评论
打印
A stout, pleasant-looking woman stepped out of the house and joined the two.
这时，一个胖胖的看上去挺和善的妇女从刚才的房子里出来，和她们一块走，
The child had risen and wandered behind the old acquaintances,
小女孩站起身，跟在两个大人后面，
who immediately started gossiping about their friends in the neighborhood and the people of the hamlet generally.
早就是老相识的两个人马上就起劲地谈论起她们附近的朋友和村庄里的人家。
"Where are you taking the child, Deta?" asked the newcomer. "Is she the child your sister left?"
“可是，蒂提，你究竟打算把这孩子带到哪儿去呢？”路上的新伙伴问道，“是你姐姐的孩子吧？”
"Yes," Deta assured her; "I am taking her up to the Alm Uncle and there I want her to remain."
“是呀。”蒂提回答说，“我要领她到阿鲁姆大叔那儿去，把她留在那里。”
"You can't really mean to take her there, Deta. You must have lost your senses, to go to him.
“啊？你不会真的要把这孩子送到大叔那儿去吧？蒂提？送到那里，你肯定是疯了。
I am sure the old man will show you the door and won't even listen to what you say."
我肯定，那个老头会直接把你赶出门，根本不会听你说什么。”
"Why not? As he's her grandfather, it is high time he should do something for the child.
“为什么不去？他可是这孩子的爷爷，他现在该为这孩子做些什么了。
I have taken care of her until this summer and now a good place has been offered to me. The child shall not hinder me from accepting it, I tell you that!"
我一直照看这孩子到现在，而且我这次找到一个不错的差事，我跟你说，我可不想因为这孩子丢了这份工作。”
"It would not be so hard, if he were like other mortals. But you know him yourself. How could he look after a child, especially such a little one?
“他要是个正常人，倒也没什么难的。但是，你也是知道他的呀，他怎么可能懂得照顾小孩子，而且是这么小的孩子呢？
She'll never get along with him, I am sure of that!—But tell me of your prospects."
这孩子肯定跟他合不来？我确定！跟我说说，你到底是去哪儿干活啊？”
"I am going to a splendid house in Frankfurt. Last summer some people went off to the baths and I took care of their rooms.
“我要去法兰克福的一个大庄园。去年夏天有些人到温泉来时，我负责整理他们的房间来着。
As they got to like me, they wanted to take me along, but I could not leave. They have come back now and have persuaded me to go with them."
后来他们慢慢觉得我不错，就想带我去那边，可我当时走不了。他们今年又来了，已经说服我和他们一起去了。”
"I am glad I am not the child!" exclaimed Barbara with a shudder. "Nobody knows anything about the old man's life up there.
“幸亏我不是这孩子。”芭尔贝丽耸了耸肩，叫道。“谁也不知道那个老头儿在山上到底过着什么样的日子。
He doesn't speak to a living soul, and from one year's end to the other he keeps away from church.
他和谁都不来往，多少年了，他从来不去教堂。
People get out of his way when he appears once in a twelve-month down here among us.
一年也就从山上下来一次，大家都忙着给他让路。
We all fear him and he is really just like a heathen or an old Indian, with those thick grey eyebrows and that huge uncanny beard.
我们都很怕他，他眉毛又灰又粗，还留着吓人的大胡子，简直跟野人和印第安人似的。
When he wanders along the road with his twisted stick, we are all afraid to meet him alone."
当他拄着那跟弯弯曲曲的拐杖在路上走时，大家都害怕单独遇上他。”
"That is not my fault," said Deta stubbornly. "He won't do her any harm; and if he should, he is responsible, not I."
“那又不是我的问题，”蒂提固执起来，“他也不会对她太坏的。就算不好，不对的是他，也不是我呀。”
"I wish I knew what weighs on the old man's conscience."
“我真想知道，那个老头心里到底有什么见不得人的事。”
