The bell of Monastier was just striking nine as I got quit of these preliminary troubles and descended the hill through the common. As long as I was within sight of the windows, a secret shame and the fear of some laughable defeat withheld me from tampering with Modestine. She tripped along upon her four small hoofs with a sober daintiness of gait; from time to time she shook her ears or her tail; and she looked so small under the bundle that my mind misgave me. We got across the ford without difficulty—there was no doubt about the matter, she was docility itself—and once on the other bank, where the road begins to mount through pine-woods, I took in my right hand the unhallowed staff, and with a quaking spirit applied it to the donkey. Modestine brisked up her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former minuet. Another application had the same effect, and so with the third. I am worthy the name of an Englishman, and it goes against my conscience to lay my hand rudely on a female. I desisted, and looked her all over from head to foot; the poor brute's knees were trembling and her breathing was distressed; it was plain that she could go no faster on a hill. God forbid, thought I, that I should brutalise this innocent creature; let her go at her own pace, and let me patiently follow.

我解决了出发前的种种麻烦，穿过村中公地下山时，勒莫纳斯捷的钟刚刚敲过九点。当我还在窗后人们的视线之内时，出于一种隐秘的羞愧，又担心自己会出什么可笑的差错，我不敢随便摆布小乖。她踏着四只小小的蹄子，步态沉稳而优雅，时不时地，还摇摇耳朵或尾巴。压在那么些行李下面，她看起来如此瘦小，我感到不安极了。我们很轻松就过了浅滩——这没什么问题，小乖是很温顺的。到了对岸，道路开始往上倾斜着穿过松林。我把那根邪恶的棍子握在右手中，战战兢兢地打着驴子。小乖只略略快走了两三步，就又重新踏起了之前的小步舞。第二次施棍得到了同样的效果，第三次也是如此。我称得上是一位地道的英国人，因此对雌性横施暴虐是违背我的良知的。于是我停了下来，把她从头到脚好好审视了一番。这可怜的牲口膝盖发抖，呼吸沉重，很明显，上山时她是无法再快一分了。我想，上帝不会允许我这样虐待这个无辜的生物的；就让她按自己的步伐来走，我还是耐心地跟着吧。

What that pace was, there is no word mean enough to describe; it was something as much slower than a walk as a walk is slower than a run; it kept me hanging on each foot for an incredible length of time; in five minutes it exhausted the spirit and set up a fever in all the muscles of the leg. And yet I had to keep close at hand and measure my advance exactly upon hers; for if I dropped a few yards into the rear, or went on a few yards ahead, Modestine came instantly to a halt and began to browse. The thought that this was to last from here to Alais nearly broke my heart. Of all conceivable journeys, this promised to be the most tedious. I tried to tell myself it was a lovely day; I tried to charm my foreboding spirit with tobacco; but I had a vision ever present to me of the long, long roads, up hill and down dale, and a pair of figures ever infinitesimally moving, foot by foot, a yard to the minute, and, like things enchanted in a nightmare, approaching no nearer to the goal.

这种步伐究竟是怎样的呢？这实在无法找到合适的词语来形容；步行比奔跑慢多少，那么它就比步行慢多少。我每踏出一步，都要花很长时间。仅仅五分钟就耗光了我的精力，我腿上的每块肌肉都开始发热了。然而我还得紧跟在她身边，严格按照她的步伐来调整我的步子，因为我要是落后那么一两码，或者超前了一两码，小乖就会立刻停下来，开始低头吃草。想到要这样一路走到阿莱，我真是沮丧透了。在我能想象得到的所有旅行中，这应该是最乏味的一次了。我试着告诉自己天气是这样清明美好，还试着用烟草驱散我不祥的预感。但我眼前却始终有个幻觉，漫漫长路，爬上山坡又穿过低谷，一对身影以极慢的速度蜗行着，一步又一步，一分钟只能前进一码，而且，就像梦魇里被施了魔法那样，始终无法接近终点。

In the meantime there came up behind us a tall peasant, perhaps forty years of age, of an ironical snuffy countenance, and arrayed in the green tail-coat of the country. He overtook us hand over hand, and stopped to consider our pitiful advance.

