“The dispositions of woman,” said Jeff Peters, after various opinions on the subject had been advanced, “run, regular, to diversions. —
“女人的性情”，杰夫·彼得斯在大家提出各种观点之后说道，“通常都偏爱娱乐活动。” —

What a woman wants is what you’re out of. —
女人想要的就是你所没有的。 —

She wants more of a thing when it’s scarce. —
当某物稀缺时，她会想要更多。 —

She likes to have souvenirs of things that never happened. —
她喜欢收藏从未发生过的事情的纪念品。 —

She likes to be reminded of things she never heard of. —
她喜欢被提醒她从未听说过的事情。 —

A one-sided view of objects is disjointing to the female composition.
对事物的片面看法对女性构成了困扰。

”‘Tis a misfortune of mine, begotten by nature and travel,” continued Jeff, looking thoughtfully between his elevated feet at the grocery stove, “to look deeper into some subjects than most people do. —
杰夫沉思地望着杂货店炉子上方的脚，继续说道：“这是我的不幸，是天生和旅行给我带来的，我对某些话题的深入思考超过了大多数人。” —

I’ve breathed gasoline smoke talking to street crowds in nearly every town in the United States. —
我在美国几乎每个城镇都在吸入汽油烟雾中与街头人群交谈过。 —

I’ve held ‘em spellbound with music, oratory, sleight of hand, and prevarications, while I’ve sold ‘em jewelry, medicine, soap, hair tonic, and junk of other nominations. —
我通过音乐、演讲、手法巧妙以及撒谎来让他们入迷，同时我卖给他们珠宝、药品、肥皂、发膏和其他各种货物。 —

And during my travels, as a matter of recreation and expiation, I’ve taken cognisance some of women. —
在我的旅行中，作为一种娱乐和补偿方式，我对一些女性做了观察。 —

It takes a man a lifetime to find out about one particular woman; —
一个人要花一辈子的时间才能了解一个特定的女人； —

but if he puts in, say, ten years, industrious and curious, he can acquire the general rudiments of the sex. —
但是，如果他投入了十年时间，勤奋而好奇，他可以掌握性别的基本要点； —

One lesson I picked up was when I was working the West with a line of Brazilian diamonds and a patent fire kindler just after my trip from Savannah down through the cotton belt with Dalby’s Anti-explosive Lamp Oil Powder. —
我学到的一课是当我在西部工作时，与一条巴西钻石线和达尔比的防爆灯油粉从萨凡纳通过棉花生长带沿着来的时候； —

‘Twas when the Oklahoma country was in first bloom. —
那是在俄克拉荷马州处于初开花时期。 —

Guthrie was rising in the middle of it like a lump of self-raising dough. —
圭瑟里在其中间崛起，像一块自发发酵的面团一样； —

It was a boom town of the regular kind–you stood in line to get a chance to wash your face; —
那是一个正常的繁荣城市——你得排队等待机会洗脸； —

if you ate over ten minutes you had a lodging bill added on; —
如果你超过十分钟吃饭，他们会加上住宿费； —

if you slept on a plank at night they charged it to you as board the next morning.
如果你晚上在木板上睡觉，他们会在第二天早上把它算作膳食费。

“By nature and doctrines I am addicted to the habit of discovering choice places wherein to feed. —
“按照我的本性和信条，我喜欢发现用餐的好地方。 —

So I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard. —
所以我四处寻找，找到了一个完全符合我的要求的地方。 —

I found a restaurant tent just opened up by an outfit that had drifted in on the tail of the boom. —
我发现有一家餐厅帐篷刚刚在一家随着繁荣而来的公司旁边开张。 —

They had knocked together a box house, where they lived and did the cooking, and served the meals in a tent pitched against the side. —
他们拼凑了一个木板房子，在那里生活，做饭，并在一个搭在边上的帐篷里提供餐食。 —

That tent was joyful with placards on it calculated to redeem the world-worn pilgrim from the sinfulness of boarding houses and pick-me- up hotels. —
那个帐篷上贴满了宣扬拯救世俗旅者免受陋室和饭店的罪恶的标语，真是让人欢乐。 —

‘Try Mother’s Home-Made Biscuits,’ ‘What’s the Matter with Our Apple Dumplings and Hard Sauce?’ ‘Hot Cakes and Maple Syrup Like You Ate When a Boy,’ ‘Our Fried Chicken Never Was Heard to Crow’– there was literature doomed to please the digestions of man! —
“尝尝妈妈自制的饼干吧”，“我们的苹果饺子和浓汁有什么问题吗？”“吃着小时候的热煎饼和枫糖浆”，“我们的炸鸡从未叫过鸣”——这些文学作品注定能满足人类的消化需求！ —

I said to myself that mother’s wandering boy should munch there that night. —
我对自己说，我将在那里品尝妈妈做的饭菜。 —

And so it came to pass. And there is where I contracted my case of Mame Dugan.
事情就这样发生了。那就是我得到梅姆·达根的地方。

“Old Man Dugan was six feet by one of Indiana loafer, and he spent his time sitting on his shoulder blades in a rocking-chair in the shanty memorialising the great corn-crop failure of ‘96. —
“Old Man Dugan是印第安纳洛宰牛的其中一位，他把自己的时间花在坐在破烂小屋里的一把摇椅上，永远怀念着’96年那次巨大的玉米歉收。” —

Ma Dugan did the cooking, and Mame waited on the table.
Ma Dugan负责烹饪，而Mame则负责上菜。

“As soon as I saw Mame I knew there was a mistake in the census reports. —
“当我看到Mame的那一刻，我就知道人口普查报告肯定出错了。 —

There wasn’t but one girl in the United States. —
美国并不只有一个女孩。” —

When you come to specifications it isn’t easy. —
要说她是怎样的一个姑娘，那可真是难以描述。 —

She was about the size of an angel, and she had eyes, and ways about her. —
她差不多就像一个天使，她有着一双有神的眼睛，以及自己独特的方式。 —

When you come to the kind of a girl she was, you’ll find a belt of ‘em reaching from the Brooklyn Bridge west as far as the courthouse in Council Bluffs, Ia. They earn their own living in stores, restaurants, factories, and offices. —
要说这样的姑娘，你可以从布鲁克林大桥一直延伸到爱荷华州的议会大楼，都有一带群体。她们在商店、餐馆、工厂和办公室自给自足。 —

They’re chummy and honest and free and tender and sassy, and they look life straight in the eye. —
她们友好、诚实、自由、温柔、嘴甜，并且直视人生的现实。 —

They’ve met man face to face, and discovered that he’s a poor creature. —
她们正视过男人，发现他们都是可怜的家伙。 —

They’ve dropped to it that the reports in the Seaside Library about his being a fairy prince lack confirmation.
他们已经得知，关于他是仙子王子的报告在海滨图书馆中没有得到证实。

“Mame was that sort. She was full of life and fun, and breezy; she passed the repartee with the boarders quick as a wink; —
梅姆就是那种人。她充满生机和乐趣，活泼开朗，与寄宿者之间的互动像眨眼一样迅速； —

you’d have smothered laughing. —
你一定会笑得忍不住。 —

I am disinclined to make excavations into the insides of a personal affection. —
我不太愿意对个人感情进行深入的挖掘。 —

I am glued to the theory that the diversions and discrepancies of the indisposition known as love should be as private a sentiment as a toothbrush. —
我坚持认为，被称为爱情的情感的转折和矛盾应该像牙刷一样成为私人的感受。 —

‘Tis my opinion that the biographies of the heart should be confined with the historical romances of the liver to the advertising pages of the magazines. —
我认为，心灵传记应该与历史浪漫小说一样，只限于杂志的广告页面上。 —

So, you’ll excuse the lack of an itemised bill of my feelings toward Mame.
所以，请原谅我没有提供一份关于我对梅姆的感受的明细账单。

“Pretty soon I got a regular habit of dropping into the tent to eat at irregular times when there wasn’t so many around. —
不久之后，我养成了一个习惯，不规律地进入帐篷，在人不多的时候吃饭。 —

Mame would sail in with a smile, in a black dress and white apron, and say: ‘Hello, Jeff –why don’t you come at mealtime? —
梅姆会满面微笑地走进来，穿着黑色连衣裙和白色围裙，说：“嗨，杰夫，为什么你不在正餐时间过来呢？ —

Want to see how much trouble you can be, of course. —
当然是想看看你能制造多大的麻烦。 —

Friedchickenbeefsteakporkchopshamandeggspotpie’–and so on. —
炸鸡牛排猪排火腿煎蛋饼……一直这样下去。 —

She called me Jeff, but there was no significations attached. —
她叫我杰夫，但没有任何特殊的意义。 —

