我到林中去

英文原文

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

中文译文

我到林中去，是因为我希望从容地生活，只面对生活的基本事实，看看我能否学到生活要教给我的东西，免得到临死时才发现自己从来没有活过。我不愿过不是生活的生活，活着是如此可贵；我也不愿听天由命，除非万不得已。我想深深地生活，吸尽生活的全部精髓，活得坚强，像斯巴达人一样，把一切不是生活的东西都赶走，割出宽宽的一行，贴着地面修剪，把生活逼到一个角落，把它简化到最基本的形式；如果它被证明是卑微的，那就弄清它全部真实的卑微，把它公之于世；如果它是崇高的，就亲身去体验，并能在下一次远游时如实讲述。