杰佩托一到家就立马做了一个木偶并给他取名叫匹诺曹。从此匹诺曹的恶作剧就拉开了序幕。
Little as Geppetto's house was, it was neat and comfortable. It was a small room on the ground floor, with a tiny window under the stairway. The furniture could not have been much simpler: a very old chair, a rickety old bed, and a tumble—down table. A fireplace full of burning logs was painted on the wall opposite the door. Over the fire, there was painted a pot full of something which kept boiling happily away and sending up clouds of what looked like real steam.
杰佩托的房子尽管很小,却整洁舒适。这是一楼的一个小房间,楼梯下面有一扇小窗户。家具是再简单不过了:一把破旧的椅子、一张不结实的旧床,还有一个摇摇晃晃的小桌子。正对着门的墙壁上有一幅画,画着一个壁炉,里面堆满了正在燃烧的原木。有一个装满水的水壶架在火上,里面的水欢快得沸腾着,还冒着热气,这热气看起来就跟真的一样。
As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his tools and began to cut and shape the wood into a Marionette.
杰佩托一到家,就立马拿出工具开始用这块木头雕刻他的木偶了。
"What shall I call him? " he said to himself. "I think I'll call him PINOCCHIO. This name will make his fortune. I knew a whole family of Pinocchi once—Pinocchio the father, Pinocchia the mother, and Pinocchi the children—and they were all lucky. The richest of them begged for his living. "
“我应该给他取个什么名字呢?” 他自言自语道, “我想就叫他匹诺曹吧。这个名字会带给他幸运的。我曾经认识一个匹诺曹家庭——匹诺曹爸爸、匹诺曹妈妈和匹诺曹孩子们——他们都是很幸运的人。其中最富有的那个就是靠讨饭来生活的。”
After choosing the name for his Marionette, Geppetto set seriously to work to make the hair, the forehead, the eyes. Fancy his surprise when he noticed that these eyes moved and then stared fixedly at him. Geppetto, seeing this, felt insulted and said in a grieved tone:
杰佩托给他的木偶取好了名字后,就开始认真地雕刻这个木偶的头发、脑门和眼睛了。他发现匹诺曹的眼睛转了转后就直直地盯着他时,大家想象一下他是多么惊奇。杰佩托看见这般景象,感觉受到了侮辱,就悲叹道:
"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so? "
“难看的木眼睛,你为什么瞪着我呢?”
There was no answer.
没有人回答。
After the eyes, Geppetto made the nose, which began to stretch as soon as finished. It stretched and stretched and stretched till it became so long, it seemed endless.
雕刻完眼睛后,杰佩托又雕刻鼻子,鼻子刚做好,它就开始变长了。这鼻子不停地长,最后变得很长很长,但好像还没有停下来的意思。
Poor Geppetto kept cutting it and cutting it, but the more he cut, the longer grew that impertinent nose. In despair he let it alone.
可怜的杰佩托不停地把鼻子截短,但他截的越多,那无礼的鼻子就长得越长。最后他绝望了,就索性不管了。
Next he made the mouth.
接下来他要刻嘴巴了。
No sooner was it finished than it began to laugh and poke fun at him.
嘴巴刚一刻完,这木偶就开始嘲讽地大笑起来。
"Stop laughing! " said Geppetto angrily; but he might as well have spoken to the wall.
“别笑了!” 杰佩托生气地说,但他就像是对着墙说一样。
"Stop laughing, I say! " he roared in a voice of thunder.
“我说,别笑了!” 他用雷鸣般的声音怒喝道。
The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long tongue.
终于这嘴巴不笑了,但它却吐出了一条长舌头。
Not wishing to start an argument, Geppetto made believe he saw nothing and went on with his work. After the mouth, he made the chin, then the neck, the shoulders, the stomach, the arms, and the hands.
为了避免一场争吵,杰佩托假装什么也没看见,接着做他的工作。刻完嘴巴以后,他又接着刻了下巴,然后是脖子、肩膀、肚子、胳膊和手。
As he was about to put the last touches on the finger tips, Geppetto felt his wig being pulled off. He glanced up and what did he see? His yellow wig was in the Marionette's hand. "Pinocchio, give me my wig! "
就在手指马上要做好时,杰佩托感觉到他的假发正被谁往下拉。他抬头一看,你猜猜他看见什么啦?只见他那黄色的假发被木偶抓到手里了。 “匹诺曹,把假发给我!”
But instead of giving it back, Pinocchio put it on his own head, which was half swallowed up in it.
可是匹诺曹非但没有把假发还给杰佩托,反而把假发戴在了自己头上,那假发套住了他半个头。
At that unexpected trick, Geppetto became very sad and downcast, more so than he had ever been before.
由于那个意想不到的恶作剧,杰佩托感到前所未有的悲伤和沮丧。
"Pinocchio, you wicked boy! " he cried out. "You are not yet finished, and you start out by being impudent to your poor old father. Very bad, my son, very bad! "
“匹诺曹,你这个捣蛋鬼,” 他大声喊道, “还没把你做完呢,你就开始不尊敬你可怜的老父亲了。坏透了,我的孩子,坏透了!”
And he wiped away a tear.
他还抹了滴眼泪。
The legs and feet still had to be made. As soon as they were done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his nose.
