1. Theodoric Voler had been brought up by a loving mother whose main focus had been to keep him away from what she called ‘the coarser realities of life’. When she died she left Theodoric alone in a world that was a good deal coarser than he thought it had any need to be. To him, even a simple railway journey was full with petty annoyances, and as he sat down in a second-class compartment one September morning he was having ruffled feelings.

西奥多里克· 福勒的母亲是一位对子女关心备至的慈母。在母亲的关怀下，西奥多里克从小到大都远离着母亲口中的“粗俗的现实生活”。母亲去世后，他开始不得不独自面对这个比他想象中还要粗俗许多的世界。对他来说，即使是一次简单的搭乘火车的旅行都充满了琐碎小事的烦恼——这是9月的一个早晨，当他落座在一个二等座车厢内后，他的情绪就一直处于一种焦躁不安的状态。

2. He had been staying as a vacation at a farm owned by family friends; a vicar and his daughter. They were nice people, but more chaotic than he was used to. So when it was time for him to return home, the pony carriage that was to take him to the station had never been properlyordered, and when the moment for his departure drew near, the carriage was nowhere in sight.

之前一段时间，他一直在他家朋友的农场度假。农场的主人是一位教区牧师，他还有一个女儿。这父女俩都很友善，但西奥多里克还是觉得在这里的日子比他之前已经习惯了的乱了一些。因此，回家时能够坐上那架小马车去火车站都会给他带来从未有过的井井有条的感觉，而当离去的时刻临近时，这架马车并没有出现在他的视线里。

3. In this emergency Theodoric, to his disgust, found himself collaborating with the vicar’s daughter in the task of getting a pony carriage from the neighbours’ stable, where it smelled of mice. Without being actually afraid of mice, Theodoric saw mice as one of the coarser incidents of life. The daughter offered to take him to the station with the pony and carriage of her neighbours, which he gladly accepted. He made it in time and settled himself in his compartment.

在这样的紧急情况下，令西奥多里克厌恶的是，他发现自己要与牧师的女儿合作从邻居的马厩弄来一架小马车，而且那个马厩里有一股老鼠的味道。西奥多里克并不是真的害怕老鼠，只不过是将见到老鼠当作生活中的一个比较粗俗的事。牧师的女儿提出要乘邻居家的马车把他送到火车站，他欣然接受了。他及时赶到了火车站，并在自己的车厢里安顿了下来。

4. As the train rolled out of the station, Theodoric became bored already. The carriage was of the old-fashioned sort, so that Theodoric’s semi privacy in his shared compartment was protected well by corridors. And yet the train had barely reached its normal speed before he became vividly aware that he was not alone with a slumbering lady sitting on the other side of his train compartment; he was not even alone in his own clothes.

火车驶出车站时，西奥多里克的内心已有些厌烦。车厢是那种老式布局，因此在这样的共用车厢里，西奥多里克的一半隐私可以很好地通过座椅间的过道得到保护。然而，当差不多达到正常车速后，他清楚地意识到自己并非孤单一人，车厢的另一侧还坐着一位沉睡的女士，而且甚至连他的衣服里都有什么东西在陪着他。

5. A warm, creeping movement over his body revealed the unwelcome and highly resented presence of a mouse, that had dashed into his clothes when he was getting the pony. Wild stamps and shakes failed to get rid of the intruder, who seemingly wished to stay in his clothes. It was unthinkable that he should continue a whole hour on the train being a house for wandering mice (already his imagination had at least doubled the numbers of the mouse invasion). On the other hand, simply taking off his clothes would release him from his tormentor instantly. Yet, to undress in the presence of a lady, eventhough she was sleeping, was an idea that made his ear tips tingle in a blush of shame.

他感到身体上有什么在爬行着，还挺暖和的，这使他意识到他衣服里的这个“不速之客”是一只非常讨厌的老鼠，应该是在他去马厩牵马时闯进他衣服里的。一阵疯狂的跺脚和摇动身体的操作并没有赶走这个侵入者，它似乎挺愿意留在他的衣服里。令人无法想象的是，他还得在这列火车上忍受着这些在他的衣服里到处游荡的老鼠整整一个小时（在他的想象里，侵入他衣服里的老鼠数量至少是实际的两倍）。另一方面，直接脱掉衣服会让他立即摆脱这种折磨。然而，当着一位女士脱掉衣服，即使这位女士在睡觉，这想法本身就会羞得他耳尖发麻，满脸通红。

6. And yet—the lady in this case was soundly asleep; the mouse, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself a lot inside his clothes. Sometimes it slipped and then, in fright, or more probably temper, it bit. Theodoric was desperate.Turning red as abeetroot and keeping an agonised watch on his slumbering fellow traveller, he swiftly hasted to undress himself and remove the mouse from his clothes.

