),不过长了一码。
He had a loft; I have a skylight. I want to be a painter.
他有一间阁楼,我有天窗,我想做一名画家。
Sometimes, I hear the freeway, now and again the train, and the campanile.
有时,我听见快车道上的声音,时不时地还有火车和钟楼的声响。
Thoreau heard the band playing military music;
梭罗听见乐队在演奏军乐,
his neighbours were going to war against Mexico.
他的邻居将要向墨西哥宣战。