Designations was all she meant. —
她只是指名道姓。 —

The front names of any of us she used as they came to hand. —
她用我们中的任何一个人的名字随手称呼。 —

I’d eat about two meals before I left, and string ‘em out like a society spread where they changed plates and wives, and josh one another festively between bites. —
我在离开之前会吃两顿饭，像社交活动一样把它们拉长，人们可以换盘子、换妻子，在咬咬之间开玩笑。 —

Mame stood for it, pleasant, for it wasn’t up to her to take any canvas off the tent by declining dollars just because they were whipped in after meal times.
玛姆忍了下来，很高兴，她不打算因为饭后还有人付账而拒绝收钱。

“It wasn’t long until there was another fellow named Ed Collier got the between-meals affliction, and him and me put in bridges between breakfast and dinner, and dinner and supper, that made a three-ringed circus of that tent, and Mame’s turn as waiter a continuous performance. —
“没过多久，另一个叫埃德·科利尔的家伙也得了饭间作痛，他和我之间增加了早餐和午餐之间，以及午餐和晚餐之间的活动，把那个帐篷变成了三环马戏团，而玛姆作为服务员是一台连续表演的角色。 —

That Collier man was saturated with designs and contrivings. —
那个科利尔人充斥着各种设计和计谋。 —

He was in well-boring or insurance or claim-jumping, or something–I’ve forgotten which. —
他是搞探矿、保险还是占领他人索赔——我忘了是哪个了。 —

He was a man well lubricated with gentility, and his words were such as recommended you to his point of view. —
他是一个被高尚品质沾染的人，他的话语能够使你认同他的观点。 —

So, Collier and me infested the grub tent with care and activity. —
所以，科利尔和我一起充斥着精心和活跃进了餐帐篷。 —

Mame was level full of impartiality. —
梅姆心态平和。 —

‘Twas like a casino hand the way she dealt out her favours–one to Collier and one to me and one to the board, and not a card up her sleeve.
她就像是发牌的赌场手，向科利尔发一张，然后给我发一张，再给赌局发一张牌，她没有在袖子里藏牌。

“Me and Collier naturally got acquainted, and gravitated together some on the outside. —
“我和科利尔自然而然地结识了，在外面互相吸引。” —

Divested of his stratagems, he seemed to be a pleasant chap, full of an amiable sort of hostility.
除去他的策略，他似乎是一个很愉快的家伙，充满了某种友好的敌意。

”‘I notice you have an affinity for grubbing in the banquet hall after the guests have fled,’ says I to him one day, to draw his conclusions.
“我注意到你对客人走后还留在宴会厅里挖掘食物很有兴趣，” 一天我对他说，试探他的看法。

”‘Well, yes,’ says Collier, reflecting; —
“嗯，是的，”科利尔反思着说，” —

‘the tumult of a crowded board seems to harass my sensitive nerves.’
拥挤的餐桌喧嚣似乎让我的敏感神经感到疲惫。”

”‘It exasperates mine some, too,’ says I. ‘Nice little girl, don’t you think?’
”‘我受到了同样的烦恼，’我说道。’ 你觉得她是一个可爱的小姑娘吗？’ “

”‘I see,’ says Collier, laughing. ‘Well, now that you mention it, I have noticed that she doesn’t seem to displease the optic nerve.’
”‘明白了，’Collier笑着说。’嗯，既然你提到了，我确实注意到她好像没有刺激到视觉神经。’”

”‘She’s a joy to mine,’ says I, ‘and I’m going after her. —
”‘她使我很开心，’我说道，’ 我要追求她。 —

Notice is hereby served.’
这里正式通知你。’”

”‘I’ll be as candid as you,’ admits Collier, ‘and if the drug stores don’t run out of pepsin I’ll give you a run for your money that’ll leave you a dyspeptic at the wind-up.’
”‘我会像你一样直言不讳，’ Collier承认道，’只要药店不断货，我会让你跑掉，最后让你成为一个胃病患者。’”

“So Collier and me begins the race; —
“于是，Collier和我开始比赛； —

the grub department lays in new supplies; —
食品部备足了新的供应；” —

Mame waits on us, jolly and kind and agreeable, and it looks like an even break, with Cupid and the cook working overtime in Dugan’s restaurant.
“Mame照顾着我们，开朗友好，使我们感到愉快，看起来像是公平竞争，而且培根和公厨在Dugan’s餐厅里加班加点。”

”‘Twas one night in September when I got Mame to take a walk after supper when the things were all cleared away. —
“‘那是九月的一个晚上，’我说道，’我邀请Mame在晚饭后散步，当一切都清理干净。’” —

We strolled out a distance and sat on a pile of lumber at the edge of town. —
“我们漫步一段距离，在镇边的一堆木材上坐下。” —

Such opportunities was seldom, so I spoke my piece, explaining how the Brazilian diamonds and the fire kindler were laying up sufficient treasure to guarantee the happiness of two, and that both of ‘em together couldn’t equal the light from somebody’s eyes, and that the name of Dugan should be changed to Peters, or reasons why not would be in order.
这样的机会很少见，所以我说了自己的想法，解释了巴西钻石和火种器如何积攒足够的财富，以保证两个人的幸福，而这两样东西加在一起也比不上某个人眼中的光芒，因此杜根这个名字应该改成彼得斯，如果没有理由不改的话。

“Mame didn’t say anything right away. —
“梅姆没有立刻说话。 —

Directly she gave a kind of shudder, and I began to learn something.
她轻轻地颤抖了一下，我开始了解一些事情。

”‘Jeff,’ she says, ‘I’m sorry you spoke. —
“‘杰夫，’她说，‘很抱歉你说了那些话。 —

I like you as well as any of them, but there isn’t a man in the world I’d ever marry, and there never will be. —
我喜欢你，和其他人一样，但世界上没有一个男人我愿意嫁给，以后也永远不会有。 —

Do you know what a man is in my eye? —
你知道我眼中的男人是什么吗？ —

He’s a tomb. He’s a sarcophagus for the interment of Beafsteakporkchopsliver’nbaconham- andeggs. —
他是一座墓碑。他是一个埋葬小牛排、猪排、牛肝和培根的石棺。他就是那种人， —

He’s that and nothing more. —
没有别的了。 —

For two years I’ve watched men eat, eat, eat, until they represent nothing on earth to me but ruminant bipeds. —
两年来，我一直观察男人吃东西，吃呀吃，直到他们在我眼中只是反刍动物。 —

They’re absolutely nothing but something that goes in front of a knife and fork and plate at the table. —
它们只不过是桌子上放刀、叉和盘子前面的一个东西。在我的思维和记忆中， —

They’re fixed that way in my mind and memory. —
它们就是这样固定的。 —

I’ve tried to overcome it, but I can’t. —
我曾试图克服它，但我无法理解。 —

I’ve heard girls rave about their sweethearts, but I never could understand it. —
我听过女孩们对她们的恋人赞不绝口，但我从来不能理解。 —

A man and a sausage grinder and a pantry awake in me exactly the same sentiments. —
一个人、一个香肠研磨机和一个储藏室在我心中唤起了同样的情感。 —

I went to a matinee once to see an actor the girls were crazy about. —
我曾经去看过一个下午场电影，是为了看一个女孩们疯狂迷恋的演员。 —

I got interested enough to wonder whether he liked his steak rare, medium, or well done, and his eggs over or straight up. —
我对他是否喜欢把牛排生的、五分熟的还是全熟的感兴趣，以及他喜欢带鸡蛋儿还是裸蛋儿。就这些。 —

That was all. No, Jeff; —
不，杰夫； —

I’ll marry no man and see him sit at the breakfast table and eat, and come back to dinner and eat, and happen in again at supper to eat, eat, eat.’
我不会嫁给一个人，看着他坐在早餐桌前吃，回来吃晚餐，再出现在晚餐时又吃个不停。

”‘But, Mame,’ says I, ‘it’ll wear off. —
“但是，玛姆，”我说，“这会过去的。 —

You’ve had too much of it. —
你已经得到太多了。 —

You’ll marry some time, of course. —
你当然会结婚的。 —

Men don’t eat always.’
男人不会一直吃东西。”

”‘As far as my observation goes, they do. No, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.’ Mame turns, sudden, to animation and bright eyes. —
“就我所见，是的。不，我告诉你我要做什么。”玛姆突然变得活跃起来，眼睛闪烁着亮光。 —

‘There’s a girl named Susie Foster in Terre Haute, a chum of mine. She waits in the railroad eating house there. —
在特雷霍特有个叫苏茜·福斯特的女孩，她是我的朋友。她在火车站吃饭的地方等着。 —

