第79章 开朗的性情 A Cheerful Temper (第1/8页)

《开朗的性情》，1852 年

A cheerful temper, 1852

我从父亲那里继承到了最好的遗产，那就是 “好脾气”。

From my father I received the best inheritance, namely a “good temper.”

“我父亲是谁呢？” 这和好脾气没什么关系；但我要说，他生性活泼，相貌英俊，圆滚滚且胖乎乎的；无论从外貌还是性格来看，他都和自己的职业完全相悖。

“And who was my father?” that has nothing to do with the good temper; but I will say he was lively, good-looking round, and fat; he was both in appearance and character a plete contradiction to his profession.

“那么请问，他的职业是什么，在体面的社会里又处于什么地位呢？” 嗯，或许吧，如果在一本书的开头就把这些写出来印出来，很多人读到的时候，就会把书放下，然后说：“在我看来这书名可真够惨的，我不喜欢这类东西。”

“And pray what was his profession and his standing in respectable society?” well, perhaps, if in the beginning of a book these were written and printed, many, when they read it, would lay the book down and say, “It seems to me a very miserable title, I don’t my things of this sort.”

然而我父亲既不是皮革匠也不是刽子手；恰恰相反，他的工作让他能走在城里最尊贵的人前面，而且这是他理所应当的位置。

And yet my father was not a skin-dresser nor an executioner; on the contrary, his employment placed him at the head of the grandest people of the town, and it was his place by right.

他得走在主教前面，甚至得走在王室成员前面；他总是走在最前面 —— 他是一名灵车车夫！好了，现在真相大白了。

he had to precede the bishop, and even the princes of the blood; he always went first, — he was a hearse driver! there, now, the truth is out.

我得承认，当人们看到我父亲高高地坐在那辆死亡之车 —— 灵车的前面，穿着他那件又长又宽的黑色披风，头上戴着镶着黑边的三角帽，然后再看一眼他那张圆滚滚、乐呵呵的脸，圆得像太阳一样，他们就不会把悲伤或者坟墓之类的事太当回事了。

And I will own, that when people saw my father per