牛津書蟲系列 格列佛游記 6 Gulliver and his master

6 Gulliver and his master

6 格列佛和他的主人

Soon after we arrived，the whole family sat down at the table for dinner.There was a large piece of meat on a plate about eight metres across.The farmer put me on the table，with some small pieces of bread and meat in front of me.I was very frightened of falling off the edge of the table，which was ten metres from the ground.The farmer and his family were delighted to watch me eating food with my own small knife and fork.But when I started walking across the table to the farmer，his youngest son，a boy of about ten，picked me up by the legs.He held me so high in the air that my whole body trembled.Fortunately his father took me away at once，and angrily hit the boy hard on the head.But I re-membered!how cruel children can he to small animals，and I did not want the boy to take his revenge on me.So I fell on my knees and asked them not to punish the child any more.They seemed to understand.

我們到達不久，全家人坐在桌前吃飯。一個直徑大約有8米的盤子上放著一塊巨大的肉。農(nóng)場主把我放在桌上，我面前放著些小片面包和肉。我非常害怕從桌緣掉下去，這離地有10米高。農(nóng)場主和他的家人看著我用自己的刀叉吃飯感到很有趣。我開始朝農(nóng)場主走去時，他的小兒子，一個大約10歲的男孩，抓住我的腿提了起來。他把我舉在高空中，我全身都在發(fā)抖。幸好他的父親馬上把我拿走了，并且生氣地重重地打他的頭。我想起小孩子們對小動物會有多么殘酷，我可不想他找我報復(fù)，所以就雙膝跪下，請求他們不要再懲罰這個孩子。他們似乎理解了我的意思。

Just then I heard a noise behind me.It sounded like twelve machines running at the same time.I turned my head and saw a huge cat，three times larger than one of our cows.The farmer's wife held it in her arms，so that it could not jump at me.But in fact，because I showed no fear，there was no dan-ger，and the cat even seeemed a little afraid of me.

正在那時，我聽見背后發(fā)出一個響聲，聽起來就像十幾臺機器同時在運轉(zhuǎn)。我扭過頭，看見一巨大的貓，比我們的母牛還大3倍。農(nóng)場主的妻子把它抱在懷里，以免它向我跳來。但事實上因為我顯得一點也不害怕，根本就沒有危險，而這貓看起來倒有點怕我。

At the end of dinner，a servant came in with the farmer's one-year-old son in her arms.He immediately started crying and screaming，because he wanted to play with me.His moth-er smiled and put me in his hand.When he picked me up and put my head in his mouth，I shouted so loudly that he dropped me.Luckily，I was not hurt，but it showed me how danger-ous life was going to be in Brobdingnag.

用餐快結(jié)束時，一個仆人抱著農(nóng)場主的一歲兒子進來。他立即又哭又叫，因為他想跟我玩。他媽媽笑了，把我放在他的手中。他抓起我，把我的頭往他嘴里塞，我大聲吼叫，他松了手，幸好我沒有受傷，但是這表明了我在布羅卜丁奈格的生活將是多么的危險。

After eating，the farmer，or my master，as I shall now call him，went back to his work in the fields.I think he told his wife to take good care of me，because she put me carefully on her bed and locked the bedroom door.I was exhausted，and slept for two hours.

飯后，農(nóng)場主或者說我的主人，從現(xiàn)在起我將這樣稱呼他，又回到田野里干他的活。我想他已經(jīng)告訴了他的妻子好好照看我，因為她小心地把我放在她的床上，并且鎖上了臥室的門。我已精疲力盡，就睡了兩個小時。

When I woke up，I felt very small and lonely in such a huge room，and on such a large bed.Suddenly I saw two huge rats run towards me across the bed.One came right up to my face，so I pulled out my sword and cut open his stomach.The other ran away at once.I walked up and down on the bed，to con-trol my trembling legs，and looked at the dead rat.It was as large as a big dog，and its tail measured two metres.When my master’ s wife came into the room some time later，I showed her how I had killed the rat.She was delighted that I was not hurt，and threw the dead rat out of the window.

當(dāng)我醒來時，我感到在如此大的房間里、在如此大的床上自己非常渺小而孤獨。突然我看見兩只巨大的老鼠穿過床向我奔來，一只正好跑向我的臉，我拔出劍刺破了它的肚皮，另一只立即跑開了。我在床上走來走去，以控制我不住顫抖的雙腿，看著這只死老鼠。這只老鼠足有一條大狗那么大，尾巴有兩米長。我主人的妻子后來進了房間，我向她表演我是怎樣殺死老鼠的。她對我沒有受到傷害感到高興，把死老鼠扔出了窗外。

My master had a daughter who was about nine years old.She was given the special responsibility of taking care of me，and I owe her my life.During my stay in her country we were always together，and she saved me from many dangerous situa-tions.I called her Glumdalclitch，which means‘little nurse’.She was good at sewing，and managed to make some clothes for me in the thinnest material available.She also made me a small bed，which was placed on a shelf too high for rats to reach.Perhaps the most useful thing she did was to teach me the language，so that in a few days I could speak it quite well.

