三怪客泛舟記：第一天早晨

I woke up at six o'clock the next morning，and I found that George was awake，too.We both tried to go to sleep again，but we could not.This was because we did not need to get up early.We could sleep for another two or three hours.But we both felt we would die if we tried to sleep for another five minutes.

我早晨六點鐘醒來，發(fā)現喬治也醒了。我們倆都想再睡一會兒，可怎么也睡不著了。這是因為我們不需要早起了，而且還可以再睡上兩、三個小時。然而，哪怕再多睡五分鐘，我們都會覺得立刻就要死了。

George said that the same thing had happened to him a few months before.He told me a story about it…

喬治說幾個月前，他也遇到了這種情況。他給我講了這樣的故事……

At that time George had rooms in the house of a lady called Mrs Gippings.One evening his watch stopped at a quarter past eight.He did not realize this then.When he went to bed，he took off his watch，and he did not look at it.

那時候，他在吉賓斯太太家租了幾個房間。一天晚上，他的表走到八點一刻時停了，可他自己并沒有意識到。睡覺的時候，他把表摘了，看也沒看一眼。

This happened in the winter，so it was dark in the mornings，anyway.When George woke up，he looked at his watch.It was a quarter past eight.

這是冬天發(fā)生的事，因此早上天總是很黑。喬治爬起來一看表，正指著八點一刻。

'Good heavens!'George cried.'I have to be at the bank by nine o'clock!'And he threw down the watch and jumped out of bed.He had a cold bath and he dressed.Then he ran and looked at his watch.It had started to go again，and it was twenty to nine.

“我的天哪!”喬治驚叫起來，“我九點鐘要趕到銀行呢!”說著扔了表，跳下床，匆匆用冷水洗了洗，穿上衣服，急急忙忙跑回去一看表，表又開始走了，現在是差二十分九點。

George took his watch and ran downstairs.The dining-room was dark and silent.There was no fire，no breakfast.George was very angry with Mrs G.He decided to tell her this later，in the evening.Then he caught hold of his coat，his hat and his umbrella，and ran to the front door.lt'was locked!George said that Mrs G.was a lazy old woman.Then he unlocked the door and ran out into the street.

喬治抓起表，沖下樓。飯廳黑洞洞，靜悄悄的，爐子沒生，早餐也沒做。喬治很生吉賓斯太太的氣，晚上回來得好好和她理論理論。他拿著外衣，帽子和雨傘，跑到前門，門居然還鎖著!喬治說吉賓斯太太真是個懶得要命的老太婆。他飛快地打開門，跑到街上。

For a few hundred metres he ran as fast as he could.But，suddenly，he noticed that there were not many people about.He also noticed that the shops were not open.It was a very dark and foggy morning.However，it seemed very strange that they had closed the shops because of the fog.He had to go to work，so why should other people stay in bed?

他使出全力跑出去幾百米，忽然注意到周圍沒幾個人，店鋪也沒開門。那天早晨霧很大，天很黑，可是店鋪要是因為霧大就停止營業(yè)，這可夠奇怪的。他自己還得去上班，怎么別人就能在床上呆著呢?

George could see only three people.One of them was a policeman，one was a man who was taking vegetables to the market，and one was a taxi-driver.

喬治一共只見到三個人：一個是警察，一個是推著菜去市場的，還有一個是馬車夫。

George looked at his watch.It was five to nine.For a moment，he stood there without moving.He wondered if he was dreaming.He felt his wrist，and bent down and felt his legs.Then，with his watch in his hand，he went up to the policeman.

喬治又看看表，差五分鐘九點。他站在那兒呆了一會兒，一動沒動，好像還做著夢呢!他數數脈搏，又彎腰摸摸自己的腿。后來，他拿著表上前去問警察。

'What time is it，please?'he asked the policeman.

“請問，現在幾點了?”他問警察。

'What's the time?'the policeman repeated.'Well，listen.'

“幾點?”警察念叨了一句，“好吧，你聽著吧!”

Just then George heard a clock…one…two…three.'But that's only three times!'George said，when it had finished.

正在這時，鐘敲響了。一下，兩下，三下。鐘不敲了，喬治問：“怎么才敲了三下?”

'Well，how many times do you want?'the policeman replied.

“對啦!那么你想要敲幾下?”警察回了一句。

'Why，nine，of course，'George said，and he held out his watch to the policeman.

“九下，當然了，”喬治說，一邊拿出表給警察看。

'Do you know where you live?'the policeman asked.

“你還記得你住在什么地方嗎?”警察問。

George thought for a minute，and then he told the policeman the address.

喬治想了想，把自己的地址告訴他。

'Well，I think you should go back there quietly，'the policeman continued.'And take your watch with you!'

