名著·鲁宾逊飘流记 - 第36节


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  我开始动手修筑篱笆,但直到完成了大约五十码时,才想到了上面提到的问题。于是我立即停工,并决定先圈一块长约一百五十码,宽约一百码的地方。这个面积,在相当一段时期内,足以容纳我能驯养的山羊;等以后羊群增加了,我可以进一步扩大圈地。

   This was acting with some Prudence, and I went to work with Courage. I was about three Months hedging in the first Piece, and till I had done it I tether'd the three Kids in the best part of it, and us'd them to feed as near me as possible to make them familiar; and very often I would go and carry them some Ears of Barley, or a handful of Rice, and feed them out of my Hand; so that after my Enclosure was finished, and I let them loose, they would follow me up and down, bleating after me for a handful of Corn.

  这个办法较为审慎可行,我就鼓起勇气重新动手干起来。这第一块圈地用了差不多三个月的时间才完成。在此期间,我一直把三只小羊拴在最好的地方,并让它们一直在我近旁吃草,使它们与我混熟。我还经常用大麦穗子和一把把大米喂它们,让它们在我手里吃。这样,当我把篱笆修筑完成之后,即使把它们放开,也会回来跟着我转,并咩咩叫着向我讨吃哩!

   This answer'd my End, and in about a Year and half I had a Flock of about twelve Goats, Kids and all; and in two Years more I had three and forty, besides several that I took and kill'd for my Food. And after that I enclosed five several Pieces of Ground to feed them in, with little Pens to drive them into, to take them as I wanted, and Gates out of one Piece of Ground into another. But this was not all, for now I not only had Goats Flesh to feed on when I pleas'd, but Milk too, a thing which indeed in my beginning I did not so much as think of, and which, when it came into my Thoughts, was really an agreeable Surprize. For now I set up my Dairy, and had sometimes a Gallon or two of Milk in a Day. And as Nature, who gives Supplies of Food to every Creature, dictates even naturally how to make use of it; so I that had never milk'd a Cow, much less a Goat, or seen Butter or Cheese made, very readily and handily, tho' after a great many Essays and Miscarriages, made me both Butter and Cheese at last, and never wanted it afterwards.

  我的目的总算实现了。不到一年半,我已连大带小有了十二只山羊了。又过了两年,除了被我宰杀吃掉的几只不算,我已有了四十三只了。这以后,我又圈了五六块地方养羊。在这些圈地上,都做了窄小的围栏;我要捉羊时,就把羊赶进去。同时,在各圈地之间,又做了一些门使之彼此相通。这还不算,现在我不仅随时有羊肉吃,还有羊奶喝。这在当初我根本想也没有想到。所以我忽然想到可以喝羊奶时,真是喜出望外。现在,我有了自己的挤奶房,有时每天可产一两加仑的羊奶。我这人一生没有挤过牛奶,更没有挤过羊奶,也没有见过人家做奶油或乳酪。可是,经过多次的试验和失败,我终于做出了奶油和干酪,而且做得方便利索。可见大自然不但使每个生灵都得到食物,而且还自然而然地教会他们如何充分地利用各种食物。

   How mercifully can our great Creator treat his Creatures, even in those Conditions in which they seem'd to be overwhelm'd in Destruction. How can he sweeten the bitterest Providences, and give us Cause to praise him for Dungeons and Prisons. What a Table was here spread for me in a Wilderness, where I saw nothing at first but to perish for Hunger.

  造物主对待自己所创造的一切生灵是多么仁慈啊,哪怕他们身处绝境,他也还是那么慈悲为怀。他能把苦难的命运变得甜蜜,即使我们囚于牢狱也都要赞美他!当我刚来到这片荒野时,一定以为自己会饿死;而现在,摆在我面前是多么丰盛的筵席啊!

   It would have made a Stoick smile to have seen, me and my little Family sit down to Dinner; there was my Majesty the Prince and Lord of the whole island; I had the Lives of all my Subjects at my absolute Command. I could hang, draw, give Liberty, and take it away, and no Rebels among all my Subjects.