I worked two years in a restaurant in that town. —
我在那个城镇的一家餐馆工作了两年。 —

Susie has it worse than I do, because the men who eat at railroad stations gobble. —
苏茜比我过得更糟，因为在火车站吃饭的男人们吃得很快。 —

They try to flirt and gobble at the same time. Whew! —
他们试图一边调情一边狼吞虎咽。呼！ —

Susie and I have it all planned out. —
苏茜和我已经计划好了。 —

We’re saving our money, and when we get enough we’re going to buy a little cottage and five acres we know of, and live together, and grow violets for the Eastern market. —
我们正在攒钱，一旦攒够了，我们就会买一间小别墅和五英亩的地，并一起生活，为东部市场种植紫罗兰。 —

A man better not bring his appetite within a mile of that ranch.’
没有人最好将他的食欲带到那个农场一英里之内。

”‘Don’t girls ever–’ I commenced, but Mame heads me off, sharp.
“’女孩们从不…”我开始说，但玛姆马上打断了我。

”‘No, they don’t. They nibble a little bit sometimes; —
“不，他们不会。有时候他们只是小口咬一点。 —

that’s all.’
”玛姆说。

”‘I thought the confect–’
“我以为糖果…”

”‘For goodness’ sake, change the subject,’ says Mame.
“拜托，换个话题吧。”玛姆说。

“As I said before, that experience puts me wise that the feminine arrangement ever struggles after deceptions and illusions. —
“正如我之前所说，这种经历让我明白，女性经常追求欺骗和幻想。 —

Take England–beef made her; wieners elevated Germany; —
英格兰是靠牛肉造就的；德国是靠小肠熬造的； —

Uncle Sam owes his greatness to fried chicken and pie, but the young ladies of the Shetalkyou schools, they’ll never believe it. —
山姆大叔之所以伟大，要归功于炸鸡和馅饼，但是蛇谈夏奥学校的年轻女孩们永远不会相信这一点。 —

Shakespeare, they allow, and Rubinstein, and the Rough Riders is what did the trick.
他们承认莎士比亚、鲁宾斯坦和粗犷的骑兵团帮了忙。

”‘Twas a situation calculated to disturb. —
“这是一个令人不安的境地。 —

I couldn’t bear to give up Mame; —
我无法忍受放弃妈咪， —

and yet it pained me to think of abandoning the practice of eating. —
但是想到放弃进食的习惯也让我痛苦。 —

I had acquired the habit too early. —
我养成了这个习惯太早了。 —

For twenty-seven years I had been blindly rushing upon my fate, yielding to the insidious lures of that deadly monster, food. —
二十七年来，我一直盲目地冲向命运，屈从于那个致命的怪物——食物。 —

It was too late. I was a ruminant biped for keeps. —
为时已晚。我是一个无法更改的草食二足动物。 —

It was lobster salad to a doughnut that my life was going to be blighted by it.
毫无疑问，我的生活将因此而受到毁灭性的影响。

“I continued to board at the Dugan tent, hoping that Mame would relent. —
“我继续住在达根帐篷里，希望妈咪会改变主意。 —

I had sufficient faith in true love to believe that since it has often outlived the absence of a square meal it might, in time, overcome the presence of one. —
我对真爱有足够的信心，相信它的存在可以克服饭菜的缺失，所以我相信它的存在对食物的存在也能打动我。 —

I went on ministering to my fatal vice, although I felt that each time I shoved a potato into my mouth in Mame’s presence I might be burying my fondest hopes.
尽管我感到每次在梅姆面前把一颗土豆塞进嘴里，都可能埋葬我最美好的希望，但我还是继续沉溺于我的致命恶习。

“I think Collier must have spoken to Mame and got the same answer, for one day he orders a cup of coffee and a cracker, and sits nibbling the corner of it like a girl in the parlour, that’s filled up in the kitchen, previous, on cold roast and fried cabbage. —
“我觉得科利可能与梅姆交谈并得到了同样的答案，因为有一天他点了一杯咖啡和一块饼干，坐在那里咬咬角落，就像一个在厨房里吃饱了冷煮肉和炒卷心菜的女孩在客厅里。” —

I caught on and did the same, and maybe we thought we’d made a hit! —
我明白了，也开始这么做，也许我们觉得这样会取得成功！ —

The next day we tried it again, and out comes old man Dugan fetching in his hands the fairy viands.
接下来的一天，我们再次尝试，然后老杜根从外面拿来了一些仙子般的食物。

”‘Kinder off yer feed, ain’t ye, gents?’ he asks, fatherly and some sardonic. —
“‘你们俩胃口不好了，是吧？’他慈父般地带着一丝讽刺问道。 —

‘Thought I’d spell Mame a bit, seein’ the work was light, and my rheumatiz can stand the strain.’
‘我想轮一下梅姆，因为活儿不重，我得大爷关节炎也能受得了。’

“So back me and Collier had to drop to the heavy grub again. —
“于是我和科利又不得不改吃那些沉重的食物。 —

I noticed about that time that I was seized by a most uncommon and devastating appetite. —
我那时注意到我被一种异常而毁灭性的食欲所抓住。” —

I ate until Mame must have hated to see me darken the door. —
我吃得饱饱的，兴许马姆看见我进门都会讨厌。 —

Afterward I found out that I had been made the victim of the first dark and irreligious trick played on me by Ed Collier. —
后来我才知道，我成了埃德·科利尔对我耍的第一次黑暗和不虔的恶作剧的受害者。 —

Him and me had been taking drinks together uptown regular, trying to drown our thirst for food. —
他和我一直在市区一起喝酒，试图淹没我们对食物的渴望。 —

That man had bribed about ten bartenders to always put a big slug of Appletree’s Anaconda Appetite Bitters in every one of my drinks. —
那个人贿赂了大约十个酒保，让他们每个人在我的每一杯酒里倒入一大口的苹果树大蟒食欲苦艾酒。 —

But the last trick he played me was hardest to forget.
但他玩的最后一招是最难以忘怀的。

“One day Collier failed to show up at the tent. —
“某天科利尔没有出现在帐篷里。一个人告诉我， —

A man told me he left town that morning. —
他早上离开了城镇。现在， —

My only rival now was the bill of fare. —
我唯一的竞争对手就是菜单了。 —

A few days before he left Collier had presented me with a two-gallon jug of fine whisky which he said a cousin had sent him from Kentucky. —
在科利尔离开前几天，他送给我一瓶两加仑的上好威士忌，他说是表哥从肯塔基送给他的。 —

I now have reason to believe that it contained Appletree’s Anaconda Appetite Bitters almost exclusively. —
现在我有理由相信，里面几乎全是苹果树大蟒食欲苦艾酒。 —

I continued to devour tons of provisions. —
我继续狼吞虎咽着大量的食物。 —

In Mame’s eyes I remained a mere biped, more ruminant than ever.
在马姆眼里，我依然是一只双足动物，更像是反刍动物。

“About a week after Collier pulled his freight there came a kind of side-show to town, and hoisted a tent near the railroad. —
大约在科利尔收完货后一周，镇上来了一个类似娱乐表演的东西，他们在铁路附近搭起了一个帐篷。 —

I judged it was a sort of fake museum and curiosity business. —
我判断那是一个假博物馆和奇观经营的生意。 —

I called to see Mame one night, and Ma Dugan said that she and Thomas, her younger brother, had gone to the show. —
有天晚上我去看梅姆，马·达根说她和她的弟弟托马斯去看表演了。 —

That same thing happened for three nights that week. —
那个星期的三个晚上都这样。星期六晚上， —

Saturday night I caught her on the way coming back, and got to sit on the steps a while and talk to her. —
我在她回来的路上遇见了她，我坐在楼梯上和她聊了一会。 —

I noticed she looked different. —
我注意到她看起来不一样了。 —

Her eyes were softer, and shiny like. —
她的眼睛柔和而闪亮。 —

Instead of a Mame Dugan to fly from the voracity of man and raise violets, she seemed to be a Mame more in line as God intended her, approachable, and suited to bask in the light of the Brazilians and the Kindler.
不再是一个躲避男人贪婪的梅姆，而是一个更接近上帝意愿的梅姆，可亲近的、适合享受巴西人和金德勒的光芒。

”‘You seem to be right smart inveigled,’ says I, ‘with the Unparalleled Exhibition of the World’s Living Curiosities and Wonders.’
“你似乎对‘世界上独一无二的奇观展览会’给迷住了，”我说，“

”‘It’s a change,’ says Mame.
“这是一个变化，”梅姆说。

”‘You’ll need another,’ says I, ‘if you keep on going every night.’
“如果你继续每天去，你会需要另一个变化的，”我说。

