作者：[英] 罗伯特·路易斯·斯蒂文森（Robert Louis Stevenson）
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塞文山驴伴之旅(外研社双语读库)试读：
I. The Donkey, The Pack, And The Pack Saddle1.驴子、行李和驮鞍In a little place called Le Monastier, in a pleasant highland valley fifteen miles from Le Puy, I spent about a month of fine days. Monastier is notable for the making of lace, for drunkenness, for freedom of language, and for unparalleled political dissension. There are adherents of each of the four French parties—Legitimists, Orleanists, Imperialists, and Republicans—in this little mountain-town; and they all hate, loathe, decry, and calumniate each other. Except for business purposes, or to give each other the lie in a tavern brawl, they have laid aside even the civility of speech. 'Tis a mere mountain Poland1. In the midst of this Babylon I found myself a rallying-point; every one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the stranger. This was not merely from the natural hospitality of mountain people, nor even from the surprise with which I was regarded as a man living of his own free will in Le Monastier, when he might just as well have lived anywhere else in this big world; it arose a good deal from my projected excursion southward through the Cevennes. A traveller of my sort was a thing hitherto unheard of in that district. I was looked upon with contempt, like a man who should project a journey to the moon, but yet with a respectful interest, like one setting forth for the inclement Pole. All were ready to help in my preparations; a crowd of sympathizers supported me at the critical moment of a bargain; not a step was taken but was heralded by glasses round and celebrated by a dinner or a breakfast.
在一个叫做勒莫纳斯捷的小地方，这个距勒皮十五英里处宜人的高地峡谷，我愉快地呆了一个月左右。勒莫纳斯捷以蕾丝制造、酗酒成风、言辞无忌和激烈的政治分歧而闻名。在那个小小的山城里，法国的四个党派——正统派、奥尔良派、帝制派和共和派——都有追随者；他们彼此之间仇视憎恨、诋毁谩骂。除非是在做生意的场合，或是为了在酒馆的争执中揭穿对方、抬高自己，他们通常连说话的礼仪也不顾。这里简直就是山地的波兰。我发现自己竟然成了这个繁杂之地的焦点人物。人们都急于向我这个异乡人示好，为我提供帮助。这不仅仅是由于山区人们好客的天性，甚至也不是因为他们惊奇于看到我原本可以住在世上任何地方，却偏偏自愿来到了勒莫纳斯捷；大半原因是由于我向南翻越塞文山脉的旅行计划。这个地区还没人听说过我这样的旅行者。人们用带着蔑视的眼光看我，就像看一个要去月球旅行的人；他们的眼光中还带着一丝敬意的好奇，好像我要前往寒冷的极地。在我准备行程期间，人人都乐于帮忙。一到讨价还价的关键时刻，就有一群热心人替我帮腔；而每完成一项准备工作，伴随而来的总是举杯欢呼，或者共进早餐或晚餐以示庆祝。
It was already hard upon October before I was ready to set forth, and at the high altitudes over which my road lay there was no Indian summer to be looked for. I was determined, if not to camp out, at least to have the means of camping out in my possession; for there is nothing more harassing to an easy mind than the necessity of reaching shelter by dusk, and the hospitality of a village inn is not always to be reckoned sure by those who trudge on foot. A tent, above all for a solitary traveller, is troublesome to pitch, and troublesome to strike again; and even on the march it forms a conspicuous feature in your baggage. A sleeping-sack, on the other hand, is always ready—you have only to get into it; it serves a double purpose—a bed by night, a portmanteau by day; and it does not advertise your intention of camping out to every curious passer-by. This is a huge point. If a camp is not secret, it is but a troubled resting-place; you become a public character; the convivial rustic visits your bedside after an early supper; and you must sleep with one eye open, and be up before the day. I decided on a sleeping-sack; and after repeated visits to Le Puy, and a deal of high living for myself and my advisers, a sleeping-sack was designed, constructed, and triumphantly brought home.
