名著·汤姆叔叔的小屋 - 第56节


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  这时,轮船像一只疲惫不堪的大怪兽低吼着,朝岸边那群轮船驶去。伊娃兴高采烈地指着那些塔尖,圆屋顶,还有路牌,凭着这些标记,她知道他们到家了。

   "Yes, yes, dear; very fine," said Miss Ophelia. "But mercy on us! the boat has stopped! where is your father?""

  亲爱的,非常漂亮。可是,上帝呀,船都停下来了,怎么不见你爸爸呢?"

   And now ensued the usual turmoil of landing--waiters running twenty ways at once--men tugging trunks, carpet-bags, boxes--women anxiously calling to their children, and everybody crowding in a dense mass to the plank towards the landing.

  这时出现了上岸时那种常见的熙熙攘攘的景象--侍者在船上穿来穿去,男人们提着箱子和旅行包,女人们则焦急地呼喊着孩子。人们在通往岸边的跳板跟前挤得水泄不通。

   Miss Ophelia seated herself resolutely on the lately vanquished trunk, and marshalling all her goods and chattels in fine military order, seemed resolved to defend them to the last.

  奥菲利亚小姐毅然坐在了刚才被她征服的箱子上,仿佛要军纪严明地统领她的财富,下定决心要将它们保护到底。

   "Shall I take your trunk, ma'am?" "Shall I take your baggage?" "Let me 'tend to your baggage, Missis?" "Shan't I carry out these yer, Missis?" rained down upon her unheeded. She sat with grim determination, upright as a darning-needle stuck in a board, holding on her bundle of umbrella and parasols, and replying with a determination that was enough to strike dismay even into a hackman, wondering to Eva, in each interval, "what upon earth her papa could be thinking of; he couldn't have fallen over, now,--but something must have happened;"--and just as she had begun to work herself into a real distress, he came up, with his usually careless motion, and giving Eva a quarter of the orange he was eating, said,"Well, Cousin Vermont, I suppose you are all ready.""

  我帮您拿箱子吧,太太?""需要我帮您搬行李吗?""把行李交给我吧,太太?"此类的问题如倾盆大雨般向她袭来,可奥菲利亚小姐却全然不予理睬。她又一动不动地坐在箱子上,像一根插在硬纸板上的针,手中紧紧握着她那把阳伞,态度坚决地回绝了那些询问,就连马车夫见了她这副神情,也知趣地走了。她不时地问伊娃:"你爸爸到底在想什么,他总不会是掉进河里了吧,不会是有什么事发生吧。"就在她内心感到不安时,奥古斯丁走了过来,迈着漫不经心的步子,把他正在吃的桔子用手掰了几瓣递给伊娃,说道:"我说,堂姐,行李都收拾好了吗?"

  早就收拾好了,我们等了你将近一个小时。我都担心你是不是出了什么事。"

   "That's a clever fellow, now," said he. "Well, the carriage is waiting, and the crowd are now off, so that one can walk out in a decent and Christian manner, and not be pushed and shoved. Here," he added to a driver who stood behind him, "take these things.""

  你可真聪明。好了,马车在等着我们呢,人也差不多走光了,这样我们就可以非常体面地,以基督徒的风度从容上岸,又不会被别人挤得难受。"他朝身后的马车夫喊道:"喂,把行李搬下去吧。"

   "I'll go and see to his putting them in," said Miss Ophelia."

  我下去招呼他们把行李放好。"

   "O, pshaw, cousin, what's the use?" said St. Clare."

  哦,不不,姐姐,你就别费事了。"

   "Well, at any rate, I'll carry this, and this, and this," said Miss Ophelia, singling out three boxes and a small carpet-bag."

  那好吧。不过这件,这件,还有这件东西,我非得亲自拿不可。"奥菲利亚小姐说着,便从行李堆里挑出三个盒子和一只小旅行包拿在手里。

  哦,亲爱的姐姐,你千万别把大青山的做法带到这里来。你应该守点南方的规矩,千万别把那么一大堆东西扛着走出去,那样,人家会把你当作女佣看待的。来吧,把行李交给这个伙计,他会把它们当作鸡蛋一样轻拿轻放的。"

   Miss Ophelia looked despairingly as her cousin took all her treasures from her, and rejoiced to find herself once more in the carriage with them, in a state of preservation.

  当堂弟从她手里拿走那几样宝贝东西的时候,奥菲利亚小姐沮丧极了。等她坐进马车,和那些安放好了的宝贝们又呆在一起时,她才高兴了起来。

   "Where's Tom?" said Eva."

  汤姆在哪里?"伊娃问道。

   "O, he's on the outside, Pussy. I'm going to take Tom up to mother for a peace-offering, to make up for that drunken fellow that upset the carriage.""

  噢,他在外边。我打算让汤姆代替那个喝醉酒翻了车的傢伙,算作讲和的礼物送给你的妈妈。"

   "O, Tom will make a splendid driver, I know," said Eva; "he'll never get drunk.""