就在这时，我们后面来了一个高个儿的农夫，大约四十岁上下，有着一张带着嘲讽、不讨人喜欢的面孔，穿着乡下人的绿色燕尾服。他一点一点地追上我们，然后停下来琢磨我们这种可悲的前进方式。

"Your donkey," says he, "is very old?"

“你的驴子，”他说，“是不是很老了？”

I told him, I believed not.

我告诉他，我认为它并不老。

Then, he supposed, we had come far.

那么，他想，我们是远道而来。

I told him, we had but newly left Monastier.

我告诉他，我们才刚刚离开勒莫纳斯捷。

"Et vous marchez comme ca!" cried he; and, throwing back his head, he laughed long and heartily. I watched him, half prepared to feel offended, until he had satisfied his mirth; and then, "You must have no pity on these animals," said he; and, plucking a switch out of a thicket, he began to lace Modestine about the stern-works, uttering a cry. The rogue pricked up her ears and broke into a good round pace, which she kept up without flagging, and without exhibiting the least symptom of distress, as long as the peasant kept beside us. Her former panting and shaking had been, I regret to say, a piece of comedy.

“那你们还走得这样慢哪！”他喊道。说完，他昂起头，哈哈大笑了好一阵子。我看着他，感觉有些受辱，直到他笑够了，说，“你可不能对这些畜生心太软了。”接着，他从灌木丛中拔了一根枝条，大叫一声，开始抽打小乖的臀部。这惫懒畜生支起耳朵，立刻加快了步伐，而且，只要有那农夫在旁，她就一点儿也不懈怠，委顿衰弱的模样完全不见了。我只能遗憾地说，她之前那些喘粗气啦，颤抖啦，只是一幕喜剧。

My deus ex machiná, before he left me, supplied some excellent, if inhumane, advice; presented me with the switch, which he declared she would feel more tenderly than my cane; and finally taught me the true cry or masonic word of donkey-drivers, "Proot!" All the time, he regarded me with a comical, incredulous air, which was embarrassing to confront; and smiled over my donkey-driving, as I might have smiled over his orthography, or his green tail-coat. But it was not my turn for the moment.

离开之前，我的天赐救星给了我一些绝妙的、也许不太人道的建议；他把枝条给我，说它对小乖来说比我的棍子柔和一些。最后他教给我赶驴人真正的、或者说是共同的呼喊法，“普鲁—特”。他一直用一种滑稽、怀疑的态度对待我，让我尴尬万分。他还嘲笑我的赶驴技术，我本来也可以嘲笑他的拼字方法和绿色燕尾服，但现在还轮不到我来发笑。

I was proud of my new lore, and thought I had learned the art to perfection. And certainly Modestine did wonders for the rest of the fore-noon, and I had a breathing space to look about me. It was Sabbath; the mountain-fields were all vacant in the sunshine; and as we came down through St. Martin de Frugères, the church was crowded to the door, there were people kneeling without upon the steps, and the sound of the priest's chanting came forth out of the dim interior. It gave me a home feeling on the spot; for I am a countryman of the Sabbath, so to speak, and all Sabbath observances, like a Scottish accent, strike in me mixed feelings, grateful and the reverse. It is only a traveller, hurrying by like a person from another planet, who can rightly enjoy the peace and beauty of the great ascetic feast. The sight of the resting country does his spirit good. There is something better than music in the wide unusual silence; and it disposes him to amiable thoughts, like the sound of a little river or the warmth of sunlight.

我很为自己新得的知识而骄傲，认为我已经学到了它的精髓。而且在那天上午剩下的时间里，小乖的表现也确实好得出奇，我也终于能够喘上一口气，看看周围的景色。这天是安息日，阳光下的山野中空荡荡的没有人迹；当我们下山经过弗吕热勒斯的圣马丁教堂时，发现教堂里的人一直挤到门口，还有人跪在门外的台阶上，昏暗的教堂内传来牧师的唱经声。这种景象当即使我感到如归故里，因为可以说，我是在深具安息日传统的乡下长大成人的，一切安息日的仪式，就像苏格兰口音那样，都会勾起我内心复杂的情感，半是欣愉，另一半却恰恰相反。只有行色匆匆、好似来自另一星球的旅行者，才能真正欣赏到这场盛大的苦修节日中蕴含的宁静和美好。安谧的乡村美景会慰藉他的心灵。旷野中不同寻常的寂静里，有一种比音乐更加动人心弦的东西，使他泛起温柔的思绪，好像小河的淙淙流水声或是煦暖的阳光。