“那就好，我勸你還是悄悄回去，”警察接著又說，“別忘了你的表。”

So George went back.

就這樣，喬治又回去了。

At first，he thought he would go to bed again.However，he did not like the idea of having to get up again later.So he decided to go to sleep in the armchair.

起初，他想接著睡，可他實在不想再爬起來，所以便決計在椅子上迷糊一會兒算了。

But he could not get to sleep.He tried to read，but that was no good either.Finally，he put on his coat again，and he went out for a walk.

可是，怎么也睡不著。他想看看書，也看不進去，最后還是穿上衣服，出去溜達一會兒。

He felt very lonely and miserable.He met policemen who looked at him strangely.They followed him about.He began to feel that he really had done something wrong.He started to hide in dark corners whenever he saw a policeman.

他感覺是那么孤獨，那么悲傷。遇到的警察都以懷疑的眼光盯著他，還跟著他走。他開始覺得自己是不是真的干了什么壞事，所以一看見警察，他就找漆黑陰暗的地方躲。

Of course，then the policemen wanted to know what he was doing.George said，'Nothing.I'm just going for a walk.'But they did not believe him.In the end，two policemen went back to the house with him.They wanted to know if he really did live there.They watched him go in with his key.Then they stood on the opposite side of the road，and they watched the house.

當然了，人家警察也想知道他究竟想干什么。喬治說：“沒什么，只是散散步。”但他們不相信喬治的話，后來兩個警察和他一起回家，想看看他是不是真的住在那兒。他們看著喬治用鑰匙開了門，便站在街對面，監(jiān)視著這所屋子。

When he got in，he thought，'I'll light the fire，and then I'll make some breakfast.'But he made a lot of noise，and he was afraid that Mrs Gippings would wake up.She would hear the noise and think that he was a burglar.Then she would open the window and shout，'Help!Police!'the two policemen would come and arrest George，and take him away.So he stopped trying to prepare breakfast，and he put on his coat.Then he sat in the armchair and he waited for Mrs Gippings.She came down at half past seven.

喬治進了門，想：“我得生個火，做點早飯。”可他的動靜太大了，連他自己都擔心會把吉賓斯太太吵醒，那她一定以為家里進了賊人，接著就會打開窗戶大叫“警察!救命!”那樣，兩個警察肯定會來把喬治抓起來，帶走。想到這，他也不做早飯了，穿上大衣，坐在椅子里等著，一直到七點半鐘，吉賓斯太太下樓了。

George said that，since then，he had never got up too early again…

喬治說，從那以后，他再也不敢早早起床了。

When George had finished his story，we decided to wake up Harris.It was hard work.In the end we had to use quite a sharp piece of metal.Harris sat up suddenly then.Montmoren-cy had been asleep on Harris's chest，and he went flying across the boat.

喬治講完了故事，我們要去把哈里斯也喊醒。這工作可不好干。我們只得動用了一根尖尖的鐵條，他驀地一下子坐起來。“元帥”原來一直躺在他的胸口上，這會兒被扔到船那邊去了。

After that，we pulled up the cover and we put our heads over the side of the boat.We looked down at the water.The night before，we had decided to get up early.We would throw off the cover and we would jump into the water，with shouts of happi-ness.Then we would enjoy a long swim.

隨后我們卷起篷布，把頭探出船舷，低頭看著水。頭天晚上，我們還打算早起，扯掉帳篷，跳進水里，齊聲歡呼幾嗓子，再痛痛快快暢游一番。

But now that morning had come， it did not seem to be a very good idea.The water looked wet and cold.The wind felt cold，too.

真正到了早上，這種興致全沒了。水看起來濕漉漉，冷冰冰的;風也是涼颼颼的。

'Well，who's going to go in for a swim first?'Harris said fi-nally.

“喂，哪位打算先跳下去啊?”哈里斯終于開口了。

Nobody hurried to be the first one.George put his head back inside the boat.Montmorency barked with horror at the idea.Harris said it would he difficult to climb back into the boat a-gain from the water.Then he went back into the boat to look for his trousers.

沒人急著當第一。喬治把腦袋又縮回船里;“元帥”想著這主意，嚇得汪汪亂叫;哈里斯說怕是很難再從水里爬上船來了，說完他轉身進了船去找褲子。

I did not want to give up the idea absolutely.I decided to go down to the edge of the river，and then splash some water over myself.So I went out on to the river bank，and I began to move carefully along the branch of a tree which was over the water.

我可一點也不愿意放棄。于是下決心先到河邊，把水往身上潑一潑。我上了河岸，小心翼翼地沿著一根伸到水面上的樹枝走了幾步。

It was very cold，and I thought I would not splash water over myself，after all.I would go back into the boat and dress.I turned- and just then the stupid branch broke.The next minute，I was in the middle of the river，with half a litre of the Thames inside me.

