瓦尔登湖:Spring3
Few phenomena gave me more delight than to observe the forms which thawing sand and clay assume in flowing down the sides of a deep cut on the railroad through which I passed on my way to the village， a phenomenon not very common on so large a scale， though the number of freshly exposed banks of the right material must have been greatly multiplied since railroads were invented. The material was sand of every degree of fineness and of various rich colors，commonly mixed with a little clay. When the frost comes out in the spring， and even in a thawing day in the winter， the sand begins to flow down the slopes like lava， sometimes bursting out through the snow and overflowing it where no sand was to be seen before. Innumerable little streams overlap and interlace one with another，exhibiting a sort of hybrid product， which obeys half way the law of currents， and half way that of vegetation. As it flows it takes the forms of sappy leaves or vines， making heaps of pulpy sprays a foot or more in depth， and resembling， as you look down on them， the laciniated， lobed， and imbricated thalluses of some lichens； or you are reminded of coral， of leopard's paws or birds' feet， of brains or lungs or bowels， and excrements of all kinds. It is a truly grotesque vegetation， whose forms and color we see imitated in bronze， a sort of architectural foliage more ancient and typical than acanthus， chiccory， ivy， vine， or any vegetable leaves；destined perhaps， under some circumstances， to become a puzzle to future geologists. The whole cut impressed me as if it were a cave with its stalactites laid open to the light. The various shades of the sand are singularly rich and agreeable， embracing the different iron colors， brown， gray， yellowish， and reddish. When the flowing mass reaches the drain at the foot of the bank it spreads out flatter into strands， the separate streams losing their semi-cylindrical form and gradually becoming more flat and broad，running together as they are more moist， till they form an almost flat sand， still variously and beautifully shaded， but in which you can trace the original forms of vegetation； till at length， in the water itself， they are converted into banks， like those formed off the mouths of rivers， and the forms of vegetation are lost in the ripple marks on the bottom.
The whole bank， which is from twenty to forty feet high， is sometimes overlaid with a mass of this kind of foliage， or sandy rupture， for a quarter of a mile on one or both sides， the produce of one spring day. What makes this sand foliage remarkable is its springing into existence thus suddenly. When I see on the one side the inert bank ―― for the sun acts on one side first ―― and on the other this luxuriant foliage， the creation of an hour， I am affected as if in a peculiar sense I stood in the laboratory of the Artist who made the world and me ―― had come to where he was still at work，sporting on this bank， and with excess of energy strewing his fresh designs about. I feel as if I were nearer to the vitals of the globe， for this sandy overflow is something such a foliaceous mass as the vitals of the animal body. You find thus in the very sands an anticipation of the vegetable leaf. No wonder that the earth expresses itself outwardly in leaves， it so labors with the idea inwardly. The atoms have already learned this law， and are pregnant by it. The overhanging leaf sees here its prototype. Internally，whether in the globe or animal body， it is a moist thick lobe， a word especially applicable to the liver and lungs and the leaves of fat （jnai， labor， lapsus， to flow or slip downward， a lapsing；jiais， globus， lobe， globe； also lap， flap， and many other words）；externally a dry thin leaf， even as the f and v are a pressed and dried b. The radicals of lobe are lb， the soft mass of the b（single lobed， or B， double lobed）， with the liquid l behind it pressing it forward. In globe， glb， the guttural g adds to the meaning the capacity of the throat. The feathers and wings of birds are still drier and thinner leaves. Thus， also， you pass from the lumpish grub in the earth to the airy and fluttering butterfly. The very globe continually transcends and translates itself， and becomes winged in its orbit. Even ice begins with delicate crystal leaves，as if it had flowed into moulds which the fronds of waterplants have impressed on the watery mirror. The whole tree itself is but one leaf， and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth， and towns and cities are the ova of insects in their axils.
