Singing Birds（鸣禽）

　　Horncastle

　　April 13, 1830, Morning

　　There is one deficiency, and that, with me, a at one, throughout this country of corn and grass and oxen and sheep, that I have come over during the last three weeks; namely, the want of singing birds. We are now just in that season when they sing most. Here, in all this country, I have seen and heard only about four sky-larks, and not one other singing bird of any description, and, of the small birds that do not sing, I have seen only one yellow-hammer, and it was perched on the rail of a pound between Boston and Sibsey. Oh! the thousands of linnets all singing together on one tree, in the sand-hills of Surrey! Oh! the caroling in the coppices and the dingles of Hampshire and Sussex and Kent! At this moment (5 o'clock in the morning) the groves at Barn-Elm are echoing with the warblings of thousands upon thousands of birds. The thrush begins a little before it is light; next the black-bird; next the larks begin to rise; all the rest begin the moment the sun gives the signal ; and, from the hedges, the bushes, from the middle and the top most twigs of the trees, comes the singing of endless variety; from the long dead grass comes the sound of the sweet and soft voice of the white-throat, or nettle-torn, while the loud and merry song of the lark (the songster hilf out of sight) seems to descend from the skies. Milton, in his description of paradise, has not omitted the "song of earliest birds. "However, every thing taken together, here, in Lincolnshire, are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask of God.

　　And now, if I had time and room to describe the state of men's affairs, in the country through which I have passed, I should show, that the people at Westminster would have known how to turn paradise itself into hell.

　　【译文】鸣禽

　　洪卡塞尔

　　1830年4月12日早晨

　　在过去的3周，我所经过的地区内虽有遍地玉米、草场和牛羊，却有一点不足之处。依我说，还是一个很大的不足，这就是：这里没有歌声婉转的鸣禽。我们正值那百鸟鸣唱的季节，而这里，整个地区内，我见到的、听到的唯有4只左右的云雀，没有任何其它鸣禽，就是不会唱歌的小鸟，我也仅见到一只金翼啄木鸟，它栖息在位于波士顿与西伯赛之间的一个牲口栏的横木上。啊!在萨利的沙丘上，数千只朱顶雀同时在一株树上齐唱高歌!啊!在汉布郡塞萨克斯和肯特的树丛里和幽深的峡谷树林中，那百鸟高歌齐鸣!此刻(早上5点钟)巴恩-艾尔姆的树丛里正回荡着成千上万只鸟儿的啼啭。曙光升起之前，画眉就开始歌唱了。接着是乌鸦，再接着是百灵鸟飞向天空。当太阳出现时，所有其它的鸟从篱笆、从矮树丛、从低枝、从树顶发出了千曲万调的鸣唱。从又深又长的枯草丛中传来了白猴蜂雀那甜润细软的歌声，同时，百灵鸟那响亮而欢快的歌声(歌唱家本身却消失无踪)似乎是从天而降。密尔顿在他关于天堂的描写中也并没有遗漏那"最早的鸟类的歌声"，然而这里，林肯郡的各种情况综合在一起却要比人们再厚颜祈求上帝所赐的情况好得多。

　　此时，如果我有时间、有篇幅来描写一下我所经过的地区的人间世态的话，我将展示出，在威斯特敏斯特的那些人是会懂得如何把天堂变成地狱。