  你如果是一个信奉斯多葛哲学的人,看到我和我的小家庭成员共进晚餐的情景,也一定会忍俊不禁。我坐在中间,俨然是全岛的君王。我对自己的臣民拥有绝对的生杀之权。我可以任意处置我的臣民,要杀就杀,要抓就抓,要放就放,而且不会有反叛者。

  再看看我是怎样用餐的吧!我一个人坐在那儿进餐,其他都是我的臣民在一旁侍候。我的鹦鹉仿佛是我的宠臣,只有它才被允许与我讲话。我的狗现在已又老又昏聩了,它总是坐在我右手;而那两只猫则各坐一边,不时地希望从我手里得到一点赏赐,并把此视为一种特殊的恩宠。

   But these were not the two Cats which I brought on Shore at first, for they were both of them dead, and had been interr'd near my Habitation by my own Hand; but one of them having multiply'd by I know not what Kind of Creature, these were two which I had preserv'd tame, whereas the rest run wild in the Woods, and became indeed troublesom to me at last; for they would often come into my House, and plunder me too, till at last I was obliged to shoot them, and did kill a great many; at length they left me with this Attendance, and in this plentiful Manner I lived; neither could I be said to want any thing but Society, and of that in some time after this, I was like to have too much.

  这两只猫已不是我最初从破船上带下来的了,那两只早就死了,我亲自把它们葬在我的住所附近。不过其中一只不知同什么动物交配,生下了许多小猫。这两只就是我从那些小猫中留下来驯养起来的,其余的都跑到树林里成了野猫。那些野猫后来给我添了不少麻烦,因为它们经常跑到我家里来劫掠我的东西。最后我不得不开枪杀了它们一大批,终于把它们赶走了。所以,我现在有那么多仆人侍候我,生活也过得很富裕,唯一缺乏的就是没有人可以交往而已,其它什么都不缺。但不久之后,我就有人交往了,后来甚至感到交往的人太多了。

   I was something impatient, as I have observ'd, to have the Use of my Boat; though very loath to run any more Hazards; and therefore sometimes I sat contriving Ways to get her about the Island, and at other Times I sat my self down contented enough without her. But I had a strange Uneasiness in my Mind to go down to the Point of the Island, where, as I have said, in my last Ramble, I went up the Hill to see how the Shore lay, and how the Current set, that I might see what I had to do: This Inclination encreas'd upon me every Day, and at length I resolv'd to travel thither by Land, following the Edge of the Shore. I did so: But had any one in England been to meet such a Man as I was, it must either have frighted them, or rais'd a great deal of Laughter; and as I frequently stood still to look at my self, I could not but smile at the Notion of my travelling though Yorkshire with such an Equipage, and in such a Dress: Be pleas'd to take a Scetch of my Figure as follows,

  我曾经说过,我非常希望能使用那只小船,但又不想再次冒险。因此,有时我会坐着苦思冥想,竭力设法把船弄到小岛的这边来;有时我又会安下心来,觉得不要它也行。可是我这人生性不安于现状,总是想到我上次出游时到过的海岛的那一边走一趟,看看有没有办法把小船弄过来,因为,正是在那儿,我可以登上小山,远眺海岸和潮水的流向。这念头在心里变得越来越强烈,最后终于决定沿着海岸从陆上走到那边去。于是我就出发了。如果在英国有人碰到我这样的人,一定会吓一大跳,再不然也会大笑一阵。我也常常停下来打量自己,想到自己如果穿这套行装,像这样打扮在约克郡旅行,也禁不住笑起来。下面我把自己的模样描绘一下吧。

   I had a great high shapeless Cap, made of a Goat's Skin, with a Flap hanging down behind, as well to keep the Sun from me, as to shoot the Rain off from running into my Neck; nothing being so hurtful in these Climates, as the Rain upon the Flesh under the Cloaths.

  我头上戴着一顶山羊皮做的便帽,这帽子做得又高又大,很不像样,后面还垂着一条长长的帽缘,一来是为了遮太阳,二来是为了挡雨,免得雨水流进脖子。在热带,被雨淋湿是最伤身体的。

   I had a short Jacket of Goat-Skin, the Skirts coming down to about the middle of my Thighs; and a Pair of open-knee'd Breeches of the same, the Breeches were made of the Skin of an old He-goat, whose Hair hung down such a Length on either Side, that like Pantaloons it reach'd to the middle of my Legs; Stockings and Shoes I had none, but had made me a Pair of some-things, I scarce know what to call them, like Buskins to flap over my Legs, and lace on either Side like Spatter-dashes; but of a most barbarous Shape, as indeed were all the rest of my Cloaths.

