三怪客泛舟記： 準備行裝

The following evening，we discussed what we wanted to take with us.Harris said，'Now get me a piece of pa-per，J.，and write everything down.George，you get a pencil，and I'll make the list.'

第二天晚上，我們又開始討論需要帶些什么東西。哈里斯說：“來，給我一張紙，杰，你來把需要的東西都記下來。喬治，你去拿筆，我就可以列清單了。”

That's Harris-he tells everybody what to do，and they do all the work.I remember that my Uncle Podger was like Harris…

這是哈里斯一貫的作風：他總是告訴大家要干什么活，讓大家忙得不亦樂乎。我不由記起來浦杰叔叔也和哈里斯一樣……

Everybody in the house had to help when Uncle Podger did a job.When they bought a picture once，Aunt Podger asked，'Now，where shall we put this?'

浦杰叔叔要是干點什么活，一家人都得幫忙。有一次他們買了一幅畫，浦杰嬸嬸問：“把畫掛在什么地方?”

'Oh，I'll do it.Don't worry about it.I'll do it all myself，'he said.And then he took off his coat to begin.He sent one of the girls out to buy some nails，and then he sent one of the boys to tell her how big the nails ought to be.'Now，Bill，you go and get my hammer，'he shouted.'And bring me a ruler，Tom.And Jim，I need a ladder-and a kitchen chair，too.Maria，you stay here to hold the light-and Tom，come here!You can give me the picture.'

“哦，我來吧，你們誰也甭操心，全交給我一個人得了。”他說著，脫掉外套，就要干活。他先叫了一個女孩子去買釘子，馬上又支使一個男孩子趕去告訴她釘子要多大的。“去，比爾，給我拿把錘子，”他喊著，“湯姆，去把尺子拿來。還有吉姆，我還需要個梯子——再要一把廚房里的椅子。瑪麗亞，別走開，給我拿著燈照亮——還有，湯姆，快過來，你把畫遞給我。”

Then he lifted the picture up…and he dropped it.He tried to catch the glass…and he cut himself.He looked for something to put round his finger，and he could not find anything.So he danced round the house，and he shouted at everybody.

說著，他把畫舉起來，沒想到一下又給掉了，他趕緊去抓玻璃，卻又把手割破了。他想找點東西把手指包上，可什么也找不著。就這樣，他滿屋子亂蹦亂跳，沖著每一個人嚷嚷。

Half an hour later，the finger had been tied up，they had bought new glass，and everything was ready.Uncle Podger tried again.Everybody stood round him.They were all ready to help.Two people held the chair， a third helped him to get on it，a fourth gave him a nail，and a fifth passed him the hammer.He took the nail…and he dropped it!

他花了半個小時才把手指包扎好;隨后玻璃也買回來了，萬事俱備。浦杰叔叔要再干一次，大家都圍著他站著，隨時幫忙。兩個人扶著椅子，第三個人扶他上去，第四個人給他遞釘子，第五個人把錘子遞給他。他拿著釘子……可這回釘子又掉了。

'There，'he said sadly.'Now the nail's gone.'

“你瞧，”他傷心地說，“釘子又掉了。”

So everybody got down on the ground to look for it.At last we found the nail，but then he lost the hammer.

于是大家全趴在地上找。最后好不容易找到了釘子，可接著又把錘子弄沒了。

'Where's the hammer?What did I do with the hammer?There are seven of you there，and you don't know where the hammer is!'

“錘子哪里去了?我剛才拿錘子干嗎來著?你們七個人都在這兒，居然沒一個知道錘子哪去了!”

We found the hammer for him，but then he lost the place on the wall where he was going to put the picture.So each one of us had to get up on the chair and look for the place.And each one of us thought that it was a different place.Then Uncle Podger tried again himself.This time he fell off the chair on to the piano.His head and his body hit the piano at the same time.The music was beautiful，but Uncle Podger's words were not!Aunt Maria was not pleased.She said that she did not want the children to listen to those terrible words.She added calmly，'The next time that you are going to put a picture on the wall，please tell me.Then I can arrange to go and spend a week with my mother.'

大家把錘子找到了給他，可是他剛才在墻上準備掛畫的記號又找不著了。大家輪流爬上椅子去找那個地方，可每個人找的都不一樣。浦杰叔叔自己又找了一遍，結果這次從椅子上摔下去，摔在鋼琴上，整個身體，從頭到腳都壓在上面。音樂真是美妙，但叔叔說的話可不那么好聽。瑪麗亞姑姑不高興了，她說她可不想讓孩子們聽見那些粗話。接著又冷冷地加了一句：“往后你再掛個畫什么的，最好先告訴我一聲，我好收拾東西去媽媽家住上一星期。”

Uncle Podger got up and tried again，and at midnight the picture was on the wall.It was not very straight，and everyone was very tired and unhappy.Uncle Podger looked at the picture proudly and said，'You see，it was only a little job!'…

浦杰叔叔爬上椅子，又試一次。直到半夜，畫才算是掛上去了，可還不太直，一家人也都精疲力盡，滿心不悅。浦杰叔叔卻看著畫，不無驕傲地說：“瞧瞧，小事一樁。”

Harris is like that.So I told him that George would write down the list，and I would do the work.He could get the pencil and the paper.

哈里斯就象浦杰叔叔那樣。所以我對他說，由喬治列清單，我來說要什么，而他去拿筆和紙。

The first list was too long.So we started again.

我們列的第一個清單太長了，只得又重新開始。

'Now，'George said，'we don't want to take a tent.We can put a cover over the boat at night.It will be like a little house，lovely and warm and comfortable.It's much easier than a tent.'

“你瞧，”喬治發(fā)話了，“咱們不要帶帳篷了，晚上可以在船上支個頂篷，當蓋子，就象個小房子，又暖和，又可愛，又舒服，卻比帳篷簡單多了。”

Then we made a list of all the clothes we needed.George told us that he knew all about this kind of thing-and we be-lieved him.We discovered later that this was not true.

我們又列了個單子，記下要帶的衣服。喬治告訴我們這些事他全通曉——我們信了他的話，后來才發(fā)現(xiàn)并非象他說的那樣。

Next we talked about the food.

再接下來，我們討論吃的東西。

'First，breakfast，'George began.'We need eggs，cold meat，tea，bread and butter，of course.And for dinner we can take cold chicken legs，tomatoes，cold meat，fruit，cakes，chocolate…We can drink water.'then he added，'And we can take a bottle of whisky，too-for when we are sick，you know.'

“首先是早餐，”喬治說，“當然了，要有雞蛋、冷肉、茶、面包和黃油。正餐可以帶上冷雞腿、西紅柿、冷肉、水果、蛋糕、巧克力……再喝點水。”說著又加了一句：“咱們帶上一瓶威士忌吧——病了就用得著了。”

We did not wish to talk about being sick.But later，we were glad we had taken the whisky.

我們都不愿意談到生病。但是后來，我們還真慶幸?guī)Я送考伞?/p>

So we made our list，and it was a long one.

這就是我們列的單子，長長的一串。