雪人
这个小故事发表在1861年哥本哈根出版的《新的童话和故事集》第二卷第一部里。这是一个雪人单恋火炉的故事,很有风趣:“‘现在我可懂得了他的相思病为什么害得那样苦。’守院子的狗儿说。‘原来雪人的身体里面有一个火钩,它在他的心里搅动。现在他也可算是度过难关了。’”因为“不久冬天就要过去了”。关于这个故事的背景,安徒生在手记中写道:“我在巴士纳斯农庄过圣诞节,写了《雪人》。这是我许多故事中较满意的一篇。”在1861年1月1日安徒生又写道:“外面的雪看上去像天上洒下的珍珠一样,我写完我的童话《雪人》。”
“IT is so delightfully cold,”said the Snow Man,“that it makes my whole body crackle.This is just the kind of wind to blow life into one.How that great red thing up there is staring at me!”He meant the sun,who was just setting.“It shall not make me wink.I shall manage to keep the pieces.”
“在这可爱的冷天气里,我浑身筋骨都在嘎嘎作响!”雪人说道。“风儿定会让你生气勃勃的!哦,那个烫人的东西,她盯着我哪!”他指的是快要落下去的太阳。“她要我眼花那是办不到的,我一定能挺得住。”
He had two triangular(triangular adj.三角形的,三人间的)pieces of tile in his head,instead of eyes.His mouth was made of an old broken rake,and was,of course,furnished with teeth.He had been brought into existence amidst the joyous shouts of boys,the jingling of sleighbells,and the slashing of whips.The sun went down,and the full moon rose,large,round,and clear,shining in the deep blue.
他的眼睛是两块三角形的瓦片做成的。嘴是一截旧的小耙,所以他有了牙齿。他是在孩子们的欢呼声中诞生的。雪橇铃铛声和鞭炮劈啪声欢迎着他。太阳落下去,满月升了上来,又圆又大,在蔚蓝的天空中,很明亮美丽。
“There it comes again,from the other side.”said the Snow Man,who supposed the sun was showing himself once more.“Ah,I have cured him of staring,though.Now he may hang up there,and shine,that I may see myself.If I only knew how to manage to move away from this place,—I should so like to move.If I could,I would slide along yonder on the ice,as I have seen the boys do;but I dont understand how;I dont even know how to run.”
“她从另外一边来了。”雪人说道。他以为那是太阳又重新露面。“我治好了她那用眼盯着人的毛病!现在她可以挂在那里照个亮,让我看看自己了。我要是知道怎么样才能挪动一下就好了!我很希望挪动一下!要是我能的话,我现在可想到冰上去溜溜,就像我看见孩子们玩的那样!可是我不会滑冰。”
“Away,away.”barked the old yarddog.He was quite hoarse,and could not pronounce“Bow wow”properly.He had once been an indoor dog,and lay by the fire,and he had been hoarse ever since.“The sun will make you run some day.I saw him,last winter,make your predecessor(predecessor n.前辈,前任,(被取代的)原有事物)run,and his predecessor before him.Away,away,they all have to go.”
“滚!滚!”那条链子拴着的老看家狗在叫。它有点沙哑,自打它住进屋里在火炉边上睡觉以来,一直就有些沙哑。“太阳一定会教你跑的!你的先人就是这样,我看见过,还有你的先人的先人。滚,滚!他们全都滚蛋了。”
“I dont understand you,comrade.”said the Snow Man.“Is that thing up yonder to teach me to run?I saw it running itself a little while ago,and now it has come creeping up from the other side.”
“我不明白你说些什么,好伙伴!”雪人说道。“是说上面那玩意儿会教我怎么跑吗?是的,以前我盯着看她的时候,她真是在跑。现在她又从另外一边钻出来了。”
“You know nothing at all,”replied the yarddog,“but then,youve only lately been patched up.What you see yonder is the moon,and the one before it was the sun.It will come again tomorrow,and most likely teach you to run down into the ditch(ditch n.沟,沟渠,壕沟)by the well,for I think the weather is going to change.I can feel such pricks and stabs in my left leg.I am sure there is going to be a change.”
