如题所述
Rip Van Winkle
By Washington Irving
瑞普-凡-温克尔
华盛顿-欧文
1Whoever has made a voyage1 up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains2. They are a dismembered肢解的 branch of the great Appalachian [æpə'leitʃjən] family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling膨胀 up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country3. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains4, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers气压计. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky5; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits6, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
凡是在哈得逊河上游航行1过的人，必定记得卡兹吉尔丛山2，那是阿伯拉钦山脉的一支断脉，在河的西岸，山峰高耸人云3（巍巍然高耸云端），俯瞰着四周的山村。（威凌四周的乡村）季节更替，阴晴转换，甚至旦夕间的时辰变幻，都会引来山容峰色午姿百态。所以山区周围的村民只要观看卡兹吉尔山脉就能猜出天气的变化。（四季的每一转换，气候的每一变化，乃至一天中的每一小时，都能使这些山峦的奇幻的色彩和形态变换4，远近的好主妇会把它们看做精确的晴雨表。）天气晴朗平稳的时候，它们披上蓝紫相间的衣衫，把它们雄浑的轮廓印在傍晚清澈的天空上5，山顶却聚着一团灰雾6，在落日余晖的照耀下，象一顶灿烂的皇冠似地放射着异彩。
2At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried看见 the light smoke curling up from a village7, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints染色 of the upland山地 melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little village, of great antiquity古物, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about the beginning of the government of the good Peter Stuyvesant (may he rest in peace!), and there were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland, having lattice windows, gable山形墙 fronts8, surmounted with顶上被 weathercocks风标.
就在这些神奇的山脉下面（就在这些神奇的丛山脚下），航行者可以看见缕缕青烟从一个古老的荷兰小山村袅袅升起，（航行的游客有时候会看见轻烟从一座村落里袅袅升起7）（树丛中隐约露出农家的木屋顶，那正好是山上的青葱转变为近处一片新绿的地方。这是一座非常古老的想村庄，是荷兰殖民者在这个州成立初期建造起来的，正当好心的彼得•斯泰夫山特（愿他在地下安眠！）开始执政的时候；不久以前，这里还有几个最初来此定居的人的房屋，它们都是用荷兰运来的小黄砖建造的，格子窗，人字门墙8，屋顶上装着风信鸽。）
3 In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn时代久远的 and weather-beaten饱经风霜的), there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant后裔 of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly勇敢地 in the chivalrous骑士的 days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege围攻 of Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial军事的 character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient顺从的, henpecked惧内的 husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness温顺 of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious顺从的 and conciliating顺服的 abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews泼妇 at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant顺从 and malleable可塑的 in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation磨难, and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons布道 in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant凶悍的 wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.
许多年前（好多年之前），当这里还是大不列颠的一个州的时候，在这个村子里，而且就在这样的一所房子里（这所房子，说句老实话，由于年深月久，风吹雨打，已经破旧不堪）曾经住着一个朴素单纯，性格温和的家伙，（一个淳朴善良，名叫瑞普•凡•温克尔的人）。他本来是凡•温克尔家族的后代，在荷兰决督统治时期，他的祖先曾英勇地与英国人战斗过。（他的祖先在彼得•斯泰夫山特执政的骑士时代，以勇敢出名，并且还曾经随着彼得围攻克瑞士廷纳要塞。）然而，瑞普的血液里没有多少祖先的军人性格。（可是，他祖先那种好勇好斗的性格，很少遗传到他身上。）我已经说了，他是一个朴素单纯，性格温和的家伙。（一个淳朴善良的人）（非但如此）此外他还是一个善良的（和气的）邻居，也是一个在老婆面前唯唯诺诺的丈夫。（和一个驯顺的怕老婆的丈夫）由于在家里被老婆管得太严所以他似乎养成了处处与人为善的习惯。因此，除了他老婆外，大都对他评价很高。（实际上，他那到处受欢迎的温和性情可以说是由于怕老婆而来的；一个人在家里受惯了泼妇的教训，到外面就最容易处处随和，事事顺从。他的脾气，毫无疑问，就是因为在家庭磨难的熊熊的火炉里受过锻炼，才变得有韧性；看起来，要教人养成耐心和坚韧的美德，一次帐中说法抵得过全世界的说教。因此，从某方面来说，有一个泼辣的老婆，也可以被看作是相当有福气的了；要是这样，瑞普•凡•温克尔算是有三倍的福气了。）
4Certain it is that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village, who, as usual with the amiable亲切的 sex, took his part in all family squabbles争吵, and never failed, whenever they talked those matters over in their evening gossipings, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle. The children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them long stories of ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever he went dodging 东躲西藏about the village, he was surrounded by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering 爬on his back, and playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity不受惩罚地; and not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighborhood.
