三怪客泛舟記：我們開始訂計劃

We pulled out the maps and we discussed plans.

拉開地圖，我們開始討論出行計劃。

We decided to start on the following Saturday.Har-ris and I would go down to Kingston in the morning and take the boat up to Chertsey，but George could not leave the City until the afternoon.(George goes to sleep at a bank from ten o'clock until four o'clock from Monday to Friday.On Satur-day they wake him up and put him out onto the street at two o'clock.)So George was going to meet us at Chertsey.

我們準備下星期六出發(fā)。早上哈里斯和我先到金斯頓，從那兒把船劃到徹特西和喬治碰頭。但喬治下午才能離開倫敦城。(因為喬治周一到周五要在銀行從上午十點“睡”到下午四點，只有在周六下午兩點他們才把他叫醒，攆到街上來。)所以，我們決定到徹特西和喬治碰頭。

The next question was where to sleep at night.

下一個問題是晚上在哪兒歇腳。

George and I did not want to sleep in hotels at night.We wanted to sleep outside.'How beautiful，'we said，'in the country，by the river，with the birds，the flowers and the trees all around us!'

喬治和我一致主張露營而不想睡在旅館里。我們說露營多么逍遙自在，“在河邊的野地里，小鳥，鮮花，樹木團團陪伴在周圍。”

I can imagine it easily…

我簡直能想象得出那幅情景……

At the end of the day，night comes and the world is peaceful and calm.Our little boat moves silently into some quiet little corner on the river.There we put up our tent，and we cook and eat our simple supper.Then we fill our pipes and we sit and talk quietly.Sometimes we stop for a moment or two and we listen to the water as it plays gently against the boat.The silver moon shines down on us and our heads are full of beautiful thoughts.We sit in silence for a time.We do not want to speak.Then we laugh quietly，put away our pipes，say 'Goodnight' and go to bed.The peaceful sound of the water against the boat sends us to sleep-and we dream.We dream that the world is young again…

白天漸漸隱去，夜晚悄悄來臨，周圍一片安寧、靜謐，我們的小船輕輕滑進幽靜的河灣。我們在那里支起帳篷，做點簡單的晚餐，吃完飯，我們裝滿煙斗，坐在那兒娓娓清談。聊一會兒天，我們便歇一會兒，聽著河水輕輕拍著小船。銀色的月光灑在身上，我們不禁浮想聯(lián)翩。一時大家端坐在寂靜里，心頭一番滋味無以言表。我們靜靜相視一笑，放下煙斗，互道一聲晚安，起身去睡覺。河水潺潺，輕拍船舷，送我們?nèi)雺簟Ｔ趬衾?，世界重新變得年輕……

'And what about when it rains?'Harris said.

“可是，要是下起雨來怎么辦呢?”哈里斯問。

He was right.When it rains，you do not enjoy living in tents.

他說的沒錯，下雨天露營實在是令人難以消受。

I thought about it again…

我又聯(lián)想起來……

It is evening.You are very wet.There is a lot of water in the boat and everything in it is wet，too.You find a place on the river bank which is not as wet as other places.You get out of the boat，pull out the tent，and two of you try to put it up.Because it is wet，it is very heavy.And then it falls on top of you.You cannot get it off your head，and you get angry.All the time it is raining heavily.It is difficult to put up a tent in good weather.In wet weather it is almost impossible.The other man does not help you.He starts to play about.You get your side of the tent up and begin to tie the ropes to the ground.Just then he pulls the tent from his side，and he destroys all your hard work.

你看，天色已晚，你全身已經(jīng)濕透，船里到處是水，所有東西都打濕了。你在岸上找了一塊稍微干一點的地方，兩個人出了船，把帳篷拖上岸，忙著把它支起來。帳篷浸透了水，異常沉重，突然又倒在你身上，壓著你，頭也伸不出來。你呢，簡直快氣瘋了，而雨還是瓢潑似地下。本來，天好的時候支帳篷就不容易，而到了雨天，根本沒戲。另一個人也不幫你，反而自己找樂子。你這邊的帳篷剛支起來，把繩子綁在地上的樁子上，他那邊使勁一拉，一下子把你辛辛苦苦干的活全廢了。

'Here!What do you think you're doing?'you call out.

“喂!你干什么?”你沖他大聲喊叫。

'What are you doing，you mean，'he answers angrily.

“你說，你自己在干什么?”他氣呼呼地答道。

'Don't pull it!You've got it all wrong，you stupid man!'you cry.

“別再扯了，全讓你扯亂了，你這頭蠢驢!”你又喊道。

'No，I haven't!'he shouts.'Let your side go!'

“得了，我才沒扯呢!”他也喊著，“你那邊不能松一松嗎?”

'I tell you，you're wrong!'you scream，and you wish you could get to him to hit him.You pull your side of the tent hard-and pull out all the ropes on his side.

“我跟你說，你那樣不對!”你尖聲吼起來，恨不能夠走過去揍他一頓。你使勁拉你這邊的帳篷，一下子把他那邊的繩子、樁子都拔了出來。

'Ah!The stupid fool!'you hear him say to himself.And then，suddenly，he gives a violent pull-and your side comes out，too.Slowly，you start to go round to his side to tell him what you think of him.At the same time，he begins to come round the other way，to tell you what he feels.And you follow each other round and round，and you shout at each other-until the tent falls down.And there you are!You stand and look at each other across the tent.At the same time，you both call out，'There you are!What did I tell you?'

