美國語文第六冊 第76期:欠債諷誦(5)

The knowing ones eat, as for a race; but a stupid fellow saves his portion; just nibbles a bit, and "keeps the rest for another time."

聰明的孩子會像比賽一樣快速吃掉糕餅，而愚蠢的孩子則節(jié)省著吃，只是咬一小口，“留起來下次再吃。”

Most provident blockhead!

多么節(jié)儉的笨蛋啊!

The others, when they have gobbled up their shares, set upon him, plunder him, and thrash him for crying out.

當其他孩子已經(jīng)狼吞虎咽地吃下自己那份后，就會想辦法吃他那份，搶他的，把他打得直哭。

Before the terms "depreciation," "suspension," and "going into liquidation," were heard,

在聽到“貶值”、“中止借貸”和“進行清償”這些術語之前，

there might have been some reason in the practice of "laying up;" but now it denotes the darkest blindness.

儲蓄的話或許還有一些理由，但是現(xiàn)在儲蓄意味著最盲目。

The prudent men of the present time, are the men in debt.

在現(xiàn)階段，借債的人倒成了審慎和富有遠見的人了。

The tendency being to sacrifice creditors to debtors,

這個趨勢就是債主向借主割肉，

and the debtor party acquiring daily new strength, everyone is in haste to get into the favored class.

而借主一方需要的是注入新的活力，每個人都急于邁入受到眷顧的階層。

 

In any case, the debtor is safe.

無論如何，借主是安全的。

He has put his enjoyments behind him; they are safe; no turns of fortune can disturb them.

他暗自竊喜，他們是安全的。沒有任何財富輪轉能擾亂他們。

The substance he has eaten up, is irrecoverable. The future can not trouble his past. He has nothing to apprehend.

他搞垮的東西已經(jīng)無可挽救了，未來不會困擾他的過去，他沒有什么好擔心的。

He has anticipated more than fortune would ever have granted him.

財富已經(jīng)比預期的讓他受益更多了，

He has tricked fortune; and his creditors—bah! who feels for creditors? What are creditors?

他已經(jīng)欺騙了財富，當然還有他的債主——呸!有誰會為債主鳴冤叫屈呢?債主都是些什么人?

Landlords; a pitiless and unpitiable tribe; all griping extortioners!

地主啊，冷酷和不值得憐憫的一類人;所有應該抓起來的勒索者!

What would become of the world of debtors, if it did not steal a march upon this rapacious class?

如果不對這個貪婪的階層悄悄地進軍的話，那么借主的世界會變成什么樣子呢?