牛津書蟲系列 風雨河岸柳 2 The open road

2 The open road

2 寬敞的公路

One bright summer morning the Mole and the Rat were out on the river bank, watching the world go by. The Rat was writing a song and was singing quietly to himself as he tried different words.

一個燦爛的夏日早晨，鼴鼠和水鼠在河岸邊散步，欣賞著世界的變幻。水鼠正在寫一首歌，他試著用不同的詞輕聲地自哼自唱。

'Ratty, 'said the Mole, 'could I ask you something?'

“阿鼠，”鼴鼠說，“我能問你一些事嗎?”

'Mmm, 'the Rat said, not really listening. 'Sky, fly, high, die, why…Oh dear! What did you say, Mole?'

“呣，”水鼠似聽非聽地說著，“天空、飛翔、高潮、死亡，為什么……噢，親愛的!你說什么，鼴鼠?”

'Will you take me to visit Mr Toad? I've heard so much about him, and I do want to meet him. '

“你能帶我去拜訪癩蛤蟆先生嗎?我已聽了許多有關(guān)他的事，我確實想見他。”

'Why, of course, 'said the Rat kindly. 'Get the boat out, and we'll row up there now. Toad's always happy to see his friends. '

“呃，當然，”水鼠和善地說，“把船拉出來，我們現(xiàn)在就劃過去，蛤蟆一直都很樂意見他的朋友。”

'He must be a very nice animal, 'said the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the oars.

“他一定是只很不錯的動物，”鼴鼠邊說邊走上船拿起雙槳。

'He's the best of animals, 'replied the Rat. 'Kind, friendly-not very clever, perhaps, and sometimes he's just a little bit boastful, but he's a good fellow really. '

“他是動物中最好的，”水鼠回答道。“善良，友好——也許不很聰明，有時他僅僅有點愛吹牛，但是他確實是個好人。”

The Mole rowed hard up the river and in a while they came to a large red house, with beautiful gardens reaching down to the water's edge.

鼴鼠吃力地向上游劃著，不一會兒他們到了一所大大的紅房子前面，那兒美麗的花園一直延伸到河的邊緣。

'There's Toad Hall, 'said the Rat. 'It's a lovely old house-Toad is very rich, you know, and this is really one of the nicest houses on the river. But we never say that to Toad, of course. '

“那是蛤蟆宅第，”水鼠說，“一所可愛的老宅——癩蛤蟆很富有，你知道吧，這是河邊最好的房子之一。當然我們從來沒有對蛤蟆這樣說過。”

They left their boat by the boathouse at the end of the gar den. The boathouse was full of expensive boats, which looked new and mostly unused.

他們把船停在花園盡頭的船室里，船室內(nèi)停滿了昂貴而嶄新的船，看上去大多沒用過。

The Rat looked around him. 'I see that all the boats are out of the water, 'he said. 'I suppose Toad has finished with boating now and has some new interest to amuse him. '

水鼠看了看他的周圍，說：“我發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的船都沒停在水里，我猜蛤蟆現(xiàn)在不再玩船了，肯定又有什么新鮮有趣的東西吸引著他。”

They walked over the grass towards the house and soon found Toad, resting in a garden-chair and carefully studying a large map.

他們穿過草坪向房子走去，很快便看見了癩蛤蟆，他正坐在花園椅里仔細地研究著地圖。

'Wonderful! 'he cried, as he saw them. 'You're just the fellow that I wanted to see, Ratty. 'He jumped up and came towards them, talking all the time, and gave the Rat no time to introduce the Mole. 'I need you very much-both of you. You've got to help me. It's most important! '

“太棒了!”癩蛤蟆一看到他們就叫了起來。“我正想見你呢，阿鼠，”他跳了起來，向他們走去，嘴里說個不停，根本不給水鼠時間來介紹鼴鼠。“我非常需要你——你們倆。你們得幫我，這是最最重要的!”