In this pleasant humour I came down the hill to where Goudet stands in a green end of a valley, with Chateau Beaufort opposite upon a rocky steep, and the stream, as clear as crystal, lying in a deep pool between them. Above and below, you may hear it wimpling over the stones, an amiable stripling of a river, which it seems absurd to call the Loire. On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains; rocky footpaths, practicable at best for donkeys, join it to the outer world of France; and the men and women drink and swear, in their green corner, or look up at the snow-clad peaks in winter from the threshold of their homes, in an isolation, you would think, like that of Homer's Cyclops . But it is not so; the postman reaches Goudet with the letter-bag; the aspiring youth of Goudet are within a day's walk of the railway at Le Puy; and here in the inn you may find an engraved portrait of the host's nephew, Régis Senac, "Professor of Fencing and Champion of the two Americas," a distinction gained by him, along with the sum of five hundred dollars, at Tammany Hall, New York, on the 10th April 1876

我欣欣然走下山，来到一个绿草如茵的山谷。山谷一端是古戴，另一端则是建在陡峭的岩壁上的博福特堡。一道溪流，莹澈如水晶，在它们中间汇成一泓深潭。不论是在上游还是下游，你都可以听到溪流轻敲石块发出的泠泠水声。作为一条大河的小支流，它是如此温静，以至于把它称为卢瓦尔河似乎显得有些荒谬。古戴四面被群山锁住，几条最多只能让驴子通行的石径把它和外面的法国大地连在了一起。在这个郁郁葱葱的世外角落里，男人和女人们喝酒、咒骂，或是坐在自家门槛上仰望冬天白雪皑皑的山顶。你也许会认为他们就像荷马笔下的独眼巨人一样与世隔绝，但事实却并非如此。邮差会带着他的邮包造访古戴；古戴满怀抱负的年轻人在一天之内就能走到勒皮城的铁路；在这儿的小旅馆中，你会发现店主人的侄儿雷吉斯.塞纳克的雕像，上面写着他于1876年4月10日在纽约坦马尼厅获得“剑术教授以及美洲冠军”的殊荣，以及五百美元的奖金。

I hurried over my midday meal, and was early forth again. But, alas, as we climbed the interminable hill upon the other side, "Proot!" seemed to have lost its virtue. I prooted like a lion, I prooted mellifluously like a sucking-dove; but Modestine would be neither softened nor intimidated. She held doggedly to her pace; nothing but a blow would move her, and that only for a second. I must follow at her heels, incessantly belabouring. A moment's pause in this ignoble toil, and she relapsed into her own private gait. I think I never heard of any one in as mean a situation. I must reach the lake of Bouchet, where I meant to camp, before sundown, and, to have even a hope of this, I must instantly maltreat this uncomplaining animal. The sound of my own blows sickened me. Once, when I looked at her, she had a faint resemblance to a lady of my acquaintance who formerly loaded me with kindness; and this increased my horror of my cruelty.

我匆匆吃过午饭，又早早上路了。但不幸的是，我们在攀登山谷另一侧那高不可及的山峰时，“普鲁—特”似乎失灵了。不论我像狮子般大声嘶吼，还是像雏鸽那样轻声细语，小乖就是软硬不吃。她固执地坚持着自己的步伐，打一下才能快一点儿，而且只能快上一秒钟。我只能紧紧跟着，不断抽打她。这种不光彩的劳役只需停得一刻，她就退回到自己的速度上了。我想我还从未听说过有人陷入我这般窘迫的境地。我计划在布歇湖露营，必须在太阳落山之前赶到那儿，因此，为了使希望不致完全落空，我必须立即开始虐待这头毫无怨言的牲口。我的鞭打声让我厌恶极了。有一次，我看着她的时候，觉得她有点儿像是我熟识的一位女士，而这位女士曾经友善地对待过我。这种想法更加深了我对自己暴行的憎恶。