“咳!你這個傻蛋!”你聽著他咕噥著，接著，也猛地一拉，你這邊繩子、樁子也出來了。你緩緩地朝他那邊走去，要和他理論;與此同時，他也繞過來要和你評是非。于是，兩個人隔著帳篷，你追我趕繞著圈，互相罵個不停。最后整個帳篷都倒了，你們兩個站在那兒，隔著這堆帳篷，互相瞪著眼，又異口同聲地叫道：“你看你!我是怎么對你說的?”

Meanwhile，the third man has been trying to get the water out of the boat.The water has run up his arms，and he is wet and angry.Suddenly，he wants to know what you are doing，and why the tent is not up yet.

這時候，還有第三個人，一直從小船里往外舀水。水已經(jīng)到胳膊了，他也是濕漉漉的，一肚子氣，他不明白你們在搞什么名堂，怎么帳篷還沒支起來。

When，at last，the tent is up，you carry the things out of the boat.Supper is mostly rainwater-rainwater bread，rainwater soup.Happily，you have something strong to drink.This brings back your interest in life until it is time to go to bed.

最后，帳篷算是支起來了，你把東西從船里搬出來。晚餐主要是雨水——雨水面包，雨水湯。幸虧你還有點夠味的東西喝，使你恢復對人生的興趣，然后酣然入夢。

There you dream that a very large animal has suddenly sat down on you.You wake up and you understand that something terrible has happened.At first，you think that the world has ended.Then you think that this cannot be true.So it must be thieves，or murderers，or fire.No help comes，and all you know is that thousands of people are kicking you，and you cannot breathe.

在夢里，你覺得有一只龐大的動物突然坐在你身上，你一下子醒了，意識到有什么可怕的事發(fā)生了。起初你還以為世界末日到了，后來想想又覺得不大可能，那么一定是盜劫、謀殺或者火災。誰也不來救助，你只覺得成千上萬的人在踢你，簡直透不過氣來。

Somebody else is in trouble，too.You can hear his cries.They are coming from under your bed.

還有人也遇到了麻煩，你聽見從床底下傳來的叫喊聲。

You decide to fight，and you hit out，left and right，with your arms and your legs.You are shouting all the time.At last you find your head in the fresh air.Near you，you see a half-dressed murderer.He is waiting to kill you.You are just going to start fighting him when you see that is Jim.

你決心反抗，手腳并用，左踢右掄，嘴里亂叫亂嚷，終于發(fā)現(xiàn)自己腦袋露出來了。離你不遠，你看見那個壞蛋了，半裸著身子，正等著要殺你。你正要和他拼命，才發(fā)現(xiàn)壞蛋不是別人正是吉姆。

At the same moment，he sees that it is you.

這時候，他也認清了是你。

'Oh，it's you，is it?'he says.

“哦，原來是你!沒錯吧?”他說。

'Yes，'you answer.'What's happened?'

“正是我!”你答道，“出什么事了?”

'The tent has blown down，I think，'he says.'Where's Bill?'

“我想帳篷給刮倒了吧，”他說，“比爾哪里去了?”

Then you both shout for Bill.The ground underneath you moves，and a voice says，'Get off my head!'

兩個人扯起嗓子喊比爾。你腳下有什么東西在動，一個聲音傳出來：“別踩我的腦袋!”

The next day you have no voices because you have all caught colds，and all day you argue with each other in angry whispers…

第二天，你們都說不出話來，因為都感冒了。大家整天都氣呼呼的，低聲粗氣，還不停地互相爭辯著。

We therefore decided that we would sleep out in tents on fine nights，and in hotels when it rained.

所以我們決定天氣好就在外面露營，下雨就住旅館。

Montmorency was very pleased about this.He does not like peace and quiet.He prefers noise.But he looks so good，so well-behaved.When old ladies and gentlemen look at him，tears come into their eyes.

“元帥”對此非常高興。它生來不喜歡安靜、寂寞的生活，而喜歡吵吵鬧鬧的場面。但它看著討人喜歡、舉止也得體，那些老太太、老先生們看著它那副模樣，準會感動得掉下淚來。

When he first came to live with me，I thought，'This dog will not be with me long.He is too good for this world.'But，by the end of the year，he had killed twelve chickens，which I had to pay for…I had pulled him out of a hundred and four-teen street fights…A woman had brought me a dead cat and had called me a murderer.Then I changed my ideas about Montmorency.

當它第一次來和我住的時候，我想：“這只小狗不會在我這兒久留的，對于這個世界來講，它實在是太好了。”可是到了年底，它已經(jīng)殺死了人家十二只小雞，我不得不替它賠償損失……它在街上打了一百一十四次架，每次我都得把它拉出來……一位婦女抱著一只給它咬死的貓來找我，叫我是兇手。于是我對“元帥”改變了看法。

We had decided where to sleep，so now we had to discuss what to take with us.We began to argue about this，so we a-greed that we had done enough for one night.

我們已經(jīng)決定了在哪里住宿，現(xiàn)在的問題是要討論該帶些什么東西，于是大家又爭執(zhí)起來。最后我們都說這一個晚上發(fā)的議論可真不少哇!