瓦爾登湖：經濟篇4

　　When we consider what， to use the words of the catechism， is the chief end of man， and what are the true necessaries and means of life， it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other.  Yet they honestly think there is no choice left.  But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear.  It is never too late to give up our prejudices.  No way of thinking or doing， however ancient， can be trusted without proof.  What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow，mere smoke of opinion， which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields.  What old people say you cannot do， you try and find that you can.  Old deeds for old people，and new deeds for new.  Old people did not know enough once，perchance， to fetch fresh fuel to keep the fire a-going； new people put a little dry wood under a pot， and are whirled round the globe with the speed of birds， in a way to kill old people， as the phrase is.  Age is no better， hardly so well， qualified for an instructor as youth， for it has not profited so much as it has lost.  One may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute value by living.  Practically， the old have no very important advice to give the young， their own experience has been so partial， and their lives have been such miserable failures， for private reasons，as they must believe； and it may be that they have some faith left which belies that experience， and they are only less young than they were.  I have lived some thirty years on this planet， and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.  They have told me nothing， and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose.  Here is life， an experiment to a great extent untried by me； but it does not avail me that they have tried it.  If I have any experience which I think valuable， I am sure to reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about.

　　One farmer says to me， "You cannot live on vegetable food solely， for it furnishes nothing to make bones with"； and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones； walking all the while he talks behind his oxen， which， with vegetable-made bones， jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.  Some things are really necessaries of life in some circles， the most helpless and diseased，which in others are luxuries merely， and in others still are entirely unknown.

　　The whole ground of human life seems to some to have been gone over by their predecessors， both the heights and the valleys， and all things to have been cared for.  According to Evelyn， "the wise Solomon prescribed ordinances for the very distances of trees； and the Roman praetors have decided how often you may go into your neighbor's land to gather the acorns which fall on it without trespass， and what share belongs to that neighbor."  Hippocrates has even left directions how we should cut our nails； that is， even with the ends of the fingers， neither shorter nor longer.  Undoubtedly the very tedium and ennui which presume to have exhausted the variety and the joys of life are as old as Adam.  But man's capacities have never been measured； nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents， so little has been tried.  Whatever have been thy failures hitherto， "be not afflicted， my child， for who shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone？"

　　當我們用教義問答法的方式，思考著什么是人生的宗旨，什么是生活的真正的必需品與資料時，仿佛人們還曾審慎從事地選擇了這種生活的共同方式，而不要任何別的方式似的。其實他們也知道，舍此而外，別無可以挑選的方式。但清醒健康的人都知道，太陽終古常新。拋棄我們的偏見，是永遠不會來不及的。無論如何古老的思想與行為，除非有確證，便不可以輕信。在今天人人附和或以為不妨默認的真理，很可能在明天變成虛無縹緲的氤氳，但還會有人認為是烏云，可以將一陣甘霖灑落到大地上來。把老頭子認為辦不到的事來試辦一下，你往往辦成功了。老人有舊的一套，新人有新的一套。

　　古人不知添上燃料便可使火焰不滅：新人卻把干柴放在水壺底下：諺語說得好：“氣死老頭子”，現在的人還可以繞著地球轉，迅疾如飛鳥呢。老年人，雖然年紀一把，未必能把年輕的一代指導得更好，甚至他們未必夠得上資格來指導；因為他們雖有不少收獲，卻也已大有損失。我們可以這樣懷疑，即使最聰明的人，活了一世，他又能懂得多少生活的絕對價值呢。實際上，老年人是不會有什么極其重要的忠告給予年輕人的。他們的經驗是這樣地支離破碎，他們的生活已經是這樣地慘痛的失敗過了，他們必須知道大錯都是自己鑄成的；也許，他們還保留若干信心，這與他們的經驗是不相符合的，卻可惜他們已經不夠年輕了。我在這星球上生活了三十來年，還沒有聽到過老長輩們一個字，可謂有價值的，堪稱熱忱的忠告的。他們什么也沒告訴過我，也許他們是不能告訴我什么中肯的意見了。這里就是生命，一個試驗，它的極大部分我都沒有體驗過；老年人體驗過了，但卻于我無用。如果我得到了我認為有用的任何經驗，我一定會這樣想的，這個經驗嘛，我的老師長們可是提都沒有提起過的呢。

　　有一個農夫對我說：“光吃蔬菜是活不了的，蔬菜不能供給你骨骼所需要的養料；”

　　這樣他每天虔誠地分出了他的一部分時間，來獲得那種可以供給他骨骼所需的養料；他一邊說話，一邊跟在耕牛后面走，讓這條正是用蔬菜供養了它的骨骼的耕牛拖動著他和他的木犁不顧一切障礙地前進。某些事物，在某些場合，例如在最無辦法的病人中間，確是生活的必需資料，卻在另一些場合，只變成了奢侈品，再換了別樣的場合，又可能是聞所未聞的東西。

　　有人以為人生的全部，無論在高峰之巔或低陷之谷，都已給先驅者走遍，一切都已被注意到了。依熙愛芙琳的話：“智慧的所羅門曾下令制定樹木中間應有的距離；羅馬地方官也曾規定，你可以多少次到鄰家的地上去揀拾那落下來的橡實而不算你亂闖的，并曾規定多少份橡實屬于鄰人。”希波克拉底甚至傳下了剪指甲的方法，剪得不要太短或太長，要齊手指頭。無疑問的，認為把生命的變易和歡樂都消蝕殆盡的那種煩謙和憂悶，是跟亞當同樣地古老的。但人的力量還從未被衡量出來呢；我們不能根據他已經完成的事來判斷他的力量，人做得少極了。不論你以前如何失敗過，“別感傷，我的孩子，誰能指定你去做你未曾做完的事呢？”

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