本帖最后由 老guo 于 2013-9-9 12:59 编辑
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呼先生骑行启动
IV
THE RIDING FORTH OF MR. HOOPDRIVER
IV
只有那些终年每周七天里辛苦劳作六个整天,仅在夏天攒下短短两周或10天假期的人才体会得到第一个假日早晨的美妙感觉。所有枯燥无聊的日常事务突然都从你的心头卸了下来,曾束缚你的锁链在你的脚下绷开。顷刻间你成了你的主宰,一整个假日里每个小时的主宰。你可以随心情地选择要去的地方, 不必尊称这个先生或者那个夫人,西服翻领上无需别别针,脱掉你黑色晨服,随心所欲地穿自己喜欢的颜色,做个自由的人。
ONLY THOSE who toil six long days out of the seven, and all the year round, save for one brief glorious fortnight or ten days in the summer time, know the exquisite sensations of the First Holiday Morning. All the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from you suddenly, your chains fall about your feet. All at once you are Lord of yourself, Lord of every hour in the long, vacant day; you may go where you please, call none Sir or Madame, have a lappel free of pins, doff your black morning coat, and wear the colour of your heart, and be a Man.
你厌恶睡觉和吃喝,觉得那是对美妙时光的一种践踏。至少在这幸福的10天内,不必再穿着旧的便服在早餐前起床去除尘和准备在一个毫无生气阴森森的封闭店里上工。你不会再听到那些自以为是的类似 "呼波杰夫尔,向前冲"的喊叫,不需要再匆匆将饭倒进肚子里,也不再需要伺候那些有些神经质的老妇人。
You grudge sleep, you grudge eating, and drinking even, their intrusion on those exquisite moments. There will be no more rising before breakfast in casual old clothing, to go dusting and getting ready in a cheerless, shutterdarkened, wrappered-up shop, no more imperious cries of, “Forward, Hoopdriver,” no more hasty meals, and weary attendance on fitful old women, for ten blessed days.
因为你将你的全部命运握在自己手上,所以第一个假日早晨你感觉是最美好的. 但接下来的每个晚上,一阵阵痛楚的害怕失去的不祥之感就会袭来,挥之不去。 返回工作,在另外12个月内被重新圈回笼中的阴影在阳光下显得越来越浓重。 但是,10天假日里的第一个清晨是没有过去,无需顾忌的, 似乎这个早晨会成为永恒。
The first morning is by far the most glorious, for you hold your whole fortune in your hands. Thereafter, every night, comes a pang, a spectre, that will not be exorcised—the premonition of the return. The shadow of going back, of being put in the cage again for another twelve months, lies blacker and blacker across the sunlight. But on the first morning of the ten the holiday has no past, and ten days seems as good as infinity.
早晨天气很不错,接下来几天也肯定会阳光明媚的。深蓝色的天空上到处悬垂着耀眼的朵朵白云,就像天上的农夫在将昨夜的层层白云码放好准备用马车运走一样。里奇蒙德路上画眉还有蒲特尼西施路上的云雀都在欢快地歌唱着。空气中弥漫着露水的清新味道,昨夜的细雨打在树叶和草地上的露珠还在闪着亮光。呼先生在甘丝夫人的关照下早早吃了早餐。他双轮向上骑行在普特尼山,心里美得哼唱起来。半山腰上,一只看似正发情的黑猫正急匆匆地穿过马路消失在自己的门洞下。所有那些座落在光影斑驳的树丛后的高大的红砖别墅上的窗帘还没有撩起, 你就是出价一百英镑来让我们的呼先生也如同那些别墅里的人一样酣睡,那他也不会答应的!
And it was fine, full of a promise of glorious days, a deep blue sky with dazzling piles of white cloud here and there, as though celestial haymakers had been piling the swathes of last night’s clouds into cocks for a coming cartage。 There were thrushes in the Richmond Road, and a lark on Putney Heath. The freshness of dew was in the air; dew or the relics of an overnight shower glittered on the leaves and grass. Hoopdriver had breakfasted early by Mrs. Gunn’s complaisance. He wheeled his machine up Putney Hill, and his heart sang within him. Halfway up, a dissipated-looking black cat rushed home across flile road and vanished under a gate. All the big red-brick houses behind the variegated shrubs and trees had their blinds down still, and he would not have changed places with a soul in any one of them for a hundred pounds.
