[美国]华盛顿·欧文/Washington Irving
华盛顿·欧文（1783-1859），享誉国际的文学家，也是19世纪最伟大的美国散文家之一。他生于纽约，在家中是11个孩子中最小的。欧文自幼聪颖，19岁攻读法律。1804年至1806年间游历欧洲，回国后取得律师资格。但是，他对当律师并不感兴趣，而且身体不太好。因此，他改变职业，以写作谋生，并进入仕途，曾任驻西班牙公使，旅居欧洲长达17年。他的杰作《见闻札记》就在这其间完成的，其中的《瑞普·凡·温克尔》已成为妇孺皆知的故事。总之，华盛顿·欧文在世界文学史上有着不可或缺的地位。
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.