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My father forgave me; but I remained rather sad and then my mother sent me, with the porter's big son, to take a walk on the Corso. Half-way down the Corso, as we were passing a cart which was standing in front of a shop, I heard some one call me by name: I turned round; it was Coretti, my schoolmate, with chocolate-colored clothes and his catskin cap, all in a perspiration, but merry, with a big load of wood on his shoulders. A man who was standing in the cart was handing him an armful of wood at a time, which he took and carried into his father's shop, where he piled it up in the greatest haste. "What are you doing, Coretti?" I asked him.
父亲原谅了我，可我还是很难过，母亲于是叫我和门房的大儿子一起去科索大街上散散步。在科索大街上走到一半，当我们经过停在一家商店前的运货马车的时候，我听到有人叫我的名字，就转过身去，原来是我的校友可莱谛，穿着巧克力色的衣服，戴着猫皮帽，全身冒着汗，但是快活地扛着一大捆木柴在肩上。站在马车里的人正在递木柴给他，一次一抱的量，他接过来搬进父亲的店里，飞快地把它们堆在一起。“你在做什么呢，可莱谛？”我问他。
"Don't you see?" he answered, reaching out his arms to receive the load; "I am reviewing my lesson."
“你没看见吗？”他回答道，同时把两手伸去接木柴，“我在复习功课呢。”
I laughed; but he seemed to be serious, and, having grasped the armful of wood, he began to repeat as he ran, "The conjugation of the verb—consists in its variations according to number—according to number and person—"
我笑了，但是他看上去很认真，抓紧一抱木柴后，他开始边跑边背诵：“动词的变位——依照数而变化——依照数与人称——”
And then, throwing down the wood and piling it, "according to the time—according to the time to which the action refers."
接着，他扔下木柴，把它们堆好，“依照时态——依照动作发生的时态，”
And turning to the cart for another armful, "according to the mode in which the action is enunciated."
他走到车旁取另一捆柴，“依照动作发生的语气而变化。”
It was our grammar lesson for the following day. "What would you have me do?" he said. "I am putting my time to use. My father has gone off with the man on business; my mother is ill. It falls to me to do the unloading. In the meantime, I am going over my grammar lesson. It is a difficult lesson Today; I cannot succeed in getting it into my head.—My father said that he would be here at seven o'clock to give you your money," he said to the man with the cart.
这是我们明天要上的语法课的内容。“你要我怎么办呢？”他说，“我在好好利用时间。我父亲与生意伙伴出门去了，母亲病了。卸货这事情就落在我头上了。同时，我也在复习语法课文。今天的课文很难，我没法往脑子里记——我父亲说他七点钟会来这里给你钱。”他对车夫说。
The cart drove off. "Come into the shop a minute," Coretti said to me. I went in. It was a large apartment, full of piles of wood and fagots, with a steelyard on one side.
马车驶远了。“进来玩一小会儿吧。”可莱谛对我说。我进去了。房间很大，堆满了木柴和柴把，一旁挂着一架杆秤。
"This is a busy day, I can assure you," resumed Coretti; "I have to do my work by fits and starts. I was writing my phrases, when some customers came in. I went to writing again, and behold, that cart arrived. I have already made two trips to the wood market in the Piazza Venezia this morning. My legs are so tired that I cannot stand, and my hands are all swollen. I should be in a pretty pickle if I had to draw!" And as he spoke he set about sweeping up the dry leaves and the straw which covered the brick-paved floor.
“今天可真忙啊，我可以向你保证，”可莱谛又开始说道，“我不得不时断时续地做我的功课。当我写着短语的时候，客人进来了。我继续去写的时候，又看见马车到了。我今早已经往威尼斯广场的木材市场跑了两趟了。我两条腿太累了，都站不起来了，我的双手都肿起来了。如果我现在要画画，我肯定是一点儿办法都没有！”他边说着边开始打扫覆盖在砖铺地面上的枯叶和稻草。
"But where do you do your work, Coretti?" I inquired.
