[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。
On one of those sober and rather melancholy days, in the latter part of Autumn, when the shadows of morning and evening almost mingle together, and throw a gloom over the decline of the year, I passed several hours in rambling about Westminster Abbey. There was something congenial to the season in the mournful magnificence of the old pile;and, as I passed its threshold, seemed like stepping back into the regions of antiquity, and losing myself among the shades of former ages.
I entered from the inner court of Westminster School, through a long, low, vaulted passage, that had an almost subterranean look, being dimly lighted in one part by circular perforations in the massive walls. Through this dark avenue I had a distant view of the cloisters, with the figure of an old verger, in his black gown, moving along their shadowy vaults, and seeming like a spectre from one of the neighboring tombs. The approach to the abbey through these gloomy monastic remains prepares the mind for its solemn contemplation. The cloisters still retain something of the quiet and seclusion of former days. The gray walls are discolored by damps, and crumbling with age;a coat of hoary moss has gathered over the inscriptions of the mural monuments, and obscured the death's heads, and other funereal emblems. The sharp touches of the chisel are gone from the rich tracery of the arches;the roses which adorned the key-stones have lost their leafy beauty;everything bears marks of the gradual dilapidations of time, which yet has something touching and pleasing in its very decay.