就剩下腿和脚要做了。杰佩托刚把脚做好,他就感觉到鼻尖被狠狠地踢了一脚。
"I deserve it! " he said to himself. "I should have thought of this before I made him. Now it's too late! "
“我活该呀!” 杰佩托自言自语道, “我在雕刻他之前就应该想到这点。但现在一切都太迟了。”
He took hold of the Marionette under the arms and put him on the floor to teach him to walk.
他把木偶夹在胳肢窝下,并把他放在地板上教他学走路。
Pinocchio's legs were so stiff that he could not move them, and Geppetto held his hand and showed him how to put out one foot after the other.
他都挪不动匹诺曹的腿,因为它们太僵硬了。于是,杰佩托就握住匹诺曹的手向他示范怎样一步一步地走路。
When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio started walking by himself and ran all around the room. He came to the open door, and with one leap he was out into the street. Away he flew!
当匹诺曹的腿变得柔软一些了,他就开始自己行走,还在屋子里乱跑。他跑到了开着的门口,一跳就跳出了大门,跑到了街上。他跑走了!
Poor Geppetto ran after him but was unable to catch him, for Pinocchio ran in leaps and bounds, his two wooden feet, as they beat on the stones of the street, making as much noise as twenty peasants in wooden shoes.
可怜的杰佩托跟在匹诺曹后面跑,却怎么也追不上他,因为匹诺曹跑得非常快。他的两条木头腿踏在街道的石头上时,发出的声响就跟二十个穿着木屐的农民跑步时发出的声音一样。
"Catch him! Catch him! " Geppetto kept shouting. But the people in the street, seeing a wooden Marionette running like the wind, stood still to stare and to laugh until they cried.
“抓住他!抓住他!” 杰佩托不停地大叫着。可是街上的人们看见一个跑起来像风一样的木偶,都只是站在原地看,还哈哈大笑,直到笑得流出了眼泪。
At last, by sheer luck, a Carabineer happened along, who, hearing all that noise, thought that it might be a runaway colt, and stood bravely in the middle of the street, with legs wide apart, firmly resolved to stop it and prevent any trouble.
最后,很幸运的是有位警察意外出现了,他听到了街上的喧闹声,以为是谁家的小马逃跑了。他很勇敢地叉腿站在路中间,毅然要让它停下来,打算阻止任何麻烦发生。
Pinocchio saw the Carabineer from afar and tried his best to escape between the legs of the big fellow, but without success.
匹诺曹远远地看见了警察,就尽力想从这个大个子的两腿之间逃过去,可是他没有成功。
The Carabineer grabbed him by the nose (it was an extremely long one and seemed made on purpose for that very thing) and returned him to Mastro Geppetto.
警察一把就抓住了他的鼻子(这可真是一条极长的鼻子呀,好像就是为抓住匹诺曹而特意制作的一样),把他交给了杰佩托师傅。
The little old man wanted to pull Pinocchio's ears. Think how he felt when, upon searching for them, he discovered that he had forgotten to make them!
那个小老头想要揪住匹诺曹的耳朵。大家可以想象一下,当他要去抓匹诺曹的耳朵时,发现他居然忘记做耳朵了,这让他情何以堪!
All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back of the neck and take him home. As he was doing so, he shook him two or three times and said to him angrily:
他只能抓着匹诺曹的脖子,把他带回家。他抓住匹诺曹的脖子晃了两三下,很生气地对他说:
"We're going home now. When we get home, then we'll settle this matter! "
“我们现在就回家。等到家了,我们再算这笔帐!”
Pinocchio, on hearing this, threw himself on the ground and refused to take another step. One person after another gathered around the two.
匹诺曹一听就趴到地上不起来,耍赖不走了。人们一个接一个地围了上来。
Some said one thing, some another.
大家七嘴八舌地议论了起来。
"Poor Marionette, " called out a man. "I am not surprised he doesn't want to go home. Geppetto, no doubt, will beat him unmercifully, he is so mean and cruel! "
“可怜的木偶啊,” 人群中有人叫道, “我一点也不奇怪为什么他不想回家了。杰佩托那么小气还那么冷酷无情,毫无疑问,木偶肯定会被他好好修理一番的!”
"Geppetto looks like a good man, " added another, "but with boys he's a real tyrant. If we leave that poor Marionette in his hands he may tear him to pieces! "
“杰佩托看起来是个好人,” 另一个人插嘴说, “但对小孩子,他可真粗暴。如果这个可怜的木偶落在他手里,肯定会被他劈成碎片的!”
They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer ended matters by setting Pinocchio at liberty and dragging Geppetto to prison. The poor old fellow did not know how to defend himself, but wept and wailed like a child and said between his sobs:
他们七嘴八舌地说了很多,最后还是那个警察结束了整件事情。他放了匹诺曹,而把杰佩托抓进了监狱。这个可怜的小老头不知道该怎么替自己辩解,只能像个孩子似的嚎啕大哭,一边哭一边说:
"Ungrateful boy! To think I tried so hard to make you a well—behaved Marionette! I deserve it, however! I should have given the matter more thought. "
“忘恩负义的小鬼!想想我费了多少工夫才把你做成一个有礼貌的木偶!到头来却是我自作自受!我应该提前想到这点的。”
What happened after this is an almost unbelievable story, but you may read it, dear children, in the chapters that follow.
随后发生的故事简直让人难以置信,但亲爱的小读者们,你们会在接下来的章节里读到这些。