When the sun withdraws the sand ceases to flow， but in the morning the streams will start once more and branch and branch again into a myriad of others. You here see perchance how blood-vessels are formed. If you look closely you observe that first there pushes forward from the thawing mass a stream of softened sand with a drop-like point， like the ball of the finger， feeling its way slowly and blindly downward， until at last with more heat and moisture， as the sun gets higher， the most fluid portion， in its effort to obey the law to which the most inert also yields， separates from the latter and forms for itself a meandering channel or artery within that， in which is seen a little silvery stream glancing like lightning from one stage of pulpy leaves or branches to another， and ever and anon swallowed up in the sand. It is wonderful how rapidly yet perfectly the sand organizes itself as it flows， using the best material its mass affords to form the sharp edges of its channel. Such are the sources of rivers. In the silicious matter which the water deposits is perhaps the bony system， and in the still finer soil and organic matter the fleshy fibre or cellular tissue. What is man but a mass of thawing clay？ The ball of the human finger is but a drop congealed. The fingers and toes flow to their extent from the thawing mass of the body. Who knows what the human body would expand and flow out to under a more genial heaven？ Is not the hand a spreading palm leaf with its lobes and veins？ The ear may be regarded， fancifully， as a lichen， umbilicaria， on the side of the head， with its lobe or drop. The lip ―― labium， from labor （？） ――laps or lapses from the sides of the cavernous mouth. The nose is a manifest congealed drop or stalactite. The chin is a still larger drop， the confluent dripping of the face. The cheeks are a slide from the brows into the valley of the face， opposed and diffused by the cheek bones. Each rounded lobe of the vegetable leaf， too， is a thick and now loitering drop， larger or smaller； the lobes are the fingers of the leaf； and as many lobes as it has， in so many directions it tends to flow， and more heat or other genial influences would have caused it to flow yet farther.
除了观察解冻的泥沙流下铁路线的深沟陡坡的形态以外，再没有什么现象更使我喜悦的了，我行路到村中去，总要经过那里，这一种形态，不是常常能够看到像这样大的规模的，虽然说，自从铁路到处兴建以来，许多新近曝露在外的铁路路基都提供了这种合适的材料。
