The Cab and The Anthem
警察与赞美诗
On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily.
索比坐在麦迪逊广场的长凳上,坐立不安。
When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands,
当雁群在夜里高声鸣叫,没有海豹皮大衣的妇女对她们的丈夫越来越好,
and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.
当索比在公园的长凳上翻来覆去的时候,你就知道冬天就要到了。
A dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card.
一片枯叶落在索比的大腿上,那是杰克·弗洛斯特的卡片。
Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call.
杰克对麦迪逊广场的常住居民非常友善,每年来临之先,总要打一声招呼。
At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors,
在十字街头,他把名片交给"户外大厦"的信使"北风",
so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.
好让住户们有个准备。
Soapy's mind became cognisant of the fact that
索比意识到,
the time had come for him to resolve himself into a singular Committee of Ways and Means to provide against the coming rigour.
该是自己下决心成立一个独立筹款委员会,以便抵御临近的严寒,
And therefore he moved uneasily on his bench.
因此他急躁不安地在长凳上辗转反侧。
The hibernatorial ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them there were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises,
索比冬眠野心并不算最高,他不想在地中海巡游,
of soporific Southern skies drifting in the Vesuvian Bay.
也不想到南方去晒令人昏睡的太阳,更没想过到维苏威海湾漂泊。
Three months on the Island was what his soul craved.
他梦寐以求的只有在岛上待够三个月。
Three months of assured board and bed and congenial company, safe from Boreas and bluecoats, seemed to Soapy the essence of things desirable.
整整三个月,有饭吃,有床睡,还有志趣相投的伙伴,而且不受"北风"和警察的侵扰,这就是索比日思夜想的最大愿望。
For years the hospitable Blackwell's had been his winter quarters.
多年来,好客的布莱克韦尔岛的监狱一直是索比冬天的住所。
Just as his more fortunate fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the Riviera each winter,
就像运气比他好的的纽约人每年冬天都要买票去棕榈滩和里维埃拉一样,
so Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual hegira to the Island. And now the time was come.
索比也要为一年一度逃奔岛上作些简陋的准备。现在又到时候了。