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It wasn't much of a job, as Eph said, to reach up once an hour and send the hand along one space, and Aunt Tildy had to have something to look forward to.
正如伊夫所說，每小時伸一次手，調一下時針，這不算什么工作，蒂爾迪阿姨得有點期待。
Aunt Tildy was the first inmate at Todd's. She passed his house on her way to the poor farm on the very day that the news of the legacy arrived,
蒂爾迪阿姨是托德家的第一個囚犯。她在去貧瘠農場的路上路過他的家，就在遺產消息傳來的那天，
and Eph had stopped the carriage and begged the overseer to leave her with him. Are you sure you can take care of her? asked the overseer, doubtfully.
伊夫攔住馬車，求監督把她交給他。你確定你能照顧好她嗎？監工懷疑地問。
Sure? echoed Eph with delight. Of course I'm sure. Haven't I got four hundred dollars a year for the rest of my natural born days?
當然？以弗高興地重復著。我當然確定。我不是一年有四百塊錢來維持我的生活嗎？
He's a good fellow, Eph Todd, mused the overseer as he drove away, but I never heard of his having any money.
他是個好人，伊夫·托德，當他開車離開時，監工沉思著，但我從來沒有聽說過他有錢。
Next day the news of the legacy was known to everybody, and Aunt Tildy had been an inmate at Todd's ever since. She was deeply grateful,
第二天，關于遺產的消息被大家知道了，蒂爾迪阿姨從那以后就一直是托德家的囚犯。她非常感激，
and she really managed to keep the house after a fashion, her chief care being the clock. Then there was the inventor.
她很快就把房子收拾好了，她最關心的就是時鐘。然后是發明家。
He had wasted everything he had in inventing an incubator that worked with wonderful success till the day the chickens were to come out,
他把所有的錢都浪費在發明一個孵化器上，這個孵化器工作得非常成功，直到雞出來的那天，
when it caught fire and burned up, taking with it chickens, bam, house, and furniture, leaving the inventor standing in the field,
當它著火燃燒，帶著雞，砰，房子和家具，讓發明家站在田野里，
thinly clad, and with nothing left in the world but another incubator. With this he had shown up promptly at Todd's, and there he had made his home.
衣衫襤褸，除了另一個孵化器什么也沒留下。帶著這個，他很快就出現在托德家，在那里他已經安家了。
Eph had obliged the inventor to keep his incubator in a little shed behind the barn, so that when this one burned up,
伊夫強迫發明家把他的孵化器放在谷倉后面的一個小棚子里，這樣當這一個被燒掉的時候，
there was time to get the horse and cow out before the barn burned, and the village fire department managed to save the house.
在牲口棚被燒毀之前，有時間把馬和牛趕出去，村里的消防隊設法救了這所房子。
Rebuilding the barn made quite a hole in the legacy, and all the inventor had to show for it was Miltiades.
重建谷倉在遺產中留下了一個很大的洞，所有的發明家都必須證明這是彌爾頓的作品。
He had put a single turkey's egg in with a previous hatch, and though he had not raised a single chicken,
他把一只火雞的蛋放進了先前的孵化器，盡管他沒有養過一只雞，
the turkey's egg had hatched, and the chick had grown up to be Miltiades. Miltiades was a big gobbler now.
火雞的蛋已經孵出來了，小雞已經長大成為彌爾頓。米爾蒂亞德斯現在是個大酒鬼。
He took care of himself, was never shut up or handled, and led a wandering life. Last of all came Fisherman Jones.
他照顧自己，從不閉嘴，從不被人擺布，過著流浪的生活。最后是漁夫瓊斯。
He was old now and couldn't see very well, unable to go to the brook or pond to fish,
他已經老了，看不太清楚，不能去小溪或池塘釣魚，
but he still started out daily with the fine new rod and reel which the legacy had bought for him, and would sit out in the sun,
但他還是每天帶著遺產給他買來的新釣魚竿和新魚線輪，坐在陽光下，
joint his rod together, and fish in the dry pasture with perfect contentment.
把魚竿連在一起，在乾草地上盡情釣魚。
You would not think Fisherman Jones of much use, but it was he who caught Miltiades and made the Thanksgiving dinner possible.
你不會認為漁夫瓊斯有多大用處，但正是他抓住了彌爾頓，使感恩節晚餐成為可能。