“你什么也不懂,”看家狗说道,“不过你也只是刚刚才堆起来的!你现在看见的那东西是月亮,刚才落下去的那是太阳,她明天早晨会回来的,她肯定会教你怎么样跑到护沟堤下面去的。天气要变了,我从我的左后腿上就能感觉到,那条腿有些疼。要变天了。”
“I dont understand him,”said the Snow Man to himself,“but I have a feeling that he is talking of something very disagreeable.The one who stared so just now,and whom he calls the sun,is not my friend,I can feel that too.”
“我不明白他的意思,”雪人说道,“不过我有一种感觉,他说的是些不那么妙的事儿。瞪眼盯着我看,落下去的那个他叫做太阳的东西,她也不是我的朋友,我有这种感觉。”
“Away,away.”barked the yarddog,and then he turned round three times,and crept into his kennel to sleep.
“滚!滚!”看家狗叫道,在原地打了三个圈圈,钻进自己的棚里睡觉去了。
There was really a change in the weather.Towards morning,a thick fog covered the whole country round,and a keen wind arose,so that the cold seemed to freeze ones bones.But when the sun rose,the sight was splendid.
天气真的变了。一层雾,又厚又浓,在清晨的时候罩住了整个地区。天亮的时候,开始起风了,风是冰冷的,霜把一切都严严地盖住。可是当太阳升起的时候,那是什么样的景色啊!
Trees and bushes were covered with hoar frosthoar (frost树冰,冰霜,白霜),and looked like a forest of white coral.While on every twig glittered frozen dewdrops.The many delicate forms concealed in summer by luxuriant foliage,were now clearly defined,and looked like glittering lacework.From every twig glistened a white radiance.The birch,waving in the wind,looked full of life,like trees in summer,and its appearance was wondrously(wondrously adv.惊奇地,非常,极其)beautiful.And where the sun shone,how everything glittered and sparkled,as if diamond dust had been strewn about.While the snowy carpet of the earth appeared as if covered with diamonds,from which countless lights gleamed,whiter than even the snow itself.
所有的树上、矮丛上都是浓霜。整个世界就像是一大片白珊瑚林,就好像所有的枝子上都挂满了闪闪发光的白花。夏天,被密麻的叶子挡住而让人看不见的那许许多多又细又小的嫩枝,现在都露出来了,像一块桃花白布,白得闪亮,就好像从每一根枝子里都流出了光。细枝下垂的白桦树在风中摇曳,它生气勃勃,就像夏天的树木似的,这真是无比美丽的胜景!太阳美美地照射着的时候,啊,大地上万物都在闪闪发光。让你觉得处处都铺上了一层钻石细尘,整个白雪皑皑的大地上面又嵌满了颗颗巨大的钻石。或许可以说,大地上燃着无数支小烛,白得胜过了那白色的雪。
“This is really beautiful,”said a young girl,who had come into the garden with a young man,and they both stood still near the Snow Man,and contemplated the glittering scene.“Summer cannot show a more beautiful sight,”she exclaimed,while her eyes sparkled.
“这真是无比美丽的胜景!”一个年轻的姑娘说道。她和一个年轻的男子走进花园,恰好站立在雪人身边,在那里看着那些闪闪发光的树。“比这更美的景色夏天里是找不到的!”她说道,她的眼睛闪闪发亮。
“And we cant have such a fellow as this in the summer time,”replied the young man,pointing to the Snow Man,“he is capital.”
“像他这个样的小伙子也是不会有的。”年轻人指着雪人说道,“他太漂亮了。”
The girl laughed,and nodded at the Snow Man,and then tripped away over the snow with her friend.The snow creaked and crackled beneath her feet,as if she had been treading on starch(starch n.淀粉,[喻]拘谨,古板,生硬).
年轻姑娘笑了起来,朝雪人点着头,和她的男朋友在雪上舞蹈起来。雪在他们的脚下嘎吱嘎吱地响,好像踩在淀粉上一样。
“Who are these two?”asked the Snow Man of the yarddog.“You have been here longer than I have,do you know them?”
“他们俩是谁?”雪人问看家狗,“你在这园子里比我时间长,你认得他们吗?”