’Twas at the very midnight hour — more or less — when Don Quixote and Sancho quitted the wood and entered El Toboso. —
’’正是在午夜时分 — 或多或少 — 当唐吉诃德和桑丘离开了树林，进入了埃尔托博索。 —

The town was in deep silence, for all the inhabitants were asleep, and stretched on the broad of their backs, as the saying is. —
这座城镇一片寂静，因为所有居民都已经入睡，躺在床上，就像俗语所说的那样。 —

The night was darkish, though Sancho would have been glad had it been quite dark, so as to find in the darkness an excuse for his blundering. —
虽然夜晚有些昏暗，桑丘倒希望能更加昏暗，这样他就有了在黑暗中犯错的借口。 —

All over the place nothing was to be heard except the barking of dogs, which deafened the ears of Don Quixote and troubled the heart of Sancho. —
整个地方除了狗的吠叫以外什么声音都听不见，这些吠声使唐吉诃德耳朵发聋，也困扰着桑丘的心。 —

Now and then an ass brayed, pigs grunted, cats mewed, and the various noises they made seemed louder in the silence of the night; —
时不时地会听见驴叫、猪哼、猫喵，它们发出的各种声音在夜晚的寂静中显得更加响亮； —

all which the enamoured knight took to be of evil omen; —
这一切使热恋中的骑士认为这是不祥之兆； —

nevertheless he said to Sancho, “Sancho, my son, lead on to the palace of Dulcinea, it may be that we shall find her awake.”
尽管如此，他对桑丘说：“桑丘，我的儿子，前面就是杜尔琪尼亚的宫殿，也许我们会发现她还醒着。”

“Body of the sun! what palace am I to lead to,” said Sancho, “when what I saw her highness in was only a very little house?”
“太阳的身躯！我要领到哪个宫殿去？”桑丘说道，“我见她的殿下时所在的不过是一个很小的房子罢了。”

“Most likely she had then withdrawn into some small apartment of her palace,” said Don Quixote, “to amuse herself with damsels, as great ladies and princesses are accustomed to do.”
“很可能她当时只是退到了她宫殿里的某个小房间里，和使女们一起取乐，正如大贵妇和公主们所习惯的。”唐吉诃德说道。

“Senor,” said Sancho, “if your worship will have it in spite of me that the house of my lady Dulcinea is a palace, is this an hour, think you, to find the door open; —
“大人，”桑丘说，“如果您相信无论如何都是我说的不对，说我见到杜尔琪尼亚夫人时所在的地方是一个宫殿的话，这个时辰，您认为门会敞开么； —

and will it be right for us to go knocking till they hear us and open the door; —
我们有权去敲门，直到他们听到我们并打开门； —

making a disturbance and confusion all through the household? —
制造骚乱和混乱，传遍整个家庭？ —

Are we going, do you fancy, to the house of our wenches, like gallants who come and knock and go in at any hour, however late it may be?”
我们是去我们的情人家么，像那些到任何时候敲门进去的风流汉子？

“Let us first of all find out the palace for certain,” replied Don Quixote, “and then I will tell thee, Sancho, what we had best do; —
“首先让我们确认一下宫殿的位置，”唐吉诃德回答说，“然后我会告诉你，桑丘，我们最好怎么做； —

but look, Sancho, for either I see badly, or that dark mass that one sees from here should be Dulcinea’s palace.”
但是看啊，桑丘，要么我看错了，要么从这里看到的那个黑暗的山丘应该就是杜尔琪尼亚的宫殿。”

“Then let your worship lead the way,” said Sancho, “perhaps it may be so; —
“那么就让您尊贵的人引路吧，”桑丘说，“也许会如此； —

though I see it with my eyes and touch it with my hands, I’ll believe it as much as I believe it is daylight now.”
尽管我亲眼所见，亲手所触，我会像确信现在是白天一样相信它。”

Don Quixote took the lead, and having gone a matter of two hundred paces he came upon the mass that produced the shade, and found it was a great tower, and then he perceived that the building in question was no palace, but the chief church of the town, and said he, “It’s the church we have lit upon, Sancho.”
堂吉诃德走在前面，大约走了两百步，他发现产生阴影的是一座高塔，然后他意识到所谓的建筑不是一座皇宫，而是镇上的主教堂，他说：“桑丘，这是我们找到的教堂。”

“So I see,” said Sancho, “and God grant we may not light upon our graves; —
“我看到了，”桑丘说，“愿上帝保佑我们别碰上我们的坟墓； —

it is no good sign to find oneself wandering in a graveyard at this time of night; —
这个时候在墓地里游荡，可不是什么好兆头； —

and that, after my telling your worship, if I don’t mistake, that the house of this lady will be in an alley without an outlet.”
而且，在我告诉您的情况下，如果我没搞错的话，这位女士的房子应该在一条死胡同里。”