然而，此时此刻，这位女士睡得很熟；另一方面，这只老鼠似乎在他的衣服里很是享受。有时，它会滑到，然后被吓了一跳，或者更可能的是脾气上来了，张口就咬。西奥多里克被它整得几乎绝望了。他的脸红得像个甜菜根，与此同时极度痛苦地注视着他的这位沉睡的“旅伴”。然后，他以最快的速度脱下了自己的衣服，打算把那只老鼠从衣服里弄出来。

7. As he took his clothes off, the mouse gave a wild leap to the floor, making Theodoric scream with fear, so loud that the sleeper opened her eyes. With a movement almost quicker than the mouse’s, Theodoric grabbed his clothes, pushed them in front of himself and jumped into the farthest corner of the compartment. The lady, however, entertained herself with a silent stare at her strange companion. How much had she seen? Theodoric asked himself; and in any case what on earth must she think of him now?

在他脱下衣服时，老鼠猛地跳到地板上，吓得西奥多里克尖叫起来，这尖叫声太大了，使那个沉睡的人睁开了眼睛。西奥多里克用比那只老鼠更快的动作抓起了自己的衣服，挡在了自己身前，然后跳到车厢最远处的角落里。然而，这位女士却只是自顾自默默地凝视着她面前的这位陌生的同伴。她都看到了什么？西奥多里克问自己。无论如何，她现在会怎么想他？

8. “I think I have caught a cold,” he said desperately. “Really, I’m sorry,” she replied. “I was just going to ask you if you could open this window. I’ve got some brandy in my bag, if you’ll kindly give me my bag I will give you some, it will help.” said his companion. “Not needed, not needed.” he assured her. Would it be possible, he wondered, to simply tell her the truth? “Are you afraid of mice?” he started, growing, if possible, more red in the face. “Not unless they came in large groups. Why do you ask?” “I had one crawling inside my clothes just now,” said Theodoric in a voice that hardly seemed his own. “It was a very awkward situation.”

“我想我感冒了，”他绝望地说。“真是对不起。”她回答。“我只是想问您是否可以打开这扇窗子。我的包里有一些白兰地，如果您能帮忙把包递给我，我会给您一些。”他的这位旅伴说。“不用的，不用的。”他安慰她说。他想知道是否可以直接把真相告诉她？“您怕老鼠吗？”他开口说道，脸变得似乎比之前更红了，如果还能更红的话。“还好，别一大群就行。你为什么问这个？”“刚刚有一只在我的衣服里爬，”西奥多里克用几乎不像他本人的声音说，“当时非常尴尬。”

9. “Mice do have strange ideas of comfort.” “I had to get rid of it while you were asleep,” he continued. Then, with a sigh, he added, “I got rid of it, but in the process I ended up like… this.” “Surely getting rid of a mouse wouldn’t cause a cold,” she said. Clearly she was enjoying his confusion.

“老鼠对舒适的感觉的确挺奇怪的。”“我不得不在您睡觉时把它弄出来。”他继续说。然后，他叹了口气，补充道：“我成功了，但是这个过程结束时，我就变成了……现在的样子。”“当然，摆脱掉老鼠不会引起感冒的，”她说。很显然，对于西奥多里克面临的困境，她还挺享受的。

10. Sheer terror took the place of his humiliation. With every minute that passed the train was rushing nearer to the crowded end destination. There was one tiny chance he could still put his clothes back on before they arrived: his fellow traveller might continue to sleep.

羞辱的感觉被纯粹的恐怖所取代。随着时间的流逝，火车正越来越靠近人头攒动的终点站。他还剩下一个小小的机会在火车到站前重新穿上衣服——他的这位旅伴可能会继续睡觉。

11. But as the minutes passed by, that chance ebbed away. She remained very much awake. “I think we must be getting near now,” she said. Theodoric had already noted with growing terror the journey’s end was about to come. “Would you be so kind,” she asked, “to get me a porter to take me to a cab? It’s a shame to trouble you when you’re feeling unwell, but being blind makes me so helpless at a railway station.”

但，随着时间一分一秒地过去，这样的机会也随之变得越来越小。她仍然非常清醒。“我想我们现在肯定是要到站了。”她说。西奥多里克已经注意到旅程的终点即将到来，他内心的恐惧感也随之越来越强烈。“您可不可以，”她问，“帮我找一个行李搬运工，把我的行李搬到出租车上？很不好意思在您感觉不舒服时给您添麻烦，但双目失明让我在火车站时感到很无助。”