評論
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There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example—where had they gone? The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scores of bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.
一種詭異的寂靜籠罩了這個地方。比如，小鳥們都到哪兒去了？后院的喂鳥臺已經荒廢破敗。偶爾還能看到的幾只鳥兒也顫抖得厲害，飛不起來。這是一個悄無生息的春天。曾經的每個清晨隨著破曉開始的鳥兒大合唱已不復存在；只有一片寂靜籠罩著田野、樹林和沼澤地。
The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire. These, too, were silent, deserted by all living things. Even the streams were now lifeless. Anglers no longer visited them, for all the fish had died.
曾經擁有迷人景色的道路兩旁，現在滿是焦黃、枯萎的植物，好像被大火燒過一樣。這些地方也是寂靜無聲，了無生機。甚至小溪也失去了生命；釣魚的人不再來了，因為魚已經死光了。
Some weeks before a white powder had fallen like snow upon the roofs and the lawns, the fields and streams.
幾星期前，一些白色的粉末像雪花般落到了屋頂、草坪、田野和溪流中。
No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.
不是魔法，也不是敵人的破壞阻止了這個受災地方新生命的繁衍生息，而是人類自己造成了這一切。
This town does not actually exist. I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a harsh reality we all shall know.
這個城鎮實際上并不存在。我并不知道哪一個地方經受過我所描述的所有不幸。但其中我所描述的每一種災難實際上都在某個地方發生過，并且確實有許多地方已經遭受了巨大的災難，這個想象中的悲劇很可能變成一個我們將面對的殘酷現實。
What has already silenced the voices of spring in countless towns in America? This book is an attempt to explain.
是什么使美國無數城鎮的春天變得如此寂靜？這本書試圖為你解釋這個問題。
