三怪客泛舟記：來到牛津

We left Streatley early the next morning.We were going to Culham， and we wanted to spend the night there.Between Streatley and Walling ford the river is not very inter-esting.Then from Cleeve there is quite a long piece of the river which has no locks. Most people are pleased about this because it makes everything much easier，but I quite like locks，myself. I remember that George and I nearly had an accident in a lock once…

第二天一大早我們就離開了斯特雷特利。我們計(jì)劃去卡拉姆，在那里過夜。從斯特雷特利到沃靈福德一帶，河上風(fēng)光平淡無奇。從克利夫以上，好長一段河面上沒有一座水閘。對于此，大多數(shù)人很滿意，因?yàn)檫@樣，任何事情容易多了。對我個(gè)人來說，我是十分喜歡水閘的。我還想起有一次喬治和我在一個(gè)水閘差點(diǎn)惹出禍來……

It was a lovely day， and there were a lot of boats in the lock.Someone was taking a photograph of us all， and the photographer was hoping to sell the picture to the people in the lock.I did not see the photographer at first， but suddenly George started to brush his trousers，and he fixed his hair and put on his hat. Then he sat down with a kind，but sad，expression on his face，and he tried to hide his feet.

那天天氣真好，水閘里擠滿了船。有人在給我們照相，攝影師想借此把照片賣給水閘里的游客。起初，我沒有看見攝影師，卻突然看見喬治慌慌張張地把褲子拉平，把頭發(fā)擺弄擺弄，又把帽子戴上。他坐下來，臉上裝出一副和善，但又憂郁的表情，還拼命把兩只腳藏起來。

My first idea was that he had seen a girl that he knew，and I looked round to see who it was.Everybody in the lock had stopped moving and they all had fixed expressions on their faces.All the girls were smiling prettily，and all the men were trying to look brave and handsome.

我馬上猜想他突然看見了自己認(rèn)識的姑娘。我四下張望，看看她到底是誰。可是水閘里的人一個(gè)個(gè)都變成了木頭人似的，一動不動，臉上的表情繃得緊緊的。所有的姑娘們都做出優(yōu)雅的微笑狀，所有的男人們都擺出一副勇敢、瀟灑的表情。

Then I saw the photographer and at once I understood.I wondered if I would be in time.Our boat was the first one in the lock， so I must look nice for the man's photograph.

后來，我看到了攝影師才恍然大悟。我還趕得上嗎?我們的船在水閘最前一排，我可一定要在照片上顯得好看才行。

So I turned round quickly and stood in the front of the boat.I arranged my hair carefully，and I tried to make myself look strong and interesting.

于是，我趕快扭過身子，站在船頭，仔細(xì)理了一下頭發(fā)，盡量讓自己顯得英勇又機(jī)敏。

We stood and waited for the important moment when the man would actually take the photograph.Just then，someone behind me called out，'Hi! Look at your nose!'

我們站在那兒，等待著拍照的關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻。這時(shí)，忽然我背后有人喊了起來。“喂!瞧你的鼻子!”

I could not turn round to see whose nose it was，but I had a quick look at George's nose.It seemed to be all right.I tried to look at my own nose，and that seemed to be all right，too.

我當(dāng)然不能回頭去看究竟是誰的鼻子，不過，我偷偷照了一眼喬治的鼻子，那鼻子好好的。我又使勁看看自己的鼻子，也是好端端的。

'Look at your nose，you stupid fool!'the voice cried again， more loudly this time.

“瞧瞧你的鼻子!你這個(gè)傻瓜!”那人又扯大了嗓門叫道。

And then another voice called，'Push your nose out!You two，with the dog!'

接著，又有一個(gè)聲音喊道：“把你們的鼻子挪開，你們兩個(gè)，帶狗的!”

We could not turn round because the man was just going to take the photograph.Was it us they were calling to?What was the matter with our noses?Why did they want us to push them out?

我們實(shí)在不能轉(zhuǎn)身，因?yàn)閿z影師馬上就要拍照了。他們是在吆喝我們嗎?我們的鼻子出什么問題了?干嗎要我們把鼻子挪開呢?

But now everybody in the lock started shouting， and a very loud， deep voice from the back called，'Look at your boat!You，in the red and black caps!If you don't do something quickly， there'll be two dead bodies in that photograph!'

現(xiàn)在，整個(gè)水閘里的人都咆哮起來了。從我們背后傳來一個(gè)洪亮的聲音：“看看你們的船!你們兩個(gè)戴紅帽子和黑帽子的家伙。你們要是動作再不快點(diǎn)，照片上會照上兩個(gè)死人了!”

We looked then， and we saw that the nose of our boat was caught in the wooden gate at the front of the lock.The water was rising， and our boat was beginning to turn over.Quickly，we pushed hard against the side of the lock， to move the boat.The boat did move， and George and I fell over on our backs.

