吹小號的天鵝 第21期:路易斯(5)

　　"Do not let an unnatural sadness settle over you,Louis," said the cob. "Swans must be cheerful, notsad; graceful, not awkward; brave, not cowardly.

　　“不要讓不正常的悲傷把你擊倒，路易斯，”雄天鵝說，“天鵝一定要快樂，不要悲傷;要優(yōu)雅，不要笨拙;要勇敢，不要怯懦。

　　Remember that the world is full of youngsters whohave some sort of handicap that they mustovercome.

　　要記住，這世上到處都是有某種障礙要去克服的年輕人。

　　You apparently have a speech defect. I am sure youwill overcome it, in time.

　　你顯然是有語言缺陷的。我相信你早晚能戰(zhàn)勝它的。

　　There may even be some slight advantage, at your age, in not being able to say anything.

　　在你這個年紀，不能說話反倒可能會有一點點的好處呢。

　　It compels you to be a good listener.

　　這會讓你成為一個好聽眾的。

　　The world is full of talkers, but it is rare to find anyone who listens.

　　這世上到處都是說客，但卻很難找到一個聽眾。

　　And I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when youare talking."

　　我保證你在聽別人說的時候比你自己說的時候能得到更多的收獲。”

　　"My father does quite a lot of talking himself," thought Louis.

　　“我爸爸就是個特別能說的。”路易斯想。

　　"Some people," continued the cob, "go through life chattering and making a lot of noise withtheir mouth;

　　“有些人，”雄天鵝繼續(xù)道，“終其一生都在喋喋不休，用他們的嘴巴制造出無數(shù)的噪音;

　　they never really listen to anything--they are too busy expressing their opinions, which are oftenunsound or based on bad information.

　　他們從來沒有真正傾聽過什么——他們太忙于發(fā)表他們自己的意見了，其實他們的意見往往是從別人那里聽來的，或者是錯誤的。

　　Therefore, my son, be of good cheer! Enjoy life; learn to fly! Eat well; drink well! Use your ears;use your eyes!

　　因此，我的兒子，要振作起來!享受生活;學會飛翔!好好吃，好好喝!運用你的耳朵;運用你的眼睛!

　　And I promise that someday I will make it possible for you to use your voice.

　　我保證總有一天我會讓你用上你的嗓子的!

　　There are mechanical devices that convert air into beautiful sounds.

　　我知道有一種能把空氣轉變成美麗的聲音的機械裝置。

　　One such device is called a trumpet.

　　這種東西叫小號。

　　I saw a trumpet once, in my travels.

　　我曾經(jīng)在旅途中見過一把小號。

　　I think you may need a trumpet in order to live a full life.

　　我認為你大概需要一把小號才能使你的生活圓滿。

　　I've never known a Trumpeter Swan to need a trumpet, but your case is different.

　　我從不知道一個號手天鵝居然會需要一把小號，不過你的情況特殊。

　　I intend to get you what you need.

　　我打算給你弄到你所需要的。

　　I don't know how I will manage this, but in the fullness of time it shall be accomplished.

　　我還不知道怎么才能辦得到，但以后會有辦法的。

　　And now that our talk has come to a close, let us return gracefully to the other end of thepond, where your mother and your brothers and sisters await us!"

　　現(xiàn)在我們的談話該結束了，讓我們用優(yōu)美的姿勢游回到池塘的另一頭吧。你的媽媽和哥哥姐姐們在等著我們呢!”

　　The cob turned and swam off. Louis followed.

　　雄天鵝轉身往回游。路易斯跟著他。

　　It had been an unhappy morning for him.

　　對他來說，這真是個不開心的早晨。

　　He felt frightened at being different from his brothers and sisters. It scared him to bedifferent.

　　知道了自己和哥哥姐姐們不同以后，他感到害怕了。這一點嚇壞了他。

　　He couldn't understand why he had come into the world without a voice.

　　他不明白為什么自己生來就沒有嗓子。

　　Everyone else seemed to have a voice. Why didn't he?

　　所有的人似乎都有嗓子。為什么他沒有?

　　"Fate is cruel," he thought. "Fate is cruel to me."

　　“命運真殘酷，” 他想，“命運對我太殘酷了。”

　　Then he remembered that his father had promised to help, and he felt better.

　　接著他想起了父親許諾過要幫助他，心情這才好了一點兒。

　　Soon they joined the others, and everyone started water games, and Louis joined in, dippingand splashing and diving and twisting.

　　不久他們來到了其他人的身邊，大家正在水里游戲呢，路易斯也加入過去跟大家一起汲水潑水，潛水轉圈兒。

　　Louis could splash water farther than any of the others, but he couldn't shout while he wasdoing it.

　　路易斯能把水潑得比別人都高，可他在潑水時卻不能喊出聲來。

　　To be able to shout while you are splashing water is half the fun.

　　潑水的時候你可以大喊大叫，潑水的一半樂趣就在這里。