我准备好启程的时候已经快十月份了。旅途经过的都是高纬度地区，那里不可能指望碰上什么风和日丽的小阳春。我决定，即使不在野外露营，也要在行李中备好野营用具，因为没有什么比在天黑前必须赶到住处更能破坏旅行者无忧无虑的心境了。而对于徒步旅行的人来说，一间舒适的乡村旅馆并不总能指望得上。帐篷，尤其是对于没有同伴的旅行者来说，既不好搭，也不好拆。而且在路上，它又是一件过于显眼的行李。而睡袋则总是非常方便——你只需钻进它就好了；它有双重用途——晚上当床，白天则是旅行皮包；而且它不会向每个好奇的路人张扬你露营的意图。这是很重要的一点。一旦你的露营地为人所知，你的歇息之地将喧闹不安。你成了一个公众人物；早早吃过晚饭后，快活的乡下人会去你的床榻边探访；你必须在睡觉时保持警醒，还得天不亮就起床。因此我决定带一个睡袋。在我去了勒皮城好几次，又和顾问们享受了好几顿珍馐美味之后，终于设计出一个睡袋并制作成型，喜洋洋地带回了家。
This child of my invention was nearly six feet square, exclusive of two triangular flaps to serve as a pillow by night and as the top and bottom of the sack by day. I call it "the sack", but it was never a sack by more than courtesy: only a sort of long roll or sausage, green waterproof cart-cloth without and blue sheep's fur within. It was commodious as a valise, warm and dry for a bed. There was luxurious turning room for one; and at a pinch the thing might serve for two. I could bury myself in it up to the neck; for my head I trusted to a fur cap, with a hood to fold down over my ears and a band to pass under my nose like a respirator; and in case of heavy rain I proposed to make myself a little tent, or tentlet, with my waterproof coat, three stones, and a bent branch.
我的这件发明大概有六英尺见方，此外还有两个三角形的翻盖，夜间可以当枕垫，白天则是袋子的顶盖和底部。我把它叫做“袋子”，但是再怎么看，它也远远称不上是一个袋子，而只是一个长长的面包卷或香肠样的东西，外面是绿色防水车篷布，衬里是蓝色羊皮。它既是一个容量大的手提包，又是一张温暖干燥的床。睡袋有足够的空间让独睡者舒舒服服地翻身，必要时也挤得下两个人。我钻进去可以一直盖到脖子；至于头部，我把它交给了一顶皮帽子，帽子上有帽兜可以拉下来遮住耳朵，还有一个帽圈盖在我鼻子下方，好像一个口罩。下大雨的话，我打算用雨衣、三块石头和一段弯树枝搭一个小小的帐篷。
It will readily be conceived that I could not carry this huge package on my own, merely human, shoulders. It remained to choose a beast of burden. Now, a horse is a fine lady among animals, flighty, timid, delicate in eating, of tender health; he is too valuable and too restive to be left alone, so that you are chained to your brute as to a fellow galley-slave; a dangerous road puts him out of his wits; in short, he's an uncertain and exacting ally, and adds thirty-fold to the troubles of the voyager. What I required was something cheap and small and hardy, and of a stolid and peaceful temper; and all these requisites pointed to a donkey.
很容易就可以想见，我独自一人，单靠一副肉肩膀，可没法背那么重的行囊。我还得选一头负重的牲口。现在的问题是，马可是动物中的贵妇，它易惊、胆小、吃食挑剔、体质娇嫩。它太贵重，脾气又倔，因此没法丢之一旁，这样你就和你的牲口拴在了一起，成了和它一样的苦工。一段危险的路就足以让你的马匹受惊不已。简言之，马是一位喜怒无常、要求苛刻的同伴，会给旅行者增添三十倍的麻烦。而我需要的是一种廉价、小巧、耐劳的动物，性情要温和平静，驴子恰能满足这些要求。
There dwelt an old man in Monastier, of rather unsound intellect according to some, much followed by street-boys, and known to fame as Father Adam. Father Adam had a cart, and to draw the cart a diminutive she-ass, not much bigger than a dog, the colour of a mouse, with a kindly eye and a determined under-jaw. There was something neat and high-bred, a quakerish2elegance, about the rogue that hit my fancy on the spot. Our first interview was in Monastier market-place. To prove her good temper, one child after another was set upon her back to ride, and one after another went head over heels into the air; until a want of confidence began to reign in youthful bosoms, and the experiment was discontinued from a dearth of subjects. I was already backed by a deputation of my friends; but as if this were not enough, all the buyers and sellers came round and helped me in the bargain; and the ass and I and Father Adam were the centre of a hubbub for near half an hour. At length she passed into my service for the consideration of sixty-five francs and a glass of brandy. The sack had already cost eighty francs and two glasses of beer; so that Modestine, as I instantly baptized her, was upon all accounts the cheaper article. Indeed, that was as it should be; for she was only an appurtenance of my mattress, or self-acting bedstead on four castors.
