三怪客泛舟記： 在船上的第一夜

After some time，Harris and I began to think that Bell Weir lock had disappeared.'Perhaps someone has tak-en it away，'we said.George had towed the boat as far as Staines，and we had towed it from there.It seemed to get heav-ier and heavier.We began to think that we were right and that someone had moved the lock.But，finally，at half past seven，we reached it and got through it.By now we just wanted to eat and to go to bed.So we stopped before we reached Magna Charta Island.It was quite a pretty place and we tied our boat to a big tree.

不久，哈里斯和我開始懷疑貝爾·韋爾水閘消失了。“也許有誰給挪走了吧，”我們說。因為喬治把我們一直拉到斯泰恩斯，接著我們又拉。船越來越沉，我們認為自己的懷疑沒錯，肯定有人把水閘挪走了。一直到晚上七點半，我們終于到了，把船拉了過去。我們那會兒只想吃飯、睡覺，所以還沒有到大憲章島我們便停了下來。找了一個風(fēng)景如畫的地方，把船拴到了大樹上。

We were looking forward to having something to eat then，but George said，'No!It's better to put the cover on the boat first，before it gets too dark.All our work will be finished then.We'll be able to sit down and enjoy our meal.'

那時我們都盼著吃點什么，可喬治卻說：“別忙，最好先把船篷支起來，要不然天就黑了。等到活干完了，再坐下來舒舒服服地吃一頓晚餐。”

None of us had realized that it would be so difficult to fix the cover.There were five pieces of metal and you put these into special holes on the side of the boat.The pieces of metal were half circles，and when you had put them into the holes，you just had to pull the cover over them.

我們誰也沒想到支個船篷竟那么費事。一共有五個半圓形的鐵條，你把它們插進船舷特制的小孔里，把篷布拉好，蓋上就行了。

We thought it would probably take about ten minutes.

我們想這活用不了十分鐘。

We were wrong.

但我們錯了。

We took the pieces of metal，and we began to drop them into their holes.You would not expect this to be dangerous work，but it was.

我們拿起鐵條要插到船上相對應(yīng)的插孔里。誰也沒想到那是危險的活，但的確如此。

First of all，the pieces of metal would not fit into their holes.We had to jump on them，and kick them，and beat them.And when we got one in，we found that it was the wrong piece of metal for those holes.So we had to take it out again.

最要命的是那些鐵條跟插孔的尺寸根本不符。我們在上面又踩又跳，又踢又打，好不容易插進去了，才發(fā)現(xiàn)插錯了地方，又得使勁拔出來。

At last we got them finished.Then we only had to put the cover on.George took one end，and he fastened it over the front of the boat.Harris stood in the middle of the boat to take the cover from George.I stayed at the back of the boat to take the end of the cover from Harris.

終于弄停當了，只要把篷布打開就行了。喬治拿一頭，把前端固定在船頭。哈里斯站在中間，從喬治那兒接過篷布，我站在船尾，從哈里斯手里接過另一頭。

George did his job all right，but it was new work to Harris and he did everything wrong.

喬治的活干得不錯，可是哈里斯是個生手，一下子全讓他搞亂了。

I do not know how he did it，and Harris himself could not explain it later.After ten minutes of really hard work，he was inside the cover.He could not get out.He fought the cover hard- and knocked George over.Then George got angry and he began to fight，too.George could not get out of the cover ei-ther.

我不知道他怎么搞的，他自己后來也說不明白。他呼哧呼哧擺弄了十分鐘，便把自己裹在篷布里怎么也出不來了。他在篷布底下又踢又拽，把喬治也給掀翻了。喬治也火了，拼命掙扎，終于自己也出不來了。

At the time，I did not know anything about all this.I did not understand what was happening anyway.They had told Mont-morency and me to stand and wait.So Montmorency and I stood there and waited.We could see that the cover was mov-ing about quite violently.However，we thought that it was all necessary for the job.We did nothing because they had told us to wait.

那時候，我什么情況都不知道，反正我也不懂究竟發(fā)生了什么。他們讓我和“元帥”站著等，所以我們倆一直站在那兒等著。我們都看見了篷布猛烈翻動著，可我們還以為這是一道必要的工序，因此我們不敢插手。本來嘛，是他們讓我們等著的。

We also heard many bad words coming from under the cover.Montmorency and I decided that this was because the job was very difficult.

我們也聽得見篷布底下傳來好些罵人的臟話。“元帥”和我都以為那是因為活太難干的緣故。

We waited for some time，but everything seemed to get worse.Finally George's head appeared over the side of the boat.It said，'We can't breathe under here!Why don't you help us，you great stupid thing!'

我們等了半天，情況越來越糟糕。最后喬治的腦袋從船的那一邊探出來，開口說道：“你這個大笨蛋!我們在這兒快悶死了，你不能伸伸手嗎?”

So I went and helped them.Harris's face was nearly black，so I was just in time.

因此我走過去伸手搭救他們，哈里斯臉上發(fā)青，看來我?guī)偷眠€挺及時。

It took another half an hour after that to fix the cover.And then we started to prepare supper.We needed some hot water to make tea，so we put the water on the stove at the front of the boat，and we went to the back.We pretended that we were not interested in the water at all.We wanted it to think we did not care if it got hot or not.We began to get the other things out.

又忙了半個小時才把蓬蓋支好，然后我們開始弄晚餐。我們要用熱水沏茶，于是就把水放在船頭的爐子上煮，自己到船尾去了，還假裝出一副對它根本不感興趣的樣子，讓它明白我們才不在乎水什么時候開呢。我們又忙著去干其它的事。

That is the only way to get hot water on the river.If the water knows that you are waiting for it，it will never get hot.You have to go away and begin your meal without it.You must not look at it.Then you will soon hear it making a lot of noise，because it wants to be made into tea.