”‘Don’t be cross, Jeff,’ says she; —
“’杰夫，不要生气，’她说道，’ —

‘it takes my mind off business.’
这样可以让我把注意力从工作上转移开。’”

”‘Don’t the curiosities eat?’ I ask.
“’奇珍会吃吗？’我问道。

”‘Not all of them. Some of them are wax.’
“’不是全部都吃的。有些是蜡做的。’

”‘Look out, then, that you don’t get stuck,’ says I, kind of flip and foolish.
“’那你要小心，别粘在里面了，’ 我有点儿轻率和愚蠢地说道。

“Mame blushed. I didn’t know what to think about her. —
“玛姆脸红了。我不知道她怎么想。 —

My hopes raised some that perhaps my attentions had palliated man’s awful crime of visibly introducing nourishment into his system. —
我有点希望她原谅我，也许她不会再当着人的面往肚子里放东西了。 —

She talked some about the stars, referring to them with respect and politeness, and I drivelled a quantity about united hearts, homes made bright by true affection, and the Kindler. —
“她讲了一些关于星星的话，对它们表示尊重和礼貌，而我却胡说了不少关于团结的心、幸福的家庭以及点亮的生活的康德勒。 —

Mame listened without scorn, and I says to myself, ‘Jeff, old man, you’re removing the hoodoo that has clung to the consumer of victuals; —
“玛姆倾听时没有嘲笑，我对自己说：’ 杰夫老兄，你正在打破把食物吃进肚子变成罪过的咒语； —

you’re setting your heel upon the serpent that lurks in the gravy bowl.’
“你正在把脚踩在藏在肉汁碗里的蛇上。’

“Monday night I drop around. —
“星期一晚上我顺道去找玛姆。 —

Mame is at the Unparalleled Exhibition with Thomas.
她正与托马斯在无与伦比的展览会上。”

”‘Now, may the curse of the forty-one seven-sided sea cooks,’ says I, ‘and the bad luck of the nine impenitent grasshoppers rest upon this self-same sideshow at once and forever more. —
“‘现在，愿四十一位七面鬼海员的诅咒，以及九只不忏悔的蚱蜢的厄运永远降临在这个同样的小丑表演上。 —

Amen. I’ll go to see it myself to-morrow night and investigate its baleful charm. —
阿门。我明天晚上要去看看，调查一下它那邪恶的魅力。 —

Shall man that was made to inherit the earth be bereft of his sweetheart first by a knife and fork and then by a ten-cent circus?’
难道那些被刀叉夺走他心上人的男人，还要被十分钱的马戏团剥夺吗？’

“The next night before starting out for the exhibition tent I inquire and find out that Mame is not at home. —
“前一天晚上在去展示帐篷之前，我询问并得知梅姆不在家。 —

She is not at the circus with Thomas this time, for Thomas waylays me in the grass outside of the grub tent with a scheme of his own before I had time to eat supper.
这次她没有和托马斯一起去马戏团，因为托马斯在我还没有时间吃晚饭的时候，在草地外面埋伏着，告诉了我他自己的计划。

”‘What’ll you give me, Jeff,’ says he, ‘if I tell you something?’
“‘杰夫，如果我告诉你一件事，你会给我什么?’他说。

”‘The value of it, son,’ I says.
“‘它的价值，孩子，’我说。

”‘Sis is stuck on a freak,’ says Thomas, ‘one of the side-show freaks. I don’t like him. —
“‘姐姐迷上了一个怪胎，’托马斯说，‘是边缘表演的怪胎。我不喜欢他。 —

She does. I overheard ‘em talking. —
她喜欢。我偷听到他们在谈论。 —

Thought maybe you’d like to know. Say, Jeff, does it put you wise two dollars’ worth? —
我想也许你想知道。说吧，杰夫，这难道值两美元吗？ —

There’s a target rifle up town that–’
镇上有一把瞄准枪…

“I frisked my pockets and commenced to dribble a stream of halves and quarters into Thomas’s hat. —
我翻遍口袋，开始往托马斯的帽子里滴答掉下一串二毛五毛硬币。 —

The information was of the pile-driver system of news, and it telescoped my intellects for a while. —
这份信息堆积起来，让我的智力一时无法应对。 —

While I was leaking small change and smiling foolish on the outside, and suffering disturbances internally, I was saying, idiotically and pleasantly:
当我流失着零钱，在外面傻笑的同时，内心又痛苦不堪，我傻乎乎地愉快地说道:

”‘Thank you, Thomas–thank you–er–a freak, you said, Thomas. —
“谢谢你，托马斯——谢谢你——呃——你说他是个怪人，对吗，托马斯？ —

Now, could you make out the monstrosity’s entitlements a little clearer, if you please, Thomas?’
现在，如果可以的话，请你更清楚地写出这个怪物的资格，好吗，托马斯？

”‘This is the fellow,’ says Thomas, pulling out a yellow handbill from his pocket and shoving it under my nose. —
“这个家伙，” 托马斯说着，从口袋里掏出一张黄色的传单，往我鼻子底下推。 —

‘He’s the Champion Faster of the Universe. —
“他是宇宙的冠军速度选手。 —

I guess that’s why Sis got soft on him. —
我想这就是姐姐被他迷住的原因。 —

He don’t eat nothing. He’s going to fast forty-nine days. —
他什么都不吃。他要连续禁食四十九天。 —

This is the sixth. That’s him.’
现在是第六天。就是他。

“I looked at the name Thomas pointed out–‘Professor Eduardo Collieri.’ ‘Ah!’ says I, in admiration, ‘that’s not so bad, Ed Collier. I give you credit for the trick. —
“我看着托马斯指出的名字——’爱德华多·科利埃里教授。’ ‘啊!’ “我称赞地说：‘这没什么大不了的，埃德·考利尔，我要为你的把戏给你点赞。’” —

But I don’t give you the girl until she’s Mrs. Freak.’
“但在她成为弗里克夫人之前，我不会赠送给你这个女孩。”

“I hit the sod in the direction of the show. —
“我朝演出的方向狠狠地撞倒在草地上。 —

I came up to the rear of the tent, and, as I did so, a man wiggled out like a snake from under the bottom of the canvas, scrambled to his feet, and ran into me like a locoed bronco. —
当我这样做时，一个人像蛇一样从帐篷底部钻了出来，站起来后像一匹疯狂的野马一样朝我冲过来。” —

I gathered him by the neck and investigated him by the light of the stars. —
“我抓住他的脖子，在星星的光芒下审视着他。” —

It is Professor Eduardo Collieri, in human habiliments, with a desperate look in one eye and impatience in the other.
“这是埃德华多·考利里教授，穿着人类的衣服，一只眼睛里有绝望，另一只眼睛里有不耐烦。”

”‘Hello, Curiosity,’ says I. ‘Get still a minute and let’s have a look at your freakship. —
“‘嘿，好奇心，’我说。‘安静一会儿，让我们看看你的怪物表演。你喜欢成为拜伦尼奥的威洛普斯-沃洛普斯，或者是你在杂耍表演中被指称为来自婆罗洲的边疆怪物？’” —

How do you like being the willopus-wallopus or the bim-bam from Borneo, or whatever name you are denounced by in the side-show business?’
“‘杰夫·彼得斯，’考利尔用虚弱的声音说。‘放开我，否则我会揍你一顿。我非常急着走。放开我！’”

”‘Jeff Peters,’ says Collier, in a weak voice. —
“‘杰夫·彼得斯，’考利尔用虚弱的声音说。 —

‘Turn me loose, or I’ll slug you one. —
‘放开我， —

I’m in the extremest kind of a large hurry. —
否则我会揍你一顿。我非常急着走。放开我！ —

Hands off!’
’”

”‘Tut, tut, Eddie,’ I answers, holding him hard; —
“嘘，嘘，埃迪，”我抓住他说， —

‘let an old friend gaze on the exhibition of your curiousness. —
“让一位老朋友瞧瞧你的稀奇古怪之处。 —

It’s an eminent graft you fell onto, my son. —
你碰上了一项杰出的财物，孩子。 —

But don’t speak of assaults and battery, because you’re not fit. —
但别提袭击和殴打，因为你不适合。 —

The best you’ve got is a lot of nerve and a mighty empty stomach.’ And so it was. The man was as weak as a vegetarian cat.
你最好拥有的就是一颗大胆的心和一个极空虚的胃。事实也正是如此。这个人虚弱得像个不吃肉的猫。

”‘I’d argue this case with you, Jeff,’ says he, regretful in his style, ‘for an unlimited number of rounds if I had half an hour to train in and a slab of beefsteak two feet square to train with. —
“’我跟你辩论这个案子，杰夫，”他后悔地说道，“如果我有半小时训练时间和一块边长两英尺的牛排的话，我就可以无限次与你比试。 —

