The Author's Account of Himself
作者自述
This rambling propensity strengthened with my years.
寒来暑往，年岁渐增，游兴愈浓。
Books of voyages and travels became my passion,and in devouring their contents,
我对游记类的书籍爱不释手，如饥似渴、狼吞虎咽地阅读这些书，
I neglected the regular exercises of the school.
使我荒废了学校的正常功课。
How wistfully would I wander about the pierheads in fine weather, and watch the parting ships,bound to distant climes-with what longing eyes would I gaze after their lessening sails,and waft myself in imagination to the ends of the earth!
在风和日丽的日子，我常若有所思地游荡在码头外边，望着轮船渐渐离港，驶往遥远的地方；我渴望的双眼注视着渐行渐远的点点风帆，任思绪将我带向天涯海角。
Further reading and thinking,
随着涉猎的书籍增多和思想的越发成熟，

though they brought this vague inclination into more reasonable bounds,only served to make it more decided.
这一懵懵懂懂的嗜好变得较为理智一些，但是也更为根深蒂固。
I visited various parts of my own country;
我踏遍了本国的山山水水；
and had I been merely a lover of fine scenery,I should have felt little desire to seek elsewhere its gratification,for on no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished.
倘若仅仅是喜爱美景佳色而已，我就不会有去异国他乡一饱眼福的欲望，因为没有哪个国度能像我的祖国那样得到大自然的垂青厚爱，处处皆是鬼斧神工的迷人风光。
Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver;
浩淼的湖泊，如同银色的海洋，浩浩荡荡；
her mountains, with their bright aerial tints;
逶迤的群山，高耸云霄、郁郁葱葱、光彩夺目；
her valleys, teeming with wild fertility;
幽幽的溪谷，草木丛生，飞禽走兽匿迹其间；
her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes;
宽阔的瀑布，飞流直下，发出孤寂的雷鸣；
her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure;
苍茫的原野，草青木翠、随风摇曳；
her broad deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean;
长江大川，水阔流深，肃穆无声，奔流入海；
her trackless forests,where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence;
人迹罕至的森林，各色植物争奇斗艳，蔚为大观；
her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine-no, never need an American look beyond his own countryfor the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.
夏日的长空，艳阳高照、云蒸霞蔚，变幻莫测—不，一个美国人根本无须远游故土之外去发现壮丽的自然风景。