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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.
西奧多里克· 福勒的母親是一位對子女關心備至的慈母。在母親的關懷下，西奧多里克從小到大都遠離著母親口中的“粗俗的現實生活”。母親去世后，他開始不得不獨自面對這個比他想象中還要粗俗許多的世界。對他來說，即使是一次簡單的搭乘火車的旅行都充滿了瑣碎小事的煩惱——這是9月的一個早晨，當他落座在一個二等座車廂內后，他的情緒就一直處于一種焦躁不安的狀態。
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.
之前一段時間，他一直在他家朋友的農場度假。農場的主人是一位教區牧師，他還有一個女兒。這父女倆都很友善，但西奧多里克還是覺得在這里的日子比他之前已經習慣了的亂了一些。因此，回家時能夠坐上那架小馬車去火車站都會給他帶來從未有過的井井有條的感覺，而當離去的時刻臨近時，這架馬車并沒有出現在他的視線里。
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.
在這樣的緊急情況下，令西奧多里克厭惡的是，他發現自己要與牧師的女兒合作從鄰居的馬廄弄來一架小馬車，而且那個馬廄里有一股老鼠的味道。西奧多里克并不是真的害怕老鼠，只不過是將見到老鼠當作生活中的一個比較粗俗的事。牧師的女兒提出要乘鄰居家的馬車把他送到火車站，他欣然接受了。他及時趕到了火車站，并在自己的車廂里安頓了下來。
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.
火車駛出車站時，西奧多里克的內心已有些厭煩。車廂是那種老式布局，因此在這樣的共用車廂里，西奧多里克的一半隱私可以很好地通過座椅間的過道得到保護。然而，當差不多達到正常車速后，他清楚地意識到自己并非孤單一人，車廂的另一側還坐著一位沉睡的女士，而且甚至連他的衣服里都有什么東西在陪著他。
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.
他感到身體上有什么在爬行著，還挺暖和的，這使他意識到他衣服里的這個“不速之客”是一只非常討厭的老鼠，應該是在他去馬廄牽馬時闖進他衣服里的。一陣瘋狂的跺腳和搖動身體的操作并沒有趕走這個侵入者，它似乎挺愿意留在他的衣服里。令人無法想象的是，他還得在這列火車上忍受著這些在他的衣服里到處游蕩的老鼠整整一個小時（在他的想象里，侵入他衣服里的老鼠數量至少是實際的兩倍）。另一方面，直接脫掉衣服會讓他立即擺脫這種折磨。然而，當著一位女士脫掉衣服，即使這位女士在睡覺，這想法本身就會羞得他耳尖發麻，滿臉通紅。
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，此時此刻，這位女士睡得很熟；另一方面，這只老鼠似乎在他的衣服里很是享受。有時，它會滑到，然后被嚇了一跳，或者更可能的是脾氣上來了，張口就咬。西奧多里克被它整得幾乎絕望了。他的臉紅得像個甜菜根，與此同時極度痛苦地注視著他的這位沉睡的“旅伴”。然后，他以最快的速度脫下了自己的衣服，打算把那只老鼠從衣服里弄出來。
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?
在他脫下衣服時，老鼠猛地跳到地板上，嚇得西奧多里克尖叫起來，這尖叫聲太大了，使那個沉睡的人睜開了眼睛。西奧多里克用比那只老鼠更快的動作抓起了自己的衣服，擋在了自己身前，然后跳到車廂最遠處的角落里。然而，這位女士卻只是自顧自默默地凝視著她面前的這位陌生的同伴。她都看到了什么？西奧多里克問自己。無論如何，她現在會怎么想他？
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，”他絕望地說。“真是對不起。”她回答?！拔抑皇窍雴柲欠窨梢源蜷_這扇窗子。我的包里有一些白蘭地，如果您能幫忙把包遞給我，我會給您一些?！彼倪@位旅伴說?！安挥玫?，不用的?！彼参克f。他想知道是否可以直接把真相告訴她？“您怕老鼠嗎？”他開口說道，臉變得似乎比之前更紅了，如果還能更紅的話?！斑€好，別一大群就行。你為什么問這個？”“剛剛有一只在我的衣服里爬，”西奧多里克用幾乎不像他本人的聲音說，“當時非常尷尬?！?/p>
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.
“老鼠對舒適的感覺的確挺奇怪的?！薄拔也坏貌辉谀X時把它弄出來?！彼^續說。然后，他嘆了口氣，補充道：“我成功了，但是這個過程結束時，我就變成了……現在的樣子。”“當然，擺脫掉老鼠不會引起感冒的，”她說。很顯然，對于西奧多里克面臨的困境，她還挺享受的。
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.
羞辱的感覺被純粹的恐怖所取代。隨著時間的流逝，火車正越來越靠近人頭攢動的終點站。他還剩下一個小小的機會在火車到站前重新穿上衣服——他的這位旅伴可能會繼續睡覺。
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，隨著時間一分一秒地過去，這樣的機會也隨之變得越來越小。她仍然非常清醒。“我想我們現在肯定是要到站了。”她說。西奧多里克已經注意到旅程的終點即將到來，他內心的恐懼感也隨之越來越強烈。“您可不可以，”她問，“幫我找一個行李搬運工，把我的行李搬到出租車上？很不好意思在您感覺不舒服時給您添麻煩，但雙目失明讓我在火車站時感到很無助?！?/p>