“你在哪里做功课呢，可莱谛？”我问道。
"Not here, certainly," he replied. "Come and see"; and he led me into a little room behind the shop, which serves as a kitchen and dining-room, with a table in one corner, on which there were books and copy-books, and work which had been begun. "Here it is," he said; "I left the second answer unfinished: with which shoes are made, and belts. Now I will add, and valises." And, taking his pen, he began to write in his fine hand.
“当然不是这里啦，”他答道，“过来瞧瞧。”他带我走进店铺后的一间作为厨房和餐厅用的小屋子，屋内一角摆着一张桌子，上面有书本和字帖，还有已经开始写的作业。“这就是了，”他说，“我第二个答案还没写全呢：用于做皮鞋的材料，还可以做皮带。现在我要加上，还有小提箱。”拿起笔，他开始写下一手漂亮的字迹。
"Is there any one here?" sounded a call from the shop at that moment. It was a woman who had come to buy some little fagots.
“有人在吗？”就在那时，从商店里传来喊声。那是一位妇女，来买些小柴把。
"Here I am!" replied Coretti; and he sprang out, weighed the fagots, took the money, ran to a corner to enter the sale in a shabby old account-book, and returned to his work, saying, "Let's see if I can finish that sentence." And he wrote, travelling-bags, and knapsacks for soldiers. "Oh, my poor coffee is boiling over!" he exclaimed, and ran to the stove to take the coffee-pot from the fire. "It is coffee for mamma," he said; "I had to learn how to make it. Wait a while, and we will carry it to her; you'll see what pleasure it will give her. She has been in bed a whole week.—Conjugation of the verb! I always scald my fingers with this coffee-pot. What is there that I can add after the soldiers' knapsacks? Something more is needed, and I can think of nothing. Come to mamma."
“这就来！”可莱谛答道。他蹦跳着出去，称了柴把，收了钱，跑去一个角落里在破旧的账簿上把账记了，又回来做功课，说道：“让我们看看我能不能完成这句话。”他写了“旅行包”和“士兵用的皮质背包”。“哦，我可怜的咖啡煮沸了！”他嚷道，跑到火炉边把咖啡壶从火上移开，“这是给妈妈煮的咖啡，”他说，“我已经学会怎样煮了。等过一会儿，我们拿去给她，你会看到她将有多么高兴。她已经卧床整整一周了。——动词变位！我常常被这个咖啡壶烫伤手指。写上士兵用的皮质背包后，还能加上什么呢？还必须多写几个，但我什么也想不起来了。走，去妈妈那里吧。”
He opened a door, and we entered another small room: there Coretti's mother lay in a big bed, with a white kerchief wound round her head.
他打开一扇门，我们走进另外一间更小的屋子：可莱谛的母亲躺在一张大床上，头上包着白色的方头巾。
"Ah, brave little master!" said the woman to me; "you have come to visit the sick, have you not?"
“啊，勇敢的小主人！”那个女人对我说，“你是来探我的病的，是不是？”
Meanwhile, Coretti was arranging the pillows behind his mother's back, readjusting the bedclothes, brightening up the fire, and driving the cat off the chest of drawers.
这时，可莱谛调整了母亲背后的枕头，整理了被褥，拨亮了炉火，赶走了卧在衣柜上的猫。
"Do you want anything else, mamma?" he asked, as he took the cup from her. "Have you taken the two spoonfuls of syrup? When it is all gone, I will make a trip to the apothecary's. The wood is unloaded. At four o'clock I will put the meat on the stove, as you told me; and when the butter-woman passes, I will give her those eight soldi. Everything will go on well; so don't give it a thought."
