[美國]華盛頓·歐文/Washington Irving
華盛頓·歐文（1783-1859），享譽國際的文學家，也是19世紀最偉大的美國散文家之一。他生於紐約，在家中是11個孩子中最小的。歐文自幼聰穎，19歲攻讀法律。1804年至1806年間遊曆歐洲，回國後取得律師資格。但是，他對當律師並不感興趣，而且身體不太好。因此，他改變職業，以寫作謀生，並進入仕途，曾任駐西班牙公使，旅居歐洲長達17年。他的傑作《見聞劄記》就在這其間完成的，其中的《瑞普·凡·溫克爾》已成為婦孺皆知的故事。總之，華盛頓·歐文在世界文學史上有著不可或缺的地位。
Nothing can be more imposing than the magnificence of English park scenery. Vast lawns that extend like sheets of vivid green, with here and there clumps of gigantic trees, heaping up rich piles of foliage:the solemn pomp of groves and woodland glades, with the deer trooping in silent herds across them;the hare, bounding away to the covert;or the pheasant, suddenly bursting upon the wing;the brook, taught to wind in natural meanderings or expand into a glassy lake-the sequestered pool, reflecting the quivering trees, with the yellow leaf sleeping on its bosom, and the trout roaming fearlessly about its limpid waters;while some rustic temple or sylvan statue, grown green and dank with age, gives an air of classic sanctity to the seclusion.
These are but a few of the features of park scenery;but what most delights me, is the creative talent with which the English decorate the unostentatious abodes of middle life. The rudest habitation, the most unpromising and scanty portion of land, in the hands of an Englishman of taste, becomes a little paradise.
The sterile spot grows into loveliness under his（an Englishman）hands, and yet the operations of art which produce the effect are scarcely to be perceived. The cherishing and training of some trees;the cautious pruning of others;the nice distribution of flowers and plants of tender and graceful foliage;the introduction of a green slope of velvet turf;the partial opening to a peep of blue distance, or silver gleam of water:all these are managed with a delicate tact, a pervading yet quiet assiduity, like the magic touchings with which a painter finishes up a favorite picture.