当然，他在村子里所有的良家妇女中很受欢迎。（村里的好心的主妇们，倒是个个都喜欢他）每当她们知道了凡•温克尔家吵架，她们总是认定瑞普是对的，而凡•温克尔夫人是错的。（每逢他家里发生口角，她们总是帮着他说话，一般的女人往往都是如此；黄昏时，当她们聊起天，谈到了这些事，她们总是把一切错处都推到凡•太太身上。）孩子们也一样，瑞普•凡•温克尔一来，他们总是欢叫起来。（就是村子了的孩子们看见他走过来，也是一片欢呼声。）他总是望着他们玩耍，为他们做玩具，教他们怎么玩各种游戏，还给他们讲最精彩的故事。（他陪他们玩游戏，给他们做玩具，教他们放风筝和弹石子，还给他们讲关于鬼怪、巫婆和印第安人的长篇故事。）不管他去哪儿，他的四周常常围着一群孩子。村子里没有哪条狗对他狂吠过。（每逢他在村子里闲逛的时候，总有一大群孩子围着他，有的拉住他衣服的下摆，有的爬在他背上，有的在大胆地百般捉弄他；连附近一带的狗见了他，也没有一条会对他吠的。）
5 The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar’s lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowling piece on his shoulder, for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or wild pigeons. He would never even refuse to assist a neighbor in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences. The women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them; in a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, it was impossible.
瑞普•凡•温克尔（的性格中最大的缺点）有一个缺点就是，什么赚钱的活儿他都不喜欢，甚至是憎恨。（对于一切/任何有好处的劳动都感到不可克制的厌恶。这倒不是由于他缺乏刻苦耐劳或坚持不懈的精神；他可以坐在一块潮湿的石头上，拿着一根像鞑靼人的标枪似的又长又重的鱼竿，钓上一整天的鱼，即使鱼儿一口也不来咬饵，他也不会抱怨一声。有时他还会为了打几只松鼠或野鸽子，掮着一只猎枪，穿林越泽，上山入谷，一连跋涉好几个钟头/小时。）很难理解究竟是什么原因让他不爱劳动。（遇到邻居们要他帮忙，即使是最繁重的工作，他也从来不会拒绝；每逢村子里为了剥玉米或者筑石墙而举行集会时，他总是第一个赶到；）可他从不拒绝帮助邻居，哪怕是干最粗的活儿，比如帮人家砌石墙。村里的妇女也常使唤他，让他传信，或做一些她们的丈夫不愿意做的小活计。（村里的女人也常常差遣他为她们跑腿，或者叫他做些自己不打听话的丈夫不愿意干的零活。）换言之，除了自各儿的事情外，别人家的事瑞普都乐意管。至少家庭责任，收拾农场，他觉得这样的活儿绝对做不来。（总之，瑞普这个人除了自己的事情，无聊哪个的事他都愿意干；如果要他在家里干点家务，料理料理自己的田地，她就觉得有些办不到了。）
6 In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. His fences were continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray or get among the cabbages; weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he had some outdoor work to do; so that though his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned farm in the neighborhood.
事实上，他宣称在他农场上折腾毫无用处，（他对人家说，在自己的田里干活是白费力气，）因为那是整个那一带最差的小块地，一无是处。（他说那是全村里嘴倒霉的一块地，田里的事情样样都糟，不管他怎么干，也还是要出毛病。他的篱笆总是坍塌；他的母牛不是走迷了路，就是跑到人家菜地里；他田里的野草准比任何地方都要长得快些；每逢他要到田里去干活的时候，天就下起雨来；因此，祖上传下来的田产在他手里，就一英亩一英亩地少下去，最后只剩一小块玉米和马铃薯地，而且还是附近一带嘴糟糕的一块。）结果由于他经营不善，失去不少土地，他的小农场比他周围的农场更差了。
7His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen, trooping like a colt at his mother’s heels, equipped in a pair of his father’s cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
他的孩子也到处游荡，他们的可怜样和他的农场一样。（他的那些孩子，也是穿得破破烂烂，野得不得了，就像没有父母似的。）他的儿子小瑞普，和他很像，整天四处晃荡。（他的儿子小瑞普，是个淘气鬼，长得和他一模一样，不仅穿着他父亲的旧衣服，保险还能继承父风。）他穿着一条他父亲的旧裤子，不得不用一只手提着，免得掉了下来。（通常，总看见他像一匹小马似的跟在他母亲脚后面，穿着一条他父亲丢掉不穿的裤子，一只手费劲地拉着裤子，仿佛一位华丽的太太在下雨天拎着裙子下摆似的。
8 Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. If left to himself, he would have whistled life away, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of replying to all lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent use, had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing. This, however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife, so that he was fain to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the house—the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.