勒莫纳斯捷住着一位老人，大家喊他“亚当老爹”。据有些人讲，他脑子不太灵光，身后常跟着一群捣蛋的孩子。亚当老爹有一辆马车，拉车的是一头极小的母驴，比狗大不了多少，毛色像老鼠，有一双温和的眼睛和一个坚毅的下颌。这头瘦弱的牲口身上有种整洁、高贵的气质，一种贵格会教徒似的优雅，让我一下子就对它动了心。我们第一次见面是在勒莫纳斯捷的集市上。为了证明驴子的好脾气，孩子们一个接一个地被抱上驴背，又一个接一个头朝下被甩了下来，直到那些年轻小子们失去了信心，再也没有别的人敢尝试。我已经有一群朋友帮我了；但仿佛这样还不够，市场上所有买东西和卖东西的人都聚拢过来帮我还价。在近半个小时的时间里，驴子、我和亚当老爹成了一场喧哗吵闹的中心。终于，这头母驴以六十五法郎外加一杯白兰地的价格成交，从此为我效劳。睡袋已经花费了我八十法郎和两杯啤酒，所以小乖（我立刻就给它起好了名字）不管从哪方面讲都算是便宜的了。确实，本就应该如此，因为她只是我床垫的附属品，或者说是一个自己能活动的四轮床架。
I had a last interview with Father Adam in a billiard-room at the witching hour of dawn, when I administered the brandy. He professed himself greatly touched by the separation, and declared he had often bought white bread for the donkey when he had been content with black bread for himself; but this, according to the best authorities, must have been a flight of fancy. He had a name in the village for brutally misusing the ass; yet it is certain that he shed a tear, and the tear made a clean mark down one cheek.
最后一次与亚当老爹攀谈是在大清早的台球房，我请他喝了白兰地。他宣称因为离别而伤心欲绝，还宣称他经常买白面包给他的驴子吃，而他自己只吃黑面包就心满意足了。而据最权威人士讲，这肯定是一派胡言。他虐待驴子在村里是出了名的。可他确实流下了一滴泪，这颗泪珠滑下他的脸颊，留下了一道明晃晃的痕迹。
By the advice of a fallacious local saddler, a leather pad was made for me with rings to fasten on my bundle; and I thoughtfully completed my kit and arranged my toilette. By way of armoury and utensils, I took a revolver, a little spirit-lamp and pan, a lantern and some halfpenny candles, a jack-knife and a large leather flask. The main cargo consisted of two entire changes of warm clothing—besides my travelling wear of country velveteen, pilot-coat, and knitted spencer—some books, and my railway-rug, which, being also in the form of a bag, made me a double castle for cold nights. The permanent larder was represented by cakes of chocolate and tins of Bologna sausage. All this, except what I carried about my person, was easily stowed into the sheepskin bag; and by good fortune I threw in my empty knapsack, rather for convenience of carriage than from any thought that I should want it on my journey. For more immediate needs I took a leg of cold mutton, a bottle of Beaujolais, an empty bottle to carry milk, an egg-beater, and a considerable quantity of black bread and white, like Father Adam, for myself and donkey, only in my scheme of things the destinations were reversed.