To make matters worse, we encountered another donkey, ranging at will upon the roadside; and this other donkey chanced to be a gentleman. He and Modestine met nickering for joy, and I had to separate the pair and beat down their young romance with a renewed and feverish bastinado. If the other donkey had had the heart of a male under his hide, he would have fallen upon me tooth and hoof; and this was a kind of consolation—he was plainly unworthy of Modestine's affection. But the incident saddened me, as did everything that spoke of my donkey's sex.

更糟的是，我们遇上了另外一头在路边闲逛的驴子，而且这头驴子碰巧是位绅士。他和小乖相互嘶鸣作乐，我得分开他俩，于是重新开始用狂暴的鞭笞将这份初开的情愫扼杀在摇篮里。如果那头驴子的兽皮之下有着雄性的胸怀，他一定会向我扑来嘴咬蹄踢；值得安慰的是，他并没有这样做，因此完全不配拥有小乖的深情厚意。但是这个事件，就像其他一切涉及小乖性别的事情一样，叫我伤起心来。

It was blazing hot up the valley, windless, with vehement sun upon my shoulders; and I had to labour so consistently with my stick that the sweat ran into my eyes. Every five minutes, too, the pack, the basket, and the pilot-coat would take an ugly slew to one side or the other; and I had to stop Modestine, just when I had got her to a tolerable pace of about two miles an hour, to tug, push, shoulder, and readjust the load. And at last, in the village of Ussel, saddle and all, the whole hypothec turned round and grovelled in the dust below the donkey's belly. She, none better pleased, incontinently drew up and seemed to smile; and a party of one man, two women, and two children came up, and, standing round me in a half-circle, encouraged her by their example.

山谷之上酷热难耐，一丝风也没有，似火的骄阳烤着我的双肩。我还得不断地挥着我的棍棒，汗水都流到我的眼睛里去了。还有，每隔五分钟，这些包裹啦，篮子啦，粗呢大衣啦，就会讨厌地滑向一边或另一边；然后我就得喝止小乖，去拖呀、推呀、扛呀地重新调整这些行李，而这时我才刚刚让她以我可以忍受的速度赶路，也就是一小时走上两英里。最后，在一个叫于塞勒的村子里，所有的行李连同鞍子一起滑落下来，摊在小乖肚子下面的尘土里。她高兴得不得了，不禁停了下来，好像还在咧着嘴笑。一群人，包括一个男人、两个妇女和两个孩子走了过来，站成半个圈围住我。他们也笑了起来，这鼓舞了小乖，给她树立了榜样。

I had the devil's own trouble to get the thing righted; and the instant I had done so, without hesitation, it toppled and fell down upon the other side. Judge if I was hot! And yet not a hand was offered to assist me. The man, indeed, told me I ought to have a package of a different shape. I suggested, if he knew nothing better to the point in my predicament, he might hold his tongue. And the good-natured dog agreed with me smilingly. It was the most despicable fix. I must plainly content myself with the pack for Modestine, and take the following items for my own share of the portage: a cane, a quart-flask, a pilot- jacket heavily weighted in the pockets, two pounds of black bread, and an open basket full of meats and bottles. I believe I may say I am not devoid of greatness of soul; for I did not recoil from this infamous burden. I disposed it, Heaven knows how, so as to be mildly portable, and then proceeded to steer Modestine through the village. She tried, as was indeed her invariable habit, to enter every house and every courtyard in the whole length; and, encumbered as I was, without a hand to help myself, no words can render an idea of my difficulties. A priest, with six or seven others, was examining a church in process of repair, and he and his acolytes laughed loudly as they saw my plight.

