夏季呀夏季，永恒不變的生活方式，湖水永遠不褪色，樹木永遠不可摧毀，草地上總是長滿了香蕨和杜鬆。夏日的時光永無盡頭，這些都是背景，而湖濱沿岸的生活就是其中美妙的圖案。村子裏的農民們過著恬靜的生活；他們小小的碼頭上立著旗杆，美國國旗在鑲嵌著白雲的藍天裏飄揚，每棵樹下都有一條小徑通向一座座木屋，木屋處又有小徑通往廁所和灑水用的石灰罐；商店裏紀念品的櫃台上，擺放著用樺樹皮製作的獨木船的模型，而明信片上的景物也比眼前的真實景物美麗多了。在這裏，美國人逃避了城市的酷熱喧鬧，到這個地方遊玩。他們不知道那些新來的住在海灣盡頭的居民是“普通老百姓”還是“貴族”，也不知道那些星期天驅車前來農舍吃飯的人，是不是被分量不足的雞肉打發走了。
我不停地回憶這一切，感覺那些日子和那些夏日時光的回憶對我而言都是珍貴無比、值得永遠珍藏的。那裏有快樂，有寧靜，還有所有美好的事情。能夠在8月初就到達那裏，這本身就是最重要的：農場的貨車停在火車站外，這時又第一回聞到鬆木散發出的清香，第一回見到農民笑容滿麵的臉龐，寬大的旅行箱氣派極了，而父親在指揮這些事情時顯出絕對的權威性；你坐在貨車上，享受它拉著你走上10英裏的感覺，當到達最後一座小山頂時，一眼就能看見那闊別了11個月之久的、無比寶貴的一片湖水；其他遊客為你的到來大聲歡呼。然後打開大旅行箱，卸下裏麵準備齊全的物品。（如今再到這裏來，已經找不到昔日激動人心的場麵了。你所需要做的隻是靜靜地把車開過來，停在木屋旁的樹底下，取出行李袋，把一切東西在5分鍾內收拾完畢，不會有大聲的喧鬧，也不會忙著喊著搬行李了。）
這裏寧靜、美好、快樂，唯一不足的地方是有噪音，也就是舷外馬達發出的讓人感覺陌生又緊張的聲音。這是一個很不和諧的音符，它會經常打斷人們的想象，讓時光流逝。在以往的夏天，全部的馬達都裝在舷內，當它們行駛在稍微遠一點兒的地方時，發出的聲音能像鎮靜劑那樣，在夏季裏催人入睡。這些發動機都是單汽缸或者雙汽缸的，無論是通斷開關啟動，還是跳搭接觸點火，它們在從水麵上發出的聲音都能讓人昏昏欲睡。單汽缸發出的振動聲噗噗作響，而雙汽缸則嗚嗚地低鳴，這些聲音都很小。但是，現在所有的遊客使用的都是舷外馬達，在白天酷熱的上午發出一種煩躁的讓人討厭的聲音；而到了晚上，夕陽的餘暉鋪灑在水麵上，它們又像蚊子似的哼個不停。我兒子很喜歡我們租來的帶舷外馬達的遊艇，而他最大的願望就是自個兒操縱它，這讓他覺得很有權威性。
很快，他就學會稍微控製住它一點兒（不是很多），而且掌握了如何調整針形閥。看著他，我不由得想到過去的時候，人們怎樣用笨重的調速輪操縱單汽缸發動機，如果你真正用心去做，很快就能控製住它。以前的機動船沒有離合器，必須在準確的時間裏關掉發動機才能登陸，然後用已經熄火的舵把船停靠在岸邊。不過，如果你掌握了竅門，可以先關掉開關，在調速輪就要停轉的那一刻重新把開關打開，船就會對壓縮產生反衝力，接著又向回行駛。如果在靠近碼頭時正好吹過來一陣強風，用普通的方法很難把船速降到必需的程度。一個男孩如果覺得自己已經掌握了控製馬達的技巧，他將會按捺不住地要把船開過碼頭，然後把它退到離碼頭幾英尺遠的地方。這樣做需要頭腦冷靜沉著，因為哪怕你隻提前了1/20秒就把開關打開了，它就會以足夠快的速度穿越中線，船就會猛然向前一躍，像公牛一樣衝向碼頭。
心靈小語
寧靜以致遠！深邃的湖水總是有股魔力，讓繁華中忙碌的我們靜下心來。享受這分寧靜，遠離塵世的喧囂，感覺比在天堂還要美好！
記憶填空
1. A few weeks ago this feeling got so__ I bought myself a couple of bass hooks and a spinner and returned to the__ where we used to go， for a week’s__ and to revisit old haunts.
2. It is strange how__ you can remember about places like that once you allow your mind to return into the grooves which lead back， you remember one__ ， and that suddenly reminds you of another thing.
3. The__ thing that was wrong now， really， was the__ of the place， an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors.
佳句翻譯
1. 歲月就像海市蜃樓一樣，似乎從來沒有存在過。
譯__________________
2. 我不停地回憶這一切，感覺那些日子和那些夏日時光的回憶對我而言都是無比珍貴、值得永遠珍藏的。
譯__________________
短語應用
1. But outside of that the vacation was a success and from then on none of us ever thought there was any place in the world like that lake in Maine.
from then on：從那時起
造__________________
2. The shouts and cries of the other campers when they saw you， and the trunks to be unpacked， to give up their rich burden.
give up：放棄，投降
造__________________
黃金國
El Dorado
羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森 / Robert Louis Stevenson
羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森(1850—1894)，英國新浪漫主義小說家兼小品文作家，生於愛丁堡，畢業於愛丁堡大學法律係，但他最大的誌向是在文學方麵。他的第一部散文著作《內陸航行》於1878年出版。他一生被肺病困擾，周遊各地養病，其間發表了大量短篇小說和遊記。
It seems as if a great deal were attainable in a world where there are so many marriages and decisive battles， and where we all， at certain hours of the day， and with great gusto and dispatch， stow a portion of victuals finally and irretrievably into the bag which contains us. And it would seem also， on a hasty view， that the attainment of as much as possible was the one goal of man’ s contentious life. And yet， as regards the spirit， this is but a semblance. We live in an ascending scale when we live happily， one thing leading to another in an endless series. There is always a new horizon for onward-looking men， and although we dwell on a small planet， immersed in petty business and not enduring beyond a brief period of years， we are so constituted that our hopes are inaccessible， like stars， and the term of hoping is prolonged until the term of life. To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end， of what we want and not of what we have. An aspiration is a joy forever， a possession as solid as a landed estate， a fortune which we can never exhaust and which gives us year by year a revenue of pleasurable activity. To have many of these is to be spiritually rich. To those who have neither art nor science， the world is a mere arrangement of colors， or a rough footway where they may very well break their shins. It is in virtue of his own desires and curiosities that any man continues to exist with even patience， that he is charmed by the look of things and people， and that he wakens every morning with a renewed appetite for work and pleasure. Desire and curiosity are the two eyes through which he sees the world in the most enchanted colors： it is they that make women beautiful or fossils interesting： and the man may squander his estate and come to beggary， but if he keeps these two amulets he is still rich in the possibilities of pleasure. Suppose he could take one meal so compact and comprehensive that he should never hunger any more； suppose him， at a glance， to take in all the features of the world and allay the desire for knowledge； suppose him to do the like in any province of experience—would not that man be in a poor way for amusement ever after？