我接受当地一位不太牢靠的马具匠的建议，定做了一个皮垫子，上面有几个环，用来固定我的行李。我还仔细备齐了工具包里的工具，整理好我的洗漱用品。我选了一把左轮手枪当作武器，还有一个小酒精灯和平底锅、一盏灯笼和一些半便士的蜡烛、一把折叠小刀和一个装在皮套里的大扁酒瓶等生活用品。主要的行李包括两整套替换的御寒衣服——这不包括我的旅行服，即我的乡村棉绒裤子、粗呢短大衣和羊毛针织上衣——几本书和一条行路毯。这条毯子也被做成了袋子的形状，与睡袋一起成为我抵御寒夜的双重堡垒。常备食物是巧克力蛋糕和几听大红肠罐头。所有这些，除了我随身携带的物品，都很轻松地塞进了羊皮袋子里。幸运的是，我还额外塞进了一只空背包，这完全是顺手塞进去的，而不是想到路上真有可能用得到它。为了应付眼下的需求，我带了一条冷羊腿、一瓶博若莱葡萄酒、一个盛牛奶的空瓶子和一个打蛋器。此外，还有一大堆黑面包和白面包，就像亚当老爹那样，是为我自己和驴子带的，只不过在我的计划里，它们的用途刚好颠倒过来。
Monastrians, of all shades of thought in politics, had agreed in threatening me with many ludicrous misadventures, and with sudden death in many surprising forms. Cold, wolves, robbers, above all the nocturnal practical joker, were daily and eloquently forced on my attention. Yet in these vaticinations, the true, patent danger was left out. Like Christian1, it was from my pack I suffered by the way. Before telling my own mishaps, let me, in two words, relate the lesson of my experience. If the pack is well strapped at the ends, and hung at full length—not doubled, for your life—across the pack-saddle, the traveler is safe. The saddle will certainly not fit, such is the imperfection of our transitory life; it will assuredly topple and tend to overset; but there are stones on every roadside, and a man soon learns the art of correcting any tendency to overbalance with a well-adjusted stone.
所有勒莫纳斯捷人，不管他们的政治派别是什么，都用种种荒唐不经的不幸事件和离奇的突然死亡吓唬我。每天都有人绘声绘色地提醒我注意严寒、狼群、强盗，尤其是夜里搞恶作剧的人。然而，这些预言却偏偏遗漏了那真正的、显而易见的危险。就像基督徒那样，我旅行中最大的困难来自于我的包裹。在讲述我自己的不幸事件之前，请让我用简单的几句话说一下我得到的教训吧。如果包裹两头都用绳子扎紧，并且能够平展着——可千万不要折叠着，为你自己着想——放在驮鞍上，那么旅行者就是安全的。驮鞍肯定不会刚好合适，这就是我们短暂生命的不完美之处。它一定会摇摇欲坠，还很容易弄翻在地；但路边有的是石头，而且你很快就能学会怎样用一块合适的石头保持平衡。
On the day of my departure I was up a little after five; by six, we began to load the donkey; and ten minutes after, my hopes were in the dust. The pad would not stay on Modestine's back for half a moment. I returned it to its maker, with whom I had so contumelious a passage that the street outside was crowded from wall to wall with gossips looking on and listening. The pad changed hands with much vivacity; perhaps it would be more descriptive to say that we threw it at each other's heads; and, at any rate, we were very warm and unfriendly, and spoke with a deal of freedom.
动身那天，我五点刚过就起床了。六点，我们开始把行李装上驴子，可仅仅十分钟后，我的希望就落了空。皮垫子在小乖背上连半分钟都呆不住。我拿着它去找马具匠，和他好好理论了一番。我们吵得激烈极了，外面的路上挤满了看热闹的人，都津津有味地听我们争执。垫子在我们彼此手里飞快地传来传去；或者更确切地说，我们把它朝着对方的脑袋扔来扔去。不管怎么说，我们确实吵得很厉害，彼此很不友好，措词也相当不讲究。
I had a common donkey pack-saddle—a barde, as they call it—fitted upon Modestine; and once more loaded her with my effects. The doubled sack, my pilot-coat (for it was warm, and I was to walk in my waistcoat), a great bar of black bread, and an open basket containing the white bread, the mutton, and the bottles, were all corded together in a very elaborate system of knots, and I looked on the result with fatuous content. In such a monstrous deck-cargo, all poised above the donkey's shoulders, with nothing below to balance, on a brand-new pack-saddle that had not yet been worn to fit the animal, and fastened with brand-new girths that might be expected to stretch and slacken by the way, even a very careless traveller should have seen disaster brewing. That elaborate system of knots, again, was the work of too many sympathisers to be very artfully designed. It is true they tightened the cords with a will; as many as three at a time would have a foot against Modestine's quarters, and be hauling with clenched teeth; but I learned afterwards that one thoughtful person, without any exercise of force, can make a more solid job than half-a-dozen heated and enthusiastic grooms. I was then but a novice; even after the misadventure of the pad nothing could disturb my security, and I went forth from the stable door as an ox goeth to the slaughter.