  我上身穿了一件山羊皮做的短外套,衣襟遮住了一半大腿。下身穿了一条齐膝短裤,也是用一只老公羊的皮做成的,两旁的羊毛一直垂到小腿上,看上去象条长裤。我没有鞋子,也没有袜子,但做了一双短靴似的东西,自己也不知道该叫什么,靴长刚及小腿,两边再用绳子系起来,好像绑腿一样。这双靴子与我身上的其他装束一样,极端拙劣难看。

  我腰间束了一条宽阔的皮带,那是用晒干了的小羊皮做的,皮带没有搭扣,只用两根山羊皮条系着。带子两边有两个搭环,原来是水手用来挂短刀或短剑的,可我挂了一把小锯和一把斧头,一边一把。另一条较窄的皮带,斜挂在我的肩膀上,也用皮条系着。这条皮带的末端,在我左胳膊下,挂着两个山羊皮袋,一个装火药,一个装子弹。我背上背着筐子,肩上扛着枪,头上撑着一顶羊皮做的大阳伞,样子又难看又笨拙。尽管如此,除了枪之外,这把伞也是我随身不可缺少的东西。至于我的脸,倒不像穆拉托人那么黑,看上去像一个住在赤道九度、十度之内的热带地区那种不修边幅的人。我的胡子曾长到四分之一码长,但我有的是剪刀和剃刀,所以就把它剪短了,但上嘴唇的胡子仍留着,并修剪成像回教徒式的八字大胡子,像我在萨累见到的土耳其人留的胡子那样,因为摩尔人是不留这种胡子的,只有土耳其人才留。我不敢说我的这副胡子长得可以挂我的帽子,但确实又长又大,要是在英国给人看见,准会吓得一大跳。

   But all this is by the by; for as to my Figure, I had so few to observe me, that it was of no manner of Consequence; so I say no more to that Part. In this kind of Figure I went my new Journey, and was out five or six Days. I travell'd first along the Sea Shore, directly to the Place where I first brought my Boat to an Anchor, to get up upon the Rocks; and having no Boat now to take care of, I went over the Land a nearer Way to the same Height that I was upon before, when looking forward to the Point of the Rocks which lay out, and which I was oblig'd to double with my Boat, as is said above: I was surpriz'd to see the Sea all smooth and quiet, no Ripling, no Motion, no Current, any more there than in other Places.

  不过,关于我的这副模样,只是顺便提提罢了,因为根本没有人会看到,我模样如何就无关紧要了,所以我也不必多费笔墨。我就带着这副尊容出发,一直走了五六天。我先沿海岸走到我上次泊船登上小山的地方。这次我用不着照管小船,就抄近路走上前次登过的那座小山岗。当我远眺伸入海中的岬角时,前面我曾提到、前次到达这儿时我不得不驾船绕道而行,但现在只见海面风平浪静,那儿既没有波澜,也大出乎我的意料。

   I was at a strange Loss to understand this, and resolv'd to spend some Time in the observing it, to see if nothing from the Sets of the Tide had occasion'd it; but I was presently convinc'd how it was, viz. That the Tide of Ebb setting from the West, and joyning with the Current of Waters from some great River on the Shore, must be the Occasion of this Current; and that according as the Wind blew more forcibly from the West, or from the North, this Current came nearer, or went farther from the Shore; for waiting thereabouts till Evening, I went up to the Rock again, and then the Tide of Ebb being made, I plainly saw the Current again as before, only, that it run farther off, being near half a League from the Shore; whereas in my Case, it set close upon the Shore, and hurry'd me and my Canoe along with it, which at another Time it would not have done.

  对这个现象我感到莫明其妙,决心花些时间留心观察一下,看看是否与潮水方向有关。不久我就明白了其中的奥妙。原来,从西边退下来的潮水与岸上一条大河的水流汇合,形成了那股急流;而西风或北风的强度又决定了那股急流离岸的远近。等到傍晚,我重新登上小山顶。当时正值退潮,我又清楚地看到了那股急流。只不过这一次离岸较远,约在一海里半处;而我上次来时,急流离岸很近,结果把我的独木舟冲走了。在别的时候,也许不会发生这种情况。

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名著·鲁宾逊飘流记 - 第36节