他穿着一套新的棕色的骑行服-一件花30块买来的漂亮的诺夫克夹克-还有他那双可怜的遍体鳞伤的腿,正好用厚厚的格子图案连腿袜子来温暖抚慰, 脚穿薄,腿穿厚!一件叠得整齐的美国布料放在车座后里面包着雨具,车铃车把车轴和有些掉色的车灯在朝阳下发出耀眼的光芒。在山顶,呼先生在经历了一次摔在草地上不成功的上车后,他终于攀上了车,然后稳健地划出一道漂亮的弧线,开始了他的伟大的英格兰南岸骑行之旅。
He had on his new brown cycling suit—a handsome Norfolk jacket thing for 30/—and his legs—those martyr legs— were more than consoled by thick chequered stockings, “thin in the foot, thick in the leg,” for all they had endured. A neat packet of American cloth behind the saddle contained his change of raiment, and the bell and the handle-bar and the hubs and lamp, albeit a trifle freckled by wear, glittered blindingly in the rising sunlight. And at the top of the hill, after only one unsuccessful attempt, which, somehow, terminated on the green, Hoopdriver mounted, and with a stately and cautious restraint in his pace, and a dignified curvature of path, began his great Cycling Tour along the Southern Coast.
只有一个词组才能恰当描述他目前的骑行线--也就是奢靡的曲线。 他骑得不快而且不走直线。 可能一个苛刻的批评者会说他骑得很糟糕——但他骑得慷慨,奢华,霸占着整个路面甚至蚕食到了人行道上。这种兴奋感丝毫没有减弱。 到目前他还从来没有超过或被别的什么超过,尽管天还早路上还通畅。他怀疑他的方向盘控制, 现在他试图通过抓到车轮子以上任何东西来试着下车。树的影子长且呈蓝色地投在路上,早晨的阳光有点像瑚舶色的火焰。在西山顶的岔路上,牛群车在那停靠着。 他转向金斯顿方向然后准备着爬上这个小坡。一个早起的穿着棉绒夹克的看地人看到他吃力地蹬车感到惊讶。 当他正奋力时,马车的车头在山顶出现了。看见马车,呼先生被过去的努力驱使正千方百计下车。他抓紧车闸,车子突然抱死了。 在下车时他还一直在想着他用右腿作了什么。 他握住把然后放开车闸,站在左脚镫子上然后在空中摇摆着他的右脚。然后——闲话少叙, 他发现这个车子在向右面倒去。
There is only one phrase to describe his course at this stage, and that is—voluptuous curves. He did not ride fast, he did not ride straight, an exacting critic might say he did not ride well—but he rode generously, opulently, using the whole road and even nibbling at the footpath. The excitement never flagged. So far he had never passed or been passed by anything, but as yet the day was young and the road was clear. He doubted his steering so much that, for the present, he had resolved to dismount at the approach of anything else upon wheels. The shadows of the trees lay very long and blue across the road, the morning sunlight was like amber fire. At the cross-roads at the top of West Hill, where the cattle trough stands, he turned towards Kingston and set himself to scale the little bit of ascent. An early heath-keeper, in his velveteen jacket, marvelled at his efforts. And while he yet struggled, the head of a carter rose over the brow. At the sight of him,Mr. Hoopdriver, according to his previous determination, resolved to dismount. He tightened the brake, and the machine stopped dead. He was trying to think what he did with his right leg whilst getting off. He gripped the handles and released the brake, standing on the left pedal and waving his right foot in the air. Then—these things take so long in the telling—he found the machine was falling over to the right.
他的大脑在思考这对策,重心引力似乎也变得很忙。车子摔在地上,跪在车子上面他还在纳闷,他隐约地感觉到大腿膝盖下部又严重地受伤了。这一切都发生在当看地人和他并行的时候。马车上的看地人站起来以便能把事故现场看得清楚。
While he was deciding upon a plan of action, gravitation appears to have been busy. He was still irresolute when he found the machine on the ground, himself kneeling upon it, and a vague feeling in his mind that again Providence had dealt harshly with his shin. This happened when he was just level with the heath-keeper. The man in the approaching cart stood up to see the ruins better.
"那可不是下车的正确方法" 看地人说。
呼先生拾起车子,矫正了扭歪的车把。他含糊地嘟囔了一句。他不得不拧开那个狗东西。
沉默片刻后那个看地人重复着说 “那可不是下车的正确方法”
“ 我知道“ 呼先生说,他紧张地意欲不惜一切地掩盖大腿上的新标记。他打开车座后的包拿出了一把锤子。
“如果你知道那个下法不对,那你应做什么“ 看地人说,语气里透着善意的指责。
呼先生拿出锤子走到了车把前。他显然有些恼火了。“别管闲事” 他说,手里摸着锤子。异常的冲动搞得他的双手可怕地抖了起来。
看地人沉思了一下,然后将身后手里的棍子扭了一下。他接着说 “你摔坏了车把,是吗?”
