第69章 木偶戏艺人 The Puppet－Show Man (第1/9页)

《木偶戏艺人》，1851 年

the puppet-Show man, 1851

在一艘轮船上，我曾经遇到一位上了年纪的人，他面容十分欢快，倘若这面容真能反映他的心境，那他肯定是世上最幸福的人了；事实上他自己也这么认为，因为这是我听他亲口说的。

on board a steamer I once met an elderly man, with such a merry face that, if it was really an index of his mind, he must have been the happiest fellow in creation; and indeed he considered himself so, for I heard it from his own mouth.

他是个丹麦人，是一家流动剧院的老板。

he was a dane, the owner of a travelling theatre.

他把所有的演职人员都装在一个大箱子里带着，因为他是一家木偶戏班的班主。

he had all his pany with him in a large box, for he was the proprietor of a puppet-show.

他说，他与生俱来的乐天性格曾被一位理工学院的成员测试过，而这次测试让他感到无比幸福。

his inborn cheerfulness, he said, had been tested by a member of the polytechnic Institution, and the experiment had made him pletely happy.

起初我并不完全明白这一切，但后来他把整件事都跟我解释清楚了；事情是这样的：——

I did not at first understand all this, but afterwards he explained the whole story to me; and here it is: —

“我当时正在斯拉格尔斯小镇的驿站大厅里演出，” 他说，“观众非常出色，除了两位可敬的女士，其余全是孩子。

“I was giving a representation,” he said, “in the hall of the posting-house in the little town of Slagelse; there was a splendid audience, entirely juvenile excepting two respectable matrons.

突然，一个身穿黑衣、模样像学生的人走进房间，坐了下来；遇到精彩之处，他就放声大笑，该鼓掌的时候也鼓得恰到好处。

All at once, a person in black, of student-like appearance, entered the room, and lived down; he laughed aloud at the telling points, and applauded quite at the proper time.

对我来说，这可是个很不寻常的观众，我很想知道