第64章 幸福的家庭 The Happy Family (第1/7页)

《幸福的家庭》，1848 年

the happy Family, 1848

说真的，这个国家最大的绿叶是牛蒡叶；如果把它举在身前，就像一条完整的围裙；要是在下雨天把它举在头顶，几乎就和雨伞一样好用，因为它实在是太大了。

Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dock-leaf; if one holds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it over one’s head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large.

牛蒡从不单独生长，只要有一棵长出来，附近总会长出好几棵：这可真是一大乐事，而所有这些让人愉悦的牛蒡都是蜗牛的食物。

the burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and all this delightfulness is snails’ food.

过去有身份的人会把大白蜗牛做成烩肉来吃，还会边吃边说：“嗯，嗯！真好吃！” 因为他们觉得味道很鲜美 —— 这些蜗牛就以牛蒡叶为食，所以人们才会播种牛蒡籽。

the great white snails which persons of quality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, “hem, hem! how delicious!” for they thought it tasted so delicate — lived on dock leaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown.

从前有一座古老的庄园，在那儿人们已经不再吃蜗牛了，蜗牛已经绝迹；但牛蒡并没有绝迹，它们在小径上、花坛里疯长；人们根本没法控制它们 —— 那简直就是一片牛蒡的森林。

Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them — it was a whole forest of burdocks.

这儿那儿还零星地立着几棵苹果树和李树，不然的话，谁也不会想到这曾经是个花园；到处都是牛蒡，而那两只最后剩下的、令人尊敬的老蜗牛就住在这儿。

here and there stood an apple and a plumb-tree, or else one never would have thought that it was a garden; all was burdocks, and there lived