我把一个普通驮鞍——他们管它叫“战马铠甲”——安在小乖背上，然后又一次把我的财物装到她背上。折叠好的睡袋、我的粗呢短大衣（当时还很暖和，我路上只穿马甲就行了）、一长条黑面包，还有一个没有盖子的篮子，里面装着白面包、羊肉和瓶子，所有这些都用精巧的绳结捆扎在一起。我心满意足地看着我的成果，现在想来真是愚蠢之极。这样巨大的行囊全部悬在驴背上方，下面没有任何东西用来保持平衡，用的还是崭新的、还不知道是否与这头牲口相配的驮鞍，绑着的肚带也同样是崭新的，路上很有可能会挣松开来。即使再怎么粗心的旅人也可以看到其中潜藏的灾难。同样，这些精巧的绳结也是很多热心人努力的结果；当然，插手的人太多了，也就无法设计得非常工巧。他们确实很努力地想把绳子拉紧，一次可能就有三个人同时拿脚抵住小乖的腿，咬紧牙拼命拽着绳子。但我后来才了解到，一个细心的人不必用什么力气，就会比六个激动的热心人做得更好。那时我还只是个生手；即使是皮垫的不幸事件也无法动摇我的信心。我义无反顾地冲出了马厩，就像是一头正在走向屠宰场的牛。
(1)19世纪的波兰长期处于被外国瓜分状态，波兰人民曾多次举行争取独立的武装起义，但其间党派林立，纷争不止。这里作者用“波兰”比喻当地的党派纷争。
(2)贵格会教派，基督教新教的一个派别。The Green Donkey-Driver2.赶驴新手
The bell of Monastier was just striking nine as I got quit of these preliminary troubles and descended the hill through the common. As long as I was within sight of the windows, a secret shame and the fear of some laughable defeat withheld me from tampering with Modestine. She tripped along upon her four small hoofs with a sober daintiness of gait; from time to time she shook her ears or her tail; and she looked so small under the bundle that my mind misgave me. We got across the ford without difficulty—there was no doubt about the matter, she was docility itself—and once on the other bank, where the road begins to mount through pine-woods, I took in my right hand the unhallowed staff, and with a quaking spirit applied it to the donkey. Modestine brisked up her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former minuet. Another application had the same effect, and so with the third. I am worthy the name of an Englishman, and it goes against my conscience to lay my hand rudely on a female. I desisted, and looked her all over from head to foot; the poor brute's knees were trembling and her breathing was distressed; it was plain that she could go no faster on a hill. God forbid, thought I, that I should brutalise this innocent creature; let her go at her own pace, and let me patiently follow.
我解决了出发前的种种麻烦，穿过村中公地下山时，勒莫纳斯捷的钟刚刚敲过九点。当我还在窗后人们的视线之内时，出于一种隐秘的羞愧，又担心自己会出什么可笑的差错，我不敢随便摆布小乖。她踏着四只小小的蹄子，步态沉稳而优雅，时不时地，还摇摇耳朵或尾巴。压在那么些行李下面，她看起来如此瘦小，我感到不安极了。我们很轻松就过了浅滩——这没什么问题，小乖是很温顺的。到了对岸，道路开始往上倾斜着穿过松林。我把那根邪恶的棍子握在右手中，战战兢兢地打着驴子。小乖只略略快走了两三步，就又重新踏起了之前的小步舞。第二次施棍得到了同样的效果，第三次也是如此。我称得上是一位地道的英国人，因此对雌性横施暴虐是违背我的良知的。于是我停了下来，把她从头到脚好好审视了一番。这可怜的牲口膝盖发抖，呼吸沉重，很明显，上山时她是无法再快一分了。我想，上帝不会允许我这样虐待这个无辜的生物的；就让她按自己的步伐来走，我还是耐心地跟着吧。
What that pace was, there is no word mean enough to describe; it was something as much slower than a walk as a walk is slower than a run; it kept me hanging on each foot for an incredible length of time; in five minutes it exhausted the spirit and set up a fever in all the muscles of the leg. And yet I had to keep close at hand and measure my advance exactly upon hers; for if I dropped a few yards into the rear, or went on a few yards ahead, Modestine came instantly to a halt and began to browse. The thought that this was to last from here to Alais nearly broke my heart. Of all conceivable journeys, this promised to be the most tedious. I tried to tell myself it was a lovely day; I tried to charm my foreboding spirit with tobacco; but I had a vision ever present to me of the long, long roads, up hill and down dale, and a pair of figures ever infinitesimally moving, foot by foot, a yard to the minute, and, like things enchanted in a nightmare, approaching no nearer to the goal.
