But Europe held forth the charms of storied and poetical association. There were to be seen the masterpieces of art, the refinement of highly, cultivated society, the quaint peculiarities of ancient and local custom. My native country was full of youthful promise; Europe was rich in the accumulated treasures of age. Her very ruins told the history of times gone by, and every mouldering stone was a chronicle. I longed to wander over the scenes of renowned achievement—to tread, as it were, in the footsteps of antiquity—to loiter about the ruined castle—to meditate on the falling tower—to escape, in short, from the commonplace realities of the present, and lose myself among the shadowy grandeurs of the past.
I had, beside all this, an earnest desire to see the great men of the earth. We have, it is true, our great men in America: not a city but has an ample share of them. I have mingled among them in my time, and been almost withered by the shade into which they cast me; for there is nothing so baleful to a small man as the shade of a great one, particularly the great man of a city. But I was anxious to see the great men of Europe; for I had read in the works of various philosophers, that all animals degenerated in America, and man among the number. A great man of Europe, thought I, must therefore be as superior to a great man of America, as a peak of the Alps to a highland of Hudson; and in this idea I was confirmed, by observing the comparative importance and swelling magnitude of many English travellers among us, who, I was assured, were very little people in their own county. I will visit this land of wonders, thought I, and see the gigantic race from which I am degenerated.
It has been either my good or evil lot to have my roving passion gratified. I have wandered through different countries, and witnessed many of the shifting scenes of life. I cannot say that I have studied them with the eye of a philosopher; but rather with the sauntering gaze with which humble lovers of the picturesque stroll from the window of one print-shop to another; caught sometimes by the delineations of beauty, sometimes by the distortions of caricature, and some times by the loveliness of landscape. As it is the fashion for modern tourists to travel, pencil in hand, and bring home their portfolios filled with sketches, I am disposed to get up a few for the entertainment of my friends. When, however, I look over the hints and memorandums I have taken down for the purpose, my heart almost fails me at finding how my idle humor has led me aside from the great objects studied by every regular traveler who would make a book. I fear I shall give equal disappointment with an unlucky landscape painter, who had traveled on the continent, but, following the bent of his vagrant inclination, had sketched in nooks, and corners, and by-places. His sketch-book was accordingly crowded with cottages, and landscapes, and obscure ruins; but he neglected to paint St. Peter' s, or the Colosseum the cascade of Terni, or the bay of Naples; and had not a single glacier or volcano in his whole collection.
一直以来，我都很喜欢出游，观察新奇的风俗人情。在我还年幼的时候，便踏上了旅程，多次去游历故乡的一些偏僻陌生之地。父母常常为此惊慌，为了找我回家，他们也没少给镇上的地保交一些赏钱。童年时，我扩大了自己的活动地盘。每到假日的下午我总去附近村落转悠，对那里的历史典故和神话传说了如指掌。我熟悉那些凶杀抢掠现场和鬼魂萦绕之地。去邻近村庄的时候，我观察人们的风俗习惯，拜见当地的名人志士并与他们交谈，这大大增长了我的见识。某个夏日，我登上了最远的山冈，从山顶上遥望远处数十英里外的陌生地带，发现我所居住的地区如此辽阔，这真让我大大惊叹。
岁月流逝，我出游的兴趣更加浓厚。我狂爱游记，如饥似渴地阅读使我无暇顾及学校的正常功课。晴天时，我希望徜徉在码头，看着驳船离岸远去，不禁觉得心神爽朗。点点风帆，消失得无影无踪，我仿佛随着幻觉漂向天边。
细读和深思虽然给模糊的爱好套上理智的约束，但却使其变得更为明确和坚定。我游遍祖国山河，如果单是为欣赏优美的风景，那我就犯不着去别处寻找这种欲望的满足感，因为再没有别的国家像美国这样有如此迷人的自然景色了：广阔的湖泊，如银波闪耀的大海；崇山峻岭，铺上空灵清爽的色彩；深邃的峡谷，繁茂的草木；众多的鸟兽，激荡的瀑布在寂静的荒中轰鸣而下；无边的平，连绵起伏，郁郁葱葱；深厚宽阔的河流，浩浩荡荡，无声无息地奔流入海；人迹罕至的林，处处显露着豪放的景观；夏日的天空，云朵变幻莫测，阳光灿烂；——不，一个美国人永远不必去国外寻找宏伟壮丽的美景！
欧洲具有一种迷人的魅力，能让人联想起诗意盎然的典故。那里有杰出的艺术，优雅先进的文明社会，以及古怪离奇的地方风俗。我的祖国朝气蓬勃、前途似锦，而欧洲则有着厚重的历史沉淀和时代宝藏。那里的废墟记载着岁月的流逝，每块崩碎剥落的石头都是一段编年史。我梦想着漫游名胜古迹——踏着前人的足迹前进；流连在废墟古堡周围——默默地凭吊摇摇欲坠的巍巍高塔。总之，我想逃避俗世的纷纷扰扰，沉醉在昔日辉煌的虚幻中。
除此之外，我还迫切渴望拜会当今的伟大人物。我们美国确实也有自己的杰出人物；连一个城镇都会有众多的英雄豪杰。我曾穿梭在他们中间，可是他们的光芒盖住了我，使我黯然失色。对于小人物而言，最糟糕的莫过于活在大人物——尤其是大城市里的大人物的阴影下。虽然如此，我仍然非常急切要去探访欧洲的伟人，因为我读过各个哲学流派的作品，它们都认为一切动物到了美国就会退化，包括人在内。我想，欧洲的伟人一定要比美国的卓越，就像阿尔卑斯山的山峰要比哈得逊河流域的高地高许多一样。我这个想法得到了证实。我观察过许多来我们这里的英国游客，我敢断言，在故乡他们只不过是渺小的人物，可是此时此地却显得心高气傲，目空一切。由此我更确定了这一想法，我一定要去那个神奇之地，见识一下已退化成诸如我类的伟大种族。
不知幸运与否，我游历的癖好居然得以满足。我转悠了好几个国家，亲眼目睹了许多沧桑变幻。对于这些，称不上以哲学家的眼光进行过研究，不过确实是以普通文物风光爱好者的身份，畅游在满是图片的橱窗外，有时被造型勾勒出的美感所吸引，有时被漫?夸张的奇特形状所迷惑，有时被明媚动人的景色所诱惑。现在的游客总是随手带着?笔，带回家的都是满满的速描?，时尚如此，所以我也随意凑了几幅，供友人娱乐。当我浏览了那些有心记下的提示和备忘后，常常心生恐慌，我的惰性令一些重大课题束之高阁，而这都是著书立说的游客所要研究的。我担心自己会像一个不幸的风景?家那样使人失望，虽然他曾游历过欧洲大陆，但总是随着自己流浪的嗜好，去犄角旮旯和荒郊野岭里写生。因而，他的写生簿里总有村舍、自然风光和说不上名字的废墟，而没有圣彼得大教堂或者罗马圆剧场、特尼大瀑布或者那不勒斯湾，怎么也找不到一幅冰川或者火山的奇观。
孤独
Solitude
亨利·大卫·梭罗 / Henry David Thoreau