這時(shí)，我們才轉(zhuǎn)身一看，看見我們的船鼻子卡在水閘前的木門里。水在不斷升高，我們的船眼看就要翻了。我們趕緊使勁向閘門推，總算是把船推離了水閘，可我們兩個(gè)摔了個(gè)仰面朝天。

We did not come out well in that photograph because the man took it just as we fell over.We had expressions of' Where am I?'and' What's happened?'on our faces，and we were waving our feet about wildly. In fact， our feet nearly filled the photograph. You could not see much else.

照片出來時(shí)我們簡直不成樣子。因?yàn)榍≡谖覀兯さ沟囊祸?，攝影師拍了照。我們臉上一副“我這是在哪兒啊?”和“出什么事了?”的表情，四只腳在空中亂舞。說句實(shí)在的，我們的腳幾乎把照片占滿了，沒剩下多少風(fēng)景好看了。

Nobody bought the photographs. They said they did not want photographs of our feet.The photographer was not very pleased…

沒有一個(gè)人買照片。他們說他們才不愿意買只有我們四只腳的照片呢。攝影師呢，也滿心不快。

We passed Wallingford and Dorchester，and we spent the night at Clifton Hampden，which is a very pretty little village.

我們又駛過沃靈福德，多切斯特，在克利夫頓·漢普登過夜，那是個(gè)風(fēng)光十分綺麗的小村莊。

The next morning we were up early，because we wanted to be in Oxford by the afternonn.By half past eight we had fin-ished breakfast and we were through Clifton lock.At half past twelve we went through Iffley lock.

第二天早晨我們起得很早，因?yàn)槲覀兿胂挛绲臅r(shí)候趕到牛津。還不到八點(diǎn)半我們就吃完了早餐，通過了克利夫頓水閘。十二點(diǎn)半，我們又駛過了伊夫雷水閘。

From there to Oxford is the most difficult part of the river.First the river carries you to the right，then to the left;then it takes you out into the middle and turns you round three times.We got in the way of a lot of other boats;a lot of other boats got in our way-and a lot of bad words were used.

可是從那里到牛津的那段水道是最難航行的。一開始，水流一會兒把你沖向右，一會兒沖向左;接著又把你沖到河中央，打三個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)。一會兒我們的船撞上了很多別人的船;一會兒別人的船又擋了我們的道——總不免謾罵聲起，惡語傷人。

However，at Oxford we had two good days.There are a lot of dogs in the town. Montmorency had eleven fights on the first day and fourteen on the second.This made him very happy.

還好，我們在牛津愉快地玩了兩天。城里有很多狗，“元帥”到的第一天就打了十一次架;第二天又打了十四次。這下子可過足了癮。

If you are thinking of taking a trip on the river， and you are going to start from Oxford， take your own boat(unless you can take someone else's without being discovered). The boats that you can hire on the Thames above Marlow are all right： they do not let too much water in， and they have seats and things. But they are not really boats which you want people to see.The person who hires one of these boats is the kind of person who likes to stay under the trees.He likes to travel early in the morning or late at night， when there are not many people about to look at him.When he sees someone he knows， he gets out of the boat and hides behind a tree.I remember that some friends and I hired one of these boats one summer…

要是你打算從牛津出發(fā)開始河上旅行，最好還是帶自己的船去(當(dāng)然，帶了別人的船去也可以，只要別人不察覺)。泰晤士河上在馬洛以前租的船倒還不錯：不會進(jìn)太多的水，有坐的地方，配備也齊全?？蛇@些船的外表都不是能讓你出風(fēng)頭、擺架子的。租這種游船的人都是性格溫和的人，喜歡停在樹蔭之下。他們大多清晨或者黃昏之后才劃船，因?yàn)槟菚?，沒有多少人看他們。他們一旦看見熟人，就會跳出船，躲到樹后面去。我還記得有一年夏天，我和幾個(gè)朋友也租了那樣一條船……

We had written to ask for a boat， and， when we arrived at the boathouse， we gave our names.The man said，'Oh，yes.'And then he called out to another man，'Jim，fetch “The Queen of the Thames”.'

我們預(yù)先寫信去訂了一條船。我們到了船塢，報(bào)上自己的姓名。那個(gè)人說：“哦，對了。”接著，他又叫出來另一個(gè)人，“吉姆，去把那艘'泰晤士河皇后號'拖來。”

Five minutes later，Jim came back with a very old piece of wood. He had clearly just dug it up from a hole in the ground. When he dug it up， he had damaged it very badly.

五分鐘之后，吉姆拖著一截古老的爛木頭回來了。很顯然是他剛才從地底下挖掘出來的，而且挖掘出土的時(shí)候還碰壞了許多地方。

We asked Jim what it was.

我們問吉姆這玩意是什么。

'It's“The Queen of the Thames”，'he answered.

“是'泰晤士河皇后號'，”他回答說。

We laughed at this，and then one of us said，'All right.Now go and fetch the real boat.'

我們大聲笑話著，然后其中一人說：“行了，快去把真船拖過來吧!”

They said that this was the real boat…

可他們說，這的確是條真真正正的游船。