BLOOD OF ROMAGNA.
洛馬格那的血
(_Monthly Story._)
(每月例話)
That evening the house of Ferruccio was more silent than was its wont. The father, who kept a little haberdasher's shop, had gone to Forli to make some purchases, and his wife had accompanied him, with Luigina, a baby, whom she was taking to a doctor, that he might operate on a diseased eye; and they were not to return until the following morning. It was almost midnight. The woman who came to do the work by day had gone away at nightfall. In the house there was only the grandmother with the paralyzed legs, and Ferruccio, a lad of thirteen. It was a small house of but one story, situated on the highway, at a gunshot's distance from a village not far from Forli, a town of Romagna; and there was near it only an uninhabited house, ruined two months previously by fire, on which the sign of an inn was still to be seen. Behind the tiny house was a small garden surrounded by a hedge, upon which a rustic gate opened; the door of the shop, which also served as the house door, opened on the highway. All around spread the solitary campagna, vast cultivated fields, planted with mulberry-trees.
那夜,費(fèi)魯喬的家里特別冷靜。父親經(jīng)營(yíng)著雜貨鋪,到市上配貨去了,母親因?yàn)橛變河醒鄄。搽S了父親到市里去請(qǐng)醫(yī)生,都非明天不能回來(lái)。時(shí)候已經(jīng)夜半,日間幫忙的女傭早于天黑時(shí)回家了,屋中只剩下腳有殘疾的老祖母和十三歲的費(fèi)魯喬。他的家離洛馬格那街沒有多少路,是沿著大路的平屬。附近只有一所空房,那所房子在一個(gè)月前遭了火災(zāi),還剩著客棧的招牌。費(fèi)魯喬家的后面有一小天井,周圍圍著籬笆,有木門可以出入。店門朝著大路,也就是家的出入口。周圍都是寂靜的田野,這里那里都是桑樹。
It was nearly midnight; it was raining and blowing. Ferruccio and his grandmother, who was still up, were in the dining-room, between which and the garden there was a small, closet-like room, encumbered with old furniture. Ferruccio had only returned home at eleven o'clock, after an absence of many hours, and his grandmother had watched for him with eyes wide open, filled with anxiety, nailed to the large arm-chair, upon which she was accustomed to pass the entire day, and often the whole night as well, since a difficulty of breathing did not allow her to lie down in bed.
夜?jié)u漸深了,天忽下雨,又發(fā)起風(fēng)來(lái)。費(fèi)魯喬和祖母還在廚房里沒有睡覺。廚房和天井之間有一小小的堆物間,堆著舊家具。費(fèi)魯喬到外游耍,到了十一點(diǎn)鐘光景才回來(lái)。祖母擔(dān)憂不睡,等他回來(lái),只是在大安樂椅上一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地坐著。他祖母常是這樣過(guò)日的,有時(shí)竟這樣坐到天明,因?yàn)樗粑却伲刹坏沟木壒省?/p>
It was raining, and the wind beat the rain against the window-panes: the night was very dark. Ferruccio had returned weary, muddy, with his jacket torn, and the livid mark of a stone on his forehead. He had engaged in a stone fight with his comrades; they had come to blows, as usual; and in addition he had gambled, and lost all his soldi, and left his cap in a ditch.
雨不絕地下著,風(fēng)吹雨點(diǎn)打著窗門,夜色暗得沒一些光。費(fèi)魯喬疲勞極了回來(lái),身上滿沾了泥,衣服破碎了好幾處,額上負(fù)著傷痕。這是他和朋友投石打架了的緣故。他今夜又和人吵鬧過(guò),并且賭博把錢輸光了,連帽子都落在溝里了。