真冷啊!我不準備往身上潑冷水了。我想回到船上穿衣服——就在這當間，那個該死的樹枝折斷了。再看我呢，已經在河中央了，肚子里灌了足足有半升泰晤士河水。

'Good heavens!Old J.'s gone in!'Harris said.

“老天爺!老杰掉進去了!”哈里斯說。

'Is it all right?'George called out.

“沒事吧?”喬治喊道。

'Lovely，'I replied.'Why don't you come in?'

“美得很!”我回答說，“你們怎么不下來玩玩?”

But they did not want to.

他們才不愿意下來呢。

When I got back to the boat，I was very cold.I wanted to put on my shirt as quickly as possible.By accident，I dropped it into the water.This made me very angry，but George started to laugh.'I can't see anything to laugh at，'I told George.He just went on laughing!In fact，I never saw a man laugh so much.In the end，I became really angry with him.I told him what I thought about him.He laughed more loudly.And then，just as I was getting the shirt back out of the water，I noticed that it was not my shirt.So I began to laugh，too.I looked at George，who was laughing so much.Then I looked at the wet shirt- and I laughed more and more.Because I was laughing so much，I dropped the shirt in the water again.

我回到船上時，身上冷得要命，只想趕緊穿上襯衫。誰知，一不小心把它又掉進河里了。我氣得要命，可喬治卻大笑起來。我對喬治說：“這有什么好笑的?”他還是笑個不停，我從來沒見過象他這樣笑得發(fā)瘋似的。后來我真的對他發(fā)火了，要和他理論，他卻笑得越發(fā)起勁。那時候我剛把襯衫從河里撈上來，一看，發(fā)現原來不是我的襯衫，所以我也笑了起來?？纯磫讨危€笑得那么厲害。再看看濕襯衫，我也越看越好笑，越笑越起勁。因為笑得太起勁，襯衫又掉到河里去了。

'Aren't you going to get it out?'George cried，between his shouts of laughter.

“你還不快把襯衫撈上來?!”喬治一邊大笑著一邊喊道。

At first I could not answer him，because I was laughing so much.In the end，I managed to say，'It isn't my shirt.It's yours!'

我一時來不及回答他的話，只是笑個不停。后來好不容易才迸出幾個字：“不是我的，是你的襯衫。”

I have never seen a man's face change so quickly.I tried to make him see that it was very funny，but he did not agree with me.

我從來沒有看見過哪個人面部表情轉變得如此迅速。我還想讓他覺得這事兒多么滑稽可笑，可他絲毫不能領略其中的妙趣。

After that，it was time for breakfast，and we decided to have eggs.Harris said he would cook them.He said he was very good at doing eggs.People who had eaten his eggs never want-ed any other food afterwards.'If they can't get my eggs， they won't eat，'he said，'and they die.'

到吃早餐的時間了，我們想吃煎雞蛋，哈里斯說他來做。聽他講他特別會煎雞蛋，吃了他煎的雞蛋就會覺得吃什么也不香了。“沒有我的煎雞蛋，他們寧可不吃飯，”他說，“最后就餓得一命嗚呼了。”

So we gave him the pan，and all the eggs which had not bro-ken.'Go on，then，'we said.'Begin!'

既然這樣，我們把鍋和還沒有砸碎的雞蛋給他找來，說道：“開始吧。”

Harris had some trouble when he tried to break the eggs.He had trouble stopping them from getting onto his trousers.And he had more trouble trying to stop them from going up his arms.Finally，he managed to get about six of the eggs into the pan.Then he sat down and started to cook them.

哈里斯打雞蛋的時候遇上了麻煩。他沒法不讓雞蛋掉到褲子上，更沒法不讓蛋清淌到袖子里。好不容易把六個雞蛋打在鍋里，他坐下來，開始煎雞蛋。

It seemed to be very difficult work.Whenever he went near the pan，he burnt himself.Then he dropped everything， and danced about，and waved his hands，and shouted.In fact， every time George and I looked at him，he was doing this.At first we thought it was necessary to do this to cook the eggs.

這個工作太復雜了。只要哈里斯一靠近鍋子，準得燙著自己，把什么都扔了，甩著手跳來舞去，又喊又叫的。事實上，我和喬治每次看他，他總是那樣表演著。起初我們還以為煎個雞蛋，這樣大呼小叫都是必不可少的一道工序呢。

Once Montmorency went and looked into the pan，but he burnt himself.Then he started dancing and shouting，too.It was all very exciting，and George and I were quite sorry when it finished.

“元帥”有一次剛要走近鍋子看看，就給燙著了，它也跟著又喊又跳，場面十分熱鬧。后來表演結束的時候，我和喬治還感到意猶未盡。