【双语有声阅读】月色迷人The Fascinating Moonrise

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月色下，我们看不到生活中坚硬的棱角。山坡在月光下如同笼上了一层柔和的银纱；大海在月光下宁静碧蓝；我们在月光下也不再像白日那般心计来往，而是沉醉于自然的情感中。

 

The Fascinating Moonrise

 

There is a hill near my home that I often climb at night. The noise of the city is a far-off murmur¹. In the hush² of dark I share the cheerfulness of crickets and the confidence of owls³. But it is the drama of the moonrise that I come to see. For that restores in me a quiet and clarity that the city spends too freely.

 

From this hill I have watched many moons rise. Each one had its own mood. There have been broad, confident harvest moons in autumn; shy, misty⁴ moons in spring; lonely, white winter moons rising into the utter silence of an ink-black sky and smoke-smudged orange moons over the dry fields of summer. Each, like fine music, excited my heart and then calmed my soul.

 

But we, who live indoors, have lost contact with the moon. The glare of street lights and the dust of pollution veil the night sky. Though men have walked on the moon, it grows less familiar. Few of us can say what time the moon will rise tonight.

 

Still, it tugs⁵ at our minds.

 

If we unexpectedly encounter the full moon, huge and yellow over the horizon, we are helpless but to stare back at its commanding presence. And the moon has gifts to bestow⁶ upon those who watch.

 

I learned about its gifts one July evening in the mountains. My car had mysteriously stalled, and I was stranded⁷ and alone. The sun had set, and I was watching what seemed to be the bright-orange glow of a forest fire beyond a ridge⁸ to the east. Suddenly, the ridge itself seemed to burst into flame. Then, the rising moon, huge and red and grotesquely⁹ misshapen by the dust and sweat of the summer atmosphere, loomed¹⁰ up out of the woods. Distorted thus by the hot breath of earth, the moon seemed ill-tempered and imperfect. Dogs at nearby farmhouse¹¹ barked nervously¹², as if this strange light had wakened evil spirits in the weeds.

 

But as the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. Its complexion¹³ changed from red, to orange, to gold, to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light out of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer. By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon, full-chested and round and of the colour of ivory, the valleys were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured¹⁴ that this was the familiar moon, stopped barking. And all at once I felt a confidence and joy close to laughter.

 

The drama took an hour. Moonrise is slow and serried¹⁵ with subtleties¹⁶. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time.

 

To watch the moon move inflexibly¹⁷ higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distance of space, the immensity of the earth and the huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.

 

Moonlight shows us none of life’s harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery, the oceans still and blue in its light. In moonlight we become less calculating, more drawn¹⁸ to our feelings.

 

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