然而，瑞普•凡•温克尔却是那种有福分的人。他一副傻样，与世无争，待人接物从容快乐；他吃好吃差无所谓，只要得来全不费工夫。如果由着他的性子，他会非常心安理得地虚度一生。可是他老婆在他耳朵边不停地数落他，说他游手好闲，对家庭漠不关心，这个家快给他毁了。从早到晚，她唠叨个没完。他说的每句话，做的每件事，定公招徕她一顿臭骂。瑞普对付他那长舌老婆，倒是有个办法，这个办法用多了。已经成了一个习惯。他只是把头耷拉在肩膀上，眼望天空，一言不发。然而，这又引来老婆的一阵发火。这么一来，瑞普无事可做，只有离开家。在家里，瑞普唯一的朋友就是他的狗，名叫沃尔夫。沃尔夫常常是凡•温克尔太太的出气筒，因为她把他们看做是游手好闲的难兄难弟，有时她甚至指责说：瑞普之所以吊儿郎当都是这条狗的错。不错，沃外交活动夫在树林里像条狗，很勇敢，可是再勇敢的狗也经不住一个长舌妇的数落。每当沃尔夫走进家门，他总是耷拉着脑袋，尾巴垂掉在地上或夹在两腿间。他在屋里溜达，一脸心虚的样子，时刻从眼角观察着凡•温克尔太太，一看到她有一丝不快的迹象，便拨腿开溜。
By Washington Irving
瑞普-凡-温克尔
华盛顿-欧文
1Whoever has made a voyage1 up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains2. They are a dismembered肢解的 branch of the great Appalachian [æpə'leitʃjən] family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling膨胀 up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country3. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains4, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers气压计. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky5; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits6, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
凡是在哈得逊河上游航行1过的人，必定记得卡兹吉尔丛山2，那是阿伯拉钦山脉的一支断脉，在河的西岸，山峰高耸人云3（巍巍然高耸云端），俯瞰着四周的山村。（威凌四周的乡村）季节更替，阴晴转换，甚至旦夕间的时辰变幻，都会引来山容峰色午姿百态。所以山区周围的村民只要观看卡兹吉尔山脉就能猜出天气的变化。（四季的每一转换，气候的每一变化，乃至一天中的每一小时，都能使这些山峦的奇幻的色彩和形态变换4，远近的好主妇会把它们看做精确的晴雨表。）天气晴朗平稳的时候，它们披上蓝紫相间的衣衫，把它们雄浑的轮廓印在傍晚清澈的天空上5，山顶却聚着一团灰雾6，在落日余晖的照耀下，象一顶灿烂的皇冠似地放射着异彩。
2At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried看见 the light smoke curling up from a village7, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints染色 of the upland山地 melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little village, of great antiquity古物, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about the beginning of the government of the good Peter Stuyvesant (may he rest in peace!), and there were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland, having lattice windows, gable山形墙 fronts8, surmounted with顶上被 weathercocks风标.
就在这些神奇的山脉下面（就在这些神奇的丛山脚下），航行者可以看见缕缕青烟从一个古老的荷兰小山村袅袅升起，（航行的游客有时候会看见轻烟从一座村落里袅袅升起7）（树丛中隐约露出农家的木屋顶，那正好是山上的青葱转变为近处一片新绿的地方。这是一座非常古老的想村庄，是荷兰殖民者在这个州成立初期建造起来的，正当好心的彼得•斯泰夫山特（愿他在地下安眠！）开始执政的时候；不久以前，这里还有几个最初来此定居的人的房屋，它们都是用荷兰运来的小黄砖建造的，格子窗，人字门墙8，屋顶上装着风信鸽。）
3 In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn时代久远的 and weather-beaten饱经风霜的), there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant后裔 of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly勇敢地 in the chivalrous骑士的 days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege围攻 of Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial军事的 character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient顺从的, henpecked惧内的 husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness温顺 of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious顺从的 and conciliating顺服的 abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews泼妇 at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant顺从 and malleable可塑的 in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation磨难, and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons布道 in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant凶悍的 wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.