这种步伐究竟是怎样的呢？这实在无法找到合适的词语来形容；步行比奔跑慢多少，那么它就比步行慢多少。我每踏出一步，都要花很长时间。仅仅五分钟就耗光了我的精力，我腿上的每块肌肉都开始发热了。然而我还得紧跟在她身边，严格按照她的步伐来调整我的步子，因为我要是落后那么一两码，或者超前了一两码，小乖就会立刻停下来，开始低头吃草。想到要这样一路走到阿莱，我真是沮丧透了。在我能想象得到的所有旅行中，这应该是最乏味的一次了。我试着告诉自己天气是这样清明美好，还试着用烟草驱散我不祥的预感。但我眼前却始终有个幻觉，漫漫长路，爬上山坡又穿过低谷，一对身影以极慢的速度蜗行着，一步又一步，一分钟只能前进一码，而且，就像梦魇里被施了魔法那样，始终无法接近终点。
In the meantime there came up behind us a tall peasant, perhaps forty years of age, of an ironical snuffy countenance, and arrayed in the green tail-coat of the country. He overtook us hand over hand, and stopped to consider our pitiful advance.
就在这时，我们后面来了一个高个儿的农夫，大约四十岁上下，有着一张带着嘲讽、不讨人喜欢的面孔，穿着乡下人的绿色燕尾服。他一点一点地追上我们，然后停下来琢磨我们这种可悲的前进方式。
"Your donkey," says he, "is very old?"“你的驴子，”他说，“是不是很老了？”
I told him, I believed not.
我告诉他，我认为它并不老。
Then, he supposed, we had come far.
那么，他想，我们是远道而来。
I told him, we had but newly left Monastier.
我告诉他，我们才刚刚离开勒莫纳斯捷。
"Et vous marchez comme ca!" cried he; and, throwing back his head, he laughed long and heartily. I watched him, half prepared to feel offended, until he had satisfied his mirth; and then, "You must have no pity on these animals," said he; and, plucking a switch out of a thicket, he began to lace Modestine about the stern-works, uttering a cry. The rogue pricked up her ears and broke into a good round pace, which she kept up without flagging, and without exhibiting the least symptom of distress, as long as the peasant kept beside us. Her former panting and shaking had been, I regret to say, a piece of comedy.“那你们还走得这样慢哪！”他喊道。说完，他昂起头，哈哈大笑了好一阵子。我看着他，感觉有些受辱，直到他笑够了，说，“你可不能对这些畜生心太软了。”接着，他从灌木丛中拔了一根枝条，大叫一声，开始抽打小乖的臀部。这惫懒畜生支起耳朵，立刻加快了步伐，而且，只要有那农夫在旁，她就一点儿也不懈怠，委顿衰弱的模样完全不见了。我只能遗憾地说，她之前那些喘粗气啦，颤抖啦，只是一幕喜剧。
My deus ex machiná, before he left me, supplied some excellent, if inhumane, advice; presented me with the switch, which he declared she would feel more tenderly than my cane; and finally taught me the true cry or masonic word of donkey-drivers, "Proot!" All the time, he regarded me with a comical, incredulous air, which was embarrassing to confront; and smiled over my donkey-driving, as I might have smiled over his orthography, or his green tail-coat. But it was not my turn for the moment.
离开之前，我的天赐救星给了我一些绝妙的、也许不太人道的建议；他把枝条给我，说它对小乖来说比我的棍子柔和一些。最后他教给我赶驴人真正的、或者说是共同的呼喊法，“普鲁—特”。他一直用一种滑稽、怀疑的态度对待我，让我尴尬万分。他还嘲笑我的赶驴技术，我本来也可以嘲笑他的拼字方法和绿色燕尾服，但现在还轮不到我来发笑。
I was proud of my new lore, and thought I had learned the art to perfection. And certainly Modestine did wonders for the rest of the fore-noon, and I had a breathing space to look about me. It was Sabbath; the mountain-fields were all vacant in the sunshine; and as we came down through St. Martin de Frugères, the church was crowded to the door, there were people kneeling without upon the steps, and the sound of the priest's chanting came forth out of the dim interior. It gave me a home feeling on the spot; for I am a countryman of the Sabbath, so to speak, and all Sabbath observances, like a Scottish accent, strike in me mixed feelings, grateful and the reverse. It is only a traveller, hurrying by like a person from another planet, who can rightly enjoy the peace and beauty of the great ascetic feast. The sight of the resting country does his spirit good. There is something better than music in the wide unusual silence; and it disposes him to amiable thoughts, like the sound of a little river or the warmth of sunlight.
