Once More to the Lake in Maine
重游缅因湖

有没有那么一个地方，一旦去过，就不曾遗忘？有没有那么一个地方，无论欣喜还是沮丧，你都想要去那里与之分享？有没有那么一个地方，储存着你最美好的记忆，让你的内心充满平静与美好？在大多数人心中，或许都有这样一个地方。对于美国当代作家埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特来说，缅因湖就是那样一个地方。

Elwyn Brooks White
埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特

One summer, along about 1904, my father rented a camp on a lake in Maine and took us all there for the month of August. And from then on none of us ever thought there was any place in the world like that lake in Maine. We returned summer after summer—always on August 1st for one month. I have since become a salt-water man, but sometimes in summer there are days when I miss the placidity of a lake in the woods. A few weeks ago this feeling got so strong I returned to the lake where we used to go, for a week's fishing and to revisit old haunts.

On the journey over to the lake I began to wonder what it would be like. I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot—the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps. I was sure that the tarred road would have found it out and I wondered in what other ways it would be desolated. It is strange how much you can remember about places like that once you allow your mind to return into the grooves which lead back. You remember one thing, and that suddenly reminds you of another thing. I guess I remembered clearest of all the early mornings, when the lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and of the wet woods whose scent entered through the screen. The partitions in the camp were thin and did not extend clear to the top of the rooms, and as I was always the first up I would dress softly so as not to wake the others, and sneak out into the sweet outdoors and start out in the canoe, keeping close along the shore in the long shadows of the pines. I remembered being very careful never to rub my paddle against the gunwale for fear of disturbing the stillness of the cathedral…

Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade-proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet fern and the juniper forever and ever, summer without end. It seemed to me, as I kept remembering all this, that those times and those summers had been infinitely precious and worth saving. There had been jollity and peace and goodness.

有一年夏天，大概是1904年，父亲在缅因州的一处湖区租了一个营地，带我们全家人去那里度过了整个八月份。打那时起，我们都没有想过世界上还有别的地方可以和缅因州的这个湖区相提并论。后来我们每年夏天都会去那里——总是从八月一号开始，待上整整一个月。后来我成为了一名海员，但是到了夏天，有时候仍会很想念林间湖泊的宁静。几周之前，这种感觉是如此强烈，所以我又回到了我们过去常去的那个湖区，打算垂钓一周，故地重游。

在去湖区的路上，我开始好奇它如今会是什么模样。我想知道，岁月会让这个独一无二的圣洁之地——林间的小路与溪流，落日西下的山峦，还有营地和营地背后的小路——发生什么样的变化。我确信柏油路已经修到了那里，但又好奇它将以其他什么方式遗世独立。一旦你任由思绪回到过往，你会发现自己对于这类地方的记忆竟是如此丰富，这真的很奇怪。你想起一件事，这件事又会突然让你记起另一件事。我想我记得最清楚的是那些清晨，湖水平静而凉爽，卧室散发着建造木屋所用木材的香气，还有从纱窗飘进来的湿木材的味道。营地木屋所用的板材很薄，而且高度未及屋顶，我总是最早起床，所以我穿衣服时动作都会格外地轻，以免吵醒其他的人，然后便悄悄地溜出去。屋外空气清新怡人，我泛舟于湖上，湖边种植了很长一排松树，我便顺着湖岸边松树的树荫向前划。我记得自己小心翼翼，从不让船桨碰到舷缘，生怕打扰了这教堂般的寂静。

夏日时光啊，夏日时光，永恒的生活状态，永不褪色的湖泊，经年不摧的森林，永远长满香蕨木和杜松的原野，夏日时光似乎没有尽头。于我而言，正如我长久以来记忆中的那样，那些时光和夏日无比珍贵，值得珍藏，其中充满了欢乐、平静和美好。

巧记词汇

placidity [pləˈsɪdəti] n. 平静；平和

【拓】calmness [ˈkɑːmnəs] n. 平静，安宁

mar [mɑː(r)] v. 毁损

【拓】damage [ˈdæmɪdʒ] v. 损害

tar [tɑː(r)] v. 铺以柏油

【拓】tarred road 柏油路

motionless [ˈməʊʃnləs] a. 静止的

【拓】motion [ˈməʊʃn] n. 移动 v. 示意

lumber [ˈlʌmbə(r)] n. 木材

【拓】wood [wʊd] n. 木材

paddle [ˈpædl] n. 划桨

【拓】canoe [kəˈnuː] n. 独木舟

gunwale [ˈɡʌnl] n. 舷缘

【拓】gun [ɡʌn] n. 枪支

indelible [ɪnˈdeləbl] n. 永恒的

【拓】forever [fərˈevə(r)] ad. 永远

pasture [ˈpɑːstʃə(r)] n. 草地，牧场

【拓】meadow [ˈmedəʊ] n. 草地

jollity [ˈdʒɒləti] n. 高兴，欢乐

【拓】jolly [ˈdʒɒli] a. 快乐的

趣学短语

remind sb. of… 使某人想起……

【例】Cary reminds me of the good old days when we were young. 卡里让我想起了我们年轻时的美好旧时光。