“The curse of God on thee for a blockhead!” said Don Quixote; —
“呆子，上帝的诅咒降在你身上！”堂吉诃德说； —

“where hast thou ever heard of castles and royal palaces being built in alleys without an outlet?”
“你在哪里听说过城堡和皇宫建在没有出口的小巷里呢？”

“Senor,” replied Sancho, “every country has a way of its own; —
“先生，”桑丘答道，“每个地方有每个地方的习俗； —

perhaps here in El Toboso it is the way to build palaces and grand buildings in alleys; —
也许在埃尔托博索，把宫殿和大楼建在死胡同里是一种风俗； —

so I entreat your worship to let me search about among these streets or alleys before me, and perhaps, in some corner or other, I may stumble on this palace — and I wish I saw the dogs eating it for leading us such a dance.”
所以请您允许我在前面这些街道或小巷里去搜索一下，也许，在某个角落里，我能找到这座宫殿——我多希望看到那些狗啃食它，因为它让我们绕了一圈。”

“Speak respectfully of what belongs to my lady, Sancho,” said Don Quixote; —
“尊重属于我女士的东西，桑丘，”堂吉诃德说，“我们和平地过节吧，不要事后追究。” —

“let us keep the feast in peace, and not throw the rope after the bucket.”
“我闭嘴了，”桑丘说，“但在您只看了一次我们女主人的房子后，您指望我永远都知道并在深夜找到它，而您却找不到，尽管您必定见过它成千上万次，我怎么能忍受呢？”

“I’ll hold my tongue,” said Sancho, “but how am I to take it patiently when your worship wants me, with only once seeing the house of our mistress, to know always, and find it in the middle of the night, when your worship can’t find it, who must have seen it thousands of times?”
“桑丘，你要逼我走投无路了，”堂吉诃德说。

“Thou wilt drive me to desperation, Sancho,” said Don Quixote. —
“Speak respectfully of what belongs to my lady, Sancho,” said Don Quixote; —

“Look here, heretic, have I not told thee a thousand times that I have never once in my life seen the peerless Dulcinea or crossed the threshold of her palace, and that I am enamoured solely by hearsay and by the great reputation she bears for beauty and discretion?”
“看这里，异端者，我岂不是告诉过你上千次，我一生从未见过无与伦比的杜尔西内亚，也从未踏入过她的宫殿，而我仅仅是凭 hearsay 和她所拥有的美貌和睿智的大名而倾心？”

“I hear it now,” returned Sancho; “and I may tell you that if you have not seen her, no more have I.”
“我现在明白了，”桑丘回答道，“我要告诉你，如果你没见过她，我也没见过。”

“That cannot be,” said Don Quixote, “for, at any rate, thou saidst, on bringing back the answer to the letter I sent by thee, that thou sawest her sifting wheat.”
“那不可能，”堂吉诃德说，“至少你回信给我的时候说你看到她在簸谷。”

“Don’t mind that, senor,” said Sancho; —
“别在意那个，先生，”桑丘说； —

“I must tell you that my seeing her and the answer I brought you back were by hearsay too, for I can no more tell who the lady Dulcinea is than I can hit the sky.”
“我得告诉你，我看到她和我回给你的回信也是 hearsay，因为我根本分辨不出杜尔西内亚夫人是谁，就像我拍不到天空一样。”

“Sancho, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “there are times for jests and times when jests are out of place; —
“桑丘，桑丘，”堂吉诃德说，“有时候是开玩笑的时候也有时候是不合时宜的； —

if I tell thee that I have neither seen nor spoken to the lady of my heart, it is no reason why thou shouldst say thou hast not spoken to her or seen her, when the contrary is the case, as thou well knowest.”
如果我告诉你我既没见过也没和我心上人说过话，这并不是理由让你说你也没和她说过话或见过她，而你明明知道是相反的。”

While the two were engaged in this conversation, they perceived some one with a pair of mules approaching the spot where they stood, and from the noise the plough made, as it dragged along the ground, they guessed him to be some labourer who had got up before daybreak to go to his work, and so it proved to be. —
就在两人交谈的时候，他们看到一个骑着一对骡子的人朝他们所站的地方走来，从犁拖过地面发出的声音，他们猜想他是一位早早起来去工作的劳动者，事实也的确如此。 —

He came along singing the ballad that says —
他边走边唱着那首歌谣，歌中写着 —

Ill did ye fare, ye men of France, In Roncesvalles chase —
在龙塞瓦利追逐时，法兰西诸人遭受了不幸 —

“May I die, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, when he heard him, “if any good will come to us tonight! —
“如果你听到他唱歌，桑丘，”堂吉诃德说，“我说如果今夜我们会有好事！ —

