圓明園「鼠、兔獸首」

I would observe, by the way, that it costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and I am willing that they should look in. The moon will not sour milk nor taint meat of mine, nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade my carpet; and if he is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided, than to add a single item to the details of housekeeping. A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

Not long since I was present at the auction of a deacon's effects, for his life had not been ineffectual: —

"The evil that men do lives after them."

As usual, a great proportion was trumpery which had begun to accumulate in his father's day. Among the rest was a dried tapeworm. And now, after lying half a century in his garret and other dust holes, these things were not burned; instead of a bonfire, or purifying destruction of them, there was an auction, or increasing of them. The neighbors eagerly collected to view them, bought them all, and carefully transported them to their garrets and dust holes, to lie there till their estates are settled, when they will start again. When a man dies he kicks the dust.


　　　　"It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”

”我們最好從一開始就遠離邪惡。”梭羅連別人好意送他一個腳踏墊他都拒絶，因為根據莎士比亞的名言，『人之過惡，雖死猶存』，所以人死後最好什麼也別留下來。然而梭羅的這段文字還把輪迴的概念用上了。他說在一個拍賣會場上，那些東西是賣家的父親就開始累積的。梭羅認為這些東西都該送到梵化爐燒個乾淨，結果卻由買家買去，等到有一天讓故事重新來過。

台灣的「故宮」拒收圓明園「鼠、兔獸首」，看來是我們政府難得正確的決定，最好連「故宮」的東西都送回去，和「萬惡」的共匪斷的乾乾淨淨。可是你看這有多難，這就是梭羅之所以這麼說的原因：

　　　　"It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”