'It's about your rowing, I suppose, 'said the Rat, keeping his face very serious. 'You will learn to do it in the end, you know, if you're patient and work hard and----'

“我想，是關(guān)于劃船吧，”水鼠一本正經(jīng)地說。“你總算要學了，你知道吧，如果你耐心點，刻苦點，再——”

'Oh, bother boats! 'the Toad said crossly. 'I've finished with boats. Silly way to pass the time. No, I've discovered the real thing-the best way, the only way, to spend one's life. Come with me, dear Ratty, and your kind friend too, and I will show you! '

“噢，討厭的船!”癩蛤蟆氣惱地說。“我不再劃船了，簡直是打發(fā)日子的傻辦法。是的，我已發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個真正的活法——最好的，唯一的活法。跟我來，親愛的阿鼠，還有你好心的朋友，我要帶你們?nèi)タ纯?”

He took them round to the other side of the house, and there they saw a shiny new gipsy caravan. It had yellow and green sides, and red wheels.

他帶他們繞到了房子的另一頭，那兒他們看見一輛锃亮嶄新的吉普賽大篷車，鑲滾著黃綠邊，輪子是紅色的。

'There you are! 'cried the Toad. 'There's real life for you. The open road, the fields, the hills…villages, towns, cities! Here today, off to a different place tomorrow! Travel, change, interest-the world in front of you! '

“你們看!”癩蛤蟆叫道，“這才是屬于你們的真正的生活。寬敞的公路、原野、山巒……村莊、城鎮(zhèn)、都市!今天在這兒，明天到另一個不同的地方!旅行、變幻、趣味——世界就在你的面前!”

The Mole was very interested and excited, and followed the Toad inside the caravan to look around. But the Rat shook his head and waited outside.

鼴鼠覺得非常有趣，非常興奮，他跟著癩蛤蟆走進大篷車參觀，但水鼠搖著頭，在外面等著。

When they came down the steps again, the Toad was still talking excitedly to the Mole. 'So you see, everything is ready for when we start this afternoon. '

當他們再次踩踏腳板下來時，蛤蟆仍興奮地對鼴鼠說：“你看見了，一切已準備就緒，我們今天下午就出發(fā)。”

'What was that?' said the Rat slowly. 'Did you say“we”and “start”and“this afternoon”?'

“你說什么?”水鼠慢慢地說，“你是說‘我們’‘今天下午’‘出發(fā)’?”

'Now, dear good old Ratty, 'said Toad quickly, 'don't talk in that cross voice. You know you've got to come. You can't stay by your boring old river all your life. I want to show you the world! '

“好了，親愛的好阿鼠，”蛤蟆急忙說，“不要用那種厲害的口氣說話，你知道，你該有所進展了，你不能一輩子呆在你那條乏味的老河邊，我想帶你看看外面的世界!”

'I don't care, 'said the Rat calmly. 'I'm not coming, and that's final. I'm going to stay by my old river, and what's more, Mole's going to stay with me, aren't you, Mole?'

“我不在乎，”水鼠平靜地說，“我不想有所改變，這就是我最終的決定，我將呆在我的老河旁，另外，鼴鼠將和我呆在一起，是不是，鼴鼠?”

'Of course I am, 'said the Mole bravely. But his face looked sad. Poor Mole! He thought that life in a caravan on the open road would be an exciting adventure.

“當然，是這樣，”鼴鼠勇敢地說，但卻顯得有些垂頭喪氣，可憐的鼴鼠!他想：坐在大篷車里走在寬敞的公路上的生活一定是很刺激有趣的經(jīng)歷。

The Rat saw his sad face and felt worried. He liked his friends to be happy and he could see that the Mole really wanted to go.

水鼠看著他那傷感的樣子，很擔心。他希望他的朋友開心快樂，他能看出鼴鼠真的想去。

Toad watched them both carefully. 'Come in and have some lunch, 'he said pleasantly, 'and we'll talk it over. '

癩蛤蟆審視著他們倆，然后愉快地說：“進來用點午餐，然后再聊這事。”

During lunch-which was excellent, of course, because everything at Toad Hall always was-the Toad talked and talked. He was full of wonderful plans. How interesting each day would be! What adventures the three friends would have together! Ah, the happiness of the travelling life!

就餐時——午餐當然是一流的，因為蛤蟆宅第的一切總是如此——癩蛤蟆說個沒完。他滿腦子美妙的計劃，每一天都將多么有趣!他們?nèi)慌笥言谝黄饘卸嗝创碳づd奮的經(jīng)歷!啊，幸福的旅行生活!