我的主人有個女兒，大約9歲，讓她特別負責(zé)照看我，全虧她我才能活下來。我呆在她的國家的日子里，我們總是在一起，她許多次把我救出危險。我叫她葛蘭達克利赤，意思是“小保姆”。她善于針線活，用最薄的布料給我做了一些衣服，還給我做了個小床，把它放在一個架子上，高得老鼠夠不著。也許她做得最有用的事是教我他們的語言，所以幾天后我就能說得相當(dāng)不錯了。

Soon all my master's neighbours were talking about the strange little creature he had found in a field.One of them came to see me，and as I walked towards him across the table，he put on his glasses.His eyes behind the glasses looked like the full moon shining into two windows.I thought this was very funny，and laughed loudly.Unfortunately，that made him very angry.I heard him whispering to my master all evening，and I was sorry I had laughed at him.

不久我主人的鄰居都在談?wù)撍谔镆袄锇l(fā)現(xiàn)的奇怪小生物。其中有一個來看我，我在桌子上向他走去，他戴上了眼鏡，鏡片后的眼睛就像滿月照進兩扇窗戶。我覺得這很滑稽，就大聲笑了。不幸的是，這令他很生氣，我聽見他跟我的主人一整夜都在咕咕唧唧，我對嘲笑他感到很抱歉。

Next day Glumdalclitch came to me in tears.

第二天葛蘭達克利赤滿面淚痕地來到我跟前。

‘You'll never guess what's happened!’she told me sadly.

“你絕不會猜到發(fā)生了什么事!”她哀傷地對我說。

‘Our neighbour has advised Father to show you to people，for money!Father's going to take you to market tomorrow，where there'll be crowds of people ready to pay for entertain-ment!I'm so ashamed!And perhaps you'll get hurt!Other people won't be as careful with you as I am!’

“我們的鄰居建議父親把你拿去展出，為了錢!父親明天將把你帶到市場上，那兒有成群的人愿意掏錢取樂!這太可恥了!而且你可能會受傷!別的人可沒有我對你那樣小心!”

‘Don't worry，Glumdalclitch，’I replied.‘As I'm a stranger here，I don't mind being shown to people like a strange wild animal.I must do what your father wants.’I was secretly hoping I would one day find a way of escaping and returning to my own country.

“不要擔(dān)心，葛蘭達克利赤，”我回答說，“由于我在這兒是個生人，我不介意像個稀奇的野生動物那樣展出。我必須按你父親所想的去做。”我暗地里希望有朝一日能找到逃跑的路回到我自己的國家。

So the next day my master and his daughter got on their huge horse.Glumdalclitch carried me inside a small box，which had air-holes so that I could breathe.When we arrived at the market town，my master hired the largest room in the public house，and placed me upon the table there.His daugh-ter stayed close to me to make sure that nobody hurt me.I was told to speak in their language，pull out my sword，drink from a cup，and do other things to amuse the crowd.Only thirty people were allowed in to see me at one time.On that first day everybody wanted to see me，and I was shown to over three hundred and fifty people.

這樣第二天我的主人和他的女兒騎上了他們龐大的馬。葛蘭達克利赤用一個小盒子帶著我，上面有透氣孔以便我呼吸。我們到達市鎮(zhèn)后，主人在客棧包了個最大的房間，把我放在那兒的桌子上，他的女兒站得離我很近，以保證沒人傷著我。我受命用他們的語言說話，拔出我的劍，用杯子喝，以及做其他一些事來逗樂圍觀的人。每次只讓30個人進去看我。第一天每個人都想看我，我被展給了350多人看。

My master's plan was so successful that he arranged to show me again on the next market day.I did not look forward to this at all.I was so tired with the journey and the entertainment that I could only walk an speak with difficulty for the next three days.Even when we were at home，neighbours and friends from all parts of the country came to look at me，and my master made me work hard to amuse them.So I had almost no rest.

我主人的計劃是如此成功，他安排了在下次集日再去展出我。我一點也不盼望這樣，我由于旅途和娛樂而累得隨后三天說話走路都很吃力。就是我們在家里時，鄰居和來自全國各地的朋友來看我，我的主人讓我賣力干活以逗樂他們。所以我?guī)缀鯖]有休息。

My master finally realized that he could make a fortune by showing me to people all over the country.So about two months after my arrival in Brobdingnag，we left the farm and started our journey to the capital.As before，Glumdalclitch came with us，to take care of me.On the way we stopped in many towns and villages，so that I could be shown to people.At last，after a journey of nearly five thousand kilometres，we arrived at the capital.Now I had to work even harder，as peo-ple came to look at me ten times a day.

我的主人終于意識到他可以把我拿到全國各地展出而大賺一筆。這樣大約在我來到布羅卜丁奈格后兩個月，我們離開了農(nóng)場，啟程去都城。和以前一樣，葛蘭達克利赤一起去，好照料我。路上我們在許多的城鎮(zhèn)和村莊停留，以便我能展給人們看。最后，在旅行了幾乎5000公里后我們終于到達了都城?，F(xiàn)在我必須更賣力地干活，因為每天來看我的人是以前的10倍。