“你还需要什么吗，妈妈？”他一边接过她手里的杯子，一边问道，“你服下两汤匙糖浆了吗？如果药喝完了，我就往药店跑一趟。木柴卸好了。四点钟的时候，我就按照你说的，把肉放在炉子上热去；卖黄油的女人经过的时候，我就会把那八个铜币给她。一切都会很顺利的，所以别操心了。”
"Thanks, my son!" replied the woman. "Go, my poor boy!—he thinks of everything."
“谢谢，我的儿子！”女人答道，“去吧，我可怜的孩子！——他事事都想到了。”
She insisted that I should take a lump of sugar; and then Coretti showed me a little picture,—the photograph portrait of his father dressed as a soldier, with the medal for bravery which he had won in 1866, in the troop of Prince Umberto: he had the same face as his son, with the same vivacious eyes and his merry smile.
她坚持要我吃一块方糖；随后可莱谛给我看了一张小照片——是他父亲穿着军装的相片，胸前挂着一八六六年在温培尔脱亲王麾下获得的英勇勋章：他长得和他儿子一模一样，有着同样快活的眼睛和愉快的笑容。
We went back to the kitchen. "I have found the thing," said Coretti; and he added on his copy-book, horse-trappings are also made of it. "The rest I will do this evening; I shall sit up later. How happy you are, to have time to study and to go to walk, too!" And still gay and active, he re-entered the shop, and began to place pieces of wood on the horse and to saw them, saying: "This is gymnastics; it is quite different from the throw your arms forwards. I want my father to find all this wood sawed when he gets home; how glad he will be! The worst part of it is that after sawing I make T's and L's which look like snakes, so the teacher says. What am I to do? I will tell him that I have to move my arms about. The important thing is to have mamma get well quickly. She is better Today, thank Heaven! I will study my grammar Tomorrow morning at cock-crow. Oh, here's the cart with logs! To work!"
我们回到了厨房。“我想到了，”可莱谛说，他在字帖上加上了“马鞍”，那也是皮做的，“剩下的晚上再做。我肯定得晚睡了。你真幸福啊，有时间学习，还有时间散步！”他再次进到店里，仍旧是那样快乐和活泼，开始把一块块木柴放到架子上锯起来，说着：“这是体操，只是和向前伸展手臂的体操大不一样。我打算让父亲在回家的时候看到所有的木柴都锯好了，他会有多开心啊！最糟糕的是锯了木柴之后，我写的‘Ｔ’和‘Ｌ’就像小蛇一样，老师是这样说的。我该怎么办呢？我会告诉他我的双臂必须动来动去地干活。让妈妈早点好起来是最重要的。她今天已经好些了，谢天谢地。明早鸡一叫，我就起来学习语法。哦，装木柴的马车来了！工作去了！”
A small cart laden with logs halted in front of the shop. Coretti ran out to speak to the man, then returned: "I cannot keep your company any longer now," he said; "farewell until Tomorrow. You did right to come and hunt me up. A pleasant walk to you! happy fellow!"
一辆装着木柴的小马车停在了商店前面。可莱谛跑出去和那人说话，又回来了：“我现在不能再陪你了，”他说，“明天见吧。你来找我玩真好。祝你散步愉快！幸福的家伙！”
And pressing my hand, he ran to take the first log, and began once more to trot back and forth between the cart and the shop, with a face as fresh as a rose beneath his catskin cap, and so alert that it was a pleasure to see him.
他紧握了一下我的手，就跑去搬第一捆木柴了，又一次在马车和商店之间往返跑动起来。他猫皮帽下的脸就像玫瑰一样清新，那敏捷的动作让人看了很是愉快。
"Happy fellow!" he had said to me. Ah, no, Coretti, no; you are the happier, because you study and work too; because you are of use to your father and your mother; because you are better—a hundred times better—and more courageous than I, my dear schoolmate.
“幸福的家伙！”他对我这样说了。啊，不，可莱谛，不，你比我更幸福，因为你既学习又劳动；因为你能替父母尽力；因为你比我要好——好一百倍呢——还比我要勇敢，我亲爱的校友。