The Pleasure of Walking
佚名 / Anonymous
Walking gives us back our senses. We see, hear, smell the world as we never can when we ride. No matter what vehicle, it is the vehicle that is moving, not ourselves. We are trapped inside its fixed environment, and once we have taken in its sensory aspects—mainly in terms of comfort or discomfort—we turn off our perceptions and either go to sleep or open a magazine and begin dozing in and out.
But when we walk, the environment changes every moment and our senses are continuously being alert. Around each comer of a city block, around each bend in a country road, there is something new to greet the eyes, the ears, the nose. Even the same walk, the one we may take every day, is never the same from one day to another, from one week and season to another.
This is true not only in the country, but everywhere else. In New York City, a group of executives who meet every weekday morning walk from their homes to their offices. Their way takes them through quiet streets of old brownstones, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, then up and over the Brooklyn Bridge with its cathedral arches supporting the web-like drapery of cables, then down into the tight skyscraper canyons of the financial district.
On their daily route they see, hear, smell the city in all its seasonal changes, under bright and cloudy skies. Only the most inclement weather stops them—suitably dressed, they can walk with pleasure in spring rains, autumn drizzles, the sunlight of a summer morning or a soft winter snowfall. The river waters roll by below their feet, sullen or sparkling. Tugboats chug past, shoving and hauling their variously laden barges; on a shrouded morning, foghorns hoot and moan. The famous skyline of lower Manhattan rises before them, glittering in the sun, afloat in mist, against a backdrop of sky never twice the same.
散步能唤醒我们的感官。散步时对这个世界的所见所闻所感，是乘车时所不曾有的。不管你搭乘什么交通工具，运动的是车，而不是我们自身。我们受车内特定环境所限，一旦适应了这种环境——主要侧重于是否舒适——就失去了自己的知觉，或睡觉或翻开杂志昏沉沉地打盹。
当我们散步时，周围的环境每时每刻都发生着变化，我们的感知也随之不断地转换。在城市街区的每一个拐角和乡村道路的每一个拐弯处，总有某种新鲜事物吸引我们的眼球和我们的听觉与嗅觉。即使我们每天走的是同一条人行路，每天也都会有所不同，每一周、每一季也会有所变化。
不仅是在乡村，其他各地也都如此。在纽约，有一群行政人员每天早上相遇，他们都是从家步行到办公室，途经古旧的褐色石头铺成的寂静街道，那是这座城市中最古老的街区之一。然后经过布鲁克林大桥，桥孔像大教堂拱顶一样，支撑着巨缆织成的桥板，然后走进峡谷般的金融区，那里两侧是巍然屹立的摩天大楼。
他们在每天经过的路上看到、听到、也闻到了纽约在明朗晴空和阴云密布的天空下的四季更迭。只有在天气极度恶劣、寒冷和狂风暴雨之时，他们才会畏惧前行。他们穿着应季的衣服，欢快地行走在春雨中、绵绵的秋雨中、夏日清晨的阳光下或冬日细软的飘雪中。河水流经他们脚下，或郁郁寡欢，或汩汩流淌。拖船突突地开过，用力地推着或拉着满载货物的驳船。在浓雾迷茫的清晨，雾号有时大声鸣响，有时呜咽呻吟。久负盛名的曼哈顿岛低垂的轮廓在地平线上方的天空升起，在阳光下闪烁，飘浮在雾霭里，那背景天幕变化万端，从不曾重复。
1. We are trapped its fixed environment, and we have taken in its sensory aspects-mainly in terms of comfort discomfort—we turn off our perceptions and either go to sleep or a magazine and begin dozing in and out.
2. Even the same , the one we may take every day, is the same from one day to another, from one week and to another.
3. the most inclement weather stops them—suitably dressed, they can walk with pleasure spring rains, autumn drizzles, the sunlight of a summer morning a soft winter snowfall.
1. 散步时对这个世界的所见所闻所感，是乘车时所不曾有的。
2. 他们在每天经过的路上看到、听到、也闻到了纽约在明朗晴空和阴云密布的天空下的四季更迭。
3. 在浓雾迷茫的清晨，雾号有时大声鸣响，有时呜咽呻吟。
1. ...once we have taken in its sensory aspects—mainly in terms of comfort or discomfort...
in terms of：依据；按照；在……方面
2. ...we turn off our perceptions and either go to sleep or open a magazine and begin dozing in and out.
in and out：进进出出；来来去去
