he early snows fall soft and white and seem to heal the landscape. There are as yet no tracks through the drifts, no muddied slush in the roads. The wind sweeps snow into the scars of our harvest-time haste, smoothing the brow of hill, hiding furrow and cog and trash in the yard. Snow muffles the shriek of metal and the rasp of motion. It covers our flintier purposes and brings a redeeming silence, as if a curtain has fallen on the strivings of a year, and now we may stop, look inward, and rediscover the amber warmth of family and conversation. At such times, locked away inside wall and woolen, lulled by the sedatives of wood-smoke and candlelight, we recall the competing claims of nature. We see the branch and bark of trees, rather than the sugar-scented green of their leaves. We look out the window and admire the elegance of ice crystal, the bravely patient tree leaning leafless into the wind, the dramatic shadows of the stooping sun. We look at the structure of things, the geometry of branch and snowflake, family and deed. Even before the first snow, we view the world differently in winter. We watch the lawn settle into the sleep of frost and the last crumpled leaf quiver on the oak, and feel the change. At night the skies are cold and clear, and stars shine like the dreams of serpents. The hillsides turn brown and gray; the edges of stalk and blade stand out starkly. Dark clouds settle on the mountain ridges. Storms rumble in like freight trains. Rain rattles the roof and thutters at the window. Then comes the snow, and we once again wonder at how it transforms the familiar objects of our everyday world. When snowflake drifts the road we head indoors and resign ourselves to the quiet crackle of the wood fire. The example of the woodpile and the well-stocked larder tells us that we can achieve what we dream, and winter brings us long, silent nights to dream on.
輕盈、潔白的雪花紛紛揚揚，這場初雪似乎在撫慰大地。至今積雪上還沒有任何足跡，道路上也沒有踏臟的雪泥。朔風掃過，白雪覆蓋了人們豐收農忙之后的痕跡——它撫平了山脊，藏匿了院內的車轍和輪齒，讓雜物都無影無蹤。大雪還消減了金屬摩擦發出的刺耳聲和機器運轉時的嘈雜聲，它在埋沒我們堅韌決心的同時，又彌補般地降臨了一種靜謐，宛如一年的.努力落下帷幕，就此告一段落。——現在我們也許應該駐足，審視內心，重新感受親人團聚的溫馨。 在這樣的時節里，我們緊閉房門，裹上毛衣，沐浴在木材燃燒和燭光帶來的祥和之中，回想大自然中的兩種悖論。我們看到的是樹木的枝杈和樹皮，而不是芬芳撲鼻的綠葉；我們望著窗外，驚嘆冰晶的美不勝收，欽佩光禿禿的樹枝始終迎風而立，贊美落日的身影楚楚動人；我們觀察著事物的結構、樹枝與雪花的形狀，還有家庭、事業…… 其實在冬天，在下第一場雪之前，我們看世界的感覺就不同。我們注意到草地早已習慣在霜凍中沉睡，最后一片打著卷兒的橡樹葉在枝頭顫抖，并體會到了季節的變更。晚空清冷而明朗，繁星閃爍，就像魔鬼打起了盹。山坡被染成了棕灰色，葉子與葉柄的邊緣顯得格外醒目。山脊上烏云云集，暴風雪就像貨車一樣隆隆作響。雨點不停地沖刷著房頂，敲打著窗戶。 接著，下雪了，我們又一次驚詫于它是如何將我們平常熟知的事物改頭換面。 當雪花在路面堆積，我們回到屋內，讓自己沉迷在爐火輕微的噼啪聲中。柴堆和儲備良好的食物表明我們可以美美睡上一覺了。而冬日帶來的是寧靜的漫漫長夜，正好入夢。
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