我手忙脚乱地重新装好行李；而我刚刚放好，这些行李就立刻从另一边滑下去了。想想我有多着急！而且没有一个人伸手帮我一把。不错，那个男人的确告诉我不该把行李打包成这样一个形状。我说，如果他没有更好的法子可以帮我摆脱困境，还是免开尊口吧。这个好脾气的家伙笑眯眯地接受了我的建议。这招太损了。我只好让小乖只驮着包裹，然后自己背起剩下的行李，其中包括：一根棍子，一个可以装一夸脱水的小瓶子，一件口袋里塞满重物的粗呢短大衣，两磅黑面包，还有一个没有盖子的篮子，里面装满了肉和瓶子。我相信自己可以称得上拥有伟大的灵魂，因为我并没有因为这些沉重的负担而退缩。我设法把它们打理得稍微轻便一点——天知道我是如何办到的，然后继续赶着小乖走过村庄。她一路上试图进入每户人家，每个庭院——真是恶习难改。而我被她拖累着，又空不出手来帮自己一把，这种窘境真是难以用语言形容。一位牧师带着六七个人，正在检查一所修缮中的教堂。看到我如此狼狈不堪，牧师和他的随从都哈哈大笑起来。

I remembered having laughed myself when I had seen good men struggling with adversity in the person of a jackass, and the recollection filled me with penitence. That was in my old light days, before this trouble came upon me. God knows at least that I shall never laugh again, thought I. But oh, what a cruel thing is a farce to those engaged in it!

我记得自己也曾经嘲笑过那些被逆境所困、表现得像个傻瓜的好人们，现在想起来真是懊悔极了。那时的我年少轻狂，尚未遇到如此这般的苦境。现在至少上帝知道，我再也不会嘲笑那些人了，我想道。但是，唉，这种闹剧对于表演者来说是多么残酷啊！

A little out of the village, Modestine, filled with the demon, set her heart upon a by-road, and positively refused to leave it. I dropped all my bundles, and, I am ashamed to say, struck the poor sinner twice across the face. It was pitiful to see her lift her head with shut eyes, as if waiting for another blow. I came very near crying; but I did a wiser thing than that, and sat squarely down by the roadside to consider my situation under the cheerful influence of tobacco and a nip of brandy. Modestine, in the meanwhile, munched some black bread with a contrite hypocritical air. It was plain that I must make a sacrifice to the gods of shipwreck. I threw away the empty bottle destined to carry milk; I threw away my own white bread, and, disdaining to act by general average , kept the black bread for Modestine; lastly, I threw away the cold leg of mutton and the egg-whisk, although this last was dear to my heart. Thus I found room for everything in the basket, and even stowed the boating-coat on the top. By means of an end of cord I slung it under one arm; and although the cord cut my shoulder, and the jacket hung almost to the ground, it was with a heart greatly lightened that I set forth again.

刚刚走出村子，小乖不知中了什么邪，对一条岔路情有独钟，怎么都不肯离开。我扔下手上所有的东西，而且，说来惭愧，照着这个可怜罪人的脸抽了两下子。看到她闭着眼睛抬起头来，好像在等着下一次抽打，还真是可怜。我差一点就要哭出来了；但我很明智地没有这样做，而是干脆在路边坐了下来，就着提神的烟草和一小口白兰地，思考我眼下的处境。与此同时，小乖带着悔过似的虚伪表情，大嚼着她的黑面包。显然，我得向海难之神供奉些祭品了。我扔掉了用来装牛奶的空瓶子；扔掉了我自己的白面包，不过，因为不屑于按照共同海损的原则行事，我没有扔掉小乖的黑面包；最后，我扔掉了冷羊腿和打蛋器，尽管后一样我很舍不得丢弃。然后篮子里终于有了足够的空间装下所有东西，篮子顶上甚至还塞下了我的水手服。我用一段绳子把它吊在一只胳膊下面；尽管绳子勒着我的肩膀，上衣也快拖到地面了，但我还是轻松多了。于是我又出发了。

I had now an arm free to thrash Modestine, and cruelly I chastised her. If I were to reach the lakeside before dark, she must bestir her little shanks to some tune. Already the sun had gone down into a windy-looking mist; and although there were still a few streaks of gold far off to the east on the hills and the black fir-woods, all was cold and grey about our onward path. An infinity of little country by-roads led hither and thither among the fields. It was the most pointless labyrinth. I could see my destination overhead, or rather the peak that dominates it; but choose as I pleased, the roads always ended by turning away from it, and sneaking back towards the valley, or northward along the margin of the hills. The failing light, the waning colour, the naked, unhomely, stony country through which I was travelling, threw me into some despondency. I promise you, the stick was not idle; I think every decent step that Modestine took must have cost me at least two emphatic blows. There was not another sound in the neighbourhood but that of my unwearying bastinado.

