1. It is midwinter. The trees and shrubs stand with leafl ess, bare, smooth branches. The little plants long ago covered into the earth, or gladly sheltered themselves under the dead leaves, to welcome the white snow coverlet that tucks them into their beds. Yes, it is midwinter. But it is January. Already the sun has “turned,” as people say. Not so. It is we ourselves that have turned towards the sun.

2. Our round earth, that has been giving the sun the cold shoulder, is now coming back to it again, and rejoices in longer days and a renewing sunlight.

“The days begin to lengthen,

And the cold begins to strengthen,”

it is true. But the growing plants that I mean to tell of care little for the cold. The lengthening sunlight warms them in their close buds, and stirs the young

germs that are to make their fi rst appearance in the spring. They do not think of minding the weather. The oak stands hardily against the storm, and the elm sways its long branches gracefully in the wind, and the sturdy pines look glad and green.

3. Before we set out on the winter’s walks that are to tell us of trees and buds, here is one tree that has come into the parlor that we must stop for. “A tree in the parlor!” Yes, for surely you can not already have forgotten the CHRISTMAS-TREE. This tree belongs to the cone-bearing family, but, as we have seen it, its fruit has been far more various! There were rosy apples, and bags of nuts, and sugar-plums, and shining glass globes, red, blue, and green.

4. What fruit there was indeed! You have not forgotten yet the dolls,—wax

dolls and china ones, and those whose eyes would open and shut. There were boxes of soldiers, with their cannon and tents. Many reviews and battles you have had with them already; and, alas! by this time many are lost or on the list of the wounded. A general, perhaps, in the crack behind the great trunk in the play-room; a sergeant with only one arm; one or two down the furnace register; and the bravest lieutenant of all thrown by Bridget, before your very

eyes, into the hottest of the fi re in the grate!

5. Ah, well, tears do not become the brave, so think again of the Christmas-tree, how it shone with candles on every bought! The tree itself looked like a great chandelier. That was in the midst of our shortest days, and the shining candles were calling to the sun to come back to us again.

6. But it is only once a year that our Christmas-tree bears such gay fruit as this, and if we begin to tell over the guns, and the wooden horses, and the picture-books, and the Noah’s arks, and the backgammon boards, and games, and all the countless toys that it brought, we shall never get out upon our winter’s walk.

7. Where shall we go to fi nd the trees? Into the common, on one of the squares, or we can linger by this little strip of fl ower-border by the door; or, more adventurous still, we will take the cars, and start from home, out of town, where we can see the winter landscape in all its beauty.

8. In all its sameness, you want to say, if you know only the dripping of the melted ice from the roofs, and the muddy snow that clogs the streets, and the glimpse of a leaden sky that you get between the houses. That is the way the grown-up folks at home talk. But boys and girls know better. Winter and snow tell them of sleds and skates, of coasting and skating, of snow-balls and snow-men, and long, glittering icicles. So you will not be surprised at the beauty of the winter landscape that meets us.

9. Before the house, rises a high hill, covered with trees. Let us climb over it and look down. What an enchanted country lies before us, all still and silent! Every thing glistens as in an Arabian Nights’ tale. All the million little twigs are covered with a soft snow, and last night’s mist thickened and turned into ice upon the trees. Yet, heavily laden as the trees are, we can still recognize some of our acquaintances.

10. Here is the maple, round at the top, with its many branches. A few leaves still linger on the oak, and show their yellow brown beneath the white crystal ice covering. The pines are so heaped with the snow, that you might not recognize their needle-shaped leaves, but you could not mistake their regular form. The light glitters on our Christmas-tree, who stands alone. He lets the sun trickle over his ice-clad branches, as though he wanted to show himself as gay as his cousin in our parlor, Christmas eve. Ruby and emerald jewels, shining crystals, are the fruit he bears. He must have stepped out of Aladdin’s garden.

11. Our path leads along the edge of the wood. In the little meadow on one side we can see a graceful elm, bending still more under its icy load. Among these low bushes by our side the snow clings closely, and we shall never be tired of admiring all the jewel-work. The whorls of fl owers that the asters held are turned into clusters of diamonds, and the high grasses hold up long scepters of shiny glass crystal, like a fairy army. Now and then we can hear the tinkle of their elfi n armor, delicate little noises, under the silent snow-bushes.