In the end, of course, the Rat agreed to go, and by the evening they found themselves on a lonely hillside miles from home. It had been a golden afternoon, and even the Rat had enjoyed the journey so far. Only the old grey horse was not very happy. He had to do all the hard work of pulling the caravan, and he was not at all pleased about it.

最后，當然，水鼠同意去了。傍晚他們到了離家數(shù)里的一個孤零零的山坡上。那是一個金色的下午，現(xiàn)在甚至水鼠也非常喜歡這次旅行。只有老灰馬不很樂意，他得干所有拉大篷車的苦力活，他根本就不愛這份工作。

The next morning the Toad was still sleeping deeply when the other two got up. They shook him very hard but couldn't wake him, so they had to do all the work. The Rat took care of the horse, lit the fire, and did last night's washing-up. The Mole walked to the nearest village, a long way away, to get milk and eggs and bread, which the Toad had, of course, for gotten to bring. And when at last the Toad got up, he said what a pleasant easy life it was on the open road.

第二天早上，水鼠和鼴鼠起床了，癩蛤蟆還在呼呼大睡。他們倆用力搖他，但弄不醒他，因此他們不得不干所有的活。水鼠照料馬，生起火，還清洗了昨晚的臟物。鼴鼠則步行長長的一段路到最近的村莊去弄些牛奶、雞蛋和面包，這些，癩蛤蟆當然忘了隨車帶來。最后癩蛤蟆起床了，他說，在寬敞公路上的旅行生活是多么輕松愉快。

The day passed happily as they travelled over green hills and along narrow country roads. But the next morning the Rat and the Mole got Toad out of bed and made sure that he did some of the work. Because of this, Toad said very little about a pleas ant easy life. Later, he even tried to get back into bed, but the Mole and the Rat pulled him out again.

然后，他們翻過青山，沿著一條狹窄的鄉(xiāng)村小路旅行著，就這樣快快樂樂地過了一天。但是第三天早上，水鼠和鼴鼠把癩蛤蟆從床上拉了起來，要他也干些活。就為這，癩蛤蟆很少再說多么輕松愉快之類的話了。后來他甚至還想回到床上繼續(xù)睡覺，但鼴鼠和水鼠又把他拉了出來。

The end of their journey came very suddenly. In the after noon they were travelling along a big road. The Mole was walking beside the horse, and the Toad and the Water Rat were walking behind the caravan, talking together. Actually, the Toad was talking, and the Rat was listening-some of the time.

他們的旅行結(jié)束得很突然。那天下午，他們正行進在一條大馬路上，鼴鼠走在馬旁，癩蛤蟆和水鼠在大篷車后面邊走邊聊著天，確切地說——很多時候——癩蛤蟆在說，水鼠在聽。

Then they heard a noise behind them, and looking back, they saw a small cloud of dust. It made a 'Poop-poop! 'sound, and it was coming towards them very fast indeed.

這時他們聽見身后有什么聲音，便回過頭，他們看見一小團塵霧，發(fā)著“撲撲-撲撲”的聲音，正朝他們疾速地席卷而來。

Seconds later, the peace of the afternoon was destroyed in a storm of noise and wind and dust. The' poop-poop' rang with a shout in their ears, and an enormous, long, shining motorcar roared past them and disappeared over the hill.

幾秒鐘之后，下午的寧靜就在一陣嘈雜中、風中、塵霧中被打破了。伴隨著震耳欲聾的“撲撲-撲撲”聲，一輛巨大的、長長的、锃亮的汽車從他們身邊呼嘯而過，消失在山那邊。

The old grey horse, wild with fear, tried to get off the road. The caravan's wheels began to go down into the ditch along the edge. Then there was a terrible crash-and the beautiful yellow and green caravan lay helplessly on its side.

老灰馬極度恐懼試圖離開公路。大篷車的輪子便開始順著路沿向溝里滑去，然后只聽一陣可怕的稀里嘩啦聲——美麗的黃綠大篷車無助地歪倒在地。

The Rat jumped up and down in the road, shouting angrily. 'Stupid, dangerous people! The police should lock you up in prison! '

水鼠在公路上又蹦又跳，憤怒地喊道：“愚蠢、危險的人!警察應該把你們關(guān)在監(jiān)獄里!”