Curse the man, I say, that invented the art of going foodless. —
该诅咒那个发明了不吃食物的艺术的人。 —

May his soul in eternity be chained up within two feet of a bottomless pit of red- hot hash. —
愿他的灵魂永远被锁在一个无底的滚烫炖菜坑旁边的两英尺范围内。 —

I’m abandoning the conflict, Jeff; —
我放弃战斗了，杰夫； —

I’m deserting to the enemy. —
我要背叛自己，投敌去了。 —

You’ll find Miss Dugan inside contemplating the only living mummy and the informed hog. —
你会在里面找到杜甘小姐，她正饶有兴致地凝视着唯一的活木乃伊和见多识广的猪。 —

She’s a fine girl, Jeff. I’d have beat you out if I could have kept up the grubless habit a little while longer. —
她是个好姑娘，杰夫。如果我能再忍受一段时间不吃东西的习惯，我就能战胜你。” —

You’ll have to admit that the fasting dodge was aces-up for a while. —
你得承认，节食这一伎俩有一段时间效果不错。 —

I figured it out that way. —
我就是通过这种方式找出来的。 —

But say, Jeff, it’s said that love makes the world go around. Let me tell you, the announcement lacks verification. —
可是，杰夫，人们说爱情让世界运转不停。但让我告诉你，这个说法缺乏证实。 —

It’s the wind from the dinner horn that does it. —
那是晚饭的号角声。我爱那个玛姆·杜根。 —

I love that Mame Dugan. I’ve gone six days without food in order to coincide with her sentiments. —
为了与她的想法相一致，我已经连续六天没有进食了。 —

Only one bite did I have. —
我只吃了一口， —

That was when I knocked the tattooed man down with a war club and got a sandwich he was gobbling. —
就是当我用战棍击倒那个纹身男子并拿到他正在狼吞虎咽的三明治时。 —

The manager fined me all my salary; —
经理罚款了我全部薪水， —

but salary wasn’t what I was after. ‘Twas that girl. —
但薪水并不是我追求的。那个女孩才是。 —

I’d give my life for her, but I’d endanger my immortal soul for a beef stew. —
我愿意为她去付出生命，但为了一碗牛肉炖菜，我愿意冒险损害我的不朽灵魂。 —

Hunger is a horrible thing, Jeff. Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man’s starving!’
饥饿是一件可怕的事情，杰夫。当一个人挨饿时，爱情、事业、家庭、宗教、艺术和爱国主义只不过是些虚无的词。

“In such language Ed Collier discoursed to me, pathetic. —
“在这样的语言中，艾德·科利尔对我发表了感伤的演讲。 —

I gathered the diagnosis that his affections and his digestions had been implicated in a scramble and the commissary had won out. —
我推断出，他的情感和消化系统都陷入了混乱，而后备粮仓则取得了胜利。 —

I never disliked Ed Collier. —
我从未讨厌过艾德·科利尔。 —

I searched my internal admonitions of suitable etiquette to see if I could find a remark of a consoling nature, but there was none convenient.
我搜索了内心中合适的礼仪规范的忠告，看看是否能找到一个安慰人心的话，但没有合适的。

”‘I’d be glad, now,’ says Ed, ‘if you’ll let me go. —
“’现在，’艾德说，’如果你能放我走，我会很高兴。 —

I’ve been hard hit, but I’ll hit the ration supply harder. —
虽然我受到了很大的打击，但我会使粮食储备更加吃不消。 —

I’m going to clean out every restaurant in town. —
我要横扫城里的每家餐馆。 —

I’m going to wade waist deep in sirloins and swim in ham and eggs. —
我要在猪排和煎蛋中腰深地漫游。 —

It’s an awful thing, Jeff Peters, for a man to come to this pass–to give up his girl for something to eat–it’s worse than that man Esau, that swapped his copyright for a partridge– but then, hunger’s a fierce thing. —
杰夫·彼得斯，一个人为了填饱肚子而放弃自己的女人，这是多么可怕的事情—比那个出卖版权以换回一个鹧鸪的以扫更糟糕—但饥饿是一种凶猛的东西。 —

You’ll excuse me, now, Jeff, for I smell a pervasion of ham frying in the distance, and my legs are crying out to stampede in that direction.’
你现在原谅我，杰夫，因为我闻到了附近传来的火腿煎炒的香味，我的双腿正在呼喊要朝那个方向暴走。”

”‘A hearty meal to you, Ed Collier,’ I says to him, ‘and no hard feelings. —
“愿你享受这一丰盛的餐食，埃德·科利尔，别心存芥蒂。” —

For myself, I am projected to be an unseldom eater, and I have condolence for your predicaments.’
“就我个人而言，我也是一个常常吃饭的人，对你的困境表示同情。”

“There was a sudden big whiff of frying ham smell on the breeze; —
“突然，微风中传来了一阵煎猪肉的香味； —

and the Champion Faster gives a snort and gallops off in the dark toward fodder.
那个冠军斗牛犬哼了一声，向着饲料的方向在黑暗中奔跑。”

“I wish some of the cultured outfit that are always advertising the extenuating circumstances of love and romance had been there to see. —
“我希望一些总是在加以说明那些爱情和浪漫的缓解情况的文化团队能够在场看到。” —

There was Ed Collier, a fine man full of contrivances and flirtations, abandoning the girl of his heart and ripping out into the contiguous territory in the pursuit of sordid grub. —
“埃德·科利尔是一个富有发明意图和调情行为的人，他舍弃了他心爱的女孩，冲入了相邻的地区追求肮脏的食物。” —

‘Twas a rebuke to the poets and a slap at the best-paying element of fiction. —
“那是对诗人们的谴责，是对付费最高的小说元素的打击。” —

An empty stomach is a sure antidote to an overfull heart.
“空腹是患得患失的心的良药。”

“I was naturally anxious to know how far Mame was infatuated with Collier and his stratagems. —
“我自然很想知道梅姆对科利尔及其策略有多么迷恋。” —

I went inside the Unparalleled Exhibition, and there she was. —
“我走进了无与伦比的展览馆，她就在那里。” —

She looked surprised to see me, but unguilty.
“她看到我时表现出惊讶，但并不内疚。”

”‘It’s an elegant evening outside,’ says I. ‘The coolness is quite nice and gratifying, and the stars are lined out, first class, up where they belong. Wouldn’t you shake these by-products of the animal kingdom long enough to take a walk with a common human who never was on a programme in his life?’
“’室外的夜晚真是优雅啊，’ 我说道。’凉爽的感觉非常惬意，星星们都排列得整整齐齐，就像它们本该属于的位置。你愿不愿意放下这些动物王国的副产品，与一个平凡的人一起散步呢，他一生从未参与过任何节目？’”

“Mame gave a sort of sly glance around, and I knew what that meant.
“Mame偷偷地看了一下四周，我知道那是什么意思。”

”‘Oh,’ says I, ‘I hate to tell you; —
“’哦，’ 我说，’不愿意告诉你； —

but the curiosity that lives on wind has flew the coop. —
但那喜欢寄生于风中的好奇心已经飞走了。’” —

He just crawled out under the tent. —
“他刚从帐篷下爬出来。 —

By this time he has amalgamated himself with half the delicatessen truck in town.’
到了现在，他已经与城里一半的熟食卡车融为一体了。”

”‘You mean Ed Collier?’ says Mame.
“’你是指Ed Collier吗？’ Mame说道。”

”‘I do,’ I answers; ‘and a pity it is that he has gone back to crime again. —
“’是的，’ 我回答道，’真可惜他又回到了犯罪之中。’” —

I met him outside the tent, and he exposed his intentions of devastating the food crop of the world. —
“我在帐篷外面遇到了他，他表露出了毁灭世界粮食作物的意图。” —

‘Tis enormously sad when one’s ideal descends from his pedestal to make a seventeen-year locust of himself.’
“当一个人的理想从他的底座上降临，变成了一个活了十七年的杂食性昆虫时，这实在是极其悲哀。”

“Mame looked me straight in the eye until she had corkscrewed my reflections.
“Mame直勾勾地盯着我的眼睛，直到她把我的思绪都搅乱了。”

”‘Jeff,’ says she, ‘it isn’t quite like you to talk that way. I don’t care to hear Ed Collier ridiculed. —
“‘杰夫，’她说，‘你这样说话可真不像你。我可不想听到对埃德·科利尔取笑的话。’” —

A man may do ridiculous things, but they don’t look ridiculous to the girl he does ‘em for. —
“一个人可能做出荒唐的事情，但在他所为之女孩眼里并不荒唐。 —

