Walden [?w?ld?n] (Issue 199) 16. The Pond in Winter(7) [10] Of five coves, three, or all which had been sounded, were observed to have a bar quite across their mouths and deeper water within, so that the bay tended to be an expansion of water within the land not only horizontally but vertically, and to form a basin[?be?sn] or independent pond, the direction of the two capes showing the course of the bar. Every harbor on the sea-coast, also, has its bar at its entrance. In proportion as the mouth of the cove was wider compared with its length, the water over the bar was deeper compared with that in the basin. Given, then, the length and breadth of the cove, and the character of the surrounding shore, and you have almost elements enough to make out a formula for all cases. [11] In order to see how nearly I could guess, with this experience, at the deepest point in a pond, by observing the outlines of a surface and the character of its shores alone, I made a plan of White Pond, which contains about forty-one acres, and, like this, has no island in it, nor any visible inlet or outlet; and as the line of greatest breadth fell very near the line of least breadth, where two opposite capes approached each other and two opposite bays receded, I ventured to mark a point a short distance from the latter line, but still on the line of greatest length, as the deepest. The deepest part was found to be within one hundred feet of this, still farther in the direction to which I had inclined[?n?kla?nd], and was only one foot deeper, namely, sixty feet. Of course, a stream running through, or an island in the pond, would make the problem much more complicated[?k?mpl??ke?t?d]. [12] If we knew all the laws of Nature, we should need only one fact, or the description of one actual phenomenon, to infer all the particular results at that point. Now we know only a few laws, and our result is vitiated['v??ie?tid], not, of course, by any confusion[k?n'fju???n] or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance[??gn?r?ns] of essential elements in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but really concurring, laws, which we have not detected, is still more wonderful. The particular laws are as our points of view, as, to the traveller, a mountain outline varies[?ve?r?z] with every step, and it has an infinite number of profiles, though absolutely but one form. Even when cleft or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness. 在測過的五個或所有灣子里，有三個據(jù)觀察有攔壩就橫在他們嘴里攔著較深的水，于是灣子就力圖成為深入陸地的擴展的水，無論是從水平面還是垂直面，去形成一個盆或獨立湖，兩個地岬的方向正顯示了壩的線路。在海岸的每一個港口，也在入口有它的壩。比起長度，灣口的闊度總是相應(yīng)地比例更寬，那壩周圍的水也相應(yīng)地按比例比盆里的水更深。那么只要灣子的長寬已經(jīng)給定，加上其周圍岸的特征，你也就擁有了足夠造出任何情況下，適用的一個公式的幾乎所有元素。 為了看看我這一經(jīng)驗?zāi)芡茰y到多么接近那湖中最深的一個點，通過單單觀察一個表面的輪廓和湖岸的特性，我對白湖做了個計劃，他大約是四十一英畝，也和瓦爾登湖一樣，湖中沒有小島，也沒有明顯的入水口和出水口；而且當最寬線下跌到非常接近最小寬度，那里兩個相對的岬角相互接近而兩個相對的水灣退卻，我試著從后一條線最短的距離標了一個點，但仍然是在最大長度線上，如同在最深度線上一樣。最深的部分被發(fā)現(xiàn)就在這百英尺以里，比我傾向的方向更遠，也就深度超了一英尺，即六十英尺。當然了，一道溪經(jīng)過，或湖中的一個島嶼，將會讓問題變得更加復(fù)雜。 如果我們知道了大自然的所有法則，我們將僅需要一個事實，或一個實際現(xiàn)象的描述，去從那一點出發(fā)推斷所有特殊的結(jié)果?，F(xiàn)在我們僅知道有數(shù)的幾條法則，而我們的結(jié)果是無效的，當然了，不是因為大自然本身的任何混亂和無序，而是由于我們對計算中基本元素的無知。我們關(guān)于法則和和諧的觀念通常是局限于我們探知的那些實例；但是那來自于一個更遠仿佛是自相矛盾的和諧的更大數(shù)，那才是本質(zhì)的一致而且仍然是更加奇妙，那些法則，我們還沒有探知。那特殊的法則就如同我們的觀點，像對于一個旅人，每登山一步，山的輪廓線都在變，它有著無窮盡的剖面，雖然絕對形式只有一個。即便是劈開或鉆透它也無法領(lǐng)會它的完整。