许多年前（好多年之前），当这里还是大不列颠的一个州的时候，在这个村子里，而且就在这样的一所房子里（这所房子，说句老实话，由于年深月久，风吹雨打，已经破旧不堪）曾经住着一个朴素单纯，性格温和的家伙，（一个淳朴善良，名叫瑞普•凡•温克尔的人）。他本来是凡•温克尔家族的后代，在荷兰决督统治时期，他的祖先曾英勇地与英国人战斗过。（他的祖先在彼得•斯泰夫山特执政的骑士时代，以勇敢出名，并且还曾经随着彼得围攻克瑞士廷纳要塞。）然而，瑞普的血液里没有多少祖先的军人性格。（可是，他祖先那种好勇好斗的性格，很少遗传到他身上。）我已经说了，他是一个朴素单纯，性格温和的家伙。（一个淳朴善良的人）（非但如此）此外他还是一个善良的（和气的）邻居，也是一个在老婆面前唯唯诺诺的丈夫。（和一个驯顺的怕老婆的丈夫）由于在家里被老婆管得太严所以他似乎养成了处处与人为善的习惯。因此，除了他老婆外，大都对他评价很高。（实际上，他那到处受欢迎的温和性情可以说是由于怕老婆而来的；一个人在家里受惯了泼妇的教训，到外面就最容易处处随和，事事顺从。他的脾气，毫无疑问，就是因为在家庭磨难的熊熊的火炉里受过锻炼，才变得有韧性；看起来，要教人养成耐心和坚韧的美德，一次帐中说法抵得过全世界的说教。因此，从某方面来说，有一个泼辣的老婆，也可以被看作是相当有福气的了；要是这样，瑞普•凡•温克尔算是有三倍的福气了。）
4Certain it is that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village, who, as usual with the amiable亲切的 sex, took his part in all family squabbles争吵, and never failed, whenever they talked those matters over in their evening gossipings, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle. The children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them long stories of ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever he went dodging 东躲西藏about the village, he was surrounded by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering 爬on his back, and playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity不受惩罚地; and not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighborhood.
当然，他在村子里所有的良家妇女中很受欢迎。（村里的好心的主妇们，倒是个个都喜欢他）每当她们知道了凡•温克尔家吵架，她们总是认定瑞普是对的，而凡•温克尔夫人是错的。（每逢他家里发生口角，她们总是帮着他说话，一般的女人往往都是如此；黄昏时，当她们聊起天，谈到了这些事，她们总是把一切错处都推到凡•太太身上。）孩子们也一样，瑞普•凡•温克尔一来，他们总是欢叫起来。（就是村子了的孩子们看见他走过来，也是一片欢呼声。）他总是望着他们玩耍，为他们做玩具，教他们怎么玩各种游戏，还给他们讲最精彩的故事。（他陪他们玩游戏，给他们做玩具，教他们放风筝和弹石子，还给他们讲关于鬼怪、巫婆和印第安人的长篇故事。）不管他去哪儿，他的四周常常围着一群孩子。村子里没有哪条狗对他狂吠过。（每逢他在村子里闲逛的时候，总有一大群孩子围着他，有的拉住他衣服的下摆，有的爬在他背上，有的在大胆地百般捉弄他；连附近一带的狗见了他，也没有一条会对他吠的。）
5 The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar’s lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowling piece on his shoulder, for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or wild pigeons. He would never even refuse to assist a neighbor in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences. The women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them; in a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, it was impossible.