我很为自己新得的知识而骄傲，认为我已经学到了它的精髓。而且在那天上午剩下的时间里，小乖的表现也确实好得出奇，我也终于能够喘上一口气，看看周围的景色。这天是安息日，阳光下的山野中空荡荡的没有人迹；当我们下山经过弗吕热勒斯的圣马丁教堂时，发现教堂里的人一直挤到门口，还有人跪在门外的台阶上，昏暗的教堂内传来牧师的唱经声。这种景象当即使我感到如归故里，因为可以说，我是在深具安息日传统的乡下长大成人的，一切安息日的仪式，就像苏格兰口音那样，都会勾起我内心复杂的情感，半是欣愉，另一半却恰恰相反。只有行色匆匆、好似来自另一星球的旅行者，才能真正欣赏到这场盛大的苦修节日中蕴含的宁静和美好。安谧的乡村美景会慰藉他的心灵。旷野中不同寻常的寂静里，有一种比音乐更加动人心弦的东西，使他泛起温柔的思绪，好像小河的淙淙流水声或是煦暖的阳光。
In this pleasant humour I came down the hill to where Goudet stands in a green end of a valley, with Chateau Beaufort opposite upon a rocky steep, and the stream, as clear as crystal, lying in a deep pool between them. Above and below, you may hear it wimpling over the stones, an amiable stripling of a river, which it seems absurd to call the Loire. On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains; rocky footpaths, practicable at best for donkeys, join it to the outer world of France; and the men and women drink and swear, in their green corner, or look up at the snow-clad peaks in winter from the threshold of their homes, in an isolation, you would think, like that of Homer's Cyclops1. But it is not so; the postman reaches Goudet with the letter-bag; the aspiring youth of Goudet are within a day's walk of the railway at Le Puy; and here in the inn you may find an engraved portrait of the host's nephew, Regis Senac, "Professor of Fencing and Champion of the two Americas," a distinction gained by him, along with the sum of five hundred dollars, at Tammany Hall, New York, on the 10th April 1876
我欣欣然走下山，来到一个绿草如茵的山谷。山谷一端是古戴，另一端则是建在陡峭的岩壁上的博福特堡。一道溪流，莹澈如水晶，在它们中间汇成一泓深潭。不论是在上游还是下游，你都可以听到溪流轻敲石块发出的泠泠水声。作为一条大河的小支流，它是如此温静，以至于把它称为卢瓦尔河似乎显得有些荒谬。古戴四面被群山锁住，几条最多只能让驴子通行的石径把它和外面的法国大地连在了一起。在这个郁郁葱葱的世外角落里，男人和女人们喝酒、咒骂，或是坐在自家门槛上仰望冬天白雪皑皑的山顶。你也许会认为他们就像荷马笔下的独眼巨人一样与世隔绝，但事实却并非如此。邮差会带着他的邮包造访古戴；古戴满怀抱负的年轻人在一天之内就能走到勒皮城的铁路；在这儿的小旅馆中，你会发现店主人的侄儿雷吉斯.塞纳克的雕像，上面写着他于1876年4月10日在纽约坦马尼厅获得“剑术教授以及美洲冠军”的殊荣，以及五百美元的奖金。
I hurried over my midday meal, and was early forth again. But, alas, as we climbed the interminable hill upon the other side, "Proot!" seemed to have lost its virtue. I prooted like a lion, I prooted mellifluously like a sucking-dove; but Modestine would be neither softened nor intimidated. She held doggedly to her pace; nothing but a blow would move her, and that only for a second. I must follow at her heels, incessantly belabouring. A moment's pause in this ignoble toil, and she relapsed into her own private gait. I think I never heard of any one in as mean a situation. I must reach the lake of Bouchet, where I meant to camp, before sundown, and, to have even a hope of this, I must instantly maltreat this uncomplaining animal. The sound of my own blows sickened me. Once, when I looked at her, she had a faint resemblance to a lady of my acquaintance who formerly loaded me with kindness; and this increased my horror of my cruelty.
