"We will help you, master," said my father. And then he accepted, as he shook his head and smiled.
“先生!我會幫助你的。”先生見父親這樣說,也就應允了,微笑著搖著頭。
"This is a beautiful day," he said, as he closed the outer door, "a beautiful day, dear Signor Bottini! I assure you that I shall remember it as long as I live."
“今天好天氣啊!”老人一邊關門一邊說,“真是好天氣。勃諦尼君!我一生不會忘了今天這一天呢!”
My father gave one arm to the master, and the latter took me by the hand, and we descended the lane. We met two little barefooted girls leading some cows, and a boy who passed us on a run, with a huge load of straw on his shoulders. The master told us that they were scholars of the second grade; that in the morning they led the cattle to pasture, and worked in the fields barefoot; and in the afternoon they put on their shoes and went to school. It was nearly mid-day. We encountered no one else. In a few minutes we reached the inn, seated ourselves at a large table, with the master between us, and began our breakfast at once. The inn was as silent as a convent. The master was very merry, and his excitement augmented his palsy: he could hardly eat. But my father cut up his meat, broke his bread, and put salt on his plate. In order to drink, he was obliged to hold the glass with both hands, and even then he struck his teeth. But he talked constantly, and with ardor, of the reading-books of his young days; of the notaries of the present day; of the commendations bestowed on him by his superiors; of the regulations of late years: and all with that serene countenance, a trifle redder than at first, and with that gay voice of his, and that laugh which was almost the laugh of a young man. And my father gazed and gazed at him, with that same expression with which I sometimes catch him gazing at me, at home, when he is thinking and smiling to himself, with his face turned aside.
父親攙著先生,先生攜了我的手一同下坡。途中遇見攜手走著的兩個赤腳的少女,又遇見坦草的男孩子。據先生說,那是三年級的學生,午前在牧場或田野勞作,飯后才到學校里去。時候已經正午,我們進了街上的餐館,三人圍坐著大食桌進午餐。先生很快樂,可是因快樂的緣故,手愈加顫動,幾乎不能吃東西了。父親代他割肉,代他切面包,代他把鹽加在盤子里。場是用玻璃杯盛了捧著歡的,可是仍還是軋軋地與牙齒相碰呢。先生不斷地談說,什么青年時代讀過的書呀,現在社會上的新聞呀,自己被先輩稱揚過的事呀,現代的制度呀,種種都說。他微紅了臉,少年人似的快樂笑談。父親也微笑著看著先生,那神情和平日在家里一面想著事情一面注視著我的時候一樣。