12. The path leads us to a quiet pond in the wood—not quiet now! We have come out from the silence to a noisy, gay scene. Great children and little children swarm like fl ies, gliding, twisting, and turning every way over the ice, for on the ice every one is a child again. In the summer, thousands of slender insects whirled round in wild circles over the smooth mirror of water that they never succeeded in touching. Now men, women, and children circle about madly over the same surface, that winter with its hand of ice has made safe for them.

13. We have not brought our skates, and can not join the gay dance; but we will walk across the smooth fl oor, and look on the low bank opposite at the loveliest work of the frost. Here every little dark mound of earth, every little blade of grass, shines, crystal-clad, along the edges of what was once a little brook, but is now a narrow ice-path, that leads us into the woods,—into the thick woods, that shake down crystals upon us, and heavy balls of frozen snow. Ah! if they only would not melt away in the warmth, what garlands of bright jewels we might carry home! how gayly we might dress ourselves with them for a dance!

14. If I were not afraid, I would tell the boys of the muskrat’s home under the edge of the frozen stream,—such a comfortable sheltered house, weeds “piled in” to make thick walls, and a cozy little room, just big enough to turn in! I am afraid they would disturb him in his winter’s nap. Yet surely he has earned a good sleep after all that work. Which one of you has done as much for his winter’s comfort? But boys know everything, and I dare say could tell me a great deal about the muskrats, and about this very house. Now we must turn home again, for the sun is melting our crystals. There is a warm wind blowing, and who knows how long our path across the pond will hold fi rm?

( LUCRETIA P. HALE )

中文阅读

1. 仲冬时节，树林和灌木丛掉光了叶子，举着光秃秃的枝丫站在那里。小植物早就吓得钻到了地底下，也有的开心地躲在枯叶下面，等着洁白的雪毯将它们严严实实裹起来，就像躲进被子里一样。是的，这就是仲冬。可现在已然是一月。正如人们所说的那样，太阳已经“转过脸来”。不，不是这样的，是我们自己朝着太阳转过了脸。

2. 我们圆形的地球把冰冷的肩膀对着太阳，现在它又转过脸来了，享受着越来越长的白昼和崭新的阳光。

“白昼越来越长，

寒冷越来越强了。”

所言极是。但是，我要讲的那些作物可不在乎冷不冷。越来越长的日照时间温暖着它们含苞的嫩芽，刺激着它们幼嫩的芽孢，让它们在春天到来时登台亮相。它们好像并不介意天气如何。橡树于暴风雨中毅然岿立，榆树优雅地随风摇曳着颀长的枝丫，健硕的松树苍翠繁茂。

3. 在踏上冬日之旅，了解树木和幼芽之前，我们须停住脚步，先来看看客厅里的树。“客厅里的树！”是的，你肯定不会把圣诞树给忘到脑后了吧。圣诞树属球果科树木，然而，它的果实真是五花八门，如我们所见，有玫瑰色的红苹果、一袋袋的坚果、糖李，还有五彩缤纷的玻璃球：红的、蓝的、绿的。

4. 多么精彩纷呈的果实啊！你肯定还没忘掉那些洋娃娃——有蜡人娃娃、瓷娃娃，还有眼睛会一睁一闭的娃娃。整箱整箱的士兵，带着大炮和帐篷。你一次又一次地检阅它们，一次又一次带着它们冲锋陷阵，可惜，到现在有很多士兵都不见了，有的缺胳膊少腿了。将军可能掉到游戏室大箱子后面的缝隙里了，中士只剩一条胳膊了。还有一两个士兵被列入了废物焚烧册，而那个最英勇的中尉被布丽奇特当着你的面丢进了壁炉的烈焰里！

5. 噢，眼泪可不能让你变成勇士，所以还是接着说圣诞树吧。每次买来的时候，它是多么璀璨耀目！它长得像一株巨大的枝形吊灯。在我们白昼时间最短的那些日子里，闪耀的烛光呼唤着太阳重回大地。

6. 但是，圣诞树像这样载着如此丰盛的果实，每年也只有那么一次。如果要把它载来的各种玩具一一赘述：那些玩具枪、木马、图画书和诺亚方舟、西洋双陆棋盘、游戏机、各种玩具，那我们就永远无法踏上冬日之旅了。

