第85章 两位少女 Two Maidens (第2/4页)

o maidens in the shed associated themselves.

在铺路工当中它们是 “少女”，并且决定不放弃这个光荣的称呼，不让自己被误称为 “夯”。

they were “maidens” among the paver folk, and determined not to give up this honorable appellation, and let themselves be miscalled “rammers.

“‘少女’是人的称呼，而‘手夯’是个物件，我们可不想被叫做物件 —— 那是在侮辱我们。”

“maiden is a human name, but hand-rammer is a thing, and we won’t be called things — that’s insulting us.”

“我的爱人可能会打算放弃婚约，” 最年轻的那个说道，她已经和一把铺路工用的锤子订了婚；而锤子是那种能像机器一样把大木桩打进地里的东西，所以它做的事和十个 “少女” 以类似方式做的事规模一样大。

“my lover would be ready to give up his engagement,” said the youngest, who was betrothed to a paver’s hammer; and the hammer is the thing which drives great piles into the earth, like a machine, and therefore does on a large scale what ten maidens effect in a similar way.

“他想娶我这个‘少女’，但要是我成了‘手夯’，他还会不会要我就不好说了，所以我不会让我的名字被改掉。”

“he wants to marry me as a maiden, but whether he would have me were I a hand-rammer is a question, so I won’t have my name changed.”

“而我，” 年长些的那个说，“宁愿把我的两条胳膊都折断。”

“And I,” said the elder one, “would rather have both my arms broken off.”

但是独轮车却有不同的看法；独轮车被认为是有点分量的，因为它觉得自己是马车的四分之一，毕竟它是靠一个轮子行走的。

but the wheelbarrow was of a different opinion; and the wheelbarrow was looked upon as of some consequence, for he considered himself a quarter of a coach, because he went about upon one wheel.

“我必须提请你们注意，” 它说，“‘少女’这个名字太普通了，远没有‘手夯’或者‘捣实器’那么文雅，后一个名字也有人提议过，要是用了它，你们就能被归入印章那一类了；想想国家的大印吧，它盖下皇家印章，让法律生效！不，就你们的情况而言，