“That ain’t the way to get off,” said the heathkeeper.
Mr. Hoopdriver picked up the machine. The handle was twisted askew again He said something under his breath. He would have to unscrew the beastly thing.
“That ain’t the way to get off,” repeated the heathkeeper, after a silence.
“I know that,” said Mr. Hoopdriver, testily, determined to overlook the new specimen on his shin at any cost. He unbuckled the wallet behind the saddle, to get out a screw hammer.
“If you know it ain’t the way to get off—whaddyer do it for?” said the heath-keeper, in a tone of friendly controversy. Mr. Hoopdriver got out his screw hammer and went to the handle. He was annoyed.
“That’s my business, I suppose,” he said, fumbling with the screw. The unusual exertion had made his hands shake frightfully.
The heath-keeper became meditative, and twisted his stick in his hands behind his back. “You’ve broken yer ‘andle, ain’t yer?” he said presently.
这时锤子从螺母里掉了出来。呼先生嘴迸出了一个非常肮脏和低俗的字。“They’re trying things, them bicycles,” 看地人说话语气中带着怜悯。“Very trying.”呼先生恼怒地转了一下螺丝然后突然站起来——他用膝盖夹住前轮。“但愿”, 他说,声音里带着火气. “我希望你不要再用盯着我”。 他开始将锤子重新放回袋子里,神情里带有下达最后通牒的意味。
Just then the screw hammer slipped off the nut. Mr. Hoopdriver used a nasty, low word. “They’re trying things, them bicycles,” said the heath- keeper, charitably. “Very trying.” Mr. Hoopdriver gave the nut a vicious turn and suddenly stood up—he was holding the front wheel between his knees. “I wish,” said he, with a catch in his voice, “I wish you’d leave off staring at me.” Then with the air of one who has delivered an ultimatum, he began replacing the screw hammer in the wallet.
看地人站在那里纹丝不动。 可能他竖起了眉毛,当然比刚才盯得更狠了。“你现在可不太友好啊” 他慢慢地说,呼先生在等只要马车一启动他就抓住车把准备上车。忿怒的气氛慢慢地聚集。
“如果不想和别人说话为什么不在你家自己的院子里骑车呢?“,对问题的核心看得越来越清楚的看地人挖苦地问,”难道过路的连句话都不能对你说,你这个好激动的伙计?难道心地善良的我不能和你说句话?难道你突然别木头打了吗?“
呼先生面无表情,双眼凝视着无限的远方。这有点像伦敦特拉法广场的狮子受到了侮辱。 但是看地人感到他的荣誉受到了威胁。
难道你就不想和我说句话?当马车远远停在他们旁边,看地人说。
“‘他是个a bloomin’ dook, ‘他是. ‘他从来不和地球上任何一个人说话。 ‘他’ 在赶赴温莎城堡, ‘他是; 那就是为什么他傲慢的撅着他的屁股! 很傲气! 为什么, ‘他’的傲气太多了, ‘他不得不到处泄泄,如果不泄泄他会被憋爆的!
The heath-keeper never moved. Possibly he raised his eyebrows, and certainly he stared harder than he did before. “You’re pretty unsociable,” he said slowly, as Mr. Hoopdriver seized the handles and stood ready to mount as soon as the cart had passed.
The indignation gathered slowly but surely. “Why don’t you ride on a private road of your own if no one ain’t to speak to you?” asked the heath-keeper, perceiving more and more clearly the bearing of the matter. “Can’t no one make a passin’ remark to you, Touchy? Ain’t I good enough to speak to you? Been struck wooden all of a sudden?”
Mr. Hoopdriver stared into the Immensity of the Future. He was rigid with emotion. It was like abusing the Lions in Trafalgar Square. But the heathkeeper felt his honour was at stake.
“Don’t you make no remarks to ‘IM,” said the keeper as the carter came up broadside to them.
