'How are you?' he would say to Paul, fifty times a day. 'Quite well, Sir, thank you,' Paul would answer. 'Shake hands,' would be Toots's next advance.
“您好嗎?”他會一天向保羅問五十次。 “很好,先生,謝謝您,”保羅會這樣回答。 “握握手吧,”這是圖茨的第二句話。
Which Paul, of course, would immediately do. Mr Toots generally said again, after a long interval of staring and hard breathing, 'How are you?' To which Paul again replied, 'Quite well, Sir, thank you.'
保羅自然立刻那么做了。圖茨先生在長久的注視與喘氣之后,一般又會再問道,“您好嗎?”保羅又會再次回答,“很好,先生,謝謝您!”
One evening Mr Toots was sitting at his desk, oppressed by correspondence, when a great purpose seemed to flash upon him. He laid down his pen, and went off to seek Paul, whom he found at last, after a long search, looking through the window of his little bedroom.
有一天晚上,圖茨先生正坐在他的書桌前面,被書信弄得很累,這時他似乎突然想到一個很大的主意。他放下筆,跑出去尋找保羅。他通過保羅小臥室中的窗子,經過長久的探察之后,終于把他找到了。
'I say!' cried Toots, speaking the moment he entered the room, lest he should forget it; 'what do you think about?'
“聽我說!”圖茨一走進房間就立刻大聲說道,唯恐他會把話忘掉;“您在想什么?”
'Oh! I think about a great many things,' replied Paul.
“哦!我在想好多好多事情,”保羅回答道。
'Do you, though?' said Toots, appearing to consider that fact in itself surprising. 'If you had to die,' said Paul, looking up into his face - Mr Toots started, and seemed much disturbed.
“真的嗎?”圖茨說道,好像他認為這個事實本身就是令人驚奇似的。 “如果您必須死去的話,——”保羅仰起頭來注視著他的臉,說道。 圖茨先生吃了一驚,似乎十分不安。
'Don't you think you would rather die on a moonlight night, when the sky was quite clear, and the wind blowing, as it did last night?'
“——那么您是不是認為最好是在一個有月光籠罩著的夜間死去,而當時天空又十分清澈,風像昨天那樣吹著?”
Mr Toots said, looking doubtfully at Paul, and shaking his head, that he didn't know about that.
圖茨先生滿臉疑云地看著保羅,搖搖頭說,他不知道這一點。
'Not blowing, at least,' said Paul, 'but sounding in the air like the sea sounds in the shells. It was a beautiful night. When I had listened to the water for a long time, I got up and looked out. There was a boat over there, in the full light of the moon; a boat with a sail.'
“或者不是吹著,”保羅說道,“而是在空中響著,就像海水在貝殼中響著一樣。那是個美麗的夜。我聽海水聽了很久,就起床向外眺望。在明亮的月光下面,海上有一只小船;一條掛帆的小船。”
The child looked at him so steadfastly, and spoke so earnestly, that Mr Toots, feeling himself called upon to say something about this boat, said, 'Smugglers.' But with an impartial remembrance of there being two sides to every question, he added, 'or Preventive.'
孩子看著他的時候是那么聚精會神,說話的時候是那么認真懇切,因此圖茨覺得自己務必說點有關這只小船的話才好,于是就說,“這是走私船。”但他毫無偏見地想到任何問題都有兩個方面,就又補充說道,“或者是緝私船。”
'A boat with a sail,' repeated Paul, 'in the full light of the moon. The sail like an arm, all silver. It went away into the distance, and what do you think it seemed to do as it moved with the waves?'
“一條掛帆的小船,”保羅重復說道,“在明亮的月光下面。那張帆像只胳膊,全是銀色的。它駛向遠方;當它乘著海浪前進的時候,您想它似乎是要做什么呢?”
'Pitch,' said Mr Toots.
“俯沖然后仰浮,”圖茨先生說道。
'It seemed to beckon,' said the child, 'to beckon me to come! - There she is! There she is!'
“它似乎在招呼,”孩子說道,“在招呼我到它那里去!——她在那里!她在那里!”
Toots was almost beside himself with dismay at this sudden exclamation, after what had gone before, and cried 'Who?'
圖茨先生在先前發生的事情之后,聽到這突如其來的高喊聲,驚愕得不知所以,就喊道:“誰?”