现在我能腾出一条胳膊来抽打小乖了，于是我狠狠教训了她一番。如果我要在天黑前到达湖边的话，她就得好好振作一下她的小细腿。太阳已经沉入一片薄雾中了；尽管东边的远山和黑黝黝的冷杉林上仍有几道金光，但寒气升起，我们前面的路隐在一片昏暗迷蒙里。无数乡间小径在旷野中纵横交错，伸向远方。这是最难解的迷宫。我一抬头就可以看到目的地，或者说是它上方的那座山峰，但是不管选择哪一条，路都会在山前终结，调转方向，渐渐拐回来时的山谷，或者顺着山边向北方延伸。光线越来越暗，色彩也渐渐模糊，我正路过的这片光秃秃的、陌生而又冷酷的乡村，让我陷入了沮丧。而且我保证，我的棍子可没闲着，我要重击上至少两下，小乖才能像样地前进一步。周围一片寂静，只有我的鞭打声不停地响着。

Suddenly, in the midst of my toils, the load once more bit the dust, and, as by enchantment, all the cords were simultaneously loosened, and the road scattered with my dear possessions. The packing was to begin again from the beginning; and as I had to invent a new and better system, I do not doubt but I lost half an hour. It began to be dusk in earnest as I reached a wilderness of turf and stones. It had the air of being a road which should lead everywhere at the same time; and I was falling into something not unlike despair when I saw two figures stalking towards me over the stones. They walked one behind the other like tramps, but their pace was remarkable. The son led the way, a tall, ill-made, sombre, Scottish-looking man; the mother followed, all in her Sunday's best, with an elegantly embroidered ribbon to her cap, and a new felt hat atop, and proffering, as she strode along with kilted petticoats, a string of obscene and blasphemous oaths.

当我正在艰难跋涉的时候，突然，驴背上的行李又一次落到地上，而且，就像中了邪似的，所有绳子都同时松开了，我宝贵的家当散落一地。我又一次从头开始给行李打包，而且，因为要重新设计一个新的、更好的方式，我绝对足足花了半个小时。当我来到一处布满石块和草皮的荒地时，天已经完全昏暗下来了。这条路似乎同时通往任何方向，而我也已经近乎绝望了。这时，我看到两个人踩着石块朝我大步走来。他们一前一后，好像在徒步旅行不过速度可真不慢。儿子在前面带路，是个高个儿、残疾、长得有点儿像苏格兰人的忧郁男子；母亲跟在后面，穿着礼拜日盛装，便帽上系着绣有美丽图案的飘带，上面还有一顶新毡帽，身着褶边衬裙，一边大步走着，一边冒出一串粗野、亵渎神明的咒骂。

I hailed the son, and asked him my direction. He pointed loosely west and north-west, muttered an inaudible comment, and, without slackening his pace for an instant, stalked on, as he was going, right athwart my path. The mother followed without so much as raising her head. I shouted and shouted after them, but they continued to scale the hillside, and turned a deaf ear to my outcries. At last, leaving Modestine by herself, I was constrained to run after them, hailing the while. They stopped as I drew near, the mother still cursing; and I could see she was a handsome, motherly, respectable-looking woman. The son once more answered me roughly and inaudibly, and was for setting out again. But this time I simply collared the mother, who was nearest me, and, apologising for my violence, declared that I could not let them go until they had put me on my road. They were neither of them offended-rather mollified than otherwise; told me I had only to follow them; and then the mother asked me what I wanted by the lake at such an hour. I replied, in the Scottish manner, by inquiring if she had far to go herself. She told me, with another oath, that she had an hour and a half's road before her. And then, without salutation, the pair strode forward again up the hillside in the gathering dusk.