“‘E’s a bloomin’ dook, ‘e is. ‘E don’t converse with no one under a earl. ‘E’s off to Windsor, ‘e is; that’s why ‘e’s stickin’ his be’ind out so haughty. Pride! Why, ‘e’s got so much of it, ‘e has to carry some of it in that there bundle there, for fear ‘e’d bust if ‘e didn’t ease hisself a bit—‘e—”
但呼波杰夫尔似乎什么也没听到。他在路上有力地跳跃着,以一种近乎抽搐的方式来重新登上车。他一次踩空了脚凳令看地人高兴得心花怒放。 “nar! Nar!”, 看地人喊着。又过了片刻,呼先生站起来, 在车子的漂亮扭动下,那个看地人终于被抛在耳后了。呼先生真想回头刺激一下那个敌人,但那会导致车子扭曲和不稳。他能想像到那个被惹火的看地人对着马车在倾述。他努力地对着身后渐渐远去的目标发出最大的轻蔑。
But Mr. Hoopdriver heard no more. He was hopping vigorously along the road, in a spasmodic attempt to remount. He missed the treadle once and swore viciously, to the keeper’s immense delight. “Nar! Nar!” said the heath- keeper. In another moment Mr. Hoopdriver was up, and after one terrific lurch of the machine, the heathkeeper dropped out of earshot. Mr. Hoopdriver would have liked to look back at his enemy, but he usually twisted round and upset if he tried that. He had to imagine the indignant heath-keeper telling the carter all about it. He tried to infuse as much disdain as possible into his retreating aspect.
他现在沿着新湖边弯弯曲曲路的下坡骑行,然后又慢慢上升到坠入金斯顿山谷的小山山腰。这里值得描述的是骑自行车的心理学,他现在骑行的笔直和轻松,这可能因为刚才遭遇看地人所引发的情绪将他的大脑从前所未有的恐惧摔车的阴影中摆脱出来。骑好自行车很像是一场恋爱, 主要是要有自信。相信你能做得到你就能做好;如果怀疑,你就会遭遇失败。
现在您或许会想像他在接下来的骑行中心中对看地人的态度不是要复仇就是后悔,-复仇是因为他自己坏脾气的加重或后悔针对自己的坏脾气的不理智爆发。实际上这两种假设都不对。 一种突如其来的很强烈的感激之情占据了他。享受假日的幸福感又因为眼前突现的美景重新占据了他的身心。在山顶他将脚放到脚镫上,略微直线地用力杀闸地享受着那超棒的下坡。眼中充满着一种喜悦,这喜悦甚至超过了疾速穿越那浓烈甜蜜的清晨空气的喜悦。他伸出大拇指高兴地按着车铃。“‘他是个 a bloomin’ Dook—他就是 !’” 呼波杰夫尔对着自己用温柔的声音说, 当他疾速奔驰下山 , “‘He’s a bloomin’ Dook!”’ 他张开嘴暗自笑着.
He drove on his sinuous way down the dip by the new mere (lake)and up the little rise to the crest of the hill that drops into Kingston Vale; and so remarkable is the psychology of cycling, that he rode all the straighter and easier because the emotions the heath keeper had aroused relieved his mind of the constant expectation of collapse that had previously un- nerved him. To ride a bicycle properly is very like a love affair—chiefly it is a matter of faith. Believe you do it, and the thing is done; doubt, and, for the life of you, you cannot.
Now you may perhaps imagine that as he rode on, his feelings towards the heath-keeper were either vindictive or remorseful,—vindictive for the aggravation or remorseful for his own injudicious display of ill temper. As a matter of fact, they were nothing of the sort. A sudden, a wonderful gratitude, possessed him. The Glory of the Holidays had resumed its sway with a sudden accession of splendour.
At the crest of the hill he put his feet upon the footrests, and now riding moderately straight, went, with a palpitating brake, down that excellent descent. A new delight was in his eyes, quite over and above the pleasure of rushing through the keen, sweet, morning air.
He reached out his thumb and twanged his bell out of sheer happiness.
“‘He’s a bloomin’ Dook—he is!’” said Mr. Hoopdriver to himself, in a soft undertone, as he went soaring down the hill, and again, “‘He’s a bloomin’ Dook!”’ He opened his mouth in a silent laugh.
“It was having a decent cut did it. His social superiority had been so evident that even a man like that noticed it. 暂别曼彻斯特那家店10天! 一个逃出曼彻斯特的人, 那个布店营业员呼波杰夫尔,那个人手已经从这个世界消失了,代之而来的是一位先生, 一个志得意满享受人生同时手中握有一个5英镑纸币,2个1镑金币 和一些银币的快乐的人. At any rate as good as a Dook, if not precisely in the peerage. 如果准确地说虽非朋党起码也和Dook一样好。想到他的资金,他的右手下意识地离开了车把摸了一下他胸前的口袋,然后车子疾速地向着墓地俯冲下去。Whirroo! 差点撞上那半块砖!哪个淘气的坏家伙将这个放在了路上。Some blooming ‘Arry or other! 真应该起诉那些个歹徒,其他人就不敢再造次了!那一定是钱包的扣子在敲打挡泥板。轮子发出的嗡嗡声真令人兴奋啊!