That was one man in a hundred. —
那是百人中的一人。” —

He stopped eating just to please me. —
“他为了取悦我而停止吃饭。 —

I’d be hard- hearted and ungrateful if I didn’t feel kindly toward him. —
如果我不对他怀有好感，那就是冷酷无情和忘恩负义了。 —

Could you do what he did?’
你能做到他所做的吗？”

”‘I know,’ says I, seeing the point, ‘I’m condemned. —
“‘我明白，’我说着，看到了问题的关键，‘我被判决了。 —

I can’t help it. The brand of the consumer is upon my brow. —
我无能为力。消费者的烙印在我的额头上。’” —

Mrs. Eve settled that business for me when she made the dicker with the snake. —
“伊夫夫人在与蛇做交易时替我解决了那件事。 —

I fell from the fire into the frying-pan. —
我从火里跌入了油锅。” —

I guess I’m the Champion Feaster of the Universe.’ I spoke humble, and Mame mollified herself a little.
“我猜我是宇宙中的‘饕餮之王’。我说得很谦虚，玛姆也稍微安抚了一些。”

”‘Ed Collier and I are good friends,’ she said, ‘the same as me and you. —
“‘埃德·科利尔和我是好朋友，’她说，‘跟你和我一样。 —

I gave him the same answer I did you–no marrying for me. —
我给了他和你一样的答案——不结婚。’” —

I liked to be with Ed and talk with him. —
我喜欢和Ed在一起并和他交谈。 —

There was something mighty pleasant to me in the thought that here was a man who never used a knife and fork, and all for my sake.’
想到这个人从不使用刀叉，全部是为了我，我感到非常愉快。

”‘Wasn’t you in love with him?’ I asks, all injudicious. —
“你不是爱上他了吗？”我不太明智地问道。 —

‘Wasn’t there a deal on for you to become Mrs. Curiosity?’
“你打算成为好奇夫人吗？”

“All of us do it sometimes. —
我们所有人都有时会这样做。 —

All of us get jostled out of the line of profitable talk now and then. —
我们所有人都会偶尔被有利可图的谈话轰回。 —

Mame put on that little lemon glace smile that runs between ice and sugar, and says, much too pleasant: —
Mame带着一种介于冰与糖之间的微笑，说得非常和蔼：“你问这个问题的资格不足，彼得斯先生。” —

‘You’re short on credentials for asking that question, Mr. Peters. —
“对于你问这个问题，你的证书很短。” —

Suppose you do a forty-nine day fast, just to give you ground to stand on, and then maybe I’ll answer it.’
“假设你进行四十九天的禁食，只是为了给你一个立足之地，然后也许我会回答。”

“So, even after Collier was kidnapped out of the way by the revolt of his appetite, my own prospects with Mame didn’t seem to be improved. —
所以，即使科利尔被他的胃口引发的背叛绑架走了，我和Mame之间的前景似乎还是没有改善。 —

And then business played out in Guthrie.
然后，古斯里的生意停了下来。

“I had stayed too long there. —
“我在那里停留的时间太长了。 —

The Brazilians I had sold commenced to show signs of wear, and the Kindler refused to light up right frequent on wet mornings. —
我卖出的巴西货开始显示出磨损的迹象，而Kindler经常在潮湿的早晨点不着火。 —

There is always a time, in my business, when the star of success says, ‘Move on to the next town.’ I was travelling by wagon at that time so as not to miss any of the small towns; —
对于我的生意来说，总会有一个时刻，成功之星会说，‘去下一个城镇。’那时候，我正乘着马车旅行，这样就不会错过任何一个小镇； —

so I hitched up a few days later and went down to tell Mame good-bye. —
所以我几天后就赶车去告别Mame。 —

I wasn’t abandoning the game; —
我并没有放弃这场游戏； —

I intended running over to Oklahoma City and work it for a week or two. —
我打算去俄克拉荷马城工作一两个星期。 —

Then I was coming back to institute fresh proceedings against Mame.
然后我打算回来对Mame采取新的行动。

“What do I find at the Dugans’ but Mame all conspicuous in a blue travelling dress, with her little trunk at the door. —
“那么我在杜根家发现的却是穿着蓝色旅行裙的显眼的Mame，她的小箱子就在门口。 —

It seems that sister Lottie Bell, who is a typewriter in Terre Haute, is going to be married next Thursday, and Mame is off for a week’s visit to be an accomplice at the ceremony. —
看来姐姐Lottie Bell，也就是特尔霍特的打字员，将在下周四结婚，Mame要去作为仪式上的帮凶参加一周的访问。 —

Mame is waiting for a freight wagon that is going to take her to Oklahoma, but I condemns the freight wagon with promptness and scorn, and offers to deliver the goods myself. —
Mame正在等待一辆将带她去俄克拉何马州的货运车，但我对这辆货运车表示了迅速和蔑视，并主动提出自己去送货。 —

Ma Dugan sees no reason why not, as Mr. Freighter wants pay for the job; —
Ma Dugan没有理由反对，因为Mr.Freighter要求支付这项工作的报酬。 —

so, thirty minutes later Mame and I pull out in my light spring wagon with white canvas cover, and head due south.
所以，30分钟后，Mame和我乘坐我的轻便弹簧车，带着白色帆布罩向南行驶。

“That morning was of a praiseworthy sort. —
“那个早晨非常值得称赞。 —

The breeze was lively, and smelled excellent of flowers and grass, and the little cottontail rabbits entertained themselves with skylarking across the road. —
微风很活跃，闻起来很好，有花草的香味，小小的棉尾兔在马路上施展花式耍闹。 —

My two Kentucky bays went for the horizon until it come sailing in so fast you wanted to dodge it like a clothesline. —
我的两匹肯塔基骏马直奔地平线，一直冲过来得如此之快，你想躲避它就像躲避晾衣绳一样。 —

Mame was full of talk and rattled on like a kid about her old home and her school pranks and the things she liked and the hateful ways of those Johnson girls just across the street, ‘way up in Indiana. —
Mame满腔热情地说个不停，像个孩子一样谈论着她的老家、她在学校的恶作剧、她喜欢的事情以及住在印第安纳那条街对面的约翰逊姐妹们讨厌的行为。 —

Not a word was said about Ed Collier or victuals or such solemn subjects. —
没有提到Ed Collier或者食物等严肃的话题。 —

About noon Mame looks and finds that the lunch she had put up in a basket had been left behind. —
大约中午的时候，玛梅看到她放在篮子里的午餐被遗忘在了后面。 —

I could have managed quite a collation, but Mame didn’t seem to be grieving over nothing to eat, so I made no lamentations. —
2、我本来可以准备一顿丰盛的餐点，但是玛梅似乎并不为没有什么吃的而伤心，所以我没有抱怨。 —

It was a sore subject with me, and I ruled provender in all its branches out of my conversation.
3、这是我心痛的事情，所以我在谈话中彻底避免提及粮食。

“I am minded to touch light on explanations how I came to lose the way. —
4、我打算简单地解释一下我怎么迷路的。 —

The road was dim and well grown with grass; —
那条路很暗，长满了草； —

and there was Mame by my side confiscating my intellects and attention. —
5、而旁边的玛梅却让我分心和专注力。 —

The excuses are good or they are not, as they may appear to you. —
这个借口好不好，就看你怎么看了。 —

But I lost it, and at dusk that afternoon, when we should have been in Oklahoma City, we were seesawing along the edge of nowhere in some undiscovered river bottom, and the rain was falling in large, wet bunches. —
6、但是我迷路了，在那天傍晚的时候，本应该到达俄克拉荷马城的时候，我们却正处在某个未发现的河床边，雨水大滴地落下来。 —

Down there in the swamps we saw a little log house on a small knoll of high ground. —
7、在那片沼泽地里，我们看到了一间小木屋，建在一块小小的高地上。 —

The bottom grass and the chaparral and the lonesome timber crowded all around it. —
8、四周都是长满草和灌木丛的低地和寂静的树木。 —

It seemed to be a melancholy little house, and you felt sorry for it. —
这似乎是一个忧郁的小屋子，你会为它感到可怜。 —

‘Twas that house for the night, the way I reasoned it. —
在我理性推断的情况下，这是那个晚上的住处。 —

I explained to Mame, and she leaves it to me to decide. —
我向玛姆解释了一切，她让我自己决定。 —

She doesn’t become galvanic and prosecuting, as most women would, but she says it’s all right; —
她没有像大多数女人那样变得激动和指责，而是说没关系； —

she knows I didn’t mean to do it.
她知道我不是有意为之。

“We found the house was deserted. It had two empty rooms. —
“我们发现那座房子是空的。里面有两个空的房间。 —

There was a little shed in the yard where beasts had once been kept. —
院子里有一个小棚子，曾经养过动物。 —