He and the Mole managed to calm the horse, and then they went to look at the caravan. Two wheels had come off, the windows were broken, and bits of wood lay everywhere. They tried to pull it out of the ditch, but they couldn't move it.

他和鼴鼠設法使老馬安靜，然后開始檢查大篷車。車的兩只輪子掉了，窗子也摔爛了，木頭片到處都是。他們試著把它從溝里拉出來，但卻弄不動它。

'Hi! Toad! 'they cried. 'Come and help us, can't you! '

“嗨，癩蛤蟆!”他們叫道，”過來幫幫我們，行不行，你!”

The Toad never answered a word, so they went to see what was the matter with him. They found him sitting in the middle of the road, with a dreamy smile on his face and happily whispering, 'Poop-poop! '

癩蛤蟆不答一句話，因此他們走過去看看他是怎么了。只見他坐在公路中間，臉上掛著夢幻似的微笑，嘴里愉快地嘟噥著，“撲撲-撲撲!”

The Rat shook him, not very gently. 'Are you coming to help us, Toad?' he asked crossly.

水鼠用力地搖著他，“你能不能過來幫幫我們，癩蛤蟆?”他生氣地問。

'Oh, what happiness! 'whispered Toad to himself. 'The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here one minute-miles away in seconds! Wonderful! Poop-poop! '

“噢，多么幸福!”癩蛤蟆自言自語道，“旅行的真正方式!旅行的唯一方式!剛才在這兒，幾秒鐘后就在數(shù)里之外!太棒了!撲撲-撲撲!”

'Oh, do stop being so silly, Toad! 'cried the Mole.

“噢，不要犯傻了，癩蛤蟆!”鼴鼠叫道。

'And I never knew! 'the Toad went on dreamily. 'I never dreamt! What clouds of dust will fly up behind me as I drive like the wind! I've finished with silly old caravans for ever. Poop-poop! '

“而我竟不知道!”癩蛤蟆仍然魂牽夢縈似地繼續(xù)著，“我從未夢想過!當我風馳電掣似地駕車時，多少塵霧將在我身后揚起!那輛可笑的愚蠢的大篷車將永遠消失。撲撲-撲撲!”

'What are we going to do with him?' the Mole asked the Water Rat.

“我們將拿他怎么辦?”鼴鼠問水鼠。

'Nothing, 'replied the Rat. 'There's nothing that we can do. I know Toad. When he gets a new idea into his head, he al ways goes crazy at first. He'll be like this for some days now. Come on, we'll have to do everything by ourselves. '

“沒辦法，”水鼠回答道，“我們什么也幫不了。我了解癩蛤蟆，當他有了新的想法時，剛開始他總是有些瘋狂。他像這樣還得過一些日子。過來，我們得自己干完這一切。”

They had to leave the caravan in the ditch and walk to the nearest town, five or six miles away. There they asked some body to take care of the horse, and found somebody who agreed to fetch the broken caravan. Then they caught a train to a station near Toad Hall, took Toad home, went down to the boat, and then at last they sat down to a late supper in Rat's comfortable little home by the river.

他們不得不將大篷車先留在溝里，步行到五、六英里以外最近的城鎮(zhèn)。在那兒，他們叫人照看灰馬，又找了個愿意取回破車的人。然后他們坐火車到蛤蟆宅第附近的車站，把癩蛤蟆送回家后，他們坐上船，最后終于坐在了水鼠舒服的河邊小屋吃遲到的晚餐。

The next day was a lazy one. In the evening the Mole was sitting on the river bank fishing, when the Rat, who had been to visit friends, came to find him.

第二天是慵懶的一天。傍晚時分鼴鼠坐在河岸釣魚，水鼠拜訪朋友回來后找到了他。

'Heard the news?' the Rat said. 'Everybody's talking about it, all along the river bank. Toad went up to town by an early train this morning. And he has ordered a large and very expensive motor-car. '

水鼠對他說：“聽到消息了嗎?河岸邊的每個人都在談論這件事。癩蛤蟆今早搭頭班火車去了城鎮(zhèn)，訂購了一輛非常昂貴的大汽車。”