At any rate as good as a Dook, if not precisely in the peerage. Involuntarily at the thought of his funds Hoopdriver’s right hand left the handle and sought his breast pocket, to be immediately recalled by a violent swoop of the machine towards the cemetery. Whirroo! Just missed that half-brick! Mischievous brutes there were in the world to put such a thing in the road. Some blooming ‘Arry or other! Ought to prosecute a few of these roughs, and the rest would know better. That must be the buckle of the wallet was rattling on the mud-guard. How cheerfully the wheels buzzed!
尽管这个墓地异常静谧但整个维尔镇在苏醒, 一扇扇窗子在咣当咯吱的声中被打开。一条白毛狗从一个房子里窜出冲他吠叫。在金斯顿 山山脚他下了车略微有点上气不接下气地推行。走到半路,一辆早起的送牛奶车隆隆地经过他,两个脏家伙扛着大捆的东西跑下来。呼波杰夫尔确定他俩是窃贼,正扛着脏物奔向回家的路上。登上金斯顿山顶他开始意识到了一种异样,在他的膝盖处稍有些紧的感觉; 但他也意识到在快到山顶时他骑得比以往更直了。直骑的快乐覆盖了这些初始的疲倦。一个骑在马背上的人出现了,呼波杰夫尔在狂喜和自信的鼓舞下超越了他。
The cemetery was very silent and peaceful, but the Vale was waking, and windows rattled and squeaked up, and a white dog came out of one of the houses and yelped at him. He got off, rather breathless, at the foot of Kingston Hill, and pushed up. Halfway up, an early milk chariot rattled by him; two dirty men with bundles came hurrying down. Hoopdriver felt sure they were burglars, carrying home the swag. It was up Kingston Hill that he first noticed a peculiar feeling, a slight tightness at his knees; but he noticed, too, at the top that he rode straighter than he did before. The pleasure of riding straight blotted out these first intimations of fatigue. A man on horseback appeared; Hoopdriver, in a tumult of soul at his own temerity, passed him.
在进入金斯顿的下坡山路上,他车口袋里的锤子叮叮当当地撞着袋子里面的油罐。他成功地超过了一辆水果车还有吃力前行的一辆满载的运砖车。 在金斯顿, 呼波杰夫尔怀着最激动的心情,看见了一家布店的窗户上遮挡阳光的卷帘半开着,里面有两个打哈气的年轻人穿着落满灰的黑夹克,脖子上围着脏脏的暖暖的白色床单,打扫整理着货架箱子和包装等, 正准备着开门迎客。即使昨天呼波杰夫尔还在做同样的事情。 但现在他在众人眼里已经不再是一个blooming dook了。他穿过右边的角落,狠命地按动车铃, 向着萨比顿的方向前进。
自由和冒险万岁!骑行途中不时的会有那些房子里带有睡意的人们对着他亮出吃惊的眼神, 在他的右面持续一英里左右的泰晤士河河水滚动着,在阳光下闪着粼粼波光。这是人生最美妙的享受!尽管这美妙的感觉还会不时被膝盖和小腿隐隐作痛的感觉所打断。
Then down the hill into Kingston, with the screw hammer, behind in the wallet, rattling against the oil can. He passed, without misadventure, a fruiterer’s van and a sluggish cartload of bricks. And in Kingston Hoopdriver, with the most exquisite sensations, saw the shutters half removed from a draper’s shop, and two yawning youths, in dusty old black jackets and with dirty white comforters about their necks, clearing up the planks and boxes and wrappers in the window, preparatory to dressing it out. Even so had Hoopdriver been on the previous day. But now, was he not a bloomin’ Dook, palpably in the sight of common men? Then round the corner to the right—bell banged furiously—and so along the road to Surbiton.
Whoop for Freedom and Adventure! Every now and then a house with an expression of sleepy surprise would open its eye as he passed, and to the right of him for a mile or so the weltering Thames flashed and glittered. Talk of your joie de vivre. Albeit with a certain cramping sensation about the knees and calves slowly forcing itself upon his attention.
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