In a loft of it was a lot of old hay. —
院子的阁楼里有一堆旧干草。 —

I put my horses in there and gave them some of it, for which they looked at me sorrowful, expecting apologies. —
我把我的马放进去，并给它们一些干草，它们目光忧伤地看着我，似乎在期待着道歉。 —

The rest of the hay I carried into the house by armfuls, with a view to accommodations. —
我把剩下的干草一把把搬进屋子，为了提供住宿条件。 —

I also brought in the patent kindler and the Brazilians, neither of which are guaranteed against the action of water.
我们坐在马车座位上的地板上，我点燃了一堆助燃剂，因为那天晚上很冷。

“Mame and I sat on the wagon seats on the floor, and I lit a lot of the kindler on the hearth, for the night was chilly. —
” —

If I was any judge, that girl enjoyed it. —
如果我是一个法官的话，那个女孩会喜欢的。 —

It was a change for her. —
这对她来说可是一次改变， —

It gave her a different point of view. —
给了她一个不同的视角。 —

She laughed and talked, and the kindler made a dim light compared to her eyes. —
她笑着说话，那盏灯光黯淡无光，与她的眼睛相比。 —

I had a pocketful of cigars, and as far as I was concerned there had never been any fall of man. —
我的口袋里装满了雪茄，而我认为从来没有人类的堕落。 —

We were at the same old stand in the Garden of Eden. Out there somewhere in the rain and the dark was the river of Zion, and the angel with the flaming sword had not yet put up the keep-off-the-grass sign. —
我们仍在那个伊甸园的原地。在外面那个雨夜中，锡安之河依然在流淌，那位拿着火焰宝剑的天使尚未竖起“禁止踏草坪”的标志。 —

I opened up a gross or two of the Brazilians and made Mame put them on–rings, brooches, necklaces, eardrops, bracelets, girdles, and lockets. —
我拿出一打巴西宝石，让玛姆戴上它们——戒指、胸针、项链、耳环、手镯、腰带和护身符。 —

She flashed and sparkled like a million-dollar princess until she had pink spots in her cheeks and almost cried for a looking-glass.
她一闪一闪像一个百万富翁的公主，一直到她的脸颊上泛起粉红的斑点，几乎要因找不到镜子而哭了出来。

“When it got late I made a fine bunk on the floor for Mame with the hay and my lap robes and blankets out of the wagon, and persuaded her to lie down. —
“天黑以后，我在地板上为玛姆铺了一张舒适的铺盖，用来自马车的干草和我的毯子和毛毯，劝她躺下休息。 —

I sat in the other room burning tobacco and listening to the pouring rain and meditating on the many vicissitudes that came to a man during the seventy years or so immediately preceding his funeral.
我坐在另一个房间里，燃烧着烟草，听着倾盆大雨，沉思着在一个人的葬礼之前的七十年左右所经历的各种变故。

“I must have dozed a little while before morning, for my eyes were shut, and when I opened them it was daylight, and there stood Mame with her hair all done up neat and correct, and her eyes bright with admiration of existence.
“我想我在天亮前睡了一小会儿，因为我闭着眼睛，当我睁开它们时，天已经亮了，Mame站在那里，她的头发整齐而正确地做好了，她的眼睛闪耀着对生活的赞赏。

”‘Gee whiz, Jeff!’ she exclaims, ‘but I’m hungry. I could eat a–’
“’天哪，杰夫！’她惊叫道，’ 我饿坏了。我可以吃一个……’

“I looked up and caught her eye. —
“我抬头看到她的眼神。 —

Her smile went back in and she gave me a cold look of suspicion. —
她的微笑收了回去，她对我投以一种冷酷的怀疑的眼神。 —

Then I laughed, and laid down on the floor to laugh easier. —
然后我笑了起来，躺在地板上更容易笑。 —

It seemed funny to me. —
我觉得这很有趣。 —

By nature and geniality I am a hearty laugher, and I went the limit. —
通过天性和好客的性格，我是一个爽朗的笑者，我笑出了极限。 —

When I came to, Mame was sitting with her back to me, all contaminated with dignity.
当我回过神来，Mame正坐在背对着我，全然带着尊严。

”‘Don’t be angry, Mame,’ I says, ‘for I couldn’t help it. —
“’别生气，Mame，’我说，’我忍不住。 —

It’s the funny way you’ve done up your hair. —
是你把头发梳成了这样搞笑的样子。 —

If you could only see it!’
要是你能看见它就好了！’

”‘You needn’t tell stories, sir,’ said Mame, cool and advised. ‘My hair is all right. —
“‘你不需要编故事，先生，’Mame冷静而睿智地说。‘我的头发没问题。 —

I know what you were laughing about. —
我知道你在笑什么。 —

Why, Jeff, look outside,’ she winds up, peeping through a chink between the logs. —
‘嘿，杰夫，往外看，’她说着，在木头间的縫隙中探头。 —

I opened the little wooden window and looked out. —
我打开了小木窗户，向外望去。 —

The entire river bottom was flooded, and the knob of land on which the house stood was an island in the middle of a rushing stream of yellow water a hundred yards wide. —
整个河底都被水淹没了，而房屋所在的小山头则成了一片茫茫汪洋中的一座岛屿，周围是一条百码宽的急流。 —

And it was still raining hard. —
而且还在不停地下着雨。 —

All we could do was to stay there till the doves brought in the olive branch.
我们能做的只是待在这里，直到鸽子拿来了橄榄枝。

“I am bound to admit that conversations and amusements languished during that day. —
“我不得不承认，那一天的对话和娱乐都有些消沉。 —

I was aware that Mame was getting a too prolonged one-sided view of things again, but I had no way to change it. —
我意识到Mame又一次得到了一个过于片面的观点，但我没有办法改变它。 —

Personally, I was wrapped up in the desire to eat. —
就我个人而言，我对吃的渴望非常强烈。 —

I had hallucinations of hash and visions of ham, and I kept saying to myself all the time, ‘What’ll you have to eat, Jeff? —
我幻想着咖喱肉，想象着火腿，一直对自己说着‘杰夫，你要吃什么呢？’” —

–what’ll you order now, old man, when the waiter comes?’ I picks out to myself all sorts of favourites from the bill of fare, and imagines them coming. —
–当服务员过来的时候，你这老家伙打算点什么？我从菜单上挑了几样我最爱吃的，然后想象它们上来。 —

I guess it’s that way with all hungry men. —
我猜每一个饥饿的人都是这样。 —

They can’t get their cogitations trained on anything but something to eat. —
他们的思绪无法集中到除了吃的之外的任何事情上。 —

It shows that the little table with the broken-legged caster and the imitation Worcester sauce and the napkin covering up the coffee stains is the paramount issue, after all, instead of the question of immortality or peace between nations.
这表明，那张有着断腿滚轮的小桌子，那瓶仿制的伍斯特酱，还有覆盖着咖啡渍的餐巾，竟然是最重要的问题，而不是关于永生或国家和平的问题。

“I sat there, musing along, arguing with myself quite heated as to how I’d have my steak–with mushrooms, or a la creole. —
我坐在那里，沉思着，和自己争论得火热，该怎么吃牛排——加蘑菇，还是克里奥尔式。 —

Mame was on the other seat, pensive, her head leaning on her hand. —
麦姆坐在另一边，沉思着，她的头靠在手上。 —

‘Let the potatoes come home-fried,’ I states in my mind, ‘and brown the hash in the pan, with nine poached eggs on the side.’ I felt, careful, in my own pockets to see if I could find a peanut or a grain or two of popcorn.
’让土豆做家常炸，’我在脑海中说道，’用锅炖好杂碎，旁边再上9个荷包蛋。’ 我小心地在自己的口袋里摸索，看看能不能找到一颗花生或一点爆米花。

“Night came on again with the river still rising and the rain still falling. —
夜幕降临，河水仍在上涨，雨水仍在下落。 —

I looked at Mame and I noticed that desperate look on her face that a girl always wears when she passes an ice-cream lair. —
我看着玛玛，注意到她脸上那种绝望的表情，这是一个女孩在经过一个冰淇淋店时总是带着的表情。 —

I knew that poor girl was hungry–maybe for the first time in her life. —
我知道那个可怜的女孩饿了，也许是她生命中第一次感到饥饿。 —

There was that anxious look in her eye that a woman has only when she has missed a meal or feels her skirt coming unfastened in the back.
她眼中流露出那种焦急的神色，只有一个女人在饭前未吃饱或感觉到后腰裙子解开时才会有的神情。

“It was about eleven o’clock or so on the second night when we sat, gloomy, in our shipwrecked cabin. —
“大约是第二天晚上十一点左右，我们愁眉苦脸地坐在我们遇难的小屋里。 —

