The most loved place, for me, in this country has in fact been many places. It has changed throughout the years, as I and my circumstances have changed. I haven't really lost any of the best places from the past, though. I may no longer inhabit them, but they inhabit me, portions of memory, presences in the mind... My best place at the moment is very different, although I guess it has some of the attributes of that long-ago place. It is a small cedar cabin on the Otonabee river in southern Ontario. I've lived three summers there, writing, birdwatching, riverwatching. I sometimes feel sorry for the people in speedboats who spend their weekends zinging up and down the river at about a million miles an hour. For all they're able to see, the riverbanks might just as well be green concrete and the river itself flowing with molten plastic.
Excerpt From Heart of a Stranger
By Margaret Laurence
［参考译文］
陌生人之心
玛格丽特·劳伦斯
在这个国家，我最喜欢的地方其实一直有许多。这些年来，由于我个人和情况的变迁，我最爱的地方也随着改变。虽然如此，我并不曾真正失去我过去喜爱过的任何地方。我或许不再居住在那儿，但它们却存在我的心里，成为我记忆中的片段，时常浮现在脑海中……此刻我最喜爱的地方相当不同，但我想它仍具有和老早那个地方（即明湖，Clear Lake）相同的某些特质。这个地方是安大略省南部奥托拿比河边的一间松木小屋。我在那儿度过了三个夏天：写作、赏鸟、观河。有时候我为那些来此地度周末，却驾着快艇以极快的速度在河上往来呼啸的人感到难过，因为这些人看见的河岸只不过是绿色的混凝土岸，而河流本身也仿佛只是条闪亮的流动塑料。
［注释］
-circumstance [ˈsɜːkəmstəns] n. 环境 the conditions and facts that are connected with and affect a situation, an event or an action
-inhabit [ɪnˈhæbɪt] v. 居住于，栖息 to live or reside in
-attribute [ˈætrɪbjuːt] n. 品质，特征 a quality or feature of sb/sth
-cedar [ˈsiːdə] n. 雪松 a tall evergreen tree with wide spreading branches
-cabin [ˈkæbɪn] n. 小屋，船舱 a small house or shelter, usu. made of wood
Otonabee river ：奥托拿比河
Ontario ：安大略湖位于北美洲中东部，是美国和加拿大共有的湖
-birdwatching n. 赏鸟 watching birds in their natural environment and identifying different breeds
-riverwatching n. 观河 watching rivers
-speedboat n. 高速游艇 a motor boat that can travel very fast
-concrete [ˈkɒnkriːt] n. 混凝土 building material that is made by mixing together cement, sand, small stones and water
-molten [ˈməʊltən] adj. 熔铸的 heated to a very high temperature so that it becomes liquid
［作者简介］
玛格丽特·劳伦斯（Margaret Laurence, 1926-1987）出生在加拿大中部的曼尼托巴省尼帕瓦镇，她的故乡后来成为她小说系列中虚构的马那瓦卡镇。劳伦斯自幼就开始写作。她的作品有《石头天使》（1964）、《上帝的嘲弄》（1966）、《受尽煎熬的人》（1969）、《笼中之鸟》（1970）以及儿童系列读物《杰逊的追求》（1970）。