儒琴英语文学词汇咀嚼《瓦尔登湖》(Walden )一书的用词。《瓦尔登湖》是美国超验主义作家亨利·戴维·梭罗的著作（1854），在美国文学中被公认为最受读者欢迎的非虚构作品，一直被后人奉为美国早期现代文学的经典之作。进入 20世纪以来，学术界对梭罗（Thoreau）和《 瓦 尔 登 湖》的研究成果可谓汗牛充栋， 美国国会图书馆收录的相关专著 达上千 种。
英语文学词汇 Literature Terms
选词 1
gasp for breath 喘不过气来
To gasp or pant heavily due to having difficulty breathing, as after strenuous activity or holding one’s breath.
选词 2
sneaking 鬼鬼祟祟的,可鄙的
furtive and contemptible
选词 3
whet
v & n
to make keen or more acute； to sharpen the blade of a knife or similar tool
使敏锐；磨得很尖锐；把…磨锋利
选词 4
slough
noun /sluː/
swamp; a place of deep mud or mire; an area of soft, wet land; a state of moral degradation or spiritual dejection
泥沼; 泥潭；道德堕落或精神颓废的状态
选词 5
insolvent
adjective /ɪnˈsɑːl.vənt/
not having enough money to pay debts, buy goods, etc.
（尤指公司）无清偿能力的
选词 6
curry favour
to praise someone, especially someone in authority, in a way that is not sincere, in order to get some advantage for yourself； ingratiate oneself with someone through obsequious behavior.
曲意逢迎；讨好，奉承，拍马屁
选词 7
lay up
to store for future use; hoard 贮存以备将来使用; 囤积
选词 8
tuck sth away
to put something in a private, safe place
隐藏；收藏
英语原文
Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour.
It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another’ s brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other’ s brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state- prison offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little.
中文翻译（李继宏）
我们都知道， 你们 当中有些人很穷，觉得活着真 难，有时候简直喘不过气来。我毫不怀疑有些读者连吃饭的钱都没 有，身上穿的衣服和鞋子很旧或者已经磨破，看这本书的时间也是借来或者 偷来的，是 从你们的债主那里抢来的。
我能清楚地看到你们过着卑贱凄惨的生活，因为我的目光已经被阅历磨得很尖锐；你们总是背负着各种枷锁，想要把生意做成，想要把债务偿清，深陷在非常古老的泥沼里，沉迷于拉丁人所说 的 aesalienum， 也就是别人的铜板， 因为他们有些钱币是铜 铸的； 你们为别人的铜板而生，为别人的 铜板而死，也被别人的铜板埋葬；你们总是承诺还钱，承诺明天就还钱，而到死还欠着许多债务； 你们总是曲意逢迎，想从别人那里得到好处，为此不惜使尽各种手段，只要不违法乱纪，无论什么事你们都肯去做； 你们说谎、阿谀、投票，让自己龟缩在文明的果壳 里，或者勉强装出慷慨大方的样子， 以便能够说服邻居愿意让你们制作他的鞋子、帽子、衣服或者马车，或者向你们购买各种日常所需的商品；你们 不惜把自己累到生病，为的只是能够存下些许防病的钱财，为的只是能够把这点钱财藏在某个古旧的箱子里， 或者藏在 墙壁中的袜子里， 或者更安全地藏到砖头垒成的小金库里；你们不管藏在哪里， 不管藏的是多还是少，反正就是想存 点钱。