I kept jerking my mind away from the subject of food, but it kept flopping back again before I could fasten it. —
我不停地把注意力从食物的话题上拉开，但它总是在我没有控制住它之前又回到了那里。 —

I thought of everything good to eat I had ever heard of. —
我想起了我曾听说过的所有美食。 —

I went away back to my kidhood and remembered the hot biscuit sopped in sorghum and bacon gravy with partiality and respect. —
回到我童年时代，我对浸在糖蜜和培根酱汁中的热饼干充满了偏爱和敬意。 —

Then I trailed along up the years, pausing at green apples and salt, flapjacks and maple, lye hominy, fried chicken Old Virginia style, corn on the cob, spareribs and sweet potato pie, and wound up with Georgia Brunswick stew, which is the top notch of good things to eat, because it comprises ‘em all.
然后我一路尾随着岁月的脚步，停留在绿苹果和盐、煎饼和枫糖浆、碱水玉米糊、老式弗吉尼亚炸鸡、玉米棒子、糖醋排骨和番薯派上。最后，我尝试了格鲁吉亚州的巴伦士炖菜，这是所有美食中的翘楚，因为它集合了它们的精华。

“They say a drowning man sees a panorama of his whole life pass before him. —
“人们说溺水的人眼前会闪现其一生的画面。 —

Well, when a man’s starving he sees the ghost of every meal he ever ate set out before him, and he invents new dishes that would make the fortune of a chef. —
那么，当一个人饥肠辘辘时，他会在眼前看到他曾吃过的每一顿饭，还会创造出能让大厨致富的新菜肴。 —

If somebody would collect the last words of men who starved to death, they’d have to sift ‘em mighty fine to discover the sentiment, but they’d compile into a cook book that would sell into the millions.
如果有人收集那些饿死的人的遗言，他们得非常细致地筛选，才能发现其中的情感，但这些遗言可以编成一本烹饪书，销量将会上百万。

“I guess I must have had my conscience pretty well inflicted with culinary meditations, for, without intending to do so, I says, out loud, to the imaginary waiter, ‘Cut it thick and have it rare, with the French fried, and six, soft-scrambled, on toast.’
“我想我一定把自己的良心都深深地关在了烹饪的沉思中，因为，不经意间，我大声对着虚构的服务员说道，‘切成厚片，要半生不熟，附带法式炸薯条，还要六只软炒的蛋放在面包上。’”

“Mame turned her head quick as a wing. —
“妈咪马上转过头来， —

Her eyes were sparkling and she smiled sudden.
眼睛发亮，突然笑了起来。”

”‘Medium for me,’ she rattles out, ‘with the Juliennes, and three, straight up. Draw one, and brown the wheats, double order to come. —
“‘给我来份牛排饭，配煮青椒丝，且要三份，直接上菜。再画一份，小麦面煎至酥脆，加倍供应。’” —

Oh, Jeff, wouldn’t it be glorious! —
“哦，杰夫，那会多么美妙！ —

And then I’d like to have a half fry, and a little chicken curried with rice, and a cup custard with ice cream, and–’
接下来我想来一半炒蛋，加一点鸡肉煮咖喱饭，再来一杯奶油蛋糕配冰淇淋，还有……”

”‘Go easy,’ I interrupts; ‘where’s the chicken liver pie, and the kidney saute on toast, and the roast lamb, and–’
“‘别太贪心，’我打断她；‘那只鸡肝派呢？和碎肾脆酥吐司，还有烤羊排，以及……’”

”‘Oh,’ cuts in Mame, all excited, ‘with mint sauce, and the turkey salad, and stuffed olives, and raspberry tarts, and–’
“‘哦，’妈咪兴奋地插话道，‘加上薄荷酱的火鸡沙拉，还有填充橄榄，和覆盆子馅饼，还有……’”

”‘Keep it going,’ says I. ‘Hurry up with the fried squash, and the hot corn pone with sweet milk, and don’t forget the apple dumpling with hard sauce, and the cross-barred dew-berry pie–’
“‘继续点，’我说。‘还有炸黄瓜，和加甜牛奶的热玉米馅饼，别忘了加上奶油汁的苹果果馅饼，和带蕈纹的黑莓馅饼……’”

“Yes, for ten minutes we kept up that kind of restaurant repartee. —
“是的，我们保持了十分钟的这种餐厅对答。” —

We ranges up and down and backward and forward over the main trunk lines and the branches of the victual subject, and Mame leads the game, for she is apprised in the ramifications of grub, and the dishes she nominates aggravates my yearnings. —
我们在主要干线和支线上上下左右地穿梭，Mame引领着这个游戏，因为她对食物的各种细枝末节了如指掌，而她点的菜却让我的渴望更加加重。 —

It seems that there is a feeling that Mame will line up friendly again with food. —
似乎有一种感觉，Mame将再次与食物友好相处。 —

It seems that she looks upon the obnoxious science of eating with less contempt than before.
她似乎对令人讨厌的吃饭科学的看法不再那么蔑视。

“The next morning we find that the flood has subsided. —
“第二天早上，我们发现洪水已经退去。 —

I geared up the bays, and we splashed out through the mud, some precarious, until we found the road again. —
我让马匹加快速度，我们穿过泥潭，有些危险，直到重新找到了道路。 —

We were only a few miles wrong, and in two hours we were in Oklahoma City. The first thing we saw was a big restaurant sign, and we piled into there in a hurry. —
我们只有几英里的偏差，两个小时后，我们就到了俄克拉荷马市。我们看到的第一件事就是一个大餐厅标志，我们匆忙走进去。 —

Here I finds myself sitting with Mame at table, with knives and forks and plates between us, and she not scornful, but smiling with starvation and sweetness.
这里我发现自己和Mame坐在餐桌前，中间放着刀子、叉子和盘子，她不再嘲笑，而是饥饿和甜美地微笑着。

”‘Twas a new restaurant and well stocked. —
这是一家新的餐厅，货物充足。 —

I designated a list of quotations from the bill of fare that made the waiter look out toward the wagon to see how many more might be coming.
我列了一份菜单上的引语清单，让服务员朝着车子看，看还有多少东西要来。

“There we were, and there was the order being served. —
我们就在那里，点的菜已经上了。 —

‘Twas a banquet for a dozen, but we felt like a dozen. —
这是一顿十二人的盛宴，但我们感觉就像一整桌的人。 —

I looked across the table at Mame and smiled, for I had recollections. —
我看着桌子对面的玛姆微笑，因为我有点回忆。 —

Mame was looking at the table like a boy looks at his first stem-winder. —
玛姆正在像男孩看待他的第一枚机械表一样看着桌子。 —

Then she looked at me, straight in the face, and two big tears came in her eyes. —
然后她直视着我的脸，眼睛里涌出两滴眼泪。 —

The waiter was gone after more grub.
服务员去拿更多的食物了。

”‘Jeff,’ she says, soft like, ‘I’ve been a foolish girl. —
“杰夫，”她轻声说道，“我一直是个愚蠢的女孩。 —

I’ve looked at things from the wrong side. —
我一直把事情看反了。 —

I never felt this way before. —
我以前从没这样过。 —

Men get hungry every day like this, don’t they? —
男人每天都会像这样饿吗？ —

They’re big and strong, and they do the hard work of the world, and they don’t eat just to spite silly waiter girls in restaurants, do they, Jeff? —
他们高大强壮，他们承担着世界上艰苦的工作，他们不会只是为了刁难餐厅里傻女孩们而吃饭吧，杰夫？ —

You said once–that is, you asked me–you wanted me to–well, Jeff, if you still care–I’d be glad and willing to have you always sitting across the table from me. —
你曾经说过 - 也就是说，你问过我 - 你希望我 - 嗯，杰夫，如果你还在乎的话 - 我会很高兴并愿意让你永远坐在我对面。 —

Now give me something to eat, quick, please.’
现在给我点吃的，快点，请。

“So, as I’ve said, a woman needs to change her point of view now and then. —
“因此，正如我所说，女人需要不时改变自己的观点。 —

They get tired of the same old sights–the same old dinner table, washtub, and sewing machine. —
他们厌倦了那些老一套的景象 - 老一套的餐桌，洗衣盆和缝纫机。 —

Give ‘em a touch of the various–a little travel and a little rest, a little tomfoolery along with the tragedies of keeping house, a little petting after the blowing-up, a little upsetting and a little jostling around–and everybody in the game will have chips added to their stack by the play.”
给他们一点多样性 - 一点旅行和休息，一点家务的滑稽，一点吵架之后的安慰，一点打破常规和颠覆 - 所有参与游戏的人都会因此增加筹码。