英語背誦文選第二冊(陳冠商)39．Night 夜

39．Night

Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon,

and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness

and  the  dews  descend.  I  sit  at  the  open  window  to  enjoy  them;  and  hear

only  the  voice  of  the  summer  wind.  Like  black  hulks,  the  shadows  of  the

great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the

red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow

gleams the silver Charles(1). The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the

wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind of the  summer

night.  Sometimes  I  know  not  if  it  be  the  wind  or  the  sound  of  the

neighboring sea.(2) The village clock strikes; and I feel that I  am  not

alone.

How  different  it  is  in  the  city!  It  is  late,  and  the  crowd  is  gone.  You

step  out  upon  the  balcony,  and  lie  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  cool,  dewy

night  as  if  you  folded  her  garments  about  you.  Beneath  lies  the  public

walk with trees, like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent darkness

the spirit plunges, and floats away with some beloved spirit clasped in

its  embrace.  The  lamps  are  still  burning  up  and  down  the  long  street.

People   go   by   with   grotesque   shadows,   now   foreshortened,   and   now

lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs

up  behind  the  walker,  and  seems  to  pass  him  revolving  like  the  sail  of

a windmill(3). The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There

are footsteps and loud voices;--a tumult;--a drunken brawl;--an alarm of

fire;--then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep,  and  we

can  see  the  night.  The  belated  moon  looks  over  the  roofs,  and  finds  no

one  to  welcome  her.  The  moonlight  is  broken.  It  lies  here  and  there  in

the squares, and the opening of the streets- angular like blocks of white

marble.