Dost thou not hear what that clown is singing?”
你没听到那个乡下人在唱什么吗？”

“I do,” said Sancho, “but what has Roncesvalles chase to do with what we have in hand? —
“没错，”桑丘说，“但龙塞瓦利追逐和我们手头的事情有什么关系呢？ —

He might just as well be singing the ballad of Calainos, for any good or ill that can come to us in our business.”
他就像唱卡拉伊诺斯的歌谣一样，对我们的事情来说无关好坏。”

By this time the labourer had come up, and Don Quixote asked him, “Can you tell me, worthy friend, and God speed you, whereabouts here is the palace of the peerless princess Dona Dulcinea del Toboso?”
这时候那个劳动者已经走到了近前，堂吉诃德问他，“尊敬的朋友，愿上帝保佑您，能告诉我，在这附近无敌公主杜尔西内亚·德尔托波索的宫殿在哪里吗？”

“Senor,” replied the lad, “I am a stranger, and I have been only a few days in the town, doing farm work for a rich farmer. —
“先生，”小伙子回答道，“我是一个陌生人，只在这个镇上几天，为一个富农做农活。 —

In that house opposite there live the curate of the village and the sacristan, and both or either of them will be able to give your worship some account of this lady princess, for they have a list of all the people of El Toboso; —
对面那栋房子住着村里的牧师和圣堂武士，他们两个中的任何一个都能给您提供这位公主的信息，因为他们有这里所有人的名单； —

though it is my belief there is not a princess living in the whole of it; —
虽然我相信整个镇上没有一个公主； —

many ladies there are, of quality, and in her own house each of them may be a princess.”
很多贵族夫人，每一位在自己的家里都可能是一位公主。”

“Well, then, she I am inquiring for will be one of these, my friend,” said Don Quixote.
“那么，我正在寻找的她可能是这些中的一位，我的朋友，”唐吉柯回答道。

“May be so,” replied the lad; “God be with you, for here comes the daylight; —
“也许是的，”小伙子回答，“愿上帝与您同在，天亮了； —

” and without waiting for any more of his questions, he whipped on his mules.
”在等不到他的更多问题的情况下，他抽打着他的骡子。

Sancho, seeing his master downcast and somewhat dissatisfied, said to him, “Senor, daylight will be here before long, and it will not do for us to let the sun find us in the street; —
桑丘看到他的主人沮丧和有些不满，对他说，“先生，天亮就快到了，我们不应该让太阳在街上找到我们； —

it will be better for us to quit the city, and for your worship to hide in some forest in the neighbourhood, and I will come back in the daytime, and I won’t leave a nook or corner of the whole village that I won’t search for the house, castle, or palace, of my lady, and it will be hard luck for me if I don’t find it; —
对我们来说最好是离开这个城市，你躲在附近的森林里，我会在白天回来，我会搜寻整个村庄的每一个角落，寻找我夫人的家、城堡或宫殿，如果我找不到，那对我来说就很倒霉； —

and as soon as I have found it I will speak to her grace, and tell her where and how your worship is waiting for her to arrange some plan for you to see her without any damage to her honour and reputation.”
一旦我找到了，我会跟她说，告诉她您在哪里等待着她，安排一些计划让您见到她，不会损害她的名誉和声誉。”

“Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “thou hast delivered a thousand sentences condensed in the compass of a few words; —
“桑丘，”唐吉柯说，“你用几个字节省了一千句话； —

I thank thee for the advice thou hast given me, and take it most gladly. —
我感谢你给我的建议，我很乐意接受。 —

Come, my son, let us go look for some place where I may hide, while thou dost return, as thou sayest, to seek, and speak with my lady, from whose discretion and courtesy I look for favours more than miraculous.”
来吧，我的孩子，我们去找一个地方我可以躲藏，你按照你说的，回去寻找并与我的夫人交谈，我期待她的谨慎和礼貌给我比奇迹还要多的恩惠。”

Sancho was in a fever to get his master out of the town, lest he should discover the falsehood of the reply he had brought to him in the Sierra Morena on behalf of Dulcinea; —
桑丘急于让他的主人离开城镇，免得他发现他在西埃拉莫雷纳为杜尔西奈亚带来的回信的谎言； —

so he hastened their departure, which they took at once, and two miles out of the village they found a forest or thicket wherein Don Quixote ensconced himself, while Sancho returned to the city to speak to Dulcinea, in which embassy things befell him which demand fresh attention and a new chapter.
所以他赶紧离开了，他们立即离开了镇，两英里外，他们找到了一个森林或树丛，唐吉柯躲了进去，桑丘回城找杜尔西奈亚，这次使者之行发生了许多事情，需要新的关注和新的一章。