要想在河上燒開水，這是唯一的方法。要是水知道你在等著它開，它就永遠不會熱。你必須走開，去吃你的飯，好像根本不想喝水，甚至瞧都不瞧一眼，那水很快就弄出咕嘟咕嘟的噪音，急于要泡茶了。

It is also a good idea to talk very loudly to each other.You must say that you do not want any tea，that you do not need any tea，and that you are not going to have any tea.You get very near the water and you shout，'I don't want any tea.Do you，George?'

還有個好辦法就是大聲說話，說你一點不想喝茶，不需要沏茶，也不打算泡茶。你走近水壺，大聲說話。 “我可不想喝茶。喬治，你呢?”

And George shouts back，'Oh，no.I don't like tea.We'll have milk.'

喬治也喊：“哦，不，我才不喜歡喝茶呢，咱們喝牛奶吧。”

This makes the water very angry，and it gets hot very fast.

一聽此話，水很生氣，很快就沸騰了。

We did this，and，when everything else was ready，the tea was ready，too.Then we sat down to have supper.We really wanted that supper.We needed that supper.And for thirty-five minutes nobody on the boat spoke.

我們就是用了這樣的手腕。飯做好了，茶也好了，大家坐下來吃晚餐。我們需要的就是這頓晚餐，所以足足有三十五分鐘，整個船上鴉雀無聲，誰也不說話。

After supper，we sat and smiled at each other.We smiled at Montmorency，too.We loved everybody.We sat back，we lit our pipes，and we began to talk.

吃過晚飯，我們笑容可掬地坐下來，甚至對“元帥”，我們也是滿面微笑，我們覺得每一個人都那么可親可愛。大家坐著，向后斜靠著，點著煙斗，聊了起來。

George told us about something very funny that happened to his father once…

喬治說起了他父親親身經(jīng)歷的許多有趣的事兒……

When he was young，George's father was travelling with a friend.One night they stopped at a little hotel.They spent the evening there with some other young men.After a very happy evening they went to bed.It was late，and，by that time，they(George's father and George's father's friend)were feeling quite happy themselves.Anyway，they were going to sleep in the same room，but in different beds.When they got into the room，they dropped their light，which went out.So they had to undress and get into bed in the dark.They thought they were getting into separate beds.However，because they could not see， they both got into the same one.One of them got in with his head at the top of the bed.The other one got in on the other side of the bed.He lay with his feet by the first one's head.

喬治父親年輕時，一次和一個朋友去旅行。一天他們到了一家客棧，晚上和其他一群年輕人一起度過。時間過得很愉快，大家很高興，也睡得很晚。喬治的父親和那位朋友還有點陶陶然，他們打算睡在一個房間里，兩張床上。他們走進房間時，蠟燭頭掉下來滅了。他們在暗中摸索，脫了衣服，爬上床。他們還以為都上了自己的床，可是因為看不見，還是上了一張床。一個從床頭上的，另一個從另一頭爬上去，一個的腳正好放在另一個的頭邊。

Nobody spoke for a moment.Then George's father said，'Joe!'

有一會兒兩人都沒說話，后來喬治的父親說：“喬!”

'What's the matter，Tom?'Joe replied，from the other end of the bed.

“怎么回事兒?湯姆?”喬從床另外一頭回答。

'Why，there's a man in my bed，'George's father said.'His feet are here，next to me.'

“唉喲，我床上有人，”喬治的父親說，“他的腳在我旁邊。”

'Well，that's very strange，Tom，'Joe answered，'but there's a man in my bed，too.'

“是嗎?真是怪事，湯姆，”喬回答說，“我床上可不也有人嘛。”

'What are you going to do?'George's father asked.

“那你打算怎么辦啊?”喬治的父親問。

'Well，I'm going to throw him out，'Joe replied.

“哼，我要把他給扔出去，”喬說。

'So am I，'George's father said，bravely.

“對，我也這么辦，”喬治的父親壯起膽子說。

There was a short fight，and then there were two heavy bangs on the floor.After a moment or two，a rather sad voice said，'I say，Tom!'

短兵相接，只聽得地上傳來“梆梆”兩響，過了一會，傳來一個悲切的聲音。“我說，湯姆!”

'Yes?'

“噯，我在這兒。”

'How have you got on?'

“你怎么樣了?”

'Well，to tell the truth，my man's thrown me out.'

“唉，老實對你說吧，我這邊那個人把我扔出來了。”

'My man's thrown me out，too…I say，this isn't a very good hotel，is it?'…

“我這邊的人也把我扔出來了……我說，這可不象是家正經(jīng)客棧，是吧?”

At the end of George's story，Harris asked，'What was the name of the hotel?'

喬治的故事講完了，哈里斯問：“那個客棧叫什么名字?”

'The Riverside，'George replied.'Why?'

“河畔客棧，”喬治答道，“怎么了?”

'Ah，it isn't the same hotel，then，'Harris answered.

“啊，那不是同一家客棧了，”哈里斯回答說。

'What do you mean?'George asked.

“你這話什么意思?”喬治問。

'Well，it's strange，'Harris said，'but the same thing hap-pened to my father once.I've often heard him tell the story.'

“嗯，真是蹊蹺，”哈里斯說，“我父親也曾遇到過這么一回事，我常聽他講這個故事。”

After that，we went to bed，but I slept very badly.

然后，我們都去上床睡覺，可我睡得特別不踏實。