A wet sunday in a countr inn
A wet Sunday in a country inn! Whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my situation. The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but is seemed as if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all amusement. The windows of my bed-room looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw had been kicked about by travelers and stable-boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under cart, among which a miserable,crest-fallencock,drenchedoutofalllifeaandspirit;hisdroopingtailwasmatted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his back; near the cart was a half dozing cow, chewing her cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of a stable, was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something every now and then between a bark and yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle and making a riotous noise over their liquor. (by Washington Irving)
鄉(xiāng)村客棧一個(gè)陰雨的星期天
華盛頓·歐文
鄉(xiāng)村客棧一個(gè)陰雨的星期天!凡有幸度過(guò)這樣一天的人,都能體會(huì)我現(xiàn)在的處境。雨點(diǎn)子噼噼啪啪地打在窗子上;教堂里傳來(lái)沉重的鐘聲,召喚人們?nèi)プ龆Y拜。我走到窗前,想找一些賞心悅目的東西;但看來(lái)我已完全被摒于一切歡樂(lè)之外。從臥室的窗口望出去,是一片磚瓦的屋頂和林立的煙囪;而從起居室的窗口往下看,則能望見(jiàn)整個(gè)馬廄院子。我覺(jué)得再也沒(méi)有比雨天的馬廄院子更令人厭煩的了。遍地是淋濕了的稻草,被旅客和小馬倌們踢得凌亂不堪。在院子的一角,一潭污水圍著孤島似的糞堆;幾只幾乎被雨水淋透的雞簇?fù)碓谝惠v馬車(chē)底下,其中一只可憐的公雞,倒垂著雞冠,被淋得沒(méi)精打彩,毫無(wú)生氣;它那聾拉著的尾巴粘結(jié)在一起,仿佛只成了一根羽毛,雨水順著它從背脊往下直淌;離馬車(chē)不遠(yuǎn)處,有一頭睡眼惺松的奶牛,嘴里喂著反芻的食物,默默地站在那里,任憑雨水打在身上,濕淋淋的背上冒出繚繞的水氣;一匹眼珠小而眼白特大的馬厭倦了馬廄里的寂寞,把它那幽靈似的腦袋從窗口探了出來(lái),屋檐上的雨水滴瀝滴瀝地落在它頭上;一只不幸的雜種狗被鏈條拴在近旁的狗窩里,時(shí)時(shí)發(fā)出似吠似嗥的聲音;一個(gè)邋遢廚娘拖著木屐,邁著沉重的步于在院子里進(jìn)進(jìn)出出,她那郁郁不樂(lè)的神色,就像陰沉的天氣一樣;總之,除了一群飽經(jīng)風(fēng)雨的鴨子,像飲酒作樂(lè)的朋友那樣聚集在污水潭的四周戲水而外,這兒的一切都令人感到凄涼和沮喪。