This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rain-storm in August, when, both air and water being perfectly still, but the sky overcast, mid-afternoon had all the renity(宁静) of evening, and the wood thrush （画眉鸟）sang around, and was heard from shore to shore.
八月里，在轻柔的斜风细雨暂停的时候，这小小的湖做我的邻居，最为珍贵，那时水和空气都完全平静了，天空中却密布着乌云，下午才过了一半却已具备了一切黄昏的肃穆，而画眉在四周唱歌，隔岸相闻。
A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time; and the clear portion of the air above it being, shallow and darkened by clouds, the water, full of light and reflections, becomes a lower heaven itlf so much the more important. 这样的湖，再没有比这时候更平静的了；湖上的明净的空气自然很稀薄，而且给乌云映得很黯淡了，湖水却充满了光明和倒影，成为一个下界的天空，更加值得珍视。
From a hill-top near by, where the wood had been recently cut off, there was a pleasing vista （远景）southward across the pond, through a wide indentation（凹陷） in the hills w
floyedhich form the shore there, where their opposite sides sloping toward each other suggested a stream flowing out in that direction through a wooded valley, but stream there was none. 从最近被伐木的附近一个峰顶上向南看，穿过小山间的巨大凹处，看得见隔湖的一幅愉快的图景，那凹处正好形成湖岸，那儿两座小山坡相倾斜而下，使人感觉到似有一条溪涧从山林谷中流下，但是，却没有溪涧。
That way I looked between and over the near green hills to some distant and higher ones in the horizon, tinged with blue. Indeed, by standing on tiptoe I could catch a glimp of some of the peaks of the still bluer and more distant mountain ranges in the northwest, tho true-blue coins from heaven's own mint, and also of some portion of the village. 我是这样地从近处的绿色山峰之间和之上，远望一些蔚蓝的地平线上的远山或更高的山峰的。真的，踮起了足尖来，我可以望见西北角上更远、更蓝的山脉，这种蓝颜色是天空的染料制造厂中最真实的出品，我还可以望见村镇的一角。 篮球兴趣班
But in other directions, even from this point, I could not e over or beyond the woods which surrounded me. It is well to have some water in your neighborhood, to give buoyan
cy（浮力） to and float the earth. 但是要换一个方向看的话，虽然我站得如此高，却给郁茂的树木围住，什么也看不透，看不到了。在邻近，有一些流水真好，水有浮力，地就浮在上面了。
One value even of the smallest well is, that when you look into it you e that earth is not continent but insular（隔绝的、孤立的）. This is as important as that it keeps butter cool. 便是最小的井也有这一点值得推荐，当你窥望井底的时候，你发现大地并不是连绵的大陆；而是隔绝的孤岛。这是很重要的，正如井水之能冷藏牛油。
When I looked across the pond from this peak toward the Sudbury meadows（草地）, which in time of flood I distinguished elevated （提高的）perhaps by a mirage（海市蜃楼） in their ething（沸腾的）valley, like a coin in a basin, all the earth beyond the pond appeared like a thin crust（外壳） insulated and floated even by this small sheet of intervening water, and I was reminded that this on which I dwelt （居住）was but 特朗普演讲dry land.
当我的目光从这一个山顶越过湖向萨德伯里草原望过去的时候，在发大水的季节里，我觉
得草原升高了，大约是蒸腾的山谷中显示出海市蜃楼的效果，它好像沉在水盆底下的一个天然铸成的幼儿园唐诗必背30首铜币，小学英语新课程标准湖之外的大地都好像薄薄的表皮，成了孤岛，给小小一片横亘的水波浮载着，我才被提醒，我居住的地方只不过是干燥的土地。
1) mid-afternoon。对于midsummer，mid衰微 autumn 等，汉语有“盛夏”“仲秋”对等词，可是mid-afternoon一词却没有，徐译“下午才过了一半”虽是解释性翻译，也算一法。王译“下午三点时分”都精确到“时”与“分”了。遇到一种语言里有而另一语言里却无的情形，让人对译者“挖空”“绞尽”的努力，深表同情。
2) the clear portion of the air above it being, shallow and darkened by clouds… 这句中“being”后的逗号是多出的，外文出版社的原文中也有，而Jeffrey Cramer高一英语练习册答案注本中就没有。
3) Indeed, by standing on tiptoe I could catch a glimp of some of the peaks of the still bluer and more distant mountain ranges in the northwest, tho true-blue coins from heaven's own mint, and also of some portion of the village. 更蓝更远山脉上的一些峰峦，是天堂硬币撒落人间。徐译“这种蓝颜色是天空的染料制造厂中最真实的出品”，漏掉了“coi
ns”一词而把起定语作用的“true-blue”当成了主语，“mint”也由“造币厂”改成了“染料制造厂”。戴译“cross gene这真正的纯蓝色得自天堂的恩赐”也类似，把“纯蓝色”作主语而漏了“硬币”，还漏了“造币厂”。
“and also of some portion of the village”是接前面“catch a glimp of”的。戴译“我还望见了乡村的远景”，其中“远景”在原文中找不到。
4) which in time of flood I distinguished elevated perhaps by a mirage in their ething valley…是说在泄洪季节，草原好像比平时高，并不是大学英语四级算分器 “向萨德伯里草原眺望时，草场上正遭洪水淹没（戴译）”。 Jeffrey注曰：The Concord and Sudbury rivers over?ow their banks during the spring.
5) all the earth beyond the pond应该是“（从湖这边望去，）湖那边的大地”。
6) dry land是与湖、水、湿相对的，《圣经创世记》里译为“旱地”：“神说，天下的水要聚在一处，使旱地露出来，事就这样成了。”（And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.）
7) 梭罗的写作时常谈着一件事忽而跳到另一事，有时将科学、宗教、诗意、幽默揉在一起，很多读者读起来都感到困难。对此，我好想你英文Ken Kifer就评道：Looking at the structure of this paragraph, Thoreau ems to drift from one idea to another without a plan. He would surely get a poor grade for it in Freshman English. However, he first makes the pond alive and real and then takes us up on a hill for a broader view and finally connects the pond to the oceans.
Thoreau's statements beginning with "it is well to have some water in your neighborhood" illustrate a feature of his writing that creates problems for many readers: he does not clearly distinguish between his scientific, spiritual, poetic, and humorous points of view, leaving it to the reader to make that distinction. Here, the statement about butter is plainly humorous, but the rest ems to mix the scientific and the transcendental outlook. His statements show his awareness of the water table; in fact, lowering the water table in some areas can cau the ground to sink. Continental shelves and a level are approximately the same height, almost as if the continents are floating.