  汤姆肯定是个出色的车夫,他才不会喝醉酒呢。"

  马车在一座古色古香的大宅子前停了下来。这是一座西班牙式和法式相结合的建筑,在新奥尔良的某些地方还能见到这种房子。它是按摩尔人的建筑风格修建起来的--中央有一个大院子,方方正正的房子,马车可以穿过拱形大门进到院子里面。院子内部的布局非常富丽华贵。院子四周都有宽大的回廊,回廊上有摩尔人式样的拱门和细细的柱子,富有阿拉伯色彩的装饰,令人不禁想起东方人统治西班牙的那个传奇时代来。院子里那眼喷泉,源源不断地喷出银色的水花,落在一个大理石水池中,池边生长着茂密的紫罗兰,池水清澈见底,成群的小金鱼在池中游来游去,仿佛无数颗游动的珍珠闪闪发光。喷水池四周有一条小路,用石子拼成了各种美丽的图案。小路外面是一圈绿丝绒一样平滑的草地,最外层围了一圈马车道。两棵开满鲜花,香气扑鼻的大桔树用它那茂密的绿叶,洒下一片令人惬意的绿荫。草地上有一圈盆景,大理石的花盆镌刻着阿拉伯风格的图案,花盆里各种热带奇花异草在那儿争奇斗妍。院子里那棵高大石榴树的绿叶和红花相互映衬,显得格外艳丽。阿拉伯茑萝藤的叶子绿得发黑,中间点缀着群星般的花朵。天竺葵和玫瑰的枝头都挂满了花朵,还有那金色的茑萝和带着柠檬香味的马鞭花。简直是百花齐放,群芳竞艳。有些地方还长着龙舌兰,叶片极大,形状古怪,像个白发苍苍的老巫婆,摆出一副神气活现的怪面孔来,屹然独立在一群容易枯萎的花草丛中。

   The galleries that surrounded the court were festooned with a curtain of some kind of Moorish stuff, and could be drawn down at pleasure, to exclude the beams of the sun. On the whole, the appearance of the place was luxurious and romantic.

  院子四周的回廊边垂挂着用非洲红布做的窗帘,可以随意放下,用来遮挡阳光。总之,这座宅子看起来豪华、气派而富有浪漫色彩。

   As the carriage drove in, Eva seemed like a bird ready to burst from a cage, with the wild eagerness of her delight.

  马车刚一驶进院子,伊娃好像一只小鸟急不可待地要飞出牢笼,开心极了。

   "O, isn't it beautiful, lovely! my own dear, darling home!" she said to Miss Ophelia. "Isn't it beautiful?"

  她对奥菲利亚小姐说:"看呀,多漂亮,多美丽啊!这就是我心爱的家!您说它美吗?"

   "'T is a pretty place," said Miss Ophelia, as she alighted; "though it looks rather old and heathenish to me.""

  非常漂亮,"奥菲利亚小姐下车时说道,"虽然我觉得这房子很旧,还有些异教色彩,但它确实非常漂亮。"

  汤姆下车后,安静地打量、欣赏着这座宅子。要知道,黑种人来自于许多美丽无比的国度,在他们内心深处有一股对华丽、珍奇之美的强烈热爱。这种热爱因为不加任何遮掩,完全发自本能,所以难免会遭到那些冷静而精确的白种人的嘲笑。

   St. Clare, who was in heart a poetical voluptuary, smiled as Miss Ophelia made her remark on his premises, and, turning to Tom, who was standing looking round, his beaming black face perfectly radiant with admiration, he said,"Tom, my boy, this seems to suit you."

  圣克莱尔天生富有诗人般放荡不羁的气质。对于奥菲利亚小姐的这番评价,他只是一笑了之。然后转过身来面对正在东张西望的汤姆,瞧着他那张黝黑且流露出惊叹神情的笑脸,说:"你好像非常喜欢这个地方。"

   "Yes, Mas'r, it looks about the right thing," said Tom."

  是的,老爷,这房子美极了。"

   All this passed in a moment, while trunks were being hustled off, hackman paid, and while a crowd, of all ages and sizes,--men, women, and children,--came running through the galleries, both above and below to see Mas'r come in. Foremost among them was a highly-dressed young mulatto man, evidently a very _distingue_ personage, attired in the ultra extreme of the mode, and gracefully waving a scented cambric handkerchief in his hand.

  一会儿功夫,所有行李被奴仆们七手八脚地搬下了马车,然后圣克莱尔付了车钱。这时,一大群老老小小,高矮不等的仆人们穿过楼上楼下的回廊,纷纷涌过来迎接主人回家。领头的是个衣着考究的混血年轻人,在这帮奴仆中他的身份显得要高人一等。他的服饰非常时髦,手中转动着一块洒了香水的亚麻手帕。

   This personage had been exerting himself, with great alacrity, in driving all the flock of domestics to the other end of the verandah.

  这人干净利索地把那群仆人们统统赶到走廊的另一头。

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名著·汤姆叔叔的小屋 - 第56节