我向那个儿子打了个招呼，并向他问路。他随便地朝西边和西北方向一指，几不可闻地嘟囔了一句，便一秒不停地穿过我所驻足的小径，继续大踏步向前走了。他母亲紧随其后，头都没抬一下。我在他们后面喊呀叫呀，但他们只是继续顺山坡而上，根本不理会我的叫喊。最后，我只好扔下小乖，招呼着向他们追过去。我快要追上的时候，他们停了下来，母亲还在骂骂咧咧。我发现她是一位颇有风韵、慈爱可亲、看上去非常体面的女士。儿子的回答还是那么粗略、几不可闻，而且说完之后又迫不及待地想要离开。不过这次我抓住了站得离我较近的母亲不放，一边为我的无礼道歉，一边说除非他们带我上了正路，否则我是决不会放他们走的。他俩谁都没有因此生气，反而相对平静了一些，并告诉我只需跟着他们走就是了。随后母亲问我这么晚了还去湖边做什么。我报以苏格兰式的回答，反问她是不是还要赶很远的路。她一面咒骂，一面答道，她还要走一个半小时。然后，招呼也不打一个，他们两人又继续在苍茫暮色中沿山路而上了。

I returned for Modestine, pushed her briskly forward, and, after a sharp ascent of twenty minutes, reached the edge of a plateau. The view, looking back on my day's journey, was both wild and sad. Mount Mezenc and the peaks beyond St. Julien stood out in trenchant gloom against a cold glitter in the east; and the intervening field of hills had fallen together into one broad wash of shadow, except here and there the outline of a wooded sugar-loaf in black, here and there a white irregular patch to represent a cultivated farm, and here and there a blot where the Loire, the Gazeille, or the Laussonne wandered in a gorge.

我回来牵小乖，赶她快走，又爬了二十分钟的陡坡，来到一块高地的边缘。我回头望去，发现这一天走过的路程景色荒凉幽暗。沉沉暮霭中，梅泽纳峰和圣朱利安山远处的其他诸峰肃然矗立，其后是东方发出的一道幽冷的寒光。群山之间的原野融入了一片苍茫之中，其间散布着一处处小树林黑色的圆锥形轮廓，还有一片片不规则的白色斑点，那是开垦的农田，还有一片片墨渍，那是在山谷中蜿蜒而过的卢瓦尔河、加泽勒河或是洛桑河。

Soon we were on a high-road, and surprise seized on my mind as I beheld a village of some magnitude close at hand; for I had been told that the neighbourhood of the lake was uninhabited except by trout. The road smoked in the twilight with children driving home cattle from the fields; and a pair of mounted stride-legged women, hat and cap and all, dashed past me at a hammering trot from the canton where they had been to church and market. I asked one of the children where I was. At Bouchet St. Nicolas, he told me. Thither, about a mile south of my destination, and on the other side of a respectable summit, had these confused roads and treacherous peasantry conducted me. My shoulder was cut, so that it hurt sharply; my arm ached like toothache from perpetual beating; I gave up the lake and my design to camp, and asked for the auberge.

我们很快上了大路。当我看到一个不小的村庄近在眼前时大吃一惊，因为有人告诉过我湖滨一带人迹罕至，只有鲑鱼是它的常客。在夕阳的微光中路上扬起阵阵烟尘，那是孩子们从田野里赶着家畜回家。还有两个跨骑在马上的妇女，戴着礼帽和衬帽，衣装整齐，在嗒嗒的马蹄声中小跑着从我身边经过。她们去附近的县里做了礼拜、逛了集市，刚赶回来。我问一个孩子这是哪儿。布歇湖圣尼古拉村，他告诉我。这儿在我目的地的南边，距那儿大概有一英里，是在一座颇高的山峰的另一侧。那些杂乱的小路和靠不住的乡下人把我带到了这里。我的肩膀被绳子割伤了，疼得厉害。我的胳膊由于不停挥鞭，也很疼，就像是牙疼一样。我放弃了去湖边露营的打算，开始寻找小客栈。 m+0tuMWu9UnW71rKwplXhQBYohBAMMtJ7NUzSiJ0uWRaXH9Ljdhv2dd9kFTtUJxR