我匆匆吃过午饭，又早早上路了。但不幸的是，我们在攀登山谷另一侧那高不可及的山峰时，“普鲁—特”似乎失灵了。不论我像狮子般大声嘶吼，还是像雏鸽那样轻声细语，小乖就是软硬不吃。她固执地坚持着自己的步伐，打一下才能快一点儿，而且只能快上一秒钟。我只能紧紧跟着，不断抽打她。这种不光彩的劳役只需停得一刻，她就退回到自己的速度上了。我想我还从未听说过有人陷入我这般窘迫的境地。我计划在布歇湖露营，必须在太阳落山之前赶到那儿，因此，为了使希望不致完全落空，我必须立即开始虐待这头毫无怨言的牲口。我的鞭打声让我厌恶极了。有一次，我看着她的时候，觉得她有点儿像是我熟识的一位女士，而这位女士曾经友善地对待过我。这种想法更加深了我对自己暴行的憎恶。
To make matters worse, we encountered another donkey, ranging at will upon the roadside; and this other donkey chanced to be a gentleman. He and Modestine met nickering for joy, and I had to separate the pair and beat down their young romance with a renewed and feverish bastinado. If the other donkey had had the heart of a male under his hide, he would have fallen upon me tooth and hoof; and this was a kind of consolation—he was plainly unworthy of Modestine's affection. But the incident saddened me, as did everything that spoke of my donkey's sex.
更糟的是，我们遇上了另外一头在路边闲逛的驴子，而且这头驴子碰巧是位绅士。他和小乖相互嘶鸣作乐，我得分开他俩，于是重新开始用狂暴的鞭笞将这份初开的情愫扼杀在摇篮里。如果那头驴子的兽皮之下有着雄性的胸怀，他一定会向我扑来嘴咬蹄踢；值得安慰的是，他并没有这样做，因此完全不配拥有小乖的深情厚意。但是这个事件，就像其他一切涉及小乖性别的事情一样，叫我伤起心来。
It was blazing hot up the valley, windless, with vehement sun upon my shoulders; and I had to labour so consistently with my stick that the sweat ran into my eyes. Every five minutes, too, the pack, the basket, and the pilot-coat would take an ugly slew to one side or the other; and I had to stop Modestine, just when I had got her to a tolerable pace of about two miles an hour, to tug, push, shoulder, and readjust the load. And at last, in the village of Ussel, saddle and all, the whole hypothec turned round and grovelled in the dust below the donkey's belly. She, none better pleased, incontinently drew up and seemed to smile; and a party of one man, two women, and two children came up, and, standing round me in a half-circle, encouraged her by their example.
山谷之上酷热难耐，一丝风也没有，似火的骄阳烤着我的双肩。我还得不断地挥着我的棍棒，汗水都流到我的眼睛里去了。还有，每隔五分钟，这些包裹啦，篮子啦，粗呢大衣啦，就会讨厌地滑向一边或另一边；然后我就得喝止小乖，去拖呀、推呀、扛呀地重新调整这些行李，而这时我才刚刚让她以我可以忍受的速度赶路，也就是一小时走上两英里。最后，在一个叫于塞勒的村子里，所有的行李连同鞍子一起滑落下来，摊在小乖肚子下面的尘土里。她高兴得不得了，不禁停了下来，好像还在咧着嘴笑。一群人，包括一个男人、两个妇女和两个孩子走了过来，站成半个圈围住我。他们也笑了起来，这鼓舞了小乖，给她树立了榜样。
I had the devil's own trouble to get the thing righted; and the instant I had done so, without hesitation, it toppled and fell down upon the other side. Judge if I was hot! And yet not a hand was offered to assist me. The man, indeed, told me I ought to have a package of a different shape. I suggested, if he knew nothing better to the point in my predicament, he might hold his tongue. And the good-natured dog agreed with me smilingly. It was the most despicable fix. I must plainly content myself with the pack for Modestine, and take the following items for my own share of the portage: a cane, a quart-flask, a pilot-
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