瑞普•凡•温克尔（的性格中最大的缺点）有一个缺点就是，什么赚钱的活儿他都不喜欢，甚至是憎恨。（对于一切/任何有好处的劳动都感到不可克制的厌恶。这倒不是由于他缺乏刻苦耐劳或坚持不懈的精神；他可以坐在一块潮湿的石头上，拿着一根像鞑靼人的标枪似的又长又重的鱼竿，钓上一整天的鱼，即使鱼儿一口也不来咬饵，他也不会抱怨一声。有时他还会为了打几只松鼠或野鸽子，掮着一只猎枪，穿林越泽，上山入谷，一连跋涉好几个钟头/小时。）很难理解究竟是什么原因让他不爱劳动。（遇到邻居们要他帮忙，即使是最繁重的工作，他也从来不会拒绝；每逢村子里为了剥玉米或者筑石墙而举行集会时，他总是第一个赶到；）可他从不拒绝帮助邻居，哪怕是干最粗的活儿，比如帮人家砌石墙。村里的妇女也常使唤他，让他传信，或做一些她们的丈夫不愿意做的小活计。（村里的女人也常常差遣他为她们跑腿，或者叫他做些自己不打听话的丈夫不愿意干的零活。）换言之，除了自各儿的事情外，别人家的事瑞普都乐意管。至少家庭责任，收拾农场，他觉得这样的活儿绝对做不来。（总之，瑞普这个人除了自己的事情，无聊哪个的事他都愿意干；如果要他在家里干点家务，料理料理自己的田地，她就觉得有些办不到了。）
6 In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. His fences were continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray or get among the cabbages; weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he had some outdoor work to do; so that though his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned farm in the neighborhood.
事实上，他宣称在他农场上折腾毫无用处，（他对人家说，在自己的田里干活是白费力气，）因为那是整个那一带最差的小块地，一无是处。（他说那是全村里嘴倒霉的一块地，田里的事情样样都糟，不管他怎么干，也还是要出毛病。他的篱笆总是坍塌；他的母牛不是走迷了路，就是跑到人家菜地里；他田里的野草准比任何地方都要长得快些；每逢他要到田里去干活的时候，天就下起雨来；因此，祖上传下来的田产在他手里，就一英亩一英亩地少下去，最后只剩一小块玉米和马铃薯地，而且还是附近一带嘴糟糕的一块。）结果由于他经营不善，失去不少土地，他的小农场比他周围的农场更差了。
7His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen, trooping like a colt at his mother’s heels, equipped in a pair of his father’s cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
他的孩子也到处游荡，他们的可怜样和他的农场一样。（他的那些孩子，也是穿得破破烂烂，野得不得了，就像没有父母似的。）他的儿子小瑞普，和他很像，整天四处晃荡。（他的儿子小瑞普，是个淘气鬼，长得和他一模一样，不仅穿着他父亲的旧衣服，保险还能继承父风。）他穿着一条他父亲的旧裤子，不得不用一只手提着，免得掉了下来。（通常，总看见他像一匹小马似的跟在他母亲脚后面，穿着一条他父亲丢掉不穿的裤子，一只手费劲地拉着裤子，仿佛一位华丽的太太在下雨天拎着裙子下摆似的。
8 Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. If left to himself, he would have whistled life away, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of replying to all lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent use, had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing. This, however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife, so that he was fain to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the house—the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.
然而，瑞普•凡•温克尔却是那种有福分的人。他一副傻样，与世无争，待人接物从容快乐；他吃好吃差无所谓，只要得来全不费工夫。如果由着他的性子，他会非常心安理得地虚度一生。可是他老婆在他耳朵边不停地数落他，说他游手好闲，对家庭漠不关心，这个家快给他毁了。从早到晚，她唠叨个没完。他说的每句话，做的每件事，定公招徕她一顿臭骂。瑞普对付他那长舌老婆，倒是有个办法，这个办法用多了。已经成了一个习惯。他只是把头耷拉在肩膀上，眼望天空，一言不发。然而，这又引来老婆的一阵发火。这么一来，瑞普无事可做，只有离开家。在家里，瑞普唯一的朋友就是他的狗，名叫沃尔夫。沃尔夫常常是凡•温克尔太太的出气筒，因为她把他们看做是游手好闲的难兄难弟，有时她甚至指责说：瑞普之所以吊儿郎当都是这条狗的错。不错，沃外交活动夫在树林里像条狗，很勇敢，可是再勇敢的狗也经不住一个长舌妇的数落。每当沃尔夫走进家门，他总是耷拉着脑袋，尾巴垂掉在地上或夹在两腿间。他在屋里溜达，一脸心虚的样子，时刻从眼角观察着凡•温克尔太太，一看到她有一丝不快的迹象，便拨腿开溜。
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第1个回答 2011-03-04
插画 中英文的《小王子》蛮好的
