雙語對照 | 書蟲二級《鋼琴之戀》：2.一個窮孩子

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2.A Poor Boy

2.一個窮孩子

The teacher's name was Mr Grey. He was grey, like his name: he was old and grey and tired. Everything about him was grey: grey suit, grey shirt, grey hair and a long, thin, grey face. When he smiled the children saw his long, grey teeth. But he did not often smile. Mr Grey did not enjoy his job. He did not like children.

這里的老師是格雷先生。他的人和他的名字一樣陳腐老套。他年歲大了，頭發(fā)灰白，看上去疲憊不堪。他身上的每一樣東西都是灰色的。他的外套是灰色的，襯衫是灰色的，頭發(fā)是花白的，一張臉也瘦長而蒼白。他咧嘴一笑，孩子們就能看到他那長長的、灰白的牙齒。但他不常笑。格雷先生對他的工作一點也不熱心，他不喜歡孩子們。

'Why does he work here?' one of the children asked one day. 'He doesn't like us. '

“他干嗎干這份工作?”一天，有個孩子問道，“他又不喜歡我們。”

'But he likes the long school holidays!' said Tony. The other children laughed. They thought that was a very clever answer.

“可他喜歡學校長長的假期!”托尼說。其他孩子紛紛笑了起來，覺得他的回答很聰明。

But Tony was not a clever boy. He was big and slow and silent. He did not enjoy his lessons. Usually he just sat at his desk and waited quietly for four o'clock to come, when he could go home.

不過，托尼可不是個聰明的孩子。他個子高大，慢吞吞的，話也很少。他不喜歡聽講，平常他總是坐在自己的座位上靜靜地等著，等到4點鐘，他就可以回家了。

But Tuesday mornings were different, because Tuesday was music day. Every Tuesday morning an old lady called Mrs Lark came to the school. Mrs Lark played the piano and the children sang. She was not a very good pianist, but she liked children and she enjoyed her work. She knew a lot of songs too. Every Tuesday her fat little fingers flew like birds up and down the keys of the piano. The children sang like birds, too. Then twelve o'clock came. Mrs Lark said 'goodbye' and locked up the piano for another week.

但是，星期二的早晨卻不一樣，因為這一天是唱歌的日子。每個星期二早晨，一位被大家稱作拉克夫人的老太太都會到學校來，她彈鋼琴，孩子們唱歌。她的琴彈得不太好，可她喜歡孩子們，也喜歡這份工作。她會彈的曲子真不少。每個星期二，她胖胖的、短小的手指頭都會像小鳥一樣在琴鍵上靈活地上下跳躍，孩子們唱得也像小鳥一樣動聽。一轉(zhuǎn)眼，12點就到了。拉克夫人說聲“再見”，把鋼琴鎖上，再想唱歌就要等下個星期了。

Tony did not often hear music. His family was poor, and poor people did not often hear music. There was no TV or radio in those days. There were concerts in the town, of course, but poor people did not go to concerts. Sometimes an Italian street musician came to town. He had a little piano on wheels, and a poor thin monkey which sat on top of it. The people came out of their houses to listen to his music. Then the monkey went round with a little tin cup. 'Give us a penny!' sang the musician. But when the monkey came back, the tin cup was always empty. The musician shook his head and pushed his little piano away.

托尼難得聽到音樂。他家境貧寒，而窮苦人家總是沒什么音樂可聽的。那個時候既沒有電視，也沒有收音機，城里當然也舉行音樂會，但窮人是去不起的。城里偶爾也會來一個意大利流浪琴師。他有架帶輪子的小鋼琴，琴上還坐著一只可憐的小瘦猴。人們紛紛走出門來聽他演奏。接著，小猴就拿著一只小小的錫杯在人群里轉(zhuǎn)一圈。“施舍點吧!”琴師喝道。可是小猴回來的時候，杯子總是空的。琴師只有搖搖頭，推著小小的鋼琴走了。

There were six children in the Evans family, and Tony was the oldest. They lived in a very small house at the end of a long, grey street. The toilet was outside, in the yard. There was no bathroom. Everybody washed in the kitchen. On Saturday evenings everybody in the family had a bath one after another in an old tin bath in front of the fire. It took all evening. Every Monday Mrs Evans washed all the family's clothes in the tin bath. But the Evans were clean and they had enough to eat. Tony did not feel poor, because all his friends were poor too.

埃文斯家有六個孩子，托尼是老大。他們一家住在一條陰暗的長巷子盡頭一幢很小很小的房子里。馬桶在外面的院子里。家里沒地方洗漱，全家人只得在廚房里將就。每到周六晚上，一家人就一個接一個在爐火前用一個舊的錫澡盆洗澡，要一整晚才能全部洗完。每個星期一，埃文斯太太都要把一家人的衣服泡在錫澡盆里洗干凈。但是埃文斯一家衣著干凈，也能吃得飽飯。托尼不覺得自己家窮，因為他的朋友們也都很窮。

In those days, poor children usually left school when they were thirteen. Most of Tony's friends found jobs in shops or factories in the town. Tony did not want to work in a shop or a factory. But he needed a job because his family needed the money.

那時候，窮人家的孩子往往到了13歲就輟學了。托尼的朋友們大多在城里的商店或是工廠里找了活兒干。而托尼既不愿意去商店，也不愿意進工廠?？伤枰环莼钣?，因為家里需要這點錢。

A few days after his thirteenth birthday, Tony left school too. He began to look for a job. But he was unlucky. The factory did not want him. The shops did not want him. Then his mother thought, 'What about farming?'

13歲生日過完沒幾天，托尼也離開了學校，他開始找工作?？墒撬倪\氣不好。工廠不要他，商店也不要他。然后他的母親想到：“種田怎么樣?”

One hot summer afternoon she decided to take her son to a farm outside the town.

一個炎熱的夏日午后，她決定把兒子帶到郊外的一個農(nóng)場去。

'I worked on Mr Wood's farm when I was young,' she told Tony. 'Then I met your father and we moved to the town. But I enjoyed farm work, and I think you'll like it too... I wrote to Mr Wood last week and asked him to give you a job on the farm. That will be better than the factory.'

“年輕時，我曾在伍德先生的農(nóng)場里干過活兒，”她對托尼說，“然后我遇見了你父親，我們搬到了城里?？墒俏蚁矚g干農(nóng)活，我覺著你也會喜歡的……我上個星期給伍德先生寫了封信，讓他給你在農(nóng)場里找份活兒干，總比在工廠里強。”