那材料是各种粗细不同的细沙，颜色也各不相同，往往还要包含一些泥土。当霜冻到了春天里又重新涌现的时候，甚至还在冬天冰雪未溶将溶的时候呢，沙子就开始流下陡坡了，好像火山的熔岩，有时还穿透了积雪而流了出来，泛滥在以前没有见过沙子的地方。
无数这样的小溪流，相互地叠起，交叉，展现出一种混合的产物，一半服从着流水的规律，一半又服从着植物的规律。因为它流下来的时候，那状态颇像萌芽发叶，或藤蔓的蔓生，造成了许多软浆似的喷射，有时深达一英尺或一英尺以上，你望它们的时候，形态像一些苔藓的条裂的、有裂片的、叠盖的叶状体；或者，你会想到珊瑚，豹掌，或鸟爪，或人脑，或脏腑，或任何的分泌。这真是一种奇异的滋育，它们的形态和颜色，或者我们从青铜器上看到过模仿，这种建筑学的枝叶花簇的装饰比古代的茛苕叶，菊苣，常春藤，或其他的植物叶更古，更典型；也许，在某种情形之下，会使得将来的地质学家百思不得其解了。这整个深沟给了我深刻的印象，好像这是一个山洞被打开而钟乳石都曝露在阳光之下。沙子的各种颜色，简直是丰富，悦目，包含了铁的各种不同的颜色，棕色的，灰色的，黄色的，红色的。当那流质到了路基脚下的排水沟里，它就平摊开来而成为浅滩，各种溪流已失去了它们的半圆柱形，越来越平坦而广阔了，如果更湿润一点，它们就更加混和在一起，直到它们形成了一个几乎完全平坦的沙地，却依旧有千变万化的、美丽的色调，其中你还能看出原来的植物形态；直到后来，到了水里，变成了沙岸，像一些河口上所见的那样，这时才失去植物的形态，而变为沟底的粼粼波纹。
整个铁路路基约二十英尺到四十英尺高，有时给这种枝叶花簇的装饰所覆盖，或者说，这是细沙的裂痕吧，在其一面或两面都有，长达四分之一英里，这便是一个春日的产品。这些沙泥枝叶的惊人之处，在于突然间就构成了。当我在路基的一面，因为太阳是先照射在一面的，看到的是一个毫无生气的斜面，而另外的一面上，我却看到了如此华丽的枝叶，它只是一小时的创造，我深深地被感动了，仿佛在一种特别的意义上来说，我是站在这个创造了世界和自己的大艺术家的画室中，――跑到他正在继续工作的地点去，他在这路基上嬉戏，以过多的精力到处画下了他的新颖的图案。我觉得我仿佛和这地球的内脏更加接近起来，因为流沙呈叶形体，像动物的心肺一样。在这沙地上，你看到会出现叶子的形状。难怪大地表现在外面的形式是叶形了，因为在它内部，它也在这个意念之下劳动着。原子已经学习了这个规律，而孕育在它里面了。高挂在树枝上的叶子在这里看到它的原形了。无论在地球或动物身体的内部，都有润湿的，厚厚的叶，这一个字特别适用于肝，肺和脂肪叶（它的字源，labor，lapsus，是飘流，向下流，或逝去的意思；globus，是1obe（叶），globe（地球）的意思；更可以化出lap（叠盖），flap（扁宽之悬垂物）和许多别的字〕，而在外表上呢，一张干燥的薄薄的leaf（叶子），便是那f音，或V音，都是一个压缩了的干燥的b音。叶片lobe这个字的辅音是lb，柔和的b音（单叶片的，B是双叶片的）有流音l陪衬着，推动了它。在地球globe一个字的glb中，g这个喉音用喉部的容量增加了字面意义。鸟雀的羽毛依然是叶形的，只是更干燥，更薄了。这样，你还可以从土地的粗笨的蛴螬进而看到活泼的，翩跹的蝴蝶。我们这个地球变幻不已，不断地超越自己，它也在它的轨道上扑动翅膀。甚至冰也是以精致的晶体叶子来开始的，好像它流进一种模型翻印出来的，而那模型便是印在湖的镜面上的水草的叶子。整个一棵树，也不过是一张叶于，而河流是更大的叶子，它的叶质是河流中间的大地，乡镇和城市是它们的叶腋上的虫卵。
而当太阳西沉时，沙停止了流动，一到早晨，这条沙溪却又开始流动，一个支流一个支流地分成了亿万道川流。也许你可以从这里知道血管是如何形成的，如果你仔细观察，你可以发现，起初从那溶解体中，有一道软化的沙流，前面有一个水滴似的顶端，像手指的圆圆的突出部分，缓慢而又盲目地向下找路，直到后来因为太阳升得更高了，它也有了更多的热力和水分，那流质的较大的部分就为了要服从那最呆滞的部分也服从的规律，和后者分离了，脱颖而出，自己形成了一道弯弯曲曲的渠道或血管，从中你可以看到一个银色的川流，像闪电般地闪耀，从一段泥沙形成的枝叶，闪到另一段，而又总是不时地给细沙吞没。神奇的是那些细沙流得既快，又把自己组织得极为完美，利用最好的材料来组成渠道的两边。河流的源远流长正是这样的一回事。大约骨骼的系统便是水分和硅所形成的，而在更精细的泥土和有机化合物上，便形成了我们的肌肉纤维或纤维细胞。人是什么，还不是一团溶解的泥上？人的手指足趾的顶点只是凝结了的一滴。
手指和足趾从身体的溶解体中流出，流到了它们的极限。在一个更富生机的环境之中，谁知道人的身体会扩张和流到如何的程度？手掌，可不也像一张张开的棕桐叶的有叶片和叶脉的吗？耳朵，不妨想象为一种苔藓，学名Umbilicaria，挂在头的两侧，也有它的叶片似的耳垂或者滴。唇――字源labium，大约是从labor （劳动）化出来的――便是在口腔的上下两边叠着悬垂着的。鼻子，很明显，是一个凝聚了的水滴，或钟乳石。下巴是更大的一滴了，整个面孔的水滴汇合在这里。面颊是一个斜坡，从眉毛上向山谷降下，广布在颧骨上。每一张草叶的叶片也是一滴浓厚的在缓缓流动的水滴，或大或小；叶片乃是叶的手指，有多少叶片，便说明它企图向多少方向流动，如果它有更多的热量或别种助长的影响，它就流得更加远了。
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