7. 我们该到哪里去找这些树呢？到大街上，到广场上，也可以沿着门边的花丛徜徉，甚或更冒险一点，坐上汽车，离开家门，西出小镇，就可以看到冬日最美的景致。

8. 你只知道屋檐融冰滴落的水珠、堵塞街道的雪泥、房屋中间透出的那一缕浅灰色的天光，那你会说，没什么新奇，千篇一律罢了。然而，男孩和女孩们对冬日懂的更多。冬日和冬雪代表着溜冰、滑雪，代表着雪球、雪人，还代表着那些闪亮的长冰锥。所以，你无缘幸会我们所遇到的冬日美景。

9. 房屋前面，一座高山拔地而起，山上树木丛生。让我们爬上山峰俯瞰吧。我们面前的山村是多么神奇啊！它那么宁静，那么祥和！这一切就像在《一千零一夜》的故事描述的那样，全都晶莹剔透，闪闪发光。成百万的小树枝上落着松软的白雪，昨夜的雾霭愈加浓厚，在树上结成了冰凌。是的，尽管树木被积雪重重压着，我们依然能辨认出一些我们熟悉的特性。

10. 枫树圆圆的树顶，长着许多枝杈。橡树顶上还挂着几片零落的叶子，在晶莹剔透的冰凌层下透着一抹棕黄。松树上堆着厚厚的积雪，你都快认不出它们针状的松树叶了，可是它们的姿态你肯定不会看错。我们的圣诞树闪闪发亮，独自站在那里，让阳光在它冰雪覆盖的枝丫上静静流淌。它似乎想要告诉我们，它跟圣诞前夕我们客厅里的那些兄弟们一样快活。红宝石、绿宝石和亮闪闪的水晶就是它结的果实。它肯定是从阿拉丁的花园溜出来的。

11. 我们的小径沿着树林的边缘一路往前。在一旁的小草甸里，我们可以看到姿态优雅的榆树，被冰雪压得俯下身去。我们身旁低矮的灌木丛中，积雪牢牢沾在上面，惹起我们对珠宝贪恋不够的爱慕。紫苑开着花儿，花瓣儿变成一簇簇晶莹的钻石；高高的干草举着长长的玻璃水晶杖，水晶杖闪闪发亮，它们就像仙境的军队。白雪覆盖的草木丛鸦雀无声，可我们能听到它们那精灵般的铠甲不时发出轻微而清脆的叮当声。

12. 小路将我们带至林中一个宁静的池塘旁，现在这个池塘可不宁静！我们走出沉寂，走入喧闹欢快的景象。这里挤满了大孩子和小孩子们，他们就像飞虫般在冰上滑翔、盘绕，做着各种动作。在冰上，每个人都变回了孩童。夏日，成千上万的蚊虫疯狂地在光洁的水面上空盘旋，使他们无法亲近这片水域。现在，男人、女人和孩子们就在这片水域上疯狂玩闹，冬日用它的冰雪之手把这里变得安全，让他们得以一亲芳泽。

13. 我们没有带溜冰鞋，不能加入那欢快的舞会；不过我们可以走过光洁的冰面，眺望对岸低矮的河岸，那简直是冰霜最可爱的杰作。在这里，地面上每道暗沉的护堤、每片小小的草叶都穿上了水晶衣，闪闪地发着亮光。这里曾经有一条小溪，现在已经变成狭窄的冰雪之路，带着我们走进丛林深处。那浓密的丛林摇落我们一头水晶，还有重重的冰雪球。噢！若是它们能不随着暖风融化，我们便能将多么灿若明珠的花环带回家！我们便可以多么开心地穿上水晶冰雪衣去参加舞会！

14. 若是我没有心存顾忌，一定会告诉那些男孩子们，就在冻结的小溪边缘下方，有一只麝鼠的家——一个非常舒适的庇护所，杂草“堆起”了厚厚的墙壁，小小的房间十分安逸，仅有够它转个身的空地！我担心他们打扰它的冬眠。做了那么多准备，它肯定会睡得特别香。我们有谁像它那样为了冬日过得舒适干过那么多活儿？但是，孩子们什么都知道，我敢打赌，他们肯定会告诉我关于麝鼠和麝鼠屋的很多趣闻。现在，我们得赶紧回家了，因为太阳正在融化我们的水晶，暖风轻拂，谁知道我们横穿池塘的小径还能撑多久？

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