错过的访客

前言：梭罗与大自然链接、观察入微 - 是他内心宁静的一个体现。

回到家中，发现访客留下的"名片" - 鲜花、常春藤编的花环、或用铅笔在一片树叶/木片上留下的名字 - When I return to my house I find that visitors have been there and left their cards, either a bunch of flowers, or a wreath of evergreen, or a name in pencil on a yellow walnut leaf or a chip。

难得入林一游，访客情不自禁 - 把这些树林天赐之物 - 随手拈来赏玩， 故意也许偶然 - 留在了寒舍 - They who come rarely to the woods take some little piece of the forest into their hands to play with by the way, which they leave, either intentionally or accidentally。

特别是，有位访客 - 用柳枝嫩芽编成了一枚戒指，放在我房前的桌子上 - 惹得我浮想翩翩 - One has peeled a willow wand, woven it into a ring, and dropped it on my table。

我外出时，访客是否来过？我总能从细微留痕中看出 - 折断的树枝、压斜的青草，或者地上的鞋印 - I could always tell if visitors had called in my absence, either by the bended twigs or grass, or the print of their shoes。

而且，我从访客留下的蛛丝马迹中 - 猜到他们的性别、年龄和特征，诸如丢下的花朵、拔起的青草 - 最后扔在半英里开外的铁路边、还有从雪茄或者烟斗中飘出 - 仍在空中游荡的烟草味 - and generally of what sex or age or quality they were by some slight trace left, as a flower dropped, or a bunch of grass plucked and thrown away, even as far off as the railroad, half a mile distant, or by the lingering odor of a cigar or pipe。

更为有趣地是，我能从他烟斗冒出的气味推断出 - 六十杆开外的公路上 - 准有一个观光客正悄然经过 - Nay, I was frequently notified of the passage of a traveller along the highway sixty rods off by the scent of his pipe。

后记：对生命的感悟，一是哲学沉思，二是活在当下，当今社会越来越忙，保持对周围世界的细致观察，是活在当下、觉悟人生、获取内心宁静的重要途径。