I suppose the next three years were the happiest of Strickland’s life. —
我想未来的三年是斯特里克兰的生活里最幸福的时光。 —

Ata’s house stood about eight kilometres from the road that runs round the island, and you went to it along a winding pathway shaded by the luxuriant trees of the tropics. —
阿塔的房子离环绕整个岛屿的道路约有八公里，你需要沿着一条蜿蜒曲折的小路前往，路两旁被茂盛的热带树木遮荫。 —

It was a bungalow of unpainted wood, consisting of two small rooms, and outside was a small shed that served as a kitchen. —
这是一座未粉刷的木制平房，有两个小房间，外面还有一个用作厨房的小棚屋。 —

There was no furniture except the mats they used as beds, and a rocking-chair, which stood on the verandah. —
屋里除了他们用作床的垫子和一个摇椅外，没有其他家具，摇椅放在门廊上。 —

Bananas with their great ragged leaves, like the tattered habiliments of an empress in adversity, grew close up to the house. —
香蕉树的叶子大而凌乱，就像一个处于逆境的女皇的破烂服饰，近在房屋旁。 —

There was a tree just behind which bore alligator pears, and all about were the cocoa-nuts which gave the land its revenue. —
房屋后面长着一棵结球梨树，周围到处都是收入来源的椰子树。 —

Ata’s father had planted crotons round his property, and they grew in coloured profusion, gay and brilliant; —
阿塔的父亲在房产周围种植了许多五彩斑斓的秋海棠，色彩鲜艳而喜庆；它们将土地围了起来，光彩夺目。 —

they fenced the land with flame. A mango grew in front of the house, and at the edge of the clearing were two flamboyants, twin trees, that challenged the gold of the cocoa-nuts with their scarlet flowers.
门前有一棵芒果树，清除处是一对火焰树，同根生长，挑战着椰子树的金色果实，它们的鲜红花朵更为惹眼。

Here Strickland lived, coming seldom to Papeete, on the produce of the land. —
在这里，斯特里克兰生活，很少去帕皮提，靠着土地上的产品维持生计。 —

There was a little stream that ran not far away, in which he bathed, and down this on occasion would come a shoal of fish. —
附近有一条小溪，他会在那里洗澡，有时会有一群鱼游来。 —

Then the natives would assemble with spears, and with much shouting would transfix the great startled things as they hurried down to the sea. —
然后居民们会聚集起来，手持长矛，高声喊叫着将惊恐的大鱼刺穿。 —

Sometimes Strickland would go down to the reef, and come back with a basket of small, coloured fish that Ata would fry in cocoa-nut oil, or with a lobster; —
有时候斯特里克兰会去礁区，拿着一篮子五颜六色的小鱼回来，阿塔会用椰子油煎炸它们，或者带回一只龙虾； —

and sometimes she would make a savoury dish of the great land-crabs that scuttled away under your feet. —
有时她会用那些在你脚下蹦来蹦去的大螃蟹做出可口的菜肴。 —

Up the mountain were wild-orange trees, and now and then Ata would go with two or three women from the village and return laden with the green, sweet, luscious fruit. —
山上有野生橘子树，阿塔有时会和村子里的两三位妇女一起，返回时满载着青翠甜美多汁的果子。 —

Then the cocoa-nuts would be ripe for picking, and her cousins (like all the natives, Ata had a host of relatives) would swarm up the trees and throw down the big ripe nuts. —
然后椰子就会熟了，她的堂兄弟姐妹（和所有当地居民一样，阿塔有很多亲戚）会蜂拥而至爬上树，摘下成熟的椰子。 —

They split them open and put them in the sun to dry. —
他们把椰子劈开放在阳光下晾干。 —

Then they cut out the copra and put it into sacks, and the women would carry it down to the trader at the village by the lagoon, and he would give in exchange for it rice and soap and tinned meat and a little money. —
然后他们剜出椰肉放入麻袋中，女人们将它运到村里的海湾边的贸易商那里，他会用米、肥皂、罐头肉和一点钱来交换。 —

Sometimes there would be a feast in the neighbourhood, and a pig would be killed. —
有时候附近会有一个盛宴，猪会被杀掉。 —

Then they would go and eat themselves sick, and dance, and sing hymns.
然后他们会大吃特吃，跳舞，唱赞美诗。

But the house was a long way from the village, and the Tahitians are lazy. —
但是房子离村庄很远，大溪地人很懒。 —

They love to travel and they love to gossip, but they do not care to walk, and for weeks at a time Strickland and Ata lived alone. —
他们喜欢旅行，喜欢聊天，但不喜欢走路，Strickland和Ata有时会独自生活几个星期。 —

He painted and he read, and in the evening, when it was dark, they sat together on the verandah, smoking and looking at the night. —
他画画，他读书，晚上，黑暗中，他们坐在阳台上一起抽烟，看着夜晚。 —

Then Ata had a baby, and the old woman who came up to help her through her trouble stayed on. —
然后Ata生了一个孩子，一个来帮助她生产的老妇人留了下来。 —

Presently the granddaughter of the old woman came to stay with her, and then a youth appeared – no one quite knew where from or to whom he belonged – but he settled down with them in a happy-go-lucky way, and they all lived together,
不久，老妇人的孙女来和她一起住，然后一个年轻人出现了，没人知道他从哪里来或者属于谁，但他以一种随遇而安的方式和他们一起定居，他们一起生活。