第64章 幸福的家庭 The Happy Family(第1/7 頁)

《幸福的家庭》，1848 年

the happy Family, 1848

說真的，這個國家最大的綠葉是牛蒡葉；如果把它舉在身前，就像一條完整的圍裙；要是在下雨天把它舉在頭頂，幾乎就和雨傘一樣好用，因為它實在是太大了。

Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dock-leaf; if one holds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it over one’s head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large.

牛蒡從不單獨生長，只要有一棵長出來，附近總會長出好幾棵：這可真是一大樂事，而所有這些讓人愉悅的牛蒡都是蝸牛的食物。

the burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and all this delightfulness is snails’ food.

過去有身份的人會把大白蝸牛做成燴肉來吃，還會邊吃邊說：“嗯，嗯！真好吃！” 因為他們覺得味道很鮮美 —— 這些蝸牛就以牛蒡葉為食，所以人們才會播種牛蒡籽。

the great white snails which persons of quality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, “hem, hem! how delicious!” for they thought it tasted so delicate — lived on dock leaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown.

從前有一座古老的莊園，在那兒人們已經不再吃蝸牛了，蝸牛已經絕跡；但牛蒡並沒有絕跡，它們在小徑上、花壇裡瘋長；人們根本沒法控制它們 —— 那簡直就是一片牛蒡的森林。

Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them — it was a whole forest of burdocks.

這兒那兒還零星地立著幾棵蘋果樹和李樹，不然的話，誰也不會想到這曾經是個花園；到處都是牛蒡，而那兩隻最後剩下的、令人尊敬的老蝸牛就住在這兒。

here and there stood an apple and a plumb-tree, or else one never would have thought that it was a garden; all was burdocks, and there lived